The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 5 - Chapter 247

Chapter 247:

Flame’s Drooling Issues

The moment we set foot back in the inn, my entire body tingled with warmth. I could feel my joints and muscles, stiff from the cold, quickly loosening up.

“Welcome back, you two,” someone called out from behind us as we started to walk upstairs to our room.

“Hello, we were just out in town to… Huh?!” I turned around to see Salifa was soaked through with water. “What’s wrong, ma’am?”

Druid rushed back to the front entrance. He grabbed one of the guest towels and handed it to her.

“Hee hee, I sort of slipped in the bath.”

Her laughter was innocent and shy, but I really was worried about her safety. “Are you okay, ma’am? I hope you didn’t get hurt.”

“You’re so sweet, Ivy. No, I’m fine. It happens all the time. I take pride in my tumbling skills.”

Um…tumbling skills?

“Anyway, it must be freezing out there! Just so you know, the bath is open all day and night, okay?”

“Thank you, ma’am. But please, you should have the first bath. You’ll catch your death of cold.”

“Oh, I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not. You’ll scare Mr. Dola, too.”

“Yes, I suppose he would get worried. Okay, I’ll go take a bath. Oh, Druid, Ivy, you’re taking care of your own dinner tonight again, right?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?” Druid looked curious.

“Well, I have something to tell everyone, and I thought I’d do it at dinnertime…”

She has something to tell everyone?

“In that case, we can be in the dining hall at dinnertime, if you want,” Druid offered.

“Oh, would you please?”

“Of course. You okay with that, Ivy?”

“Sure.”

If it’s something she needs to tell everyone, it must be important, so of course we would be there—it clearly involved us, too.

After hearing when the dinner announcement would be, Druid and I returned to our room, removed the slimes from their bag, and took out the special bag we bought from Rose.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

Mrrrow.

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.”

Apparently, they’d been listening in on the conversation and were super excited about the new bag.

“Now you can stay warm in this bag, even when it’s cold outside. You must have been cold in your bag when we were out earlier today.”

“Puuu,” Sora trilled, with a very tight jiggle that was more like a quiver. Was it trying to convey shivering in the cold? If it was, buying this bag was definitely the right decision.

“Want to take a bath first?”

“Sure! Oh, but before that I need to wipe everyone off.”

I grabbed a towel, planning to wet it with hot water, but Druid stopped me.

“But aren’t they clean?” he asked. “They didn’t play outside at all today.”

“Well, um…”

“What?”

“Flame’s drool gets all over everyone…”

“Puuu!”

Mew!

“…teryu.”

I wonder this every day, but can’t Flame close its mouth better? When I put it in the bag with the others, everyone falls victim to its drool.

“Ah, I see. I’ll wipe them off.”

“Thanks.” I handed the wet towel to Druid and started reorganizing my old bag. I threw Flame’s drool-covered towel into the laundry basket, then carefully wiped the inside of the bag clean. Next, I set a fresh towel on top of the heating item in the new bag. “There.”

“I’m done, too.” Druid tossed the towel into the laundry basket.

“Thanks. The new bag is all ready to go.”

“Okay, then it’s bath time. Behave, you three. We’ve muffled the sound in here, but be sure to hide if somebody comes into our room.”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

Mrrrow.

“Teryu.”

I looked at Flame, whose reply had been unusually short. The harder I stared, the more I sensed the slime was sulking. Was it upset that I complained about its drooling? I gave its head a few soft pats, but it turned away in a huff. Yeah, Flame’s sulking all right… So cute.

“We’re just going to take a bath, okay? We’ll all have dinner when we get back.”

After my bath, I saw that something had been left in front of our door. I looked around and saw the same thing in front of all the other rooms’ doors. Did that mean it was okay for each of us to use whatever it was? I guess I’ll bring it inside. I opened the door and set down our new item just as Druid returned.

“Where did you get that?”

“It was in front of our door, so I figured it was something for us to use. Do you know what it is?”

“It’s a heating item. You use a red magic stone to operate it, and it heats the whole room.”

“Huh? But isn’t our room already warm?”

“Yeah…I guess this is what the announcement at dinner is going to be about.”

That’s right, we’re going to hear an announcement in the dining hall tonight. Yeah, it’s probably to explain how this item works.

“What do you want to do? Have dinner up here before it’s time for dinner down there?”

“Yeah. We have plenty of time to eat first, so let’s go ahead and do that.”

The time we were supposed to be down in the dining hall was about when we would usually finish eating dinner and relax with a nice cup of tea. That meant we would have to finish our dinner a little sooner. I looked at the clock and saw it was still early, but if I dillydallied much longer, it would be dinnertime before I knew it.

I returned to my room and got some meat out of my magic bag that I’d started marinating it in spicy sauce earlier that morning. Then I got some vegetables…and rice! Yes, it was a rice day. Spicy meat and veggies over fresh, steamy rice was the best thing ever.

I brought everything I needed into the second-floor kitchen and got to work. First, I had to rinse the rice. Next, I heated the rice water. Once the rice started steaming, it was time to cook the rest of the meal. Druid kept an eye on the heat and water levels of the rice, so I didn’t have to worry about that. I seasoned the food a bit stronger than usual today, since the meat was spicy. I also fixed some vegetable soup and steamed vegetables. At the very end, I grilled the marinated meat. We fluffed and served the rice while the meat finished cooking, and then we were ready to eat.

“That looks great.”

“Hee hee! Well, let’s dig in.”

We’d borrowed a table from the kitchen for our dinner that day. We sat down and tucked in. Every steamed vegetable in the medley was tasty and slightly sweet. It went perfectly with the spicy meat and the soft, fluffy rice. Yup. Delicious.

“Ivy, this meat is so good.”

Thank goodness he likes it.

When we were halfway through our meal, a little boy popped his head into the kitchen and yelled, “It’s coming from here!” He was probably staying on the same floor as us.

“Something wrong, kiddo?”

“I’m hungry and I smelled something yummy, so I came here and…is that it?” He pointed at the meat Druid had skewered on his fork. His eyes were bursting with curiosity.

“Say, don’t you know it’s almost dinnertime? If you eat now, you’ll spoil your appetite and make your parents mad.”

“Well, yeah, but…” He stared at the meat so hard that it was obvious how hungry he was. Even Druid was starting to look uncomfortable.

“Hey! Guttie!”

“Ugh! It’s my brother.”

The little boy’s big brother had come looking for him. Druid and I heaved a synchronized sigh of relief. We didn’t mind sharing some of our meal with Guttie, but not without his parents’ permission.

“Sorry about my little brother.”

“Oh, it’s okay.”

“I’m Luidi. We’re staying on the second floor. And this is my little brother, Guttie.”

“Hi. I’m Druid.”

“And I’m Ivy. Nice to meet you.”

Guttie gave us a hearty wave. Luidi sighed heavily, apologized for disturbing us, and dragged Guttie away.

“That Guttie is quite a little rascal,” Druid smiled, trying not to laugh.

And yes, that was exactly the impression he gave me, too. I really felt sorry for his big brother.