Magical Girl? I’m not sure about this.

In the steel building that had turned into a temporary shipyard, a pair of magical girls argued about nautical matters.

“Ariel, any advice?” Alex eyed the 20 foot toy ship that was drying off after a failure to launch.

“It needs more weight in the keel.” Ariel stated the obvious. “The ship is way too tender. I’m not a shipwright but I think skipping out on the interior was a mistake.”

Alex grumbled at the sea elf. “I wish someone would have said something earlier. I didn’t expect it to be perfect but falling sideways was a bit less of a performance than I expected.”

The peg-legged woman started to protest.

“I get it.” Alex sighed. “I should have got a shipwright involved. Or maybe even some carpenters.”

“What is stopping you?” Fufi stepped in. “Even if we don’t have any shipwrights in town we could get some of the carpenters and smiths to help out.”

“But who would we ask?” Alex ran a hand through her black hair.

“The people who helped you before could do so again?” Fufi suggested.

“They could.” Alex shook her head. “But I haven’t known them for very long. Can we even trust them? Anyone we invite here would be like inviting them into your home.”

“Who would you trust then?” Fufi stated patiently. “Please don’t start acting like Professor Copperpot.”

“Bob, Martha and Ki.” Alex named the most obvious people. “And Kaide by extension.”

Ariel stated the obvious. “Ki or other nymphs can’t come here. It would take them out too far away from their trees.”

Fufi brought up a similar point. “Bob and Martha might visit. But Kaide set up her tree in her parents' farm. So I don’t know if they’d want to spend more than a few days here. Also, it is not like they have a lot of extra family to watch the farm while they are away. Can you think of anyone else you’ve met along the way that you might be willing to give a chance, Alex?”

Alex looked around the workshop. “Well, we have to bring the maids here anyway. But the two that helped me against Yvne’s demons made a good impression.”

“What were their names again?” Fufi tilted her beaked head.

“Zeke and uhhh….” Alex scrunched up her face. “Oh what was her name? Give me a second.”

Fufi tapped her webbed foot.

“Gurtrude? Or maybe Trudy.” Alex nodded, thinking that she got it right.

“Aren't they both farmers?” Fufi pressed. “Do you think they’d be a help with making the toy boat.?”

Alex shrugged. “They might not be much help. But farmers are strong and I didn’t realize how heavy this boat is going to be. Toys are supposed to be small and light.”

Alex drafted plans for an additional floor in the toy boat, intending to include cabins, hammock-hanging areas, and ample space for ropes. He then sifted through the cabinet's contents and retrieved a lead fishing weight.

“I wish we had some more lead. Adding a strip of lead to the keel could help. There is all this steel around but it is for the castle. Also, salt water is bad for steel.” The brown-eyed girl muttered aloud.

Merumeru hopped up and headed out, pulling Aqua along.

Not too long after, Aqua came back holding Merumeru by the hand. “Hey Alex, come here Merumeru’s got something to show you that might help.”

The slime girl pointed to a spot in the construction laydown area that Alex had missed. “Meru meru rurrrurururuuru.”

“Wow, that is a mouthful.” Aqua patted Merumeru’s head. “She says that Cosmos called that stuff Palladium. There is a lot of it in the mountains near the temple. She’s been collecting it. It is similar to lead?”

“Maybe? I don’t know exactly what it is used for but we could try.” Alex pondered, inspecting the keel. “However, bolting a counterweight might be a better idea for the second one. I’d love to make a clockwork doll ship but I don’t think using it as a plan for shipwrights in the capitol shipyard would be a good idea. Do they even have ships full of gears and springs?”

Ariel shook her head. “I’ve never seen one. The airships of old had something like that but with the gnomes all in seclusion there haven’t been much in airship inventions. Mostly they try to maintain the ones they have. I’ve come across what might have been wreckage of an airship in the ocean, but crashing down from the skies tends to do a lot more damage than just sinking.”

“Are there airships?!” Alex gaped. “I want to see one.”

“Yes, the demon empire has around a hundred I think.” Ariel guessed. “They don’t get used a whole lot anymore.”

“Why not?” Alex beamed at the idea of a zeppelin flying overhead. “Airships are cool.”

Ariel pointed up. “The demons believe there is a terrible demigod that guards the heavens.”

Alex agreed. When the magical girl cosmos struck there was an eclipse. “I can see why.”

“And secondly, fire demons’ natural enemy is water creatures.” The sea elf pointed down. “So if a demon crew flies too high, they are not not protected by the accords. And if they fly too low over the ocean they risk the wrath of the seas.”

“Why not just not have any demons on the ship?” Alex instantly regretted asking the question.

“Because if the crew are not thralled, then they would just take the airship and try to flee.” Ariel deadpanned.

Alex should have seen that one coming.

The day proceeded quietly, with everyone helping to unload the remaining items from the carriage. Tools like shovels, trowels, hammers, and nails were loaded in. The pipe leading back to the farm still necessitated getting wet, a detail Merumeru might have intentionally arranged as a security measure, though it remained inconvenient.

Cassius's offer to escort Alex back to town was rejected by Merumeru, as the Yvne family was under house arrest by Cosmos and not permitted to leave. Annoyingly, no one else wanted to return, leaving Alex and Fufi to go alone. Aqua and Ariel were still "settling in," collaborating with Merumeru to set up their rooms in the castle basement. Alex observed new, shiny grates on the floors. They had the silvery gleam of platinum, but if Merumeru was to be believed, they were likely palladium-coated steel or entirely constructed from the metal.

“That looks really valuable.” Alex gaped a bit at the platinum-like flooring grates but then decided not to think of it too much.

“Yeah it is a very pretty metal.” Fufi agreed.

“I guess if we wanted to set up a mine then there is a place to do so.” Alex splashed into the cold water and swam to the pipe.

Fufi followed closely.

They came out at the walled off section of Bob and Martha’s farm, soaking wet and cold.

Fufi shook the water off herself, becoming instantly dry. “Mining by the temple of purity would be difficult for several reasons. First, the weather is terrible, second, the neighbors are not the greatest either. There are some crazed priests on one end, and a possible-large sect of ice cultivating demons on the other end.”

“I wonder if we could clear those demons out?” Alex pondered aloud, heading to the pipe-gate.

The flamingo walked along after. “I can’t tell for sure. That demon that attacked you was tier 2 and he didn’t sound like the one in charge. There probably is a stronger demon around and if it is tier 3 then I think it would be beyond us without a careful plan to defeat it.”

“We are starting to get a really long list of things to do.” Alex headed out of the gate, ignoring the clucking chickens. “Some of the things require doing other things to start them apparently.”

After a quick chat and getting a meal with Bob and Martha, Alex delivered the tools and headed out again to the pipe that led back to town.

The city felt subdued. Alex came up from the basement and people were quiet. There were less of the tribe's people and more of the Yvne barony citizens.

“Hello, How have things been?” Alex axed a random man, eating lunch.

“Oh hello.” The man straightened. “You must be Alex. Ummm, things have been tense. There was an attack on one of the shrubberies the other day. The few nymphs here didn’t appreciate it. They came down hard on the offenders.”

“What happened?” Alex questioned.

“Well the person who got turned into a plant used to be a chieftain of a tribe.” The man continued. “He raided other tribes and some of the raids ended up with loved ones lost. So, as far as I know they felt justified in destroying the man-shaped bush to avenge their loved ones. But the nymphs would have none of that. The people themselves got turned into shrubs in punishment.”

“Oh dear.” Alex frowned. “Were they able to save the shrub? What happened next?”

“I wasn’t there.” The man continued. “But they used magic to regrow it. This didn’t go over well with some of the tribes so a bunch of members left saying they couldn’t live in the same area with this kind of justice.”

“I’m guessing the nymphs didn’t care.” Alex guessed.

The man nodded. “Yeah, the lady with pine needles for hair just looked at them like they were stupid children.”

Alex sighed. “I so don’t want to deal with this.”

The man shrugged and they went their separate ways.

It didn’t take long for Alex to find the two families, the Zekes and the Trudys, they lived in nearby nymph-made houses not far from a farmers' field. Both families were large, and after some discussion, their patriarchs agreed to move.

Alex also gathered the maids. Initially reluctant to change out of their maid outfits, they eventually relented when the magical girl informed them it was the only way to meet Yvne.

In total, 30 people required plumber outfits. Alex and Fufi spent the rest of the day sewing to ensure everyone was appropriately dressed to traverse the portal pipe. Once ready, they headed to Bob and Martha’s farm.

Bob and Martha, having an abundant harvest, loaded them up with produce, stating they preferred it be used rather than spoil. Alex thanked them, and they continued the final leg of their journey.

With much splashing and shouting, they arrived at the castle in the sky.