The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 6 - Chapter 311

Chapter 311:

Departure

“THANKS FOR EVERYTHING.”

“Thank you. Please, promise me you will absolutely come back to Hatow without fail!” Guild Master Priya begged, gripping both of my hands and squeezing them with a hard shake. I almost flinched, but I had to grit my teeth and bear it. Come to think of it, I’ve been doing a lot of that lately around Priya.

“Erm…yes, sir.”

The next time I see him, will he finally chill out a little? I hope he will… I know he will.

“Send me a faax anytime! Please!”

He always says the word “anytime” with such sparkles in his eyes… What exactly should I be doing here? I glanced around, and my eyes met Rose’s. She heaved a heavy sigh and trotted over to me.

“Just chill out, ya big fool!” Rose yanked Priya’s hand and dragged him away from me.

Salvation! I dunno why, but…Rose looks like a knight in shining armor right now.

“Hey, I was right in the middle of my last goodbye!”

“Goodbyes should be quick and not make the other person feel uncomfortable! Everybody knows that.”

Yup. You’re my knight in shining armor, Rose.

“But I was quick! I told Tableau what I wanted to say, and he thought it was way too gushy, so I barely said anything!”

Fans are scary people. Aha, Rose’s eyes are full of doubt! I wonder just what he said to Captain Tableau? Should I apologize? That’s right, when I saw him earlier today, he said, “Sorry about Priya.” So this is what he meant!

Druid, now finished saying his goodbyes, returned to my side. He shot Priya an awkward smile, then gave my head a couple of gentle pats.

“Ready to go?”

“Yeah. Goodbye, everyone. Thanks again for everything.”

We said goodbye to the gatekeeper and returned the plates we’d borrowed. I looked back at all the people who had come to send us off. There was the master of the adventurer guild, the captain and vice-captain of the village watch, the power couple at the items shop, and even the head gatekeeper was there for some reason. To be honest, we were drawing quite a bit of attention. We had spent the last several days saying our goodbyes separately specifically so that this exact thing wouldn’t happen. But I guess it was all for nothing. How strange.

“Have a safe trip. Come back soon, you hear?”

The lady gatekeeper who had greeted us when we first arrived in Hatow sent us off with a smile. Druid and I grinned in return.

“Goodbye! We’ll be back someday.”

“Goodbye.”

We waved our hands and left Hatow behind us. The people of Hatow had had a very stressful and eventful winter, but I’d thankfully steered clear of any bad incidents. Actually, I almost got caught up in the scandal with the former merchant guild master, so maybe it would be more correct to say I didn’t steer clear? Well, not many people were hurt, so I shouldn’t dwell on it.

“Hatow sure was a fun village,” I said.

“Yeah, it was.”

“Do you think it’s okay to let everyone out now?”

We had gone quite far into the forest. I didn’t sense any human auras, so I figured it would be all right to let the creatures out of the bag. I searched again for auras, had a good look around, and then opened the bag. It was good that I’d found out there were people like Rose who could mask their auras. I still hadn’t come up with a plan for dealing with that issue, but at least I knew about it.

“Now we’re headed for Hatata Village. Oh, and right after Hatata, we’re going straight to Hatada, huh? And our final destination is Hatahi.”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“Te! Ryu, ryuuu.”

Mrrrow.

“Pefu!”

All the unique voices are here, I see. Ciel’s “Mrrrow” is the most normal sounding of the bunch. Then again, it doesn’t sound like a slime.

We slowly ventured off the village road and headed deep into the forest. Ciel took the lead.

“By the way, there’s something I’ve been wondering about, sir.”

Huh? Why did my way of talking to Druid go back to normal after all this time…?

“What’s up?”

“About Snakey…do you think it’s the only big serpent like that?”

Is it even right to call it a serpent, since it’s that big? Shouldn’t I call it a deity? But I guess no matter how big it is, it’s still a serpent. So, I guess I should call it one?

“Sorry, I’m not following. What do you mean exactly?”

“Snakey has lots of babies, right?”

Those little babies didn’t look like they could have been born from that giant serpent at all. Even now, I couldn’t believe that those little black orbs would someday grow up into huge creatures like Snakey.

“Yeah…”

“Well, I don’t think all of those babies are going to get a chance to grow up, but I was just thinking it was weird that there was only one Snakey.”

The world of monsters was a very harsh place, especially when you thought about what adandaras were like. So, unfortunately, those little black orbs would likely become somebody’s prey. But it was hard to believe that every last one of them would be hunted down.

“You’re right, it is weird that there’s only one. By the way, Ivy, where exactly are we going?”

“To our first stop, Hatata Village, right? Ciel?”

Mrrrow.

“The adandara has spoken!”

“Okay.” Druid nodded, and then a pensive look filled his eyes. “I’m pretty sure there are other serpents out there, but they’re not as big as the one we know.”

So it isn’t one of a kind.

“Why are you so curious about it?” he asked.

“I was just worried that I wouldn’t be able to tell Snakey apart from any other big serpent we meet.”

“But that’s… Yeah, it would be hard to tell.”

We had a problem. Imagine not being able to tell the difference between friend and stranger… The next time we saw Snakey, I’d have to look more closely to see what was unique about it.

We had been walking away from Hatow for several hours and were quite deep into the forest now. We were standing in the midst of some thick growth. I sensed monsters in the distance, but they stayed put, probably because they sensed Ciel’s aura.

As I was sitting on a fallen tree to drink a little water, I felt an aura approaching us. “Oh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Something’s coming.”

“We’re in the forest, so it’s got to be a monster, right?”

“Right. That’s definitely a monster’s aura. Ciel, there’s a monster coming toward us, right?”

Mrrrow.

If I noticed the aura, then surely Ciel did, too. But it didn’t look worried. “Is the monster harmless?”

Mrrrow.

“Pu! Pu, puuu. Pu! Pu, puuu.”

Ciel said we were safe, but then Sora cried out and bounced all around us in circles.

“Sora? What’s wrong?” Druid also looked a bit startled.

Sora seems upset… Oh! No, it’s excited. Maybe it has something to do with the aura coming toward us? It’s definitely a fellow monster, since we’re in the forest. And since Ciel says the monster is safe and Sora is excited about it, then maybe it’s…

“Is it Snakey?”

“Pu! Pu, puuu.”

“That’s a yes.”

Now everything made sense. I was glad we would get to see Snakey here. We’d already looked around for it because we wanted to thank it, but we couldn’t find it. And since we were so far into the forest, now it made sense that we’d come up empty when we searched closer to the village.

Actually, I just realized that I’m sensing Snakey’s aura for the first time now. It’s probably decided not to mask it this time since it always startled me before. Truly a sweet creature.

“I’m happy for you guys.” I was speaking not only to Sora and Ciel, but to Flame and Sol, who were fidgeting on top of Ciel’s back.

Boy, Snakey sure is moving fast. Just as fast as Ciel. How can it possibly move its big, awkward body so quickly? It’s a mystery.

“Huh?” I said.

“What’s up?”

“Um, Snakey isn’t alone.”

The forest was so thick that I couldn’t see any of them yet, but I could tell from the faint rustling of the trees that there were more creatures around. I searched for auras and picked up on some. There were three Snakey-esque auras in total.

“There’s more auras?”

“Yeah. There are two other ones like Snakey’s.”

The other creatures were similar to Snakey because I couldn’t sense their auras unless they were close by. There was a rustling in the brush. Then the nearby trees began to shake, and I was able to catch a glimpse of their heads through the branches.

“Ha ha! Well, this is a tough one,” Druid laughed.

And indeed, Druid had an answer to the question he asked earlier. It really was quite hard to tell the difference between the serpents.

“Long time no see. Um…”

I looked at the three one by one…and I honestly couldn’t tell them apart. Hmm…which is the one we met in the cave? Huh, wait… Their auras are a little different. Oh! I looked at the serpent farthest to the right. I know that aura! This is the Snakey we met in the cave! I waved to the one on the right, and it happily slithered straight toward me.

“Huh?! Whoa, hold up!”

I braced myself so the serpent wouldn’t knock me down. Then, when it was just a few centimeters away, it stopped abruptly and happily leaned its face toward mine. This was truly a near miss. If it had kept coming at me at that speed, I would’ve been in trouble. I noticed Druid was also sighing in relief beside me. He had probably positioned himself to catch me in case Snakey pushed me over.

“Krr-rr!” it trilled merrily.

I gave Snakey’s head a couple of pats, and it rubbed its nose against my hand. How are the other two serpents doing? I looked to my left and watched in wonder as my companions gently rubbed the noses of the happy creatures.

Okay, first impressions are important.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ivy.”

I greeted the other two serpents, who stared intensely at me in reply. I smiled and waved at them. They just stared at me like that for a while…then slowly approached me and gave me a good looking over, smelling me as they went. Do snakes have a good sense of smell? But my biggest reaction of all was…

“For such big creatures, they sure bob their heads daintily as they smell me. It’s just so darned cute!” A smile filled my face.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the way you see things, Ivy. I mean, how can you be so accepting of someone you barely know?”

Druid said something, but it was too quiet to hear. I glanced at him, and he gave me a slightly frustrated look in reply. I don’t get it. Did I do something to irritate him?