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

”DAD!” His daughter, Sheena, crawled in his direction. It was just that he was too busy punching himself to notice.

The aborigines around were watching the show in interest. Someone even whistled and pointed at Sheena, as if a new performer had arrived.

”Yo! Shick, someone’s coming! Er, crawling! HAHHA”

”Aww, poor thing…” another yelled though he was cackling a lot, obviously amused by the whole thing.

”You’ve come crawling back, eh?” Shick said, coolly looking at the woman. ”Did you get lucky too?” he asked, though once again not waiting for an answer. ”Lick my feet.”

The woman sobbed, but did as she was told. William’s eyes widened, but then he was ordered to do the same, licking the other feet.

Gurnam—who had managed to escape the aborigines and was trying to sneak near where William was—saw everything, falling into confusion.

He was thinking of how to save the father and daughter pair, at least, but he did not expect him to punch himself so passionately and definitely not lick the aborigines feet without a hint of hesitation.

He also observed the other citizens, some of which were hiding in buildings or in corners, hoping not to get noticed. Some seemed to have just lost hope, openly discussing their current predicament. He would overhear some mumblings, and some more sobs.

”What?” Another person yelled next to him, ”Slave? We’ve become slaves?”

No?

Gurnam looked around. Some people seemed to have gotten the notification, and those who received it were now… slaves?

Slaves, as in those people who could only follow orders?

He couldn’t help but pale at the treatment that father-and-daughter was receiving.

He couldn’t even ponder too deeply as the aborigines soon felt bored with torturing their new slaves. Gurnam had no doubt they did it too often to feel so.

Shick, the apparent leader of this attack, clapped his hands. ”Slaves! Come here!”

As such, more and more people headed in his direction. Those who didn’t receive the notification could only watch, some holding on to each other as if to make sure they didn’t move.

Hundreds of people nearby arrived, though Gurnam had a feeling it was only because they were the only ones in earshot. They were very obedient, heading towards Shick and the others, though one could see from everyone’s expression that they were terrified.

The aborigines seemed to never tire of seeing fellow humans feel terrified of them, and they were smiling as many slaves gathered.

They waited for more and more people to approach, and started chatting among themselves. ”I wish lords aren’t exempted from becoming slaves. Would’ve been fun if they just followed our wishes, y’know?”

The man beside him excitedly nodded. ”It takes a while when they’re hiding. Anyway, we’re definitely getting the token!!”

This earned him a slap on the head, before he got pulled closer as Shick whispered harshly at his ear. ”Shut up! You want to announce to everyone that the token can be taken?”

Gurnam, who eavesdropped by instinct, couldn’t help but be shocked at what he was hearing.

Token? The Lord’s Token? It could be taken away?!

Then did that mean, Juno Village as a whole—

Gurnam was still reeling from the news and he was only shaken back to reality when he heard Shick bellow.

”Now we need to find that damned lord!” Shick yelled, grinning, his eyes fixed on the slaves around him, including those who had gathered around the narrow streets, filling up several blocks. ”Go hunt for that former lord of yours! No matter what the cost!”

”Go get him even if you have to die!”

Shick then turned to his companions. ”Go round up the slaves! Make sure we get everyone!!”

”Yes!” they exclaimed, similarly dispersing in different directions right behind the mob of slaves hunting for their lord.

After a distance, they would yell out orders for the slaves to come to them. Gurnam could see some entering nearby houses and yelling, making sure they didn’t miss a corner. This indicated that they needed to be heard in order to be followed.

Gurnam made sure to hide well, and he pondered if he could get more information. He watched as thousands of slaves disappeared from view. Gurnam pursed his lips, wondering whether to intervene.

However, he sat still in the end. There were still thousands of enemies around. Intervening would be to expose himself, not to mention that a word could get the enslaved to mob him.

That lord was cowardly, hopefully he would stay hidden for long enough until these damned aborigines left them alone.

Sadly, there was no such luck. Before long, he would see the lord being dragged by several slaves, some of whom happened to be his confidantes. They looked conflicted but their bodies were extremely obedient.

The cowardly lord yelled out, trying his best to struggle. ”NO!! Let me go! AHHH!”

Gurnam’s eyes widened as he was brought nearer, and he stood up in an attempt to run to him. It was too late though as the man was stabbed right through the heart.

Gurnam immediately froze, subtly hiding himself amongst the slaves and pretending nothing was happening.

Just like that, the lord of Juno Village was no more. However, because it was still within the 28-hour span of the war, the village remained standing, waiting for the arrival of its new ’owner’. Of course, none of the locals knew this yet.

Gurnam saw them walk away from the mob, and he slowly moved across to get nearer, lowering his sense of presence. He peeked a bit to see, but was worried of being exposed so he couldn’t see much at all.

What he did see was a special box of sorts with a lot of carvings in Shick’s hand (tho he couldn’t see the details clearly), while the token was on his other.

His companions looked at the token, crossing his arms as he looked around. ”How much would the lord be able to sell this token? This place isn’t particularly special.”

”Even the Sheilding Box that we need to keep the token in was more expensive than the token itself, right?”

Shick shook his head. ”A territory is a territory. Nobles could kill just for the status of becoming a lord.”

At this, his confidante chuckled. ”I’m half-tempted to just keep it outside the box and see which among us the token would attach to after the war.”

”Sure, if you wanna die.”

”Hehe.”

Shick ignored him and placed the token into the box, placing it to his bag. Gurnam saw this and realized the token probably couldn’t be put in the space, which was understandable if one looked at how the system worked.

”Anyway, it’s time to go,” Shick said, heading towards the gate.

Gurnam pursed his lips and used the dense houses as a cover for his pursuit.

As he got closer, he could hear the other aborigines emerge from various parts of the territory, also heading towards the gate.

Gurnam could hear the occasional yells ”ALL SLAVES! COME WITH US!” and like obedient ants hundreds—no, thousands now—of his fellowmen followed the enemy’s heels.

More and more people came to them, with eyes and expressions filled with horror. Gurnam’s head rang as he looked around. There were several thousand people in their territory, and thousands of people were coming with the enemies.

There were various people, men, women, and children, while the ones who remained could only sob—some of sadness and fear, and some of relief.

At this point, Gurnam had a choice of staying and just let those thousands of people be. There were still thousands of people here he could protect, or at least try to.

They who remained would at least have the walls and the sparse sentries. Most importantly, they would still have some control over their lives.

In contrast, the enslaved would be very different. They would be thrust to the unknown, without much control over their own bodies, let alone their own lives.

Gurnam had never forgotten his oath as a soldier—to serve his countrymen and humankind. His uptightness had become a flaw—at least it had occasionally gotten him into trouble in Terran and in Xeno—but this was the code he had been following.

Gurnam thought long and hard, until his feet moved towards the gate to follow the slaves… as if he was one of them.