CH180 Insect bombing
Alex felt a bit ashamed at the gnome having an epiphany from looking at a hydro generator that was held together by the plans of someone not qualified to design one and the power of cuteness.
“You can study it if you want.” Alex shrugged. “It would be nice to get some help with the other toy airships though if you wanted to be helpful. I need to head back to the swamp and see if we can spread some more insects around. Next stop should be the southern kingdom.”
“By the great machine's grace we will do so with reverence.” Octavius stated seriously.
Alex thought that they sounded a bit fetishy but ignored it. “Want to see what a compressor looks like from another world?”
The gnomes nodded.
The group made their way into the shop. The gnomes all eyed the strange tools. They had never seen things that were battery or electrically powered before so it was like walking into a dragon’s treasure hoard for them.
Alex pulled out the air compressor and plugged it into the outlet. “This is an air compressor. It is not a really fancy one but it can do a little over 100 PSI.”
Octavius blandly asked. “What is a PSI?”
“It is a unit of pressure.” Alex glanced at the gnome who looked a bit confused. “What do you use to measure how much pressure is in your cylinders?”
The gnome shook his head. “We do not. The compressors can only get so much air into a space. And the cylinders are designed to take that amount. Those with correct skills can sense such things so there was no need to come up with such a specific measurement.”
“I’m not a scientist but it means pounds per square inch.” Alex waved. “Maybe that doesn’t matter with the correct skills but not everyone has them right?”
The gnome nodded and placed a hand on his chin in contemplation. “I must meditate upon this newly found wisdom.”
The black-haired magical girl gave a quick demonstration, the loud thing filled an empty cylinder that used to be rusted and old, but got the feather dusting treatment, so it just looked retro. They tried to hook a gnomish compressed air cylinder but the fittings were not the same.
“It is an interesting connection technology. The supply line can connect and disconnect quickly.” The gnome sounded like he had just learned some profound wisdom.
“Can something be made?” Alex pondered. “It shouldn’t be impossible to make an adaptor. Though it’ll defeat the purpose of swapping tanks quickly. You can copy the style of air tanks from my world if you like them better.”
Not wanting to waste too much time here, Alex and Fufi finished showing the grounds. They went back to the castle, summoned the carriage, and set up their contraption of an air compressor in a room adjacent to where the gnomes were staying so they could swap cylinders to power their pneumatics. The maids made dinner and everyone gathered in the dining room to eat and exchange greetings. Of note was that the gnomes did not eat much, which made sense because not only were they smaller than humans but didn’t have as many fleshy parts as normal gnomes.
“Will you be able to help with the other two airships?” Alex asked the room.
Both the humans and the gnomes agreed. They even didn’t have any problems with working together.
“How about making a sea elf sized one?” Ariel added. “Like the flying cloud.”
“With enough time, faith and materials,” One of the gnomes spoke with conviction. “It will be done. Though it would be a lot easier if we could secure float stones.”
“Meru!” Merumeru strongly objected.
“Merumeru says not to use the island for airships.” Ariel translated. “Cosmos moved Alex’s land as close to Terre as she could without getting in trouble. If we get her in trouble she’ll have to move the island far away from Terre and that would complicate things.”
The gnomes all nodded in unison.
“What good would it do?” Cassius spoke. “The Jass kingdom is all but fallen. Sacrificing this island sounds short sighted. I would be worried about a counter invasion from our neighboring kingdom.”
“King Chris?” Alex pondered. “Is that his name?”
Baroness Yvne gently corrected. “It would be King Bacon. Addressing someone of that rank incorrectly is very disrespectful.”
“That’s right. Chris P. Bacon.” Alex chuckled.
Fufi also snickered. “How can his subjects take him seriously?”
“That land once had a fairly good ranching culture.” Cassius looked to be trying to keep composure. “They changed the kingdom’s name with the new king, much like the kingdom of Jass.”
“I’d like to meet with Professor Copperpot tomorrow.” Alex sipped some tea. “I think we can head south for a few hours and drop some bugs on their wetlands.”
“Meru me mee ruu.” Merumeru proclaimed.
“You want to give Grace an organ?” The sea elf translated. “I haven’t met Grace yet.”
“Such a pity she didn’t join us.” Seraphina set down her tea. “I fear she’s getting a reputation similar to Professor Copperpot.”
“Merumeru will cheer her up.” Fufi cheerfully addressed Yvne’s daughter. “She’s very cute after all. Cuteness always prevails!”
“I should be back in a day.” Alex patted the slime girl on the head. “What are you going to do Ariel?”
“I’d like to get back to trying to gain some easy level progress.” The blue-skinned magical girl looked around the room. “But I can’t pass up the chance to meet another magical girl. There are so few of us.”
The next day, Alex and Fufi gave their farewells and headed back through the portal pipe network to the swamp. There still was not any fruit on the electric apple tree but it had leaves. The bog was still a wet, gloomy place. They plopped out of the pipe and saw the toy airship. Alex thought she might have seen what was the start of mold growing on it, so the first order of business was to clean it off. Alex took a few minutes to take her feather duster to the outside and then the inside. She deployed her carriage and stocked up on candles, made sure the gears were greased and checked for damage.
“I think everyone is going to hate us long after the demons are taken care of.” Alex inspected the stagnant water in the cave. “This swamp is filling up with mosquitoes.”
Aqua splashed out of the water. “They are fun to watch. They wiggle around for a while, transform, then take off into the sky.”
“Everyone in my world thinks of them as a pest.” Alex gave the nereid a cold look. “They have spread disease a whole lot though and I can see why Professor Copperpot sees them as a good way to defeat large groups of demons.”
“It was good that the professor made it out.” Fufi chirped. “I was real proud of him to go out of his lair.”
“This is his old lair.” Aqua chuckled. “But I see what you are saying. He takes this chance to get back at the demons very seriously even though he struggles with past trauma.”
“Something interesting that the water nymphs have spread along the gossip line is that the Bacon kingdom is divided about how to deal with a rebellious north. Everyone saw the mountain arrive but he doesn’t want it to sound like a retreat. Some of the sects there can tell he fought a hard battle and is licking his wounds. But King Jass has not been assassinated or declared independence so the humans are treating this more like some kind of natural disaster.” Aqua continued. “The higher ups are trying to be discrete so they don’t anger the mountain and lower level demons have been going north, but because the border is a river that imps can’t swim across it is problematic. They don’t trust each other and the mountain doesn’t want to go back right away so there is no big leader for them to rally behind.”
Professor Copperpot himself emerged from the shadows, interrupting Aqua’s mononogue. “Alex, Fufi? Ummm.. Hello.”
Alex blinked in disbelief. “Welcome. How are things? Is there enough bugs to send out another load?”
The gnome rubbed the back of his head. “Yes, um, they spread even faster in the swamp and off the island. If they had a longer lifespan I’d say they could outnumber the demons near the demon queen’s palace.”
Fufi couldn’t help but state the obvious. “You are out here. With us!”
“About that.” The old gnome said, “I was thinking. Without Merumeru here, you might be lacking crew small enough to fit in this sized airship.”
The magical girl never really considered the gnomish build. They were not tall, however not as small as Merumeru, it would be a tight fit but she thought it could work.
“Sure, let's load up the mosquitos and head south.” Alex figured it would be best to do things right away in case the gnome changed his mind.
Aqua waved. “Have a good trip, don’t go near any settlements or linger in one spot for too long. If the demons come at you, just go high enough in the sky. They won’t follow you too high if they are not stupid. Oh and make sure to steer clear of anything that looks like a sect.”
Professor Copperpot climbed up into the small cockpit of the airship and with his mage robes looked really out of place. He had to bunch them up and they kept getting caught on things when he poked buttons or turned knobs.
“We’ll have to get you a new outfit.” Alex regarded the struggling gnome.
Hester sniffed the sleeve of his robe. “These have been cleaned just the other day.”
Alex shook her head. “To play the role of a sailor, you have to dress the part. Also, appropriate clothing can give a bonus.”
The gnome just shrugged. “How long will it take?”
The magical girl guessed. “About an hour? I have some cloth in the carriage.”
An hour later, the gnome was dressed up like a victorian seafarer.
“This is not how I remember gnomish airship crew dressing.” The gnome looked himself over in his new uniform.
“I haven’t been on a gnomish airship before.” Alex smirked. “But this is one of the more cool outfits that came from my world.”
“Okay.” Professor Copperpot climbed back in the cockpit and noticed that the outfit made the experience a lot better. He looked a bit more proficient, likely the effect of the bonuses from the outfit.
Alex, in human form, could not fit in the toy airship. So she set up in one of the cave rooms and made the ritual circle to possess a sailor doll from materials she had stored in the carriage.
After going through the preliminary flight tests, the craft drifted out of the cave, powered by the propellers that Professor Copperpot was much lighter with than Merumeru who liked to pull the throttle back quickly in her first flight. They rose out of the cave and drifted past the river that marked the border of the Jass kingdom.
Ahead, Fufi flapped her wings like signal flags. She exaggerated the flaps as if trying to communicate through semaphore. The flamingo banked left, circled, inspected every body of water they came across though most of the land was wasteland, places not inhabited had some vegetation or wildlife.
Fufi veered sharply and focused on a murky swamp likely just outside the border of the Bacon kingdom. Her forehead gem flashed at the discovery she made.
There were pigs in the swamp.
A group of them wallowed in the mud, blissfully unaware of the ecological mischief about to unfold.
Professor Copperpot and Alex operated the controls, bringing the airship lower and slowing down to as much as the winds would have let them.
“Let's see.” The sailor-dressed gnome tentatively put his hand on a lever. “This should drop the larva.”
A rain of tiny larva fell from the bombay doors of the toy airship, they fell like drifting snowflakes, landing in the warm stagnant water with barely a ripple.
“Hopefully no demons notice.” The professor rotated the airship back to the north. “There should be enough larva in around a week, less time for the next batch if they thrive in the swamp like I hope they do.”
Doll-Alex nodded and closed the hatch. They left the swamp that was now infected with alien life that would hopefully be a vector of infection that could spread across the demons of the Bacon kingdom worse than the bird flu did to humans.
On the way back while flying over the wastelands they came across a curious sight. There was a strange oasis. Despite common sense, there was no water, only sunflowers with smiles on their flowers, witch hazel and some similar plants spread out in a circle like they were protecting the sun flower. Weird.
They landed back in the swamp grotto, hiding the airship in the caves. Then put out the candle that gave it left and cleaned it up before putting it in the makeshift berth that it had been staying in before.