CH94 Sending the Barge Off
The rickety barge, missing planks and sodden, bucked and splashed on the river, causing everyone to hold their breath in fear of it sinking. When it remained afloat, people on shore quickly acted. Strong men pulled the boat to the dock using lines tied from the rope bridge.
The ship featured three watertight compartments, accessible from the deck, though their securing panels were gone. The crew's compartment lacked a roof, and a crushed structure, possibly a house, occupied the barge's center. The lower floor had bunks for potentially eight crew members, while the upper floor, likely housing lookouts, the captain, or other important personnel, was completely destroyed.
Around 15 feet wide, the barge had a long, narrow appearance. Broken beams, likely remnants of masts or cranes, jutted from the deck near the cargo holds; like the hold covers, they were beyond salvage. Notches along the sides suggested provisions for paddles or poles to propel the vessel. The deck could comfortably accommodate around 20 people, fewer in the holds, and many more if passengers were willing to stand shoulder-to-shoulder for the entire upriver journey.
“I thought that your other boats were lacking cuteness, but this one has nothing going for it except its size.” Fufi flew a circle around the wreck at the dock. “But points for getting something stuck upside down in the mud out of 50 feet of water.”
“With a little cleaning I bet it’ll be okay.” Alex pointed a feather duster at the wreck. “Besides, I didn’t have any say in how this was built so technically you're blaming the wrong person.”
Townsmen worked to clear debris from the ship's holds, offloading items onto the docks. Under instruction, they left the items on the dock for Alex to clean. Most of the unidentified items simply vanished, too deteriorated to be considered anything other than refuse by the cleaning skill.
“Hey what’s this?” Alex pulled out a large iron hook that started as a slimy rusty hunk from the pile. She set it down after holding it for a few seconds, it was a bit heavy for her.
“I think that is a hook,miss.” A longshore-looking man stated blandly. “My guess is for raising and lowering cargo from the hold of that barge.”
“You think we can reuse it?” Alex asked the man.
The longshoreman answered. “You’d have to get one of the smiths to rebuild the crane if that is what you are asking.”
Alex looked around, people were watching but she wasn’t sure who did what. “Can you ask for us? I don’t know how long it’d take.”
“Okay, I’ll see what we can do. I don’t know if there is enough wood to remake three cranes.” The longshoreman looked at some of the revived items that had been pulled from the river, then shook his head, conforming his rough estimation.
“Can you cannibalize some structures?” Alex considered. “If this place is being left behind the buildings won’t matter much longer.”
“We can try, though wood has been in very short supply for as long as anyone can remember.” The man picked up the over-100-pound hook and hoisted it over his shoulder with one hand. “I’ll head out and talk to some people. What are you going to do?” Right, people with certain classes tended to have superhuman strength.
“Now that the boat is secured to the dock I was planning on cleaning. I think the bare minimum to get this thing going would be to get some poles or paddles and have something to water from filling up the holds. Given that it is autumn, a rain might ruin everything.” Alex pointed to each of the three hold openings on the deck in turn.
After drinking some water, Alex brandished her feather duster and headed to board the vessel.
One of the maids followed. “Miss Alice, I couldn’t help but overhear that you intend to spend some time cleaning.”
Alex figured the maids were just being polite and ignoring the fact that Alice was a fake name. The magical girl confirmed the maid’s assumption. “Yes, I plan to go over the whole barge.”
“Perhaps we maids could help with this task.” The maid primply suggested.
“If you want. But this might take a while.” Alex cautiously said.
“Many hands make work light.” The maid might have a bit of smugness in her tone.
In a matter of hours, the barge transformed from a decrepit hulk into a vessel that, though incomplete, was clearly new. As the day progressed, artisans utilized salvaged metals to reconstruct one of the cranes. This crane, capable of swinging outward, facilitated the raising and lowering of a brass grate secured by ropes, via a block and tackle.
The second floor was adorned with a bronze canopy, its top covered in treated leather. Long iron poles, intended for propulsion, lay ready on the deck. As twilight approached, the holds were laden with various goods, causing the barge to list. The crew then worked through the night, unloading and reloading to balance the load. A substantial amount of rope was spooled and stowed on deck.
The bilge pump's piping, discovered in pieces, required reassembly after a thorough cleaning. Though some pump parts were too corroded for restoration, the smiths ingeniously improvised replacements, rendering the pump functional once more. While the repair was not aesthetically pleasing, it rendered the ship operational within a single day.
“Sorry,” The longshoreman apologized. “I got this class when I was young and there still was boat traffic. Then the boats stopped coming and this is the first chance I’ve had to use it for real.”
Alex, unable to assist with heavy lifting, dedicated her time to clearing debris Marina continuously brought ashore. As darkness fell, she ended her work for the night.
At dawn, the unnamed barge began its journey upstream. Mostly farmers, men of great strength, propelled the barge with poles, achieving a speed slightly faster than a walking pace.
Twenty individuals were aboard the ship. The majority of the cargo holds were filled with ship supplies. A heated debate arose regarding how to accommodate more people, but the realization that three days' worth of supplies for twenty people would consume most of the hold quickly silenced that discussion. Most of the unclassed individuals were evacuated before the barge departed.
“I’m still not happy with your efforts on that boat.” Fufi watched the barge round a corner and go out of sight. “It is one of the least cute projects you’ve been involved in.”
“Hey, we are in a bit of a time crunch here. I’d love to take my time and make something more impressive but we don’t have months to prepare.” Alex frowned. “Think of it this way, now we have almost 5% of the people on their way to a safer place. I think that with the barge and the small boats that will take around a month.”
Alex fretted about their speed, hoping demonic reprisal wouldn't come for days. Weeks or months would be ideal to salvage useful items from the town. Adding over 900 people would more than double the population of the less-than-a-year-old settlement of former tribespeople, a fact that remained unspoken. Fortunately, it was harvest season, so food was plentiful.
“So what do you want to do today?” Fufi poked Alex’s phone in her pocket, not being subtle at all.
“Yeah, you are right. I should stop putting off looking at the gains from leveling up. I’m level 5 now, whatever that means.” Alex pulled out her phone from a pocket in her frilly dress. She really wanted to get changed into something less gaudy but after giving a pair of outfits away to Zeke and Trudy the options were not great. She had the arctic costume, and the pirate outfit. “I also need to work on the hero doll. He’s in bad shape. Then there is the carriage that needs to be fixed as well. Being here may be the right thing to do but I want to get out of here as much as anyone else. Well, most people I think I bet maybe some people would like for things to go back to how they used to be if they were in lady Yvne’s good graces. ”
Fufi's hint was spot on: Alex needed to check her notifications. With no pressing matters like a newly discovered, floatable boat, the magical girl's immediate attention wasn't required elsewhere. Alex retrieved her cutely decorated phone and tapped the notifications tab.
[Level up: Class magical girl increased from level 3 to level 5]
+2 cuteness, +1 intelligence (per level)
+4 added to cuteness.
+2 added to intelligence.
[Completed: Defeat 100 monsters]
[Level 4 feat gained: Crafting: Force Imbuement]
[Ability to craft items of mechanical energy beyond what is physically possible. Springs, weights and other mechanical sources of energy will last 15 minutes longer than their non enchanted counterparts.
Ingredients required: Sugar, Spice, something nice]
[Level 5 spell gained: Magical girl transformation]
[With a cute performance, the magical girl transforms her apparel to any kept in a designated wardrobe, swapping outfits.
Cast time: 3 seconds
Requirements: Verbal, somatic]
Name: Alex Parker
Class: Magical Girl
Level: 5
Sex: Female
Race: Human
Strength: 11
Constitution: 9
Dexterity: 17
Intelligence: 11
Cuteness: 24
Skills:
Cleaning: 3
Cooking: 2
Dancing: 2
Tailoring: 4
Toymaking: 2
Feats: Empower Doll
Crafting: Force Imbuement
Spells: Animate Doll
Magical Girl Transformation
Lesser Grow Plants
Traits: Mental Resistance: 4
“Whoa, my cuteness stat is over 20 now.” Alex squinted at the phone.
“It sounds like you have surpassed human natural limits now.” Fufi prinned. “I guess you can say that you are superhumanly cute.”
“What does that even mean?” Alex had no idea what the flamingo was getting at.
“You know how some of the experienced combat classers and farmers can lift things that a normal human from your world would find impossible?” Fufi asked.
“Yeah, how strong and fast some of the people we have come across are crazy.” Alex boggled, remembering some of the feats residents of this world performed that people from her world would consider superhuman.
“It is the same thing, but only with feats of cuteness.” Fufi nodded sagely.
“I think you lost me there. What is a feat of cuteness?” Alex still didn’t get it.
“How to explain simpler, hmm, perhaps making something cute, or being cute would be a good example.” Fufi slowed her speech down, like Alex was slow or something.
“Is that like saying I could do a better Shirley Temple impression than the original actress?” Alex shook her head.
“I don’t know who Shirley Temple is. But let's look at a more recent example.” The flamingo flourished a wing. “You know how flamingos are banned from these lands?”
Alex nodded.
“The ban should be a ruler skill. The king makes a decree and that goes into place for all the lands in the kingdom. Lords and ladies use a stat called charisma that determines how successful their skills are.” Fufi explained.
“But I don’t have charisma as a stat. Shouldn’t that have kept you out?” Alex thought this seemed more confusing than before.
“Yes, many of our flamingo kin were looking for maidens pure of heart in the kingdoms of man. However, we were not allowed access. It is a tricky way that the demon queen made to prevent another magical girl cosmos from coming up from her ranks.” Fufi continued. “However, the suit you made that I was wearing was very cute. Is the king cuter than the stuff you’ve made?”
Alex shook her head, starting to get where she was going with this.
The flamingo lectured. “While I can’t go in the armor can, and the skill is not something that can separate the armor from the flamingo. The decree would have to be something more specific and airtight to keep certain people out. Also, there are classes dedicated to bypassing laws. A smuggler for example. A high enough smuggler can’t be kept at bay with a decree. Stealing can be illegal but no noble is high enough level to prevent all theft.”
Alex considered this, looking out over the river. “So, what I get from this is that magical girls can usually win a contest of cuteness, or skills, feats, and magic based on cuteness are incredibly effective against anything that doesn’t have cuteness as a stat?”
“That is about right. There will always be some weird situations where some things clash in unexpected ways.” Fufi nodded.
“And not having charisma as a stat, I guess that makes charisma based skills bad news for magical girls.” Alex pondered. “Maybe that is why you said that magical girl princesses are not good?”
Fufi looked a little nervous, like she was hiding something. “Yes, that among other reasons.”