The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 5 - Chapter 259

Chapter 259:

The Mood in Town

It was a relief to see Ciel come back with a full stomach. Since animals hibernated during the winter, that meant Ciel had to hunt monsters for its food. And since monsters were stronger than animals, I couldn’t help but worry about my adandara.

“Ciel, are you all full?”

Mrrrow.

Ha ha ha, look at that big smile on its face. I got Ciel to shapeshift into a slime so I could put it in the bag. Watching that giant creature turn into a little slime always astounded me, no matter how many times I witnessed it.

We returned to the village and walked down Main Street to Rose’s shop. On the way, we noticed that the villagers seemed a bit on edge.

“I wonder what’s going on?” I asked.

“Me, too… The atmosphere here is pretty hostile. Let’s hurry to Rose’s shop.”

We quickened our pace to get there.

“Good afternoon, ma’am.”

“Welcome to my st—oh, hi.”

“Sorry we keep coming back every day.”

“Nah, I’m glad to have ya here. Not too many customers comin’ by in winter, what with the cold and all.”

It was good to know we weren’t bothering her. We set down Flame’s regenerated magic stones in front of her. Rose looked worried at the sight of them, and no wonder. It was only the previous day that she’d seen it regenerate so many other ones.

“Is Flame okay, hon? Oh, wow! I’m giving this magic stone back. It’s too high-level.”

Since I’d lumped all the magic stones together in one bag, there were Level 1 and Level 2 magic stones in the mix. Rose wrapped two of them in a cloth and gave them back to us. Druid chuckled awkwardly as he stored them in our bag.

“I told Flame not to push itself too hard, so it should be okay.”

“Okay. Where’s Flame now?”

“Fast asleep.”

I opened the bag, and Sora and Ciel bounded out playfully.

“Ack! Sora! Ciel! Not now.”

“It’s okay, I’ll just put out my ‘gone on break’ sign and lock the door. I can afford to close up for a bit.” Rose shut the door and took the precautions she’d described. I felt bad that we were cramping her style, but she gave my hanging head a gentle, reassuring pat.

“Ya worry too much,” she chuckled.

I opened my bag again and pulled Flame out. I checked its mouth, but it still wasn’t drooling yet. Oh, the stain is gone now! Yes, the stain that had been on Flame’s chest when I put it in the bag earlier had disappeared. I wonder what happened?

“Little fella sure does sleep a lot,” Rose cooed.

“Flame sleeps all day, actually,” Druid said. “Every now and then it sleeps all day and night, aside from mealtimes.”

Rose looked a bit startled. “Ha ha ha…well, that is quite impressive.”

“I know, right?”

“Well, as lovely as that sounds, I’d probably get sick of it after a day of sleepin’,” Rose said.

The lifestyle did seem wrong for her. For all her grumbling about things being a hassle, Rose definitely struck me as a hard worker.

“By the way, Rose, did something happen in town? It feels like everyone’s on edge.”

“Oh, yeah. That damn Hisaza got caught stealing magic stones from a young travelin’ adventurer. What a damn fool. But half of the villagers don’t think he did anything wrong. They say he was just stealin’ for the good of Hatow.”

If you do bad things, you’ll always get caught eventually. But the villagers think he did it for them? They’re wrong, though. If more people start acting like this, it’ll only hurt the villagers.

“They’re huge fools, the lot of them. It’s a big enough scandal as it is that a guild master would commit a crime…but the villagers takin’ his side on top of that? If word of this gets out to the other villages and towns, Hatow can say goodbye to its reputation. The entire life of this village could be at stake.”

If people lost their trust in Hatow, fewer adventurers and merchants would travel here. That would lead to Hatow deteriorating over time. No matter how big your community is, a reputation for integrity is very important. Didn’t the villagers of Hatow realize this?

“What a dangerous situation we’re in.”

“Yeah, ya think so, too, hon?”

Why is it dangerous? Because the villagers are standing with their lawbreaking guild master? Or is it something else?

Rose sighed. “Maybe those two aren’t up to the task yet.”

Those two…does she mean Captain Tableau and Guild Master Priya? I don’t really get it.

Silence hung over the room.

Oh no. Neither of them can think of anything to say. Um…I guess this means bad things are happening in Hatow. Which means the problems are only getting worse for the people in charge?

“They’ll have to work through this, or else they’re doomed,” Rose lamented.

Wow, this tension is making me really uncomfortable.

“Then we’ll just have to trust them,” Druid said.

“Do ya know any leaders, Druid?”

“Yes. Guild master of an adventurer guild. He’s still going strong.”

“I see. Hm? Oh, sorry, Ivy. Didn’t mean to give ya that look on your face.”

Huh? What look on my face? Rose caressed my hair and smiled softly.

“Excuse me, Rose, but do you have any winter gloves in your shop?” Druid asked suddenly.

I gave him a surprised look, and he replied with a playful grin. I guess he changed the subject for my sake. I wonder…what kind of look did I have on my face?

“Winter gloves? Well, if ya wanna protect your hand from your sword, there’s no difference between winter and summer, right?”

“That’s not what I meant. Ivy gets cold easily, so I was wondering if you had any winter gloves.”

“Oh, ya mean those kinds of gloves. You’ll have to go to a clothing shop. Maybe try a shop that sells cloaks?”

“Okay…do you think Modd would have them?”

“Yep. They’ve got all the latest fashion there. But if ya wanna buy some gloves, I think ya should get them sooner than later.” Rose looked outside. I hadn’t noticed earlier, but the clouds were looking a bit threatening. Was it about to snow?

“Good idea. Ivy, want to go there now?”

“Sure. Sora, Ciel, we’re leaving. Come on back.”

The two playing creatures jumped into my arms. It was something they did all the time, so I was used to it by now. Sometimes I dropped them, but today I managed to catch both of them safely.

“Wow, that’s some trick,” Rose said.

“They’re a real handful. They love playing and pulling pranks.”

“Well, I love me a good prank, too. Oh, that sure was a fun day.”

She really had given me a scare then. When her arm suddenly… No, don’t think about it. I hated how realistic it looked.

“You’d better take it easy, Rose, or your pranks will bite you in the foot.”

“Oh, I’ve been bitten plenty of times already.”

“I don’t suppose…that quitting pranking is on the table for you?”

“No way, kid. Why would I quit somethin’ so fun?”

Druid and I sighed.

“Come on, you two, that’s exactly what Tableau did.”

“Yes, he does seem to be the nervous type,” Druid said.

That made me laugh. It was all too easy to picture a flustered Tableau dealing with his mother’s crazy pranks.

“Humph!”

“Ha ha ha. Okay, Ivy, should we head out?”

“Sure.”

“Thanks for the magic stones, you two. I’m really glad to have them. Be sure to tell Flame not to push itself too hard.”

“We will, ma’am. Well, goodbye… Wait, I almost forgot. Rose, are you going to be in your shop for a while longer today?”

“Yeah, I will. What’s up?”

What did we forget?

“Remember how Ivy promised a while back to teach you how to make onigiri from ryce?”

Oh, wow. We talked about that just yesterday and I forgot again… That makes me kind of sad.

“Oh, right! We did promise.”

“Ivy, when would be a good time for you?”

“Well, we’ll have to buy the ingredients today and then get started this evening, so tomorrow should be okay.”

“Tomorrow works for me. Delos will be here then, too. Oh, I’m excited.”

We really had made a habit of coming to Rose’s shop every day, but she always smiled around us, so I guessed it was okay. After cementing our plans for the next day, we finally left her shop for real.

As we were on our way to Modd, a cold and painful breeze cut my face. Winter was brutal this year.

“Welcome! Oh, hello there. Long time no see.”

“Good to see you again. We’ve got something we want to ask you.”

Baluka rushed over to greet us at the shop entrance. He already had two customers inside.

“Yes, what can I do for you?”

“We heard you sell winter gloves. Do you have any in stock?”

“We do. They’re from a couple of years ago, though.”

Baluka escorted us over to a shelf with rows of colorful gloves lined up inside. They looked quite different from the armored one Druid wore.

“Oooh… Oh, wow! How about this pair?” Druid held up a cute pair of pink gloves with flowers embroidered on them. I thought they were a little too frilly.

“Uh, they’re not exactly me…”

“Are you sure? I think they’re really cute.”

“I think they’re too bold for my coat…”

My coat was a light blue, so pink gloves would clash with it. And these gloves Druid had picked out were a very bright pink indeed.

Druid and Baluka sighed in unison. Sometimes those two seemed like they were cut from the same cloth. I didn’t understand why they were both so disappointed.

“Well, if you want something that will go with your coat, I recommend these three pairs.” Baluka showed me three sets of gloves: white, light blue, and dark blue. They had no embroidery, either, so they were very plain and sensible.

“Um…don’t you have something cuter?” Druid asked.

Baluka shook his head sadly and answered, “We’re all sold out.”

“I wish we’d come here sooner,” Druid sighed. He sounded very dissatisfied, but the three pairs of gloves were perfect as far as I was concerned. I wanted to explain to them that I only cared about keeping out the cold…but I had a feeling that would just make them more disappointed.