Chapter 9: CH9 Doll Game

Merumeru hopefully understood Alex's concern and replied, "Meru." Alex hugged her as she squeaked with joy from his embrace. The trio stayed by the fountain for a while. Alex sat on the ledge and Merumeru kept trying to turn her arm thin enough to squeeze it into the spigot. The flow of water always pushed her back out. Fufi waded around in the water cheering the little girl on. Alex suspected that rather than wanting to help him finish the fountain project the slime girl saw it as a fun water ride that she really wanted to try out again. She just hadn't figured out that the ride only went one way. Oh well, kids can be cute in their own way.

After some time had passed Fufi and Alex were sitting on the ledge looking out over town. Fufi turned to Alex and said, "Merumeru did a really nice job fixing the fountain. I'm very proud of her."

Alex nodded, "She really is growing up to be quite a young lady." He then noticed Merumeru standing above them with her arms wrapped around the fountain's spigot as it pumped water into the basin below her. Truthfully, he felt a little jealous that she was able to finish the pipe problem with so little effort. He was prepared to try to find a way to take measurements, create pipes, and fit it all together over the course of a few days. It was impossible for him to be angry at the cute slime girl though. So his emotions were definitely mixed.

Fufi put her wing on Alex's shoulder and said, "We need to be heading back soon."

Alex agreed, "Yeah, we should get supper going. How does fish and berries sound?" He then gave Merumeru a wave as she waved back. He got up and headed back to the shore with Fufi in tow. Merumeru hopped down from the fountain and after shaking herself dry she followed after them. Alex had his feather duster out and cleaned off the path they took. They had walked the street that led out of town enough time that seeing how unmaintained it was started to bother him.

They made their out of town and to the shore. Alex picked some berries while Fufi and Merumeru went to the water to catch fish. It was Fufi who caught all the fish. Little slime hands don't grasp slippery fish in water very well. Fufi would dart in with a quick peck and pull the fish out of the water and then fly back with it for Alex to cook. They ate quickly and headed back to the empty town.

"You know Alex, you are well on your way to becoming a maid type magical girl. What do you think of maids?" Fufi inquired while they were walking when she noticed Alex seemed to be having fun with the feather duster. Pondering maids, Alex pictured his old self arriving at a mansion with a line of maids to greet him they say in unison, "okaerinasaimase goshujinsama" and all bow. Each is dressed in a frilly black dress with a matching frilly white apron. He wondered why the girls in his daydream were addressing him in japanese. However he'd feel weird taking on the role of some maid serving an honored master. Shaking off the daydream he addressed Fufi, "I like maids but I'd rather be able to employ them instead of being one."

Merumeru ran around to see how her new home looked as they walked back towards the fountain. Fufi said, "It's time to get ready for bed, Merumeru." She guided Merumeru towards the basement of the adventurer's guild. It was just about dark outside so they decided to clean up as best they could in the light coming through the trap before going to sleep for the night. Fufi stood on one leg by the stone bed as Merumeru curled up next to her after getting into the bunny pajamas. Alex barred the trap door and layed down on the rug he used the previous night. "I wonder what else Merumeru could do with her slime powers? Could she make a water line to the adventurer's guild? If we could build some valves we could have running water in this building."

Alex half expected Fufi to comment on his potential plans and she was quiet. Maybe she was listening maybe she was asleep. The sleep habits of birds was an entire field of study in his old world. He had no idea what someone who had a doctorate of bird study would be called. Would they be a birdologist? He didn't think that was the right term but couldn't figure it out as he found out that thinking about names for bird expert titles was a good way to fall asleep.

Fufi woke up early the next morning and saw Alex laying there with his eyes closed. She softly nudged him awake, "We're up now Alex."

Alex rubbed his eyes and got up, "I didn't expect to get a good sleep last night." Merurmeru is all sunshines and rainbows as she gives him a hug saying "Meru!" cheerfully. "She seems really happy." He looked at Fufi who said, "I'm glad she has been able to make it through all of this. I hope we can protect her innocence."

As Alex went and unboarded the trap door and let some light in his gaze was drawn to the rift pillar in the far room. He was a bit traumatized after the last attempt and didn't want to attempt another trial ever again at that time. However, defeating the sewer slime gave him a bit of confidence. If he had to battle a trash golem, or a miasma monster he might stand a good chance. Fear of the unknown was his greatest hangup though. The slime girl made him feel much more confident than he did before she came along.

After breakfast, Alex, Fufi and Merumeru went to work preparing a breakfast of fish and berries. When the group went past the fountain it was still working. They used the same spot at the shore for breakfast they did the previous day. It was nice being able to eat on their own private beach. When they were done eating Merumeru cleaned herself up in the water. Fufi and Alex followed after her. Being clean was important to everyone after all. Fufi looked at Merumeru and said, "You look so pretty when you're clean."

Merumeru smiled at the compliment and responded with "meru."

Alex said, "Well now that we are fed and clean, I was thinking of trying to clear the rift again. Thoughts?"

Fufi said, "That sounds like a great idea. Playing house is nice but if you can't defend it then the demon queen's army will take everything away like what happened to the villagers who lived here before and lost everything."

Merumeru agreed with a nod, "Meru!"

They headed back towards town and made their way into the basement room that housed the odd obsidian pillar rift creation device. Alex looks at Merumeru, "You have to stay here with Fufi. The rift dungeons this thing creates are dangerous challenges. If someone fails they could die. Good girls stay away from things they are not sure about. Understand?"

The slime girl happily nodded and said, "Meru."

Placing his hand on the rift, Alex proceeded to open it again. The seam in the middle opened up and the obsidian split apart floating in mid air as it formed the watery portal like before. "Would you believe me if I said I was having second thoughts?" Alex gulped as he looked behind at Fufi and Merumeru. The slime girl was staring at the portal with wide sparkling eyes. The girl looked back at Alex as she asked "Meru?"

"No way are you coming with me." Alex said firmly.

Fufi said with a soft voice, "Now now, who's a good slime girl?"

Merumeru didn't respond verbally, but instead she just darted towards the portal. Fufi said, "No, Stop!" and Alex tried to grab her but trying to grasp a slime girl was like trying to grab onto a liquid. Her body deformed, she advanced and it went back into itself like stretching a rubber band. Fufi ran over to try to stop Merumeru from going into the portal, but Merumeru stretched even farther than she had been and went into the portal faster than Fufi could stop her.

Stunned at the sudden development Alex could only whisper, "Ugh, I better go fetch her." As he entered the portal Fufi started to say something, "Alex she won't . . ." and her voice cut off when he went fully through.

He walked through the portal and found himself standing on what looked like an island suspended in the stars. Looking around, it did indeed seem like the place was floating in space. A lone structure adorned the small area. It looked like a cross between a storefront, a workshop and a Victorian cathedral. Two large glass windows were on either side of a metal double door. The doors were made of exposed gears giving it a bit of a steampunk look. Ball jointed dolls in fancy Victorian attire were displayed in the windows. They posed in ways that made them look like they were dancing.

As Alex approached the door there was a woosh of steam that came from some exhaust pipes near the door and the gears turned. The doorway opened before him. He stepped inside and found it to be a quaint little shop. The ceiling was about fifteen feet up with edison lights in every corner and several display cases on shelves around the walls. There were a couple of tables with chairs on them as well as some couches near one wall and a few book shelves filled with books on other shelves along another wall. Alex called out, "Merumeru where are you?" but got no reply. He looked around and became irritated when he noticed a thick layer of dust on every surface of the room. He shook his head at himself as he said to himself, "This place looks abandoned."

Alex saw an open doorway behind the counter. He headed down the ornately decorated hallway calling out for the lost slime girl as he advanced. When he got to the end he turned and found himself facing a mannequin with long curly hair and wearing a bonnet. It had a black leather bustier and skirt. It had long pointed fingernails and mounted on a pole attached to its back. With a bare face and the victorian outfit Alex was creeped out. The hallway opened up into a large workshop area. The walls were lined with workstations and there were wrought iron stairs that led up to a mezzanine level. That level was lined with shelves that all kinds of assorted part. Inspecting the workstations showed they were used for things like doll making and watch making. In the center of the area was a very large contraption built into a table. It looked like a landscape with paths leading to a fairy-tale castle at the other end of the table. Small rails were built into the pathways and little towers lined the path leading to the castle. At the other end of the table there was a metal chute that went down into the floor. The chute was large enough for something the size of a doll to fit in. The small rails went into the chute. Numerous gears, sprints and chains adorned the whole contraption.

Alex walked up to the chute and looked down in it. All he could see after a few feet was darkness. He said, "Merumeru! Where are you?" and waited for a reply, but again there was none.

Alex checked the area up above, ascending the stairs to get there. He found bolts of various colors of cloth, gears of various sizes, iron rods with cogs on either end. Some of the bigger areas had items for steam power. He found a shelf with pressure gauges, valves, pipes, ferals. There were some extra Edison bulbs in a box. Alex thought some of this stuff could be incredibly useful but he wanted to find the lost girl first. None of the places he checked had a slime girl hiding in them.

He went back down and opened the door into the shop again and called out "Meru! Where are you?!"

The shop was quiet, and clean. He was proud of that last part. The books are mostly related to doll making. There were a few on clock making and one about steam power. It wasn't anything he hadn't already seen but it was nice to know that someone cared enough about those fields of study to write about them. Did someone write them? They might have just popped into existence when this dungeon was created. Pushing these esoteric thoughts aside Alex grabbed a doll from the display and hugged it to his chest in an attempt to calm down. Still holding the Victorian doll, he did another loop around the outside of the building. The backside had some exhaust pipes that were spewing out smoke and steam but no Merumeru. Thinking she might have gone back through the portal before Alex arrived, he went back through it with the intention to ask Fufi if she'd seen the little girl.

He found her at the base of the stairs and she looked very concerned, "Meru is . . ." and she paused when she looked over at Alex holding a Victorian doll, "Where did you get that?"

You are reading story Magical Girl? I’m not sure about this. at novel35.com

Alex said, "From the dungeon. It is like some kind of doll making shop. More importantly, have you seen Meru?" He set the doll down against the wall of the basement.

Fufi looked at him as she said, "She went through the portal just before you did."

Alex's heart sank and he started to run towards the portal, but then stopped and thought for a moment before saying, "I know that but I didn't see her inside. She went into the dungeon right?"

Fufi huffs, "That is what I was trying to tell you before you ran in. The rift dungeon is customized for each person. The one she went in is different from yours."

Alex's eyes went wide as he realized that his friend had run off into danger.

Alex said, "Can you summon her back like you did for me last time?"

Fufi shakes her head and says, "No, I can only do that because you and I have a familiar contract."

"What do we do? How do we find her?" Alex said as he looked at Fufi.

Fufi thought for a moment then said, "Right now all we can do is wait. It is the same as for you, she will clear her trial, give up and come back or . . ."

Alex's eyes went wide as he said, "Or she will die?"

Fufi nods her head, "That is a possibility. We can only hope that she comes back safely."

Alex says, "What should I do?"

Fufi replies, "You have your trial to finish and she has hers. I have faith that you can complete yours. Do you have faith she can complete hers?"

Alex took a deep breath before replying, "I don't know, but I hope so."

Fufi says, "Then that is what we must both wish for."

They spent some time in silence as Fufi just looked out into space watching for signs of Merumeru returning from the rift dungeon.

Alex eventually got antsy and started pacing, "I can't just stand here and wait. It looks like the only way forward is to finish what I started. I didn't even see any monsters there. What kind of a dungeon doesn't have monsters that attack you on sight?"

Fufi responds, "This isn't my dungeon, but I have never heard of a dungeon without monsters in it. But then again your circumstances are special. You should expect the unexpected."

"What about traps or puzzles?" Alex says as he gets even more restless.

Fufi says, "Maybe that dungeon is one of those. Did you see anything that looked like a puzzle?"

Alex replies, "Well there is this weird mechanical contraption in the center of the workshop. I'm not sure what it is for though."

Fufi responds, "It is a puzzle."

"I don't get it," Alex says as he continues to pace around the room.

Fufi says, "Calm down and take a closer look at it. You should be able to complete it. The rift would never give you something that is impossible to overcome."

Alex says, "Okay, thank you for being there to encourage me Fufi. I'm going to take another look." With that he headed back through the rift gate.

The strange contraption looked like it could be operated somehow. He just wasn't sure how to start it. He took a couple pictures of it with his phone. If nothing else he could show them to Fufi and see if she had any idea. His phone charge was at 20% which was not great. It was at that moment that he noticed an icon that he never expected to see again. There was a network to connect his phone to. He connected and tried to open a web page. It auto redirected to a simple page that was titled "Tower Defense '' there were some pictures on how to connect his phone to the device in front of him. He pressed a few things and slid a panel out of the side of the table. There was a slot like a cradle for a phone charger that he could slot his phone into. A little lightning icon appeared when the phone was in place. For some weird reason this thing also doubled as a phone charger. There was a link at the bottom of the webpage to download a .apk file for the tower defense program. He pressed it and downloaded it onto his phone. When trying to open it he got the popup that it could not verify the publisher and was a security risk. Alex ignored this and installed it anyway.

Upon opening the app there was a brief explanation. The sirens seek the prince's heart and are on their way to enchant him with their alluring songs. The next window says to prepare defenses to protect the prince. "Shouldn't it be to protect the princess from invaders?" Alex games like this tended to always be about protecting some damsel in distress. The rolls could be switched up though no need to conform to stereotypes.

The screen prompted him to place his defenses and to begin wave 1 when ready. Unlike a normal tower defense game this one did not have a set tech tree or possible placements for where to put his defenses. It just had a picture of the table with spots highlighted for where he could place units. "How am I supposed to place units when you don't give me any units?" Alex grumbled and inspected the spots where he could place units. There were some spots where it looked like clockwork dolls could be inserted. However, there were no clockwork dolls in the workshop. It was just filled with materials for doll creation.

"This is impossible. I don't know the first thing about doll making," Alex complained and stepped away from the table.

He went back into the hallway and walked past the mannequin. He wondered why they would put these clothes right next to the workshop. Could this be important to clearing this dungeon somehow? He continued around the hallway looking at things while trying to find something that would give him a hint of what to do with this machine. The only obvious thing was the books in the shop. So he headed back to the shop and grabbed a random book on doll making. Sitting on the couch he thumbed through some of the pages. The first page had instructions on how to make the dolls from scratch which would probably take days. The second page had instructions on how to use a mold to speed up the process. It showed how to fit ball joints together. It also had pictures of some other dolls and their parts that would help him make the dolls he wanted. It didn't give him anything that would help with the machine in front of him though. The machine needed clockwork dolls not ball joint dolls. He set the book down and decided to look at the items in the shop again. The dolls on display were all normal and couldn't be used in the machine. However, they were dungeon loot so he figured he could collect them. Placing them all in a crate, he pushed them through the portal. Maybe Merumeru would like to play with them later.

He returned to the workshop and stood in front of the contraption. He then went to one of the workstations and set out some of the small gears that looked like they might be the same size as the ones where the dolls were supposed to be slotted. The gears had numbers on them and some letters but it wasn't enough information to help him know what to do with them. He set them down and went back to the shop eyeing the mannequin while he passed it again.

You can find story with these keywords: Magical Girl? I’m not sure about this., Read Magical Girl? I’m not sure about this., Magical Girl? I’m not sure about this. novel, Magical Girl? I’m not sure about this. book, Magical Girl? I’m not sure about this. story, Magical Girl? I’m not sure about this. full, Magical Girl? I’m not sure about this. Latest Chapter