The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 4 - Chapter 216

Chapter 216:

Ciel’s Anger

I decided to not dwell on the rumor, especially since I had no idea whether it even existed or not.

“There’s no guarantee the maps sold at the guild are accurate, but it’s common knowledge that you should double-check your course on the map. Being in completely uncharted places, like we are right now, is very dangerous.”

Hearing the words out loud made me realize how true they were. If Ciel weren’t with us, we would be totally lost. We’d be attacked by all the cave monsters, too.

“If Ciel left us here, we would be done for.”

“Yup.”

Mew! Ciel snapped in protest. The creature was giving Druid the most intense glare I’d ever seen from it.

Druid shivered in fear from that look. “Er, no, Ciel, I’m not saying you’d actually leave us behind. It was just a ‘for instance’! A ‘for instance’!”

There was a tremble in Druid’s voice. Even the seasoned adventurer was scared of this side of Ciel, and I didn’t blame him. There was an ominous feeling to the adandara, not only in its eyes but in its entire aura.

“Ciel, don’t glare at Mr. Druid like that. He’s giving me a ­lesson on traveling right now.”

Mew?!

“We don’t think you’d ever abandon us. You’re staying with us always, right?”

Mrrrow.

I wanted to tell Ciel I hoped it would stay with me forever, but I decided not to. Maybe a fated encounter was awaiting Ciel during our travels, and if something like that happened, I would want Ciel to prioritize it over our journey. But I would miss my friend dearly, of course!

“Thanks.”

That seemed to finally calm Ciel down. This, in turn, settled Druid’s nerves…but his face was still a little pale.

“Are you okay, sir?”

“Ha ha ha, I’m all right. I didn’t think Ciel would get that angry with me.”

“Neither did I.”

Ciel gently nuzzled its face against mine. Its eyes were a little droopy. So cute.

“Don’t worry, Ciel. We’re not afraid of you. We know you’re kind.”

I slowly petted its head. The way its tail floated dreamily in reply was so precious.

“Pu, puuu, pu, puuu.” Sora was playing with Ciel’s tail. It was business as usual for the little slime, who could never read a room.

“I’m sorry, Ciel,” Druid said.

Meowww. Ciel nuzzled its face up to Druid.

Oh, good. They’re back to their normal dynamic. But, wow, it sure was shocking to see Ciel so mad. Phew…it tired me out a little.

“Mr. Druid, would you like to turn in for the night? I, um, think I get the gist of how my way of traveling is different from everyone else’s.”

And I’d better tuck those facts firmly into my memory. If I act too unusual when other people are around, their gut instincts might make them discover Ciel and my slimes. Yeah. I’ll have to take Druid’s notes to heart.

“That would help me out a lot, actually. That little episode with Ciel tired me out.”

Ciel’s death glare had worked its magic on Druid. His complexion was back to normal, but he was obviously still exhausted from the ordeal.

We cleaned up after our dinner and settled into our beds. When sleeping out in the wild like this, we always kept our shoes on, so we could respond to any emergency right away. We also left the lights dim. It was a bit too bright for comfort, but we had to deal with it. It was an essential survival tactic.

“Good night, sir.”

Mrrrow.

“Yeah, good night.”

“Puuu.”

“R…ryu…”

Flame was definitely sleep talking.

We stepped outside of the cave. It was a lovely day, with the sunbeams trickling through the branches of the trees above. But with each passing day, the winds were getting noticeably colder. I thought we should probably head out to the village road.

“Yeah… I think I’m getting used to the Ivy school of travel by now,” Druid said, yawning by the mouth of the cave. He looked thoroughly refreshed.

But what was the Ivy school? “What do you mean by that, sir?” Oops! I did it again.

“I slept like a log.”

“Well, yes, we did sleep around some logs.”

“No, I mean I would never have slept so well in a cave before traveling with you.”

Ohh, now that made sense. Before I met Ciel, I don’t think I ever slept soundly in the forest. Just the sound of trees rustling was enough to wake me up. And on windy nights, I think I was awake and tired much more often than soundly asleep.

“Having Ciel around is making us too comfortable. It’s sapping our sense of vigilance.”

“Ciel certainly does have that effect. It’s so easy to take advantage of the comfort it gives us.”

The only reason I was able to sleep soundly and wake fully refreshed was because I had the big adandara protecting me. Without Ciel, my life really would be much harder in so many ways.

Mrrrow. Ciel sounded satisfied—it probably liked what it was hearing.

“I guess we’ll have to be careful not to over-rely on Ciel,” I said.

“Agreed.”

Mew! Ciel didn’t sound so pleased about where the conversation had turned, but we couldn’t let ourselves grow too soft. We needed to be more mindful of that.

“Puuu.”

“Teryuuu.”

Alerted by their voices, I looked at the slimes…and noticed that something had fallen. I headed over to them and saw it was a black orb.

“What is this?” I asked Druid, but he was just as confused as I was. I looked at the black orb again. It resembled a stone, but a closer glance showed that it was faintly moving, like it was breathing. I gave it a little poke with my finger. It quivered a little, then shrank to a much smaller size. I realized I might have scared it.

“Puuu.”

“Teryuuu.”

Sora and Flame wanted me to do something.

Er, from the way they’re talking…do they want me to hold it in my hands? “Do you guys want me to pick it up?”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.”

Druid was a bit startled, but I understood Sora’s and Flame’s message loud and clear. I carefully picked up the black orb, trying not to frighten it, and felt a warmth from it in my hand. It was definitely alive.

“Ivy…are we taking that with us?”

“Yes. Flame and Sora asked me to.”

“I see. Well, sleeping in the cave was enough of a shock as it is, but seeing you casually pick up unknown objects like that is yet another surprise.”

He seemed to have a problem with what I was doing, but I trusted Sora and Flame. I knew they would never make me do anything that would cause me harm, so if we happened across another strange object or creature and they asked me to pick it up, I’d comply without thinking much of it.

“That thing you just picked up is alive, right?”

“Probably. I felt a little warmth coming from it, and it was moving a little.”

It was a black orb that fit snugly into the palm of my hand. No matter how hard I stared at it, it wouldn’t budge. I really wondered what it was.

“Well, I guess staying here and talking about it won’t amount to anything. Let’s go.”

“Sure. C’mere, Flame.” I put the black orb into the slimes’ bag and picked up Flame. Sora bounced all the way to the top of Druid’s head. Then Ciel took the lead.

“Ciel, let’s go walk near the village road, okay?”

Mrrrow.

“Our bags are already so full of treasures it’s freaking me out. Please don’t have us stop to look for more, okay?”

Ciel stared blankly back at me.

“Come on, Ciel, we’ve already got more than enough loot. Let’s just go straight to the village road!”

Mrrrow. Ciel sounded incredibly dissatisfied, but I wasn’t going to give up any ground this time. Earlier that morning, Druid and I had gone over the contents of our bags, and he’d said we had enough to pay for a stay at the nicest inn in Hatow Village…for two whole years.

Sora and Flame made rare potions and magic stones, and Ciel found precious cave gems and rare tree nuts. When the three of them all brought their A-game, being buried in valuable items was inevitable—and all I could do about it was shake my head and laugh.