After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World

Another day passed by in Fargo, and the long-awaited replacement team from Alterra has finally arrived. It was Plaridel and Mao leading the team, this time.

Along with them were about 10 more guards, set to be some of the main forces while the local forces were being trained.

The accompanying Alterran guards were not the strongest, but they all had above average potentials and being assigned to lead their own teams should improve their strengths as well as their leadership skills.

Included in this group was the cousins Angelo and Jesse. This mission was basically a shortcut for captainship so no one who were offered the opportunity declined it—no matter how reluctant they were to part with the goodness of Alterra.

They also kinda missed their friend Amos, who had decided to stay for a while.

As for how the soldiers Plaridel and Mao were chosen, Plaridel picked the short stick, while Mao was there to assist with the mining operation.

Of course, this didn’t mean he’d mine himself. Rather, he’d use his ability in an attempt to find the weak spots in the caves and therefore find the best places to mine first for efficiency.

Another notable thing about this group was: They arrived on bikes.

The rides were specially outfitted not only to handle the rough terrain but the very fast pedalling speed of level 20s. For this, even the professional equipment makers were tapped.

Now, even if it was through denser forests, it could totally traverse it!

Sprinting without the skill or equipment was something everyone could use after a certain point. It was just that it consumed health and required focus. That was to say, not only would they have low life, they might not be able to defend themselves when a monster, possibly a speed monster, were to eat them for real.

The bike also had a sleek design, and strong appearance, which was just cool in and of itself.

Anyway, it was very impressive and the people of Limestone Valley were in awe.

”These are made for heavy terrain and had the string pedalling force of reinforced bodies!”

”AMAZING!”

”Where can we get one?”

However, the newcomers weren’t able to detail anything, as Althea and the others arrived to see them.

They almost saluted when they saw Garan and the general. They excused themselves from the audience and went to talk with them. Before separating though, they yelled at the crowd.

”It’s available only in Alterra Village, but it’s still expensive, a couple of gold!”

”Can we buy them please!?”

”The bikes are territory property and we’re just borrowing it!”

”The bikes are up?” Althea asked as soon as they got near.

They were really surprised with the bikes to be honest, because they weren’t ready back then. ”Yes, the factories wanted to send these to you.”

Mao excitedly told them that the research center had been rushing to finish it. It was too health-consuming to sprint from territory to territory and, now that they had a satellite, it was needed more than ever.

Althea chuckled at this while Garan was straight to the point, as always. ”How’re your missions?” he asked, referring to the missions checking on Vismont and Belluga Villages.

”Vismont seemed fine for now,” Plaridel said.

”Belluga seems to be on track,” Mao added. ”Though they did request to buy a lot of medicine to stock. They’re requesting to temporarily increase the purchase limit for them.”

Althea nodded at this, taking note.

The two also mentioned some information they gathered. Other than Fargo, they concluded that other Terran territories would be unlikely to attack another Terran territory. This was something they got from the new refugees. Other Terran territories were just struggling to survive as it was.

As for the aborigine villages that Oslo warned them about, they’d have to watch out more. For one, Belluga had been attacked before and it was only a matter of time before they started targeting the nearby territories.

By estimate, the first ones to get attacked would be the territories near where protective cloud was. Alterra was a few territories away from that place.

Further, while they weren’t shielded from beast tides, aborigines would indeed find them more difficult to find than, say, Bright and Belluga, which villages on relatively flatter lands.

Of course, while it was unlikely for them to be attacked earlier than others, they didn’t dare to feel complacent either.

Anyway the group, along with the soldiers Leon and Santos, as well as General Henry and Victor, came along to meet up at the Village Center Meeting Hall.

Garan assigned Vanessa to recruitment duty (of highly-skilled professionals) and didn’t allow her to enter another meeting until she finished the job.

She didn’t have much to contribute other than made him and his wife annoyed anyway.

They talked about the next step of action, as well as what to do with the new hires. Victor would also have the right to send announcements, but they were limited and could only contain so many words...

Mao sighed, ”Communication is really hard…”

Speaking of this, Althea looked at them. ”Has there been progress with the birds?”

When Eagle and Sheila, and then Ansel, told her more about these birds back then, she had been fascinated. When they told her that they actually caught some, she was pleasantly surprised.

These birds had evolved basically undetectable in order to survive. For the past few weeks, they had been trying to train them to send messages like pigeons did back in Terran.

”Well, our Zoologist Reddit and natural-animal-friend Chucky had been working on it since before the war.

”Before we left, we heard both Reddit and Chucky triggered ’Animal Trainer’ occupation,” Mao said. ”It shouldn’t be long before we get some progress.”

At the time, they wondered if it was like beast masters, but it turned out to be a bit different. The aborigines said they may have heard of the profession, but it wasn’t common—primarily because there was little need for it.

Broats and Gugu birds were weak and easily hunted. They didn’t go extinct because of their fecundity and ability to hide and be low-key. The locals wouldn’t bother training them to be anything else.

The mention of birds alone though intrigued Victor and the others, especially when they were discussed in the context of communication.

”Birds?” Victor asked, ”They have non-monstrous birds here?”

”Yes, we found them by accident. They’re very fast and small, ideal to becoming messenger birds.

”While we figure out the usual radiowaves and towers, they seem to be a more viable option for now, so we decided to research on this,” Althea kindly explained, and the man couldn’t help but be flattered.

From what Althea knew, the birds’ training had a lot to do with the ’loft’ or the birds’ abodes. They had the instinct to find their way back to the loft after training, much like how pigeons were trained.

”There’s still a lot to study, of course, but I believe we’re on the right track.”

Victor and the others couldn’t help but gape at what they were hearing.

First, it was superior-looking Bikes and now it was messenger birds?

It had only been a few months, right?

What kind of place is Alterra, really?!