As the four of them arrived at the gap in the palisade that served as an entrance to the settlement, they noticed that a large crowd had gathered, many of them being held back by the squad of soldiers.

“C’mon Bill, I just wanna see the Naga, I’ve never seen one before. Let us through.”

“Do you think there’s a Naga country around here somewhere? I wonder how they survive the winter.”

“My cousin told me that he had only seen one when he was sailing along the western islands.”

Ozzy could hear the murmurs of the crowd as he approached and turned on one of his recently gained [skills].

A [Commanding Presence] spread out from Ozzy as he moved to the crowd and yelled, “Okay, okay, everyone stop bothering the soldiers. Move aside, unless you want to be ankle deep in dirt because Caldura decided that you’re sticking around too long.” said Ozzy.

The crowd parted as they recognized the voice of the [Patrician] and turned to see the four of them approaching the gap. The crowd quickened their steps as they heard his declaration. Partly because of Caldura’s reputation, even though they had learned to accept their [Patricians] sense of humor by now. Mostly because they knew that whenever the [Patrician] came by, something interesting was going to happen and they definitely wanted front row seats to that.

They strode out and Harkonen led them to where the Naga sitting, coiled upon its own tail.

Ozzy was shocked by the Naga’s appearance. He had been expecting some sort of humanoid snake, with arms and a snake face, but accompanied by a long scaly body.

He wasn’t wrong, but he wasn’t exactly correct either. In the first place, the Naga had no teeth, which was apparent as it smiled at the approaching group. Second, it was tall, roughly 8 feet tall, it towered over everyone else. Lastly, it had feathers, small feathers covered the top of its body and faded away towards the tail, they grew particularly long on its head and forearms. Yet this was not the most shocking aspect of the Naga, the most shocking aspect was the riot of colours present upon its body. Its feathers ranged from bright green, to a sunrise red to the blue of a sunlit cove. The tabard it was wearing was equally colourful, a bright orange that stood out in the muted greens and purples of the landscape.

Ozzy wasn’t ashamed to admit that his jaw dropped a little bit.

“Hello, you asked to meet with me?” asked Ozzy.

“Yes, this one greets you, this one is Balshak Peruchal. This one felt the call from your settlement and made his way here, is you still accepting da people?” asked Balshak.

“Indian accent….” whispered Ozzy.

“What?” asked Balzak.

“Nothing, I suppose the first order of business is to ask where you came from and if you are fleeing any legal troubles that may follow you here.” asked Ozzy.

“This one is from the Makar Federation to the east. This one is a [Merchant] working in the Federation, but when the Scaar Coalition war entered its third year this one began looking for a new place far from war.” said Balshak.

Ozzy turned to look at Caldura and Lt.Harkonen with a raised eyebrow. Both shook their head, “I’ve never even heard of those countries.” she added.

“Not surprising, this one had never seen your kind before this one crossed the western ocean to come here. Took three years to make it this far. Another year to learn the language. Luckily there were other Naga along the southern desert, otherwise this one may have gone back home.” said Balshak, preening some of her facial feathers.

“Southern Naga tribes?” asked Ozzy.

“Ya man, remnants of the Guyo Kingdom that fled across the desert.” Balshak replied. “But to da point Leaderman, is you still accepting people?”

Ozzy looked at Caldura. She in turn bit her lip for a moment, torn by indecision.

“Do you mind excusing us for a moment. I have to speak to my advisor and determine if we can accomodate you.” said Ozzy, turning away from the Naga and stepping outside of presumed earshot.

“What’s gotten you so torn up? It seems like a simple decision. Can we take them or not? Normally I’d say yes, some more manpower would let us speed up development.” asked Ozzy.

Caldura didn’t even snap back at him, which was a sign that she was truly worried. “Naga are different, there are very few in Monravia, they mostly live in the southern and western Kingdoms. They’re…..they breed quickly. Unlike elves, in a few decades their population could overwhelm our own. Although they only live to be around 200, it is still a concern. An overwhelming population advantage would let them have an undue amount of influence very quickly.”

“That’s what you’re worried about? So what if they outnumber elves? They’ll be my citizens, as long as they follow the rules, the ones that exist anyway, what's the problem?” asked Ozzy.

“The problem is that we’re too young. You’re barely 70 and I’m only 350. You haven’t built up the [skills] necessary to counter forced takeovers if they plan to initiate one. Skills like [Mutiny], or classes like [Traitor] can allow insurgents to take over a settlement at the cost of the leader's life.” explained Caldura.

“Ah.” said Ozzy.

“Right now I’m confident about being able to protect you if necessary, but if there’s four hundred Naga who turn on you in a few decades then I am not that confident.” said Caldura.

“No problem, I have absolute faith in you. More importantly, I have faith in the Naga. Everything is going to work out Caldura.” said Ozzy with a grin as he strode off to rejoin the Naga.

“Ms. Balshak, we can most definitely accomodate you. How many people should we expect?” asked Ozzy.

“Hold on, let me show you.” said Balshak with a grin before yelling. “IT’S OKAY, WE CAN JOIN, COME OUT GUYS!”

Ozzy was shocked to find that part of the treeline in the distance shifted to reveal a large caravan of individuals next to carts and wagons. They began to move in the direction of the settlement.

Balshak turned to Ozzy with a grin. “[Camouflaged Caravan], very useful to have as a [Merchant], especially in these parts. It’s not invisibility but it’s enough to fool most manaborn or beasts.”

“We didn’t sense it either. A very useful skill.” said Pick.

“Well, I suppose that you should get to work then sir. I’ll return to the Command Tent and prepare to chew out the patrols for missing an entire caravan.” said Lt. Harkonen, who left with a quick salute.

“Everyone is going to yell at me. I know it.” whispered Ozzy.

“Oh, most definitely. Sheila, Sumeila, Tomar, and Frederickson are all going to kill you.” said Caldura.

--

“Is everyone happy now? You’ve all yelled at me as much as you want?” asked Ozzy, massaging his forehead.

“Absolutely not you incompetent, self-important, reckless-”

“Yes, thank you Tomar. I don’t need the full list, I’m quite familiar with it.” said Ozzy raising his hand.

Lt. Harkonen, Caldura, Sheila and even Frederickson bristled slightly upon hearing Tomar. Everyone complained to Ozymandias, it was one of the aspects of his leadership that they had gotten used to. The extent to which they were free to express themselves was unseen in any other ruling body in the world. However, they also recognized that being free to express themselves and what Tomar was doing was not the same. They had all begun to speak amongst themselves about the matter and had heard uncertain rumblings amongst the populace.

“Sheila, give me solutions.” said Ozzy.

“Well sir. Per your direction we have outfitted almost everyone with wooden cabins, we were just beginning to make barracks for the soldiers and then we would have started upon an office and cabin for you. We can repurpose some of our old tents for the newcomers, there are a few [Builders] within the group who can integrate into my group and speed up the process.” stated Sheila.

“Ok, move my office and cabin to the bottom of the list, I can take a backseat on this one.” said Ozzy. “We can start the second district ahead of schedule and put the new arrivals residential buildings there. Try to keep the same principles in place.” said Ozzy, aware that Sheila would know what he was referencing.

“Sumeila, how are our food stores?” asked Ozzy.

“We have enough, including what the new people brought themselves, we should be fine. The [Gatherers] have found a few berry patches and root vegetables that we have been pickling or turning to jam. That combined with our stored grains should be more than enough to sustain everyone until the next few harvests.” said Sumeila.

“On that note, Tomar, how is production?” asked Ozzy.

Tomar’s sneer was the stuff of legend, open disdain dripped from his face. “We’re boned. The [Gatherers] will be fine, but the [Hunters] are experiencing more difficulty finding adequate amounts of prey. We are finding that they are fleeing from the area as the manaborn return to the region. Even with the carugars assisting the [Hunters] we can’t find enough. More importantly, the [Farmers] cannot maintain our current levels. They’ve been using [Fast Growth] very consistently, the land is unable to maintain such growth.”

Stunned silence was present in the tent at this reveal. The moment persisted until Caldura broke it.

“You allowed them to use [Fast Growth] and didn’t tell anyone. The land could be damaged beyond repair!” yelled Caldura.

“Do not raise your voice at me! I am not some level 5 [Forester] who is new to matters of the land. I am aware of what the consequences are! Managed properly, [Fast Growth] is a skill which can be beneficial to a settlement.” returned Tomar.

“Not to undercut the lovely tension we have going on, but what’s the problem with [Fast Growth]?” asked Ozzy.

“Of course.” taunted Tomar.

Caldura sent a glare to Tomar before responding. “[Fast Growth] allows for the rapid growth of produce, but in exchange it leeches the ground at an accelerated rate. The skill grows at a rapid rate when in use which leads to a multiplying effect. [Farmers] have been known to leave the countryside leeched of the ability to grow things for generations through misuse of the skill. The [Kingdom] of Ventrass once used tactical [Farmers] to essentially salt the land and deny their enemies food.”

“Huh, and I don’t suppose we could use fertilizer to replenish the land?” asked Ozzy.

“What?” asked Caldura.

“I believe Master Ozymandias is referring to the practice of using animal dung to rejuvenate the land. It is a viable procedure. Although the lack of cattle may make that difficult.” said Pick.

The representatives in the tent turned to Pick in surprise. He rarely spoke up during these sessions and they were surprised to see him offer his opinion.

In Ozzy’s opinion this was very surprising, because Pick’s physical transformation alone should have warranted constant staring. He was a picture perfect faun or satyr or something dressed in old royal clothing. Like a general pulled from World War 1 with the form of a goat man. It didn’t help that his face was absurdly handsome, something which Ozzy was still somewhat disgruntled about. Afterall who would be happy if the fuzzy faced wind man you were hanging out with turned out to be some sort of windy model?

“What is this method? How come you’ve never mentioned it before?” asked Caldura.

Ozzy shrugged, “I assumed you guys knew about it. It’s common knowledge. You mix feces with dirt to return lost nutrients. Or something like that. I’m not a farmer, the idea is to return lost nutrients back to the soil.”

“Try it out Tomar, if it works then we may be out of trouble.” said Caldura. I will check the fields in a few weeks to determine land health.”

“It’s not just your feces. Things such as worms need to be introduced into the dirt to break down the feces. I’m not an expert in farming but I’m sure that there was something like that as well.” said Pick.

"Pick, if any of the Aon Dar know anything more about this subject send them to the farmers to share their knowledge, better than us bumbling around in the dark." ordered Ozzy.