The evacuation quest should put a waypoint for every leprechaun to come here to me as the closest portal. I didn't want them all using my personal portals so I pulled a spare thread portal through and set it up with a backing of stone next to the table I had made. The exit of the portal I made go on the defended side of the portal nexus room. Once it was set up I stepped through to find Brutus and Barr on guard duty again.

"My lord," Brutus said, waving in greeting.

"Good afternoon Brutus, and Barr," I said. "There are going to be a lot of leprechauns passing through. They've just joined the fortress. Their current location seems to be secure, but I'm sending them through here so you can keep an eye out."

Brutus nodded and he and Barr opened up the gate that they'd set up that separated the internal fortress portal wall from the external portal wall. I moved the exit to the leprechaun floor onto the wall next to the druid floor exit, and pointed it out to Brutus.

Ailfrid had made his slow way through the first portal and was the first leprechaun to step through.

"Don't you have scouts that should be leading the way?" I asked with a smile.

"Bah," Ailfrid said. "They wouldn't have the first clue about what a new settlement required."

I led him through the portal to his new floor and he looked around. It was unlit and quite dark, only the lights from the portal nexus showing a short distance out into the floor. After a few moments Ailfrid did something that made the air itself glow, flowing out to fill the room.

"Impressive wards," Ailfrid said. "It would have been more effective to place the light over the stone, but access is completely blocked."

He looked around the now lit floor and hummed to himself. Other leprechauns were coming through the portal in ones and twos, clustering together to the side.

"It is certainly a tall space," Ailfrid said. "Were you expecting to house giants here?"

"I wanted the option of having two levels for peoples of about my size," I said. "That would make it almost four levels for your people?"

"Yes, a lot of space," Ailfrid said. "This will house our people quite comfortably. You said you would help us with initial construction, would that include filling the entire floor with soil?"

"That's simple enough to do," I said. "You don't want any stone walls put in?"

"No," Ailfrid said. "We can manage our own building quite readily. We just need something similar to the hills we are used to. And a place to remove the excess dirt to."

I pulled out a thread portal to start filling the area with dirt and set it going, starting around the portal and leaving a five meter by five meter area clear around it. And I assigned a quest similar to the Mountain Keeper stone quest to dispose of dirt rather than stone, though without the Fortress Coin reward. I tied the quest to the location of the floor, which was a new idea I wanted to try out. It will make it so that anyone on the leprechaun floor would have access to the quest if they wanted it.

"That will take some time to finish filling the entire floor," I said. "But it should go faster than you are able to dig it out. Access to running water would come from the floor above, and I will put in pipes where you need them. Waste material and water goes through similar pipes or chutes down to the floor below. The only other thing is that I recommend that you make a greeting area that is sized for us taller people."

Ailfrid nodded. "Yes, that would be wise," Ailfrid said. "Although I expect that idiot will be more courteous now that you are our overlord. We should get started, then."

I would need to personally pay attention to where they needed the service pipes connected... Unless. I made a quest requesting a report on the locations that service pipes should be placed and sent it to Ailfrid with a reward of one Fortress Coin.

"Hmm," Ailfrid said. "Interesting. How do I submit a report?"

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Oh, whoops. That might explain why I hadn't gotten any of the other reports as well.

"Write it down and place it in a Fortress Presence," I said. "Oh, and you can access the Fortress Shop by saying or thinking 'Fortress Shop' while near a Fortress Presence. That should be everything you need to get started. Feel free to ask questions of the other people in the fortress, or of one of the Fortress Presences. I want to get back and see the army for myself."

Ailfrid nodded. "You could use a manager for dealing with new people to the fortress, but we should be able to manage, as you say," Ailfrid said. "I will get a scout to guide you to the army's location."

He turned slowly to face the cluster of leprechauns, which was already over a hundred strong, and scowled.

"What are you lot doing just standing around, we have homes to dig and furniture to move," Ailfrid said. "Beacan, get over here, you're going on a mission with our new Lord."

As soon as Ailfrid said the word 'mission' I started creating a quest for Beacan to guide me to the army north of the old leprechaun village. I sent it just as he came to a stop in front of us.

"Escort lord C.C. to the frost zone that holds the army of winter," Beacan said, reading the blue screen in front of him. "And the reward is one Fortress Coin. This will be my second after the Evacuation quest completed, but what are they used for?"

Ailfrid was frowning at him. "You can find out when you've completed the mission, quest," Ailfrid said. "Off you go."

I nodded to Ailfrid and led Beacan back to the leprechaun floor portal, the leprechauns that were coming through the portal moving aside to let us through. Through the portal on the other side to the old leprechaun village there was a huge crowd of leprechauns being directed by Liz, their matriarch. Which seemed unusual for someone of her station to be doing personally.

The crowd parted to let us through on this side as well and we were soon moving off to the north. We were moving a lot slower than I did when I was travelling, barely making five kilometers an hour with Beacan running. He managed to keep up the pace for the first five minutes, and I amused myself by using my heat vision to spot leprechaun archers in their hides in the trees.

Beacan was being much more professional this time, taking his role as a scout seriously without any of the chatter that had marked his escorting me to see the matriarch. He was also nearly silent in his movement, and without my heat vision he would have blended into the background of the lightly grassed hills as he was moving. After five minutes he began to pant slightly and I slowed to a stop.

"You seem to be almost invisible as you're running," I said.

Beacan nodded. "It's a semi-passive stealth skill," He said. "It uses some mana while moving, but while staying still it makes it nearly impossible to be seen or heard."

"Is it slowing you down or tiring you out more than just running would?" I asked.

Beacan's face flushed. "No," He said. "And I'm not weak either. We're just moving faster than I can run without resting. If we were to move at three quarters of our current speed then I could go until nightfall."

Dropping our speed down to less than four kilometers an hour.

"And how far is it to the army?" I asked.

"The reports place it at forty kilometers away," Beacan said.

"It would take you ten hours to get there, ordinarily?" I asked.

"Closer to eleven," Beacan said.

"I would rather not take so long," I said. "How would you feel if I were to carry you?"

"Uncomfortable, my lord," Beacan said. "But if that is the best solution then I will cope."

I wanted to keep my hands free, just in case, so I spent a few minutes making a small wood and cloth chair that I could carry strapped in front of me with belts. I added an extra belt going over the chair, as well as solid handholds, so that Beacan had a way to keep himself in at the speeds we would be moving. He climbed in when I indicated that it was ready and I picked it up and strapped it on.

My center of gravity was shifted forward somewhat, but that was easy to adjust for. We were out of the woods that surrounded the leprechaun village and there weren't any major obstacles to go around. I started out at a jog that quickly turned into a full sprint, making an impressive fifty kilometers an hour on the downward slopes of the hills, but slowing down to forty kilometers an hour going up. Less than an hour later Beacan tapped me on the side and I slowed to a stop at the top of the next hill.

"The next hill is where the frost zone starts," Beacan said. "I will go scout it."

I was impressed he was able to keep his bearings while moving so much faster than he was used to. He unstrapped the belt holding him in to the seat and hopped down as I knelt, quickly moving to the next hill. I unstrapped the multiple belts that were holding the chair to me while I waited for him to return. Two minutes later I saw his heat signature coming back but it wasn't until he was ten meters away that I could make him out visually.

"There are dozens of ice wisps patrolling everywhere along the border," Beacan said. "There is no way that you won't be seen, as big as you are."

"Thank you," I said. "I still want to see the army for myself. There is no need for you to stick around if it might come to a fight."

A Fortress Coin materialised in front of Beacan as the quest completed and he grabbed it from where it was floating. I made him a portal back to the portal nexus room and he gave me a nod before stepping through.

Placing the portal back in my pocket I set off at a jog to the next hill. I slowed as I reached the top, trying to be at least a little bit stealthy I crept up to the lone frozen tree at the peak.

Just before I got there an ice wisp floated in front of me and started bouncing up and down.