The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 4 - Chapter 217

Chapter 217:

A Mysterious Creature

I looked at the bag hanging on my shoulder as we walked. The black creature I’d picked up earlier was in there. Sometimes I would hear a rustling in the bag, but the movement would stop whenever I looked at it. I felt sorry for the little thing, so I started trying to ignore it when it moved…

“What’s wrong?” Druid asked.

“It was moving earlier, but it’s gone completely still now. I’m a little worried about it.”

I gently caressed it through the bag, but I didn’t feel so much as a flinch from it. Had something happened? I didn’t want to give it a scare like I’d done earlier, so I was reluctant to open the bag to check on it.

“Sora?” As Druid said this, Sora made a big stretch on top of his head. “Hey, Sora, stay still or you’ll fall off.” Since Sora had moved so suddenly, Druid was a little frazzled.

“Sora, please don’t tease Druid.”

“Pu! Puuu.”

Sora really does love to play… Well, I guess it would be more accurate here to say that Sora loves to play with Druid’s emotions.

“Sora?”

“Puuu.”

“That black creature has stopped moving. Is everything okay?” Druid asked.

Sora jiggled in reply. That meant everything was all right.

“Sora says it’s fine.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“But what do you think this creature is? Is it a monster?”

“I do sense magic coming from it—it’s faint, but it’s there, so definitely a monster. A black orb monster?”

“Have you heard of anything like that, sir?”

As a veteran adventurer, Druid knew his way around monsters and animals. Also, in preparation for our big journey, he had spent time talking with many other adventurers to see if there was any new information to be had.

“I would definitely have remembered if someone told me about such an unusual monster. Since I don’t recall it, that means nobody’s been talking about it.” 

In order to be talked about, a monster first needed to be seen by an adventurer. And if this little monster had been deep in the forest all this time, it was likely nobody had discovered it yet.

“So that makes us Discoverers Number One?”

Druid laughed at my wording. “I guess it would. Should we tell the guild as soon as we can?”

I tilted my head and pondered the idea. I knew we were supposed to report new discoveries to the guild, but I wasn’t so sure about this…

“Teryu?”

“Oh! Good morning, Flame. I’ll let you meet the black orb monster later, okay?”

“Ryu…? Ryuu…” Flame fell right back asleep, apparently not that interested. I bounced it gently in my arms.

“For someone who takes so long to wake up, you sure fall asleep quickly, don’t you?” Druid said.

“Pu! Pu. Pu! Pu.”

Mew.

It sounded like Sora and Ciel were laughing. And Druid was right—Flame did fall asleep quickly. Any time and any place, too.

“In a way, that’s a good personality trait.”

Since we still didn’t know how aggressive the black orb monster was—or anything else about it, for that matter—we adopted a “wait and see” policy. The adventurer and merchant guilds had strict rules to report unfamiliar creatures who showed any sign of aggression, but if the new monster didn’t seem aggressive, you could study its ecology and whatnot before informing the guild about it. This was all news to me.

“This area sure is easier to walk in,” Druid said.

I nodded. The path to the cave had been quite treacherous with boulders in the way and roots sticking up here, there, and everywhere. Our current path was quite easy in comparison.

“If we keep up this pace, we’ll reach the village road ahead of schedule,” I remarked.

“True. How about checking the map once we get close to the road?”

“Hee hee, sure.”

Druid was clearly anxious about not knowing where he was. Treks with Ciel were always like this, so I was used to it…but maybe that was a bad thing to get used to?

I looked at Ciel, marching in front of us. Just the sight of its sturdy shoulders was so reassuring. As I stared at it, Ciel’s head turned over its shoulder to glance back at me. Its tail was wagging happily to and fro.

“Ciel…thanks.”

Mrrrow.

Yep. So cute.

Druid suggested we start looking for a place to make camp, so I stopped in my tracks and stretched my arms out. We had walked quite a distance today, so I was a little tired.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

When Druid also stopped walking, Sora bounced off his head and landed on the ground. Its eyes quickly darted around, and, after a few seconds, it suddenly bounded off.

“Pu! Puuu. Pu! Pu, puuu.”

That’s our Sora. Druid and I exchanged chuckles, then hurried after the slime before it went out of sight. Our campsite for the night was a bit far away.

“Sora! Slow down!” I yelled at the slime, who had disappeared from view, but the grasses kept swishing in the distance. Ciel was calm beside me, so I knew there wasn’t a problem, but I always got nervous whenever Sora left my line of vision. The moment I finally caught a glimpse of Sora sitting between some trees, all the adrenaline drained out of my muscles.

“Sora…please…a bit slower…” I stumbled over to the slime, looked around…then froze. A few feet away from Sora was a giant snake. And it was staring right at me. Druid rushed in front of me and drew his sword.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

Sora’s voice relaxed our tense nerves a little, but we were still scared. I risked a glance at the slime. It was staring at me, not the snake. Curious, I looked back at Sora…then I noticed it was staring at the bag on my shoulder.

“Sora…is that monster friendly?”

Sora wiggled in reply. Okay, what does that wiggle mean again? I was so terrified my brain wasn’t working right. If Sora does that…it’s not an enemy.

“Mr. Druid…that monster is safe.”

Druid exhaled hard in reply, but he kept his sword drawn.

“Puuu,” Sora insisted, its gaze still on the bag. Was it talking about the black creature we’d picked up? I opened my bag and checked on the black orb monster.

“Augh!” Druid yelped.

I shivered. My eyes darted from the black orb monster to the snake.

“Augh!” I yelped, the exact same way as Druid. But I think anyone would have reacted like that, because the giant snake’s body was shooting out a bunch of black orbs. Well, no, it wasn’t exactly shooting them out. Rather, the black orbs were just ­moving to places where we could see them.

The sight was rather macabre. Still, I pulled the black orb we’d found in front of the cave out of my bag. Seeing it, the snake swayed left and right.

“Oh, neat. The snake wiggles, too.”

“Ivy, your reactions to things are kind of weird sometimes.”

“Huh?” I looked at Druid, but he just shrugged. Well, I can’t help it.

As we were talking, the black orb moved in my hand and I dropped it.

“Sorry…are you okay?” I apologized to the fallen creature…and noticed it was moving toward the giant snake. I wasn’t particularly worried about it moving away since it had some companions.

“I always assumed the orb would sort of…open up, and become a half orb with little feet,” Druid said, mimicking the creature with its hands. It was rather similar to what I had imagined. Past Me remembered an insect called a pill bug, so I was surprised to see the orb just move as an orb… And with its tiny little legs, it was moving very slowly, despite all its efforts.

The black orb finally reached the snake, and, for some ­reason, the sight made me feel relieved. The poor little thing had stumbled 

over rocks on the ground and gotten itself stuck in protruding circles of roots. Each time that had happened, I’d given it a helping hand, so it had taken quite a long time to get to the snake.

“If it was going to go to the snake all along, we should have just put it on top of the snake at the start,” Druid said.

A chuckle spilled out of my mouth. When I was helping the little orb along, I’d been surprised when I found myself right in front of the giant snake. I’d come so close to the creature that if I’d reached out, I could have touched it. The moment I noticed, I panicked and was about to scoot back, but then I noticed the little black orb, struggling in the brush below.

I freed the creature, sent it to its friends, and then took the opportunity to flee. Though I suppose I would have been fine anyway, since the snake showed no signs of aggression. If anything, it seemed to smile in a motherly way as it watched the little black orb run along… Was it the orb’s mother?