... Chapter 50. Yeah yeah, I do this every series. But if you count (and yes, I am counting) I've been at this series for ALMOST four years. Four years of some crazy vanity project that was born from a mind trying to do something before it fed itself into a belt sander for something to do.

It hasn't been all sparkles, but that's life. Some of the things I've written have gotten some really salty comments. And that's okay. Thankfully, I haven't had too many people poke fun at my grammar, spelling mistakes or crossed words. But I do make an effort to fix the really bad ones, so long as it's pointed out. Have I ever mentioned I'm a little (like... REALLY little) dyslexic? Or sometimes my fingers like to type out of turn and I have to re-type something a dozen times before I just smash the backspace and choose a different word?

Minor inconveniences really. And I've only ever stopped a writing session once because of it. (I was really tired already though.)

Anyhow. Thank you for reading, thank you for replying, thank you for following, thank you for pointing at mistakes (and not being mean about it).

So, shall we get on with things and wrap it all up?

Chapter 50!

The Donatis went on for two days, with our Gods returning on the third morning just as we were getting to the job site.

In the mean time, we (the people who would be living in the Manor) had basically swept the place clean, marked off all the cracked bits of the foundation, and poked around with various floor plans. This was done between a bit of dungeon time (the rookie team and our guests especially), shopping for things we would need (wood, more stone, clothes, etc etc), and keeping a general eye out on how the city was adapting.

It was on the evening before the Gods returned however, that we got 'the big announcement'. I'd been wondering what Ouranos had in mind, and no doubt the other Gods of the city would want a say in His idea. So, when I felt that weird ripple through the air, that premonition of 'Godly' magic, I set my tools down and called for everyone to stop working.

(Citywide view)

Ouranos appeared once more on the giant screens surrounding the silvery spire that was Babel. Now that the recent troubles seemed to have been put down, he looked to have gotten a little younger. Though, that might have been because he was actually smiling just enough to reach his eyes.

"People of Orario!" He started, and yes, he actually sounded like he was in a good mood. "We, the Gods of the city, have finally pushed past the recent crisis. The dungeon has calmed almost to what it was before hand."

"Hey..."

"The Children and Gods who work our fields for food will be harvesting soon."

"Come on... lemme."

"The Guild has caught up with the work that had to be delayed or stopped outright during the crisis." His smile got just a tiny bit bigger, "We have succeeded. Gods and Children alike. The city will survive, and it is all thanks to everyone working towards the final goal." He looked to one side.

Loki's face appeared on her own set of screens under Ouranos. "HEY! How are you guys and gals doing?" She grinned with her usual 'time to party' smile, "All this work though, right? Well, now that we've kicked the dungeon back into its usual snarly self, it's time to play a little!" Her eyes, usually squinted almost shut, just to hide what she was really thinking, opened wide, "As my first decree as the new Top Familia of the city, I say we all have a CONTEST!"

The city itself seemed to be holding its breath. Those who knew Loki, even a little, knew she liked chaos. It was mostly harmless chaos, but still, when she got going, she was basically the eye of the storm.

"BUT!" She leaned in, her face seeming to almost touch the 'camera' as she pointed her finger at the screen, "That was as far as I got. I might be the top God of the city now, but, I didn't get here alone. So, we all smashed our heads together, not literally mind you, and..."

It looked like she grabbed the side of the 'camera', and then the view slid around crazily for a moment. A moment later, Hephaestus's face was squished against the 'camera', the goddess's face comically pressed against the magic glass. "Ow... You know I don't have any depth perception..." She grumbled, peeling her face off the 'camera' and putting it at a good distance from her face again. "Ahem, yes, we all came up with an idea for this contest. A way for all the Familia, new, old, big, small, to show their stuff, and maybe make some valis while they're at it." She grinned, "We are going to hold a Crafting Contest!" The camera fuzzed again as she handed it to someone else.

Miach, the newest 'top Familia' of Alchemy took hold of the camera, "We understand that not every Familia has strong fighters or clever explorers. All the Children are different and unique, and fighting isn't the only way to express that. This contest will allow the more creative members of every Familia to show off what they can craft, so that the entire city will know what tools are available to them. Fighters may find a smith to contract. Supporters might find a new tool to use to help their parties. And even the citizens can learn and see what the Adventurers are capable of, and understand that they aren't all just here to suppress the dungeon." Again, the camera wobble.

This time, it was Astraea's face who appeared, "Of course, experience and skill will dictate the winners, but, we will have different tiers and brackets for the competition. It would hardly be fair for a level one smith to compete against the Cyclops of Hephaestus Familia. Each tier will have prizes involved, and all works may be sold to whomever wishes to buy them."

One more screen wobble, and Loki's grinning face popped up again, "Show your stuff Orario! There are only a few simple rules to follow, and every category of craft will have its own rewards! It's time to replace that old battered equipment! Spruce of those bare walls and floors with carpets and paintings! And maybe just try something new!" She flicked the screen over again.

And Royman's surprised face popped on screen, "Oh! Ah, yes. The Guild will have all the rules printed out for any and everyone who wants to participate. Adventurers and citizens alike will have a place to compete, and we have arranged for basic supplies and tools for those who are literally just starting out." A pause, "Um... how do I..." Not being a god, meant he couldn't actually do anything with the screen.

"Here lemme." Loki said, the screen fizzing out.

"I look forward to seeing what our great city can do." Ouranos said with a nod, before the screens vanished.

(Kodori)

I could hear the entire city cheer. Well, everyone liked to party, and this sounded like something fun, and -productive-. I could already think of dozens of ways this could help long term. Attracting more people to the city, boosting trade, sparking innovation... I wondered who I owed a drink to for pushing this idea, though it looked like an actual 'Gods getting along' moment...

Over the next couple of days, as the city built up for this new contest, the rules and such being distributed to everyone and the various stalls and the like being built... The core of the Alliance was settling on a floor plan.

Once we had it done, double checked, edited, checked again, and given a universal approval by everyone who'd be living there, Welf and I went back to visit the Goibniu workshop.

I'd been thinking about Stonebelter. He was a young man, maybe a little younger than Bell, who had probably earned his nickname from the stone carving tools he wore, and his obvious skill with them. He seemed to have no combat aptitude, his slender almost feminine build and twitchy nature was basically a giveaway. He was also one of the very few cases of 'special needs' I'd seen in the city.

Here in Orario, just about everything but afflictions of the mind could be treated. And Stonebelter seemed to fall into, or really close to, the 'idiot savant' category. Exceptionally smart at a small selection of things, yet excluding most other things. Thankfully, Goibniu seemed to understand the boy's needs, and managed to keep him safe and sheltered. It was kind of amusing how his gruff nature softened around the boy.

"Noisy as ever." Welf chuckled, "Ah, I remember my first workshop. Getting away from this sort of thing."

Welf's voice derailed my thoughts, and I took a moment to reply, "It's similar where I'm from, except you don't get to show a personality with your work." I gave his shoulder a pat, "Let's go see if Stonebelter is done, so we can get started."

"Weird kid. But that intuition of his..." He held up a small stone, about as big as an egg, "I actually wanted to test him."

"Geode?" I put my hand on the heavy door of the outdoor workshop, needing to speak a little louder to be heard over all the hammering.

"Yeah! I got it from a really good dig a while ago, but the last two I tried opening shattered. I was careful too!"

I had to admit, I wanted to test Stonebelter too. I have one of the 'home grown' gems I made in one of my pouches.

Entering the shop and shutting the door, we stood in the middle of the 'stable' and waited for someone to stop hammering so we could give them a wave. One of them seemed to know why we were here, gave us a thumbs up and pointed down the hallway. We were expected it seemed.

The noise faded somewhat as we went down the hallway, and Welf took the first guess on where our expert was, slowly pushing open the door of the same room as before. He was right, and the slender young man was quietly sweeping black dust along the floor and into a pan. Goibniu was there as well, inspecting the finished cat statue as it rested on a table. He was slowly brushing a thin liquid over it as well. Something to keep out moisture no doubt.

The rough volcanic basalt had been scrubbed almost glossy smooth and the stuff Goibniu was spreading over it was making it almost shine. The snowflake obsidian eyes had been smoothed to perfect domes as well, making the statue look almost alive

"Nnnn... almost done." Stonebelter said quietly, "I hope... it's okay?"

Welf looked, and I certainly was, impressed, "Yeah. That's really good looking work." Welf said, "Who ever is getting that is certainly getting their money's worth."

"Underpaying in my opinion." Goibniu grumbled, "But, that's not for me to decide. Have the plans then?"

I held out a hand, and my tails deposited a scroll tube into it. "Right here." I said.

"Good good." He looked over to the boy, "Set that down, come over here."

"nnn yessir." Again, that twitchy, look at everything walk as he came over.

"Before we start..." Welf spoke, getting a 'what now' glare from Goibniu, "I have a little puzzle for you, Stonebelter."

The boy focused on Welf, then looked at the egg shaped rock on his palm, "Oh... nnn... inside out sunlight..." He started to reach for it, stopped, then accepted the rock when Welf touched it to his hand, "I think... maybe... nnn..."

His free hand went to his belt, his fingers brushing along the various chisel handles before finally selecting one. Short and maybe half as thick as a No.2 pencil, he set the rock down, braced it with his hand, then touched the end of the chisel to the surface. Held in place by the chisel, his other hand selected a tiny little mallet from the other side of his belt, and with a little tap, the stone cracked neatly in half. Bright yellow and orange crystal revealed itself from inside as the two halves fell apart. If I wasn't mistaken, this was a citrine geode. Basically a quartz formation with a little iron impurity.

Stonebelter put his tools away with a happy smile, just as sunny as the crystals he'd revealed, "There." He said, "nnn much brighter now."

"Pick half." Welf said, "I'd have broken it like an idiot if it weren't for you."

"If you're done playing around?" Goibniu asked a little testily, "Things to do."

After the boy finished marvelling at his new pet rock (with eyes just as sparkly as the rock itself), we got down to business. The new floor plan was hopefully going to meet the Alliance's needs far into the future, but to do that, it had to start at ground level.

Well, actually, just below ground level. After our initial survey of the foundation slabs, we discovered more than a few cracks. Now, this wasn't like modern day. Some of the slabs of stone were massive, half metre thick, one metre wide, two metre long slabs of stone. Roughly two and a half metric tons per slab. I was hoping, with Stonebelter's help, we could salvage a little more of that stone since importing it from the northern mountain range would be a titanic pain in the butt, slow, and expensive.

Part of the 'underground' part of our new home would be an actual basement. Yes, we already knew where the main sewer tunnel was, but that was nothing a good door and some alchemical epoxy couldn't hide. Yes, an escape tunnel, but also a potential way for our Xenos friends to visit. We already had people looking our way and calling us 'monster lovers', but we also had repeat visitors, there to look at Gros, or ask to pet the little bunny.

Another part of the manor, near the kitchen/food storage would have a sub basement for cold storage. Sure, I planed to have an actual freezer, but why waste magic stone when you didn't need to?

The first floor would be most of our 'utility' spaces. Guest rooms, orphan's quarters, classrooms, workshops, infirmary, kitchen, living room, dining room, Takemikazuchi's Dojo, The Bathhouse, storage and at the back corner, 'all purpose large room' with inward facing balcony.

The second floor would be most of our living spaces. Bedrooms mostly, but also Astraea's greenhouse/garden, and my alchemy lab (for good ventilation). It wouldn't -just- be for alchemy, but also for other 'science' type stuff. Maybe I'd make a good telescope or something? I was sure Fels would want in on this too.

Then, the roof. Just a nice sloped roof, maybe a four/twelve pitch or something similar. Keep the rain off, the wind from catching it, and stop it from looking like a cathedral. Yes, there might be a little storage in there too, maybe an actual room for Sir Skitters to live in... when he wasn't just cuddling with whomever he could like an eight legged puppy.

"Well..." Goibniu looked at our plans, scratching his chin, "It's almost like you know what you're doing."

I didn't tell him we had HIDA-Lite help, and instead Welf and I shrugged, "We just pay attention to how it was done the first time." Welf said, "Though..." He pointed to a spot, "Might need to redo a little of the piping here and here..."

"If you left the baths exactly where they were the first time, you wouldn't." He sighed, then turned to Stonebelter (who was sitting at another work table and making sparkly eyes at his new pet rock), "Stonebelter? Scratch awl?"

"nnnn? Oh... here..." Again without looking, his fingertips brushed along his tool belt, stopped at one of the handles, and with a casual toss of his hand he offered the hilt to Goibniu.

Of course, he didn't actually stand up, so the old man had to go across the room to get it, but he did without complaint or comment, then came back. "You've got your rooms, and your outer dimensions, fine. Now you do this."

And with quick easy motions, he cut up our big sheets of paper. He stayed within the 'lines' of the Manor's outer wall, but otherwise each room was cut out of the paper. Then, he took the 'bath house' scrap, and put it over where we'd marked the water pipes.

In essence, he'd made a very simple puzzle. Now we just had to put it together so we got everything we needed back into the frame, without making it really really awkward for the stuff we couldn't change, like the sewer or water lines.

After we were done putting the puzzle back together, Goibniu supplied a new (smaller) sheet of paper for our new plan. Once that one done, we packed it all back up, made arrangements for him and Stonebelter to visit tomorrow, and started on our way home.

Of course, the topic on the way back was the upcoming festival.

"Gonna compete?" Welf asked.

"I could enter something into every category, if I wanted. But now that I'm level seven, I'd be competing against um... Tsubaki and... You know, I have no idea who Goibniu Familia has for talent, just that Loki Familia contracts them."

Welf chuckled, "You're good, a lot better than when you left, but I don't think your skill is up there yet." He scratched the back of his head, "And since our shop has been stripped to the foundation..." He sighed.

I gave him a sideways look, "You're letting your giggles escape." I gave his shoulder one of those 'manly' slaps of encouragement, "Come on, guy like you? Bit of metal, some coal, and a spark is all you need to make something."

"You don't even need a spark anymore!" He laughed, "But yeah. We still have one of those little outdoor setups we used during the deconstruction." He nodded, "What to make though?"

We walked in silence for a few more minutes, "I think." I started, "I'm going to make a train."

"What you call it? A 'proof of concept'? I saw some of the pictures from that gear-spirit HIDA. And after hearing you speak about it, I gotta admit I'm curious too. Nothing else though?"

"I might get my armour on, show off what I've made. But I am not selling that. Heck, Hagane and the black suit could walk around for the show too. But I don't want to display them like objects." I shook my head, "Besides, my greatest creations are waiting for me back home."

We shared a laugh, "Ha, okay fine. When we get back, gimme a hand making sure that temporary setup won't explode when I do some serious forging."

"Sure."

The next morning, as promised, Goibniu, a handful of his Familia and Stonebelter showed up. As was proper, we greeted them at our 'front gate' (even though it was really just a pair of posts that had been put there as a placeholder). The 'handful' he brought were people we knew, and after a nod they walked by and started getting to work. Goibniu and Stonebelter however stayed just outside the gate.

Hestia, Bell, Astraea, Haruhime, Welf, Myself and Shinkage were all at the gate, wondering what the problem was. Well, THEY were wondering, I could already tell. Stonebelter was hiding behind the shorter God, one of his delicate hands touching the God's bare shoulder, like the simple contact was keeping him from running away.

"A little shy huh?" Hestia mumbled to Bell, who chuckled very quietly in that mildly socially awkward way of his.

"This is Stonebelter." Goibniu introduced, "You'll have to forgive him, but he's a little shy. Aside from the rare survey outside the city for stone, and a very occasional trip like this, he never leaves the workshop." He spoke like he usually did to us, all gruff and grumpy, but he turned his head to look up at the boy, "What do you say?" He asked in a much softer tone.

"nnn... hello. pleased to meet you?" He seemed to guess, but smiled when Goibniu nodded approval.

"He's going to make sure our foundation slabs are solid, before we put our house back on them." I explained, "Stonebelter? Are you hungry? Thirsty?" He seemed to be the type to forget things until you reminded him. To be fair, I could get like that too.

"nnn... no? No." He smiled at me just a little, "Hello."

Haruhime's tails gave me a swish to stop me from going over and giving the boy a headpat or something, though I could tell she wanted to just as much as I did.

The 'survey' didn't take too long, but it did surprise us. At the moment, our 'foundation' was basically just a swept off layer of granite blocks. There were some cracked ones, and we'd marked them with chalk so we could dig them up, cut them up to salvage what we could, and maybe put them down again or reuse them someplace else. But Stonebelter found a half dozen more blocks that had been cracked, and Welf and I wouldn't have seen them otherwise. It meant we needed more stone, but that was preferable to having part of our home collapse the next time the dungeon made a little too much noise.

After his tour was done, he went to hide in our temporary dorm with Haruhime, the children and (I'd forgotten they were in there) Chime and her kits. The rest of us then got to work pulling the stones up and setting them aside. Tomorrow, we'd have a few of the salvage team show up and help us reclaim them, but for today, we'd place the order for the stone we needed.

"Huh." I said.

We were just about to quit for lunch, most of the work we could do done for the day. Of course, with most of us distracted, we hadn't noticed Stonebelter get curious about the place and start wandering around. He seemed to at least be aware of 'workplace hazards' so we didn't actually catch him wandering around where we were moving stone. However...

"Don't 'huh' me. Who is the person?" Gros asked, "And why is he clinging to me?"

Gros had rumbled a moment or two ago, and drawn our attention to him. And there, in his enclosure, was Stonebelter, hugging the gargoyle's neck like it was the best thing ever. He was even radiating those 'happy sparkles', like he had been with the little citrine geode.

"He's a little special." I said, "Stonebelter?" I said quietly, "You should ask first." I gave his sleeve a little tug to get his attention.

"nnn i did..." He said, rubbing his cheek on Gros's stone skin, "This stone likes attention."

"Don't laugh." Gros said to me as I tried REALLY hard not to laugh, "And I do not! And I'm not stone!"

The phoenix(?), usually very protective of Gros, hadn't even wandered over to investigate the intruder to Gros's enclosure. It spoke volumes on how harmless this boy was.

"Come on you." I gave his sleeve another tug and he reluctantly detached himself from Gros, "It's time for lunch."

"nnn...ok." He pouted, "Oh... um..." He seemed to be unsure about one of my tails as it wrapped around his arm before I could stop it.

"Yes you may." I said, "Have you ever tried mint before?"

The contest/festival would be held in a little over a week, and during that time, for every second they could, Welf, Maki and myself were making stuff to showcase. For me, it was a model train, with tracks. I'd also built a few simple components for the train 'engine'. Like a simple piston. It turned 'rotating' force into 'driving force'. I could activate my model with a little foot lever, turning a wheel, that moved a rod, that activated a simple hammer. REALLY basic grade school physics stuff.

As for Maki and Welf, they had some simple rules to follow. First, no magic items. It would be rather unfair for Welf to submit a Magic Sword. Though, to be fair, most of his magic sword looked horrible, but that was mostly due to the huge amount of magic he put into the metal making it almost crystallize into something more resembling gemstone than metal.

Second, no exotic metals. You could alloy anything you wanted, but it could not contain monster items or stuff like adamant and high silver. This was to keep it fair for the civilians who were participating. And yes, Maki's, Haruhime's and my fur were on that list of exotic materials.

Third, you could only submit one item per category. No brainer here. You could bring as much as you wanted to sell or show off, but you could only submit one item for the contest.

And lastly, you could enter any category you wanted, so long as you did so properly. No trying to sneak into other brackets, like being a level two and submitting to the level one contest.

However, it was on the third day into that week, that we had a very important guest arrive, just as we were finishing up for the day.

"I have decided." I said as I dropped down from a newly set up scaffold made up of bamboo poles and wood boards, "I am going to do what ever it takes to plant a grove of bamboo someplace." A really big one if I had any say about it.

Mikoto (taking the day off from the dungeon today) nodded approval as she handed me a water skin, "It truly is a versatile material." She accepted the skin back after I'd had a sip, "Are you still set on making the new bath house from stone?"

"From a practical perspective, yes." I said, "It would last for generations, be far simpler to clean, and easier to control the temperature." She looked a little sad, both because she knew I was right, but also because she was a hard core hot spring fan, and stone just... wasn't authentic enough. But, since I didn't want her to feel like I was picking on her, I offered her a compromise. "But."

"Hmm?"

"If you can find the wood we need, -and- have it ready for use by the time we get to building the inside of the manor, then we will line the walls of the bath side of the bathing room with it." I almost wanted to put on my sunglasses to protect myself from the growing brightness of her hopeful look, "The bath and washing stalls and floor will still be stone though, just for ease of cleaning and maintaining."

"I will do my best to find the wood." She nodded, "Ahh... I can almost feel the scent of the wood on my senses..." She bowed slightly, then went over to the next work station.

"I AM GANESHA!"

There was a pause as people slowed down with their tools to look towards the gate.

"I AMMMMMMMMMMMMM GANESHA!" Yes, it was Ganesha, along with Shakti, who was shaking her head in exasperation.

I facepalmed, then called across the yard, "They're not here!"

"Ah! I remember now! Lady Kodori! I have a message for you! GANESHA!"

The city was still very much in the dark about Ganesha the Spymaster, so the few workers we had on site today just kind of tuned him out while I went over to talk to him. "Lord Ganesha, Shakti. Namaste." I greeted, "Want to visit the birds?"

Shakti's face brightened, while Ganesha replied with, "YES! We have been wanting to see how tall they are!"

There were only two real places for any sort of privacy on the property right now. The bathroom (set up on what was left of the old one, and bricked up with stone) and Gros's encosure (since everyone knew not to enter it without Gros saying it was okay). It wasn't like he got angry, but he was still a 'monster' and was really good at grumbling at people.

"Oh great, it's the loud one." Gros sighed as we came over, his beaked face peeking out from his big shed. "I don't suppose you can do something about this?"

One of his stony eyebrows raised up a little, motioning towards a palm sized puff of black and white fur that was sitting on his head. "Oh, you have a friend." Shakti said, getting closer and carefully scooping up the bunny, "Oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Her slender fingers played with the micro bunny's ears while it gave her palm a sniff and a few tiny nibbles.

"Your birds are getting very large." Ganesha commented, his back turned to the workers so he didn't have to speak all 'loud and GANESHA'. "And getting rather colourful too."

Yes, the ostrich/phoenix were almost as tall as a real ostrich, and their plumage was starting to lose the 'camouflage' grey tones as real colourful feathers grew in. This meant, if they were so inclined and I wasn't paying attention, they could nip at my ears, or poke at Ganesha's mask.

"Their natural habitat has quite a few fast running predators. Longer legs mean a better chance at running away." I explained, discouraging one of them from pecking at my ear by giving its long neck a brush with my hand. I was rewarded with a mild electric tingle and a warbling 'woo..oooOoo' noise. "What is this message, friend Ganesha? Not a problem I hope?"

Ganesha kept up his 'act' by making wild gestures at the birds, but spoke in a normal voice, just loud enough to hear, "This contest is open to everyone. And I was hoping you had some ideas on how to make it open to everyone." He said.

I considered for a moment, "Limit their numbers, one or two of them maybe. Make sure they dress properly, maybe give them a nice shirt like you did the two Oni." I paused, "And have them leave the dungeon from the tower, publicly. Keep them in sight of the people," I made an 'over there' motion towards the city centre, "so that there is no suspicion of other ways into the city."

He and Shakti nodded, "We will have to escort them as well." Shakti said, managing to get the ultra fluffy bunny's fur brushed in one direction, only to have it 'huff' and make it look all chaotic again, "Aww..."

"That goes without saying." I said, "However, I do plan on having a stall, so, if you put them near me..." I trailed off as the happy noises of the one bird made them all gather around for some attention.

"I Hope to see Some of your WONDEROUS new things, Lady Kodori!" Ganesha announced suddenly, "Maybe you can add an Elephant Mask to your showcase!"

Of course, the sudden volume got the bird's attentions, and he was suddenly mobbed by overly protective giant feather dusters. I had to use my tails to swish at them, so they wouldn't hit him with little bursts of static, frost or beaks. "I'll see what I can do." I nodded, "You can't keep him Shakti."

"And you can't put it back on my head either." Gros rumbled at her when she moved to do just that.

A moment or two later, with Ganesha and Shakti gone and me holding at poof of rabbit fur, I looked to Gros, "Wonder who will come up to show off."

"Lido might." Gros said, "Maybe Ray and Fear. Those three are the most... social of us."

"I'll make sure they're safe up here." I said, "Maybe Chani will come up? I mean, she does have the best 'natural' material to make things out of."

"I doubt it. She is shy, even among us."

"Suppose we'll see in few days."

The morning of the first day of what would probably be a week long event arrived a little cloudy, but with a subtle hum of excitement running through the city. Welf, Maki and I had already arranged for a stall, and with the help of Ganesha it was in a nice and visible location. This was partly due to our special guests, since Ganesha wanted them to be seen by as many people as possible, while being 'civilized'.

"Ko-san? A little worried?" Haruhime picked up on my mood of course, being a more clever fox than I.

"Maybe a little." I admitted, "Suppose I'll just have to..." I wrapped her up in a hug, while my tails went to tickle and tease the children, filling our room at the Madam's house with giggles and happy noises, "Borrow some giggles."

"We'll be here when you return. I am rather looking forward to a day away from the construction and noise of others." She gave my arms a tug, prompting me to go to one knee in front of her. She hugged me again, this time with my head on her shoulder and her fingers playing with my ears, "Later we will take a tour of the event, just to make sure you are okay."

"If you have any problems, you know what to do, and who to send. But... if you keep that up..." I rubbed my face against her throat, "If you are there around noon, I should have all my little machines set up, it should be quite the show."

She pushed my head away just enough to kiss my forehead, then tugged me back to my feet, "Keep an eye out for books? The rain that night..."

"As my wife wishes." I nodded, "You all be good." I gave the children one last hug/kiss/noseboop/tickle and left in high spirits.

Basically the instant I was out of the Entertainment district, with Aisha (but not the Oni) walking with me, we could see the various ribbons, posters and decorations for the event. Mostly advertisements from various Familia who could afford the paper, saying things like 'come to X street for Y items!' and the like.

Wisely, Ganesha did not advertise our special guests. He wanted them to be 'noticed' organically, instead of 'put on display' like a circus.

"Have a shopping list?" I asked Aisha, "Or are you working?"

"Why would I work? I have you two."

I swatted her with a tail, only to have it caught and assaulted with expert scratching while she laughed, "You know what I mean." I laughed.

"Yeah. Just some guard duty." She let my tail go, "A little pocket change for the trouble, and a way to scout for gifts."

"If you find a book vendor, lemme know. We do have an actual library planned, and Ha-chan plans to fill it."

"No problem." She nodded and we parted ways.

It only got louder as I went to the Alliance stall that was set up just within sight of the main fountain. You know, the one we used to meet up with people before a trip, or the one that Gros smashed while under the influence of Hermes's 'distraction' during the Xenos incident. People were frantically setting up their stalls, unpacking crates, wolfing down a meal before they would be too busy to... I had my own set up to do, but had planned ahead, making sure the only thing I actually needed to do was put it on a flat surface.

Welf and Maki were already at our stall, setting up some of the bigger things we would need. One of those things was one of those portable forges. The kind used to do minor repairs in the dungeon. Though, the anvil was a proper one and not the little flat block that was usually used with the mini-furnace.

"All set for your demonstrations I see." I commented as I arrived, "Get everything here okay?"

"Yeah, though Shinkage will be here a little late." Welf said as he gave the mini-furnace a final check, "Maki? Light that for me?"

"Hmm? Sure." Maki replied, a tiny but VERY bright foxfire appearing over her shoulder, before zipping into the little 'fire goes here' slot marked on the mini-furnace. She noticed my smile and said, "Been getting a lot of work done in the dungeon while you guys play with gravel." She grinned.

"Good. Both of you submit your work?" I started to unpack my own stuff, pleased that it had survived the move. I almost missed packing peanuts.

"Of course. I'm eager to see how I'll do!" Welf laughed, "Though, I almost feel bad for my competition."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I'm so close to level three. But since I'm not I get to compete in the level two bracket." He grinned, "Show those rookies what I can do."

"Maki?"

"Yeah... I'm know I'm really new at this, but I'm hopeful." She smiled, a little sad, "I really miss some of the other stuff we used in Kuoh." She shook her head, "Not the machines, since most of the stuff we had in the shop was as antique as possible. But the tools. Like the little files!"

"Well, I'm sorry we don't have any of that fantastical stuff you're used to." Welf said sarcastically, "Yet. Don't worry kiddo, once we get our new shop built and Sister and I get to work, we'll revolutionize the city!"

Well, I didn't have to worry about having Welf interested in my plans for the future.

"When are we expecting our neighbours?" Maki asked, motioning to the still empty stall next to us.

"Maybe around mid day. They needed a little more time to get up here from the Eighteenth." I said, "And yes, we'll be keeping an eye out for them."

Shinkage, Hagane and... well, I wasn't sure what to name it now that Shinkage had 'taken' it over. Dullahan? Sure, let's go with that. Well, they arrived about an hour later. Everything was set up, and I was already running little demonstrations with my 'next stage' machines.

"Welcome one and all!" I was just starting my first demonstration, with another one set for after lunch, a third before dinner, and one more before sun down. "I see we have a little bit of a crowd going. Good good!" I pointed to a smith I'd seen at the Goibniu stable, "Ah, I know you. Do you know the Five basic machines?" I figured I'd ask someone likely to know, before I started to 'wow' the crowd with the 'next stage' machines.

"Sure. You got an incline," He was a hand talker it seemed, and he was demonstrating as he listed them, "A lever, a wedge, wheel and axel, and a pulley."

"Exactly! Now, what I have here, are some interesting ways to combine them. Now, some of these are already in use, but what if I showed you some other ways to use them? You there, honoured elder." I pointed to an older lady, just starting to 'hunch' with age and holding a cane. "Could you join me a moment?"

She looked surprised at my request, but walked over to me all the same, "Oh dear, this looks very... oh... is this for making pottery?"

"Almost." I said with a smile, "With a little addition, and by turning it on its side..." I wheeled a small 'pedal powered' machine into full view. The pedal would move a simple piston, that would turn a wheel. That wheel had a single peg, that would lift a hammer head that was on a rail. Once the peg slipped out from under the hammer, it would drop straight down and hit the anvil. It was REALLY lightweight, just a demo model, but... "Tell me, have you ever tried your hand at making stuff in a forge?"

"I can't say that I have..." She blinked up at me.

"Well. To demonstrate that this kind of machine can be used by anyone..." I got a thin leather apron and put it over the lady, "This honoured elder will make a spoon. I mean, everyone needs cutlery, right?"

Those gathered shrugged, because yeah, gotta eat with something, and hot food and bare hands didn't go well.

"Now, what do we need first? Ah, metal. My lovely assistant..."

Maki stepped over, a thin bar of hot silver held tightly with a pair of tongs.

"Hmm, metal is too thick. Now, Maki's hands are busy, and she needs to stay there to hold the metal. Could you put your foot down on that pedal there, honoured elder?"

"Like this, right?" She mumbled, applying her weight to the pedal, making the wheel turn once, bringing the hammer up, then 'clank!' down on the silver. "Ohhh, so I just keep going?"

I nodded, and the crowd watched this little old lady, who was probably old enough to be someones great grandma, hammer a little bar of silver. It took a couple of heats, but now it was roughly the right shape, but not 'spoon' shaped.

"Oh no, seems we have a problem!" Yes, drama! Suspense! Ganesha was a bad influence... "But, with a simple change..." The old lady stopped, and with a couple of easy motions I switched the hammer to a 'peening' hammer (rounded head, not flat head), and a little 'swag' block in the shape of a spoon. (its not pronounced 'swag' but 'swAGE') "Simple as that, and now we can continue!"

Maki put the reheated silver back in place, and with some easy turns of the wheel, the rounded head shaped it to the depression, and it was done.

"And there. One silver spoon!" The crowd clapped, and while they did so, I leaned down to the lady and said, "If you follow Maki, she'll clean and polish it up for you."

"Thank you dear. Something extra fancy to go with my soup." She gave my hand a pat, then hobbled off with Maki.

"And that is just one of the things I'm going to demonstrate!"

The 'next step' machine demonstrations took about an half hour. Piston wheel, screw (yes, this was -technically- the sixth basic machine, but it was actually a combination of 'wedge' 'axle' and 'incline'), ratio gears (like the gears of a bicycle), a really simple laundry machine (water basin with a wood bin you could spin, thus agitating the clothes without scrubbing them on a washboard or something)... It wasn't a big list, but I could tell I was sparking the imaginations of people.

By listening to the stories of the Daedalus here in this world, I knew he skipped a major step in showing his ideas off to the public. He didn't involve people. He just worked in his lab, then came out with a new thing that no one could puzzle out, causing confusion and fear. I wanted to show people that anyone could use these things, and they were simply the 'next step' to things they already used every day.

After the show, Shinkage, Hagane and I, showed off some other applications to the smiths who had stuck around. Mainly how the 'sliding joints' worked, allowing better mobility while not sacrificing protection. Hagane was a good sport about it all, and yes, someone managed to get headpats without people even realizing they were doing it.

Right on time however, my wife showed up, children in the rolling crib, being escorted by not just the two Oni, but some of Ganesha's guards, a hellhound who was about chest high at the shoulder (wearing a collar with Ganesha's emblem displayed proudly on it) a young elven girl who might have weighted twenty kilograms (who was holding the hellhound's leash), and an Arachne, who stood well over most of the crowd on her long spider legs, while her 'human' half was covered in highly mobile suit of plate armour, complete with full helmet. Strapped to her back, were several baskets, who were guarded by a full grown needle rabbit, Chime's mom.

NOTES!

Well, lets continue the party, shall we?

After this, there will be some more time skip, building, finishing the manor, moving in, then finally, the build up to the next story. As well as some catching up with the DxD cast, since they will actually play a part in the next thing. :)