After his debriefing, it was decided that Nero should go not to the capital but to one of the satellite towns to the south with a strong guild presence. From there he could contact Amaryllis and the Lyceum to spread the news. Nero would also have to let the quartermaster go. All that could wait for a little while.

The possibility of having to report to the palace regarding the battle was not dismissed, as Nero was the only surviving eyewitness to the battle and the last to see the prince alive. Because of that, they spent a week preparing Nero for his debriefing. A slip of the tongue or any falsehood before the truth-tellers they'd surely use to confirm his tall tale could be fatal.

It was decided they should spend a week in the shelter, bonding and healing their psychological if not physical wounds. Nero created another temporary shelter and took Altia with him. She had a blindfold so it was a surprise when she saw it. Nero took his pets with him, letting the critters play in the grass. It was interesting how the taming process erased the monsters' bloodlust and replaced them with normal animals' instincts. As normal as a badger, a snake made of stones, and a lion playing together could be.

Nero removed Altia's blindfold.

"Rafflesia!" She gasped.

The location of their honeymoon. The place where he found an unsuspecting family member. He wouldn't take Crystal with them as she had some bad memories of the place, but for the couple it was heaven.

Nero summoned a chair, his easel, and a large two by three canvas. "Would the lady take the seat?"

She smiled and sat. Nobody would tell she was not a noble lady by her pose. Altia's nightly girls' talk with Crystal was not all made of sorrowful stories. The nereid taught the minnid high etiquette and the villager taught the princess a peasant's common sense. In that way they mingled and bonded, becoming truly sisters.

Nero took his stick and paid the mana cost of [Magic Ink]. At his will, the lifeforce he imbued into the stick became paint and he brought his Skill-boosted imagination into reality. Nero painted the flowers, the trees, the blue sky with clouds, and then he immortalized the lovely lady smiling before him. He gave her a dress made of crimson and black rosebud patterns, contrasting with the lively and pastel flowers at the back. The dress looked dignified but had accents of gold and silver that eased the austere feeling the primary colors gave it. He added lace and frills, as playful as the lady's youth demanded.

"I can finish it now. You can go play with our pets if you want but no peeking!"

Altia giggled. "Okay!" And ran between the flower blossoms with the badgers chasing.

Nero poured his soul into the canvas. He should've painted more, but he was too absorbed with the oppressive environment and the study of gadgeteering. He was away from the love of his life for forty-five days and that felt like a lifetime.

Hours later, he showed Altia the painting, alongside with those he made in the Dungeon to convince Moira. The girl sniffled and tears rolled down her cheeks. Altia jumped, wrapped her arms around his neck, and slaked her loneliness with her husband.

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Crystal sat on a rock at the bottom of the ocean with the two nereids Nero captured. The coral reefs were not reality and even without the fish and the plankton, it felt like home. The vast expanse of the ocean in the expanded shelter covered enough room for one or two nereid villages and the knowledge that he'd made that for her warmed the former princess' heart. But she had a job that was entrusted to her without words. Crystal would make Moira and Hefalina sever all ties to Coriander and swear fealty to Nero.

The image of 'King Nero' graced her mind for a moment. She suspected he had no idea how stupidly awesome it was to be able to create worlds on a whim. She hoped he had a grasp of how terrifying it was to know he could make Dungeons. The potential for chaos was mind-boggling. Should he pepper a region with a dozen low-ranked Dungeons, it would be a disaster. He could kill a Kingdom easier than he could build one.

No, she had to steer him away from the path of doom. Not from the path of evil for she no longer believed in that dichotomy. On the same day, Nero saved a hundred villagers from a monster stampede but also murdered in cold blood. Such was the complexity of people. He had the resolve to do what he must, and she admired him for that.

Crystal had to force herself to keep from putting Nero on a pedestal. Her brother. Their bonds surpassed the feeble pull of blood. With all the betrayal and decadence of the Royal court, who could affirm with total conviction that a prince was the king's or even the queen's child? Whole epics have been written around the idea of exchanging children and secret lovers.

The general public would be flabbergasted if they knew how close to reality those tall tales were.

"Your Highness?" Moira snapped Crystal out of her musings.

"No!" Crystal chided. "You will not address me by such terms. I'm Crystal, daughter to Byron and Rhynne, sister to Nero and Altia. Your savior, your benefactor, Moira," She exclaimed as she pointed at her mechanical leg.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"He bothered to rescue you, shelter you, nurture you. An enemy. Don't fool me that you wouldn't think twice to just take his neck if your roles were reversed," She continued. "I can see your soul, Moira. I can read your thoughts through your eyes. I knew how to spot deception before I knew how to speak!"

Princess Serena was back at the helm of the nereid's body. She was never gone or insane, actually. Both were personas, facades she'd woven for herself. She hoped Crystal would one day take over the body and let princess Serena and all her woes and traumas behind. But with the demeanor came the pain. The feeling of being violated both physically and mentally. The despair of spending half a year alone in a Dungeon.

"I'm sorry, Yo- Crystal. It is true that the kid is as generous as he is naive. It is true he spared my niece when he should, by all means, take the shot and move on," Moira sounded contrite. Crystal spotted no deception. "But you cannot abandon your people! We the people of Coriander need our princess back! I beseech you, Your Highness. I heard your tale and I will be forever grateful that he reached out and sheltered you, but you have duties!"

Crystal narrowed her eyes. "Do not speak of duty to me. Duty brought me into a political engagement with that monster. Duty made me into a plaything for that man. My duty was to be a bargaining chip, a commodity to be traded to foster goodwill between two nations. I already fulfilled my duty and failed it because I was too weak. I was too naive.

"Princess Serena is as good as dead. She shall not set foot back in Coriander for as long as I draw breath," Crystal drew a card from her pouch and activated it in her Arbitrium. An ordinary white-grade [Sword] appeared in her hand. "Now you have a choice. Swear fealty to me and abandon all other ties to Coriander. Work to serve my adoptive family to the best of your capacity, without neglect or treachery. Or surrender your lives to this blade. I'll give you an honorable and swift death."

She was unwilling to commit to the second option but had the resolve to follow through. One of her earliest lessons was that all threats must be backed else the negotiator lost all credibility.

"We will not squander the gifts we were given, my lady," Hefalina quickly dove into her knee, head hung low. "I pledge myself to serve you, Crystal, daughter of Huron and Rhynne, sister to Nero and Altia. Without neglect or treachery, for as long as I draw breath."

Moira hesitated. That was not a good sign. She looked to and from the princess and her niece and then touched her artificial leg. She closed her eyes and made her decision. "I, too, swear myself to your service."

Crystal was not pleased. She waved her hand and used her spell on Moira. "[Charm] - Now tell me, do you intend to bring me back to Coriander?"

Moira looked up. "Yes, Your Highness."

The former princess swallowed the saltwater. "Why? Tell me why do you think I have to go."

"Why would you give up the luxury, the glamour of the palace life? You could have anything, eat anything. You had a full company of knights at your service. Why would you trade everything for a peasant's life?"

A rich peasant's life, let that go unsaid. Neither Nero would have suggested that or she would have accepted if the family didn't have the means to grant her a livelihood and protection. The weight the names of [Armsmaster] Byron and [Magus] Rhynne carried had a great impact on her choice. The bonds of love came with conviviality. Adding all the time spent in and out of Dungeons, she was part of that family for more than two years even though less than four months passed in the real world since her kidnapping. Which would add another year in her own relative timetable.

But Moira's confession was eye-opening. Now Crystal knew what was holding her back.

"Moira. Would you like to live in fear of poison your whole life? To be trapped in a gilded cage, to be sold to and raped by some bastard of a prince? To be disowned and cast away at the first sign of trouble by those of your own blood? To have hundreds of would-be assassins sent after you because of a bunch of cards? Such is the glamorous life of a princess you envy so much. You are fooling yourself with childish illusions."

Moira didn't reply.

"Dismiss [Charm]," Crystal said. The nereid sergeant's mind snapped back in control but she would keep the memories of the time she was controlled.

"I'm sorry, Crystal. I was disrespectful by assuming what was better for you. If you would, I'll take my oath now."

"Kneel," Princess Serena ordered. Moira complied. Inside her mind, Crystal beamed a calm and happy smile.

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Food, water, shelter. The three basic pillars of survival were accounted for to the more than two thousand villagers that came with Nero. The elements were at the master of the shelter's beck and call, and it was as pleasant as he wished. People soon spread all over the place, sleeping on the grass under a fake starlit sky thousands of feet away or chopping down trees to make houses. Nero could regrow all of them with a flick of his wrist and a hefty expenditure of mana anyway.

However, happiness was found only by surpassing hardship. A week in paradise and people were already finding fault in their safe haven. People wanted homes, meat, and entertainment. Somehow it was the lord of the realm's fault for not abusing them.

Nero groaned and withdrew to Rodther's shelter. It was the one with all the links he created for fast travel elsewhere. He wanted to open and renewed the portals as he needed. His father-in-law was with him, the merchant's humongous Perception score and assorted detection Skills invaluable for checking for trouble before trouble could find the portal.

First, the one linking to the castle tower. Nero opened it and Huron fired a spell at a diseased wolf that was resting on a strip of sunlight.

"[Shadowbolt]!" The wolf was pushed out of the sunlight and the shadows at the corner of the tower grew darker. Huron fired his active detection Skills. "[Sense Life] - [Detect Enemy]. Close the portal, Nero."

"What was that? A monster?" Nero asked. He only saw the flash of darkness.

"Yes. The whole castle is overtaken by monsters. There is no person near the buildings and two hundred yards around the hill. They either fled or died. I sensed thousands of monsters, though."

Nero connected to the Dire Warg's Dungeon next. He fired [Essence Analysis] on the portal and found it was white-grade. All good and well. He waited for Huron to use his detection Skills but the result was the same. Only monsters as far as he could sense. The third portal he checked was the one he made inland as part of his escape plan. The same thing. The only difference was that the density of monsters was lowering the further they went from the castle. Nero didn't have a portal to Coriander's army camp, but he doubted it was any better.

"Next one is Hom," Nero said. I won't leave it open more than a second, so get ready. On zero from a count of three."

Nero opened the portal, Huron fired his Skills and he closed. Right after the passage closed, Nero gagged. The stench of rotting gore was terrible.

"Please, tell me I'm mistaken," Nero asked his father-in-law.

Huron shook his head and rubbed Nero's back. "No. You are not mistaken. We need to tell that to your father. Come."