“Remind me never to make a deal with the god of grudges.” Alex shuddered at the member of the hero’s party’s fate. “How many people were in the hero’s party anyway?”

  “Oh! I know this one.” Ariel spoke up. “The hero had 4 people in his party. Two of them were damage dealers, one was a healer and one was a tank.”

  “A tank?” Alex pictured something with a turret and treads, the image didn’t fit in a fantasy world.

  “Yeah, someone that can take a lot of damage and protect the other members of the party.” Ariel waved the question away.

  By the look of everyone else in the room it was obvious what that meant.

  “Sorry, that word means something else to me.” Alex shook her head. “I guess that is one meaning for tank. Let me guess, the hero specialized in being a damage dealer?”

  Ariel nodded. “Yep, he often bragged about how his power was so great that if he used them it would change the ndscape.”

  “Typical,” Alex grumbled. Of course a teenage boy would want the role of damage dealer because that would be the most gmorous position. “Hiroshi must have been a pain to deal with.”

  “Hiroshi?” Cassius tried the name. “We were taught that the name’s of the hero’s party are cursed and should be lost to history.” He furrowed his brows, struggling and questioning what he was taught as common history.

  The fate of the romantic healer and hero duo was legendary. They abandoned their quest, vanishing into an undisclosed secluded location, never to be heard from again. The other two were believed to have succumbed in battle against demons seeking to eradicate the remnants of humanity that remained free and prosperous. Some forbidden knowledge was stored within the temple of purity. In retrospect, acquiring more knowledge from that unsettling pce might have been wise. However, at the time, escaping was the primary concern. Alex, confronted with yet another reason to return, was displeased.

  Noticing the absence of a certain gnome, the bck-haired magical girl asked. “Where is Professor Copperpot?”

  “He stepped into the cabin, saw the small crowd and rudely headed elsewhere.” Aqua frowned. “I was hoping he’d get cold and come back inside but it looks like he’s being stubborn.”

  “That gnome?” Seraphina looked to the nereid. “We haven’t seen him for days. I thought because he was your guest you were keeping track of him.”

  “I um,” The blue dy pointed at Merumeru.”I had to catch up with Merumeru. She had a bunch of amazing gossip about the most powerful magical girl in the world.”

  “How old is that child?” Seraphina pressed.

  “She is going to be 1 year old soon.” Alex smiled, brainstorming what would be a good birthday present for the toddler-sized slime girl.

  “Isn’t that a little young to be taken seriously.” The noble daughter carefully stated that should be obvious.

  Alex shook her head. “She’s got her head on better than any of us I’d say. Even though she’s young she’s made more of a difference setting things up than anyone. Before I might have said that she’d been making up stories about magical girls. Here we are on a rock from another pnet. If Cosmos didn’t do this then who did?”

  That quieted the poised young noble girl up. “Miss Alex, you misunderstand, I believe. We can confirm that a magical girl who called herself Cosmos brought the three of us here. I felt shocked when she suddenly left, leaving the diminutive slime in charge. Is it not too much responsibility for someone of such a tender age?”

  Aqua voiced her agreement with Alex’s assessment. “Nah, she’s got grit. No doubt about that.”

  “We’ve got a gnome to find.” Ariel pumped her fist. “And we’ve got two birds that can survey the whole isnd in minutes.”

  Funi and Fufi grumbled but took the hint and flew out the door that Ariel opened for them.

  “I wouldn’t mind some fresh air.” Yvne headed out first. “We’ve been here for a while but many of the things here no one has an answer for as to their purpose.”

  “That is going to take a long time to expin.” Alex also headed out. “And I think that you and your family should be focused more on ways to make things right. There are a bunch of maids that need someone to take responsibility for.”

  Yvne bowed her head in deference.

  It didn’t take long for the fmingos to find the gnome. Professor Copperpot had set up camp by the reservoir that Merumeru had created.

  Alex gaped a bit at the giant stainless steel butterfly valve that no doubt came from his world. Wasn’t it a bit overkill to have pipes big enough for a person to walk through to supply water for two buildings? The pce where the gnome camped looked like someone carved a big chunk out of the earth with a giant ice cream spoon. While the rest of the nd looked familiar, something happened here that sundered a part of the property to parts unknown. Merumeru had built a couple dams but not one here. Alex’s nd was ft, perhaps that was why? There wasn’t really a high spot for a reservoir.

  The gnomish professor built a fence along the shore with some metal stakes and barbed wire. There was a drift of pigs inside the fence. Judging by their size they used to be imps. The contents of his b were id out in the dirt and a tent that looked like it was from earth as well had been set up adjacent to the pigpen and the water. The gnome was looking at the water with a magnifying gss.

  “Professor Copperpot I presume?” Seriphina approached the gnome who promptly retreated into the tent.

  “Who are you?” The gnome peeked from a tent fp, clearly uncomfortable with the crowd approaching.

  “We met not only a couple days ago…” Seriphina was cut off by the nereid.

  “Let me handle this.” Aqua gestured the rest of the group away. “He doesn’t handle crowds well.”

  Alex didn’t consider 4 humans, a sea elf, a nereid, a slime girl and two fmingos a crowd but Aqua knew best here. The nereids had been taking care of the professor in a cave for some time now.

  The group went out of eyeshot from the tent and Aqua eventually came back.

  “My friend is doing fine.” The blue-haired woman grinned. “Though he’d like to know what this is.” She handed Alex a squished mosquito between a pair of small pieces of gss.

  “That’s a mosquito.” Alex pointed at the squashed bug. “They are the bane of saskatchewan.”

  “Why is that?” Aqua inquired, listening intently.

  “Their rva grows in still waters.” The bck-haired magical girl expined. “My province has a lot of kes and they breed like crazy if the conditions are right. Mosquito bites are the worst.”

  “Interesting!” Aqua beamed. “Has anyone else heard of this type of insect?”

  The rest of the group shook their heads in disagreement. Even the log-lived sea elf had never seen a mosquito.

  “I’m not sure why this is important?” Alex scratched her head.

  “Come with me.” Aqua grabbed the magical girl’s arm and drug her into the tent.

  “Professor Copperpot.” Aqua raised her voice. “Alex and I are coming in. Do you remember Alex?”

  “Alex?” A voice from within came out. “Yes, you visited me at my old b in the cave.”

  Aqua nodded and the pair entered. She handed the gss encased insect sample back to the gnome.

  “Did you find out anything about these marvelous bugs?” The gnome looked at Aqua with eager eyes.

  “Yeah, they are called mosquitoes.” She gestured to Alex. “Alex can tell you more though. Why not ask her?”

  “My dear Alex!” The gnome gushes, grabbing the squished bug and waving it around like a prize. “You’ll not believe the discovery I just witnessed!”

  “Okay?” Alex had no idea what he was thinking about.

  “Maybe start from the beginning.” Aqua looked to the magical girl then back to the gnome. “I don’t think she remembers what your project was.”

  The gnome went pffft. “I told her st time. I’m looking for a way to turn demons into pigs that spreads exponentially.”

  “I am starting to remember.” Alex thought back about the harpy outbreak. “You made the bird flu under duress and wanted to create something simir to get back at the demons but hadn’t perfected it yet.”

  Professor Copperpot nodded. “Good good, you do remember.”

  Aqua coughed.

  The gnome continued. “If you can recall. An epidemic needs to have an infection rate greater than one to not die out on its own.”

  Alex nodded, not sure where he was going with this.

  “So, my studies have mirrored the infection spreading method of bird flu.” He paused. “However, more recent data has shown that demons, specifically imps because that is about all the specimens I’ve had access to, are less susceptible to aerosol methods of transmission than humans are.”

  “Please continue.” Alex looked at the dead bug, thinking she knew where he was going with this.

  “And when we relocated here, these marvelous flying creatures started sticking their needle-like noses into the pigs, sucking their blood.” The gnome put a fist to his rge nose and stuck out a finger, trying to look like a mosquito. “And that is where the interesting thing happened. You see, one of the flying menaces doesn't just bite one pig, they bite many pigs. They sometimes bite a pig then come and bite me.”

  “I examined the bug and saw that it did indeed pick up the swine flu and some of it ended up in my veins.” The gnome looked happy about this for some reason.

  “Are you okay?” Alex inspected the gnome for any evidence of a swine-like transformation. “It sounds dangerous.”

  “I’m a professional.” The gnome stuck his nose up in the air. “When I set up a pathogen that infects demons but not humans or nereids you can be certain that is how it will work.”

  “What about slime girls and sea elves?” Alex wanted to make sure.

  “Slimes are impossible to infect. Any microbe they come in contact with will dissolve.” Professor Copperpot shook his head. “And why would sea elves matter? They are so rare. They rarely come out of their ocean encves.”

  “Um, maybe you should ask Ariel to get somepce safe.” Alex urgently pleaded with the nereid.

  “Oh dear.” Aqua headed out the tent fp. “I hope she doesn’t have any bug bites.”

  “She’ll probably be alright.” The gnome idly stated. “I’ll need a blood sample to be sure though.”

  Alex changed the subject. “So, you were a big magic master back at the capitol right?”

  “Yes?” The gnome raised an eyebrow, unsure about where Alex was going with this.

  “There was a dungeon back in town.” The brown-eyed girl continued. “And well it ran out of magic and became inactive. Do you know how to charge it back up?”

  “Why yes!” Professor Copperpot chuckled. “They asked me to do that once when I first started and I told them they wouldn’t like it but got forced to anyway.”

  “What happened?” Alex asked.

  “My magic is focused on disease.” The gnome deadpanned. “What do you think happened?”

  “Oh.” Alex shuddered.

  “Yeah.” The gnome rolled his eyes. “The dungeons were easy enough to get through, but when one adventurer came out and started sprouting mushrooms and spores after a few days the whole town had to be quarantined. They never asked me to charge a dungeon again after that.”

  melchi