CH46 Outbreak
Ki's abrupt departure emphasized the urgency of the situation. Alex envisioned those exhibiting signs of the infection being confined, similar to Sakura's treatment of Fumi. While the reality might not be as severe, Alex believed that participating in the crisis response would be beneficial. The absence of the sole human member within the forest group could negatively impact the perception of the tribe, who had recently abandoned their traditional way of life.
“Well Bob, Martha, could I stock up the carriage on some more supplies for the town? I would like to grab some food and maybe some wool or other things for making fabric.” Alex asked the pair shamelessly.
“Usually, people trade things, not just take.” Bob chuckled, his tone not serious.
“I cleaned up a few things that they found when searching out the ruins that you might be able to use.” Alex took a wooden chest out from the carriage.
With a creaking of wood, the chest opened. Several shining metal tools were inside. There were several spades, a scythe, a sickle, and a pair of shears. They looked pristine.
“Wow you clean them up like new.” Martha stepped forward and inspected the tools in the chest.
“Well, not completely like new. The wooden parts are all gone. I just cleaned up the rust. Hopefully Bob is a good enough woodworker to make handles and poles.” Alex nudged the old farmer.
Bob grinned. “It shouldn’t be a problem. Let's get your carriage loaded up and you can head out. You are already burning daylight.”
The carriage's ability to transform into a card made it easy to load with food and clothcraft supplies. The second version of the carriage had a much larger holding capacity.
Classes, skills, and magic had a profound impact on the world. The farm's output was far beyond what should have been possible. What would have been considered insane levels of production on Earth were normal for people at Bob and Martha's level.
Alex wondered if they had either not been putting in much effort before and only farmed enough for themselves, or if they had been throwing away a lot of food.
“If we could get an insulated room set up and use the cold water from the stream to run through a radiator we could throw together a really basic refrigerator.” Alex pondered.
“What’s that?” Martha asked.
“It keeps the temperature cold. You can put food in it and it lasts longer. The big problem though is that we are almost out of metal. Almost all the nails gathered from the ruins were used to build new buildings. Maybe we can get some more metal from dungeon drops but I’m not sure that is sustainable. Having a source of iron or copper ore would be nice. I don’t know anyone with a mining class though. How would we produce metalworks, like a radiator. Sorry, that might be a bit too much info. Short version is that a refrigerator is a box that keeps things cold and fresher.” Alex glanced at Bob and Martha who looked lost.
“Martha has a skill that does that.” Bob was quick to answer.
“It might be able to help it last even longer.” Martha softened the blow, her tone sounding like she was consoling a child. “Did the stone ax people find anything else in the dungeon?”
“Most of the stuff that they got from the dungeon was stuff that would help a diver. Though some of the swimsuits they stashed were quite cute. There were some pearls but I’m not sure how useful that would be.” Alex explained with a shrug.
Martha frowned. “Ah, you should have made me some jewelry out of the pearls. That would have been nice.”
Alex shook his head. “I already have cooking, cleaning and tailoring. Isn’t three domestic skills enough? Maybe I can’t even get jewelry.”
Fufi chimed in. “I bet you could. Making cute jewelry sounds like a class skill for a magical girl doesn’t it? Alex’s priorities are wrong. Creating cute things for the new citizens would go way farther than trying to pretend to be a mayor.”
Alex glared at the bird. Fufi probably was right but Alex didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of proving it.
“This farming outfit that you made me has really given me a nice boost. She’s got a point Alex.” The farmer agreed.
Alex sighed. “Okay, point made. I guess I can try when I get a chance. I don’t know the first thing about making a pearl necklace though.”
“I believe in you and the gifts Luna has blessed you with.” Martha said with conviction. “I’m sure it’ll be cute.”
The carriage was loaded and ready to depart, its gears turning and cogs ticking as the panels closed. Alex, unable to find Merumeru, shrugged and set off with Fufi. He assumed the slime girl would outpace the carriage on their journey back to town.
The path was becoming familiar; carriage ruts and footprints marked the way to the farm. The first leg of the journey through the wooded mountains was mostly on foot. The second day would be easier, although the persistent musky smell of sheep was bothersome.
“Next time we try this, remind me to wash the fleece before we pack it. It smells like range rats.” Alex said to Fufi when they stopped for the night.
“What’s a range rat? Also, why not use your feather duster and cleaning skill?” Fufi asked.
“Oh, it is just a slang term for sheep. It has nothing to do with rodents. As for using the cleaning skill, it feels like cheating. I’d like to do it right at least once. I was wondering though what happens if the skill gets too aggressive?” Alex replied.
“Hmm, not sure what you mean by too aggressive.” Fufi said.
“Well, like I can use the duster to remove rust, or hair laying around. It just evaporates. What do you think it would do to dirty sheep fleece?” Alex asked.
“Oh, I think that might be a possibility. You should take a little and try it and find out.” Fufi advised.
Doing just that, Alex took a bit of fleece and set it on a flat surface. His fears were confirmed when running the feather duster across the fleece. It got swept away and vanished into a puff of mist. “I guess the feather duster isn’t a tool that solves all cleaning-related problems.”
Fufi nodded. “It sounds like you might have found a way to improve your cleaning skill. I bet you could make an outfit that would go very well with that feather duster from the dungeon and really empower your cleaning.”
Alex pondered the flamingo's suggestion. The cleaning skill combined with the feather duster and a cute maid outfit would be the most effective cleaning strategy. He pictured a cute maid with green-black hair happily dusting a manor. Alex stopped himself before his imagination ran wild. Why was the first thing he thought of a maid outfit? Wouldn't a janitor outfit be just as effective? No, it wouldn't be cute. Maid outfits are the cutest.
“Hey, I see what you did there.” Alex scornfully stated.
“What?” The flamingo innocently replied.
“Just because I think maids are cute with their frilly dresses and headbands doesn’t mean I want to dress up like one.” Alex stomped on the carriage floor.
“But I didn’t say anything about a maid outfit.” The pink bird sounded smug.
“Ugh, nevermind.” Alex gave up.
As the ground straightened out their pace picked up. With some winding of the key inside the carriage they were good to pick up the pace. Even with the suspension, going off road with the horseless carriage was rough.
“Rubber wheels sure would help.” Alex muttered aloud. “Do you think the nymphs could help us with some rubber trees?”
“I’m not sure. You might want to ask Ki or one of the other nymphs.” Fufi said.
“Hmmm, If something similar exists in this world then we might be in the wrong part of the world. I think rubber trees grow in a tropical climate. Do they have jungles in this world?” Alex poked Fufi for answers.
“Oh, yes there are all the same climates as well as some more extreme ones.” Fufi explained.
“Extreme? I thought Terre was a similar size to earth. Though I bet there is more to it than just size” Alex wondered aloud.
“Yes, you’ve already seen it. Like this forest we are in right now has high nature attunement. The wasteland outside where the barbarians roam about is what happens when the land loses its attunement. This is different from fire attunement. An area with a high fire attunement tends to be a scorching hot desert or a volcano.” Fufi explained. “A high water attunement would be a rainforest.”
“I wonder what the wasteland used to be and how it got that way?” Alex questioned.
“The demons create wastelands by consuming the attunement to obtain power. Ki might know how things were before. I’m guessing a forest and grassland mix?” Fufi said.
“This world is weird.” Alex shook his head, green and black hair swaying around. “My hair sure is getting long.”
“Don’t worry about the demons. Sometimes imps fly around and try to feed off the forest. Fumi said it was really funny when Sakura dealt with them. They would sit down in what they thought was a good spot, close their eyes and suck the energies into them. They she would just root strike. Sitting around trying to power up by doing nothing. What else did they think would happen?” Fufi told her fellow flamingo’s tale.
That method of powering up sounded oddly familiar to Alex but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was called.
The hamlet came back into view while Alex tried to figure out a term that was on his lips but couldn’t quite come out. Oh well, it was just some silly thing that wasn’t important anyway.
Ki and a flattery of nymphs came to greet them at the adventurer’s guild.
“Welcome back magical girl Alex,” One unfamiliar nymph approached, eyes sparkling.
“Just call me Alex please. How are things here?” Alex asked.
Ki gave the other nymph a stern look and stepped forward. “As well as can be expected. Most of the people had mixed emotions on seeing the group that abandoned them. Luckily we didn’t get the chief back. He got targeted the heaviest from the harpies. The largest males got swarmed and then flown off to the harpies nests. Some of the injured have shown signs of feminization. So the fact that we are dealing with bird flu is confirmed.”
“Oh dear, that is not good. What happens with them? Are they contagious?” Alex worried.
“Hopefully we caught it early enough. The people who are showing symptoms are being kept in a tree house outside of town. As you can see, some of my cousins came to town to help watch over them. We can’t have other humans taking care of people who are infected with bird flu.” Ki gestured to the other nymphs
The other nymphs smiled and a few waved.
“First, I planned a town hall today. It is in about an hour so you should have some time to get unpacked.” Ki said.
“I brought some food and some wool. I could use some help unloading it into the warehouse. Also the fleece is stinky and needs to be washed.” Alex wrinkled his nose.
The warehouse next to the adventurer's guild had transformed into a hybrid building/tree structure during Alex's absence. Vines covered the stone walls and intertwined at the top, creating a leafy roof. Inside, roots formed tables, shelves, and stools.
Alex used the carriage card to open the panels of the carriage inside the warehouse, making the contents easily accessible. A group of humans assisted in emptying the carriage and organizing the items onto the shelves, exchanging brief pleasantries in the process.
Alex then washed his hands and face in the kitchen sink before joining Ki in the open area of the adventurer's guild to prepare for the town hall meeting.
A crowd of humans with a few nymphs gathered at the tables. They were seated and looked anxious. The pelt wearing humans stood in contrast to the simple dresses of the nymphs. It was a bit weird.
Ki stood on a small platform where everyone in the crowd could get a good look at the green-haired nymph. She gestured for Alex to join her.
Alex walked up and smiled awkwardly.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to our first town hall. We have some announcements and then we’ll be answering questions. The first issue is the bird flu outbreak. Please report if you have any of the following symptoms: fever, feminization, feather growth.” Ki continued on with some other announcements related to the running of the new village.
Many questions arose about the outbreak. Ki addressed concerns about the infected being killed by explaining the tree house protocol multiple times. Apparently, killing was the standard procedure for bird flu. However, even if someone fully succumbed to the bird flu in this instance, they wouldn't be killed. They would simply be released to the south, into the occupied territories. This news was met with approval, as it seemed fitting for the crazed harpies to return to the demon's territory.
Ki's phrasing amused Alex, who was relieved that he didn't have to speak much. Public speaking wasn't his forte. The only questions directed at him were simply to confirm what Ki had already said. Racial tensions were unavoidable, but when Alex explained that recovered individuals would be returned to their families, it eased the tension more than when Ki had given the same assurance.
After the meeting, Alex was exhausted. He had been pushing himself and fell asleep almost instantly.