Chapter 16

"Lyn-sama, where did you get those eggs?" Raphtalia asked him when he returned.

"Same place I bought Firo. I decided that we need more help with transportation since our party expanded a bit. And we might expand in the future again, so it's good to be prepared."

"If you say so."

"Go sleep, I'll keep watch."

"How about I keep watch this time while you rest?" Raphtalia suggested.

"Nah, I still have a few things to do," Lyn replied, pulling gems and ores out of his shield.

"Well... if you're sure," Raphtalia turned around and entered her tent. Lyn made the shield produce herbicide while he was enchanting his vambrace. He used [Gem Fusion] to combine gems with identical enchants and save room. Though the power of the gems changes during the process. The effect could increase or decrease depending on the gems. To Lyn's surprise, the effect of the SP recovery gems has increased by around 30%. He added new gems and enchanted as many as he could.

He spent the next few hours creating accessories and adding new enchants to the vambrace, keeping a lookout for any attackers.

Enchanted Vambrace Gem 1/20

[1428% Lightning Resistance Up]

Enchanted Vambrace Gem 2/20

[563% Fire Resistance Up]

Enchanted Vambrace Gem 3/20

[125% Water Resistance Up]

Enchanted Vambrace Gem 4/20

[348% Wind Resistance Up]

Enchanted Vambrace Gem 5/20

[178% Earth Resistance Up]

Enchanted Vambrace Gem 6/20

[194% Wind Resistance Up]

Enchanted Vambrace Gem 13/20

[1924% HP Recovery Up]

Enchanted Vambrace Gem 14/20

[1478% MP Recovery Up]

Enchanted Vambrace Gem 15/20

[1938% SP Recovery Up]

Enchanted Vambrace Gem 16/20

[947% EP Recovery Up]

There is less than a month away till the next wave. I don't know the difficulty increase of the waves in this world as I have missed the first wave so I have nothing to base my schedule off of. I guess I will take the worst-case scenario and use that as a reference. And if that's the case, then we are seriously lacking firepower and are really low on defense because of the foolish king.

Lyn put his vambrace back on and downed another vial of medicine. Then he summoned the [Magic Barrier] and began to make a new accessory.

Cuffs of Weakness

[50% All Stats Down]

Duration 5:00

Perfect. Now if I meet an enemy I can temporarily weaken them. Sure the cuffs can be broken with enough force, but it was better than nothing.

By the time Lyn finished the cuffs, the sun was already beginning to rise. Lyn put away the extra materials and got ready to make breakfast.

"Isn't she just the most adorable little angel?!" the hyperactive talor said, jumping around Firo.

Firo walked out of the changing room in a blue and white dress.

"You're so adorable Firo," Rino said, petting Firo.

"Daddy! Do I look cute?" Firo asked Lyn.

"You look amazing Firo. And the best part is, you don't have to worry about ripping it when you transform," he replied.

"Yay~!" Firo jumped out and transformed back and forth between her human and bird form. Lyn looked at his status, checking his supply of herbicide.

"Lyn-sama, is everything alright?" Raphtalia asked.

"Yeah, let's just hurry up and sell some herbicide."

Lyn sighed and teleported everyone back to the carriage. On their way to the village, Lyn helped Raphtalia with her illusion magic and Firo with wind magic. They stopped by a few other villages on the way to sell medicine or accessories, to sleep, or spar. Rino was teaching Raphtalia what she knew about swordsmanship, while Lyn taught Firo how to gather mana around her and some minor self-healing magic, as well as increasing her defense by adding mana to her mana clothes. With Lyn increasing Firo's speed while they were riding to the village, it only took them three days to arrive at their destination.

Currently, Lyn was making boots from Firo's mana crystals. In theory, they should transform into claws in monster form.

"Daddy, there are so many weird plants here."

Lyn looked up from his shield and looked at the road ahead. It was almost completely covered in vines that stretched forward for what seemed like forever. Just up ahead was a tall fence covered in vines.

"The village should be up ahead. I guess they weren't kidding when they said they had a massive plant problem," Lyn said, pulling out several vials of herbicide and packing them into a box.

"What could have caused this?" Rino asked.

"Probably that cursed seed we read about in the abandoned temple. Unless there are more cursed seeds I don't know about."

"But who would be crazy enough to release such a thing?"

"Didn't you hear the rumors that said that Motoyasu gave a miracle seed to this village?"

"The Spear Hero did this?" Rino asked.

"Well he is recently summoned, so I doubt that he can read your language yet, and the weapons only translate the verbal language. And since he tries to do everything himself, he probably went into the temple on his own to get the seed, so no one could have warned him."

"I wish I could say I didn't believe it, but I can totally believe it. Also, if the weapons don't translate literature, how come you can read our language?"

"Oh, the language of this world is similar to another language I've already learned a long time ago."

"That's pretty lucky."

"It is. So thanks to that, I have one less thing to worry about. And instead, I have to fight a plant today."

Suddenly they heard a scream from the forest.

"Firo, bring that person over to the village."

"Okay~!" Firo said, unhooking herself and running off into the distance. Lyn jumped off of the carriage and pulled into the gate. He also transformed his shield into the [Crystal Ball Shield] and pressed [Record]. Then he put the shield in front of his carriage to record everything in front of him.

"Anyone here order herbicide!" Lyn yelled as soon as the gate was open.

"Oh, merchant. You're just in time. We need your help," an old-looking guy came to meet Lyn.

"So mind explaining what happened?"

"Ah, our village was suffering from famine due to the poor harvest. We asked the Spear Hero for help and he brought us the miracle seed which really helped us at first. However..."

"It mutated into this?" Lyn asked, pointing behind him.

"Please help us. We don't know how much longer we can hold out. Recently the plants turned into monsters and attacked us. Some adventurers tried to harvest the monsters for levels, however, we were far too weak."

"Yeah, we heard. I sent one of my companions to retrieve them," Lyn replied, pulling out a box of herbicide from the carriage. Firo jumped over the fence with a few adventurers under her wings and on her back.

"What did you find?"

"There were a lot of plan monsters there. They can even spit acid. Why are they running forward when they are so weak?"

"Firo, you should talk like that!" Raphtalia yelled from the carriage.

"The wonders of human stupidity never cease to amaze me," Lyn agreed with Firo.

"Lyn-sama!" Raphtalia yelled.

"It can talk? Are you by any chance the Holy Healer that rides with the Divine Bird?"

"Oh god no. I'm just a random healer traveling on a big filolial."

"Please, if it is within your power, could you heal our sick?"

"*Sigh*. If you can pay, lead the way."

Lyn left the recorder, which later picked up a lot of curses and insults about Motoyasu like "Why did the spear hero even show up?" or "Did you hear that the spear hero lost to the shield hero?" or "What did we do to upset the spear hero?"

The elder led Lyn to a nearby tent. The second they entered the tent, Lyn was hit with a foul odor of sickness and death. Lyn looked around the people laying down in beds, several of them had hours at best. He approached the closest one, a young boy covered in vines. His skin had a sickly green tone and his breathing was shallow.

"[Magic Barrier]," Lyn muttered, summoning a magic circle under the boy and himself. "[Omega Heal]."

The circle under his feet began to glow brighter, the vines on the boy's body withered away, his skin returned to a healthy color, and his breathing became slow and peaceful.

"Amazing! The Holy Healer's healing power is truly amazing as they say!"

Lyn sighed and moved onto the next person and repeated the process. When he was finished, Lyn returned to the carriage and pulled out a mana and soul recovery potions, downing both in an instant.

"Healer-sama, if it is within your power, we beg you, please save our village."

Lyn turned around to see the elder and several villagers bowing to him.

"You sent a request to the capital, correct?"

"We might not be able to hold out by the time the heroes arrive. If it's money you want, I'm sure we can gather some more."

The elder handed Lyn the payment for healing and bowed down again.

"*Sigh*. Fine. But only because the seed could be more useful in my hands than on the loose. Make sure to pay me, or I will release the plant monstrosity back this village."

"O-of course! We wouldn't try to rip you off."

"Good. Then you won't mind helping, right?"

"H-huh?"

The villagers looked up at Lyn.

"After we kill the plant, what do you think happens? That it just magically disappears? The seeds it grew will remain, and judging by the size, gathering them all will take forever. And I sure as hell ain't spending hours cleaning up after a moron." Lyn stood up and grabbed the [Crystal Ball Shield]. "Gather a clean-up crew, we'll call you over when we kill it. And don't try to take the seeds for yourself, or it will rampage again."

"We will gather people right away."

"Good. Let's go guys," Lyn said to his team, putting the [Crystal Ball Shield] onto his back. Suddenly he stopped and turned towards his carriage.

"[Shield Bunker]," he said, equiping his clothing from the other world.

The villagers looked at the skill in surprise.

"T-that skill... Sh-shield Hero?" the elder gasped.

"Hiya!"

Rino sliced the plant monster Lyn was holding onto in half while Firo kicked monster after monster into a small pile.

"[Shield Prison]! [Inventory Shield]! Herbicide!," Lyn yelled, trapping the pile of monsters and exterminating them.

"Ha!" Raphtalia yelled.

Lyn turned around to see a chopped-up monster fall to his feet and Raphtalia appearing out of thin air.

"ROAR!"

A plant resembling a long-legged spider with two plant heads spat poison at Raphtalia.

"[Airstrike Shield]," Lyn summed his glowing shield and stopped the poison. Raphtaia ran out from behind the shield and sliced both monster heads off. Lyn grabbed a vial of herbicide and threw it at the monsters' bodies. They learned pretty fast that you have to get rid of the whole body or it will get back up with extra limbs.

"I can see the giant plant just up ahead!" Rino yelled.

"Finally. I'm so tired of fighting these monsters," Firo said, sending a plant flying at Lyn. He grabbed it and splashed herbicide into its mouth.

"Great! We're almost done with fixing this mess," Lyn said, grabbing the last monster and pouring a vial of herbicide on it. He led the crew forward, summoning the [Meteorite Shield] just in case.

The giant plant was an understatement. The tree was huge. Its leaves were covered in seeds and it had at least three dozen tentacles. At the top of the trunk were three flowers with eyeballs in the middle. Lyn quickly took a picture of it with his shield and equipped the [Chimera Viper Shield].

[Chimera Viper Shield] (Awakened) Lv. 13 30/30 LR

Abilities Mastered: [Change Shield, Antidote Quality Up (High), Antidote Efficiency Up (High), Speed Up (Medium)

Special Effect: Triple Poison Fangs (Strong), [Long Hook, [Snake Lullaby] (Weak), Poison Quality Up (High), Poison Efficiency Up (High)

It was one of his strongest shields, second only to its older brother [Chimera Dragon Shield], which he got from the head Ren left for him. However, it was the skills Lyn currently needed. He pulled out a vial of herbicide and walked towards the monster. But before he could do anything, a big white blur ran past him.

"I'm going in!" Firo yelled, running at the monster. The tree tried to slap it away with its vines but it couldn't keep up with her. She swung her leg and smashed one of the eyes. However, the other two eyes moved back and raised their tentacles, shooting poison at the giant bird.

"[Shield Prison]! [Grappling Hook Shield], [Grappling Hook]!" Lyn blocked the poison and pulled Firo back. "Firo! Don't charge in so recklessly!"

"Sorry, daddy..." Firo muttered, looking down at the ground.

"*Sigh*. Just stay back, let me take care of it," Lyn said, switching back to the [Chimera Viper Shield] and running towards the tree.

"Lyn-sama! What are you doing?!" Raphtalia yelled. She was about to follow him, but several vines blocked her way.

The monster shot several vines at Lyn, but They all bounced off of his [Meteorite Shield]. Soon, he was directly in front of the eyes. Lyn opened the vial and splashed it at the newly regenerated eye.

"!" it let out a screech and the eye that was splashed started to wither away. The plant started to thrash wildly and hit everything around it with its vines.

"[Airstrike Shield], [Inventory Shield], Herbicide," Lyn poured the herbicide directly on top of the plant and jumped back. The plant shook around even more before turning an ugly brown color and collapsing. Lyn looked around for any more monsters and after sensing none, he turned towards Firo.

"Firo, run back to the village and call the cleanup crew."

"Okay~!"

"A-amazing! He really defeated the monster!" one of the villagers said when the team arrived at the spot. Lyn walked over to them.

"[Airstrike Shield], [Inventory Shield]."

A giant glowing white shield appeared on the ground in front of the villagers.

"Gather all the seeds and throw them into my shield. Do what you want with the vines. Call me over when you're done," Lyn said to the villagers.

"Thank you so much, Shield hero! We will do our best to gather all of the seeds!"

"Daddy~. I'm hungry~!" Firo wined, still in her bird form.

"You did pretty well. Let's go cook some food up. Just don't rush recklessly into battle next time. Raphtalia, Rino, let's go eat."

Lyn walked back to the villager's base, picking up a few seeds on the way, and began to analyze his new shields.

[BioPlant Shield], [PlantRiwe Shield], [Mandragora Shield].

[BioPlant Shield] (Unawakened) Lv. 1 0/15 UC

Abilities Unmastered:

Equip Bonus: [Plant Reform] (Basic)

Special Effect: [Hook]

[PlantRiwe Shield] (Unawakened) Lv. 1 0/10 UC

Abilities Unmastered:

Equip Bonus: Potion Effectivity Up (Small)

[Mandragora Shield] (Unawakened) Lv. 1 0/10 UC

Abilities Unmastered:

Equip Bonus: Plant Analysis

Lyn equipped the BioPlant Shield and took a look at the seed.

BioPlant Seed

Reproducibility: 13

Fertility: 14

Vitality: 16

Immunity: 7

Intellect: 1

Overgrowth: 11

Mutagenicity: 17

Special ability: Creation of seeds after drying, Increasing the range of mutations