Merumeru spent the day guarding the tree. Alex holed up in the workshop while Fufi and Bob were out searching for a magical girl that wasn't the one present. Martha tended the farm. She passed by to check on things once and a while but the farmstead was too big for one person to handle. Thus, Martha didn’t spend much time around them because she was so busy. So it fell on the little slime girl to keep Alex's soul tree safe.

The little slime girl started patrolling the area, searching for threats. The cow was suspicious. He had eyes on the side of his head so it constantly looked like he was staring at her or maybe the tree. Mister cow also was constantly making chewing motions. That could mean that he was threatening to eat the tree. Someone that was more familiar with cows would know what those non-stop chews were for. Merumeru could only guess. The sheep were another threat. Sheep had fluffy wool which was cute but they also tended to eat all the plants they could get their teeth on. The chickens seemed safe though. Those birds had beaks but nothing like what Fufi had. Also, the chickens were the only creatures on the farm who were not taller than Merumeru. That made them less scary.

After spending some time in contemplation, Merumeru came to the conclusion that a wall around the tree was the best protection from the biggest threat: farm animals. The next day Merumeru stacked the bricks she'd created earlier to build a wall around the tree. Alex taught the slime girl that making sand bricks are different from stone and clay bricks. She wanted the new wall to be cute. When Fufi played with her back at the adventurer's guild she always stressed the importance of cuteness. Having some of the glass bricks would make the wall much better. They could even let some light come in. How can bright bricks not be cute? Merumeru eagerly jumped at the challenge to show off her improvement.

Using her special slime body method, Merumeru quickly made circle on top of circle around the tree securing bricks as she went with her slime power.

"I wonder if I should add a door to this wall?" Merumeru asked herself while she continued stacking bricks in a circle.  The only creature close enough to hear her talking to herself was the large bull from earlier.

The cow answered with a "Mooooo" as he chewed grass. She eyed the bovine in response but got back to work when he didn’t do anymore.

"I know! This wall needs pipes. Pipes make everything better." Merumeru said as she finished the last brick.

The slime girl then went to the cart where the pipes from the dungeon were stored. The right shapes to make a gate out of them were not present. However, that didn't matter to Merumeru. She was the best plumber in this forest and could just eat the metal and turn it into the shape she needed inside of her. Slimes are amazing after all.

Merumeru began to craft a pipe-gate. In about an hour she had a nice grid of conjoined pipes that was the same size as the entrance to the inside of the walled area.

"Pipes are awesome! You know what would make this better?  More pipes!" Merumeru said while happily working.

The cow was still eating. He didn't move his head much but she still got the feeling he was staring. Maybe it was just something about cows but this one seemed to always be staring.

"Now we just need to attach it to the wall and make it swing.  Hmm how to do that?" Merumeru thought.

The cow snorted and walked a few paces closer to eat some fresh grass.

"I don't think he likes me." Merumeru stated her thoughts aloud.

The cow stopped chewing. Uh oh.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to do some plumbing. Mister cow, stay away please." Merumeru spoke politely to the cow.

The large cow took a step forward.

"Moo." The large creature walked forward and inspected the wall, sniffing loudly as he went.

"I'm just building a wall around the soul tree. No farm animals are allowed! That is the new rule.  I just made it up right now. So you have to listen." Merumeru tried to sound brave but the cow was much bigger than her.

"Mooo." The bovine continued to inspect the wall.

"It is pointless, you can't break the wall. Once I finish this gate you have to stay on the other side. So don't try anything funny." Merumeru said as the beast approached the wall.

"Moooo," the cow repeated, a bit louder. He tested the wall by leaning against it. Merumeru watched and was proud that the wall held firm. She may be little but her wall could stop big things.

The lazy cow walked off to where there was more food for it to graze on. This gave Merumeru the chance to finish up the gate. She even crafted a hinge by dissolving some rusted metal and reforming it. She used her awesome slime powers to merge the hinge into the stone and did the same to create a latch on the other side. She might have copied those from other gates she's seen on the farm but that was okay. Pipe gate showed everyone this was the best wall. That made it the best gate on the farm. Making the best wall and the best gate made Merumeru the best girl. As if a reward for her awesome pipe gate and spin-spin well pump thingy the system gave her a message.  A little fanfare played out in her head as the info washed over Merumeru. 

[Level up! Class Plumber is now level 2]

[New ability unlocked portal pipe]

Portal pipe: With this skill the best slime girl crafts a pipe that links to another pipe that is exactly the same in another place. Only those dressed in the sacred plumber outfit can enter the portal pipe and come out the other end. Pipe-kun will reject entry to any not appropriately dressed.

Merumeru didn't have much time to bask in the glow of leveling up.  Trouble came in the form of a menacing flock.

The next wave of attacks came from the sheep. Many tightly grouped range rats walked up to the wall and sniffed it. Merumeru waited to see what other tricks they would try to pull but they didn't seem to be very motivated in their attack. Merumeru thought this was weird.  Alex said when defending a tower the attacks were supposed to get tougher with each wave.  The sheep wave seemed easier than the cow wave. Merumeru kept on guard for the third wave of attacks.

The chickens came to visit after the sheep left.

"Hello, little fella." Merumeru said to the first bird who pecked around in front of Merumeru. She was safely standing behind the closed  and latched gate.

"Begok." The chicken clucked back.

Several other chickens came up to the wall. They seemed more interested in the ground at first. After inspecting around the wall some of the chickens were able to flap their wings and land up on the parts of the pipe gate. Merumeru shooed them away but this just caused them to flap their wings and land higher. Merumeru realized her mistake.  The wall was too sheer for the chickens to get on top of but the gate was not. The birds could latch their little clawed feet onto the gate.

The hens eventually made their way up on the wall by way of the gate. For some really the chickens seemed to like being on top of the wall. Merumeru didn't get it. The chickens didn't make a whole lot of sense to Merumeru. They just seemed to want to walk around and peck things. She thought a hostile enemy would charge straight towards the tree.  The chickens didn't do that.  Maybe they were just dumb?

The rest of the flock was busy scratching and digging. However, they were slowly getting closer as if drawn by the flapping bird noises that climbing chickens made. It wasn't long before there were several chickens on top of the wall strutting like they owned it.

"What's going on here?" Merumeru wondered. She was starting to think that the chickens were plotting an assault.

The cows gathered nearby. Unlike before there was only one bull. Like before the whole group of cows were chewing on something. Do cows ever stop chewing? Luckily the herd didn't seem to be regrouping for another assault. She kept an eye on them.  Those cows might be doing something sneaky. Maybe the bull gathered backup for a second attack after the wall defeated him before.

A big worm stuck up out of the dirt on the other side of the wall and several of the chickens stopped their strutting on top of the wall to rush the wriggling worm. Wings flapped as the birds launched off the wall. Chickens couldn't fly well but they could flap their wings loudly and glide towards something that caught their attention.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Merumeru yelled at the chickens.

The worm didn't see it coming. With a cluck, the first chicken to get there pecked it with its beak and pulled it out of the ground. With no mercy the bird ate the worm whole. Merumeru gulped.  These birds showed no hesitation and devoured foes in one bite.

"Whoa, that worm didn't stand a chance!" Merumeru praised the chicken.

The other chickens flew down to eat other worms and insects in the area. Merumeru watched them carefully to see if they were going to do any funny business.

"Oh, I get it you guys are allies and want to protect Alex from bugs that would eat her leaves!" Merumeru jumped up and down while exclaiming to the brood of chickens.

The chickens all turned to look at Merumeru.

"I guess that is kind of cute. Do you want to be part of the tree protection army?" Merumeru asked the chickens.

The chickens were silent. Apparently they didn't have much of an attention span.

"I'll take that as a yes. You all are hired." Merumeru waved her hand for them.

Merumeru had successfully completed the tree defense event.  It didn't go like she expected but the only other thing to compare it to was Alex's tale of defending the prince from the sirens in the dungeon.  For him the waves got worse.  For her they got easier.  The cow wave was the toughest and the sheep wave was not as bad as the cow wave.  The chicken wave was full of allies.  She didn't expect that. 

The chickens all kept doing their own thing. But when the sun started to set some of the chickens decided to roost on top of the wall instead of going back to the hen house. Merumeru took this as them wanting to guard the tree. They started to close their eyes and fall asleep but Fufi was a light sleeper. Maybe chickens were light sleepers too. Merumeru made some chicken sized guard posts on top of the wall so they could have better defensive positions in their spots where they were guarding the wall from. She even dissolved some rocks to make helmets for the ones manning the walls.  That plan backfired though.  The chickens just knocked the little helmets off their heads and didn't try to place them back on. Some birds are just not as smart as Fufi.

The night passed without incident.

After three days of tree defense, Merumeru decided that she was going to try out the portal. The chicken army didn’t protest when she told them the plan for them to defend the tree while Merumeru was gone for a little while. She took some time to make a sister pipe to the one in the adventurer's guild's basement.  It was one of her earlier works and at the time she was just trying to copy what she saw when she did her dungeon run.  She had hoped the basement pipe would take her to another underground place with coins and turtles but it didn't and now she knew why. The pipes needed to be paired. It said so when she got the portal pipe skill.

Alex seemed troubled by the other nymph in the forest. No one could find her. The slime girl thought maybe in the dungeon there could be a treasure she could get to help out. Also, it would be good to know if the bad people were able to get past the little surprise she left when they left for the forest. She made a drawing on a stone tablet to explain her plan and left it on the porch for the farmhouse.  Her tablet even had a little stick figure drawing on it.  They would understand what she wanted to do for sure.