Several days ago, upstream of the dam. . .

  Olk was a scout for the Stone Ax tribe, and he and his people had spent their entire lives traveling. The tribe would gather resources and then move on. Generations ago, the demon queen's army had taken over every settlement in the former kingdom. The only people who survived were those who quickly learned to keep moving. Those who tried to establish new towns were eventually invaded and ensved by the succubus leaders.

  A youth named Olk was of a taller stature than most. His dark skin was leathered from years of being outdoors. A short bck beard and hair accompanied his face. A brown fur pelt rested on his shoulders and leather breeches covered his legs. A bow and quiver of arrows were slung across his back. He walked along the banks of a river, but it was not flowing as it should. The water had breached its banks and was flooding the low-lying areas. Olk found this odd and gnced downstream. "I wonder if something is blocking the river," he said into the wind.

  Olk hastened back to the encampment and informed the chieftain of what he had discovered. The chieftain then ordered the warriors to investigate. Olk guided the warriors to the obstruction he had found and the group traveled downstream. The warriors were armed with basic weaponry made of bone, wood, or stone. It was not possible to construct anything more advanced without establishing a permanent settlement, and the tribe knew that was too dangerous. The tribe was wary of anything that might bring them into contact with the servants of the Demon Queen, but they also had to be resilient. A nomadic lifestyle was not for the faint of heart. Eventually, Olk and his group discovered the cause of the river's blockage. A dam that had once been in ruins appeared to have been repaired and was now operational. He instructed the warriors to remain behind while he used his stealth abilities to search for traps or ambushes. He found neither.

  Olk crept near the dam and observed that the structure was made of stone. The dam was substantial enough to be used as a bridge to cross the river. The Stone Axe Tribe could use it to cross the river without having to ford it at a shallower spot, which could save time if they needed to go that way. He surmised that another tribe had repaired it. They may have been taking a big risk by investing in the area, given the string of ruined towns that lined the river.

  After Olk confirmed that it was safe, he signaled for the warriors to come. While the group was inspecting the dam, one of the warriors noticed that the pipes that carried the water were made of metal. Metal was very valuable to the tribe. Setting up a forge or smelter was extremely risky because of the smoke it would produce. Such things attracted too much attention. The tribe's craftsmen tended to be stoneworkers, woodworkers, and leatherworkers.

  "The metal pipes are unlike any we have seen before," the warrior said. "They are much thicker and have no seams. One of the warriors believes they may be magical."

  While the pristine metal would be a valuable find for the tribe, this complication could prove dangerous. If they were dealing with an earth shaman or a metal mage along with a rge group, it might be best to just pick up their camp and leave.

  Oddly, when Olk inspected the tracks, he only saw one pair of footprints that looked to be human. There were also some animal tracks, perhaps a bird, and some smaller boot footprints that had a really odd gait. He figured that the st one may just be a false trail.

  Upon returning, the warband reported the grim news to the chief. The tribe had come to log the nearby Aspen groves, but some people had gone missing when they went into the woods. The tribe began to pack up, and Olk and several other scouts were ordered to follow the tracks leading to the old ruin, but to remain hidden so they could assess the situation.

  Meanwhile, back in town…

  Alex shared the news of clearing the dungeon with the others. He had been feeling a strange tingling sensation ever since he leveled up, but he pushed it to the back of his mind and introduced the new doll to Merumeru. The blue-skinned slime girl grabbed the doll and jumped up the stairs to the main level.

  After Merumeru returned from the dungeon, she could jump several times her height. This baffled him, as he couldn’t comprehend how she could jump so high. Perhaps she had learned some sort of jumping magic as a reward. While he was pondering this, Fufi realized what Merumeru wanted. She flew behind the adventurer’s guild counter and got into character to py her role as the clerk.

  "Hello Merumeru, is this your new party member?" Fufi regarded the new doll.

  Merumeru nodded.

  "She looks like she's a magical girl." Fufi said.. Fufi's favorite subject was magical girls. Fufi talked to Merumeru about all kinds of magical girl stuff.

  To Alex, Edelweiss looked more like a knight. He didn't say anything though because the exchange was heartwarming.

  Merumeru nodded again.

  "Do you want to register her with the guild?" Fufi asked.

  Merumeru nodded with conviction in her blue eyes.

  "What name should we put on her guild card?" Fufi continued pying the role of receptionist.

  Merumeru looked at Alex expectantly.

  For once, Alex actually had an answer. "Edelweiss is her name."

  Merumeru smiled broadly.

  "I'm gd to meet you, Edelweiss. My name is Fufi. I will be your magical girl guide. I hope we can get along. Now let's see if we can get you registered with the guild. I take it you are going to join Merumeru in her party Lilypad?" Fufi made her best secretary voice.

  Merumeru beamed excitedly.

  "Allright, the adventuring party lilypad consists of Merumeru, Rose, Lily and Edelweiss," Fufi expined while pretending to write something down, which was funny because she was wiggling her feather on the desktop.

  Alex couldn’t help but smirk.

  Alex approached the counter, eager to join in the fun. “Guild master Fufi,” he said, “I just completed the dungeon and got some loot. Could you identify it for me?” He pced the spell scroll on the counter.

  Fufi looked over the scroll and said, "This tome is Animate Doll. Congratutions on your first spell scroll Alex." She acted like Alex didn’t know what the spell was.

  "I got it as a reward for finishing the st wave. Though I knew it was animate doll from the title on it." Alex answered.

  Fufi pointed a wing at the scroll, gesturing for Alex to take it. "That answers my second question. If you can read it then you can learn it. A spell scroll just looks like strange runes to someone that can't learn the spell."

  Alex’s gaze also stayed on the scroll. "Thank you for the help. I just have to read it top to bottom I suppose."

  Fufi waved a wing over the scroll. "Give it a try. I'm excited for you to get your first spell."

  Alex looked at the scroll and said, "Okay, here goes nothing."

  Alex read the scroll. The words were written in a nguage he did not recognize yet was able to understand.

  Spell Name: Animate Doll

  Duration: Channeled

  Cost: One doll per intelligence point

  Components: Somatic

  Effect: The caster animates dolls equal to their intellect points.

  The spell duration sts as long as the caster maintains the dance. (There were some sketches of the dance) The dance went something like triple step, back step, twirl, hop, strike a pose. The dolls must be touching the caster at the start of the dance. The dance doesn't need to be followed perfectly. The caster is encouraged to add their own creative fir to the dance. The caster can command the doll to do anything that the caster or the doll can do.

  When Alex finished reading the scroll it crumbled into dust. "I guess that's it. I don't feel any different. Well, I have this strange tingling feeling but that started after I left the dungeon so I figured it would pass." Alex shrugged.

  Fufi hummed and asked, "Alex, can you check your status screen on your phone."

  Alex took his phone out and shared his status screen. There was another tab listed 'spells' with the only one being Animate Doll. It also showed the same description that he read on the scroll. Fufi and Merumeru were reading it along with him.

  "I guess I did learn the spell according to this." Alex said.

  Fufi noticed the stat change. "It looks like your cuteness went up too. Cuteness is an important stat for a magical girl."

  "As you can see, I have to dance to cast the spell. Oh, Merumeru, do you want to see some of the bathroom stuff I brought back? They both work by hooking up water pipes to them." Alex made sure to quickly change the subject. He was sure Fufi would go on and on about dancing and cuteness if he let her.

  "Meru!" the slime girl said excitedly while hopping repeatedly.

  Flipping the toilet upside down Alex pointed to the pipes. "Water goes in this pipe here and fills up the toilet bowl. When you pull the chain it opens this fp in the bowl. Then the water goes down and through the big pipe on the bottom that should be connected to the sewer. Also, there is what is called a float valve that shuts the water off when the bowl gets filled. If it didn't have that then the water would just keep coming and spill out everywhere until someone turned the water off. "

  "Ruuu," the slime girl replied while hanging on Alex's every word.

  "Next is the sink. People use this to wash their hands. It has two pipes feeding it." He spun the valves a bit to show her how it worked. "Then there is this drain here in the bottom. Notice how the pipe has this bend? They call that a p-trap. It keeps water in the lower point to seal it away from the sewer gas. Water can go down but gas can't come up because that part of the pipe stays filled with water. Isn't that neat?"

  Merumeru nodded her head in agreement. Alex did his best to eborate on the details. She would point to certain parts, and he would respond. Due to the nguage barrier, he was unsure if he had gotten everything across, but he did his best. Eventually, things settled down, and they went to bed for the night.

  melchi