With magic aiding me and the fact that the Turtenani were the closest settlement to the Scalefolk the journey took barely an hour which was nice. As the battle worn wall of the city came into view I could the heads of the puppet guards peaking up just above the more stable sections of the wall. Anastasia had decided to stay in the Scalefolk city to oversee it for a bit and make sure that everything worked out somewhat smoothly.
Even after I passed through the city gates I couldn't see signs of the inhabitants. The corpses of the city's previous glory days strewn about, those corpses being the still empty homes, businesses, cultural centers, and other every day infrastructure that the Priestess had let rot. However the survivors soon appeared in the still intact houses, it was somewhat staggered just a simple candle or fire smoke blowing overhead. Soon though it opened into a bustling city center. A burgeoning market where craftsman who had reignited their old professions offered the goods they had made. Many Turtenani still worked in the mines although they no longer worked grueling hours and improved working conditions. I stopped in front of the modest city hall, two burly Turtenani stood flanking the door however as they saw me they fell to one knee and beat their first to their heart.
"We Greet the Liberator!" They said almost in unison. I felt uncomfortable at the greeting but luckily my helmet disguised my unease.
"You... You may stand" I had to stop myself from making sound like a question trying to embody the few times my dad had commanded someone to do something. The two reluctantly stood up though they still held a deference to me in their eyes.
"Is your leader busy?" I asked him, realizing I hadn't spent as much time figuring out who was running the show as I did with the subsequent cities.
"Uhh, oh um no he's inside I'll let his majesty know you're here, Liberator" one of the Guardsman stated as he knocked thrice upon the door before opening the door and closing it behind him. Not even thirty seconds later the sheepish guard opened the door and guided me inside.
Inside I was greeted by a small council room, a few carved unpolished marble desks and chairs. A the head of the room was a surprisingly young Turtenani with a simple circular wooden ring on his brow although the top of his head was completely covered by a near golden colored shell.
The person I assumed was the one the guard called 'his majesty' too stood up from his chair and knelt before me which too felt awkward.
"I am Cronan Crownshell Fortieth King of the Turtenani, my grandfather was the Last King of the Turtenani" Cronan
"Please, rise no need for that" I said as I sat in a chair across from him. The King who was roughly my age rose and retook his seat.
"Soon I must leave these caves however before I do I want to make sure that the five cities are secured, peaceful, and on the road to prosperity" I said trying to embody wisdom I didn't have.
What followed was a brief overview of the problems plaguing the Turtenani. The fish from the Newtkin had helped keep everything in order along with the detachment of the Puppets standing guard. Otherwise the main problems were pre-existing ones, the invasion of the Scalefolk forced the Turtenani to be forced on a single industry and left the others to rot. Thankfully a few tradespeople and craftsman honed and passed on their arts that they weren't completely screwed but it would take a while for them to get underway.
When I showcased my ability to use [Geomancy] the King begged me to not be to flippant with it because if I did it would ruin the main resource that the Turtenani exported. So I agreed only to do critical infrastructure so that way the Turtenani craftsman would have work.
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After that I laid out a plan, during my first trip to the City I had noticed a nearby underground river that flowed adjacent to the quarry. The idea was that I would carve channels throughout the city that would allow the stones to be carried to the stone masons shops. Although they would have to source the rafts from the Newtkin to carry the stones to and from but it would increase production while creating new jobs as channel workers.
After that I repaired several key cultural monuments and government buildings. Those primarily being the old palace which foundations the Priestesses pyramid has been built upon. I also built a new wall that surrounded the heart of the city to save the older wall as a later project while making sure that they where still protected.
By that time the King and his advisors had already created a map of where to build the channels so that they could be used effectively, wouldn't interfere with foot traffic, and left room for expansion. After about a day of travel, work, planning, I looked down upon the city from one of the guard towers. The Palace which was still a shell of its former selve from what whispers I had heard being nothing more then an oval with an entrance as the King considered to be poor taste to have a grand house while his people struggled and had also moved government operations into the palace. The channels moved like veins throughout many sorts of the inhabited city with bridges that allowed for movement. Although no crafts or ships moved through the city that would soon change.
Then their was a building that I had to build that was extremely awkward, the shrine. The shrine to Noble or the Liberator, I had to build cause to not would leave a bunch of divinity just floating around however it still felt surreal.
However now I had done my part for helping the Turtenani and I to check up on the Newtkin.
The Journey took three hours, primarily because I kept stopping to make sure that the roads were safe and fully repaired form neglect. Roads and rivers were the life blood of civilization, something I had learned in history class that was still a hundred percent valid.
Eventually I came to the marsh lands of the Newtkin that surrounded the coastline of the lake where I could see several fishing boats doting the obsidian waters. The City of the Newtkin had faced substantially better conditions primarily due to its role as a fish basket to the other settlements and the strength of the Newtkin's regeneration. While the Scalefolk still conquered the Newtkin they had a weaker control over them.
Their was substantially less deference in the Newtkin's eyes and expressions but ultimately they were still extremely thankful.
Meeting the council of the Newtkin was interesting as it was a kind of Oligarchy where the powerful and influential members got a vote with the head currently being the Senior Shipwright. I ended repairing the damage to their walls and their central harbor but left the other stuff damaged as I had promised to the King of the Turtenani. Otherwise besides a modest shrine on the lake front I didn't have much do. So I moved on to the Geckonese, with trip only taking an hour and a half before I saw the remains of the root wall in the distance.
This time while the Puppets were standing guard the Geckonese had their own guards utilizing the cavern walls and roots to gain better vantage points.
"The Liberator has Returned!" A guard called down to the city below from his root perch. The other guards carried the message along, and soon as I ran my hand along the fibers of the root wall I felt the looks of hope from the growing crowd of Geckonese. Flaring [Floramancy] I pushed my Mana into the roots and I felt their anguish and misery. I also knew what was needed and went a bit beyond Mana.
'Hey, Noble can you hook yourself up?' I asked and I felt a flow of Divinity from him and I spooled it up at my finger tips before spreading through the roots. The Domain of the Depths connected to the roots helping them grow and draw strength from the ground while the Domain of Protection strengthen the roots had began to take on an actual wall shape. Their were gasps of wonder and tears of joy in the background that I had to shut out as I made sure that not only would these roots protect but that even after they where burned they would grow back to this shape. Eventually I felt it was complete and I opened my eyes and I saw a giant root wall that loomed over the city benevolently.
