Chapter 5: Green Thumb
Day 17
"Airstrike shield!" Naofumi stretched out his hand and deployed a translucent shield in front of a kid. The vine that attacked soon slammed into the shield and protected the child.
"As the source of my power, I order thee. Decipher the laws of nature and power up the blades of my allies. [All Zweite Light Blade]!"
Raphtalia touches several of her fellow villager's swords, causing them to glow brighter than a lantern.
"Hell yeah Raphtalia. Nice work."
"No time for applause Rifana. Every charge!" Keel commanded
Running front and center. Keel is joined by several of the village kids nearby as they force their way through the onslaught of vines. The group was soon forced to stop after a bit due to the vines forming a wall. They were about to attack it but a filolial flew through the air and punctured through the wall like paper.
"[Zephyr Hwach'a]!"
Several other filolial was quickly launched by Yuki and were sent towards the wall. While midair, the filolial cast their wind magic that created a spiral of wind, further boosting their piercing power against the wall.
With the barrage of Filolial making the wall have more holes than swiss cheese, the children continue their attack, reaching the base of the tree with the support of the filolial.
"Let's show 'em what we're made of! [Zweite Flare Clone, Zweite Flame Blade]!"
Rifana was the first to attack. Her sword burst into flames along with Raphtalia's previous buff, making the sword too bright for anyone to see. Rifana however was not hindered by the bright light and continued her attack as flame dropped from her sword. The bits of flames that fell soon formed into copies of Rifana, and helped with the attack.
"You better not fall behind Keel!" Rifana taunted as she cut at the base of the tree. A deep gash is soon formed with flames blocking off any regeneration. The rest of her copies soon followed behind and attacked the same spot, furthering the damage.
"Don't think I'll ever be outpaced by you Rifana. Awooo!" Keel lets off a howl as he runs on all 4s. Continuing her howl, Keel's claws glow white as she goes faster and faster.
"[Zweite Wild Fang]!"
Reaching the area Rifana struck, Keel slashed both his claws at the tree, digging deeper into the base of the tree.
"I won't be left behind too! [Zweite Cross Slash]!" Joining in on the attack, Raphtalia slashed an X into the tree. As she sheath her blade, she made the light flare up and burn its way through the tree.
"Nice one. Everyone attack now!" Keel commanded.
"Yah!" The kids all rushed in. The buffs to their weapons allowed them to easily cut through the bark that protected the tree. Keel, Rifana, And Raphtalia also joined back in and continued to wail on the tree as the filolial protected them from stray vines.
"Come on Kuro let's break through."
"The black thunder is ready." Dalton and Kuro dashed through the open path and started to leak magical energy.
'Don't mess up, don't mess up. You can do this Dalton' I call upon the power of the wind to flow with me and take form. Dragon Vein, lend me your power! [Zweite Gale Slash]!"
With the hint of a demonic tone in his voice. Dalton flowed the wind into Kuro's wings, turning them razor-sharp. With the path cleared, Kuro and Dalton dashed forward and delivered the final slash to the tree, finally knocking it over.
As the tree crashed, everyone cheered as the vines went limp. But their cheers soon turned into worry as the core dug itself into the ground, and almost immediately regrew itself into the same size.
"Damn even a joint attack from our strongest people didn't kill it. This thing is tougher than I imagined." He was certain Sadeena's training was great, but this tree was starting to become a tedious situation for everyone involved.
"Are you done yet?!"
"Don't rush me Melty. It's not a common occurrence for someone to make herbicide to fight a mutated plant!" Naofumi complained as he mixed the solution of liquid and other add-ons in his mortar. He was already halfway finished when the kids began their assault, so all it took was a little more mixing until he was complete.
"I need a minute to test this out. I need a shrub or something large."
A giant vine appears over Naofumi and comes crashes down. Sakura jumped out of his pocket and kicked the vine away. Many of the kids near him soon rushed out and held the vine down for Naofumi.
"Well, that would do." Pouring the herbicide on the vine, the vine started to shrivel and die. The vine defiantly tried to swing itself up and down, but the kids held it down long enough for the test to become a success.
"Perfect. That should quell all of Melty's complaints now."
"Complaints! The village is overrun by vines!"
"And whose fault is that."
"Yours!"
"No. You're the one who told me about this legend in the first place, which I may remind you, '''cause all of this!"
"It is not my fault that you decided to listen to that story!"
"Oh, so now it's a story now!"
"You know what I mean!"
"Stop bickering and get to fighting!" Several of the kids shouted in unison.
"Alright geez. Since when did they get bossy." Naofumi complained as he dumped the rest of the contents into a bottle. He was certain that after this debacle was finish, he would never listen to Melty's legends ever again.
"Sadeena. Get over here." Naofumi called.
A killer whale in a loincloth soon ran its way through the battlefield and stopped next to Naofumi's side. "You called little Naofumi?"
"Shut up and smash this bottle into the tree's core. We'll cover your approach."
"You hear that, Naofumi is counting on us. Let's give 'em hell!" Yuki commanded.
"We shall bring justice to the vines that so heinously decided to attack our poor village, and bring an end to its-"
"Just start the casting already Freon!"
"Hpm." Freon pouted. "I shall seek retribution for this later."
All the filolial then gathered in 2 circles. Yuki and Freon stand in the middle of both groups and common the heavy winds, forming them into powerful cyclones that threaten to blow away everything in his path.
"[Double Wind Tyhpoon]!"
Tossing it forward, the winds of both teams swirled together and created an unstoppable gale of wind. All the vines that were advancing were swiftly blown away by the heavy winds, and continued on its warpath until rammed into the base of the giant tree, bringing it down.
As the tree fell, Sadeena dashed through the recently cleared battlefield and started to run across the fallen tree.
Even after it fell. The core seemed to have gone into panic mode, as all its remaining vines retreated to the tree, to protect itself from sadeena. This, however, was a fruitless endeavor, as the killer whale swiftly and effortlessly cut through them all with a stream of lightning coming from her harpoon.
Out of options, the core tried to reshape its own body around itself so that may defend against the savage whale, but it too was useless as Sadeena just stabbed through the core's bark.
"Let's see if little Naofumi's experiment is enough to quell your frenzy." Opening the bottle. Sadeena pours the contents of the bottle into the cores eye. Noises that Naofumi could only describe as a cry rings out from the core. All the vines and other plants that were connected to the tree quickly fell dead to the ground and started to disintegrate along with the main tree.
The village erupted into cheer as Sadeena returned, everyone, being excited at the victory they just secured. Of course, everyone except the dreary lord, Naofumi.
"Well this tells me one of two things. Plants suck and I'm never listening to Melty's stories ever again."
"Stop trying to pin the blame on me!" Melty demanded.
"Even if I didn't, this is a major setback. Not only do I have to deal with the damages caused by this stupid thing, we still have no proper food production, even after all we accomplished."
"There are still many options we haven't tried yet. We shouldn't be too discouraged."
"True. But it'll take a miracle to find something to accommodate the filolial. Perhaps-"
"Naofumi, No!"
"I'm just saying. A little oil, some sauce."
"We're not cooking them!"
"Then what else do you have in mind?"
"Hey, I found something!" Keel yelled out.
Naofumi and Melty went over to Keel. Gathering around the crater left by the tree, Naofumi witnesses an abundance of seeds on the ground.
"Good call Keel. The bastard tried to replant itself after it died." Naofumi walked into the crater and picked up a few of the seeds.
"What are you doing?" Melty asked.
"Well if we can't plant it, might as well unlock a few shields from it. Can't get too picky with free stat boost." Naofumi absorbed several of the seeds and unlocked a few shields. The first one was a win in Naofumi's eyes, as it unlocked intermediate crafting recipes. But the other two caught his attention even more than the first.
Bio Plant Shield Equip Bonus: Plant Reform
Mandragora Shield Equip Bonus: Plant Analysis
"Plant reform?" Naofumi held up the seeds and swapped them to his bio plant shield. As he activated the skills, a screen appeared in front of his eyes.
Bio Plant Seed
Propagation 9, Production 9, vitality 9, Immunity 4, Intelligence 1, Growth 9, Mutation 9
"That absolute dumbass!"
"What?"
"No wonder the seed had to be sealed. Whoever made this had the smart idea to put a 9 in it's mutation, propagation, and growth. Some alchemist. Who in their right mind would think these stats were good?"
"Naofumi, what are you talking about?" Melty asked, perplexed by Naofumi's rambling.
"This shield allows me to modify plants. And from the looks of it, the alchemist who made this specific one was far from being a genius."
"Wait, so you can stop it from becoming a monster?"
"More than that. I can change its growth, intelligence, and even its vitality. No wonder it was so hard to kill. It can shrug off many of our hits, and grow them back quickly like it was nothing. I wonder?"
"No Naofumi. I won't allow you to make a plant army."
"I wasn't planning that. But now that you mention it."
"No."
"I agree with little Melty here. Perhaps we should keep the monsterized plants away from the battlefield. It could cause more harm than good if it spreads to the village we're protecting."
"I guess you're right. But I'm still going to test some of these out. Rifana, Nate, Fenton, and Quin. Prepare your highest level fire spells."
"Yes sir." The kids replied under the orders of Naofumi.
/~/
"You sure this won't cause another outbreak?"
"Don't worry. The only reason why the first one was a complete and utter failure was due to its stats being stupid. Its mutation and propagation with a mixture of no intelligence just made it a creature whose only goal was to spread."
It was a simple question and an even easier solution for Naofumi, just ignore the mutation stat. There were plenty of other stats that it could go into that can make the plant better than the original product.
"Now let's do some testing. Kill circle, present arms." Naofumi ordered. The circle of kids around him were all equipped with some form of herbicide or fire magic, so they could quickly kill the plant if things got out of hand.
The current seed in Naofumi's hand was a basic one. A max 46 in growth to see how fast it would go. When he planted the seed, a tree immediately burst out of the ground and grew to a height that pierced the sky. The tree was extremely thin and from what Naofumi could bore no fruit from any of its branches. But as quickly as it appeared, it shriveled up and died, leaving the seed it grew out of.
"…Well I didn't expect that to happen."
"It grew so fast, then it died?"
"Guess that's what the vitality stat was for. Also if its immunity stat gave resistance to Rifana's fire attacks, then perhaps it also gave some type of resistance to its weaknesses. If propagation is what I think it is."
Naofumi picked up the same seed and started to mess around with its stats of it. Every stat had a minimum of one point, so he only had 45 points to work with for each category, and looking at the damage it caused with the max stat a category had was 9, he had to be careful.
After a few more tests which had varied results of success, failures, and 2 burnt fruit trees, Naofumi finally was able to discern the meaning of each stat, and properly create the perfect seed.
Propagation 5: To create a decently sized plant without the crazed spreading
Production 20: To account for all the filolial
Vitality 4: Necessary to grow something that large
Immunity 4: It was enough to have the crazed bio plant survive so he left it like that.
Intelligence 1: He did not need smart plants
Growth 10: To speed up its growth process
Mutation 1: He didn't want another monster outbreak
Naofumi also manipulated the plant a bit so that it will grow into a bush and not a tree. With the stats properly allocated, Naofumi plants the tree into the ground and runs away. A sprout quickly pokes out of the ground and starts to grow a pretty large bush almost instantly, and seconds later, fruit starts to appear all over the bush until it could no longer grow anymore.
"It works!"
"Yay, food!"
"Hold on Kou." Naofumi pushed Kou aside and picked a fruit from the tree. Swapping to his poison frog shield, he activates the skill and absorbs the fruit inside. He waits for a moment before the fruit is spat out, and a screen appears in front of his face.
Analysis Complete: Not Poison.
"Perfect. Alright, dig it."
"YAY!" Kou transformed and immediately started to eat several of the fruits of the tree. For a moment, Melty was concerned that he'll eat the entire supply they just made, but that fear was quelled once she saw the fruit immediately grow back.
The kids around the kill circle also cheered and started to dig in themselves. For the first time in a while, they can finally eat until they were full.
"Melty. Add harvesters to the list of teams we need to create."
"Already on it," Melty complained as she whistled for Hamon.
/~/
Day 18
Spirits were high today. After the defeat of the bio plant, the kids all decided to hold a feast. This time, everyone except the filolial ate fill. The hunters even decided to do an expedition and returned with plenty of monster meat to cook on the grill. Naofumi was forced to do all the cooking by kids, but he was secretly glad that they were working together to achieve something. Not only did the feast leave some leftover monster meat for later, but they also barrel upon barrels of bio-plant fruit that they could use for any meal.
For the first time in a while, Lurona was doing well for themselves.
"Lord Naofumi!" Delia appeared from a hole, startling the shield hero.
"Delia." Naofumi sighed.
"Sorry, but you have a visitor."
"Tell them no?"
"We did but it seems he's not a merchant. Melty also asked you to meet her at the front gate."
Delia burrowed back into the ground, filling the hole back up as she left.
"But we don't even have a front gate!"
/~/
"Naofumi, you're here."
"I'll like you to remind me to make a proper front gate when I have the time."
"I'll add that to the list." Melty sighed as she wrote another thing down on her clipboard.
"So what's this all about?"
"Emisarries from Siltvelt."
"Again?"
"Not exactly like the ones from before-."
Melty was interrupted by a blaring horn. As the cart opened, several petal girls toss flowers to the ground as a man stepped out of the carriage. The man looked exhausted, having bags under both of his eyes. His tail droops down from the back of his trench coat.
"Greeting shieeld herooo~." The bever man stretched his speech very slowly. To both Naofumi and Melty, he seemed to be putting in a lot of effort just to get that sentence out.
"Is that bever wearing a fedora?"
"Platypus. And I read from a story that this was a desire to look for spies in the hero's home world."
"You're a shadow?"
"Impressive discovery, indeed I am." The platypus tiped his hat. "Zalton is the name, And my mission today, make sure this is to ensure this cache makes it to you my l-." The Platypus suddenly went mute.
"Umm apologies my lord. He tends to fall asleep at random moments."
'Narcolepsy huh? Not my problem.' Naofumi went up to the platypus and snapped in his face. "Oi WAKE UP!"
"Huh wha- oh right."
"Enough napping. Tell me what you're here for. And no, I'm not going to Siltvelt."
"Oh no that's not the case. Although it's disheartening, we're aware of your plight and current mission to save the demi-human from the oppressive regime that is Melromarc, so the council of SIltvelt has decided to send you some aid in the form of a cache. We're hoping that it'll be enough to help you."
The platypus snapped his finger as several men with crates walk forward.
"This should be enough to help you. Ore, food, seed, gold, monster eggs, and building materials. Everything that you need all packed into a fine package~"
'This country is trying to gain my favor too hard. Then again, don't bite the hand that feeds you.'
Naofumi called a couple of his kids to all move the crates inside the village. When he turned back around, he saw the caravan packing back up, with the platypus asleep once again.
"Well, that was the worse shadow I've ever seen," Naofumi complained as he walked back to his tent.
"I can assure you. There are some worse than him."
/~/
Bonus Story: Naofumi's Current
Current Funds:
3 Gold, 80 Silvers, 10 copper
+70 Gold (Provided by Siltvelt)
Previous Purchase:
30 Filolial Eggs: 3,000 Silver
Housing Repairs
Currently Complete: 0
Exports
Bricks: 3 stacks for 5 Gold (Ryute)
Medicine: 26 SIlver per bottle (Castle Town apothecary)
Crystal and Ore: 3 Gold per ore (Various Shops)
Fishing: (Work in progress)
Hunting: 10+ Silver (Depending on the number of kills)
Bio Plant Fruit: (Work in progress)
Debt
Elhart Shop: 67 Gold (Various Equipment) (Priority)
Tailor:
47 Gold
Magic Shop: 30 gold (Multiple Grimoires)
Mirso Tavern: 14 gold (Food bed and booze)
Planned Purchases:
90+ gold (Magical Outfits for the filolial and transforming kids)
More Grimiores for the hunters
More Cooking Supplies
Fishing Supplies
Gardeners Tools
Villagers in Zeltoble
Weapons for hunters
Notes to Self:
Sadeena is banned from using village money to pay for any form of alcohol.
Melty is banned from buying filolial with any type of money
Motoyasu and Bitch are banned from the village.
Platypus still sleeping by the gate, deal with him later
Siltvelt sucking up to me again, ignore even harder
Unknown monster eggs, ask Melty later
Wave in 10 days
Get Melty to stop pestering him about registering for the hourglass
Multiple spottings of wild filolial, keep them away from the bio plant storehouse
Kou is banned from entering the food store house
Ignore the above, all filolial are banned from entering the food storehouse. Kuro and Yuki are the exceptions.