The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 6 - Chapter 303

Chapter 303:

Nostalgia

“EXCUSE ME, I’ve come to see if I have any faxes.”

Eight days had passed since I sent my faxes, so I came to see if I’d gotten any replies. I’d been so preoccupied with the blizzard and Sol’s problem that I’d forgotten about them, but now I remembered and figured eight days wasn’t too late to look at my replies.

“Ooh, it’s you. Please wait just a moment.” The moment the man saw my face, he began pulling out some faxes. Druid and I exchanged confused looks. His reaction was different from before. Last time, he had to check our guild cards first. I hadn’t thought we made that big of an impression on him…unless it was because I thought out loud while I wrote my letters? Was that why he remembered me? I didn’t know…but if that was the reason why, it was awfully embarrassing.

“Here they are, Miss,” the man said, bringing out the papers in question.

“Erm…all of these, sir?” There was way more than I’d expected.

“Yes, that’s right. We don’t normally get this many faaxes for one person, you know.”

“That’s incredible,” Druid remarked.

I gave the man a bewildered “thank you” and took the stack of papers from him. Wait a minute… Doesn’t one person usually write a reply on behalf of everyone? Um, well, I guess I’ll just see who wrote these. There’s one from Captain Oght with a separate reply from Vice-Captain Velivera. Then there’s replies from Seizerk and Gnouga… Wow, it looks like everybody wrote separately. Well, maybe they did it that way since it costs money to have somebody write for the whole group. Then again, none of them are hurting for money…

“Wow, what a great surprise. I’m gonna read them all right away!”

But since I had so many letters to read, I decided to look them over back at the inn. I went ahead and preemptively grabbed ten pieces of fax paper for myself. Will that be enough, I hope?

We went back to the inn, and I got some tea ready because I knew those letters would take a while to read.

Okay, I think I’ll start with the ones from Captain Oght and Velivera.

After I finished reading their letters, a smile bloomed on my face. They both said they were happy to hear from me because they’d been worried. They were also happy that I’d acquired a travel companion. From what I could tell in their letters, everything was the same on their end. Captain Oght was still giving Velivera a hard time. He said that recently, it’d been extra trying for him, since the captain had gotten to be a good escape artist. Roygurt also got caught up in their shenanigans. At the end of Velivera’s letter, Roygurt had added a list of his struggles. And Captain Oght complained that Vice-Captain Velivera had started bringing helpers to chase him around. But that’s Oght’s fault for slacking on the job in the first place. Maybe I should give him a little scolding in the next fax I send him. Velivera did beg me to do that, after all.

“Wait a minute… Um, Mr. Druid?”

“What’s wrong?”

The last page of Captain Oght’s fax confused me. It was addressed to Druid.

“Um, so Captain Oght and Vice-Captain Velivera sent you a…questionnaire?” Why did they write it out like a numbered list? “Name…age…occupation…work history…family situation…marital status? Quirks? Er, do they really need to know all this? Income…and hobbies? What in the world are they trying to find out about you, Druid? Like, everything?”

“Let me see.” Druid took the page from me and read it over.

“I’m sorry. That’s really weird, isn’t it?” Just what were the captain and vice-captain trying to do?

“No, no, it’s okay. I’ll send them a reply.”

“What?! Really?”

“Yeah, it’s all good.”

Um, why is he being so understanding?

“They’re probably worried about what kind of person you’re traveling with. Oh, and why don’t you look through all the other faaxes you haven’t read yet? I’m sure some of them have questions like this, too.”

Druid pointed at the pile of faxes I had yet to read. I gave him a strange look but checked them just the same…and he was right. There was a questionnaire signed by the Sword of Flames and the Lightning Royals together. When I showed it to Druid, he laughed and wandered off with it. Was all of this really okay?

“I’m sorry about that,” I said.

They really were worrying too much. I mean, I’m a good judge of people…and Sora always helps me out, so they should know I’m okay.

“It’s fine, Ivy. If our roles were reversed, I’d be sending them questionnaires, too.”

“Oh, that’s interes—wait, you would?”

“Yeah.”

Was that really a reasonable thing to do?

Well, anyway, I’ll take a look at the next letter. Okay, good. Seizerk and Bolorda and the others all sound like they’re doing well.

I was surprised to hear that Seizerk had gotten a girlfriend, only to be promptly dumped. Rattloore said this was the fourth time it had happened to him. Maybe it was an issue with his personality?

Oh! Speaking of Rattloore, Gnouga told me that he went to work with a hangover and almost fell off a cliff. I’d better warn him to be careful in the next fax I send him.

And as for Gnouga, he and his girlfriend had had a big fight in the plaza. It was apparently about whether or not he would eat her cooking, since her flavors were catastrophically bad. Seizerk had had a little taste of it, and he described her cooking as “extraordinary.” Hang in there, Gnouga!

Sifar had a new girlfriend. Rickbert remarked, “It’s crazy how some women are fear chasers”…but I thought that was uncalled for. Sifar’s fax even said, “Rickbert’s foolishness knows no bounds. Fear chaser my foot,” which caused quite the chill to run down my spine. I’d better tell them both to go easy on each other…though I doubt my fax will reach them in time.

Rickbert got caught up in a quarrel with his childhood friend and his girlfriend, and she gave him a serious whooping. She was an adventurer, by the way, and a pretty strong one at that. Lowcreek said, “Rickbert’s face was white as a sheet,” in his fax…

Which brings us to the man with the most interesting update: Bolorda. Get this: A lady adventurer asked him to marry her! In the plaza, in front of everyone at that! Rattloore said poor Bolorda acted a little nervous over it. Sifar’s fax read, “Bolorda’s behavior was a riot! I wish you could’ve seen it.” I’m sure he teased Bolorda relentlessly about it afterward. Well, that’s Sifar for you. Anyway, Bolorda turned her down, but she was a stubborn lady, so she’d been chasing him around and driving him crazy. The only thing Bolorda said about the matter in his fax was, “Women sure are scary when they’re angry.” I wonder what happened?

I also got a fax from Lord Foronda, which definitely caught me by surprise. He even listed the names of some aristocrats I should contact if I ever needed help in the capital. He said he’d drop them a line and tell them about me. I appreciated the gesture, but I hoped I wouldn’t ever need their help in the first place. Huh, I wonder if it’s okay for me to ask him how things are going with the princess. Would that be inappropriate? No, it should be okay if I ask him casually how things are going with her. Yeah.

Otolwa’s guild master, who knew what was going on in Hatow, asked me if I was having any trouble here. He sounded worried. Being a young guild master, he said he didn’t mind if I asked him for help. I think I’d better let him know that Hatow’s guild master is doing just fine now.

Captain Barxby wrote that he was already training his potential successors. I was surprised to hear he was already showing them the ropes so soon. Maybe I’d better drop a word of encouragement to his successors-in-training.

“Wow, I only knew them for a few months, but they all feel like old friends to me.”

Maybe it was because those few months were so intense… Okay, now it’s time to write them all back. Wait…should I respond to each of them individually? Or should I just put everything in the care of one person, like most people do? Do I actually want to write that many letters…?

“I think I’ll use Sifar as my representative and write just to him. That should be okay. I should definitely write Lord Foronda separately, though. Captain Oght, too. Yeah, that should be fine.”

I’m finally finished. Ahhh, my hand is so tired. I wish I’d gotten more fax paper. I really struggled to fit everything onto just ten pages.

“Here you go,” Druid said, handing me a cup.

As I took it, a sweet smell filled my nose. When I took a sip, the heat of the fruit tea warmed my muscles.

“Thanks. It’s delicious.”

I looked out the window to see it was snowing. It had started just a little while ago. I took another sip of hot fruit tea, and it filled my heart with nostalgia.

“Oh! I’ve tasted this tea before…”

When I went to live in the woods, I spent my whole first winter shivering in a cave. Then one day, the fortune-teller brought me some hot fruit tea. I remembered how I cried the first time I drank it, feeling the tea warm my cold muscles. Then the fortune-teller held me and smoothed my hair. After that, she would bring me the same hot tea every cold day.

I remembered how the fortune-teller’s eyes sometimes looked so pained when she was with me. Whenever I asked her why, she would just shake her head sadly in silence. Was she sad because I was shivering with cold? But looking back on it, I got the feeling it wasn’t that. I just couldn’t tell what exactly it was… That’s right. She told me once that she was sorry. But it was when I was falling asleep, so I couldn’t ask her why… Is that how it happened? Was I able to ask her later why she’d apologized? Wait…huh? If I can’t remember, does that mean I forgot all about it when I woke up?

“Ivy…don’t you like the tea?”

Huh?!

“Um, no, it’s tasty.”

“Well, you had such a solemn look in your eyes that I thought you didn’t like it.”

I guess my thoughts put a strange look on my face.

“No, this tea has a very nostalgic flavor.”

“Aha.” Druid reached out and smoothed my hair gently.

This feels so nice…

I closed my eyes, and I thought I heard Druid chuckling softly.

Fortune-Teller…are you there? I did it. I met somebody I can trust.