Chapter 20: It's a Jungle out Here

The accessory merchant had received a request for a large amount of herbicide to be delivered as soon as possible, so of course he turned to us. He didn't have the details on why they needed so much so quickly, but it sounded like we could make a killing, so it made sense to go. When we got near we could see that the entire village was overrun with some kind of vines and there was what appeared to be a hastily made refugee camp. We went to the camp to find out what was going on. When they saw us coming, someone who looked like they might have been the village chief came to greet us.

"We heard that the village needed herbicide, but what happened here?" Seb asked the chief. I found that it is usually better to let him do the talking when we first come to a village, both because he knows how to deal with people and because it lets us see how the people feel about demi-humans.

"Well, you see, our village was experiencing a terrible famine when the Spear Hero arrived with an ancient miracle seed that he said would solve our plight. It certainly provided enough food, but as you can see the vines have overrun the village. To make things worse some of the plants in the village have turned into monsters."

I think this is near the ruins where we found that chest with the warning about not using a seed. Seems like Motoyasu knew where that seed was hidden from his game and thought it would make everything better, but if it is the same seed that was sealed then he should have seen the sign warning not to use it. The plants turning into monsters probably means there is a high rate of mutation, that's probably why the alchemist was able to turn it into something that made food so quickly.

"Have you tried other methods of getting rid of it?" (Talia)

"We've tried everything we could think of. Herbicide seems to be the most effective, but the best we can do is slow it down." (chief)

"How long has this been going on for?" (Seb)

"The Spear Hero brought it about a month ago, but the vines didn't get out of hand until two weeks after he left." (chief)

A month ago would have been a bit before the wave. Why is this the only info I have on what he's been up to?

"Have you contacted the kingdom about this?" (Seb)

"Yes, but it seems that the heroes are very busy and it will be some time before they can assist us. We are hoping to buy enough time using herbicide to hold back the vines, until help arrives." (chief)

There was a scream from the direction of the village. "What was that?" (Talia)

"There was a group of adventurers that wanted to fight the monsters to level up. We tried to warn them but they went anyways." (chief)

"Blake, bring them back." The villagers and Seb all looked at me like I had appeared out of thin air. Seriously Seb? You should be use to this by now.

"On it." Blake ran towards the screams and returned a minute later with three semi-conscious adventurers; they seem to have been injured but not life-threateningly so.

"How'd it look out there?"

"There were plants monsters everywhere. Some of them were able to spit some sort of acid or poison. They aren't nearly as strong as that thing from the cave, but there are a lot of them." Weaker than the Nue but high in numbers. Some spit poison/acid. This is information I can use. I wonder how they would be affected by Seb's ice magic.

"That bird. You're the phantom saint with the bird of heaven's shadow!" The name is getting longer. "Please save us. There are even people being consumed by the vines."

"What do you mean being consumed? Are there parasitic spores?" They led me to a tent where there were several people with plants growing out of them. "I'll see what I can do." I poured some herbicide on the plants growing out of a boy that didn't look too far gone. Then I cast [Erst Heal] to repair the damage. It seemed to be effective. I repeated the process on several of them until one that looked almost completely taken over started convulsing from the herbicide. I needed Seb and Talia to hold him down while I finished, I also used a stronger healing spell. "Now that that's done, I do expect to be compensated. I don't make a habit of saving people for free." Well I have done it in the past but not intentionally and I don't want people to think that they can just bring all their problems to me.

"Of course, thank you saint." The villagers paid us rather generously for the treatments. "If it isn't too much to ask, oh great phantom saint, is there any way for you to stop the vines." Now's the part where I really have to make it clear that I don't do things for free.

"It should be possible, but first I need to know everything you can tell me about this miracle seed. And you will be paying me for my service."

"Of course, oh thankyou phantom saint." I really don't like how much he is calling me phantom saint, but at least he knows not to expect charity.

Most of what he told me was basically local legend passed down for generations, but no one knew if it was true. Apparently the seed was created as an attempt to end a famine in the past. At some point the area was covered in vines. The seed was sealed away and even had some sort of guarding protecting it. Seriously why don't people just destroy these things? He also said how as soon as Motoyasu planted it, it grew bigger than a man and bore fruit immediately, but after that it took time for the fruits to grow and ripen.

"Blake, when you went to the village, did it look like all the vines were connected to a single main body or were there offshoots?"

"I saw a really big vine in the middle, there weren't any others like it."

"Hopefully if I take that out, the rest will die. I'm not sure about the ones that turned into monsters though. I should be back in about 30 minutes, if not, come after me."

"Master Endou, you aren't going to try and fight it alone are you?"

"Who said anything about fighting? I plan to walk right up to it and pour all the herbicide I can carry right at its roots." The villagers within earshot all looked either surprised or skeptical that I thought it would be that simple.

"If it's Sir Endou, that just might work."

"What do you mean?" (Blake)

"Just keep an eye on things here till I get back, ok Blake?"

"OK."

Just like I said, I walked through the vines completely unnoticed. The main plant, called a bioplant, was a spiral of vines that, taken together, looked a bit like a tree trunk with a giant eyeball flower. I poured several bottles of herbicide on it and not only the vines withered, but the monsters died as well. Looks like the fruits are unaffected, and there are a lot of seeds spilling out of the main vine. I had asked for 30 minutes, but leisurely walking there and back only took me 20. Of course I also collected some parts for my shield. They seem to give plant analyzing and modifying abilities and some compounding recipes that I already knew from the book.

"Oh phantom saint, you managed to not only stop the vines and monsters, but left the food unharmed. I'm not sure how we could ever repay you, but I hope this helps." Apparently they had taken up a collection while I was gone and the chief gave me a bag of coins.

"It's not over yet. There are a lot of seeds that spilled out of the vine when I killed it. If any of those manage to germinate this whole mess could start over again. You guys are going to have to gather up every last one." The villagers' expressions turned to horror when I said that the situation could repeat itself and they rushed to the village to start gathering the seeds.

We ended up spending a few days in the village to be sure that all of the seeds had be gathered. I also found that, after unlocking the new shields, I could modify the seed's attributes. There were things like mutation, growth, immunity, and even intelligence. The damn thing even had a special ability to increase its mutation potential. I did a few experiments outside the village. The first attempt brought a few panicked villagers who thought that they missed a seed. After apologizing for the scare, explaining that I was trying to make the seed less dangerous, and verifying that I had plenty of herbicide on hand, I was able to continue. Since the main problems with the original seed seemed to be high mutation and propagation I lowered those to the minimum. I also didn't want to know what would happen if I increased its intelligence so I left that at 1, the last thing I needed was some sort of talking ficus.

One of my experiments had no vitality and died instantly. Another just didn't seem to grow at all. My latest experiment seemed to be a success. In the end I reduced immunity and vitality a bit to make it easier for normal people to kill. The spare points went into production and growth and was also able to change its special ability to improve the fruit quality. It grew to about 8 feet tall and produced fruit as fast as the chief had said. I kept watch over it for several hours before deciding to leave it and warn the chief to be careful. It took 2 weeks for the original to get out of control, since this one has lower mutation and propagation but higher growth I can't be sure if it will stay put or spread without making monsters.

"You should be able to tell if it's going to get out of hand after seeing how the last one turned out. It ought to be a lot easier to kill and I'm leaving more than enough herbicide, so if it's going to be a problem just end it."

"I understand phantom saint, and even if we do end up having to destroy it, it is still a wonderful blessing you have bestowed upon us." The chief chose to "reward" me with three carts, all full of excess fruit from the original plant. I'm pretty sure they were as happy to get rid of soon to be rotten fruit as they were to find something they could give me. It works out since it means Blake can eat her fill and pull a heavier wagon. Actually, Blake seems almost blissful as she is pulling the wagon and carts. I guess filolials really do enjoy pulling heavy things.

It was a few days later when I realized that I hadn't gotten any experience points from killing the bioplant and all of the monsters it spawned. I guess plants that mutate into monsters don't count, which is strange since plant-like monsters do but aren't affected when I throw herbicide at them. This world is so weird. On the topic of levels I noticed something strange while checking mine. For some reason Seb and Talia, who are both level 40, each have stars next to their levels. Meanwhile Blake is level 39 and I am level 40, without a star. Somehow I caught back up to them. I'm going to have to ask about this star think next time I see Erhard.

AN: The bioplant(s) have never been shown to give exp when killed and since they aren't technically monsters (or people) I am assuming no exp.