The caterpillands had gotten bigger, too, and would be ready to pull their carriages soon. They were herbivores, so we fed them the stalks of the bioplant. This in turn allowed us to get rid of excess bioplant by feeding it to the monsters. They were proving useful in a variety of ways. I could kill two birds with one stone as they say. Plus, the monster trainer must have known what he was doing when he picked them, because they were really docile and easy to handle. The only problem was their speed. They weren’t very quick. So traveling around to the nearby towns and villages would be their limit.

The dunes had gotten relatively big, too, and they were already working the land here. They were really docile, too. I’d heard that wild dunes normally burrow into the ground and avoid fighting. Apparently domesticated dunes could be ordered to fight, but they weren’t very strong.

Alright, I figured it was time to start peddling goods.

“Well, what do you think?”

I’d prepared two different outfits for Keel. One was a masculine set of armor that suited her preference. The other was a frilly dress meant to throw customers off guard. It was a cheap, secondhand dress, but still . . . Keel had tried the dress on and was blushing slightly while waiting for my assessment.

“Nice! I want you to blush just like that and act like a klutz while you’re peddling.”

“Bubba! Why do I have to do this?!”

“For money, of course. We can’t round up your friends without money.”

“Oh yeah . . . But still, this is . . . embarrassing, bubba . . .”

For the first round of Keel’s peddling, I’d have Filo pull the carriage and I’d stay inside and observe. My plan was for Keel and Raphtalia to sell the medicine I’d made.

“Okay, Rishia, you’re in charge of leveling.”

“O . . . okay!”

Teaching the slaves to sell was priority number one. If we didn’t do this, making money would be practically impossible. I was sure people would start talking if we hung a Shield Hero sign on a carriage and traveled around the country for three days or so. I’d been making medicines daily so that we could do this, and I was pretty sure we could heal any illness—no matter how serious—as long as I was there.

“And we’re off!”

“Wai—bubba! I still get motion si—”

I ignored Keel and took off. We spent the day traveling around to several nearby towns, spending around an hour at each. With Filo running at top speed, that was possible. It had been a long time since I’d last been out hawking goods. Many of the same townspeople from before showed up, acting like they had missed me.

“So the saint was actually the Shield Hero!”

“Oh, uh . . . yeah. I figured I wouldn’t get any business if people knew who I really was.”