"[Cougar's Speed]," Nero spoke to himself as he triggered the 50% movement boost Skill.

He ran as fast as he could - quite fast considered his effective Agility of over a hundred - leaving the castle, siege, and now burning forest behind him. Only when the eastern sky started to light up indicating dawn was imminent did he open a portal to Rodther's shelter, paying for a hundred days of duration. Nero entered and shut the portal behind him.

"Hey, boss. How's it going?" Rodther asked from behind him.

"Hey, Rod. Rather crappy. Wanna hear a story?"

Even if the ietermahue didn't, Nero told him the abridged version anyway,

Rodther stared at Nero as if he was from another world. "You captured two hot nereids and slaughtered their friends. Is that it? I can see how that is going to end well for you."

"I used [Truth-Telling] on them. They don't have enough Attributes to fool me."

Rodther shrugged. "Well, that's a problem for future us. Present us need you gone before they go crazy thinking you escaped."

"Okay. I need to create a few transition boxes first," Nero said without offering any further explanation.

Transition boxes, in Nero's mind, were small cubic shelters thirty feet on a side and totally featureless. White on all sides except for the stone floor. He made two with a ten-day duration. If he needed to, he'd use one of these. He then opened a portal to one of these boxes, walked through, and opened another portal to his tent.

He immediately felt a presence outside the tent. The flap opened and a knight looked inside. "Hey, no peeking," Nero shied away with pretend bashfulness.

"Go warn captain Mayleefa that the kid is back," The knight told his companion that was outside Nero's field of view. He then asked Nero, "Where were you, kid?"

Nero deadpanned. "Minding my own business. What's wrong with that?"

The knight snarled and readied himself to strike. Nero knew it was just an act. The guy had to be at least fifth-tier and if he wanted to strike Nero the minnid would already be a bloodstain on the tent tarp. So he did the opposite just to spite the knight. Nero stood up and tried to walk out of the tent. Tried.

"Stay put! That's an order!" The knight shoved Nero back. Nero couldn't tell the man's race as he was wearing a full helmet with the visor up.

Just because he could and to spite the knight, Nero spent one hundred and three mana to recast the shelter. He moved the ground one foot down and swapped the golden grass for dried one. He was falling on his back anyway.

"Are you stupid?" He shouted at the knight. "You could've doomed us all if I lost my concentration!"

"The fuck you did, kid?"

Nero stood up and saw people were approaching fast. His tent had a frame but most of the others, including the prince's, crumbled with his little reshaping stunt. Then he shouted.

"You almost made me lose control of the spell, you idiot! That's what you did? Who the heck gave you permission to hit me?" If Nero's guess was correct, this guy belonged to Valanaegornif's faction.

"Attention!" Mayleefa's commanding voice rang. "What is happening here?"

Nero walked out and shoved a finger on the knight's breastplate. "Who told this fucker he should watch my tent like a prison guard?" He asked glaring at Mayleefa. "He almost got us all killed."

Mayleefa huffed and stared at the knight. "Report!"

The knight saluted with a fist over his chest. "I was just following orders, sir. We were told to not let him leave the tent!"

"By whom?" The buffalo-kin puffed spittle on the knight's face.

"Valanaegornif, probably," Nero quipped.

The knight didn't say a thing, which was as good as admitting it.

"Where were you, Nero?" Mayleefa asked him.

"In my workshop, studying. why?" The Dungeon was his workshop, so it wasn't wrong.

"I posted a man with two hundred points of Perception and he didn't see you either in your tent or entering it. Explain."

Nero pointed an open palm to an open space and spoke. "Portal." It opened to one of the boxes.

"Another space?" Mayleefa asked, skeptical.

"No. Another shelter room. Underground. I use that blank space as a waypoint between destinations. That's not the point, Mayleefa. Since when did I become a prisoner? Since when are knights so rude to guests? Must I remember you I can terminate my employment with His Highness at any time? I'd rather get a bad review in my guild report than putting up with this crap. I'll return the advancement His Highness so magnanimously sent my way and go home."

"We're under siege, you dumb peasant," The rude knight snorted.

"I can have a cup of tea in the capital main square tomorrow if I so wish," Nero bragged. "Mayleefa, do something."

The buffalo-kin spoke to the rude knight. "Second lieutenant Brahms, you are detained and restricted to quarters until second order by either me or His Highness. Get out of my sight in ten seconds."

Brahms saluted and walked away, but not before scowling at Nero.

Mayleefa waved his arms around. "Can you fix the shelter?"

"Yes. I want everyone out though," He replied curtly. "You guys have an absorption rate too big and the scholars at the Lyceum think the shelter is basically a proto-Dungeon."

"I understand. Let's do it, then."

"You'll need to get all objects out as well. The tents, furniture, everything. This environment is damaged now, I need to recreate it."

Nero's plan to get everyone out was simple. He made several temporary shelters already and this one, the official one, had the house-tree the elves made for them. The beach he made for his sister. Having Tyre share the same pocket dimension felt like he was corrupting the place. So he would sell the prince a temporary shelter with a fixed duration and keep his own to himself. Less chance of the stupid knights dig around and go where they shouldn't too.

It was expensive Essence-wise but he didn't care. Once everyone was outside, Nero recast his main shelter with the original dimensions from the room in the castle, then recreated the savanna shelter as a standalone shelter with sixty-three days of upkeep. He loathed the idea of extending his service past that but if that happened, he would just remake it.

A side effect of shrinking the main shelter was that all objects left inside the space that was suddenly cut off got unceremoniously dumped around Nero, two feet away from him. He told them to take out all the objects because he knew that would happen, but everyone forgot of one thing left behind.

The latrines.

More than a month's worth of refuse from almost a hundred people popped (or maybe pooped) out of nowhere in a ring two feet around Nero. Everyone gagged. Nero watched his predicament and opened a password-encoded portal to the savanna, escaping the ring of offal into fresh pastures.

"I'll keep the portal open to ventilate," Nero said and opened another portal to his home. "I'll be back in a few hours."

The shitstorm raged on, metaphorically speaking. A few hours later, Nero was brought to the throne room of the minotaur king, where Tyre held court. Most of the nobles and knights in the fighting force were present. Some accusations flew back and forth, Nero repeated his cover story with a mischievous smile, daring someone to put a truth-teller listening on his statement. He made sure to twist every single statement far enough to register as a lie but not as far as to be impossible to correct in detail if someone demanded him to.

After Nero finished his twisted statement, Tyre leaned forward. "You are saying you can lose concentration on the spell and damage the environment from just being shoved around. Is that correct?"

Some of the nobles and knights laughed, scorning Nero.

"I'm level zero, Your Highness. And I was doing a diagnosis on the spell. When the knight shoved me, I might've pictured the wrong image, which caused the spell to react to my visualization."

"That is possible," A knight in mage robes and light armor next to Tyre said. "Your Highness thinks of the mental strain to keep the spell going. He has to drink two mana potions every day just to make sure the spell won't collapse for lack of upkeep."

"Thanks, [Magister] Greenwald," Tyre said. "Demote Brahms and put him on latrine duty for the foreseeable future. You are all dismissed. Nero, stay behind, I need to talk to you."

It couldn't be good. Nero watched everyone go away including a scowling and bitter Valanaegornif. Only when he was alone with Tyre and Mayleefa did the prince speak.

"Nero, did you see count Honeywitch today?"

Now that he asked, no. And the huge oriental tiger-folk should be easy to spot in the crowd. "No."

"Neither did we," Tyre beamed a creepy grin. With teeth like his, all grins were creepy and predatorial. "Or anyone in his camp. In fact we..."

The whole castle shook. A testament to the minotaur's engineering, very few dusts fell from the ceiling and the structure held. Nero almost fell on his face. Sounds of metal clashing and spells detonating erupted from outside. Nero blinked and Tyre was next to him.

Their eyes met. Tire grasped Nero's shoulder. "Get to safety, now!"

Then Mayleefa was also on his other side. He pressed a small package in Nero's hand. "Go to your workshop, Nero."

The door to the courtroom bashed open. The two high-leveled people dashed to engage. Nero opened a portal to a transition box and jumped through, willing it closed as soon as he was inside.

The package buzzed with Mayleefa's voice. "Nero? Nero? Answer it!" The voice sounded distant as it cracked and buzzed.

He opened it. A disk-like contraption that resembled a giant lentil seed made of bronze with a black cloth stretched on one side buzzed. Mayleefa asked again.

"Press the red button and talk to the device, dammit!" He cursed over the sound of swords clashing.

Nero did. "Captain Mayleefa, what is happening?"

"We were betrayed!" Mayleefa panted. "Coriander's troops are inside the castle. We are fighting to clear the inner keep. If you are safe where you are, stay there. Don't play with the device, wait for my call."

He pressed the button one last time. "Understood."

Nero punched the boundary of his transition box and cursed. That's why the security around the castle was so lax. Why hadn't these idiots noticed that? If only the prince was doing his job, instead of engrossing in debauchery with the harlots day in and day out!

He screamed inside the box and dropped on his back, gazing at the empty glowing white featureless box. It was as if only he and the square floor existed. This whole assignment was a joke! Worse yet, if Honeywitch defected to the enemy, the way into the country was wide open.

As he thought about Honeywitch's betrayal, everything seemed to fall in place. The upper class in Honeywitch, the ones with the most to lose if the city was conquered, were going on with their day unconcerned. Maybe the prince was fooled by Honeywitch with some bullshit like wanting to prove his worth to the prince. But were them as stupid as that? Mayleefa at least seems competent. There was more to that story, and Nero didn't know all the sides.

Mind magic. Maybe. The nereids are good at influencing the mind. Heck, their (former) princess had a Class called [Enchantress].

But wallowing in his misery was not something Nero was comfortable with. He had to act and he had to put his escape plan in motion. He opened a portal to Rodther's temporary shelter.

"Rodther!" Nero shouted as he crossed over and closed the passage behind him.

The pets came to meet his master and soon the scaled beast-folk arrived. "What is it, boss? Something bad?" Rodther asked after reading Nero's face.

Nero grabbed Maria and stroke her fur. He closed his eyes and nodded. "The castle is under attack. Come with me, I'm taking everything back to my shelter. We might need to escape."

Half an hour later, they moved all the furniture back to the house-tree, leaving the temporary shelter empty of foreign objects. Mayleefa's communication gadget remained silent. Nero half-hoped they failed and died.

"I think that's all. Are we escaping now?" Rodther asked while he rested on the grass.

Nero opened another portal and pulled Rodther back on his feet. "No. we're going to meet our unwilling new friends. The nereids. Come."

They crossed into the orchard island. Rodther saw the trees brimming with ripe fruit, took an apple, and bit. "Damn, you can make fruit?"

"Seems so. I can create vegetation so why not edible plants?"

Nero was a bit ashamed he didn't think of that before. Nero opened a portal to the main shelter and tossed an apple through. It vanished as soon as it touched the dimensional opening. He didn't expect it to work anyway.

He cupped his hands and shouted. "Moira! Hefalina!"

They reached the beach and searched the water for a while before they found the nereid women. Moira came to the surface.

"Nero! What is happening?" She asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Yeah. Some stupid noble betrayed Tyre and now your former compatriots are fighting inside the castle."

She shot her hands up and out of the water. "I knew nothing!"

Nero shook his head. "Don't worry. They wouldn't give you such vital information. How is your niece?"

Moira smiled. "Thank you for sparing her life. She's fine, just a bit shaken by the experience. I'll go get her."

She dove and Nero sat on the beach with Rodther. A long wait later, the two nereids were walking out of the water. Nero explained what was happening and Hefalina couldn't contain her excitement. She did a little skip and was promptly slapped down by Moira.

"We are no longer citizens of Coriander, niece. We work for lord Nero now."

Rodther snorted. Nero punched his shoulder.

"I'm not a noble. I think we'll need to escape now. Let's leave this place behind."

They moved back to the house-tree dimension. Nero paused to think. He had a veritable network of passages opened. The nereid sea was connected to the now-burnt forest next to the Dire Warg Dungeon. Rodhter's had two passages, one to the tower and another about two hundred miles away, the distance he ran after he dumped Hefalina. He could go back to the throne room too, not that he would. Four options. Before he could choose, the communication device rang.

"Nero. Come in, Nero!" Mayleefa's voice rang.

Nero opened a portal to the transition boxes. He would need to recover mana soon. "Excuse me, folks. Make yourselves comfortable and don't slaughter Rodther or my pets. I need to talk in private." With the portal closed, he answered. "Mayleefa. What is happening?"

The buffalo-kin's voice sounded ragged and nervous. "We secured the inner keep. Come to the prince's tent. Now!"