Upon returning to the basement of the adventurer’s guild Alex’s phone rang out.

[Dungeon cleared]

[3 monsters defeated]

 

Alex and Fufi headed up the stairs and plopped down into a booth in the common area.  The box filled with culinary supplies thumped and rattled on each step.  But with some struggle they drug it out of the basement.

 

Alex set the treasure box on the table.  “Ugh, so heavy. I guess I don’t know my lack of strength sometimes”

 

“How did things go?  You finished this one faster than any of the others.” Fufi perched herself across from the magical girl.

 

“Yeah, there were three demons.  Each of them had different colors and different elements.  One of them was water, one was earth, and the other was fire.  We had a cookoff.  The demons all treated me like I was an insect at first but when it became apparent that I was the only one there that could actually cook it got weird.  They started by trying to sabotage each other's cooking then when I almost had a soup done they all focused on me.” Alex shook her head.

 

“How did that go?” Fufi glanced at the box then looked back at Alex.

 

“It was weird, I think the cooking was secondary to trying to finish while three demons were using their weird powers to ruin everything.” Alex tilted her head.

 

“Yeah, demons in general are destructive by nature.  If they accomplish anything it is because they ruined something greater or had a ton of people under their boot to support them.” Fufi gestured with a wing.

 

“You once said that the dungeons were tailored to the person who enters them.  While the first one was that violence doesn’t solve problems and the second one was that mental attacks are not playing fair, I think this one was that if demons can’t win one way they’ll just resort to doing something underhanded and you’ll need to be prepared for that,” Alex said.

 

Fufi agreed.  “Yes, but remember to always play to your strengths. Demons will be evil and cheat and deceive but a magical girl is all about cuteness.  The path to victory is not out scheming the schemers or out deceiving the deceivers.  The real strategy of a magical girl is to find the path where cuteness will prevail. The superiority of cuteness is the biggest lesson for all of the dungeons.” 

 

Alex opened the treasure box and showed off the loot to the bird and anyone in the guild that might be spying on them.

“It is mostly culinary tools.” Alex pulled out the stuff and set it on the table.

 

[1 steel paring knife]

[2 steel steak knives]

[1 Meat cleaver]

[2 serrated bread knives]

[1 steel ladle]

[3 steel mixing bowls]

[3 steel and wooden spatulas]

[1 crock pot with ceramic lid]

[1 silver tableware set]

[5 porcelain bowls]

[5 porcelain plates]

[1 silver serving tray]

[4 porcelain teacups]

[1 Everflowing kettle]

[1 granite cutting board]

[3 saucepans]

[10 iron skewers with wooden handles]

[1 iron wok]

[5 cast iron frying pans]

[1 towel]

[1 raw cow flank with tenderized meat]

[1 muffin baking tray]

[1 kitchen sink]

 

Fufi honked. “Wow, that is some nice kitchenware.”

 

“Yeah, the dungeon was weird.  It was like a kitchen with a mix of things from this world and my world.  The stoves were still wood fired.  But those knives could have come out of a department store.” Alex gestures to the glistening knife set strew about the booth’s table.

 

“There is starting to be a bit of a big pile of stuff.  Where are you going to put all of this?”  Fufi asked.  She eyed the kitchen sink with special concern.

 

“Well, you have a point.  We started with a wagon, then made it into a carriage then a small RV.  But I think we’ll have to leave some of this stuff behind.  Maybe we can swap out what we can for the new stuff and leave some of the old stuff behind. I guess I got used to collecting all kinds of odds and ends back when I had a cabin and a shop to store stuff in.  I’m tempted to just leave everything heavy here.  Getting this thing up the stairs took way more effort than I expected.”

 

“Well, when we complete your quest maybe Luna will send you back to your world if you ask?” Fufi sounded a little guilty by her tone.

 

Alex sighed. “I don’t even know. That seems so far in the future.  I really don’t know anything about the demon queen. We’ve met one real demon and he seemed like a stereotypical arrogant young master from one of those wuxia stories.” Alex paused. “Do demons even have pronouns?  The ones in the dungeon seemed to not have a sex.”

 

Fufi blinked and waited a moment to process the question.  “That is a strange question.  Demons don’t come into being with a gender. Well, in general, there are exceptions depending on the demon’s origins.”  Fufi seemed a little uncomfortable about the subject. “But some evolve a sex.  Like an incubus or succubus, those are demons who cultivate in dreams and after absorbing enough they can evolve from being a dream demon to an incubus or succubus.”

 

“A little bit more information than I needed to know but let’s go clean up.” Alex sorted a pile of things that she wanted to stay at the adventurer’s guild and stuff that could go to the carriage.

 

Looking at a human man who was eavesdropping Fufi asked, “Could you help with taking these to the kitchen?  Especially the kitchen sink.  I don’t know why Alex decided to take another sink.”

 

“Sinks are good.  Someone has got to have a use for this.  Getting hot water for the hot water knob might be a problem but it should work fine with cold water alone.” Alex protested.

 

As they finished cleaning up the table and sorting through what to keep and what to donate, Ki came up and greeted them at the carriage parked outside the adventurer’s guild. ”Hello Alex and Fufi.  I see your dungeon run was a success.”

 

“Hello Ki, how have you been?  Things have been busy the past couple of days. We haven't had much time to chat.” Alex waved at the nymph. 

“To tell the truth, there have been a couple of annoying things that have popped up.  Care to chat inside?  Are you two finished here?” Ki asked, her tone a bit serious.

 

Fufi and Alex nodded in unison and headed upstairs into the big office that Ki seemed to be working out of. After closing the door, the three of them sat down on some wooden chairs in the room.

 

“What concerns the great baroness of beauty?” Fufi preened out the question.

 

“Two things.” Ki professionally replied.  “First, this bloomery stuff that you started. I don’t think it is working out.  Let me explain.”

 

Alex blinked in surprise.  While she felt that the near absence of iron really set things back she wasn’t sure how that would be a concern for Ki.

 

“Look at this.”  Ki waved a hand and a hexagon grid of transparent tiles appeared floating in the room.  Some of the tiles had buildings on them.  Most of them were covered in trees or plants.

 

Alex marveled at the projection.  “What is this?”

 

“It is Mignoneville.”  Ki moved both hands to a single hexagon and spread her arms out causing it to zoom in.  “You see this tile here?”  Ki activated an overlay and the tile had a bunch of black in it.  “This is the cuteness overlay.  The black shows a lack of cuteness in the tile.  Can you guess what the cause of it is?”

 

“The bloomery experiments they are working on I suppose.” Alex drooped.

 

Ki waved the map away and brought up what looked like a chart showing two lines.  One one way up at the top and the other one was near zero.  The one at the top that went up and down from 90% to 95% was labeled ‘slag’ and the one that was wavering between 5% and 10% showed pig iron.  “You see the problem here?”

 

Alex drooped further. “Sorry, I’m not a miner or a blacksmith.  I only knew about making a bloomery from some youtube videos I watched.  I thought if we had metal it could help.”

 

“That’s the problem. We don’t have any [miners] in town.  There are some people with classes that touch on smithing but really they have skills that are more focused on repair and maintenance.” Ki shook her head.

“Can they just move operations somewhere closer to where iron ore is?” Alex tried to ask the obvious.

 

Ki frowned. “That is just moving the problem around.  I am a nymph and a baroness of beauty.  I don’t think any of my sisters want to have this operation that produces such a mess anywhere in our forest.”

 

“So, should they just give up? I thought trying to advance technology would be a good thing.” Alex furrowed her brow.

 

“I’m not saying that humans need to give up but it should be away from the forest’s domain.  If people want to start acting like dwarves or gnomes they should head to the mountains to the north and start their own settlement there.” Ki explained.

 

“Wait, there are people up in those mountains?  I thought there were just the demons and the temple of purity.” Alex looked baffled.

 

“I think there might be.  But when the demons invaded, the subterranean races just sealed themselves off from what I am told.  Some undercity folk would trade with ambitious merchants that risked the long travels to their underground cities.  I don’t think I’ve seen a dwarf in the forest ever.  Some of the older nymphs say it has been almost a century since the last one stepped foot in our woods.  Anyway, we are getting a little bit off topic.” Ki waved a hand.  The chart disappeared.

 

“So I’m guessing the bloomery work will be stopped.” Alex wondered aloud.

 

“Yes, they can pick it up later somewhere else but making the domain more beautiful has got to be the priority.” Ki stated with finality.

 

“Okay, I can accept that.  You are the one running things after all.” Alex agreed.

 

Fufi also agreed. “You are the landed baroness and have the class to show it so I’m sure you know what you are doing.”

 

“That brings us to the next problem.” Ki said and pulled out a parchment scroll.  She handed it over to Alex.

 

“What is this?” Alex looked down at the scroll.

 

“It is a missive.  I, the baroness, got invited to visit a neighboring domain.” Ki looked a bit annoyed.

“Why would someone invite you to leave the forest?  Wouldn’t that kill you?” Alex furrowed her brow.

 

“Exactly.  Inviting a nymph to leave the woods is terribly rude.” Ki agreed.

 

“How did they know?” Alex didn’t get it at all.

 

Ki waved a hand and brought up the map with the hexagons again.  She zoomed out and it showed the borders of her domain and the lands adjacent.  To the north showed unclaimed land.  To the east showed unclaimed lands.  But to the south and west, Ki’s barony was bordered by different areas that filled a series of hexagons. “Those are lands of nobles from the human kingdom.  Or at least that is what I assume they are.  If a demon claims the land it wouldn’t be recognized by this map because they are not using the system at all.”

 

“Does that mean that the human nobility hasn’t been entirely wiped out?” Alex asked, looking at the hex-map.

 

“I think that is looking into it a bit more than what I have information.  Things have changed.  Maybe a century ago those for sure would be domains of land owning humans but the whole kingdom surrendered to the demons and those that didn’t were wiped out a long time ago.  Just like they don’t know that I’m a nymph aristocrat, we don’t know much about the rulers of those lands.” Ki pointed at the handful of hexes that showed other domains.

 

Alex opened the scroll and saw the flowing script and the invite from a lady Yvne that contained an invite to her tea party to increase relationships between their two domains.  It was notable that the three neighboring domains bordering Ki’s lands were smaller than the domain that Ki owned.  “Why are their domains so small?”

 

“I don’t know, I assume that those are normal baronies.  If you went by land along the forest it would be the size of a dutchy.” Ki explained.  “But that is not important right now. Luna and the system recognized the forest as one domain.  A king or queen did not grant me land.  A goddess did and if some stuck up human who swears loyalty to a puppet government of the demons wants to complain about it then their ruler can complain to Luna and face her judgment.  I’ll have you know that the human who crossed the border and demanded to deliver this in person met an appropriate fate for entering the forest and expecting hospitality when none was offered.”

“What fate is that?” Alex thought Ki seemed a bit scary now.

 

“Shrubbery.” Ki explained simply.

 

Alex didn’t get it. “Shrubbery?  Did you bring them shrubbery?”

 

Ki chuckled darkly.  “Don’t ever change Alex.  You are too pure.  The gentleman refused to drop the scroll off and leave so when he took enough steps in the wrong direction and ignored the warning the nereids and nymphs gave him he was transformed into a shrubbery.”

 

“So you are going to ignore the request?” Alex guessed.

 

“What other option is there?  We would have to send a human to meet with Lady Yvne. From the letter I she seems to think a human has claimed the forest. Either that or this is just a way to try to get more information.” Ki shrugged.

 

Alex looked at Fufi.  “What do you think?  Should we try to check it out?  Do you think it is too dangerous?”

 

Fufi clicked her beak a few times then spoke.  “It is hard to say.  Yes it will be dangerous.  But how dangerous I don’t know.  Unless someone tries to gather more information then how can we come up with a plan to liberate those people?”

 

“There have been some refugees that have risked coming up from the south.  Before, Sakura would transform any of them but a few have promised to live by the loose set of rules we have established here.  A few people came across wanting to seek asylum but were just spies.  Those have also become shrubberies.”  Ki explained.

 

“Did you get any useful information?” Alex asked.

 

Ki shook her head. “Nothing that the nereids that spy from the rivers didn’t know.  The lands are in a famine. It is only skills that increase crop yield that are holding back wide-spread starvation.  Having demons that like to burn things and cultivate the fire doesn’t make for a great place to live.”

 

“I maybe could take the missive and go to that lady’s manor and present myself as you.  If it is just tea I bet I could get some information out of her.” Alex came up with an idea on the spot.

 

Ki shook her head. “That is a bad idea.  Nobles can detect other nobles.  You might be able to get away with saying you are one of my servants but the missive asked for me.  Lady Yvne might see it as a slight for me to not show up in person.”

 

Fufi agreed. “I bet even if Ki showed up, they would try to force her to go to the capitol and swear allegiance to whatever puppet they call ruler.”

 

Alex crossed her arms. “I can’t hide here forever. There has to be a way to help out those people being oppressed.”