After they left, I went monster hunting with Kou to level him up. I was glad that Father seemed to be enjoying the temporary company of the panda. The panda did seem like a reliable companion, I say.
When I got back, I found them all enjoying themselves at the tavern.
“Well, we better get going soon,” Father was saying.
“Next time we meet, let’s go monster hunting again sometime!” the panda said.
“Yep, it was a great time.”
“I had plenty of fun myself.”
“Thanks, Lars!” Keel called. “Next time keep teaching me how to be cool!”
“See ya!”
Father and the rest of them came over to me. Only Father would be able to build a great relationship with someone in such a short span of time!
“Well, back to Melromarc?” Father asked.
“At once, Father!”
Once we were out of sight, we went back to the carriage with Portal Spear.
“So what did you do, Motoyasu?”
“I was investigating how to grow a special type of bioplant in Siltvelt. You used them in the first go-around,” I explained.
“We were talking about that before, weren’t we?”
Lazy Pig glanced over in our direction and grumbled lazily.
How dare she interrupt our precious conversation! I strongly considered vaporizing her on the spot.
“Huh?” Father asked. “We can experiment with them on your family’s land, you say? I appreciate the suggestion, but we can’t afford anyone knowing what we’re up to. It might make us look bad.”
Father was right, I say. If we caused trouble, it would support the bad image that Melromarc was trying to project of Father. We had to avoid that at all costs.
“Oink oink!”
Lazy Pig appeared to be in agreement with whatever Father said as she oinked.
“So long as we succeed, it’ll be fine in the end. Well, I guess so . . . If you can guarantee us a place to grow it, then I suppose so long as we make good money, it’s fine.”
“Hey, Spear Bro! You understand what I’m saying now?” Keel asked me.
“How many times must I say it? I understand you, I say.”
“Keel, you must look even more tasty than before,” Father said. “Look at that drool coming out of Kou’s beak.”
“I’m not a piece of meat!” barked Keel at Kou.
“Kou, leave Keel alone,” said Sakura, squeezing Keel in a hug from behind. “I’ll protect him!”
Sakura had started to act like a big sister for everyone. You’d have expected that to be Yuki’s role, but maybe Sakura was better cut out for it?
“We’ve gotten off topic,” Father said. “So you grew a bioplant?”
“Yes, bioplants, I say! I took the letter of introduction we used at the dragon hourglass to a Siltvelt bioplant farm, and they gave me seeds.”
Those letters of introduction were really helping out, I say. Ordinarily, Father could just go himself to get them, but we were trying to keep him in disguise. Thinking back on what happened in the last go-around, I realized that people in Siltvelt gave Father far too much of a warm welcome. Caution never hurts.
Regardless, the next time we had some free time on our hands, we ought to go see if we could get some seeds. From my gaming experience, I had known that bioplants have been sealed in Melromarc since ancient times, so I had been able to get my hands on some. Ideally, we could harvest enough that we could use them as materials for our weapons, but I’m not sure how feasible that would be. With only one bioplant seed, you can’t unlock any new weapons or anything. We should experiment to find out how the weapons would respond.
“Did you remember something, Motoyasu?”
“Once you plant them, they grow extremely fast,” I said. “Besides that, I know pretty much nothing.”
“That sounds like we could make a ton of money selling them,” Father said.
“Indeed. That’s why we should experiment.”
I remember from previous go-arounds that because of the waves of destruction, food shortages had become a problem. I believe that’s the main reason Father was able to use the bioplants, since they allowed him to grow a tremendous quantity of food.
The problem of hunger is truly universal among all worlds, I say.
I had noticed that the price of goods was sharply on the rise at the moment. I recalled that in the first go-around, when Father first started cultivating the land for his village, the food shortage crisis was fairly severe. In the end, Father managed to solve the issue with his flourishing agricultural lands, of course. If we could get a bioplant into Father’s hands, it’d be nothing short of a money tree, I say!
It was no problem to go around selling medicine for cheap. That was as good as scattering Father’s graces around the land and boosting his reputation. Our top priority had to be gaining the trust of the people. I’m guessing that Father in the first go-around became such a popular figure in the same way.
“Why don’t you get some people from Siltvelt to help out and investigate bioplants, then?” Father said. “Do you want me to help too?”
“No need, Father. I merely sought your approval to move forward with this plan.”
“Well, sure . . . I have to say that the bioplants sound pretty interesting anyways.”
“All we have to do is regularly monitor their growth. We could always drop by to check things out when we leave Siltvelt.”
“So let’s just do that, then.”
“The biggest problem is that if it becomes clear that you’re the Shield Hero, you’ll get summoned to the Siltvelt castle.”
“I mean, it sounds like they might listen to me if I just say that I don’t want to be summoned,” Father said. “Based on what you told me about the last go-around, they arrange marriage proposals and try to poison Sakura, right?”
I did not want Father to have to worry. I recall how he exploded with rage when they attempted to poison Sakura. He looked pretty upset when I told him about it, so I doubted he trusted Siltvelt in the slightest. For that reason, I wanted to avoid the Siltvelt castle altogether.