The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 4 - Chapter 182

Chapter 182:

The Most Powerful Monster

When I asked him just how much I should tell his old mentor, Druid told the rest of the story for me. As I sat next to him and listened, I realized just how many things I’d left out. Sora’s healing powers saving Druid’s life, and the other things the slimes ate—those things weren’t as high-priority for me. Come to think of it, I’d forgotten that Sora ate true swords, too.

“Ivy’s monsters experience a full range of emotions, and they can communicate all sorts of things by the way they vocalize.”

But aren’t all slimes that way? I looked at Druid’s mentor. His jaw had dropped…so that must have meant I was wrong. But when you tame animals or monsters, your consciousness is linked to theirs, right? And it’s pretty clear that monsters and animals experience emotions…though the only way they can express them is by making noises with their mouths.

“Flame’s powers are currently unknown. And we’re not sure about this yet, but according to Ivy, Sora has the power to determine whether somebody is a good or bad person for him.”

A good or bad person for me…? Oh! Right, he’s talking about how Sora was able to pick out the members of that criminal organization. Wait, does Druid think I was the standard Sora was judging other people against? Is…is that really how it works?

“Master…are you all right?”

Druid’s voice zapped me out of my thoughts. I looked over at the old mentor and saw he was clutching his head in his hands. Huh? Did something happen to him?

“Mr. Druid, is your mentor okay? Did I…?”

“Ivy!” the old mentor growled.

“Yes, sir?” Oh dear, he sounds angry!

“Ya did a bad thing!”

“Huh?!”

“Listen, ya shouldn’t have told me something this heavy. Ya only met me a few days ago! For the love of God, ya need to doubt people more! Don’t pass judgment until you’ve at least had a good long talk with ’em. Ivy, this world is crawling with people who seem like good guys but aren’t. And if ya tell them what ya just told me—gave ’em intel that would make ’em rich—ya might be in grave danger. Got it? Don’t judge people by how they look. And definitely don’t trust somebody like me that ya only met a few days ago. Do you understand?”

Umm… You were talking so fast, I lost track of what you were saying halfway through. But you probably meant that I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

“I understand, sir. But don’t worry, I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not okay! Ya barely know me! Yet ya just told me this really huge secret. What if I tried to get rich off of it? Then what would ya do? I could steal Sora and Flame right out from ya if I wanted to.”

But I don’t think that sort of person would order me not to trust them. “Um, but Mr. Druid vouched for you, sir. And Sora told me you were trustworthy.”

When I’d told Sora and Flame that Druid’s old mentor wanted to meet them, they’d both bounced around with glee. (Well, technically, Sora bounced Flame around.) And whenever they were out of their bag, they would sit perfectly still and stare hard at me if anything was wrong. When they were playful, that meant everything was safe.

“Sora? Ah, so that’s what you mean. Well, ya may be right there, but… Argh, just don’t be so quick to trust people. Okay?”

“Okay, sir. I understand.”

“You too, Druid. Don’t trust a man ya haven’t seen in years. What would you have done if I’d changed? You’d have walked Ivy straight into a trap. I could’ve used ya to get anything I wanted. A man can change into a whole new person in as little as a year. And ya haven’t seen me for years and years. Have another long, careful look at me before ya pass judgment.”

“Yes, Master. But you haven’t changed a bit.”

Now Druid’s master was directing all his anger at his former apprentice. But still, it really was something for a man to demand that you not trust him. That explained even more why Druid did trust him.

The old mentor let out a long sigh. “Wow, Ivy turned out to be a real prodigy, eh?” He even sounded a bit angry.

“A prodigy, sir?”

“That’s right. Ya had the power to assemble quite the team.”

The power of assembling a team? “But I have no power, sir. I have zero stars.”

Come to think of it, the old mentor didn’t react very strongly when I told him I didn’t have any stars. Wouldn’t it be funny if he’d heard stories in the past about other people with no stars?

“Come to think of it, I was so stunned with all the new information that I barely even noticed that, but having zero stars really is quite a shocker.”

Ah. So he just hadn’t thought about it. Too bad.

“So, you see, sir, I’m not powerful at all.”

“No, kid, that’s not the kind of power I was talking about. How should I put it… Ya have the power to draw people and monsters to ya and connect ’em to one another.”

What’s that supposed to mean?

“Sorry, I’m bad at explaining things.”

“It’s okay, sir.”

“You have a charming personality, Ivy,” Druid said. “That’s what brings creatures to you.”

That surprised me. It’s my personality? Er…what about it, exactly?

“Yeah, that’s definitely part of it.”

Not you, too, Mr. Mentor! Urrrgh, I don’t get it. As I craned my neck to the side, pondering, Flame and Sora moved back and forth inside their bag. I guess they were craning their necks and pondering, too…though they didn’t have necks.

“By the way, Master, did you hear anything from the adventurers about the monster corpses or the magic?”

Oh! That’s right. We were supposed to find out something about monsters dying of natural causes or reports of magic left over from dead monsters.

“Yep. They did find a dragon corpse.”

Dragons…if I recalled correctly, they were the most powerful monsters alive. You’d never encounter one unless you traveled into the deepest parts of the forest, so they were completely out of my experience.

“A dragon, you say?” Druid asked. “Yes, I suppose that is a monster that’s highly likely to live out its life span.”

“Yeah, the adventurers were pretty startled when they happened upon its corpse. And there was magic spilling out of it, just like you’d imagined there’d be, Ivy.”

“Really, sir?” I was worried that we’d all just misread the old texts.

“Yeah, Gotos made the three survivors of the adventure party confirm it over and over.”

So my theory was correct. Oh, thank goodness. That means our berserk monster problem might go away if we burn that dragon corpse.

“Did they say whereabouts in the forest the corpse was?” Druid asked.

For some reason, his mentor smirked. “It’s right under the biggest cliff deep in the forest. Ain’t that a great place?”

“That’s really where it is? Yeah, that is a great place.”

“Yeah, we don’t have to worry about the fire spreading, so we can cast our worries aside and let ’er burn!”

It sounded like an ideal place to burn a dragon corpse. Venturing that deep into the forest was a scary prospect, but at least we had a solution to the problem. Druid and his mentor proceeded to lay out a plan of action. To be honest, what they were saying was a bit of a mystery to me. But I did gather that going into the forest was quite dangerous and it would take a few days—that much was clear.

Will Druid be part of the party? Even with just one arm, he still has plenty of experience as an adventurer, and he’s quick on his feet. Hmm… I wonder what he’s going to do?

“Okay, Ivy, wanna head out soon? My father is probably already waiting for us.”

Oh, are we done talking, then? “Yes, sir. Mr. Mentor, thank you for having this talk with us.”

“Oh, no, thank you for telling me. Umm…Ivy? I’ve got a request for ya.”

“Sure. What is it?”

He sounds really uncomfortable. I wonder what he’s thinking? Wait…is Druid holding back laughter? Does he have an idea what his mentor is about to say?

“The adandara…um, Ciel, right? Please…let me meet it. I’m begging you.” And with that, he leapt out of his chair and bowed deeply to me.

“Agh!” Druid yelped, horrified by his old mentor’s antics.

“Oh, Mr. Mentor, please don’t bow to me. Of course I’ll let you meet Ciel.”

“Ya mean it? Wow, I’ve always wanted to meet an adandara at least once. Are ya sure it’s okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thanks, Ivy. Wow, it’s so good to be alive!”

That’s a bit extreme! Sometimes I get the idea that Ciel exists on an entirely different plane from the rest of us. I never feel that way whenever we’re in the forest together, though… Ciel isn’t a different type of adandara, is it?

“So, um, are there any other monsters similar to adandaras?”

“What?!” both men gasped.

Er, please don’t look at me like I’m a freak.

Druid seemed to have read my mind. “Ivy, make no mistake, Ciel is definitely an adandara.”

He gave me a little chuckle, but I couldn’t help it! Ciel wasn’t anything like the adandaras other people described!