A middle-aged woman in soot-streaked robes clutched her son's hand and approached.
Victor presented her the deed to the village mill: a torn parchment stained with mud. "Your mill's ownership is restored," he announced. She broke into tears and embraced the document. Behind her, a group of craftsmen hurried forth, carrying battered sacks of grain and ruined milling stones which were surplus provisions the Og territory was forced to send to the Marauders.
Victor allocated them to the millwrights and watched as the villagers set about repairing their gate and mill in renewed fervor.
"Thank you," the woman sobbed. "Lingyun will always be our ally."
---
Next was Emberford, set atop a windswept mesa plateau. The entrance was flanked by cracked sandstone columns and tumbleweed.
V8ctor dismounted, raising a polished steel seal stamped with the town's emblem which had two crossed hammers on a blood-red field.
