The first two tries didn't work out, but the third shield Eliza put up stuck, and I wrapped it in glyphs to make sure that it absorbed magic from the people around. The place would only be taking small amounts of Mana from each person, but as long as people came each day and tended to the gardens, the place would be good and stay warm and watered.
"This place is amazing, but are you sure that we don't owe you for any of this?! This looks like the type of thing that you would find in a fancy city!" The elder exclaimed, and Goldy giggled.
"You won't find anything like this anywhere you look. This place is the first of its kind in this world. You should be all thankful for your goddess, Tallia. She was the one that asked Galio to help you all," Goldy explained, and Kendra, the village elder, nodded, turning to me, and she bowed.
"I do thank Tallia, but You really have helped us out a lot, Cat God. Is there anything we can do to repay you for your kindness?" Kendra asked, but I shook my head with a smile.
"Nah, just vote Hilda. As long as you people take care of this place, it will take care of you. Do not always harvest everything, and sometimes let the food go to seed if it needs to, and you will have good food all the time. I have to see how the other villages are, but I think that there is one close enough to a river run nets, and the rest are far enough north that setting up a few trap lines should help bring in more meat. When everything settles down, I will come back and make more of these, and then you all can form a trade route between the villages. It is going to take a few days, but I think that you will see an improvement in the quality of life you all live now," I explained, and the older woman came over and gave me a hug, and then all the villagers came in to join in a massive group hug.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" They all chanted, and I chuckled and hugged them all back.
"You are all welcome. All I ask is that you all take care of each other and this place. Once I leave, I don't know when I will be back, but I will come to visit soon," I said, and they all nodded.
"We will take care of this place. We all thank you again, Cat God," Kendra said, and I chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah. Now let me go so I can check on the others, and then I need lunch," I said, and they all chuckled as they let me go. I waved as I walked out of the crowd with the girls and headed to the bakery that was now open for business for the day.
"How did everything go?" Claire asked as she handed me a pastry, and I sighed as I took a seat.
"Good. I am just glad that they weren't too bad off, but I don't think that the other villages are going to be so lucky. I will have to get some things set up to help them out, but other than that, I think that things are going to be better for them. The biggest worry is the Demons and Joselyn. We have two more villages to go through before we are close enough to head to Torrain. Once we can, I want to head there and go meet with both Hilda and Carrie. I need to know what both of them are thinking, and I would like to keep Hilda safe until I can deal with this all," I explained, but then looked around. "Where is T?"
"MY name is Titania, Queen of the Fae!" She snapped as she walked from the back of the shop, but covered in flour. "Do not ask!"
"Mmm, not how I would cover you in white, but this is kind of a cute look for you," I teased as she yelled at me, but I already had her in a bubble of air with the water dragon splashing into her. Once the wind had dried her off and pulled the scowling goddess into my chest, she was still scowling but leaned into me as I looked over at the other four. "Do you all want to get some stuff for us all? I will pay."
The girls cheered and ran up to the counter as I reached into one of my bags to pull out a few gold coins, handing them to Eliza. All the girls but Titania started ordering things. Instead, she just relaxed my arms while I stroked her hair gently, but then I felt a portal that opened up behind me, and I turned to see Tallia walking out.
"Things are looking better here already. The people are looking to be in a lot better spirits, and I saw the nice greenhouse that you built. I am interested to see what you do with the next places, but I am sure that you know how bad they are. I can't believe that you actually found the Origin hiding on my island. You have been quite busy," Tallia said as she came over and gave me a kiss over Titania before walking over to the counter, but the woman fleeced me for a gold coin and added it to Eliza's other three.
"Oh! Goddess! Did you come to get some sweets?" Eliza exclaimed as she hugged Tallia, and my goddess patted her head.
"Yes, things have slowed down, and I finally got Melrose out of her manor and back out on a boat," Tallia said and then turned to give me a look. "No surprise visits! If you want to go talk to the woman, you do it with me only. All the windows on the second floor have been boarded over, and the place is starting to look like it is under siege. You have shaken that poor woman to her core."
"Yeah, not one of my brightest moments, but it does sound like you are making progress with her. When I am done in Torrain, I will try to help out so I can earn her trust," I explained, but I wanted to know about the temple, but that could wait. It looked like Tallia was going to come back with us to talk, so I could prod her about Kari. Not like I didn't have enough to worry about with this place, but I was doing this so more Girls didn't have to become playthings for leaders. That seemed to be a going thing around here with the less-than-savory types, but I was going to bust them up wherever I found them.
Occasionally missing content, please report errors in time.