The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick up Trash - Volume 6 - Chapter 314

Chapter 314:

Our Plans in Hatata Village?

“SORA, CIEL, be careful not to fall off!”

We were zipping through the forest on top of Snakey. When we’d gotten up that morning, had our breakfast, and started to head for Hatata Village on our own, Snakey grabbed me in its mouth and hoisted me up onto its back again. A different serpent put Druid on its back.

“Intense, isn’t it?” he remarked.

We were in a grand procession of serpents, slithering in twos and threes. We’d thought our serpent mounts were going to be our only companions, but the rest of the giant snakes followed after them. I turned around and saw a trail of serpents behind us. Incidentally, there were several normal-sized ones among them, but they’d stayed behind to look after the little black orb babies.

“It all feels so…majestic,” I replied.

“I see what you mean.”

Druid also turned around to marvel at the sight behind us. Sometimes, we could spot Sora and Ciel bouncing among them. They were making a game out of jumping from serpent to serpent. I was nervous they would fall off, but they wouldn’t stop doing it. They were really enjoying themselves.

“They’re taking years off my life…” I groaned.

“We’ll just have to trust them. I’m sure the serpents will save them if they fall off.”

He was right. All the serpents there were so kind. Whenever I almost tripped and fell, they would always slide under me to catch me. And when Flame started to fall asleep, they gently carried it to me. They were so affectionate and devoted.

“Why do you think they’re so sweet?” I asked.

“According to the books, serpents who reach a certain size are violent.”

Really? They’re violent? I stole a quiet glance at Snakey’s face. Noticing my gaze, it looked at me and flicked out its tongue.

“Do you think maybe whoever wrote that only judged them by appearances?”

I’ll admit that a serpent this size appeared quite intense when it opened its mouth. And depending on who you were, the sight of a bright-red tongue slithering out of the aforementioned intense mouth might strike terror in your heart. Personally, I thought their red tongues were cute when they slithered like that. But Druid had warned me the previous night that I should choose my words wisely around other people when it came to monsters. I had always thought that my definition of “cute” was a bit different from everyone else’s, but in fact it was vastly different. However, since I couldn’t tell firsthand just what about my perceptions was so unusual, I didn’t quite know how to choose my words wisely…

“It sure is warm today.”

Even in the forest, there was a springlike breeze flowing around. Although the winds were zipping past us as we rode on the serpents, it didn’t feel cold at all.

“Yes, spring is definitely here.”

The little patches of spring blooms in the forest would burst into color soon. Then, after they ripened into fruits in the summer, we would have a very fun season of all-you-can-pick sweet treats.

“Our trip to Hatata Village sure wound up being easy,” I remarked.

“Yeah, it was better than I expected. We might be able to make up all that lost time from leaving behind schedule, too.”

Though the snow had stopped accumulating, the weather just hadn’t warmed up enough for us to leave Hatow Village on time, so we were lucky to get a ride from the serpents all the way to Hatata Village. Based on the calculations we’d made the previous day, we would arrive in Hatata before the day was over. The trip would have taken us at least nine days on foot, even if we hurried, so we were going to arrive much earlier than planned. When we checked the map to see just how fast we were traveling, we noticed that there was a big detour between Hatow and Hatata. But since we were riding on the serpents through the forest, we could cut straight through and bypass it. That was how we could arrive in Hatata at such an alarming speed.

“By the way, Mr. Druid…”

“Yes?”

“Is there any reason we need to go to Hatata?”

“Huh?”

Hatata Village was the first stop on our schedule, so we’d been heading there without a second thought. But when I thought about our plans in Hatata, I started to question why we were going in the first place.

“We were going to Hatata to look for food for Sol, right?”

If we were able to find illegal dumps in the forest, we could secure some food for Sol, but otherwise we would need to stop at Hatata to do so. After all, our original schedule required at least nine days to reach Hatata. But now, we would get there in just one day. We still had plenty of food stored for Sol in our magic bags.

“Now that you mention it, that was our only reason to stop by Hatata, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

And it was only a five-day trek from Hatata to Hatada. It was a mystery why there were two villages so close together. So, I felt like it would make sense to just skip past Hatata and go straight to Hatada instead.

“I think we just got the idea stuck in our heads that we had to go to Hatata.” Druid looked a bit sheepish. Snakey lifted its head and turned to look at us. Since we were in an area thick with trees just then, I really wished the serpents would look straight ahead. I didn’t want them to hurt themselves.

“What do you think we should do?” I asked.

“Well, if we don’t have anything to do in Hatata, should we just go to Hatada?”

That would get us to Hatahi sooner. And the sooner we got there, the more time we would have to find a good inn. But then again, the sooner we got to the inn, the bigger our bill would be.

“No, Ivy, I’d like you to see both villages. They’re interesting places.”

They’re interesting?

“What’s so interesting about them?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see. Oh, serpent, sorry to trouble you, but could you stay on course for Hatata after all?”

The serpent nodded and turned to look ahead again. Then it ramped up its speed.

“Whoa…you can go even faster? Amazing.”

Since the serpents were protective of us, we didn’t need to worry about falling off or getting knocked around by the wind. That meant we could sit naturally and enjoy the ride. I looked to the side and saw that Druid was having just as much fun as I was.

“Oh no! Sora and Ciel!” I looked over, worried that they had fallen off…only to see the two creatures in Snakey’s mouth. I didn’t know why it had needed to grab ahold of them, but at least they were safe. “If I didn’t know better, I would think Snakey was eating them,” I said.

Druid followed my gaze and then yelped in surprise. “What happened?”

“I dunno. I was worried about them since we were going so fast, so I looked over…and saw them in Snakey’s mouth.”

We kept an eye on them for a while. Even though they were inside a serpent’s mouth, they were both quite relaxed, and the serpent doing the carrying didn’t seem at all bothered by it.

“Looks like everything’s okay,” I said.

“I’m a little worried about that serpent keeping its mouth open…but it doesn’t seem to mind.”

I was concerned about that, too. I’d hate to run for a long time with my mouth open like that, but Snakey didn’t seem bothered as far as I could tell. I took a deep breath in and out and turned my focus ahead. Gradually, the trees of the forest were changing. Soon, we would be out of the woods that the serpents had always guarded.

“Snakey, we’re about to leave your forest. Can you slow down a little?”

The serpent kept its eyes forward and nodded before slowly lowering its speed. After a little while, we were in a section of forest where we could see the village road.

“Huh? Mr. Druid, is that a dump?”

Druid looked where I was pointing. “Serpent, I think that’s the dump. Please stop there.”

The serpent Druid was riding headed for the dump, and Snakey followed suit. When we arrived at the dump, the serpents let us climb off.

“Thank you. Sol, it’s lunchtime.”

Sol and Flame had spent the whole morning sleeping in their bag. When I looked inside, they were still asleep.

“Sol, wake up! Let’s have lunch.”

“Pefu?” Sol lazily lifted its little head to look at me. It was still half-asleep.

“Good morninnng.”

“Pefuuu…”

Oh, don’t go back to sleep!