CH75 Preparing to Leave
Alex, Fufi and Ki discussed the missive lady Yvne sent in the guild master’s room that the aspen nymph had appropriated into her office to manage the barony.
“Should we ignore her then?” Ki looked at the two others in the room.
Alex furrowed her brow. “I want to help somehow. I’ve been here a full season but I’ve made almost no progress on my quest to defeat the demon queen.”
Ki agreed, but with reservations. "Cleansing the adjacent land of demonic taint sounds appealing, but it's incredibly risky. We're stepping into the unknown, and this is clearly a trap, however politely it's presented." The nymph paused. "And let's not forget, a gemmed flamingo would be a dead giveaway."
“Should we send a reply saying that we won’t be attending any meetings? How would we go about that?” Alex pondered aloud. “Also why would Fufi be a giveaway?”
“We could send the shrubbery…er I mean man back with a reply. It seems a bit cruel though. Being landscaping is a better fate than being a thrall to whatever demonic entity is controlling that barony.” Ki ran a hand through her leafy hair. “As for Fufi, other flamingos have been flying around the borders demon occupied places for years. From some of the neried’s reports they can’t kill them but there is some kind of accord that was made before the demon queen was even born that they have to follow. Fufi might know more about that.”
“The accords are supposed to protect familiars. Several hundred years ago Terre saw a team of magical girls that were more effective than anything before. They were tried by fire fighting the worst enemy ever, an astral sailing species that came down from the heavens to invade the planet. Long story short, when the dust settled and the conflict was won, only one magical girl remained and she came away both powerful and sad from her losses.” The pink bird inhaled. “The invaders killed their familiars. Eventually everyone that started in the magical girls’ team except one gave their life to protect the world. But magical girl Cosmos emerged victorious and really upset the balance of power. Any evil empire, apocalyptic monster or scheming villain she dispatched in a rather unimpressive way.”
“How did it lead to the accords?” Alex asked.
“One of her team was a magical girl enchanter and she made scrying tools for Cosmos. The two of them had good synergy. Scrying magic was used to find targets and portals or meteors would be sent to eliminate them, often early on before they could become a real threat. So the dark gods really wanted her gone. However, they couldn’t do it without escalating things to a point where it could easily result in the destruction of Terre. So instead of mutually assured destruction, Luna talked Cosmos into retirement in exchange for getting concessions out of the dark gods. They agree to not do a lot of things they used to do in regards to magical girls' familiars and that Magical girl who had their followers dead to rights wouldn’t set foot on Terre again.” Fufi pointed her beak down. “But like team evil always does. They found loopholes and with the advent of the demon queen we soon found almost no new magical girls being contracted on Terre. Cosmos now works in the escalation department of the magical support center.”
“Wow Fufi, that is a lot.” Alex blinked. “I felt a little inferior knowing that another magical girl could just go nuclear and wipe all the demons off the face of the planet. But she works in a call center now. I sorta feel sorry for her.”
“Hopefully she likes having time to relax. She’s done a lot for Terre.” Fufi added.
"Hold on, how long do magical girls actually live?" The black-haired girl quickly calculated, "Cosmos is over 200 years old, which is far beyond a normal human lifespan. Is she some other species?" Alex narrowed her eyes, deep in thought.
Fufi lifted her beak. "Oh, that's simple to explain. Being a young girl is crucial; it's right there in the class name. You might not have realized it yet, but ever since the hot springs incident, you've been subtly de-aging."
Alex was surprised at how quickly events unfolded once a magical girl class was established. This led her to ponder if magical girls were immortal, which would explain the animosity demons held for them. Demonic cultivation sought immortality, and the ease with which magical girls seemed to achieve it, bypassing lengthy meditation and cultivation, likely offended them. "That must be why demons are so against magical girls in this world," she mused. "I might pass for human, but Fufi would definitely give us away."
Ki nodded. “I would think so. If you and Fufi just walked into demon lands I don’t see things going well.”
“We could make a disguise?” Alex looked the pink bird up and down, considering options.
“What are you thinking?” Ki tilted her head.
“Maybe a doll she could hide inside?” Alex put a thoughtful hand on her chin.
“Um, wouldn’t that just be the worst bird cage ever?!” Fufi objected loudly.
Ki cringed a bit at this too. “Alex? That is disturbingly similar to what Sakura did to Fumi.”
“No no, nothing like a big block of wood with a hatch. I’m better than that you know. With some gears, bearings and springs I could make some simple bird-shaped power armor for her. People would think she’s just a wind up doll.” Alex waved her hands around, trying to dismiss the bad impressions.
Fufi gave Alex a look. “Well, I’ll consider trying out your contraption but I have one condition.”
“What’s that?” Alex asked.
“It has to be cute!” Fufi stomped her webbed foot.
“I’ll see if we can scrounge together enough materials to put something together. There has to be some ruins somewhere with some brass around we could use or something similar. Most of it will have to be wooden though.” Alex started considering possible solutions.
“Oh, that won’t be a problem. There are lots of abandoned farmsteads and a few sites where battles were fought long ago in the past. Most anything will be tarnished and nearly unusable but I think with a little magical girl power they would clean up nicely.” Ki waved the concern away.
“I guess the next problem would be logistics. How can we even get there? Isn’t the southern border all swampland?” Alex furrowed her brow.
“That is correct, there no longer are any roads. It goes from forest to miles of bog.” The nymph added. “There still is the waterway. Yvne’s capital for her barony is on the same river as ours. But if you come down from the north it’ll be obvious where you came from. You might need to ask the Nereids for some help sneaking in.”
“Sounds like we have the start of a plan. When we get those two things crafted then we can head to the south.” Alex stated, showing some conviction.
The following week was spent primarily in the workshop, under consistently rainy weather. The trees outside transformed, their leaves shifting from golden to red.
The blacksmiths welcomed the respite from their arduous attempts to extract metal from low-grade ore using bloomeries. Their task was greatly simplified when the nymphs retrieved brass, bronze, and rusted artifacts from the forest. After considerable effort and several refinements, they successfully constructed a spring-powered flamingo doll suit for Fufi.
The suit featured a wooden exterior with ball joints precisely aligned with a flamingo's anatomy. Alex's discovery of various books in the dungeon provided ample guidance for its construction. A wooden key protruding from the back wound the power armor. While not magical like the carriage's spring, the brass spring provided 15 minutes of power on a full wind, lasting considerably longer if Fufi remained still. Fufi insisted on the suit being painted in beautiful pink hues and adorned with carved feathers. Aside from a forehead gem, the suit closely resembled a real flamingo, though slightly larger. Similar to the carriage, the suit emitted a ticking sound when in motion.
Alex’s phone rang out:
[Toymaking has reached level 2]
Everyone in the workshop cheered, congratulating Alex on the skill-up.
The extra materials that Alex cleaned to like-new were added to the stocks in the main warehouse stores.
Alex sketched a design for a small sailboat, referencing a photo of a sailing skiff on her phone. Though not an experienced sailor, her past outings in small boats provided a basic understanding. They were well-equipped to create a sail from Charlotte's abundant fabric and had ample rope for rigging.
"This long wooden piece, called the mast, slots in here," Alex explained. "It's removable but needs to be secured with a rope along this section. The mast has a groove where the sail can be hoisted by pulling a rope; you pull down, and the sail goes up."
The nymphs grew another workshop down by the water. Ki figured anything that might be part of a waterway travel system should be clustered around the river. They even used plant magic to grow a dock that could be used in the future.
Even burly men in frilly outfits struggled to grasp the concept. Alex, no shipwright herself, had never built a boat. Yet, working from phone pictures and estimated dimensions, they painstakingly produced some drawings.
Fortunately, the nymphs' plant magic proved invaluable. They simply grew the necessary parts from trees, eliminating the need for cutting or bending.
“Okay, so the front part here is supposed to be watertight and hollow inside.” Alex tried to show this in the drawing but didn’t think she did a great job.
“Why should it be hollow?” A carpenter asked.
“Because that way it traps the air in it.” Alex patiently explained.
“What good does trapping air in there do?” Someone else asked.
Alex sighed. “Air is lighter than water so it floats.”
“But the whole thing is made of wood. It should float anyway.” Another naysayer offered from the peanut gallery.
“Yes but if it has too much stuff loaded into it and it fills up with water it could still sink. Having a watertight compartment means that even if something flips it upside down the boat will still float that much better. Trust me on this. In my world ships have whole sections that can be sealed off and huge chunks of them can be filled with water but as long as enough of the watertight compartments hold they won’t sink.” Alex didn’t know how to explain it better.
Developing a prototype was a multi-day endeavor. The sails proved challenging, requiring several attempts to perfect. They discovered, through trial and error, that the mast couldn't be made from wood that was too stiff or brittle, necessitating experimentation with various timbers. For convenience, the daggerboard, rudder, and boom were all designed to be removable. As a precaution, oars were included, allowing the vessel to function as a rowboat when the mast was lowered.
By the end of the week, several boats had been constructed, and Alex laid claim to the newest model. "Hmm," Alex mused, "I believe we're almost ready to embark downriver, but something has been bothering me."
“What’s that?” Fufi asked, having claimed a spot in the water.
“Merumeru. I haven’t seen her all this time. Has anyone seen her?” Alex asked the crowd.
One nymph answered. “She’s popped in and out of the pipes in Bob and Martha’s farm a few times but other than that she’s mostly been out of the forest.”
“Hmm, weird. Well sometimes she’s just doing her own thing. Can Kaide tell her that we are going to head south next time she sees her? We are going to go visit the nereids in the swamp.” Alex asked the nymph to deliver the message.