Merumeru, Funi, and Ariel returned to port a week ter in their small wind-up submarine.

  “We are back.” Ariel flew out of the mini-sub when it surfaced in the harbor.

  “Welcome back.” Fufi flew to greet the group. The other fmingo flying back towards the isnd was a big giveaway.

  “Merumeru!” The slime girl docked the sub and the bathysphere on the now-repaired stone dock.

  “Looks like everyone’s been busy fixing this pce up.” Funi greeted the other fmingo with a pink gem in her forehead.

  “It has been some really messy work.” Alex mented. “We even got the barge up on the dry dock that we dug out.”

  “You got that thing fixed already?” The ice fairy flew over the water gates in the harbor to inspect the barge that was sitting in the dry dock.

  Alex nodded. “That thing was taking on water. Some of the townspeople said that it was an act of god that we didn’t founder at sea. That old thing wasn’t made to be in the open ocean and Cecil told me that the only way they made it the st leg was to keep the bilge pumps running constantly.”

  “Good job with the pumps.” Ariel praised the slime girl.

  Merumeru shook her head. “Ruuuu.”

  “You didn’t make that one?” Ariel corrected herself.

  “The townspeople in Yvne’s barony helped me do it back when we were evacuating.” Alex pointed at the copper pipe sticking out of the hull above where the waterline should be. “It is just a well pump that someone has to crank. We really should improve it if we want to keep using it.”

  “It might be better to just use it for storage in the harbor.” The ice fairy didn’t look too optimistic about the wreck that they had already repaired once and forced into conditions it wasn’t designed to operate in. “Even if we fixed it up again, the barge’s hull shape is not designed for the ocean. It is a miracle that it didn’t capsize in the storm.”

  Alex gulped. “Yeah that would have been bad.”

  “The draft is quite shallow for its size.” The little fairy pointed at the not-pointed bottom of the boat. “I think the only reason it made it here safely is because we had some unseen help. I certainly don’t have any skills that prevent a ship against rough seas.”

  “You are probably right.” Alex remembered Aqua being short with her back on the isnd. “I was hoping Aqua would come and visit. I also thought she’d come and help us evacuate people. And now getting back to the sky isnd is going to be problematic without the air boat.”

  “Sorry about that.” Ariel fidgeted. “Demons breaking things is to be expected.”

  “Can it be fixed?” Alex asked. “Where is it?”

  “It got torn up by ice nces and it is pieces in the swamp somewhere I suppose.” The ice fairy whirled around. “Hey, I know, do you have the toy airboat? It is a little bit bigger than the flying cloud model, well maybe not bigger, but it could fit a slime girl and a fairy and is faster than the mini sub.”

  Alex crossed her arms and thought. “Ariel, that air boat was the first thing we built that could move a person across the water. This barge doesn’t count. We floated that from the bottom of the river. Now the barge is damaged enough to retire and the other boat is scrapped. You want to try out the toy airboat? That’s two boats that have gotten broken in less than a year.”

  “So can I use it?” She eagerly asked. “Did you bring it with you? I swear it is for a good cause.”

  The bck-haired girl shook her head. “I didn’t bring it with me. I believe the st I saw it was in the warehouse back in town. We got it in the air and I moved on to the next project.”

  “Darn,” Ariel snapped her little finger. “I’d go back myself but for obvious reasons I should probably avoid the winter court.”

  Alex agreed. “Yeah, I think we should stay away for a while too. It seems so weird that they would ally with the ice cn. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Could you make another toy airboat?” The little fairy made a cute face.

  Alex sounded frustrated. “I could, but I’d need to set aside time to do that. And I had help from the craftsmen before. We just got some simple workpces set up for the smiths to use and they are ironing out all the kinks. I really don’t want to distract people who are trying to pick up pieces, some for the second time in less than a year.”

  “I understand you want to help everyone.” Ariel carefully stated. “But we are both combat cssers. We both have the same quest, to defeat the demon queen.”

  “What are you trying to say?” Alex sounded a little defensive.

  “With the monster popution decreased like it is.” Ariel expined. “The best way to level up is to defeat demons. Now that we have a hundred miles or so of water between us and the demons of the Jass kingdom we have breathing room. But eventually time will run out. This is why other races don’t shelter humans. My people started calling them the cursed race because human ships traveling were connected to the demons in some way, almost always. The point is that we need to attack them. By the time that they figure out that there are free humans here it’ll be too te. You me, and that revenant need the levels. So yes, helping these people get established is good, but if it costs you time that is better spent hunting demons for levels then the price is too high.”

  “We could take the portal pipe back.” Alex offered. “Perhaps we could raid the next barony down the river from where Yvne’s was?”

  “That is a start, but suppose we clean out the demons. What is going to happen to the humans then?” Ariel said.

  “We can take them through the portal pipe on the isnd, but the further away it is then the more chance of getting caught we face.” Alex ran a hand through her hair. “But the demons are afraid of the river.”

  “Exactly, privateering is the best option.” Ariel did some loops in the air. “We raid, we capture, we level up and escape to the sea. And if we can make friends along the way, even better.”

  “Speaking of taking to the sea.” Alex looked to the beat up barge. “I wonder how that shipwright is doing with making that big clipper ship.”

  The ice fairy shook her head. “I’m not sure. The weather was bad when we passed the harbor, probably a blessing, but that is part of the reason I wanted the airship. If we can pirate it, and kidnap the members of the shipwright’s guild, that would put us in a much better pce.”

  “Can you take Merumeru’s sub and spy on them?” Alex asked.

  “Meru!” Merumeru spoke up.

  “We could, but it is slow.” Ariel nodded to the slime girl. “The river and the currents were in our favor coming out here. Merumeru and I did some trips to the capitol to harvest scrap in the bar but coming back upstream was always a struggle.”

  “Maybe we could upgrade the… er… does it even have an engine?” Alex lost the train of thought for a moment. “What do you call something that has a clockwork propulsion system?”

  “I have no idea.” The fairy chuckled. “But someone has probably made up a word for it already. Gnomes love that kind of stuff.”

  “Speaking of gnomes.” Alex took the opportunity to report on some of the findings. “We found some gnomish artifacts when excavating the ruins.”

  Ariel agreed. “Merumeru and I can confirm. There are some signs of gnomish shipwrecks before. It is just that her submarine isn’t good at going deep. There might be some good stuff further down. The archipego drops off sharply. It is part of the reason this was such a good harbor. It is a deep harbor. Not being a sea elf anymore is problematic.”

  “Meru ru ru me.” Merumeru stated.

  “I know, you could flood the cabin and go deeper, but it is completely dark down there.” She corrected the slime girl. “Going into the midnight zone is not something even my kind do lightly. There are too many tales of waking something up in the deep that is better left slumbering.”

  “Lighting might be possible.” Alex considered her options. “Ki would probably be the best to ask though. There are some mushrooms that they pnted in caves that provide lights. Otherwise we could cannibalize something back at the cabin to use. It is just that you’ll have to take very good care of it because we’d not be able to repce it if it breaks.”

  “Is it safe to take the portal from the swamp back to the farm?” Ariel’s gaze looked to the portal pipe again.

  “I’m not sure.” Alex felt paralyzed by the ck of information. “That would be a lot easier to do with the airboat. Ugh, I see what you are saying. Well, I think a good couple of next projects would be remaking the air boat and upgrading Merumeru’s submarine.”

  “Meru!” Merumeru detached the chain from the bathysphere and turned the sub into a card, handing it to Alex.

  “I’ll take good care of this.” Alex promised. “When you get it back it’ll be better than before. You don’t mind if I take it apart?”

  Merumeru gave Alex a look of complete trust.

  “Right.” Alex felt the pressure.

  They met with Cecil ter on who had become a bit of a representative for the townsfolk. The smiths agreed to start work on creating another airboat frame, though Alex would have to decorate and create the clockwork mechanisms for it.

  They also cleared out a spot in the new crafting district to do shipwright work. A small workshop was sectioned off to disassemble the submarine. Anyone with relevant skills could come and help out. Alex pnned to take a lot of notes on the submarine’s specifications and hopefully they could come up with some pns to upgrade it after taking it apart.

  melchi