The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 3 - Chapter SS1

BONUS * Flame Sure Sleeps a Lot

“AHH, ALL DONE.”

I’d set five traps today. I tried to find a spot to set them where the gurbars hadn’t been rampaging so I’d have at least a chance of a successful hunt…and it was a heck of a task. Still, I’d somehow found a clearing with lots of little animal tracks and not many gurbar tracks. Just setting the five traps took three times as long as usual. As you can imagine, I was wiped out.

“Does it usually take this long to find a place to set traps?” This was Druid’s first time using traps…and I guess I’d given him some wrong ideas.

“Oh, no. Usually it goes much faster. It just took three times as long today to find a place where the gurbars hadn’t been.”

I’d been hunched over while I was setting my traps, and now my back hurt. I lifted my arms in a big long stretch to crack out my back. I always loved taking a moment to stretch my stiff muscles.

“Ah, that makes sense. The gurbar tracks around the outskirts of town are a little concerning. They’re much closer to town than they were yesterday, too.”

Druid’s expression was stern as he looked around the forest. We both hoped that the scouting party would return soon with some sort of plan to resolve the gurbar problem.

“Would you like to take a little break?” Druid suggested. “Wait…isn’t this spot a little dangerous?”

Mrrrow! Ciel meowed in reply. It was staring at Druid in concern.

“Um…was it something I said?” Druid asked, a bit flustered.

I looked at Ciel, and it stared back at me. When our eyes met, its tail swished, so I could tell it wasn’t in a bad mood.

“Oh! Ciel, are you saying not to worry because you’ll protect us?”

Mrrrow!

“Okay, thank goodness,” said Druid. “I was scared I’d said something to offend it.”

The relief in Druid’s tone confused me a little. I looked at Ciel, who happily rubbed its face against mine. What a sweetie.

“But Ciel isn’t scary at all. It’s a big sweetie pie.”

“Uhh, yeah. Ciel is sweet, I won’t deny that…” Druid sounded uncomfortable. I looked at him in confusion, so he elaborated, “Just don’t go thinking that all adandaras are like Ciel.”

It’s true, the adandaras I read about in books seemed terrifying. It was almost like they were a completely different species from Ciel.

“I’m sure each individual is unique. Right, Ciel?”

Mrrrow.

Awww, you’re just so cuddly! I grabbed its face and tousled its fur, and it rubbed happily against my head in turn…and now my hair was all mussed, too.

“Puuu.”

I turned to look at Sora. It was looking sleepily back at me. “Good morning, Sora.”

“Pu! Pu, puuu,” Sora sang, bouncing and looking at Ciel. It wanted to play. Ciel stared intently at it for a bit, then padded over to the slime. I guess it was up for a game. Ciel really was so kindhearted.

“This is still so weird to see—a high-level adandara playing with a low-level slime.” Druid muttered something quietly as I watched Sora and Ciel play, but his voice was so quiet that I couldn’t make out his words. I gave him a quizzical look, and he shook his head—it’s nothing.

“Oh, right! Since Sora’s awake, does that mean Flame is, too?”

I checked the bag, but Flame was still sound asleep. “This slime sure does sleep a lot.”

“More than normal?”

I sat down next to Flame’s bag, and Druid settled down near us.

“Yes, more than normal. Sora was a lot more energetic when it was Flame’s age, but all Flame seems to do is nap.”

I wonder if it was born with some sort of problem? Well, it has an appetite and it looks healthy when it is awake, so it’s probably okay… And Sora doesn’t look worried, either.

“Flame, you need to get your exercise. You don’t want to stay a slugabed forever.”

“Is…that what happens when a slime doesn’t exercise?” Druid asked, looking at Flame in awe.

I quickly shook my head; I didn’t want to mislead him. “No, as long as Flame eats and gets stronger, it should grow up just like Sora.”

Druid chuckled and gave my shaking head a little pat. “So I guess you’re saying Flame needs to eat.”

“Yes. The more Sora ate, the less ‘collapsed’ its body became.”

“That makes sense. Hear that, Flame? Rise and shine, you need to eat your breakfast.” Druid poked Flame. There was no response. “Flame won’t wake up. Still…it feels so soft and squishy.”

Flame’s body was a lot softer than Sora’s. It felt nice to the touch. “I know, don’t you wanna just keep poking it?”

“I do.”

“Flame’s really cute, too.”

“Well…that, I’m not so sure about.”

Hm?

“Teryu?!”

“Oh, good morning, Flame. Well, good afternoon, actually.”

Flame’s eyes opened to slits, and it looked at me and Druid. Then it kept staring. Hard. I stared back, wondering what was wrong.

Flame was silent for a few seconds, and then… Thunk.

“Huh?!”

“Don’t tell me…it fell asleep again?” Druid poked Flame gently.

“…ryu…”

It really was asleep. I thought it was staring at us, but when it fell over I realized it had fallen asleep with its eyes open. Do slimes actually fall asleep like that? It sure was a surprise. Oh! Now its eyes are closed… Oh, good.

“Funny little creature, aren’t you?”

I smirked at Druid’s remark. I gently scooped up my mysterious sleeper and placed it on my lap. It was pretty surprising how it fell right back asleep after waking up… I wish I could do that.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.” Sora bounced over to check on Flame. After a good look, it gave the sleeping slime a light bonk with its body.

“Hey, don’t do that. You’ll wake Flame.”

“Puuu,” Sora whined when I blocked its way.

Flame didn’t seem to wake up fully unless it received at least one strong body slam from Sora. In a way, that made the little slime quite remarkable in its own right. Wait, would it have been better if I’d let Sora do its thing and wake up Flame? Oops. I messed that up.

“Pu, puuu.” Sora nudged itself close to Flame and pouted.

“It’s in dreamland again.”

“Puuu,” Sora moaned, hopping back over to Ciel and then jumping in big leaps against the adandara.

“Sora’s sure got a lot of energy.”

“It’s been that way ever since I tamed it.”

Smack.

“Oh!”

“Hahaha. Poor thing.”

Sora had been rolling around by Ciel’s front paws. Just when it was about to reach Ciel, the adandara batted it and sent it rolling away. I was a bit concerned at first, but it looked like Sora was having fun rolling. I guess there’s nothing to worry about.

“I didn’t know adandaras played like that,” Druid marveled.

“Is it that unusual?”

“Well, it’s unusual to see an adandara up close like this in the first place. I don’t think it would occur to anyone to imagine them playing.”

Oh, right! Ciel’s a very rare high-level monster. I always forget how powerful it is when I’m with it like this.

“Teryu.”

I looked down at Flame on my lap. It was awake again and looking sleepily at its surroundings. I guess it finally woke up for good.

“Good morning, Flame. You slept through breakfast, you know? Want to eat some potions?”

Unlike Sora, Flame prioritized sleep most of all…or rather, once it fell asleep, waking it again was no easy task. It really did snooze all the time. It was almost Sora’s complete opposite, even seeming less sure of itself than the other slime.

“Teryu?”

“Hmm, you look awake, but is your little brain still sleeping?”

“Teeeryuuuu.”

“Are you…sleep-talking? Come on, wake up. You’ve got to eat. You don’t want to be a lazybones forever, do you? Come on, let’s eat.” Flame was abnormally sleepy today.

“Te! Ryuryuuu.”

Oh, did it finally snap itself out of it? “Oh, good. You’re awake. Want to eat?”

“Te! Ryuryu.”

I lined up five red potions in front of Flame, who slowly oozed over to them. It covered the potions one by one with its body and dissolved them, making the potions disappear before my very eyes.

“Are you going to feed it more?” Druid asked in confusion after I’d set out a tenth potion. “You don’t feed Sora extra, do you?”

“Well, Flame is often asleep during mealtimes, so whenever it does eat, I try to feed it extra.”

Even if Sora was asleep, I knew it’d wake right up if I pulled potions out of the magic bag. But even when Flame was awake, it might miss a meal if sleepiness overtook it. I remember I was really scared the first time it fell asleep right after I’d lined up potions for its meal. Sora had given me the impression that slimes were gluttons. Now, whenever I fed Flame, I made sure to talk to it so it would stay awake. Then again, sometimes my efforts were in vain, and it fell asleep on me anyway.

“Interesting. Considering Sora gave birth to Flame, it sure has a very different personality.”

“That’s for sure,” I nodded. “Flame and Sora are completely different.” I looked over at Ciel, who was still playing with Sora. Sora loved both eating and playing. Even when its form wasn’t fully set, I had been shocked at how active it was. And recently, Sora had also come to enjoy pranks.

Flame, on the other hand, was very mild mannered…and it just slept. A lot. And since it often slept through meals if I wasn’t careful, taking care of Flame was challenging in a completely different way from Sora. Still, both were adorable.

“Huh? Flame…you okay?” I asked the slime. It was stuck on top of a potion, motionless.

“Did it…fall asleep while eating?” Druid asked.

Sure enough, I heard little slime snores. “Apparently… I wish it would at least finish its meal before falling asleep.”

I lifted Flame off the half-eaten potion.

“Ah!” Druid yelped. “It’s drooling again…”

I held Flame over my lap and peered into its face. Sure enough, there was a string of drool stretching from its mouth all the way to the ground.

“Pfft! Ha ha ha…” Druid burst out, unable to control his laughter anymore.

“Ha ha ha ha! Oh, Flame…”

I had Druid get a towel out of my magic bag. I set it on the ground and put Flame down on top of it. In this regard, Flame’s mouth was certainly looser than Sora’s, too.