Alex cooked fish and berries for the trio as usual. Merumeru had made some nicer ceramic plates, so the food was served on those instead of the flat rocks they had been using before. After all, a properly plated meal was more visually appealing. It was an important part of the dining experience.

  Fufi sat beside Merumeru with her wings folded behind her and ate her own portion off of one plate with her beak. Lily was with Merumeru, who the slime girl pretended to feed. As a slime girl, she could simply make the food vanish into her hand to make it look like the clockwork doll was eating. Alex thought it was kind of cute.

  "So what is everyone's plan for tomorrow?" Alex asked.

  "Meru meru meru. Ru meme ru ru," Merumeru explained her plans to everyone at the table.

  "That is nice dear." Fufi said while looking at the excitable slime girl.

  Alex declared, "I'm going back into the rift dungeon to try to complete the second wave. I'll need to create a second clockwork doll to defend the prince from the siren invaders." His voice wavered a little when he said the word "siren." He wasn't looking forward to facing the dungeon again, but he wasn't going to give up without a fight. Fufi's story about the hero gave him the strength to keep going.

  Fufi, nibbling on berries from the plate in front of her, nodded in agreement. "That's the spirit, Alex. You can defend the prince from the invaders!" She spoke with her usual cheerfulness.

  “Thanks for the confidence, I’ll need it,” Alex said.

  "Well, let me know when you are ready to head out again," Fufi finished and took another sip of water.

  "It is getting late so how about tomorrow morning? Will you and Merumeru be okay spending most of the day without me?" Alex asked.

  "We will be fine. Merumeru doesn't need to sleep or eat as much as a human so no worries about hurrying back." Fufi explained.

  Merumeru glanced between Alex and Fufi. The slime girl seemed content.

  Fufi explained further, "It'll be like today. Alex and Lily have to clear the dungeon, so they need to face that trial alone. But we can stay here and play adventurer or something new. Wouldn't that be fun?" Fufi said, trying to encourage the slime girl.

  Alex turned to Merumeru, who still had questions on her face. He gave her an encouraging smile and said, "That's right, Merumeru. I'm sure you'll find plenty to do around here besides waiting for us in the rift dungeon. Thank you for making the counter upstairs and the board to post quests on. It's very nice." Alex praised the slime girl for helping out in the guild.

  Merumeru smiled brightly at his words of praise.

  "She likes hearing people say nice things about her work," Fufi commented.

  Alex stood up and stretched his arms over his head and yawned, "Okay everyone, time to hit the sack."

  "Goodnight Alex," Fufi got out of her seat and headed toward a good spot to roost for the night.

  Alex wrapped himself in his cloak and slept on the hard rug on the stone table once more. He made a mental note to look for something in the dungeon the next day that could serve as a blanket or bedding. His sleeping arrangements for the previous week had been quite unpleasant.

  Merumeru placed the clockwork doll and plushies on the shelf, then hopped up next to Alex on the bed. She snuggled up to him under the cloak and fell asleep quickly. Alex thought that having Merumeru around must be what it's like to have a daughter. He had never had children before, so he wondered where that thought came from.

  Merumeru kept sleep-talking softly in her slime girl language. The sound of her voice lulled him into slumber after several minutes passed.

  When Alex woke, Merumeru was curled up beside him in her usual position. She looked more peaceful than normal since her body wasn't moving.

  Alex rolled onto his side and saw Fufi standing on one leg next to the bed. He said, "Morning, sleepyhead."

  Fufi opened one eye and stared at Alex while mumbling something unintelligible.

  He carefully sat up so as not to wake Merumeru. He left her wrapped in the cloak. He quietly prepared breakfast for everyone. He took his food, Lily the doll, and went into the rift to start working on the next clockwork doll in the workshop.

  The workshop was unchanged from when he had last seen it. While eating breakfast, Alex looked through some of the textbooks for schematics of potential parts he could use to assemble the next doll. There were all types he could use: knight dolls, bolo-slinging dolls, and sling-firing dolls. Each kind of doll had its own benefits and drawbacks.

  "The most important thing is to counter the siren," Alex said, glancing at the game table. "How can we stop the singing?" There were many possibilities, but he couldn't build anything with the materials he had. If this were a role-playing game, he would want a sorceress doll that could cast a silence spell. But he didn't know anything about magic, let alone how to create a sorceress doll. There had to be a simpler solution. He just needed to keep looking and trying new combinations until something worked.

  Alex rose from his chair and paced about the workstations, his eyes falling on an object on the desk in front of him. It was just a squirt bottle, but it gave him an idea.

  He grabbed the bottle and started pulling it apart to see how things were ordered on the inside. On a piece of paper he drew up a simple schematic that might just work to silence the siren's song. The new doll could use a liquid canister with a rubber hose that went and sprayed water out of it. The weapon wouldn't have as long of range as the archer doll but it should be a hard counter of getting water in the mouth of the singer, ruining the song. The concept drawing looked like a doll wielding a flame thrower. Though it just squirted water in his mind this new doll was a total badass. Alex had only created one other clockwork doll before so he didn't want to make the second one too different and set himself up for failure. He took the design back to another desk to sketch some ideas for clothing and makeup. He decided to go with a bit of a punk-rocker look. His drawing was not great but it was just to get the idea out of his head. This new doll would sport a blue mohawk, wear a cotton tank top and wear baggy camo pants. Of course she'd wear a leather belt with pyramid spikes on it and have several buttons of oversized stars. She'd have big black army boots. At least that was his idea to give this new doll a badass-don't-mess-with-me look.

  Alex worked until midday making progress on his plans for the next clockwork doll. Alex decided he'd grab some things and head back to show his drawings to his friends. He also decided to grab the mannequin in the hallway and bring it back as well. He'd walked by the creepy faceless figure in Victorian clothing enough times to invite it home. Hopefully it wouldn't creep anyone else out as much as it did him. The figure stood in the same pose as always when Alex approached.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Alex said hello to the mannequin, still keeping his distance. "Let's go back and get some food. I'll introduce you to my friends." Alex carried the mannequin in one arm and his sketches in the other, and went back through the portal to the basement.

  Fufi came down the stairs and greeted him. "Good afternoon," she said. "I see you brought a new friend!"

  Alex placed the mannequin against the wall and greeted Fufi. "I found this thing and I wasn't sure what to do with it, but after seeing it in the hallway dozens of times, I figured I'd bring it back and see if we could find a use for it. How are things going? What's Merumeru up to?" he asked, looking around.

  "Everything has been fine! I've been having fun playing with Merumeru." Fufi replied enthusiastically.

  "Oh, what game are you playing?" asked Alex.

  "We've been playing house." Fufi said matter-of-factly.

  "How is that going?" Alex was a little worried about what trouble the little slime girl was up to.

  Fufi walked back up the stairs and said, "Take a look for yourself. She's been remodeling all morning."

  Merumeru was busy on a wall, applying her own brand of slime-made cement. Alex noticed the stairs to the second floor had been repaired. They now looked like actual stone stairs, instead of the half-debris they were before. Alex was impressed, but also a little jealous. When he first arrived in this world, it took all his effort to throw together a simple shack. Being outdone by a toddler-sized slime really hurt his pride as a man. He thought it was somewhat ironic that Merumeru was working construction while Alex was playing with dolls.

  "So these are the sketches for the next doll. What does everyone think?" Alex set the papers on the counter of the adventurer's guild.

  "What kind of clothes is she wearing?" Fufi asked curiously, "Is she dressed for combat?"

  Alex replied, "No, it's a punk rocker thing. I figured if I made something cool enough, I wouldn't need anything fancy and could just go all out."

  Merumeru hopped down from the wall and stood over the sketches eyeing them carefully.

  "Meru?" She asked while pointing at the strange weapon. Her little arms stretched out as far as they could to point at the sketch.

  Alex leaned in to see what Merumeru was looking at, and then realized what was confusing her. "Oh," he said, "That is a water gun. When you pull the two parts together, it squirts water out of the tip." He demonstrated how he wanted it to work, and then continued, "If you squeeze both pieces together, it will pump a spray of liquid."

  Merumeru cocked her head to the side in an attempt to understand the concept, but eventually gave up trying to make sense of it. It seemed like she had no intention of learning more than she absolutely had to. Alex wished he had brought a squirt bottle back to show her an example.

  Fufi saw Merumeru wasn't interested so turned back to the drawings again and said, "I think your outfit design is good. That outfit is cute in its own way."

  "Thanks," replied Alex. "I'll get started after lunch. Is anyone hungry?"

  Merumeru and Fufi both nodded in unison.

  Alex served each person a plate of food, while Merumeru fetched water from a barrel. The three ate their meal at a stone booth built against one of the walls that the slime girl had recently created. The second floor was mostly gone, and the building had no roof, so they were more or less still eating outdoors. A warm breeze blew over them as they enjoyed the sun on their backs.

  Alex sighed and munched on some berries as he thought about how he could make the place a proper kitchen with a sink and stove. He knew it would be hard to dig up the street and place a pipe from the line feeding the fountain without a backhoe. He also suspected that the sewer had collapsed, as he hadn't seen any passage heading this way when they were investigating a couple days ago. He missed his old cabin, but he knew he would have to make the best of this situation.

  "It's not such a bad thing." Fufi pointed out. "We're all doing something useful here and having a good time."

  "I suppose so. Like Luna said, coming here is like camping. Well, I better get back to work. I need to start on the new doll. Though I haven't thought of a name for her. Do you two have any ideas?" asked Alex.

  Merumeru opened her mouth to say something but before she got anything out Fufi spoke up, "Why don't you call her Rose? Her sister is Lily so they can be the two flowers."

  Alex was surprised at how quickly Fufi came up with an idea but liked it nonetheless. "Rose it is!" He called over his shoulder as he headed into the basement.

  Merumeru was already following him but he stopped her when he got to the portal, "Stay here with Fufi and don't cause any trouble. I'll be back for dinner."

  Alex found everything in the workshop exactly as he had left it. He went to check out a couple of doors that he hadn't opened before. He found a closet filled with bedding and cleaning supplies, which he emptied out and quickly transported through the portal. Another door led to a water closet with a working sink, mirror, and toilet. Alex kicked himself for not finding it earlier and made a mental note to disconnect everything and take it back with him before he finished the dungeon. The toilet was in the 19th century style, with a high tank and a pull chain that had to be pulled above one's head to flush. It was more difficult to use than modern toilets.

  Alex returned to the workshop and retrieved the books he needed for reference. He estimated that it would take him two days to assemble and clothe the next doll. Alex spent the rest of the first day putting the pieces together. On the second day, he added the decorations, such as clothes, jewelry, and makeup. The squirt gun was much easier to assemble than the weapon system for the archer configuration. It took him about half an hour to figure it out. He put the extra parts away after finishing. Of course, he didn't spend every waking moment working. They still ate their meals together on the ground floor of the adventurer's guild. By the second day, Fufi and Merumeru had repaired the walls and made the ground floor look like a proper adventurer's guild with lots of tables. It just sadly lacked adventurers. Alex made some final adjustments to Rose when he was finished assembling her enough to put her on the test tower. After making a few small adjustments, Alex's phone rang from where it was charging on the game table.

  [New class skill acquired: Toymaking Level 1]

  Alex sighed. "Of course doll making would be a class skill for a magical girl," he grumbled, though he didn't really mean it. He did want the new skills to help him with crafting, but he had been hoping for a skill called "doll making" instead of "toy making." He thought "toy making" sounded too feminine.

  Alex looked at Rose, who was both beautiful and badass. He was looking forward to seeing streams of water pour down the sirens' mouths when they tried to sing their enchanting song again.

  Alex placed both of the clockwork dolls in their towers and hovered his finger over the "start next wave" button on his phone. After hesitating for what felt like forever, he pressed it. The sound of gears whirring filled the room as the game table activated. As expected, a line of clockwork sirens appeared from the chute. This time, there were five of them.

  "Alright, let me see how these guys fare," he muttered, putting his fingers in his ears in hopes of drowning out the singing that was sure to start any moment.

  A few seconds later, the familiar high-pitched voice sang, "Ohhhhhh... miiiiiiine..." Alex gritted his teeth to resist the charm. The song turned into a "glug glug" noise a second later. Rose kept a stream of water focused on the enemy's face, and the sound now resembled someone gargling with mouthwash. Lily fired some of her toothpick-sized arrows and felled the first siren. However, Lily's torso could only rotate left and right, so she was unable to aim down when the siren got too close to the tower. Rose also had a shorter range than Lily, so she could not stop the singing of the last siren. The siren passed the two towers and headed towards the prince's castle, still singing. Alex felt the siren's song taking control of him, but he fought it with all his will. Just as he felt himself falling under the spell again, Lily finally got an angle on the enemy and shot two arrows into the siren's back.

  His phone rang out: [New trait acquired: Mental Resistance lvl 1]

  [Five enemies defeated]

  A fanfare played across the screen proclaiming 'Wave 2 complete, reward issues.'

  "Good job girls, that last one almost got through but you pulled it off." Alex praised his two dolls.

  A dumbwaiter rose from the floor and delivered a simple card the size of a game board before descending back down. The card depicted a gaudy palanquin with two wheels and all sorts of mechanical parts. The entire thing was wrapped in gold fabric with fancy trim. It looked like something that would be used in a bridal procession at a royal wedding or on top of a parade float. However, it was just a card. Alex thought one of the girls might like it. He gathered Lily and Rose and headed back to the adventurer's guild.