CH178 Gnomes of the Machine
The first few of the clockwork boats came in at a slow clip. People cheered and adventurers, mostly tribal type, waved from the decks. Alex couldn’t help but think this was something like a pirate bay. They docked and unloaded loot that they got from raiding demon controlled settlements along the coast.
A bit of an odd thing was the toy-flying-cloud ship came in being towed by one of the ferro cement boats. That boat had a crew of adventurers with Ariel, actually sea elf Ariel at the bow waving to everyone. Another flamingo stood perched on top of the deck.
Alex greeted her when she disembarked. “Ariel! You are back to your old self. It has been a little while.”
The blue-haired magical girl blinked in surprise. “Alex! Hello! What have you been up to? It has been what… a month or so?”
“Made some more toy airships.” Alex walked with the sea-elf up the dock. “We’ve been trying to help professor copperpot with his project. How about you? When did you turn back into an elf?”
“I thought that it was a lie that escaping the forest would change someone back.” Ariel kept walking. “But I suppose it was a deception, everyone where that was turned into a fairy started changing back a couple weeks ago. I think it only lasted until the changing of the season. I was flying out over the water and then poof, I turned back and fell into the waves. For me that wasn’t a problem, but the humans that transformed in odd places suddenly had some big problems with the sudden change.”
“I can imagine.” Alex pictured people being dumped, naked in the cold water and not knowing where to swim to for safety, if they could even swim. “I take it that is why the mini flying cloud is being towed?”
Ariel nodded. “Yes, we don’t have anyone small enough to crew it anymore. I almost wish I stayed a fairy just for that but there is that big version of the ship we just need to finish getting it set up. I checked on it a lot when they were messing with it early on, but the crafter mostly complained about how impossible it would be to get the shafts, gears and springs the exact dimensions they needed to make it work, that and the lack of access to miners. But with the gnomes poking their noses out of the ground we might be okay in that regard. They were really impressed with your work, they treat it like some kind of holy artifact.”
“So I’ve heard.” Alex muttered under her breath, a bit weary of the prospect of dealing with what appeared to be incredibly devout gnomes.
“I can introduce you to their machine monks.” Ariel smiled. “I think that is what the people that are venerating your doll contraption title themselves.”
“How about the nobility?” Alex asked. “Did you get any high ranking nobles or the king?”
The sea elf shook her head. “No, we’ve raided the capital several times. But it looks like everyone that could flee on short notice left right away. With the forces we have, it doesn’t make sense to try to go more than a day’s journey inland. So we’ve been hunting down demon summoners mostly. Rooting out the mage’s tower was a pain. They had magical defenses and kept summoning imps. However, some careful positioning of one of the boat mounted ballistas let us get some bombardment on it. The nice thing about magical girl weapons is that non-cute buildings don’t defend against them so it didn’t take very long for them to surrender.”
“What happened to them?” Alex hoped they didn’t get mob justice.
“They were put on trial out in the open.” Ariel sounded serious. “One of the raiders had a chieftain class that helps him with judgements like that. There were quite a few martyrs that condemned them, at least that is what I thought from the looks on their faces, the fact that no one can understand what they say because of a curse makes their condemnations a little bit up to interpretation. Anyone suspected of summoning demons was told to forsake their class or be given to the mob.”
“I thought that makes the gods angry.” Alex kept talking while walking.
The blue-haired magical girl shrugged. “What’s worse? Risking getting smited by the heavens or being thrown to the mob?”
“Meru!” Merumeru nodded rapidly, looking serious, but cute.
“They are from gods that will give classes to people that they know are going to be exploited by demons.” Fufi added. “People can’t be mind controlled into picking a class from a certain deity but signing up to summon demons that are contractually bound to oppress humans… I don’t know asking to be let out of that doesn’t seem like being unfaithful.”
“Hopefully no one got smited?” Alex asked Ariel.
“I didn’t stick around to find out.” The sea elf grinned. “Just trying to get some demon stragglers like most everyone else. I’m not even human. Getting involved in politics is a bad idea for any magical girl.”
“I don’t know.” Alex fidgeted. “Would meeting with a cyborg gnomish priest count as getting involved in politics?”
“Unless you are willing to pirate goods to build your next project I don’t see a way around it.” Ariel said.
They only had so much more time before they reached the end of the dock and eventually decided to go meet with the gnomes that came up from the collapsed caves below the islands. The entrance was about a mile from where the town was. A mine that they had cleared the rubble out from a collapsed entrance. A big open area not far had what looked to be a holy place to some kind of mechanical deity. Gnome-shaped figures kneeled before an altar made
Two flamingos let up the way with the forehead gems.
“Hello?” Fufi eyed the area. “Don’t mean to intrude. Are you the gnomes we are looking for?”
A gnome stood up with an unnerving grace of a man who was not quite machine but no longer man. “Brother Octavius of the sanctified gear, warden of the deep ways, Ordained Servitor of divine gear whisperer, keeper of the anointed cogs at your service.”
“I’m Alex.” The black-haired magical girl felt a little intimidated by the intensity of the gnome’s introduction and was a loss for words.
The gnome bowed, brass prayer beads clinking together.
The other gnomes, who were more machine and golem than gnome, continued keeling, meditating or whatever they were doing.
Ariel nudged Alex. “She means to say, that she’s the one that made the dolls that make the cement.”
“Thou art the maiden bringing the blessed machine.” The gnomed grasped the rosary, his voice full of intensity. “The bringer of revelation not of this world.”
“It makes cement. And the other one melts down scrap metal.” Alex took a step back. “Not exactly something new to Terre?”
“Dwellist not upon that which is, because it is voice crying in the wilderness, proclaiming a taste of what may come should the children of the blessed machine prove themselves worthy.” The gnome closed his eyes, rather eye, singular, upon a closer look, brother Octavius only had one flesh eye, the other looked to be more like something more fitting on a golem than a flesh and blood man.
“I’m not saintess.” Alex didn’t like being treated like she was some kind of divine envoy. “I was just hoping to get some ore smelted, it is not common, and Baron Somnus said you are good at that.”
“Yes. My brothers and sisters will accept this trial of faith.” The gnome said. “Let us prove ourselves worthy, for the cog seer has foretold, when the deep paths are destroyed our people will face the greatest trial of our faith, if we prove worthy the living engine will be revealed to us and will eventually lead to the end of our exile and the salvation of this world from its oppressors.”
“Brothers and sisters in faith.” The gnome raised his hand to the air. “Let us offer praise for this divinely ordained fulfillment of prophecy.”
The gnome all gave their ascent. One female gnome with two extra mechanical arms went to a very elaborate organ and began playing it. The somber sounds echoed through the halls. Knowing the chants already, the gnomes raised their voices. Voices was a strong word, because many sounded more machine than living.
Merumeru got really excited when she saw the musical instrument made of elaborate pipes. Alex had to hold her next to her to keep the slime girl from running off.
“Ruuuuu.” Merumeru chanted as best she could, keeping the beat if not the wording of the monks. “Meeeeee.”
Everyone joined in as best they could. This was not a fake temple, so the flamingos advised everyone to be on their best behavior.
During the onset of the demon war, they were regarded as a mere minor cult. However, the transition from flesh to machinery proved vital for their survival, drastically reducing their reliance on food. By integrating golem components, metal enhancements, and pneumatic limbs, they found ways to sustain themselves through non-biological means. The service culminated in the Cog Seer’s prophecy: a blessed individual from another world would herald a machine revolution, finally proving to the demons that infinite numbers have their limits.
Following the hour-long ceremony, the gnomes appeared prepared to discuss more practical matters.
"In what manner may we assist the Prophesied One?" Octavius inquired.
“Smelting metal for toys.” Alex stated, not wanting to drag this out. “I brought some palladium from the north, it takes some effort to get and if anyone is good at mining could use some help with that.”
“Yes,” He nodded. “We can do the smelting but alas, we cannot travel far from our machines. For being one with the machine also means that we need to return to maintain ourselves often. We have faith that your blessings will let you automate this mining. Almost none of our mining is done by hand anymore.”
They got a tour of the gnomish temple. Pipes from below brought up compressed air. They had many pipes which Merumeru eventually couldn’t resist jumping around inspecting. The gnomes didn’t seem to mind. The gnomish tunnels went very deep, but most of them were flooded. They had pumps lined up and airlocks in certain spaces but the massive damage to the ocean floor destroyed a large part of what they had built up. Luckily, the gnomes, being largely machine and having compressed air built into their bodies escaped. But with so much of the infrastructure flooded and rattled the gnomes had little choice but to head back to the surface. The gnomes didn’t want to deal with humans, because like other races they considered humans the cursed race but the clergy saw this as an opportunity that they needed to take a step out on faith to see make a turning point in this age.
After the tour, Alex shared some of the manuals for her latest airship project. “Professor Copperpot has created a disease called swine flu that turns demons into pigs. And our goal is to use the skies to spread.
“This design.” Brother Octavius spoke slowly. “It does not use float stone. Truly a marvel. However, was this professor’s first name Hestor?”
“Yes.” Ariel spoke up. “The demons tried to ship him to the kingdom to the south but we sunk it. So he’s been trying to make up for his invention of bird flu.”
“I have heard of this gnome.” The mechanical monk stated. “Before the great tragedy he was exiled and we assumed that the demons would have killed him trying to break the geas. The fact that he had no gnomish homeland to return to for almost a century now is troubling. His work is just and he is welcome to return. We are not the same as we used to be.”