The group awoke early the next day, feeling optimistic due to the productive meeting the day before. The meeting had concluded that if the tribesmen pnted the seeds, then the forest nymphs could cim the ruins as their territory. Once the forest nymphs cimed the territory, it would be safe to return to the ruined town.

  Merumeru, Alex, Fufi, Kaide, Bob and Martha gathered at the kitchen table together.

  "I'm gd things are looking up. Hopefully you can get your dungeon and home back in the city ruins." Martha cleared the table.

  "Me too. Though it seems like less of a home now. A home is supposed to be a safe pce. Having our sanctuary invaded ruins that. If it wasn't for the dungeon then I don't think I'd want to go back." Alex sagged in his chair.

  "I'm sure it will be fine dear. From what you told me about that Ki nymph she seems really wise. If she thinks they would resort to violence to get their way for everything she probably wouldn't have presented them with the option to make things right peacefully." Martha turned on the sink to let the flowing water wash over the dirty dishes. Apparently having plumbing really made her day, because she had a big smile.

  "Now that everyone's got some rest, what are your pns?" Bob asked.

  "Well, now that the sun is out I'd like to see the dam that the beavers and Merumeru built." Alex smiled. The little slime girl always impressed him with how much she could accomplish.

  "Ru Ru Merume!" Merumeru chirped confidently.

  "One st thing." Alex gave Merumeru a look, "Did you flood the basement of the adventurer's guild?"

  Merumeru nodded proudly, "Meru!" She sounded smug.

  "Looks like Ki was right about what Handverk thought was a water trap." Fufi chuckled. "Oh well."

  Martha, Kaide and Bob headed out to tend to the farm. Fufi, Alex and Merumeru headed to the beaver dam.

  The three friends took a short hike to the stream and walked upstream until they found the dam constructed by beavers and a certain slime girl. The dam was built with fallen branches, dirt, and logs. A stone pipe was visible beneath the water on the side of the incline, but it was not touching the bottom.

  Alex nodded to Merumeru in approval, "Good job Merumeru, that pcement of the pipe is impressive. You know that building it on the ke floor would just get it covered up in dirt and clogged easier. "

  "Merumeru is the best plumber," Fufi jumped in with her praise.

  Merumeru joyfully jumped into the water and swam around. She dove down to the far end of the new ke and into a pile of sticks and mud. When she resurfaced, two beavers had joined her.

  "Hello Mister and Missus beaver." Fufi greeted the rodents.

  "Um hello thank you for building this dam. Can they understand us?" Alex looked around furtively.

  Merumeru shook her head but didn't stop smiling.

  "Ki can speak to animals. Remember she is the one that asked them to build a dam here." Fufi reminded Alex.

  "I suppose that would make sense for a nymph. I only had a [grow pnts] skill and a weak charm skill when I had my race changed." Alex murmured. "Hmm, I wonder." He reached out and touched a dandelion and focused on the pnt skill. "Bloom please?"

  Over the course of a minute the little flower grew a bud and then opened up to reveal a little yellow flower.

  "Huh, neat." Alex grinned slightly, then shrugged.

  The two beavers spshed back into the water after staring at the group for a moment. Merumeru's proximity to the rge rodents served as another reminder of the slime girl's diminutive stature. Despite being taller than the beavers with her toddler-sized body, the furry creatures were undoubtedly heavier than her.

  "They probably want to get to bed. Beavers mostly are nocturnal." Fufi commented after the beavers left.

  Alex cautiously navigated his way down to the streambed, located downstream from the beaver dam. As he crossed the muddy terrain and logs that formed the dam, he tried his best to avoid getting mud on his clothes, but was unsuccessful. After a short walk downstream, he found what he was looking for: an almost vertical rock wall.

  "Do you think this would be a good spot to build a grotto?" Alex inspected the hard surface.

  "I don't see why not but why would you need a grotto?" Fufi tilted her beaked head.

  "Well, I was thinking maybe we could make a little grotto shrine to Luna. We just need to tunnel an alcove into the rock. If we put a statue and some cute decorations it could be a pce people could come and ask for a css." Alex looked to the slime girl and fmingo and fmingo for validation.

  "None of us have the [miner] css." Fufi stated the obvious problem. "Also, digging out enough space of solid stone would be a lot to ask for Merumeru. It is a lot more stuff to move than digging a hole for a well."

  "I agree but I have an idea. If I'm a magical girl that can control dolls by dancing, who says that the only thing I'm good for is fighting? I don't even really like fighting." Alex pulled out the card for the carriage and deployed it on a ft spot next to the stream. He pulled out Edelweiss and held the doll to his chest. "You know how humans can only move their wrists a little bit? I was thinking if we changed the gearing in one of Edielwiess's arms then her hand could spin around like a drill. Even without a miner css drilling would be a whole lot better than just swinging a pickaxe right?"

  Fufi wasn't convinced, "I suppose so, but a high leveled miner can do a whole lot. These things are done by people with appropriate csses and skills for a reason."

  Alex didn't respond verbally, but sighed. He believed that some concepts were better demonstrated than expined. Instead of the panel containing the grill, he opened a different one. This revealed a compact but well-organized workspace for clockwork dolls. Despite its small size, it was equipped with the necessary tools and spare parts from the dungeon, all neatly arranged in cubbies.

  "She is going to need something other than her current weapon if we want to drill into stone." Alex hummed and worked on the doll.

  "This would work best if we could find some really hard metal but perhaps some strong stone on a straight wooden pole? Do you think you could make something like that for Edelweiss Merumeru?" Alex held the knightly doll out to Merumeru.

  Merumeru nodded and jumped up into the forest like she had springs in her boots. How such a small girl could jump so high remained a mystery.

  "Do they even have the same metals in this world as mine? Tungsten would be the best but I have no idea if that even exists here." Alex asked Fufi.

  "Yes, but there are also more mystical metals as well. They are very rare though" Fufi answered. “The best mines are run by dwarves and gnomes.”

  Alex disassembled the doll by removing one of its hands with some tools. He then took out a book from the carriage and looked through it until he found a schematic with a suitable gearing setup. After a couple of hours of careful work, Alex reassembled the doll.

  Around the same time that Alex was finishing up, Merumeru came back with a pole that had a cone shaped stone on the end.

  Alex prepared himself, taking a moment to equip the new drill-tipped spear while Merumeru arranged the other dolls and plushies from the carriage, positioning them to face him. It seemed that all of his dungeon companions needed to be present for his performance.

  Alex felt a surge of nervous energy. While he often created dolls, dresses and other cute things, he rarely had an audience. His previous dancing experiences had always been linked to combat. Now, however, he was about to dance simply because he could. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. Who would want to watch a rugged lumberjack dance? Yet, it seemed fitting for magical girls to dance.

  And so he danced. With a twirl of his pleated skirt and a flourish of flowing fabric, his dance brought Edelweiss to life. Gears whirring, she skipped towards the rock wall, her hand rotating with increasing speed. The whirring drill spear pierced the stone, producing an earsplitting grinding noise.

  Alex ceased dancing and retrieved the doll. Although she had drilled a six-inch wide, foot-deep hole into the wall within seconds, the stone drill bit was almost completely worn down. It was also smoking hot, literally.

  "Boo," Alex pouted, "I'm so stupid. This is like using a circur saw to cut concrete."

  "Ru ru ru" Merumeru cheered the magical girl on.

  "Do you think you could make Edelweiss another one?" Alex asked the slime girl.

  Merumeru nodded and hopped off into the woods again.

  “Next time let's get Rose to spray water as well so the bit doesn't wear down as quickly. Luckily there is a nice source of water nearby. Hopefully this will make it so that we can make the grotto quicker. I'd like to get it dug out by the end of the day." Alex pulled Rose out and set her with the hose for her water gun submerged into the stream.

  Merumeru returned with a long thin piece of wood that had a stone drill bit on the end after 30 minutes passed.

  "Ah, perfect. Thank you" Alex said.

  The second try was more successful. Alex danced, accompanied by the two dolls. Rose sprayed water into the hole Edelweiss had made, and the sound of grinding filled the air. The area was thick with dust and mud. Alex, ever mindful of cuteness, danced around with a feather duster, dusting off anyone who got dirty.

  They had to stop after an hour. The drill bit had finally broken. They had managed to cut a doll-height gap along the bottom of the rock, about twenty feet long and two feet deep.

  Merumeru took the first turn and dissolved some rock dust into her body to create a new drill bit on top of the mostly ground-down one. Just then, a farmer called down from the top of the ridge.

  "What in tarnation are you kids doing down there?" Bob shouted. “You can hear this racket from anyone on the farm.”

  Fufi flew up to him. "We are making a grotto!"

  "What? A grotto? Why do we need a grotto?" The farmer seemed confused by the random answer.

  "Because we are trying to help Ki! We are trying to get her a css." Fufi expined with a smile.

  “I'll give you a hand. I bet Martha would like to have a grotto too." Bob said with a grin. "I'm not much of a miner but I can use a shovel and a hammer. I'm guessing you want to make a shrine in the grotto? How are you going to make it good enough so someone can pray for a css?"

  "That is the pn." Fufi nded by Bob. "We are going to make a statue of Luna and decorate it with flowers, pearls and seashells."

  "I can't help with that. Maybe Martha could. Perhaps Kaide as well though I don't know if she is good at that sort of thing so I don't want to assume." Bob said. “Though there are not many pearls and sea shells to be found around these parts.”

  Fufi descended and nded on the carriage, while Bob retrieved some tools and returned to climb down more slowly. Alex repced the worn-out spear-drill with a new one, addressing the issue of Edelweiss spinning when the drill was stuck into the stone. The solution involved positioning the carriage next to the rock wall, allowing the doll to use it for support.

  Throughout the day, the group continued their work, with Bob assisting in moving rge rocks and shoveling debris. However, they discovered that Rose could effectively clean the mud and rock dust, proving more efficient than Bob. By the end of the day, they had constructed a 20 by 20 foot grotto with substantial rock piles on both sides of the entrance.

  melchi