Chapter 19

"I'm back!" Lyn said, walking back to his carriage. Rino and Raphtalia were sparring, with Raphtalia being a little more aggressive than usual. However their spar came to a pause when they saw Lyn.

"So how did it go?"

"Horrible. Well, guess we are leaving and profiting on human stupidity. Up until then, we need to make sure they won't spread the plague to other villages and cause an epidemic. And after that, we can stop by the hot streams and take a break while we let regret sink in."

"Sounds great. When are we going to leave?"

"After Wyndia and the dragons come back and we have dinner," Lyn replied, summoning several Airstrike shields to act as a furnace, a table, and one as a fridge. Then he threw a couple of seeds on the ground next to him and watched as they grew. With this setup he quickly got to work.

Lyn finished cooking just as Wyndia, Gaelion and Kayda returned from their grind.

"Kya!"

*Grown*

Before Lyn could ask anything, Kayda began devouring one of the monsters Lyn cooked.

"So how did it go?"

"Well, we got to level 40, but even after that Kayda continued to kill monsters for almost 30 minutes."

"Level 40 in just one day? You're already ahead of me!" Rino yelled from where she and Raphatalia were practicing magic.

"Well we didn't go too far into the forest so we didn't kill anything worth much. And we increased the EXP bonus today, so it's no surprise that they're already ready for their class up Even I got a level despite only receiving around 20% due to distance. I'll get Kayda to grind with you tomorrow."

"But how are we going to get a class up in Melromarc?" Wyndia asked.

Lyn smirked and pulled out the [Dragon Hourglass Sand Shield] and walked up to Wyndia.

"We aren't. One of the Shield's many abilities is to Class-up without the need of the giant Hourglass inside the church. You could pick whatever you want or I can triple your stats."

"Gau!" Gaelion exclaimed, looking at the shield.

"Let's do the triple stats!"

"Alright, who first?"

"Gau!" Gaelion said, putting his hand on the shield. The shield began to glow and engulfed Gaelion for a brief moment before disappearing along with the star next to his level.

"Gau?"

"That should be it, next."

"My turn," Wyndia put her hand on the shield and looked at her status. Lyn repeated the process and increased Wyndias stats.

"Wow, my stats really tripled!"

"Yep, help yourself to the food before Kayda eats it all."

"Kua?" Kayda mumbled innocently with some food in her mouth

"Grrr. You will not take Firo's food," Firo grumbled, staring at Kayda while swallowing a potato.

"Kua?!" she yelled.

"Bon appetit, Kayda, come here and let me class you up."

"Kua!" she jumped off of the giant shield and hopped over to Lyn with some food still in her mouth.

After her class up was done, Lyn sprayed the plants with herbicide and threw the leftovers into his shield. Then he equipped the [Chimera Bone Shield], wrapped it up in his jacket, equipped the [Human Meat Shield] and threw the shield into the pile of shield skills he made earlier. He sighed and opened his shield, upgrading his shields in his status and waiting for his teammates to fall asleep. He yawned and pulled out a bottle of medicine and downed it before setting more rope shields and medicine to autocraft.

So Motoyasu released a demon seed, Ren will be blamed for the plague, anda I'm the demon. Itsuki, I sure hope you don't f*ck up as well or we're all screwed.

Lyn checked his ally list. Ren's health was at 100%.

Well, at least he's alright.

Lyn continued upgrading his top shield until he heard a ping that his equipped shield was finally mastered.

[Human Meat Shield] (Unawakened) Lv. 1 0/15 C

Abilities Mastered: Strength Up (Small)

Lyn awakened the shield.

[Human Meat Shield] (Awakened) Lv. 1 0/15 C

Abilities Mastered: Strength Up (Medium)

And increased its rarity a few times.

[Human Meat Shield] (Awakened) Lv. 1 0/15 LR

Abilities Mastered: Strength Up (Medium)

Abilities Unmastered:

Equip Bonus: Agility Up (Medium)

Special Effect: Strength Up (High), Agility Up (High), HP Recovery (Small)

He left the shield to master the second bonus and got up. Looking around, he walked over to the presence he felt not too far away.

"Hey," he said to the side. "I know you're there. Show yourself."

Instead of showing themselves, the presence dashed away. Lyn sighed.

How many people were sent for us? Though that demi-human didn't follow me, and seemed to instead stalk my team. I guess I should look into that later.

The rest of the night was uneventful so Lyn continued to master shields, crafting medicine and making accessories for his weapon.

When the morning came, the Shield Hero party left. It was an eventful morning, trying to get Firo to let Wyndia and Gaelion into the carriage.

"One dragon was enough, I don't want any more inside my carriage."

But eventually after some bribery with food and headpats, Firo agreed and the team was finally on the move. Raphtalia was in the front, Rino was in the back with the newcomers and dragon eggs, and Lyn was on the roof petting Kayda and holding the last filolial egg.

"Lyn-sama, how long is it until the egg hatches?"

"It should hatch in a few more days. Can't wait till we hear more screaming in the morning. Yay," Lyn replied sarcastically.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to get another Filolial?" Rino asked.

"It's going to be fine. I hope," he mumbled the last part.

"Daddy, there are some people up ahead."

Lyn looked forward and saw another carriage surrounded by what looked like bandits.

"Firo, stop next to them. Kick them if anything happens."

"Okay~!" Firo exclaimed, pulling the carriage closer to the other carriage. The bandits surrounded a small fat man in the middle of the road. One bandit was standing a few meters away from the comotion.

"Look man, if you just give us the goods, we will let you walk out of here with your life."

"P-please, t-that's all I have," the fat man stuttered.

"I know your type. You always have something else hidden away somewhere. So just hand it over while we're asking nicely."

"Oi, mates. What's going on here?" Lyn yelled, hopping off of the roof of his carriage and walked over to the men. The one who looked like the leader smirked.

"Looks like it's our lucky day. Who would have thought that this road would be so popular?"

"What are you doing in the middle of the road? I have plans, you know," Lyn explained, stopping just before he reached the second carriage.

"You should be less worried about your plans and more worried about your lives. However, if you let us play with your girls for a bit, we might let you leave unharmed."

…

Lyn looked back at his companions, who all looked pretty mad. He equipped his [Rope shield] and pulled out a bit of rope.

"Oh no, guys, he's got rope. Whatever shall we do," the leader said, laughing. Lyn shook his head and turned to his companions.

"Round them up."

Before the bandits could blink, a few of their men went flying from Firo's kick. Raphtalia used illusion magic to sneak up on the men and take them out while Rino boosted her own speed to outmaneuver her opponents. The men that tried to go for the carriage were sent flying by Wyndias magic or set on fire by Gaelion and Kayda.

The man who was standing to the side started to approach with his sword out.

"D-don't think you've won. That man has had his class up. You may be stronger, but you won't win!" the leader yelled, pointing to the approaching man. The man in question ran at Lyn and tried to hit him. Lyn switched his shield to the [Chimera Dragon Shield] and blocked the hit.

[Chimera Dragon Shield] (Awakened) Lv. 25 35/35 LR

Abilities Mastered: Stamina Up (High), MP Consumption Reduction (High), Dragon's Status Adjustment (Medium), Dragon Maturity adjustment (Medium)

Special Effect: Flame Burst (Strong), Fire resistance (High), Fire Magic Boost (Strong), Speed Up (Medium), Dragon Attack Boost (Small)

Mastery Lv.: 100

The shield shook and began to glow a bright red as flames erupted from his shield, forcing the man to jump back. However he wasn't quick enough and his clothes caught fire. The screamed in surprise and furiously put out the flames with his hand, forgetting his sword on the ground. Lyn kicked the sword in Wyndias direction.

"Y-you're the shield demon!" the leader said as Lyn approached him.

"Damn right I am," Lyn replied, throwing the guy into a pile of men his team made and tying them up with rope from his shield.

"Thank you for your help Shield Hero. If it wasn't for you, who knows what these thieves would have done to me," the fat man said.

"I hope you don't expect us to do this for free. Otherwise I could release them and leave."

This seemed to surprise the man. However instead of being angry like Lyn expected him to, the man smiled and nodded.

"Of course I'll pay you. However, may I ask what you're planning to do with the bandits you've caught?"

Lyn looked at the bandits. The leader and his henchmen were smiling. It was obvious that they still haven't realized the severity of the situation.

"Should we report them to the guards?" Raphtalia asked. Rino shook her head.

"In times like these, I doubt that we will get anything out of reporting them."

"'We are poor adventurers that were savagely attacked by the shield demon. Please tell the other heroes that he must be stopped.' Something like that?" Lyn asked.

"Exactly! No one would believe the shield hero over regular citizens," the leader replied. Lyn smirked.

"Well, I was running low on monster meat," Lyn replied as he pulled out some spices and salt out of his shield and threw them at the bandits. They men looked at him in confusion.

"Bon appetit Kayda."

A tall seven meter dragon appeared behind Lyn and approached the men slowly. It was only then that the bandits realized what Lyn was planning.

"H-h-hey, a-arent you one of the four heroes? This isn't very heroic, you know?"

"Didn't you call me the 'Shield Demon' two minutes ago?"

"W-we just misspoke!"

"Can Firo try some too?" Firo asked.

"A talking Filolial? Isn't that the divine bird of the Holy Healer? Surely the Holy Healer wouldn't want to murder people?" one of the bandits asked with hope in his voice.

"I'm not the one who made up that nickname. I'm just a random man who will do anything it takes to survive. If it means I have to kill a few scumbags along the way, I don't mind."

"Wait please! Take anything you need from us, just let us keep our lives!" the leader yelled as Kayda began sniffing him.

"Anything huh? Well there are a few things I want from you. How about we discuss them at your base?"

"S-sure thing. We'll lead the way."

The leader of the bandits led the way to their base, followed by Lyn, who was dragging the other bandits behind him with the [Rope Shield], alongside the abandoned carriage, while everyone else followed behind on Firo's carriage. Once they finally made it, Lyn ordered every bandit to load their goods into his inventory while he looked at their levels.

"Are you sure this isn't too much?" Raphtalia asked.

"Raphtalia, these guys are bandits who kill, rape, and steal. This is the only way they will ever contribute to this world."

"We're done loading everything in."

The bandits gathered around Lyn again. In total he counted 57 people.

"Alright, now I want you to give me all your levels."

"What?!" the bandits yelled.

"I said I want all of your levels."

"P-please, anything but our levels. We won't be able to survive if you leave us at level 1! What more do you want?!"

"Hmm."

Lyn pretended to be in deep thought as he looked over all of the people in front of him.

"Well, I suppose I could let you keep most of your levels… But I need a favor from you."

"Anything!"

"How good are you guys at spreading rumors?"

"Very good! We can spread rumors about anything. Other heroes, royals, merchants! Just say the word!"

"Alright. Here's what we will do."

Lyn pulled out a map and pointed to the village they just left.

"This village right here has a rotting dragon corpse. Very soon this will cause a plague and villagers will flee to nearby villages, spreading it further and causing an epidemic. I want you to warn every village around them about the possible epidemic and tell them not to let anyone from that village in."

"What did those people do to you?" the leader asked.

"One of them flipped me the bird. Anyways, do this, and have everyone here give me 5 levels, and I'll let you go."

"Alright. We'll do it."

"Oh, and one more thing," Lyn pointed to Kayda. "My dragon can track people by their scent from halfway across Melromarc. So if you don't keep up your end of the bargain, I'll track you down within a day."

"U-understood!" the leader nodded and ordered his men to line up. Lyn pressed a few buttons and pressed enter. A message appears in everyones status.

The Hero of the Shield is requesting 5 levels.

Will you give the levels?

Y/N

The men all pressed yes and Lyn watched as his team bonus rocketed up.

R.B. 2.53 - 5.38

Lyn nodded and walked back to his team.

"Well, it's your turn to pay up. Or I could just leave you here and walk away."

"Even after robbing the bandits and making a killing you still won't do a thing for free. I'm impressed by your spirit."

Damn he reminds me of that slave trader. Do all successful merchants have a creepy smile and lack in height?

"Very well. I can teach you how to craft jewelry and the secrets of trade!"

Lyn raised his shield and several accessories with different sizes, materials and effects. All were high quality and gave good bonuses. The merchant picked up a few and looked them over with his small magnifying glass.

"All of these accessories are of excellent quality. I mistook you for a normal ameture, but it seems like there is nothing I can teach you. Tell me, is there any other way I can repay you? After all, the number of merchants who know their worth is dwindling."

"There is a way. I need access to better materials. So far I have been making accessories with whatever I had. However, having proper materials will yield better results and greatly help me deal with the upcoming waves.

"If it is the materials you need, I can easily arrange that."

Lyn repaired and attached the abandoned carriage to Firo's and sat down with the merchant to discuss the payment. The merchant gave him locations of mines and materials found in those mines as well as a letter with his stamp and signature that I could show to the people working at the mine for a discount. After that they dropped the merchant off in a town he requested and continued to a village known for their hot springs to take a break from everything.

On another note, Lyn overheard some people talking about the village with the dragon corpse and the possibility of the plague. Lyn smiled.

Well, they kept up their end of the bargain. Which is good cause I had no actual way to track them down.