The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 2 - Chapter 122

Chapter 122:

The More You Know

RATTLOORE BECKONED ME to start walking toward the plaza again. Come to think of it, even if there wasn’t much traffic, we were still in the middle of a road. Maybe I should’ve found a better place to talk.

“Ivy, can I ask you something?”

“Yes?”

“Having no stars means you don’t have enough power for anything, right? Which means you can’t tame. I’ve been wondering about the mana you would’ve needed to tame Ciel for a while now, but have you tamed Sora?”

Not enough power? Is that how people describe it? That’s the first I’ve heard it put like that.

“I haven’t tamed Ciel since I don’t have enough mana, but I have tamed Sora.”

“What if the church’s appraisal of you was wrong?”

“I don’t think so. Sora’s actually a collapsed slime.”

“Whaaat?! Oh, er, sorry. That was loud. Huh? You mean that kind of collapsed slime?” He was more surprised now than when I’d said I was starless! Was Sora’s true identity that shocking?

“It’s true. The weakest kind of slime that can be pushed around by a slight breeze. Sora’s a little steadier now, though.”

“Wow. So even a starless tamer could tame it since it’s way weaker than a regular slime?”

“I think that would explain it, yes.” That was all that I could think of, at least. Rattloore gazed at Sora’s bag. Curious, I asked, “Are collapsed slimes especially rare?”

“Yeah, they’re almost unheard of even among rare slimes. But they die quickly, and nobody ever seeks them out since they can’t do much. But…this one’s not exactly dying, huh?”

“Nope. It’s very lively.”

“Huh…oh, maybe collapsed slimes can only be tamed by starless tamers?”

“I wondered about that, too.”

“Right? One-star tamers are too strong for them—they kill the collapsed slimes by accident if they even try. So I’ve never heard of one being tamed before. Wow. A slime just for starless tamers, huh? Mind if I ask what they can do?”

“Umm…”

What do I do? I’ve said so much already, there’s not really any reason to hide it.

“If you don’t want to tell me…”

“That’s not it. I just think Sora is extra special.”

“Ha ha ha! The ability to read people like a book is already plenty special.”

Right. I’ve already poured my heart out, so why not go all the way? 

I steeled myself and told Rattloore all about how Sora ate and how we met the adandara. As I spoke, Rattloore began to look increasingly severe—he was kind of scaring me.

“Ivy.” He looked at me sternly. Now I was nervous!

“Yes?”

“I’m glad you trust me enough to tell me, but in the future, you need to keep this to yourself. Really think about who you want to share this with.”

So Sora was special. I’d thought so, since it could eat both lesser potions and their containers.

“I can’t believe it can heal fatal wounds,” he muttered. “I thought only people with five stars in the light skill could do that.”

Huh? That’s what caught his attention? But…

“What is the light skill?” I asked.

“You don’t know? Okay, so you’ve heard of the healing skill, right?”

“Yes. That’s a rare skill that allows the holder to treat wounds and illnesses.”

“Exactly. You can think of the light skill as an even better version of that.”

The healing skill was already incredible, but there was a better version? And Sora had five stars in it? Umm…

“When I think of five-star light skills…” Rattloore continued, “there are two who serve the king who are famous for it. I can’t think of anyone else who has that kind of skill.”

Someone who serves the king? Suddenly, Sora feels way out of my league. Maybe ignorance really is bliss. Now that I’d accepted who I was, I had gotten better at seeing the things around me clearly. But the more I knew…

“I’m not sure what to say.”

“Ha ha ha! I’m at a loss, too. It’s incredible that Sora has that power…oh, and you said that you haven’t tamed Ciel, right?”

“Right.”

“This is a little hard to ask right after hearing all that about Sora, but what’s the deal with the mark on Ciel’s forehead?”

Hesitantly, I replied, “Ciel made it itself to mimic the one on Sora’s.”

When he heard my answer, Rattloore groaned and held his head like it was aching. People passing by looked over curiously, but I couldn’t afford to pay them any attention. I was really nervous waiting for what he’d say next.

“Um, is that unusual?” I recalled what my book had said: As they appear naturally, fake ones can quickly be found out.

“Not just unusual. It’s unthinkable.”

Unthinkable? Ha ha ha… I can feel my mountain of problems getting a little higher.

“Even really strong people can’t imitate tamer markings easily. When they do succeed, the marks fall apart right away. It’s also said that the monster with the fake mark can get burned pretty badly when it happens.”

Burned?! I didn’t know that.

“I haven’t seen Ciel’s marking fall apart, and it doesn’t seem to be injured.”

“Ivy, you need to keep Ciel a secret, too.”

“I figured…” Rattloore locked eyes with me, and we sighed in unison. There were so many headaches now that I didn’t even know where to begin. 

“At this point, we might want to get Sifar involved. Maybe he can think of a way to solve this,” Rattloore said.

That sounded like a good idea. I trusted Sifar, too, after all.

“Ivy, what do you wanna do?” he asked.

“Let’s ask him.”

“All right. Then let’s get going now. The sooner the better, I say.”

“Where are we going?”

“Sifar’s house. It’s a bit of a walk… Do you mind?”

Sifar’s house? I’d like to see that! I’m imagining something really off the wall, but who knows?

“No, I’ll be fine.”

“Heh, he’ll be really surprised when he gets a load of all this. I can’t wait to see his face.”

I followed Rattloore, who was now in a buoyant mood, to Sifar’s house. Several streets past the plaza, I saw a house that was clearly rather unique judging from the gate alone. Yep, that’s Sifar’s place. Just what I expected.

“Rattloore…and Ivy?” Sifar looked surprised when he opened door. He furrowed his brow at Rattloore. Maybe he realized that we’d brought a heap of trouble with us.

“We need to talk,” Rattloore said. “Is your girlfriend home right now?”

“Her? We broke up.”

“Oh, you broke up…huh? You broke up?! Again? Why?”

“She was getting on my case about a whole bunch of stuff. Seriously, I can’t deal with someone whining about how I do my job.” Sifar shook his head and sighed. I clearly didn’t know anything about relationships.

“Well, you chose the perfect day to break it off! As you might have guessed, we need to talk about Ivy.”

“Figured. Come on in.” At Sifar’s invitation, we stepped into his home. Everything, from the shelves to the chairs, was perfectly coordinated, but it was tasteful rather than overdone. “Sit anywhere. I’ll bring tea.”

I took a seat and peered curiously around the room. It was a very Sifar-ish space.

“Thanks for waiting,” he said, returning with the tea.

“Sorry to ask you to host us on short notice.” I bowed to Sifar. He patted my head lightly.

“Wanna let Sora out?” he offered.

“Okay.” I released Sora from its bag and explained we were at Sifar’s house. The slime looked around and bounced a little lap around the room before returned to me. It seemed satisfied.

“So?”

While Sifar listened, I laid out everything I’d confessed to Rattloore. Telling him about Sora made me even more nervous than talking about myself. Now I worried that a monster with a five-star light skill would be targeted even more relentlessly than a starless tamer.

“So…” he started but didn’t seem to know what to say next.

Wait…why did we need to bring Sifar into this, anyway? To keep my travels safe? I haven’t changed my intention to keep Sora or Ciel from being seen.

“Umm?” I looked back at him inquisitively.

“Oof. Looks like we’ve scrambled his brain. Though I guess we sort of did it on purpose, huh?”

“We did?”

I turned to Rattloore. He grinned guiltily.

“Phew, that sure is a lot to digest,” Sifar sighed. “Sora’s definitely got a five-star light skill. And Ciel may be stronger at magic than the Grandmaster of Magic.”

What’s a Grandmaster of Magic? I’m kinda afraid to ask.

“The grandmaster stands at the top of the royal family’s magic research facility. They say there’s nobody better at magical technology than the grandmaster.”

I heaved a sigh. I would be better off not knowing that…