CH65 Resting back at the farm.
The shift to the woods was a welcome change from the perilous glaciers, though "safe" wasn't quite the right word. The fey guardians here had their own ways of making unwelcome visitors regret their presence.
The sound of the returning carriage drew a group of nymphs, eager to hear tales of the world beyond their forest. They peppered the travelers with questions about life outside.
“Is it true there are no trees?” A leaf-haired nymph questioned.
“Are there no plants at all?” Another, a pine-needle haired nymph picked up right after.
“Did you try planting anything?” A third grass-haired nymph asked.
“Are there seeds in the ice? Maybe the plants are just dormant.” The first nymph bubbly added.
Fufi and Alex tried to answer but the young excitable nymphs just kept cutting them off.
Ki made her appearance. “Girls, calm down, you are not giving them any chance to answer any questions.”
“So, who goes first?” Fufi asked.
All three nymph girls raised their hands in unison.
“Oh, this is going to be one of those types of situations.” Alex groaned.
The flamingo was unphased. “Okay, I’ll try to answer all the questions quickly. After a while there are no trees. They can’t grow over a certain elevation. No plants growing at all is a bit harder to tell. We saw some lichen growing on rocks where trees couldn’t. Also, with magic things that don’t normally grow can grow. That’s how the temple up there is able to keep an orchard and vineyard going.” Fufi paused, trying to see if she forgot any of the questions. “As for planting anything, I don’t think we did. At least not on purpose, we could have got some seeds on us or the carriage I don’t know.”
“Yes, you have seeds, the fur on the carriage is covered with all sorts of seeds.” The leaf-haired nymph interrupted. “I can feel them from here.”
Alex looked at the grimy carriage, noticing the various bits of debris snagged from their passage through the underbrush. She intended to clean it later, her priority being their immediate return.
“Anyway,” Fufi squawked. “For the last question about seeds in the ice. Let me ask you a question: how would I know? The ice is not transparent so we can’t see if there are seeds in it.”
“You don’t need to see them, it is obvious that the plants spores or whatever are there sleeping waiting for the right time to wake up.” One the grass-haired one stated matter-of-factly.
“I think you have to be a nymph to notice that by proximity.” Alex put her hands on her hips.
Ki shooed off the younglings. “That’s enough for now. We should let them unpack and get settled. They had a long trip and are tired.”
“Okay…” The three nymph girls said in unison, using that guilt-tripping tone that only children can pull off.
They ran off into the woods squealing about adventures.
Alex found it strange that kids were permitted to wander into the woods without supervision. However, this wasn't Earth, and these weren't human children, so such things were apparently normal here.
The group walked past the grotto. The ravine housing it was teeming with plant life. Roots outlined the steps leading down, while vibrant flowers blossomed from vines climbing the rock face. At the top, smiley-faced sunflowers stood beside peculiar, seed-pod-filled bushes. Whoever cultivated this area had managed to grow a remarkable amount in a short period.
“What a bunch of odd plants.” Alex pointed to the weird plants on top of the ravine.
“Just some seeds I got from the dungeon. They are really useful at getting rid of waves of demons.” Ki waved her hand over the area.
“Did you plant them?” Alex asked. “Hopefully we won’t be seeing waves of demons anytime soon.”
“Not these ones. I got them as a reward from the dungeon. I planted some in Sakura’s grove to get started. They are weird, the plants have a bit of a symbiotic relationship. There has to be enough sunflowers to support the seed shooters. Root strike is a really strong ability but it isn’t so great against flying imps. The seed shooters are good against large numbers of weak enemies. This is a big step in fulfilling Sakura’s vision.” Ki excitedly praised the plants.
Alex winced at the mention of the mind controlling dryad. “Oh yeah, that’s right she and I have the same quest. Though her plan to clear it was to outlast the demons.”
“Sorry, considering what happened I probably shouldn’t bring her up around you Alex,” Ki gave Alex a concerned look.
“It is alright mostly, I’ve had a few weeks to get past that. At the time she seemed like a horrible person. But now I know she isn’t human. You’d think the obvious thing would be to raise an army and defeat the demon queen,” Alex said.
“That is exactly what the hero did. He failed.” Fufi added her two cents.
“I’m glad you’ve had a bit of time to process things. It is no secret that my kind will always put the forest first. That doesn’t mean that it was right for Sakura to be so untrusting. I hope things can be more balanced in the future.” Ki lowered her head.
“We can find a way to work through things together.” Alex smiled brightly.
“By the power of friendship!” Fufi cheered.
The carriage was parked beside Bob's workshop. Following greetings, everyone proceeded to the farmhouse for dinner, a feast prepared by Martha. Fortunately, Ki had already informed everyone about Alex's recent transformation. While being in another person's body was somewhat uncomfortable for Alex, no one pried into the matter. After the meal, Merumeru immediately went to the chicken fort.
“Merumeru ru ru me.” She explained her plans to everyone.
Everyone followed her, thinking that she had something important to show them. However, she just hopped in one of the pipes and vanished.
Alex looked down in the pipe and confirmed that it just dead-ended into the ground. “I guess she had somewhere she wanted to be.” The priestess-looking magical girl hopped into the pipe as well but didn’t appear anywhere else.
“I guess these are Merumeru only portals?” Fufi guessed.
“Maybe? I bet she was trying to explain them to us but I don’t quite get it.” Alex shrugged.
The next day was spent cleaning out the carriage and repairing the damage from the ice demon fight.
Kaide helped make some new boards to replace the damaged ones.
Alex took off the damaged bunny hide covering. Now that they were out of the cold area the bunny furs covering the carriage made it a bit too hot.
When it started raining, they moved the carriage inside the workshop.
“I guess summer is at its end,” Fufi said.
“I suppose if the seasons are similar to earth then it would make sense. How long have we been here on Terre? Maybe five months?” Alex folded some of the rabbit pelt coverings and set them on the shelf.
“I think it is about that. Expect it to get cooler and rainier,” the flamingo said.
“Does having a bunch of the planet ruined by demons affect things?” Alex asked.
“I don’t know a whole lot about all this stuff but the mountains still get snow. Otherwise the rivers would dry up. I think it still rains in the wasteland, at least the places close to the woods, the same is true for the demon occupied places to the south. The land there would be more blighted but the nobility that they keep around have class skills that keep the population fed. Though places with too many demons turn into a wasteland just like the wastes.” Kaide helped replace a board on one of the carriage panels.
“It must be really rough on humans living over there.” Alex helped Kaide put another replacement board in place.
“I imagine, though if you really want to know more I’d suggest heading to the swamps and asking the nereids. They keep a better eye on what is going on down there.” Kaide stretched after they got the panel finished.
A slightly soggy Bob entered the workshop. “Hey Alex, Fufi and Kaide, how are things going?”
“We are just about finished fixing Alex’s carriage,” Kaide said.
“What are your plans after this? Are you going to head back to town?” Bob asked.
“We could. Do you want us to take anything like last time?” Alex looked to the farmer.
Bob nodded. “Yeah, Ki said that they could use some of the stuff we make. We could load you up on rope and some of the harvest. Back in the day grandpa used to take an oxcart to town and sell the harvest for coins but from what Ki said they don’t really have much for coins so I guess we are just trading. The nymphs helped put all those strange plants by the ravine. Ki said that if anything attacks the farm we can just flee to the grotto and the new plants there will protect us. Next year they should have some more seeds and will spread those new plants around more places.”
“I guess that even magic nymphs can’t take a single plant and spread it over the whole forest in a few weeks.” Alex mused.
“I can do that, though without wings it won’t be same day delivery.” Alex chuckled.
“That’s fine, you didn’t want to be a harpy anyway so I can’t complain,” Bob said solemnly.
“Is it okay if I leave the furs here? I don’t think I’ll be needing them anytime soon and truthfully I’d rather build a new one. This one is rather beat up and sewn together haphazardly.” Alex scrunched her nose at the pelts on the shelf.
“They are not that bad. You don’t mind if we use them as blankets? They would be nice to have around when it starts to snow,” Bob said.
“That’s fine. You can keep them.” Alex waved a hand.
After acquiring more trade goods, they returned to town the following day without incident. Upon their arrival, Alex anticipated encountering some form of chaos, perhaps an emergence of clockwork girls, spider girls, or void beings from the dungeon. However, the town appeared to be functioning normally. They unloaded their supplies at the warehouse situated near the adventurer’s guild.
Alex noticed the warehouse was well-supplied, although the quantity of rabbit pelts was noticeably less than her previous inspection.
“Well, I guess I know where that troublemaker was getting all the pelts she kept handing me from.” Alex grimaced.