"Mittens!" Amelia rushes to scoop him up, completely ignoring her parents.

"And, straight for the cleavage." I sigh. "What are you going to do when he gets too big to fit in there?"

"Oh, hush. I missed my little guy." She doesn't even look up from petting him to talk to me.

"I thought I was your little guy." I Ensmallen and fly over to land on Mittens' head, getting a confused look from him and a riotous bark of laughter from Apricot. "Did you miss your mommy, or just her boobies?" I had to dodge a swat from Amelia after that, so I just let the spell fade.

"New spell?" Turner says with an amused smile.

"More a modification of the one I used to use on Apricot." I shrug. "Sorry, we're so late. There were some... complications with the new house, and I ended up passing out for a bit." I decide to start spreading the cover story.

"You mean the giant tree that everyone would be talking about? That is, if they weren't too caught up with news about Her Majesty's victory against Cendassa thanks to a certain Marquis." Kaitlyn gives Amelia one of those disappointed mother looks while stressing my new title. "It seems somebody forgot to mention that part when she called home."

"Sorry Mom." Her daughter puts on an apologetic face, but doesn't quit petting the cat. "Honestly, it slipped my mind. Sorrel was still unconscious when I called after the battle, and I guess it hadn't really set in yet."

"Never mind that." Turner steps in. "I want to know when we can see the new place."

"Right now, if you can take the rest of the day off." I answer. "We just need to swing by your place first to pick up all of our junk."

"Oh, my baby's moving out." The realization seems hit her mother all at once, causing Amelia to give me a pleading look.

"There's more than enough room at the new place, we'd be happy to have you guys stay with us." I offer.

"We couldn't intrude..." Kaitlyn says, looking a bit torn.

"There's almost a thousand square meters of living space." I laugh. "Please, it will be too empty without more people living in it. I know it's a bit farther away from here than your house, but I can make you a car or some other form of transport." I say, thinking of a few ideas I'd like to try out now that I'm not in a rush.

"Please." Amelia begs.

"Just say yes, Katey. You know you want to." Turner puts his arm around his wife.

"Yay!" Amelia rushes forward and hugs her parents. Poor Mittens getting squished in the process. "Sorry baby." She coos to the kitten after he meows.

Her mom gets a glint in her eye at that word, but doesn't say anything about it. "We can go now." Turner says "There's no more appointments for the day, and aren't likely to be any walk-ins with your movie players set up around the city."

"We're trying to win a war without having to fight" I shrug again. "If that means spreading a little propaganda, then I'm fine with that."

"Mind showing us what happened?" He asks. "We haven't had a chance to go see one yet."

I startup a playback for them, and seeing the workers stopping to pay attention, I make it large enough for everyone to see. Their reactions are funny to watch, from oohs and ahhs to gasps and giggle, with plenty of cheering for us and jeering at the Cendassans. It seems my editing skills made the grade.

"Oh my!" Kaitlyn holds her hands in front of her mouth. "I knew you were powerful, but that..."

"Anything to keep my girls safe." I hug Amelia from behind, my head resting next to Apricot where she's sitting on top of her head.

***

We're just leaving the warehouse when a familiar face pops out of a carriage. "Charlie!" Turner calls out to his long-time friend. "Great timing, another minute and you would have missed us."

"Just got into town and the first thing I saw was Sorrel humiliating an army." He says looking at me in awe. "So, I let my men take care of the wagons, and grabbed the first carriage I could find to bring me here. Just what happened while I was away?"

"Hop in." I point to the Rocket. "I'll tell you while we drive. See, it all started with that damned dungeon..." I tell the tale of how I went from political pawn to savior of a city while he sits there with a slack-jawed face. "We got back this morning, and now we're going to get our stuff, so we can move into the new place." I conclude as we pull onto the Rialta's street.

"New place?" He finally manages after a moment. "Let me guess." He looks off at the top of the tree that's visible in the distance.

"Got it in one, Uncle Charlie." Amelia laughs. "Just wait 'til you see the house he made."

"I thought about making it a living tree house." I confess. "But, it would have needed to be even larger than it already is. Maybe when we build a home in Arcadia. Though, I'll be sure to check the ground for shattered dungeon cores next time."

"Huh?" He looks confused.

"Is this that complication you were talking about?" Asks Turner.

"Yeah, seems that the City was founded around an ancient dungeon, and when I was putting the finishing touches on the tree it somehow turned into a Mana Well." Definitely not because I forced reality to bend to my will, nope not at all. "My magic was connected to the tree at the time and I ended up floating off the ground for a minute before passing out." I say only the truth, but lie all the same.

"Oh goodness, are you alright?" Kaitlyn says, her voice full of worry.

"I'm fine, better than fine really." I smile at her. "Going through all that actually gave me some excellent gains. As if living next to a Mana Well wasn't enough." I chuckle as we pull into the yard.

It's only a matter of minutes to pack up the house. My inventory slots doubled in number and, even though they stopped growing larger after reaching one cubic meter in volume, I can now carry almost ten times as much as I could at level six. 'Thank you Temmie-chan.'

The drive to our new home is filled with the merchants talking shop, speculating on what a potential war might do to the markets. They're so caught up in their discussion that none of them notice we've arrived until I stop the car.

"Wow!" Kaitlyn is the first one to speak.

"Just wait until I plant the garden." I say with a smirk. "I plan to stick with the oversized theme, making it look like we're all pixie sized."

"Oh, Sorrel." Apricot shifts and tries to crush me in a hug. "I can't wait."

"Heh, we should probably unpack first." I rub her back. "The house is kinda barren right now."

"Fine, but then you gotta do the garden." She pouts.

"Now you three getting married makes a lot more sense." Charlie says with a chuckle.

"Charlie!" Kaitlyn elbows him, but he just starts laughing harder.

I give the three of them the grand tour, and Amelia's parents pick out a bed room on the other side of the house from ours. I get their room set up for them when Charlie says that he needs to get back to his caravan. Just when I'm using a spell to hail a carriage for him, another much fancier one rolls up outside.

"Hey, Oliver." I wave to the Court Wizard. "You felt it at the castle already?"

"How?" He mouths the word but no sound comes out.

"Let's just say I would've been more careful where the roots went if I knew the City was built on the remains of a dungeon." I shrug and invite him in while Charlie leaves with a smile on his face.

"Do you know what this means?" The old Mage asks.

"That I should warn my neighbors that a bunch of mages are going to try to buy their homes?" I joke. "Seriously, though. The dungeon is already bringing magic back to Larendath, something like this was bound to happen sooner or later." I guide us to a sitting room and build some furniture for it. "Come on in, have a seat."

"Exactly what happened?" He questions after plopping down on a chair, his senses still glued to the tree.

"Well, I was just finishing up..." I spin the same story for him as I told on the car ride earlier. "So, I had a quick nap and woke up to this. I'm not gonna complain though."

"Nor will any of the Mages in the Capital, my boy." He lets out a deep belly laugh. "You weren't wrong about all of them wanting to move next door either. If I didn't live in the Castle, I would too."

"This better not mess up the neighborhood." Amelia grumps.

"It should be fine." I soothe her. "The quality of the shops might improve, but that should be the worst of it."

"Might be a bit more drastic than that, but I'll spread word that the Marchioness likes the area as it is." Oliver chuckles. "That should keep the changes to a minimum."

"Mhm. Thank you." She nods mollified.

"You're very welcome. I need to inform her majesty, and talk to Stanwood." He hops up. "Can't wait to see what you do next Sorrel."

"That would be the garden." I say while directing a smile towards Apricot.

"Hah! Spoken like a true Nature Mage. I'll leave you to it then." He practically skips out the door.

"You are far too good at lying with the truth." Amelia shakes her head after he leaves.

"I can't be the only Mage who's developed a way to detect when someone is lying." I defend myself. "That, and I just don't like lying in the first place."

"Who cares about that, I just want my garden." Apricot says in a pleading tone.

"Just give me a minute." A puzzled look crosses my face. "Did one of you pick up my staff earlier, I kinda forgot about it."

"I didn't see it, I was too focused on you. Did you, Apricot?"

"No, too worried about Sorrel to notice anything else."

I send my senses out looking for it. "Huh, it's in the tree." I tilt my head to one side. "Damned thing has a mind of its own, looks like it's trying to copy what I did earlier. Just like how it copied what I did to make the wagon wood."

"Really, do you think it'll work?" Amelia's eyes widen.

"No idea, but I'm happy to let it try. Don't really need it for this, it'll just take me a bit longer." I start filling the house with furniture and decorations, keeping it simple but tasteful.

"Mmm, Garden now." The pixie lands on my head once I finish.

"Yes, Ma'am." I say and lead us around the left side of the house.

Looking up, I will the pond on the branch to spill over. Forming a pool on the ground, I extend it to the back corner of the property. There I raise hexagonal columns of stone, reminiscent of the Giant's Causeway, only made from granite instead of basalt. I bring them up into a small hill, before hollowing it out to make a deep grotto.

"Oh, baby." Amelia hugs me. "It's wonderful."

Cattails then shoot up from behind the pond, towering tens of meters into the air. The pond fills with over-sized water plants, including one massive water lily the size of our bed. Meanwhile a thick carpet of moss spreads out to cover the yard.

It takes until almost sunset before I'm satisfied with how everything looks. Taking the girls in my arms, I fly us up above the city to look down on the yard. From this angle it looks like a normal tree, and lush flower garden next to a small pond. The area around our house being the only open space, as I made it look like it's sitting on a flat stone.

"I love it." Apricot kisses me.

"It looks so normal from up here, like someone left a dollhouse in their garden." Amelia hugs me tight, her fear of heights mostly, but not completely overcome by the perspective. "Look you can see Mittens." She points to the statue I made of him playing in the flowers, just one of the many hidden secrets I put in.

"I like the mushroom houses, those were cute." Apricot point to where they're just barely visible, mushrooms like shade after all. "That, and how the moss glows when you step on it."

"I still want to add more stuff like that, make the whole place as magical as possible." I explain and bring us down before it gets to much for Amelia. "Even some gigantic insect golems."

"No spiders!" Amelia says as soon as our feet touch the ground.

Landing next to the front entrance I guide the car into an underground parking area. The opening of which looks like a massive fallen tree from this angle, but a mere mossy branch half buried in the dirt from above.

"I was thinking more along the lines of butterflies, moths, ladybugs, and other cute stuff like that." I pause for a moment. "Although, a spider as a guard dog would be pretty badass."

"No spiders! Period!" She gets right up in my face. "Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am!" I kiss her on the nose. "Shall we go make dinner? We kinda skipped lunch."

"Yes, please" Apricot makes a bee-line for the house. We follow her and are almost at the door when she comes running back out to tackle me with a hug. "Oh you sneaky little shit. I love it." She plasters me with kisses.

Amelia looks at me questioningly, but I just smile and carry the pixie inside as she molests me. I then take us to the spiral staircase, in front of which sits the bonsai copy of the house and tree. Now, fully updated to match the over-sized real-life version.

"Oh, Babe." Amelia joins in on the assault.

***