Getting a skill-up in tailoring lifted Alex’s mood.  Remaking the outfits for the clockwork dolls felt a bit bittersweet.  On the positive side, the outfits looked quite a bit better.  But on the down side, the reason they needed new clothing was because someone damaged the cute dolls.  The mix of feeling mad at the demons for being violent and arrogant, combined with joy from creating better versions of their old outfits was disconcerting. 

 

Now that they were out of the ice and snow a new problem became apparent.

 

“The sleds on the front don't work so well anymore.” Alex saw the back wheels turning and digging a hole in the ground.  “I guess we’ll have to swap them out with the old wheels.  We tried this out a few times at the farm and I couldn’t do it.  Luckily Bob and Kaide figured out a work around for those of us that can’t lift very much.”

 

The traditional way to change a wheel was to jack the frame up so that there wasn’t any load on the wheel.  But making a wooden jack turned out to be somewhat problematic.  It was impossible to get wood to function like a bottle jack.  While Alex tried to think of a way to use a block and tackle to lift part of the carriage off the ground, Kaide suggested a much easier solution.  She suggested deploying the card on a rock or someplace where the middle would bottom out.  It turned out that purposely putting it in a place where it would get stuck due to a high center actually worked great for getting the wheels off the ground.

 

Following the plan, Alex turned the carriage back into card form when they could go no further.  After searching around a while, they found a flat rock that would work perfectly for what they were trying to do.  With a flick of the wrist, the card landed on the rock and the carriage appeared with the front sleds and back wheels off the ground.

 

Alex unscrewed the bolts and pulled the sleds off the front.  Fufi and Merumeru helped in small ways by holding things and handing Alex tools when she asked for them.  It took around an hour to get all the things swapped out, put away, and cleaned up.

 

Fufi admired how Alex could do that mechanic work without getting dirty.  “You are really good with mechanical things. You are even clean as when you first started.”

 

“Well, I had the feather duster, so even though I got a few smudges here and there it didn’t last long and certainly not enough to affect my cuteness.” Alex puffed up proudly.

 

“Have you considered becoming a tinkerer or inventor magical girl?  There are some gnomes that went that route.  Why this one magical girl had five robotic cats that could form together.  The biggest cat would be the head and torso while the other ones would form the arms and legs.” Fufi again brought up magical girls.  She always had stars in her eyes when talking about this topic.

 

“Maybe?  I don’t know.  Other than harvesting lumber to build trusses, the only other skill I have is working on cars.  I learned how to turn wrenches from my dad and when I got my jeep I just kept going with it.  Modifying a jeep is one of the rules for jeep owners. I put a towing kit and a winch on mine.” Alex put the wrench away in the carriage.  

 

They wound up the key for the carriage and after moving it to a spot where it could roll normally it made a ticking noise, heading down the open area.  Timberline could be seen below them.  Within a day they should be back in the domain of the forest protected by the nymphs.  It took a few hours of rolling through straight areas, having to turn the carriage back into a card to get past rocks or down areas that were unpassible. Eventually they stopped at the first gnarled bush that marked the destination where plants couldn’t grow any further.

 

“We’re back!” Fufi cheerfully proclaimed to the sad-looking bush.

 

“Meru!” Merumeru echoed the bird’s enthusiasm. 

 

They traveled further downhill.   Alpine plants dotted the area.  Some gnarled pine trees that looked almost dead dotted a few open spots.

 

“Oh, is that whitebark pine? We don’t see a lot of that in the province I’m from.  It is a really interesting tree.  It grows at very high elevation in really inhospitable places.  They are the pioneers of the tree society.” Alex sounded a bit nostalgic talking about trees.

 

“Ah, that’s neat.  I just think of them as pine trees because they have needles for leaves.” Fufi flew up and did a quick loop around the area.

 

“I’m surprised that there are so many similar plants here.  You’d think a different world would have all different kinds of plants.” Alex inspected the trunk of the tree closer. 

 

Ki surprised everyone by stepping out of the tree they were all in front of. “Hello, I couldn’t help but notice some familiar faces in the far ends of our beautiful barony.” 

 

Everyone jumped in surprise.

 

“Hello, Ki. It is nice to see a friendly face.” Fufi landed next to the nymph.

 

“Fufi, Merumeru, and who is this?  I don’t believe we have had the pleasure to meet before.  Is Alex in the carriage?” Ki asked.

 

Alex frowned. “I have a feeling this is going to become common for a while.”

 

Fufi pointed a wing at Alex. “That’s Alex.  There was a bit of an incident at the temple of Catalina and now Alex looks like a priestess named Tika.”

Ki blinked in disbelief.  “Is it really you Alex?  When you turned into a harpy you at least seemed similar to human Alex.  Now you look and sound completely different.”

 

“Yeah, I know.  I thought I was signing up for a ritual to cure the effects of bird flu but it turned out to be something much darker.” Alex deflated.

 

Ki tilted her head. “Explain.”

 

Fufi gave a better explanation. “Well, it turns out that when the hero was still active and they fought the demons alongside the hero, they kept info on some demonic rituals.  But when the hero fell, no one could get a class from the goddess of purity.  So when they were faced with letting the clergy of Catalina die out with them being the last generation or using the demonic ritual to turn harpies into copies of themselves they chose the latter.”

 

“Oh, I suppose that would explain why some harpies migrate into the mountains from time to time.” Ki’s eyes widened in surprise. “Were there no normal people?  I think that the temple is really big from the written records.”

 

“No, there were just variations of two people.  Some of them looked older and some of them looked younger.  The librarian said that there used to be more priests and priestesses but after a certain amount of times the ritual doesn’t work too well.” Alex considered the question.  “Maybe it makes them sterile?  I don’t know.”

 

“I don’t think we are going back to that place anytime soon.  It is really creepy.  Maybe it would be best to just leave that a mystery.” Fufi changed the subject.  “However, Alex killed her first demon.  We got accosted by an arrogant ice devil on the glacier.”

 

“How did that go?” Ki asked.

 

“Well, I came out okay.  The carriage and the dolls got beat up.  Fufi and Merumeru were able to hide behind this clockwork thing so it did a good job in keeping them safe,” Alex said.

 

“Yeah, we need to work on getting Alex some more experience fighting demons.  While it wasn’t a close thing, It was lucky we only got attacked by one of those tier three demons.  Alex’s dancing skill and surprisingly the plushy hero we picked up at the temple really took the spotlight.” Fufi added.

 

“Can I see this hero?” Ki tilted her head.

 

Merumeru opened up the panel to where the toys were stored, pulled out the plushy and handed it to Ki.  “Meru ru ru.” She pointed at the chain with a ring on it to encourage Ki to pull it.

 

“What are you saying? I should pull this chain?” Ki put a hand on the chain.

 

“Oh no, not this again.” Alex didn’t like the cringe things that the doll would say.

 

Ki pulled the chain and the plushy said, “I will stand as a bulwark against injustice!”

 

“Ugh,” Alex groaned.

 

Ki chuckled and pulled the chain again. “My blade strikes at the heart of evil.”

 

“Please stop,” Alex said.

 

Ki snickered and pulled it one last time. “My friends and I share an unbreakable bond.  We will never be defeated.”

 

“Oh hohoho, you are right.  This stuffed Hiroshi is a terrible weapon.” Ki handed the hero back to Merumeru.

 

The slime girl smiled and said, “Meru!” Then put the plushy away in the carriage.

 

“Let's head back. I’d like to let Bob, Martha and Kaide know that we are safe.  Will you come with us or just treestride back?” Alex asked.

 

“I’m not in a big hurry to get back.  We can keep moving and chat a bit more.  As for the farm, I already let them know that you are safe.  Everyone is expecting to see you in a few days.” Ki gestured to the southeast.

 

They all hopped on the carriage and headed down the hill with a tick-tock sound.  

 

“What are your plans when you get back?” Ki sipped some tea that Merumeru gave her.

 

Alex turned around from the controls of the carriage to answer. “Well, I leveled up my tailoring skill.  I want to try making some more outfits. It would be nice to find a cobbler too.  I’m starting to get an imbalance of clothing to shoes.” Alex considered her options.

 

“I don’t think any of the humans have that class in town.  Oh, speaking of town we finally thought of a name for it.” Ki clapped her hands once.

 

“Meru?” Merumeru asked.

 

“We are calling it Mignoneville,” Ki said.

 

“I like that name, it sounds cute.” Fufi approved wholeheartedly.

 

They spent the rest of the day either riding the carriage or walking and chatting.  Ki had advanced her [baroness of beauty] class to level 2.  Many of the people who had gotten new classes from Luna took to advancing the cuteness in her lands.  This caused her to have a breakthrough.  She got a new skill called [cultivator of cuteness] that helps anyone in her lands increase cuteness.  Many of the nymphs who had gotten classes experimented by using their fey magic with their class skills to create new breeds of flowers that were absolutely adorable.  

 

Some of the tribespeople had set off to take over some of the abandoned farmsteads where Bob and Martha’s farm was.  The nymphs helped by coaxing trees to grow roots into bridges over creeks and other terrain that would make it hard to pass by carriage.  Flax was a popular product to grow.  The tailoring profession had gotten suddenly popular.  Bob and Martha’s farm could keep enough flax growing for the fledgling tailors in Mignoneville but getting it to town was problematic.

 

Also, the growing season was coming to an end.

 

“Is it almost fall?  How long have we been here?” Alex wondered aloud.

 

“I think we are going on five months now.” Fufi paused for a moment then answered.

 

It took a few more days but eventually they arrived back at Bob and Martha’s farm.