CH101 A Nymph and a Flamingo.
Fufi and Alex journeyed back to Mignoneville aboard the Stardrift. Their path took them east through the bog before turning north up the river. A persistent annoyance during their travel was the exposed, spinning blades that drew air over the passengers in front, a design flaw that seemed easily preventable.
Autumn was at its peak. The air was noticeably cooler, and the trees were ablaze with vibrant gold and red as they shed their leaves. As the Stardrift rounded the river bend and approached the docks, Aqua's earlier caution about the impending winter became clearer. While almost tempting, the arctic outfit wasn't yet necessary as the cold remained tolerable. By the time they reached their destination, darkness had already descended.
"Fufi, it seems we're nearly there. It's been quite some time, and I'm curious to see how things have changed.” Alex looked at the Flamingo.
Fufi eyed the approaching dock. “I figured we would be gone for about a week and come back and ask Ki what she thought of the baroness that offered her an invitation. Now a month has passed.”
The waterfront, once a solitary fishing spot, had been transformed. Root-entangled structures now formed docks, jutting into the water, with the largest one securing a seemingly empty and deserted barge. Leantos and fences, resembling a small trade port, had been erected for handling livestock and goods, despite the town lacking trade partners. From the docks, the dam was visible, its overflow pipes releasing a steady flow of water.
A road lined with bioluminescent plants connected the docks to the town, providing a soft, enchanting glow for nighttime travelers. The town itself, with a population of around 2000, bore an uncanny resemblance to a mystical elven village, primarily due to its unique roofing: intricately woven vines that grew over buildings, providing protection from the elements.
“A lot can change in a month.” Alex eyed what looked like a human shaped shrub and winced. “I guess not everything is sunshine and rainbows.”
“Things are tough.” The flamingo clucked sadly. “The nomadic tribes have been losing their humanity for generations and in a different way the kingdom’s citizens have as well. I don’t envy Ki’s responsibilities. Some of the people must see her as a bad girl and act out because of it.”
“Yeah, I’d never want to be a ruler.” Alex shook her head and walked down the dock to the shore. “I’m too much of an introvert for that.”
“That’s good to hear.” Fufi sounded overly relieved for some reason. “Magical girls make terrible rulers.”
“Can’t be worse than Yvne right?” Alex chuckled. “Anyway, let's go set up the carriage some place. I’m tired and would like to get some sleep. There is a lot to do that I’ve been putting off until we returned to town.. I need to remake the outfits that I gave to Zeke and Trudy. I need to fix up the carriage and Hiroshi’s burns. Also, that airboat needs a cage around the propellers.”
“That sounds like more than a day’s work. It is nice that you are lending your old clothes to Zeke and Trudy.” Fufi nodded her large beak. “Don’t forget to meet with Ki.”
“Some of it is that I bet I can make better clothes.” The magical girl made it sound like it wasn’t a big deal. “If I can get a better bonus than they are obsolete. I really struggled making the airboat. In hindsight, I bet some of that was not equipping the corset that gave a bonus to toymaking. I didn’t have the heart to ask for it back though. Most people don’t have two sets of clothes let alone enough for each day of the week.”
Alex’s Wardrobe consisted of the following outfits:
[Priestess robes]
[Chef’s outfit +3 cooking]
[Plumber’s outfit +3 plumbing]
[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]
[Pirate outfit +2 sailing +1 cuteness]
[Boots of questionable origin]
[Maid outfit +3 cleaning] (Not Cursed!)
“Someone never can have enough clothes.” Fufi sagely stated. “Considering how fast charlotte can weave and sew I bet a lot of people have more garments now than they ever could dream of before.”
Alex imagined the speed and ease of the spider doll that the nymphs turned into a plant creature could handle textile projects and nodded. “You are probably right. Given a few months she could clothe a population of thousands for sure. I wonder how she’s doing.”
In the carriage, Alex and Fufi continued their conversation, discussing the town's inhabitants and what they might discover. They then showered, the carriage's damaged siding covered, preventing any unwelcome "peep shows" for those lurking outside. However, this also meant external sounds were unsettlingly clear.
The following day, they ventured into town and visited the adventurer's guild, though it now resembled more of a community center. The place was bustling, with nymphs setting up additional outdoor seating. Alex recalled a time when the town, then only hundreds strong, utilized the guild's well-equipped kitchen. Now, with a population over ten times that size, the town seemed to be grappling with growing pains.
Alex made her way to the receptionist. “Hey, would it be possible to get an appointment with Ki?”
The nymph nodded. “Yes, go right up, she cleared her schedule when you headed into town.”
Feeling a little unnerved, the magical girl nodded and headed up the stairs to Ki’s office. She knocked. “Hello? Fufi and I are here.”
“Come in, you don’t need to knock.” Ki’s muffled voice could be heard through the door.
Alex opened the door and the pair walked into the large room where Ki was sitting behind a desk. Surprisingly, another Flamingo was with her. Though Ki herself looked sleepy.
“You are looking much more yourself.” Ki gestured to a mirror.
Alex gazed at her reflection, a sense of odd familiarity washing over her. It had been a while since the priestess's twinning ritual, but the transformation back into the magical girl who had ventured to that icy temple was unmistakably underway. A younger visage met her eyes, prompting a bewildered whisper: "Weird, it's like I'm aging backward."
“Oh Fumi!” Fufi recognized the other familiar immediately. “How are you doing? How is Sakura?”
“I’m doing good, all things considered. Magical Girl Sakura is toddling around back in her grove. Some of her responsibilities are a bit too much for her right now so I’m doing rounds, helping her check on the nymphs.” The other flamingo stated, though she too sounded weary.
“Why do you need to do that?” Alex asked, puzzled.
“Sakura used to visit everyone before the coming of the winter court.” Fumi stated. “Nymphs are plants and they take on the characteristics of the trees they are spirits of.”
“That’s just normal though.” Alex furrowed her brow. “I get that evergreen trees don’t lose their needles when winter comes but I’m not sure what that has to do with nymphs. We don’t have nymphs back on earth.”
“It is the same.” Fumi looked at Ki. “Without a dryad nymphs can’t go very far from their tree. While that gives them more freedom they need to make sure that they don’t go into hibernation outside of their tree. So Sakura would collect any sleepy nymphs and tree stride back to where they should rest until spring.”
Fufi was the first to get it. “Oh, so Ki needs to go back to her tree? And you’ve come to collect her?”
Fumi nodded. “Yeah, though I’m just a familiar so I can’t really take anyone home. I was hoping to get on top of things before anyone passed out. Ki can just treestride back to her tree though she’s being stubborn.”
Ki yawned. “There is just so much to do. I wanted to at least talk to Alex before the winter court came. Springing a big population increase on me right before winter wasn’t a very nice thing to do Alex.”
“I’m sorry.” Alex deflated. “It wasn’t my intention to increase your workload at the worst possible time.”
“It is okay. While you may have poked the sleeping dragon, you definitely saved a lot of people.” Ki sleepily stated. “I used to be human and after talking to Aqua and the other Nereids it is becoming increasingly obvious that they are becoming an endangered species.” She shook her head. “Anyway, not all of the fey will see it that way. Like Sakura, the winter court will see the elimination of humanity as the surest way out of the mess Terre is in.”
“What do you think they are going to do?” Alex asked, worried.
“I don’t think they will be willing to blatantly scorn Luna’s judgment on Sakura.” Ki pondered. “In the past, it was Sakura who greeted them during the changing of the court. Anyway, maybe one of the eldest evergreen nymphs will get stuck with that honor. There are some bristlecone pines far to the north but their nymphs are very solitary.”
Alex knew that bristlecone pines could live for thousands of years. “You think that’ll go okay?”
“It’ll go very slowly.” Ki chuckled. “If you lived a thousand years no one is going to be rushing you. Those women just want to sit back, years pass by like days to them. What is important is that the winter court will be extra critical of any human slight against nature. So everyone needs to behave. Some will want the humans gone like Sakura did but not want to take that stance because it risks divine wrath. They’ll look for any excuse that isn’t just because they are human.”
“Should we start making plans to leave?” Alex felt the bad news piling up. “A bunch of people just uprooted their whole lives to come here. I’m not sure where else to go.”
“We had a town meeting just a couple days ago where I told everyone that if they thought I was harsh then the winter court is going to be much worse so they need to be on their best behavior.” Ki looked out the window. “I’m sure some won’t but hopefully the first few that get made an example of will convince others to be respectful and polite.”
“Is there any good news?” Alex asked.
“Demonic incursions haven’t changed. At least for now it doesn’t look like we will be facing an army of demons in the near future.” Ki smiled. “If that happened then the winter court would surely want every single human out of the woods.”
Fumi coughed a bit. “Cousin, have you talked to your magical girl about specialization?”
Fufi tilted her head. “Kinda? Though I didn’t really push the subject.”
Fumi clucked. “Sometimes it is best to be blunt.” She looked at Alex. “You should visit a temple, shrine or holy place and commune with Luna. Magical girls can’t be generalists. At level 5 they have to pick a theme that defines them. When I made my contract with Sakura that level came fast. We were fighting demons the whole time. The town was crawling with demons after they chased all the humans out but they didn’t dare destroy the temple. A long story short, she snuck in there and picked the nature theme for her magical girl powers.” She also looked out the window. “The old temple is still there but it is a ruin like the rest of this town. It is an odd tradition, attacking places where people can get a class is almost never done. Instead, they get removed by years of neglect.”
Alex considered this. “I guess we could go to the grotto. We need to check.”
“One last thing.” Ki ran a hand through her green hair. “The dungeon has reverted to being inactive.”
“Oh,” Alex blinked. “I had a bit of a love hate with that dungeon.”
“I really appreciate the sacrifice you made there for these people.” Fufi spoke with conviction. “You gave up so many dungeon runs to increase your level in favor of giving strangers a chance to better themselves.”
“Eh?” Alex raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Dungeons have limited uses.” Fumi answered, before Fufi could. “So unless someone recharges it with magic regularly it’ll go back to being dormant.”
It would have been nice to get some useful things but running the dungeons was rough for her. The rewards were worth it but the process was still rough.
“You probably already know but there was a group of maids that wanted to meet you.” Alex said to the sleepy Nymph. “You might have already run into them. They were wearing cursed maid outfits and only gave ‘maid’ as their names.”
“Yes,” Ki yawned. “I told them that I can’t give them an answer right now that being cursed with demonic items makes them a bit compromised.”
“What did they say?” Alex wondered.
“The one maid that represented the group said that they would fix that if given an opportunity to.” Ki rolled her eyes. “Not thinking, I mentioned the temple of purity and that they would start making preparations for a pilgrimage.”
“Oh dear.” Alex facepalmed.