Magical Girl? I’m not sure about this.

“Be careful about the shipping containers.” Alex told the now-surrounded-by-steel gnome’s tent. “They only open from the outside so they are not designed to be continuously occupied. You can put anything you want in them but don’t get locked inside.”

Professor Copperpot, seemingly overwhelmed by the excitement of running the jeep and the gathering crowd, desired no further social interaction. Respecting his wishes, Alex guided the others away from the modest camp.

As night descended, a busy day left everyone ready for bed. However, the cabin offered limited sleeping arrangements. Before Aqua's arrival, Merumeru had been content to sleep wherever. Cosmos claimed the master bedroom upon her arrival. But with the arrival of the three nobles, the guest bedroom was occupied. Alex found it peculiar that they all shared a single room, yet apparently, keeping the family together provided warmth. While grand manors might offer individual rooms, this was not typical outside of affluent noble families.

“I suppose I can set up the carriage and sleep there. It still needs some work but I’ll be fine.” Alex then considered the other’s arrangement. “How about Aqua and Ariel?”

“Actually, there are plenty of in-progress underwater rooms in the bottom level of the castle.” Aqua beamed. “Some of them don’t have ceilings but it doesn’t really matter.”

“I’m fine with staying in the castle or lake as well.” Ariel nodded, waving a webbed hand to show it wasn’t really a problem.

“Do you want to stay in the water too?” Alex asked Merumeru.

“Meru!” The slime girl agreed.

“I’ll see you all in the morning.” Alex headed out.

“Have a good night.” Yvne spoke primly. “I’m sure one of my children can help with breakfast in the morning.”

Everyone reconvened at the cabin the following day, except for the gnome. Seraphina prepared a breakfast of dried berries and oatmeal. Aqua departed to deliver Professor Copperpot's meal, while Cassius, Ariel, and Merumeru made their way to the workshop.

“What do you think of the keel shape?” Alex presented the now-curled board to the sea elf.

“It is a very sleek design.” Ariel ran a webbed hand across the wood. “That is obvious from the model though.”

Alex nodded. “I don’t know what all exactly makes something a cutter. But they are supposed to be fast.”

“How can we help?” Ariel asked.

“We need to get some more branches that can be cut and shaped into the ribs of the hull.” Alex scrunched up her face. “I’m not sure if that is the right term though.”

“Garboard maybe?” Ariel shrugged. “I don’t know all the terms perfectly. The ships I’ve captained have all been captured ones or abandoned ones.”

“No matter, let's get some lumber and see what we can find to bend them into shape. They don’t need to be big because we are building it to 1/10 scale so no need to kill any trees.” The black-haired magical girl grabbed the chainsaw, rope and a wagon and they headed out.

Within a day, enough branches, a mix of oak and other types from Alex's land were gathered outside the workshop to begin constructing the hull of the 1/10 scale flying cloud model. This toy ship was intended as a scaled up desk model and a proof of concept.

While Merumeru supervised, Cassius, Alex, and Ariel filled a trailer with the collected branches. The peg legged sea elf, though not swift, demonstrated unparalleled skill in tying rope.

The jeep, while trusty, proved to be fuel inefficient, with its gas tank noticeably depleted from hauling. Alternative transport methods were considered: a wooden carriage lacked a suitable trailer hitch, and the semi truck, too large for off road wooded areas and requiring experienced operation, was also impractical.

“Merumeru?” Alex slid the barn doors of the workshop open.

“Meru!” The slime girl chirped in greeting.

While the sea elf and two humans gathered branches, Merumeru transformed matel scraps into rib-shaped presses Alex had designed. They spent the remainder of the day sawing and fitting the lumber into Merumeru's jigs.

At dinner, Alex eyed the disassembled toy boat alongside the ship picture book. “I’m a little worried about the scale of this. We might not have enough lumber to build the actual full sized ship without stripping acres of forest bare.”

“You can probably work something out with the nymphs.” Aqua didn’t look phased by the huge problem. “If you need a thousand trees then give them something worth a thousand trees.”

“But what would the nymphs want?” Alex grumbled. “My experience with the race tells me that nothing is more important than preserving their forests.”

“You are right.” Aqua nodded. “So the question would be, how can you pay back the forest back with more forest? What can a human do that a nymph could not.”

“They can’t really travel.” Alex pondered. “If they want to claim more land then it has to be adjacent.”

“There you have it.” Aqua beamed.

“But without a lot of help from the system, plants won’t grow in the wastes.” Yvne interjected. “Farmers need a high level to even attempt a crop in a depleted land.”

“Then plant stuff that doesn’t need good soil.” Aqua shifted her gaze to the former baroness.

“Do we have something like that?” Alex must have missed something.

“People have already been doing it.” The nereid waved her hand. “Were you not there when people came down the river and planted seeds?”

The black-haired girl blinked in realization. “To tell you the truth. I thought they were just being weird. I didn’t consider that there was a method to the madness.”

“If enough seeds survive, then in the spring when they germinate then that portion of the river will have static defenses against demons poking around.” Aqua spelled it out very clearly.

“Won’t the demons just push through?” Alex wondered. “I’m a little confused about how they would view this.”

“Eventually, but each layer of fortifications is another price they have to pay.” Aqua replied seriously. “Another first line of defense is always a good thing.”

“I’d think that the nereids could spread seeds along waterways.” Alex sipped some tea. “So, I’m guessing that would be a bit redundant… Maybe planting some place that is a bit more isolated?”

Fufi nodded her beak. “Spreading seeds from the sky is an option too, provided they won’t break because they are too heavy and crash against the ground.”

“Not sure I completely understand but I think we can work something out.” Alex puzzled looking back at the model and ship pictures. “I’m a little concerned about the finer details of the clipper ship though. If you look at the display model, it isn’t really a completely accurate recreation of the ship. The outside looks similar, but inside it is just these bulkhead pieces and the whole interior is hollow. Ariel, does that look right to you?”

The sea elf took a look over Alex’s shoulder and gave a critical eye to the picture and the model. “No, you can see that there are cabins and decks. I think it is supposed to have a main deck, a lower deck and a hold just by glancing at the picture. Also, the placing of the bulkheads is weird. The companionway doesn’t give access to some parts.”

Alex threw up her hands. “This is too much. I can probably build the hull, deck, masts and sails but without detailed plans so much of this is guess work. I’m not an expert. There is so much that could go wrong. I don’t want to float thousands of trees down the river and the shipwright tries to make it by scaling up my toy ship only for it to sink or be useless as soon as they splash her into the water.”

“Any shipwright that has achieved the rank of master will not be silent about a flawed ship design.” Seraphina took a break from sipping her tea to add her two coppers.

“I wish we could just recruit help from a legitimate shipwright.” Alex frowned. “I’m so worried that something will go wrong. This whole plan seems like such a gamble.”

“Meru me ruuu, me me.” Merumeru bounced.

“You want to kidnap someone that can help build a castle too?” Aqua patted the little slime girl. “If we are going to traffic humans we might as well collect all the ones we might need while we are there.”

With the outrageous proposals behind them, everyone but the anti-social professor returned to work, each contributing in their own way. Once the hull boards were laid, Alex began whittling wooden ball-jointed dolls for the mini-clipper crew. Yvne and Seraphina, charmed by the idea of doll-making, joined in the effort to craft the crew.

The ship's three masts and dozens of sails, not even counting those on the bowsprit, made its complexity a considerable challenge.

“We are going to need at least a mile of yarn for all the rigging.” Alex headed into the carriage to check the tailoring stocks. “Maybe we’ll have enough.”

Alex spent another day meticulously dressing the one-foot-tall wooden dolls intended to crew the ship. Unsure of the exact crew size, she crafted ten dolls for good measure. Each doll was adorned in an adorable sailor uniform, though Alex knew her [possess doll] ability would only allow her to control one at a time.

Alex’s phone rang out: [Toymaking has reached Level 4]

“Neat.” Alex gave the device a glance but refused the distraction. “Hopefully that’ll help with the next creation.”

Once complete with the hull, deck, working mast, sails, and rudder, the twenty-foot toy ship was trailered to the water's edge near Professor Copperpot's camp.

With minimal ceremony, the toy splashed into the water. Merumeru stood at the bow, arms outstretched as if in flight.

That's when the issues began. The ship, with its sails and tall mast, was top-heavy. The lack of a proper lower deck exacerbated the problem, and the draft was far too shallow.

Merumeru wobbled back and forth, but the list went from one side to the other.

Left, 5 degrees.

Right 5 degrees.

Left 10 degrees.

Right 10 degrees.

Left 20 degrees.

Right 20 degrees.

Left 40 degrees.

Right… and the boat rolled over on the side, the hold started filling up with water.

Aqua hopped into the lake and used her innate power over water to right the floating toy. With little effort, she got the toy ship back on the trailer and they pulled it out of the water.

“Mistakes were made.” Alex slumped to the ground.

“I think you might have rushed this a bit.” Ariel agreed, helping to tie the ship back to the trailer. “This is taking a lot longer than I thought it would.”

“You did have the help of a number of craftsmen back at the barony.” Fufi let out another one of her blunt comments. “Getting some more help up here might be good.”

“I think that the actual ship had some kind of weight. In the bottom of the ship to get it to not be so loose.” Alex grumbled. “Maybe the townsfolk were right and doing even a toy ship without a shipwright is a recipe for failure.”

“You don’t need a shipwright to make a cute toy ship.” Fufi parroted her manta. “The ship is just not cute enough. With some more flourishes and sparkles I bet it’ll work right as rain.”

The mood became somber, and they pulled the ship back to the workshop after dumping the lake water out of the hold.