The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 6 - Chapter 281

Chapter 281:

But Slimes Can Create, Too!

TABLEAU AND PITH sketched drawings of the summoning circle on pieces of paper while Priya activated a magic item and began doing something with it. I was a little surprised by this, since I’d just assumed they would return to the village for reinforcements right away. I never thought they’d actually start the work by themselves. Druid and I scooted back so as not to bother them while they worked.

Captain Tableau came over to us and said, “Thank you so much for bringing us here.”

“No problem. Did you realize something when you looked at the summoning circle? I noticed you seemed quite shocked earlier.”

Huh? Were they shocked? I hadn’t noticed.

“Yes, we tried to hide our shock, but…you see, long ago, some people tried to capture our guardian deity. And this summoning circle resembles the one they used back then. But I’ve only seen drawings of it in the records passed down from the former captain, so I can’t rely entirely on my memory. I’ll have to check the documents later. But to be honest…I hope I’m wrong.”

Huh? Wait, wouldn’t what you just said fall into the category of information Druid and I shouldn’t know about? I mean, it looks just like the summoning circle someone used to try to capture the guardian deity, right? I know we’re still not sure if this circle was being used for the same reason…but it’s definitely possible. So I really don’t think he should tell people like Druid and me who saw the thing clearly.

“Captain Tableau, you trust us way too much,” Druid said.

Aha, so he agrees with me!

“Huh?! Oh!” Tableau looked horrified. I guess that means he ran his mouth without thinking? Well, it’s okay. We can always pretend we didn’t hear that.

“I’m so sorry. I guess I got a little ahead of myself there. Honestly, if you’ll pardon my brashness, I’d like you to tell me if there’s anything about this situation that strikes you as odd.”

What does he mean by that?

“You see, the matter between us and the merchant guild’s former master still hasn’t been resolved yet. And I’m worried it’ll cause me to make a fatal mistake somewhere down the line.”

Yeah, I seem to remember hearing the merchant guild master was caught doing something wrong. Is that problem still going on?

“Are you worried that the former guild master’s accomplices have infiltrated the village watch?”

“Yes. That’s why I haven’t been calling for very much backup, especially with this summoning circle. If word of this leaks out, we could put our guardian deity in danger.”

Now it was all clear. So that was why the three men had investigated this on their own. Things can get rather stressful when you can’t trust your comrades—I remembered Bolorda saying something like that.

“Okay, now all of this makes more sense,” Druid said, nodding in understanding.

“I’m so sorry.” Captain Tableau bowed his head to the two of us. “This is going to put a burden on you both.”

“But we’ll help out however we can, right, Mr. Druid?”

“Yes, of course we will.”

Captain Tableau was clearly relieved to hear us say that. It looked like he was wound up pretty tight over this.

Then Priya’s voice echoed through the cave. “This is going to take a while longer. Do you want to go back to the village?”

“No, we can wait here,” Druid said. “That okay with you, Ivy?”

“Sure.”

I watched as Captain Tableau ran back over to Priya and Pith, who had finished sketching the summoning circle and moved on to something else.

“Oh yeah! Mr. Druid, I just remembered something. May I ask, do most people assume that slimes only perform the task of waste disposal?” Ack! There I go again, talking all polite to him. “Y’know, what Priya said made me wonder.”

The things we’d talked about back at the village watch headquarters just wouldn’t leave my restless mind. I mean, there were slimes like Flame who also had the power to create things!

“Average and rare is a strange way to put it, but did you know that there are some slimes in the ‘rare’ category that are comparatively easier to find?”

“Yeah.”

I did remember reading about rare slimes with extra-powerful digestive abilities and ones that specialized in disposing of unique items. And both of those types were easier to find and tame than other rare slimes.

“Right now, I think we only know about ten types of slime, and all of them are skilled at digesting things. In fact, digesting things is the only ability they have.”

Are there really ten whole kinds of slime that are easy to trap? I had no idea there were that many.

“And most of the slimes that are difficult to find have nothing other than digestive abilities. Lately, more and more adventurers have started thinking that slimes only have the power of digestion.”

So that’s what everyone believes… Well, they really are good at digesting things. Sora can down an entire longsword in a matter of minutes, and Flame’s potion-digesting powers are on par with Sora’s.

“It’s definitely true that some slimes have other powers, but during the past several decades, not so much as a rumor of them has popped up.”

I guess that makes sense. If nobody sees those rare slimes or hears any rumors about them, people are bound to forget about them over time.

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Huh?!” I spun around at the sound of Sora’s voice to see the face of a giant serpent right in front of my eyes.

“Whoa!” Druid yelped, also taken by surprise.

“Ergh!” My shock made me grunt in the weirdest way.

Snakey just stared back at us.

“Pu pu?”

“Teryu?”

Mew?

Hearing voices, I looked on top of Snakey’s head…and saw three slimes and the black orbs herded together. They’d all come in here to see what was taking us so long.

Should I introduce all the creatures to Captain Tableau’s party? Well, I guess I should ask the creatures in question first.

“Hey, Snakey, do you mind if I introduce you to those three men over there? They’re the captain and vice-captain of the village watch and the guild master.”

Snakey stared hard at the three men around the summoning circle. Then it looked at me and trilled “Krrr-rr!” with a single nod of its head.

“Thanks.” I gave Snakey’s nose a little pat. The way it narrowed its eyes to slits was so cute.

“Oh, Ivy, true to form as ever.”

“What do you mean?”

“Wouldn’t most people feel a little nervous if a giant monster appeared right in front of their face?”

Nervous? I stole a soft glance at my monsters playing atop the deity’s head. I didn’t think I could possibly feel nervous in the presence of that. I looked at Druid to find that he was also watching the little creatures. Sora and Ciel were bouncing freely on Snakey’s head. The black orbs were frolicking as well, so there was quite the party atop the giant serpent’s noggin. 

Meanwhile, Flame looked like it was chewing on Snakey’s head for some reason. I gave the deity a worried glance, but it didn’t seem to mind. It even rubbed its nose against my hand. Maybe it felt good?

“Is it okay that Flame’s doing that?”

“It doesn’t seem to mind.”

“Huh. Yeah, I get it now… It would be impossible to feel nervous, looking at them.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the tired edge in Druid’s tone. I guess we should ask the three men to come over here for introductions.

“Captain Tableau, Snakey is here to check in on us.”

The three looked up at me from their work…and froze. Epically so. Pith even let the papers he was holding flutter to the floor.

“It’s quite all right, sirs. Snakey is very sweet. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

I tried to tell them they were overreacting, but for some reason, they still didn’t budge. I glanced at Druid to find that he was having a laughing fit. But why?