Chapter 17

"To think that the second weakest demon plant would have one of the best seeds. Too bad this shield is so limited on options, though those should increase once I evolve it," Lyn muttered to himself.

Lyn put the seed into the ground, changing his shield to the unmastered PlantRiwe shield. After a single night Lyn's BioPlant Seed now looked like this:

BioPlant Seed (Random Villagers)

Reproducibility: 3

Fertility: 54

Vitality: 3

Immunity: 3

Intellect: 1

Overgrowth: 5

Mutagenicity: 1

Special ability: Fruit quality up, Fruit taste up

That's how the seed looked after the (Basic) [Plant Reform]. Lyn spent half the night gathering the plant's materials in order to evolve it to get the (Intermediate) [Plant Reform] skill.

The basic requirement for [Weapon Evolutions] were levels of the shield and some extra materials used to unlock the weapon. The weapon could be evolved several times, however, the limit depended on the rank of the weapon.

For secondary/vassal/assist weapons the evolution levels were:

Lv. 25

Lv. 50

Lv. 75

Lv. 100

While the primary/cardinal/holy weapons went up to Lv. 250. But at that point, the amount of materials you would need would be astronomical and there is no way you could get it all from one boss. So for the [Chimera Dragon shield], the maximum evolution Lyn could get would be [Chimera Dragon shield II]. If he got 2 full chimera bosses, he could evolve it to [Chimera Dragon shield III]. Sadly these weapons aren't sharable, even with [Syncronize].

But back to the plants.

After evolving his shield, Lyn spent the rest of the night reforming the seed on a more detailed level. And now he was waiting for it to grow. Lyn felt Raphtalia approach him from behind.

"Lyn-sama, what are you doing?" Raphtalia asked.

"I spent the night reworking the seed from yesterday. If I evolve my shield one more time, then it will easily solve most of our problems like our food supply, medicine supply, and I could possibly make this thing produce a couple hundred shields while I'm at it."

"That sounds great, but are you sure this is safe?"

"No, not at all. There is a 90% chance it becomes superintilegent and takes over the world," Lyn said nonchalantly.

"LYN-SAMA!"

"Kidding, kidding. I have a bunch of herbicide ready just in case. Also, the ground around and under it is also soaked in herbicide so its root system won't spread far. I'll make a proper containment unit for it later."

"Please don't joke around with something so dangerous."

"It's alright. I wouldn't do something if there was even a slight chance it might endanger you," Lyn replied, patting Raphtalia on the head. Her face turned slightly red as she turned away.

Crack*

Lyn and Raphtalia turned towards the sound. It was coming from their carriage where Firo was sleeping.

Crack*

Crack*

"Oh shoot! An egg is hatching!" Lyn exclaimed, jumping inside. One of the eggs was shaking and cracking violently. He picked up the incubator and brought it closer to himself.

Crack*

"Kua!"

A small dragon popped out of the egg and looked around.

"Kua. Kua!" it exclaimed, as it jumped into Lyn's arms.

"Aw. It's so cute. Reminds me of tiny Firo," Raphtalia said, playfully poking the dragon. They retaliated by nibbling her finger.

"Food?" Firo asked, looking over Lyn's shoulder in her human form.

"Kua?" the dragon yelled, almost falling out of Lyn's arms.

"FIRO NO! She is not food! Do not eat the dragon, understood?" he yelled, holding the dragon closer to his body.

"Boo~," she wined. The dragon peaked out from Lyn's hand and looked at Firo curiously.

"Kua?"

Firo walked up to the dragon and stared it in the eyes.

"Don't try anything funny, or I'll eat you."

Instead of answering, the dragon licked her face.

"Ew! Ew, ew! It licked me!" she yelled, furiously rubbing her face.

"I think it likes you Firo," Raphtalia said, petting the dragon once again.

"I don't want it to like me! Dragons are disgusting!"

"Is everything alright Lyn-sama?" Rino asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Rino, say hello to our new companion!" Lyn answered, showing her the dragon.

"Kua!" the dragon waved her tiny paw at Rino.

"Aw. It's so cute. What's its name?" Rino asked, petting the dragon.

"Her name is... uh..." Lyn fell silent and put the dragon inside the carriage.

"You didn't think of a name for it yet?" Raphtalia asked.

"No... no, I did not. Give me a minute."

Lyn grabbed the eggshells from the dragon's egg and threw them into his shield. The dragon jumped onto the shield and began to poke and scratch the green gem.

"Rino, this is our chance to give it a name before Lyn-sama names it something lazy like Draco."

"Too late! I'm naming her Kayda," Lyn said, petting the dragon.

"That's... not as bad as I thought it would be."

"Oh c'mon! My naming isn't that bad Raphtalia!" He protested.

"Filolial Firo."

"Fair enough."

"Um, Lyn-sama? What is that behind you?" Rino interrupted, pointing to the seed Lyn planted a few minutes ago. Or rather the green plant pillar that stood in its place.

"Oh, that's my experiment. I was reworking the plant from yesterday to hopefully get something that could grow food without mutating into a giant man-eating monster. Now we just wait to see what comes out."

Slowly but surely, the plant started to branch off and red fruits began to emerge between the leaves.

The end result looked like a thick and short palm tree with really long tomatoes growing instead of coconuts. Firo didn't hesitate to tear off a few fruits and stuff them into her mouth.

"Ah. They're so tasty!" she exclaimed, tearing off a few more fruits. Raphtalia and Rino also tried some, while Lyn threw a few into his shield.

"They're so delicious. They taste like strawberries and oranges at the same time."

"W-what are you doing?" one of the nearby villagers asked. Several of them began gathering around Lyn and staring at the plant. Lyn grabbed one of the fruits and took a bite out of it.

Good. It doesn't taste like anything.

"I have remade the plant to make it safe. The only downside is that it now requires constant care, so if you don't take care of the plant, it will wither away and die," Lyn pulled out a couple more modified seeds from his shield and handed them to the elder. "This should be enough to feed your entire village. Once again, take care of the plants or they will die, understood?"

If I give them a seed that grows food and can take care of itself, people here will become lazy and will be in danger of attacks from different villages that might want to take the plant for themselves.

"Thank you Shield Hero-sama. We will take care of your generous gift," the villagers bowed to him as the elder said that.

"Good. Here's a batch of herbicides you can use in case the plant starts acting weird. And we'll be off."

Lyn put a box of herbicide on the ground and jumped into the carriage.

"Shield Hero-sama, is there any way we can repay you?"

"Don't have to. After all, I'm just cleaning up after the spear hero."

Had he or you been smarter, none of this would have happened.

"Still, we cannon let you leave without replaying you. How about we..."

And that's why I have to sit next to a bunch of boxes of long tomatoes. I would have thrown them into my shield, but Firo insisted that I left the boxes to weigh the wagon down.

Sigh*

Lyn grabbed one of the fruits and started eating it.

"So where are we going now?" Raphtalia asked.

"I heard that East from here Ren slew a dragon, and dragon materials usually unlock really good shields, so let's hurry up before someone else takes all the materials. [Omega Boost]."

He cast the spell on Firo and opened his status, selecting the materials to auto craft several potions. Raphtalia pulled out a grimoire and started practicing her illusion magic while Rino played with Kayda. They met a few monsters on the way and raised her level. Her size has also increased. She was now a three-meter dragon and could fly on her own, however, she preferred to stay small and sit on Lyn's head or shoulders, earning a murderous glare from Firo.

With the speed boost and Firo's natural speed it only took them two days to arrive at the village. However, the carriage was just barely holding itself together.

I need a metal carriage as soon as possible. Maybe I should teleport to the capital and ask Erhard to make one for me?

The team stopped at the entrance to the town and parked their carriage. Lyn put everything they had into his shield except a single box of fruits and the filolial egg and clipped on a heavy lock onto the back wheels.

"Alright, let's get any materials and stock up, then we'll ask around about the dragon."

"Boo~! I don't want to go to the dragon!" Firo wined, jumping back into her carriage.

"Fine, you can stay here and keep watch," Lyn suggested. Kayda jumped off of his shoulders and started to sniff the lands around them.

"It's probably best if Kayda stayed here as well. If anyone in this town saw a dragon, they might try to kill her. Firo, keep an eye on her."

"Nooooo! I don't want to stay with a dragon in my carriage!"

"Firo, stop wining. You either stay with a living dragon or help me harvest a dead one. One of the two."

Firo sat down in the carriage and crossed her arms. Kayda tried to climb closer but Firo scooted away. Hurt, the dragon jumped in the back and started to eat the box of food Lyn left behind.

"Alright, let's go gather some materials and info and meet up here."

Lyn equipped his trader's outfit and hid his shield as he walked into the village, followed by Rino and Raphtalia.

The village was loud and crowded. Everyone was rushing over somewhere, some adventurers were gathering and discussing something. Dragon materials could be seen everywhere. While Raphtalia and Rino went to buy extra food and materials, Lyn went inside a tavern and ordered the first thing he saw.

"Heya. What's the town so happy about?" he asked the barmen who gave him the drink.

"Ah, haven't you heard? A week and a half ago the sword hero slew the evil dragon living in the mountains..." the man began.

So the rumors of Ren fighting a dragon were true.

"Adventurers from all over Merlomarc have come to get dragon materials. Some adventurers have been fighting the dragon minions to get the treasure from his cave."

Treasure from his cave? Did Ren not loot that?

"I heard they are finishing today. You should come to take a look if you have time, it's quite a sight to behind."

"Thank's. I will," Lyn paid for his drink and left. When he returned, Raphtalia and Rino were already there, holding Firo and Kayda apart.

"It's been five minutes, what happened?"

"She took my fruit!" Firo yelled.

"Kua!? Kua Kua!" Kayda protested, shaking her head.

"I left the box for you to share, so please share the food without making a fuss."

"No~! I don't want to share with a dragon!" she continued to wine and stuck her tongue out at Kayda. Lyn shoved the box inside his shield and pulled out two fresh boxes.

"Here, one for both of you."

"I can stay here to watch over them if you want," Rino suggested, putting Kayda on her lap and petting it.

"Thanks, Rino. Please make sure they don't start a war until we get back."

Lyn and Raphtalia walked back into the village and found some adventurers going into the mountains.

As they went deeper and deeper into the mountains, the ground became darker and darker until it was completely black. Lyn noticed a booth further up the road and a sign on top.

[ENTRANCE FEE 1 SILVER]

Lyn reached into his pocket, pulled out a silver coin from his shield, and handed it to the man in the booth. Just past it, Lyn could see the dragon's corpse.

The head was sliced in half, the torso had a massive hole in it, one of the wings was missing and the tail was completely chopped off. Lyn carefully pulled out the small shield and transformed it into the [Crystal Ball Shield] under his jacket. Then he raised it and pressed [Play].

"It reeks," Raphtalia said, covering her nose. Lyn handed her a cloth.

"Cover your nose and mouth. If they left the corpse to rot, who knows what kind of diseases it might have."

"What about you?"

"Poison immunity and healing," Lyn answered, walking towards the corpse. A few men were cleaning off the dragon scales and measuring them. Lyn approached one of the men.

"Hey, did anyone remove the internal organs from the dragon corpse?"

"Eh? Why would we do that?"

"Cause the rotting could cause a plague?"

"What are you saying? If we do that adventurers won't come anymore!" the man yelled at Lyn.

He backed away and went towards another man.

"Heya, can I take the materials from the corpse myself, or do I need to get someone else to do it?"

"If you paid the entrance fee, you can just take whatever you need. There are enough materials for everyone," the man said, returning to his dragon scales. Lyn approached the corpse and pulled a knife out of his shield and began adding materials into his shield.

[Requirements for the Dragon Meat Shield have not been met]

[Requirements for the Dragon Bone Shield have not been met]

[Requirements for the Dragon Leather Shield have not been met]

Well, that's depressing. Though I can probably make a few shields with this material.

Lyn dug deeper into the dragon to try to find the Dragon Core but he couldn't find it.

"Hey, anyone of importance come here to get dragon materials?"

Lyn asked the second man.

"Plenty of people really. Who wouldn't want a chance to get some dragon material? Oh, I heard some knights from the capital and the Spear Hero came by as well. I'm surprised that the bow hero didn't show up yet."

"Thanks. Well, I'll be on my way then," Lyn jumped off of the dragon's corpse.

"Yeah, take care."

Lyn looked over at Raphtalia, who was looking at some geared-up adventurers.

Guess they're coming for the dragon's treasure.

"What's wrong Raphtalia?"

"I... I have a bad feeling about those people."

"Hm. You and me both. Let's see what they are up to."

The pair followed the group of adventurers deeper into the forest.

After a few minutes of walking the adventurers found a cave with several large monster corpses all around it.

"Finally! It took several days of fighting, but the dragon's treasures are finally ours!" the man in the front screamed, throwing away a monster corpse in front of him and running into the cave. Several more screams of joy could be heard from the inside. Lyn felt Raphtalia tremble next to him.

"What's wrong?"

"I-it's n-nothing."

Lyn shrugged and looked at the cave. The men continued to pour in and out, laughing at the sword hero for not getting the treasure.

"S-Stop it! Please! Please Don't kill everyone!" a girl yelled from inside the cave.