CH122 Picking up the peices
Alex’s phone displayed the text [Defeated 30 tier 1 demons]
[defeated 1 tier 2 demon]
It looked like assisting in the defeat of that ninja fire breather demon counted.
A progress to next level displayed:
[Requirements for level 6: Defeat 200 monsters, one of which needs to be tier 2]
[Progress 30/200 monsters, 1/1 tier 2 monsters]
“It counted my help with the bigger demon as defeating it.” Alex showed her phone to the flamingos, Ariel and Merumeru. “Though, it didn’t count the hero doll’s kills in general I don’t think? Also, what do we do with the bone-dust remains of the skeleton?”
Ariel pointed to the pile of ash that used to be a skeleton. “It is a revenant. I’ll come back no matter what. The only real way for it to rest is to fulfill the grudge that drives it.”
“Are you saying we should just leave him?” Alex frowned. “At the very least we should put him in a place where he could recover. They might try to seal him while he’s defenseless like this. Also, the hero doll needs to be fixed. I can sew him back together but we don’t have the materials here to fix the armor and saws. This is the second time he’s gotten beaten up by demons.”
Changing back into her toy-making clothes, Alex searched the carriage for a suitable urn. She only found cooking pots and the brazier as possibilities. Another issue was the lack of a broom. She usually relied on her feather duster for dust, but she had a feeling it wouldn't be effective for collecting ash.
“You are thinking of adopting another cursed thing aren't you?” Fufi glared at the magical girl coming out of the carriage with the brazier in hand.
“We just need to take him someplace where he’ll get a day or so to recover right?” Alex fidgeted. “We could just go back to the swamp and send him on his way after he gets some rest.”
“He’s undead.” Fufi poked a wing at Alex. “He doesn’t really rest.”
“You know what I mean.” Alex rolled her eyes. “Besides, he’s just using a farm implement for a weapon. Maybe the nereids might have something that is a better fit. Hiroshi’s outfit and his don’t even match. How can someone go battling demons when they are basically naked?”
“It shouldn’t be too bad.” Ariel took the brazier and used her webbed hands to scoop up the ashes. “We can take a detour to the grotto in the swamp.”
Alex retrieved a mending kit and tools for repairing the doll armor from the carriage. They then re-entered the river, dismissed the carriage to its card form, and proceeded upstream through the dense mist.
“Hiroshi you are in bad shape.” Alex finally got the plushy out of the charred armor. A lot of the fabric was burned and unsalvageable. Alex had to replace most of the fabric and stuffing. Luckily, the non-flammable bits were okay. The bathysphere bobbing up and down in the water made sewing a bit harder, but Alex’s skills compensated for any mistakes.
In an hour the plushy was like-new but with a bit of a different outfit then original. The armor was going to be more problematic. The one arm saw was bent and some smaller metal parts were fused together.
“How’s he look?” Ariel, holding the brazier-turned-urn in her lap asked.
“The doll is fine.” Alex held up the armor bits. “We need some metal to rebuild the armor though. He must have blocked a fireball or something with one arm. The spring for the saw is a hunk of slag.” Alex didn’t mention that the one arm was completely missing on the inside.
The doll cleared a village with minimal damage. How fierce was the fighting during the brief period the hero doll was given to the revenant?
Ariel returned to the water, moving with the same ease as the nereids. Inside, Alex worked on the armor, attempting repairs, with Fufi by her side. The sea elf placed the lidded brazier, now filled with ashes, on a shelf. It may have shifted, but that could simply have been due to the waves.
Later, the mini-sub, towing the bathysphere, again snagged on the shallows passing Yvne's old town and near the swamp.
Alex opened the top hatch and poked her head out. Yep, they ran aground…again.
“Meru!” Merumeru popped the hatch from her now-surfaced sub.
They traveled quickly upriver, but darkness was falling. The surroundings appeared drenched, waterlogged, and unpleasant.
“I so don’t want to spend the night in the mud.” Alex grumbled looking around.
A familiar flamingo and a sea elf sailing a dinghy approached from the swamp.
“Hello!” Ariel’s familiar honked to get their attention.
“That boat looks familiar.” Alex eyed the sail.
“Yes.” Ariel sped towards them. “You made it after all. Someone left it behind and forgot to come back for it after visiting a certain barony.”
Merumeru hopped out of her watercraft and jumped into the swamp, swimming towards the little sail boat.
Alex carefully climbed down into the sailboat. It wasn’t very big so it was going to be a tight fit.
The slime girl hopped on board, and after Alex gave her a bit of a feather dusting to get her overalls clean she turned her sub-chain-bathysphere setup back into a card.
“Um, I thought we were not supposed to seal the cursed undead.” Alex ducked under the boom.
Ariel quickly turned the shallow draft boat about and it caught the wind, they headed further into the swamp. The boat tilted to the starboard at the sudden speed.
“Lay down on the starboard side.” Ariel commanded, in a very captainy voice. “And we should make it there in about an hour at this speed.”
Alex grunted, and crawled over, careful not to get hit on the head with the boom. “Okay, but if he gets mad you have to take responsibility.”
Ariel grinned, happy to be holding the rudder, sail and to be zooming through the mucky water.
Alex was shivering and wet by the time they arrived at the swamp grotto. “I’m surprised you found the way here in the dark. With the mist covering everything I couldn’t see a thing.”
“Don’t underestimate privateer Ariel.” The sea-elf tied the dinghy to the pier in the grotto.
After fumbling around in the dark, Alex finally located a space large enough to summon the carriage. She threw down the card, and the carriage materialized. Using her phone's flashlight, she found her way inside.
“Merumeru.” Alex looked at the slime girl. “Can you get the brazier from the bathysphere?”
“Ruuu.” Merumeru took the card out of her overalls and threw it in the deep water. The sub and bathysphere appeared. She climbed in the hatch and came out with the brazier.
“Thanks.” Alex took the ash-filled bowl from the slime girl. She peeked and noticed what looked like some chunks of skull in the ash. “There were no bones in there before. Hopefully you are not too angry, mister revenant.”
After setting the brazier out by the entrance, Alex yawned. “It has been a long day. I want to dry off and get some sleep. But this place is so quiet without Aqua.”
“It is not that quiet.” Ariel sat down by the water. “There are many nereids here but they are shy and don’t like being seen.”
“I’m guessing that means they are okay with this.” Alex put her hands on her hips, still shivering slightly. “I’m going to clean up, dry off and go to bed.”
After a night’s sleep, Alex rose and looked out of the carriage only to find a pair of flamingos. “Where is everyone?”
“Ariel and Merumeru headed underwater for the night.” Fufi pointed at the deeper part of the grotto.
Alex’s stomach rumbled, prompting her to prepare breakfast. She considered that the underwater inhabitants might not notice the smell, but decided to make extra portions regardless. At the very least, Fufi and Funi could share the meal with her.
After changing into her chef’s outfit, the black-haired magical girl placed eggs on the grill and began heating water for tea. She paused to glance outside and check on the brazier.
The brazier lay overturned, and beside it, a black-boned skeleton with a single glowing orb in one eye socket rested motionless.
“Um, good morning?” Alex tried greeting the undead.
The skeleton didn’t move.
Alex took a step closer. “Can you hear me?”
No response.
“I guess you are not quite awake right now.” Alex headed back to the carriage’s modest kitchen.
“He might be in torpor.” Fufi followed Alex inside.
“Hmm?” Alex regarded the flamingo then went back to cooking.
“Some non-living creatures can go inactive.” Fufi answered the unasked question. “From above, the line of destruction went along the river shore from Yvne’s town downstream toward the capital. I think he’s drawn to it.”
“Why doesn’t he head back that way?” Alex looked out the window to check again if the skeleton had moved.
“Perhaps because no demons are nearby.” Fufi guessed. “Some golems work that way too, I've heard. If he’s powered by a grudge then not having a target could make his energy get low?”
Breakfast did summon the two other girls. Merumeru and Ariel arrived just in time to get some food.
After eating, Merumeru pulled out some pipes from inside her body that were way longer than she was. “Merumeru ru me me.”
“Where’d you get this Merumeru?” Alex boggled that the slime girl could produce pipes from seemingly nowhere. Had she done this before?
“Ru meru me.” Merumeru explained, then rushed over to the water, patting it with her hand.
“Oh it is from underwater.” Alex didn’t need to speak elemental to understand the meaning.
“What is it for?” Ariel asked this time.
“Meme rururuuuu.” Merurmeru went and grabbed the hero doll’s broken up armor.
“You think I should use this to make new armor?” Alex glanced at the medium pile of mostly bronze pipes. “A lot of these pieces are round already. Perhaps with some creative tool use we could make a replacement spring and jimmy a few things back together.”
Alex looked through the doll making toolkit. There were some small gears left but not enough, however there were some clipping tools and some other minor tools for making small stuff. Ideally they would melt the brass and pour it into forms but the saw was not a very small and intricate work. It wasn’t like the three dolls she made from the dungeon. But she could use her skills to try at least.
“Meru?” The slime girl looked a little uncertain about how to take Alex’s momentary silence.
“There is plenty here.” Alex mentally came up with a plan. “Even enough to make a matching outfit for mister skeleton over there too!”