The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 5 - Chapter 260

Chapter 260:

Peace of Mind

When I tried to pick the dark blue gloves since they would be the best at hiding dirt, Druid encouraged me to get the white ones instead.

“But dirt won’t show up as much on the dark gloves.”

“But you can just wash them. And if they get too dirty, we can always buy another pair. From what I’ve heard, you need to replace your gloves every year or two anyway.”

Wow, they really have such a short life?

“The fur lining flattens after a year or two, and they don’t keep your hands as warm anymore.”

I looked inside the gloves and saw that he was right. They were lined with some kind of fur.

“Then I guess…”

“You’ll go with the white gloves.”

I was going to put my foot down and say no, I didn’t want gloves that would get dirty so quickly. But when I looked at Druid, he was already handing the white gloves to Baluka.

“Mr. Druid?”

“Sorry, Ivy, could you try these on for size?”

“Huh? Oh, uh, sure.”

I took the gloves and slid my hands into them. I could wiggle my fingers, so they were on the large side.

“So sorry. It looks like you have some room in the fingers.”

“Do you have a smaller pair, sir?”

“Oh, I can easily alter these gloves. Could you please remove them? I’ll just take your finger measurements.”

Baluka helped me take off the gloves and measured my fingers with a ruler. We were apparently committed to buying them now, so I bit my tongue. I stole a glance at Druid and saw that he was beaming radiantly as he watched us. Maybe I should just let him spoil me?

“There. All done.”

“Thank you, sir…”

Yeah. Let’s get spoiled.

“How long will the alterations take?”

“I can have them ready tomorrow.”

“Oh, good.”

I could tell just from the short time I had tried the gloves on for size that they were extremely warm. One part of me felt guilty about getting them, but a bigger part was very excited.

Druid and Baluka plunged into a conversation about men’s clothes, so I decided to have a look around the shop. He had a bunch of different products on display this time. This shop seemed to be incredibly popular.

“That won’t work. We need to sort that out ourselves.” A customer’s gruff voice sounded from nearby. I felt bad eavesdropping, so I was trying to discreetly sneak away when I heard another voice.

“Oh, so you agree with me? Yeah, that’s right. You have to protect your own life.”

What? Did they just say “protect your life”? Those words made me stop in my tracks.

“But how are we supposed to gather magic stones now?” a woman asked.

Magic stones… Does that mean they’re talking about this winter? But aren’t both guilds and the watchmen already doing their best to get them? I slowly looked over to the conversing pair and saw two women talking with very solemn looks on their faces. They really did seem to think that they had to gather their own magic stones. Maybe they didn’t trust the guilds or the watch. I thought back to Druid and Rose’s conversation from a little while ago. They had both said we were in a “dangerous situation.” Did they mean it was dangerous because the villagers were losing faith in their local government? But these were all very hardworking people who were committed to protecting their village and their fellow citizens. Sure, there were some exceptions, but they were few and far between.

I recalled the guild master of Oll, Gotos, who was Druid’s best friend in the present and probably in the past as well. Even though he looked intimidating, he was easy to talk to. I didn’t sense a wall between us. And even when Oll was in such dire straits, Gotos and everyone who worked for him always had smiles on their faces. He had incredible judgment skills and was trusted by everyone…though he wasn’t very good with paperwork, according to Druid.

Even so, all the adventurers and villagers trusted him. And it was because they trusted him that they managed to endure even when the gurbars went berserk and the town was plunged into a state of uncertainty. Hm? Endure? Yes…that’s it exactly. They were able to endure all the hardships because they believed their head watchman and guild master would do something to help. I hadn’t seen much of the head watchman in Oll, aside from the one time he’d been with the guild master when I went to see him, so I didn’t even catch his name. But I got the sense that he and the two guild masters would do whatever it took to help us all. This village also had a head watchman and two guild masters. Whether or not the merchant guild master would be of any help was a mystery, but there were still two capable people at the top. And yet the villagers’ minds were not at peace. That was why they were taking matters into their own hands. I guess leaders are no good unless they can take care of run-of-the-mill matters as well.

“Ivy?”

“Oh! Yes?” I was startled out of my thoughts.

“Are you okay? Did something happen?” Druid peered worriedly into my eyes. I must have had a strange look on my face, but this was neither the time nor the place to talk about it.

“I’m fine. Are you finished talking with Baluka?”

“Yeah, I asked them to add in a little embroidery with blue thread.”

“Hm? What’re you talking about?”

“Your gloves, Ivy.”

Huh? Weren’t they talking about Druid’s clothes? Uh-oh. I should have stayed and listened to what they were saying.

“I asked them to embroider some cute blue flowers.”

Oh, please. Get that happy grin off your face. You look so… Actually, I’m happy, too.

“Um…thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Wanna head back?”

“Yeah, we have to buy some groceries.”

“Right. Let’s go.”

We said goodbye to Baluka and left the shop. I glanced at the two women and saw that they were still having a solemn conversation.

“Will the grocery store on the way home have what you need?”

“I’m just looking for meat and this village’s mother sauce.”

“That should be doable.”

We turned onto Main Street and walked toward our inn. Along with the drop in temperature, there were fewer roadside stalls and less foot traffic.

“Wait a minute…it looks closed.” The lights were out in the shop when we arrived.

“There sure are a lot of closed shops.”

About half of the shops on Main Street were shuttered that day.

“What should we do?” I asked. “It’s a little too late to find someplace else.”

Druid and I went by each shop we could find around Main Street to see if any groceries were available.

“Aha! Over there.” As we crossed a one-way street, we saw signs for a butcher and a grocery store.

“Oh, good. I’m glad they’re not too far away.”

“Yeah.”

We hurried over to the stores. We had been outside for so long that our bodies were freezing to the core.

“Welcome! Come on in.” Two voices greeted us when we entered the shop.

“Mr. Druid, look! This shop is part of the grocery store.”

“So it is.”

From the outside, it looked like two separate stores, but inside we could see that there was no wall separating the two. Surprised by the unusual design, neither of us could stop ourselves from looking around the store with our heads bobbing.

“Come in…is it really that strange in here to you?”

I looked up at the sound of the voice and saw a woman nodding to greet us.

“Hello. Yes, this is our first time here, so we’re pretty surprised.”

“The grocery store is my brother’s. I run the butcher’s shop on this side.”

Oh, so it’s a family business.

“What’ll it be? Meat, I assume?”

“We need some meat, and we’d also like this village’s mother sauce. Can we buy them together?”

“Sure.”

“Thank you. What meat do you recommend?”

Druid and I checked out the meat on the shelves. Huh? That’s strange. The butcher I went to last time mostly sold hols and tein meats, but I don’t see them here.

“We only sell wild game. Is that all right with you?”

Oh, that makes sense. I guess I’ll have to change my plans a little. Come to think of it, I don’t really know exactly what kind of game you can hunt near Hatow in the first place. The inn served smoked meats, but I didn’t bother to check what animal they came from.

“Um, do you have any meat that isn’t so gamey?”

“These two are the least gamey compared to the others. What do you plan on cooking with it?”

“We’re going to mix it with rice.”

“With…ryce? Um…ryce?!” She sounded utterly dumbfounded. I supposed Hatow was also put off by the idea of eating rice. Rose must have been the exception.

“You’re kidding, right? You can’t really mean ryce?”

“Yes, we do.”

Her level of surprise was downright bizarre… Was everything going to be okay? Maybe I should have just said something vague?

“I love ryce, too! But nobody else understands my love of it and I feel so alone! Eeee, I’m so happy I have some ryce buddies!”

Wow, you don’t see that every day. I’ve found another rice lover!