The next day, Alex woke up when light started to come through the cracks in the barn. He was still tired from the previous day's work but he wanted to start being productive.

"Merumeru, wake up. Let's go check out the well." Alex whispered to the slime girl.

"Merumeru..." Merumeru replied in a sleepy voice and rolled over.

"Come on. I know you like plumbing projects.  You probably already have some plans."

Merumeru climbed out of the pile of blankets and followed Alex out of the barn.

Alex went to the well and looked at it. He wasn't sure if he could do much to improve it. He pulled out his feather duster and cleaned off the top of the well and the surrounding area.  "Hmm, we could make a manual pump to replace the bucket and rope method of getting water but I don't actually have the ability to make something like that.  I know they work with a piston and some valves but we don't have any o-rings.  What do you think Merumeru? If we wanted to do a really old style we could maybe create a rope pump.  That is just a circle of rope that goes through a pipe with some balls on it about the same size as the pipe.  Someone spins a wheel and water comes up from the pipe. Maybe we could come up with some options for Bob and Martha.  It is their land after all and we are just guests.  We could always try to build another dam and fountain like in the city but that comes with its own problems.  When we made that reservoir a couple days later some unwanted visitors came and robbed us."

Merumeru seemed to be thinking hard.

"Merumeru, you ok?" Alex asked, sounding concerned.

"Merumeru ru me." Merumeru said in her adorable little voice.

"Merumeru, do you want to help us build something new? I don’t think we can do it without your help." Alex asked.

"Meee!."

Alex smiled, "Great! Now let's get back to the house and figure out our plan."

Alex, Merumeru and Fufi returned to the farmhouse.

"Hey, Bob. Martha. How is your morning going?  We were thinking about improving the well." Alex said.

"Really?!  That old thing I never really thought about how to make it better.  Though it makes me wonder why you'd want to help us." Bob said surprised.

"Yeah, we came up with a few ideas. I was wondering if you could give us a hand with one of them?" Alex asked.

"Sure. I guess. What kind of idea did you have?" Bob asked, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, we were thinking about building a new well. Instead of a bucket and a rope it would use a pump to draw the water rather than a bucket on a rope.  I wish I still had my ink and paper. It is hard to explain without drawing the concepts.  Do you have anything to write with?" Alex asked.

"Um, just some charcoal and wood. Martha and I don't read.  There is not much use for that when running a farmstead." Bob said as he went off to grab some supplies.  Martha came back from the kitchen with breakfast.  She placed some cooked eggs and berries that were on a wooden serving platter in the center of the table.

"So, I noticed that you dodged that question my husband asked." Martha said with her hands on her hips.

 "Sorry, I didn't mean to. I just tend to get caught up in things too much now and then." Alex admitted.

"So why would you want to help us?" Martha repeated Bob's question.

"I was hoping to show my thanks. We just lost our home that we hadn't even finished making. Even putting us up for the night means a whole lot. I guess things haven't gone as well as expected and even a small kindness means a lot to us." Alex answered, looking to Fufi and Merumeru to see if both agreed.  

"I'm glad you feel that way.  I was just worried you might be a bandit or something. I'm sorry I was so rude to you. I just didn't mean to bring up bad memories. I'm sure Bob would agree that you can stay and help around the farmstead as long as you want.  Things have been rough for everyone.  The truth is that it has been years last we met another human. Nature reclaimed the land with no one to maintain the paths.  It is a wonder you were able to get your cart though the woods and steep terrain." Martha said.

"I'm glad you're willing to trust us. As for the cart, it is special we got it as reward for completing a dungeon wave." Alex said.

"Ahh, I see. I am sorry. I didn't realize you had been in a dungeon. I didn't know there was anything like that around here." Martha apologized.

"It's fine. It's a long story. I don't want to bore you with the details." Alex said.

"No, please. Tell me. I am interested in hearing your stories." Martha said.

"I will tell you and Bob.  Perhaps later, I'd like to do something productive while the sun is still up." Alex said.

As if on queue, Bob came back in.  He had a fairly big and flat scrap of wood in one hand.  In the other he carried a stick that was burnt black on one end.  "Will this work?" The farmer asked.

"I believe so. I'll go ahead and see if I can draw how the concept works." Alex said and put the charcoal stick to the wood block. The first thing he drew was a side view of a piston style pump.  He put open lines for where the valves would be.  Merumeru crawled up into his lap to watch him draw.  "This one works like the toilet works only backwards in a way I think.  When you pull the lever the water in the pipe has nowhere to go but up.  The little flap on the top stays closed when pulling up because it is trying to suck the air down into it but it can't because it is sealed.  Then when you push down the air in the pipe wants to go the other way so it opens the valve.  This one is difficult because everything has to fit together snugly for it to work."  Bob looked a bit confused at the drawing but Merumeru had a serious look on her face.

Flipping the log over, Alex started a second drawing. "If I remember right a rope pump is just a circle of rope that has notches in it that run through the pipe.  The water goes up and comes out of the faucet.  It is almost the same principle as the bucket on a rope only instead of bringing a lot of water up at once in a big bucket it is trapping lots of little bits in the pipe by spinning the rope." He drew a big wheel with a handle on it and a pipe that curved at the bottom.  He drew little waves where the water line would be.  There was a little pipe that curved down at the top and a bucket under it. "Someone can spin the wheel causing water to come out.  Well, that is how I'd expect it to work.  I've never actually made one of these.  Also, I don't know how to make rope.  Is it the same as spinning yarn?" He asked.

"You take the fibers of plants and twist them together.  If you have the right skills it helps a lot.  Grandpa's workshop has a small rope walk in it.  We use it every now and then if the rope for the well's bucket breaks.  I can teach you how to do it." Bob spoke when the conversation switched to rope.  Apparently that was something he understood.

"Ok, we'll try it out. I think I have an idea of what to do but no promises we can get this to work." Alex said.

"I'll go with you." Fufi said.

"Meru!" Merumeru seemed to want to get a new well also.

"It is a good idea. But you really should eat breakfast before it gets cold." Martha said.

Bob set the stuff on the table aside and the group ate a quick breakfast together before heading out to face the day. Martha went to tend to the livestock. Alex, Fufi, and Merumeru headed out towards the well.

 Alex looked into the well, "We should probably leave this one alone.  If the new pump doesn't work out then we didn't ruin the only well. I know I mentioned earlier about improving the well but making a second one should be okay too."

"Meru!" Merumeru said and pointed to the well.

"What is it?" Alex asked.

Merumeru climbed down into the well and Alex followed her down. When he reached the bottom he saw that she was pointing to the well's stone wall. There was a crack in it that ran along the entire length of the well.  The water was about three meters from the surface. This was good, if the water table was really low then certain kinds of pumps might not work at all.

"That looks pretty bad. Do you think you could fix it?" Alex asked.

"Ruuu." Merumeru said. She placed a hand on the crack and her whole arm changed shape to conform to the crack.  The stone softened and rehardened under the effects of being exposed to the slime. After a few minutes of pushing and pulling the crack began to close.  When the well was fixed, the two of them climbed the rope back up. Both of them were wet and dirty.  Alex used his feather duster to clean both him and the slime girl off.

Bob whistled, "That is a nice trick.  What's the problem down there?  I just heard some sounds like rocks cracking."

"She fixed a crack in the wall of the well." Alex said with a cough.

"Being able to do that without bricks and mortar is quite the feat." Bob commented.

"She can use her body to dissolve and reform things." Alex said.

"It is a really useful ability.  She used it to rebuild the dam by the town. Did I mention that before?  We found some pipes and Merumeru used the same ability to get us a working dam." Fufi added her two coppers.

"She did? I assumed she was using an earth spell to shape things. Can all slimes like her do that?" Bob asked.

"I don't really understand how she does it.  I just know that Merumeru is amazing." Alex gave the beaming slime girl a head pat and looked to Bob."Where should we start digging? I'm guessing some place that is not too close to the other well but still far away from the outhouse?"

Bob hmmed and pointed to a low spot next to a collapsed building. "How bout there?  That was grandad's old house."

"Okay, do you have a shovel I could use?" Alex asked as he headed to the spot to get a look at the type of ground there.  There were a couple big rocks but it was mostly dirt.

"Yeah, I'll grab one. It is in the shed." Bob walked to the nearby shack and returned with a rusted shovel.  He held out the shovel to offer it to Alex.

Alex wrinkled his nose a bit.  Instead of taking it straight away he dusted it off with his feather duster.  After a couple passes the wood looked much better and the metal had a satisfying shine to it.  Alex took the shovel and plunged it into the ground.  With his smaller body and reduced strength he really struggled to make meaningful progress. Merumeru worked at his side.  She sucked up rocks and dirt into her small body and would produce a brick a few minutes later.

"Boy, I'm not sure you are cut out to be a farmhand.  However, I can say you don't lack grit." Bob offered a broad smile showing some missing teeth.  "How about after lunch I'll teach you how to make rope."

"I'd like that." Alex said.

"I'm gonna go check on the animals and see if there is anything I need to do." Bob said.

After Bob left Alex talked to Fufi while they were digging, "Did you get a chance to fly around and scout out the area yesterday Fufi?"

"Yes, I flew over the whole valley." Fufi answered.

"Are there any monsters in the woods or anything that might attack us?" Alex continued.

"I haven't seen anything but trees mostly.  There are some other ruined farmsteads a couple miles out.  The forest borders the wasteland area around the city.  It is a bit surprising that there is so much plantlife so close to an area where a demon army fought even if it was so long ago." Fufi said.

"Why is that?" Asked Alex.

"Well, the soil in the wasteland areas is very poor. I guess it was probably poisoned by the demons. Having a large amount of demons in one area spreads miasma.  It would be hard for plants to grow in such a toxic environment.  I'm guessing Bob's grandfather was in the generation that the city fell.  It just seems like there should be more miasma filled wasteland around there than there actually is.  I'm not sure why but the forest is more resilient than I'd expect."

"So, no one lives in the other farmsteads?" Alex asked.

"I think the people who lived around here mostly left. Well, I wasn't there but I'm guessing that is something like what actually happened. There might be a few holdouts like Bob and Martha but I didn't notice anyone.  Like I said, it is mostly just a thriving forest." Fufi replied.

"I wonder how the forest got started. If the land was poisonous then it makes sense that it wouldn't support life." Alex said.

"Who knows, maybe the forest held back the miasma all this time.  Sometimes ancient trees can form spirits.  A powerful woodland spirit could defend against the spreading of corruption." Fufi suggested.

They continued digging until lunch.  Bob showed up with four sandwiches on a wooden plate.

"I brought sandwiches. Martha made them." Bob said.

"Thanks." Alex said as he took one of the sandwiches and sat down on the pile of bricks Merumeru made.

Merumeru was already sitting in the well's opening. Alex handed her a sandwich which she gladly accepted.  He took one himself and set the plate with the last one down in front of Fufi.  She didn't have hands so he wasn't sure of another way to give her a sandwich. Everyone took a bite of their sandwiches.

"How is your sandwich?" Bob asked.

"It is good." Fufi said with a beak full of food.

"Ru Meeeruuuu." Merumeru said between bites.

"I agree." Alex said.

"If you are still up to it, I can show you how to make rope after this." Bob said between bites.

"Sure, I am really sore after shoveling for hours.  I guess I am out of shape." Alex said, though he didn't see how considering how active he'd been the past few weeks.

After everyone had finished Bob stood up. "The rope walk is in grandpa's workshop." Bob stood up and headed towards another run down building.

"I can't believe that this place is still standing." Alex said.

"Grandad built this house and the workshop when he was young. He was a carpenter. Then he met grandma and married her. They stayed in the village and raised their kids. He and some extended family pooled their money and bought a plot of land from the local noble who was running the town and surrounding area.  He was really proud about what he had built here." Bob said solemnly.

Alex regretted his words, "Sorry that was rude of me.  I didn't mean to speak ill of a passed relative." Alex said.

"Don't worry about it. It isn't like you knew him." Bob said with a chuckle.

"This must have been a nice place back when it was in its prime." Alex said while considering the workshop.

Without another word Bob led Alex into the dilapidated workshop. Fufi stayed with Merumeru who seemed content to keep tunneling and building bricks.  Towards a wall, Bob gestured to a strange metal object mounted on an old wooden table. It had three hooks on it. There were some gears and a handle on a wheel.  Alex guessed the whole thing spun to do something. "We have some twine spools that were made a while back.  I'll skip the part where we turn flax into thread because that process is as much farming as it is cloth-craft."  Bob to the roll of twine and secured it to one of the hooks.  Next, he walked down the distance to another set of three hooks.  Looping the twine on the hook on the other side, Bob brought it back and secured it again to the same hook. "Now you try and do the other two pairs."  He cut the twine and handed the spool to Alex.  It seemed simple enough.  Alex copied Bob's actions and they had three pairs of twin lines on hooks.  "So, what we are going to do now is take these three pairs of twine and twist them together to make three lines."  Bob turned the crank on the metal device and the hooks started spinning in circles.  After they were spun, Bob got a cone-like piece of wood with three grooves in it.  "Okay, now we put all three of them on one hook and put this top between the strands.  Someone spins the hook and another person holds the top as the twisting pushes it back."  Bob put the top between the three strands and Alex held it.  The noise of the gears cranking echoed again as the threads started twisting together.  Alex noticed that the top wanted to push back on its own.  He just had to hold it in place.  He slowly walked back from one end of the rope walk to the other. Not long after they started, the pair had a length of rope long enough to create the rope pump.

"Wow, that was really something.  I've never seen rope made before.  I guess it always needs two people?" Alex asked while holding the rope in his hands.

"Yeah, you need to hold it tight and someone has to spin the wheel to make it work. Martha usually helps if we are making more rope." Bob explained with a chuckle.

"Do you have some buckets?  I'd like to go to the stream and get some sand.  Perhaps Merumeru can coat the pipes in glass to make the iron not rust and the rope go through it smoother." Alex mentioned while looking around the mess of a workshop.  He really wanted to clean everything up.

"Sure, if I remember there is a stack of them right around here." Bob foraged through a pile of stuff and came back with a stack of wooden buckets.  They took the wooden buckets to Alex's cart and placed them inside. Alex wound up cart and took it down the steep hill to the embankment. The fact that it was a clockwork cart also kept it from rolling away while going down a steep hill.  Bob was impressed.

"That is a really fancy cart you got there.  I got to ask though.  What is with all the stuffed animals and dolls?" Bob said when they were filling up the buckets with sand using a pair of shovels.

"Oh, those are my friends. That one is named Lily, the doll next to her is Rose, and the one in armor is Edelweiss." Alex said with a smile.

"I don't know if I would call them friends but they are definitely interesting.  That is some real high quality work there." Bob said as he watched Alex fill his bucket with sand.

"Thanks. I made those three myself.  The rest I got from the dungeon. I guess I am a bit of a craftsman." Alex said proudly.

"You're a pretty crafty guy." Bob said as he filled his second bucket with sand.

After about an hour they had the buckets filled and took the cart back up to the well-in-progress. Alex went back to the well and started digging out the pipe that was buried in the ground.

"Hey, I can help you dig." Bob offered.

"I appreciate it. But it looks like Merumeru decided to put us all to shame.  I can hear her splashing around in the hole.  I bet she's already digging under water." Alex said as he walked over to the hole.  A slime hand reached up and handed him a wet brick.

Alex took the brick and set it on the pile which was getting quite large.

Bob whistled but sounded a bit concerned, "Is she going to be okay down in the water at the bottom of the well?"

"She will be fine. The first time she did something like this I was really worried.  I'm fairly sure that she can't drown.  Must be one of the perks of being a slime. Plus, she can use her body to dissolve things. It looks like she is dissolving some of the stones down there and turning them into bricks." Alex answered and headed back to the hole.

"I see. Well, let me know if anything happens." Bob said and unloaded some more buckets of sand from the cart.

Merumeru had gotten bored of the tunnel and was playing with the water in the bottom of the well.

"Merumeru, come here." Alex called to her and grabbed one of the metal pipes on the cart.

The slime girl slinked up the shaft and looked at him with a questioning gaze.  Alex cleared his throat, "I am not sure if you can do this but can you coat the pipes in glass?  Glass is mostly sand if I recall correctly. Also if the inside of the pipe is smooth like glass the pump will last longer."  Alex took the rope and put it inside the iron pipe.  We could just put knots in the rope to make it the diameter of the pipe But something could go in between the twists to make it fit snug in the pipe too."

Merumeru nodded and placed her hand in one of the sand buckets.  Slowly she dissolved the sand into her body.  Next she put her hands on a section of pipe and stared with intense concentration.  Little sparkles flowed up her arms and around the section of pipe.  She turned her limbs back to normal and handed Alex a section of glass coated pipe.

"Merumeru! Ruuuu!" The little slime girl hopped up and down, really excited about her creation.

Alex smiled, "This is amazing. You never fail to impress Merumeru."

"Can you do anything with the rope to make it fit the pipe?" Alex said and handed Merumeru the rope.

The little girl gave the rope a look then touched it with her fingers. She took some more sand and created some larger glass beads with three holes in them one for each of the twines of the rope.  Alex and Fufi cheered her on.  It took the rest of the afternoon to finish the curved pipe that fit into the well.  Bob made the wheel out of wood to spin the rope. Merumeru made a solid ledge around the well to keep people from stepping in the hole if they were walking around in the dark.  Just as they were getting ready to test the new well Martha came up.

"What are you all up to?  It is past dinner time." Martha complained as she sat down on a nearby rock.

"We have finished our project." Bob announced and pointed to the well.

Marth stood up and walked down to the well, "How does it work?  I've never seen a well with a pipe like this before." She asked as she peered down into the darkness.

"It's a pump." Alex explained.

"A pump?" Martha repeated.

"Yeah, if we didn't mess it up then you just spin this wheel and water will come out from this part there." Alex pointed to a downward sloping pipe as Bob smirked at his wife.

"I think it is going to take a few tries to get it right." Bob said and started to turn the crank on the device.

Everyone watched as the contraption made noise.  No water came out at first but after enough cranking water started sloshing out of the pipe and onto the ground.  Martha put a bucket under the stream of water, "This looks a lot easier than pulling up a bucket on a rope."

Bob grinned and spun the crank again. This time the water started coming faster.

"Wow, that is a lot of water." Bob said as the flow of water increased.

"Dear, please stop the bucket is overflowing." Martha gently teased her husband.

"Oh, sorry." He said and stopped the crank.

The stream of water slowed down and eventually died down.

"Well,you all made something impressive.  How about dinner as a reward?" Martha said and walked back to the house.

"That sounds good." Bob said and followed his wife.

Everyone went back inside and had a cheerful dinner.  Everyone talked excitedly about the new well until it was time for bed. That night Alex had the same dream again of the girl beckoning him into the forest.