"Good grief, it seems having him experience that kind of ordeal once still didn't teach him a lesson." Hearing that the Spear Hero was still as unreliable as in the original work, Takeru frowned slightly.
"So, you sent a request for help to the royal capital?" Soon, Takeru asked directly.
"Yes, three days ago. Some adventurers came, but a few hours after entering that area, there's been no word." Hearing Takeru's words, the village chief quickly spoke.
Through his Observation Haki, Takeru found no living people at the location of the biochemical plant's main body.
Needless to say, they had already become nutrients for the plant.
"This biochemical plant doesn't just ensnare people to attack, does it?" Takeru noticed many people gathered near a tent. Most of them had pained expressions, with vines and branches growing out of their bodies.
"Yes. This plant can also parasitize humans. Many villagers have already been infected." Hearing this, the village chief dared not hide anything and spoke directly.
"Take me to see them." Hearing this, Takeru spoke directly.
"Yes, Your Majesty. Please follow me. But please, do not get too close, Your Majesty. If you were to be infected, it would be an unforgivable sin for us." Hearing Takeru's words, the village chief said nervously.
"Let's go. I'm not so weak as to be infected by such a plant." Hearing his words, Takeru said nonchalantly.
Arriving at the tent where those infected by the vines were staying, Takeru saw many patients lying on beds in pain. Beside them were many people taking care of them, their faces also filled with pain, as the ones lying there were mostly their relatives.
"Your Majesty, this..." Looking at the silent Takeru, the village chief hesitated. He hoped Takeru could save these people, but also worried about Takeru's safety.
"Purification." Looking at everyone, Takeru directly cast a purification ability on a parasitized boy near him.
Under Takeru's purification, the plants quickly withered and fell off. The pained expression on the boy's face quickly became calm. Soon, he sat up in surprise, finding his body no longer uncomfortable.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for saving my life!" The woman beside the boy, seeing her child seemingly fully recovered, knelt on the ground and spoke to Takeru.
Seeing that the purification ability could completely cleanse these parasitic plants, Takeru directly used a large-scale purification spell. Soon, bathed in blue light, the vines and branches on all the infected people quickly withered, and the pained expressions on their faces vanished.
"I'm better!"
"It doesn't hurt anymore!" Soon, those lying on the beds sat up and said with delight.
"Thank you for your mercy, Your Majesty!" Seeing that the villagers had recovered, the village chief and others knelt on one knee again and spoke to Takeru.
"Filo, Raphtalia, Rifana, Ram, Rem, let's go meet this monster." Seeing everyone recover, Takeru spoke directly to Ram and the others beside him.
"Takeru-sama, please leave this to me." Hearing Takeru say this, Rem volunteered.
"Takeru-sama, we can do it too!" Hearing Rem's words, Raphtalia spoke again.
"No need to fight over it. This biochemical plant is quite useful to me. Its endless growth can serve as slime food." Looking at their eager expressions, Takeru shook his head.
Then, leading the girls, Takeru arrived at the center of the village. Inside, they encountered the main body of the monster. As they approached its location, the nearby vines grew special eyes.
And as Takeru and the others arrived, it directly attacked them with purple liquid that had poisonous and corrosive properties.
Seeing this purple liquid, Takeru remained calm. He activated his telekinesis, intercepted the liquid completely, quickly manifested a special container, stored the venom, and placed it in his portable space.
Seeing its attack intercepted by a strange ability, the biochemical plant didn't stop. It lashed out wildly with its vines at Takeru and the others.
But these vines were easily severed by Raphtalia and Rifana before they could even get close to Takeru, including the eyes on the branches, which were instantly destroyed.
As the branches exploded, a large eye appeared on the giant flower in the middle of the biochemical plant's main body. The blood-red eyeball glared at Takeru and the others.
"Master, Filo is going!" Seeing the giant eyeball, Filo could sense it was its weak point.
"Not allowed, Filo." Seeing Filo's impulsiveness, Takeru spoke directly.
"Eh!" Hearing Takeru's words, Filo stopped, standing there looking pitifully at Takeru.
"It has strong regenerative abilities. Your attack won't be effective." Looking at Filo's expression, Takeru spoke directly.
While Takeru was speaking with Filo, the biochemical plant attacked again, sending thick vines towards them. But as soon as they entered a certain range, all the vines were easily cut by Raphtalia and Rifana.
The thick, tough vines had no resistance against their slashes. However, although its branches were cut, the biochemical plant quickly regrew.
Clearly, the slashes had done very little damage to it.
"Purification." Looking at the biochemical plant, Takeru stopped thinking and directly used a purification ability on its main body. Bathed in blue light, the biochemical plant quickly withered, as if encountering a natural enemy.
The vines on the streets visibly shrank and turned to ash. The biochemical plant let out a huge wail.
Soon, it completely withered, collapsed, and perished.
Although the biochemical plant was destroyed, it still left behind a large number of seeds. With just a little nourishment, they could quickly regrow to this size.
After collecting all its seeds, Takeru packed them up and placed them in his portable space.
...
"We are truly grateful to you, Your Majesty the Emperor!" Upon returning to the village, the village chief and a group of villagers were already waiting. When Takeru returned, they quickly knelt.
With the biochemical plant food destroyed, they discovered that the vines surrounding the wooden walls and streets had all turned into dead branches and leaves, no longer lively. Also, the village had returned to normal.
"If such situations happen again, be sure to investigate thoroughly. As for the food problem, you can grow these in the future." Then, Takeru took out some ordinary corn and sweet potatoes.
After briefly demonstrating the planting process, and seeing that the sky was getting dark, Takeru built a house in an open area for the group to stay, planning to rest here for the night before setting off again.
Seeing that Takeru and the others were resting here, the villagers could only look at them respectfully, not daring to disturb them too much.
Takeru naturally understood their concerns. After all, he was the emperor.
Although Takeru himself didn't always care much about this identity, for these commoners, meeting the emperor was a great honor, let alone being able to interact up close.
Because of the barrier's isolation, Takeru didn't need to worry about the villagers disturbing him.
After dinner, he had Raphtalia and the others meditate well, then he directly entered his portable space.
Once inside, Takeru quickly organized the monster corpses, as well as the fruits and seeds of the biochemical plant he had just obtained.
After organizing everything, he categorized and stored these items in his item bar.
After doing this, he noticed several Filolials and some slimes surrounding him.
"Long time no see." Looking at these Filolials and slimes, Takeru spoke softly.
Because of the tenfold time acceleration, it had indeed been over twenty days since he last saw them.
Then, Takeru surveyed the surroundings.
First, the number of slime splits. After this period of growth and splitting, each type of slime had reached over a hundred in number. The Recycling Slime, the most numerous, had exceeded 1,300.
They could gain energy simply by devouring weeds, accelerating their splitting. The fertilizer they produced also allowed the weeds to grow more lush, creating a special cycle.
Besides that, other slimes could absorb ambient energy in the space to slowly split.
Although not as fast as the Recycling Slime, after over two hundred days of growth in the portable space, even the slowest had reached a considerable number.