The new carriage, while an improvement, had its drawbacks. Its wooden wheels, despite being reinforced with metal, struggled on loose terrain. Merumeru had to scavenge for scrap metal to fashion more effective tires, as the supply of metal pipes from the dungeon was dwindling. When fully loaded with water, the carriage's weight was comparable to a modern truck. However, its ability to transform back into a card proved useful for navigating difficult terrain and even aiding in farm work. Alex could dance atop the carriage while Rose utilized the water barrels for irrigation. Unfortunately, this revealed another issue: transforming back into a human decreased Alex's cuteness level, and Rose's water pressure was significantly reduced.

  Everyone watched the experiment with awe.

  "With something like this we could grow more water intensive crops." Bob commented. But with how quickly the 100 gallons of water drained he changed his mind. "Well maybe not, I guess the bigger fields will have to remain as wheat."

  "Well, the grains have to be milled by hand. There isn't a mill at the farm to make it easier. I had wanted to try to make a mill for wood back in town before we got chased off. What did your grandparents do with their wheat harvest?" Alex asked.

  "They mostly sold it to the baron. Well some of it, part of the harvest was collected as a tax and farmers would get ground flower back as payment. After all, peasants don't really own any nd. So the mills which were located back near town were also property of the baron's family," Kaide replied.

  "Wow that sounds like a terrible deal," Alex grumped. “You couldn’t build a mill even if you wanted to.”

  Fufi offered her two coppers. "Actually it really isn't because nobility csses have skills with a really broad effect. If the baron had skills that boosted all the farming taking pce in his domain then the taxes could be offset completely if they were high enough level."

  "Sakura was like a noble dy for the forest. Does she have skills that affect all of her domain?" Alex asked.

  Kaide agreed with Alex. "I don't know exactly what she can do, but she definitely knows a lot about her forest and what goes on in it. I think her powers are mostly about protecting the forest and getting rid of demons. It's interesting that we haven't seen any of those imp scouts flying around." Kaide pointed to the sky. "I bet her powers somehow keep them away."

  Fufi added, "They'll still be working even after Luna sealed her magical girl powers. Those kinds of skills tend to be rare. A knight magical girl may have skills and magic that can help people under her banner. A princess magical girl would have skills that could affect a whole kingdom. Princess magical girls are really rare though. People born to privilege tend to not be suitable to form contracts with." She lowered her voice for that st part.

  Alex sighed, "Terre is confusing. Just because someone is born into a certain family they get to have better skills. I imagine a king or queen's skills affect the whole country?"

  "Yes, that is right. Some kings have skills that boost their armies in battle. Another one could have skills that make roads between cities work better to facilitate travel. Others might suppress crime. The system helps them in the path they want to take." Fufi gestured around with a wing.

  Alex thought that wasn't completely true. If it was true then cooking, cleaning, and doll making suited him more than woodworking and lumber harvesting. It was true that Sakura's living dress was much cuter than the magical girl dress he made and he was a little jealous. After all, cuteness was the most important stat for a magical girl.

  Noticing that Alex got quiet and the water was used up Bob spoke up, "Let's move along, looks like the water is all used up we can go back to the well and fill the barrells back up."

  Taking turns at the rope pump, they found amusement in the simple act of spinning a wheel to draw water. However, Alex couldn't help but long for the convenience of the town's fountain, where water flowed effortlessly from pipes – a luxury often taken for granted. If Kaide's information was accurate, constructing a dam simir to the one in town might be a feasible solution even in this location.

  "Bob, do you think it would be possible to build a dam on your property? The stream is in a small gorge and I was thinking with Merumeru's help we could get you running water." Alex asked the farmer.

  "Hmm, I don't see why not but how would damming up the creek get us running water? Also, where are we going to find enough workers to do something like that? We barely get by as things go." The overall-wearing man replied.

  The leaf-haired nymph asked, "Why would we need people to build a dam? I can ask some forest friends to come help out. It is one of the benefits of being a nymph. I mean... if that is okay.. Dad?" The leaf-haired girl looked a bit unsure as she voiced the st word.

  Bob looked over at Alex then Kaide, "I don't see why you can't try. What do you mean forest friends?"

  Kaide performed a magical chant and a strange sound echoed around her. Everyone looked confused. "Hmm, just a moment, I think he's on his way."

  A rge beaver, impressively sized, emerged from the stream's direction and lumbered towards the nymph. It emitted a series of clicks and whines in her direction.

  Kaide pointed at the brown rodent. "He is up to building a dam for us if he can bring his family and use the trees around the water. Where would be a good spot for it?"

  "If we want to have running water it needs to be higher than where the buildings are located so upstream a bit?" Alex led them to where the drop off before the steam was and went

  about a mile uphill, following the water, slime girl in tow. "Is this okay? Do you think you could build a pipe and a drain back into the stream like back in town?"

  Merumerul nodded, "Meru!" The slime girl hopped into the water and started creating a pipe into the ground using dirt and cy and rock from nearby.

  "You don't have to get started right now. The beavers usually come out at dusk. Let's give them a couple days to get started." Kaide chuckled at Merumeru's eagerness.

  "Want to start tunneling from Bob and Martha's house? I bet it would be easier on the beavers if we created the sink and the drain line first. It could go back into the stream. That part would be easier because it isn't as far." Alex suggested to the slime girl, trying to get her attention before she tunneled too deep.

  The group spent the rest of the day on separate tasks. Merumeru, Alex, and Fufi colborated with Martha to choose a suitable kitchen location for the new sink. Everyone had previously tested the sink in the carriage, but it wasn't well-liked. The consensus was that using water from barrels for cleaning was wasteful and the water pressure was inadequate. The water was pushed from barrels to a hose and then from the hose to the sink. Although Martha expressed gratitude for the prospect of having running water in her house, her enthusiasm was limited. Unlike Fufi and Merumeru, the others didn't grasp the superiority of a gravity-fed water system over the carriage's barrel setup.

  After finalizing the sink's design, Fufi and Alex assisted Merumeru in gathering materials from around the area, loading them into the carriage. However, this caused some conflict in the kitchen as Martha attempted to prepare dinner amidst sink parts scattered everywhere. They had to utilize one of the few remaining valves from the dungeon to create the faucet. It became increasingly clear that further progress in modernizing Bob and Martha's farm would be severely hindered without another dungeon expedition to gather more supplies.

  At dinner that night someone knocked on the door.

  Everyone jumped a bit, not expecting visitors.

  Bob answered the door. "Who is it?"

  A nymph was at the door. She had leaf hair with aspen leaves and dressed in a simir forest dress as Kaide. "Hello there. I'm Ki from Sakura's grove. May I come in, I have a message."

  Sakura's name made everyone a bit uneasy. They hoped she was alright.

  "Come in, would you like to join us for dinner Ki?" Bob offered.

  Ki nodded and thanked him, stepping inside the modest farmhouse.

  Martha brought out another chair and prepared a pce for her at the table. After getting everyone served she asked, "So what is the message?"

  Ki took a breath, "Well, as you know some of the people who took the hummus were from the tribesmen lingering in the town ruins. They went back there and told their leaders what happened. Anyway, the humans have sent an envoy back wanting to meet with Alex. Something about apologies for the misunderstanding. Some time before some of their kin went missing in the woods. Sakura recruited them and it turns out Alex got bmed for it."

  Martha nodded and pced another serving of vegetables on her pte. She didn't look too happy about this news either. "I see, thank you."

  Alex frowned, "Why would they want to meet with me? They seem like the type that would solve all their problems with violence."

  "Well, they said something about needing to apologize for that. Also something about wanting to trade for pns. And something about a water curse in the dungeon." Ki didn't look like she really understood everything either.

  Bob sighed, "It sounds like a trap."

  "Alex and I can go meet with them." Kaide said and everyone turned to her in surprise.

  "Kaide?" Martha asked her daughter who wore an expression of pure confidence.

  “Sakura rarely needed to deal with real threats to the forest. If we meet in the forest and they decide to double cross us then a root strike ending them will be the result." Kaide sounded a bit scary.

  Alex checked his stats on his phone after dinner.

  Name: Alex Parker

  Css: Magical Girl

  Level 2

  Sex: Male

  Race: Human

  Strength: 10

  Constitution: 10

  Dexterity: 16

  Intelligence: 8

  Cuteness: 6

  Skills:

  Cleaning: 2

  Cooking: 1

  Toymaking: 1

  Tailoring: 2

  Feats: Empower Doll

  Spells: Animate Doll

  Lesser Grow Pnts

  It seemed that the "lesser charm person" ability had disappeared, and "grow pnts" had been downgraded to "lesser grow pnts." Although Alex had returned to human form, some remnants of the nymph's abilities remained. However, the decrease in cuteness was a significant blow. This expined why Rose's water gun had lost its power. It was becoming increasingly clear that cuteness was the most crucial attribute for a magical girl.

  melchi