With the young men and women meeting up from both villages, they could move to the free village. It had 2 benefits. One was reclaiming the space from squatters and a mix of bandits and mercenaries. The second was that they could build it up as well into a third town. Their plan had always been to use the resources of the 2 traitor villages to become small towns. With the added wealth, they could level up the settlements further into regular sized towns. Still, they would need the population to fill the new houses they were filing the space with. That was where the bandits and mercenaries came in. Now that the villages actually wanted fresh blood, they welcomed the newcomers with open arms. The first trio of mercenary bands actually accepted. They actually had permanent homes to rest in now. The warbands instantly became the guards and warriors of the town. The train of followers made up all the missing services the town needed. Extra smiths, armorers, engineers, doctors, cooks, laborers, women, children and prostitutes were needed for a small town to work out.
No one like being stolen from, but people could turn a blind eye to goods and wealth stolen from others if it was used to their personal benefit. All the Blade Spirits aside from the black dragon lived in Village 3. That left Village 2 completely open for the bandits and mercenaries that settled there. The dozen or so young couples did not matter at all as they were not all that strong. Village 1 was where the dragon made his home. Aydin, the pottery artisan with the red tessen Blade Spirit, was able to rise to leadership in Village 4. He became the first mayor. The leader of the mercenary company became the marshal. Knat and I had lived in Village 5 for a time. They did not have any real power to assert themselves. Aside from the buildings, they had no bargaining chips once the mercenaries and bandits were among them. The leader of the mercenaries became the mayor and the bandit captain became the town marshal. The same was true for the small town where The head doctors of the towns were native doctors of the original villages. We were still living freely in Village 3.
Having a set of 3 towns meant that it was easier to repel those that wanted to invade the valley from the side where Villages 4 and 5 used to be. The dragon killed almost everyone coming from the opposite end of the valley. All of us in Village 3 were still honor bound to protect the towns. Village 4, headed by Aydin, named the town Osna as that was the name for the people indigenous to the land. Village 5 named the town after the mercenary company. It was now Ethana Town, after the Ethan's Serpents company. Village 2 was named Adron Town after Adrien and Ronnie's Bastard Blades. With that connection, there was no wonder why the companies' coat of arms became the official flags of the towns. Adron Town had a black flag with 2 yellow swords crossed on it. Ethana Town had a green flag with a black snake. Osna was a bit more collaborative in making their flag. The Lucky Lions had settled there after seeking battles and land as mercenaries. This was the Osna people's land and blue was important. At the end, they took a blue flag and had a lion on a pile of gold.
