After awakening, the bck-haired brown-eyed magical girl resolved to never try that skill again on the cursed hero doll. “Ugh, what in the weird. It felt like the hatred of the world fell on my all at once.”

  “You okay?” Fufi sounded concerned.

  “Yeah.” Alex stood up and dusted herself off. “Though I think I’m finally starting to get why you think that doll is bad news.”

  “Do you want to get rid of him?” Fufi craned her neck.

  “I don’t know.” Alex sounded puzzled. “Just dumping the doll sounds wrong. Most of the levels I got were really not from my own power but the help of having this brokenly powerful doll in my party. It would be like using him and dumping him.”

  “What do you mean by that?” The fmingo pressed.

  Alex paused for a moment and thought. “I know that the doll is just the grudge the world pced on the hero for failing. Not quite sure if this expresses how the doll feels quite right, but really, for redemption, the concept of the hero needs to fulfill the purpose it expected of it.”

  “Like the doll will find peace if it does something heroic?” Fufi said.

  Alex nodded. “Something along those lines but I think it is greater than that. If it was just that to fulfill the grudge I think rescuing the people in the town or killing demons might have been enough. But the hero wasn’t just expected to save one town and kill a thousand demons. The hero was expected to be at the forefront of the war to drive back the demons.”

  Fufi considered this but didn’t say anything.

  "If the doll symbolizes Hiroshi's opportunity for redemption, giving it to someone who is on a simir path, seeking atonement, would be ideal.” Alex gently touched the doll's head. “I’m sorry Hiroshi, or whatever echo of him you are. I don’t think I’m cut out to walk the same bloody path that destiny has in store for you. But if someone worthy is out there maybe you can walk the path together?”

  Alex had someone in mind, considering Yvne’s recent revetions but wasn’t quite sure. Some of the strange feelings she had in the past were starting to make a little more sense now.

  Yvne opened the door to the cabin and walked out. “Is everything okay? I thought I heard someone fall down.”

  “It is nothing, just that the new skill I got turned out to be a little more intense than I originally thought.” Alex downpyed the experience to Yvne, considering that they just met long ago.

  “That’s good.” New skills are difficult to get used to. “Congratutions on leveling up by the way.”

  Feeling awkward Alex called out. “Are you in there Cassius? I could use some help with changing the oil and filter on the generator. It should have had enough time to cool off. I’m sure getting the lights back on would be nice. Hopefully the thing will restart after being running for so long non-stop.”

  “More manual bor.” Cassius scoffed a bit but could read the group. Being the only man in the group unless dolls counted put certain expectations on him.

  Alex undid the oil plug on the drain with a wrench, getting oil on her hands and felt an odd weakness. “Ooff, weird.”

  Fufi pecked at the feather duster. “Clean off your hands Alex, that brown-bck stuff can’t be good for your cuteness.”

  “Right.” The magical girl dusted off her hands, leaving them sparkling clean. “No need for soap and water when you have a cleaning skill. Can you get the filter Cassius? Just turn that thing counterclockwise and try not to get oil on you.” Alex pointed to the mug-sized numb that was the oil filter.

  Cassius didn’t have any trouble getting it off or avoiding the oil that leaked out. It dribbled down into the oil pan.

  “Good, now we just need to add new oil.” Alex gestured to a funnel and the jugs of oil. “Add two of those one quart bottles into the oil fill port.” The bck-haired girl pointed at the pstic cap that had a little picture of an oil mp on it.

  Cassius went to put more oil in it when Alex urged him to stop. “Sorry, I forgot that we have to put the oil plug and a new filter back in.” It was at that moment that Alex remembered there not being an extra filter in the shop. The generator almost never got used so stocking up extra filters seemed like something old Alex would order when the generator actually ran for a bit.

  Cassius put the oil plug back in and looked on the cart for another filter. “Where is the new one?”

  “Uhhhh.” Alex carefully inspected the used filter. It was full of sludge. “I don’t know if I ever bought an extra. And this one is so dirty I’m surprised the generator didn’t seize up. What to do….”

  “Did you hit your head when you fell down?” Fufi pecked Alex.

  “I might have?” Alex rubbed her head to see if it hurt. “Why?”

  The fmingo pulled the feather duster from Alex’s belt loop and held it out for her to take.

  Alex facepalmed. “I’ve changed a lot of oil filters. It just never occurred to me that we could reuse one by magically cleaning it.”

  With Alex’s prodding of the noble man, the used, disgusting oil ended up in a pstic milk jug and a freshly feather-dusted oil filter ended up in the same spot it was removed from. Sadly, the oil filter was left dry and shiny. The magical girl hoped that it might leave some clean oil behind so that they could reuse it. Motor oil, along with diesel were resources that they would run out of and not have an apparent way to repce.

  Alex flipped a switch and the generator turned back on. “Looks like it is still working okay.”

  The lights flickered back on inside the cabin and the workshop.

  “So what now?” Cassius pced the items back on the cart.

  “Let's clean up.” Alex gathered the oil stained wrench, dusting it off clean. “The oil can go in the solvent cabinet and the wrenches should go back in the tool box they came from. I’m not sure what to do with the used oil. Maybe Professor Copperpot might have some use for it.”

  “I wouldn’t know.” Cassius did the primary pushing of the cart back into the steel building.

  Alex did something she should have done first. “This pce is dusty and needs to be cleaned up.” Alex went and brandished the feather duster destroying rust, dust, and stains rapidly. Even some rusty tools came out shining like they were newly off the shelf.

  “Impressive.” The noble man blinked in disbelief. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were a high level [maid].”

  Alex gred at the man. “Thanks to your mother and a few other experiences I’ve soured heavily on the maid css.”

  After recently learning about the brainwashing of the citizens to create maids, Cassius couldn’t bme her. “I’m sorry. I know it won’t make up for what you experienced but I vow to never let something happen like that again.”

  Alex scoffed. “Don’t make vows you can’t keep.” She started pushing some of the work tables aside to clear up a space. “I’m going to need about twenty feet of space at least to start building the toy ship. Can you help me move some of this stuff?”

  Cassius nodded and they got a clean space cleared out in less than an hour.

  “Can you really build a ship by yourself?” The fancily dressed man raised an eyebrow.

  “No.” The magical girl shook her head. “But I can make a toy ship by myself if I have enough materials.”

  Cassius choked down his first answer and instead said, “What all do you need?”

  “Mostly lumber.” The bck-haired girl gestured to the various saws. “Though we’ll need some metal, rope and cloth. I’ll likely need some help or extra dolls to lift things and get everything put in pce. Ariel wants a 200 foot boat but like you said, I can’t build that. I can get a one tenth model crewed by dolls to see if the project is even viable.”

  “I’ve seen the shipwrights working in the capitol and they haven’t made a ship that big in our generation.” The male scion helped clear out the area.

  “There is a lot of metal and cement but I don’t really want to mess with that until we get some more progress on Merumeru’s castle.” Alex organized some things, trying to picture how a bigger version of that model ship could be fabricated. “There is some lumber, we could cut down some trees and there are some scraps from past projects. Though I think that using pine for something that goes in the water might not be the best idea.”Alex paused, focusing on Cassius’s information about the capitol.” Do you know the names of any of the shipwrights in the capitol? Ariel owes me one to help.” The peg-legged sea elf should rescue the enthralled humans. If she wants help building a ship, then she has to help out with at least that part.

  “I think the highest leveled one is a guy named Donald.” Cassius didn’t sound sure though.

  “Donald.” Alex approved. “Sounds like a good name for a guy that builds clipper ships.”

  After putting on some ill-fitting work gloves, Alex pulled a chainsaw off the wall, grabbed a backpack filled with various lumberjack implements.

  “What are you going to use that weird contraption for?” Cassius puzzled over the silver and orange object. Was it some kind of tool or a weapon?

  “This is my chainsaw.” Alex beamed.

  “That is an odd shape for a saw.” Cassius puzzled.

  “It is the perfect shape for cutting lumber.” Alex gave an answer that didn’t satisfy the young noble. “Here I’ll show you. We need to find a branch that is slightly angled, a couple inches thick and a bit over twenty feet.”

  The pair headed out, inspected several trees, settling on a rge bur oak. “I think this will do.” Alex pointed to a branch about 30 feet up from the ground.

  “It is a bit high, Miss Alex.” Cassius looked up, then gnced at the small, thin-armed magical girl with a look of doubt on his face.

  Setting the backpack down, Alex pulled out some spurs and a trunking wrapping nylon rope. She strapped the spurs to her shoes and used the rope to start climbing. When getting to the branch, she pulled the rope to start the chainsaw. It roared loudly. She held it to the branch, cutting it off in a few seconds. With the deed done, the bck-haired girl spat out some saw dust and turned the chainsaw off.

  A wild idea, possibly from her time spent as a nymph came to Alex. She held her hand to the cut on the oak and activated grow pnts. Her hand glowed green and after a minute the cut was covered with bark.

  The branch made cracking noises when it fell to the ground.

  “Ummm.” Cassius looked flustered and was purposely looking the other direction.

  “What is it?” Alex walked in front of the young man, trying and failing to make eye contact.

  “How to say this respectfully,” Cassius still didn’t make eye contact. “Your skirt is not proper attire for climbing a tree.”

  Alex blushed and the pair pulled the branch back to the workshop, not really saying anything. The awkwardness felt heavy. Also, the branch was heavy, likely weighing close to 100 pounds. Maybe a pine branch would have been easier, but Alex thought that keels should be made of oak. Isn’t that what they used for ships back in the day?