CH69 New outfits
Alex chose the carriage as her familiar bed, catching up on sleep while Merumeru socialized with another magical girl on the sky island and Ki busied herself with a wooden spider. The spacious guildmaster's suite, previously Alex's, had become Ki's office. Now a baroness, Ki found herself inundated with petitioners.
The day before, while Alex worked on Charlotte's blouse, a newcomer arrived seeking refuge in the new town. It became clear that other tribes, much like the stone ax tribe, expelled members who failed their class ritual. In times of scarcity, leaders made difficult decisions, and the classless were often the first to be cast out. Those denied a class could not reapply for a year, and banishment to the forest was a common, subtle form of disposal, because humans venturing too deep rarely returned.
The cloudy morning with a slight misting of rain allowed Alex to sleep in until noon. When she opened a curtain and peeked outside she noticed a familiar sight. Two ducks were preening themselves in a nearby puddle.
“Huh, ducks, they remind me of my cabin back on earth.” Alex looked back towards Fufi.
“Ducks, I could have sworn that this breed of mallard was extinct. I’m glad to be proved wrong.” Fufi inspected the pair of ducks.
“Hopefully that’ll mean today will be a good day.” Alex got out of bed. Alex glanced at the small shower in the carriage but shook her head. “The bath house is so much better. I might as well get up and get out.”
After fixing her hair, and slipping into the dance shoes Alex prepared eyed the wardrobe that contained the outfits crafted or obtained so far.
[Pink robe]
[Crafters outfit +1 toy making]
[Priestess robes]
[Magical girl dress +2 cuteness]
[Fur dress +2 warmth]
[Heart-shaped diamond earrings]
[Wooden sandals]
[Dancers shoes +1 dancing]
[Feather duster +1 cleaning]
[Pink undergarments]
Some of the things might have hidden powers. The earrings, robe and unmentionables were gifts from Luna.
Heading inside Alex said, “I should try to make another outfit. I gained another level in tailoring so maybe I could make a better magical girl outfit. Or I could try to create a better crafting outfit. Perhaps one that doesn’t involve a corset.”
“I know you can do it!” Fufi strutted along after Alex.
Upon entering the town's most prestigious building, the adventurer's guild, they were greeted by several humans, nymphs, and avians. Though once the largest structure, it had since been surpassed in height by the treehouse sanatoriums and in size by the ever-expanding warehouse built by the nymphs. Nevertheless, it still offered an excellent view of the main plaza and the statue fountain that Merumeru had restored. The town, once a mere ruin inhabited by a few squatters, now resembled a thriving small town.
After a quick cold shower, the flamingo and Magical Girl had lunch at the guild. Soon after, they departed for the warehouse, where they had prepared a substantial quantity of linen and wool bolts of cloth the previous day.
“What’s going on here?” A commotion greeted them when they walked a few blocks to the warehouse.
A flattery of nymphs had formed a crowd and were cheering someone on.
Fufi flew on ahead and checked out what was going on. “It is Charlotte, she is so cute now.”
“Huh?” Alex pushed her way into the warehouse. “That doll shouldn’t move on her own.”
The wooden arachne doll, now adorned with leaves and flowers, had miraculously come to life. Charlotte was diligently spinning flax, aided by humans who fed her prepared plant strands to maintain her work. Others collected the burgeoning spools of thread she produced, quickly filling the shelves.
Fufi landed next to Alex. “Look, she’s got a whole new outfit. Isn’t it pretty?”
“Yes, though that isn’t the thing that you should be noticing right now.” Alex blinked in disbelief.
“What’s that?” Fufl regarded Alex.
“I thought she could only move when I was dancing.” Alex threw up her hands.
“Someone sure is full of themself. You are in a dryad’s domain run by a nymph baroness and are surprised when plants start moving on their own? Didn’t the nymphs grow all the wood that you used to craft Charlotte?” Fufi chided the magical girl.
Alex lowered her hands. “I guess I should have seen this coming.”
“They grow up so fast don’t they?” Fufi pretended to wipe away a tear from her eye with her wing.
“She was never made with fighting demons in mind. I think she’ll be happier staying here and helping kickstart the textile industry. Just look at how quick she is. She’ll be able to make enough wool and linen to cloth the whole town in a few days. It is too bad we don’t have anyone to trade with.” Alex glanced at the rapidly filling stockpile of thread and cloth.
“I bet Ki might have some plans. You should let her lead. She’s the one with the baroness class. Focus on the strengths of your class.” Ki flourished a wing.
“Right, I came here to try to make some better clothes so that's what we'll be doing today.” Alex rolled up her sleeves and got to cutting cloth and sewing outfits.
The first outfit she made was another Victorian shirtwaist and skirt. It had many frills and elaborate embroidery. The dungeon treasure outfit was good but she felt like this one outdid it. Alex’s hands blurred with speed. Needles threaded their way through the cloth with superhuman progress. It only took a couple hours to cut and sew everything together.
Alex found a closet and changed into the outfit. She used her phone to pull up her character sheet and check the change in her skills to determine the bonus it gave.
[Crafter’s outfit +2 toy making]
Alex cheered. It was on par with the magical girl outfit in that it gave +2.
“How is it?” Fufi asked.
“I was hoping for +3 but it gave +2. But it still is an improvement.” After stepping out wearing the new outfit, Alex showed the phone to Fufi.
“Hmm, you might be running up into the limit for what you can do with normal materials.” Fufi speculated.
“You might be right. Let me try to remake the magical girl outfit. I think I can do better with that one too.” Alex wanted another try.
Alex completed the elaborate and colorful magical girl dress in a couple of hours, applying dyes she had on hand. She noted her increasing speed in creating outfits.
The dress, crafted using her established method, yielded the following result:
[Magical girl dress +2 cuteness]
“Doesn’t this look better though. There is so much more fine detail.” Alex changed into the new dress and twirled around for the flamingo.
“It is cute but still made from ordinary materials.” Fufi repeated her earlier observation.
“How do I go about that?” Alex asked.
“You’ll have to either buy them from greedy merchants or go and find them for yourself,” Fufi said.
“Darn, do you think Ki can help us? I wonder if the temple of purity has anything we could work with but I’m not sure I want to go back there and ask.” Alex placed a hand on her face in contemplation.
“You’d fit right in there.” Fufi saw that Alex didn’t like her joke. “I get that you don’t want to go back there. Let's just avoid that place for now. But the forest spirits might have some better options, otherwise we’d have to explore further out.”
“Do you think the dungeon will be an option? I know I should be headed back in there soon. Sometimes it has been weird but in the end it has always been worth it.” Alex looked in the direction where the adventurer's guild would be.
“It is a possibility but you shouldn’t expect anything better than what is on par with what you’ve got. Luna set this up as a newbie dungeon,” Fufi said.
“I guess that there will always be barriers to overcome. I’d like to be prepared as best as I can before facing more demons. Like you said before, I've got a lot of weaknesses.” Alex fidgeted with the frills of her outfit. “I would be happy if I could get another one of those magic springs that power the carriage or something equally as useful. Or even some more metal, we really could use some iron. There is so little around here.” Alex changed back into the new, more comfortable and newly remade crafters outfit.
They waved goodbye to everyone watching Charlotte in the warehouse and headed back to the adventurer’s guild. In the bottom, Alex touched the rift stone and it opened up like a gate to another dimension. “Well, hopefully it is done with underwater levels. If I get one I might have to find that lady with the belt that turns you into a mermaid…hopefully only temporarily.”