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

The hospital, which could hold more than a thousand patients at a time, was now fully working. All the rooms, wards, and even the mass wards were filled with people.

This was not just their own people, but also Guians they judged as a non-threat, especially now that their lord was dead. For instance, there were certain wards that were even filled with Guia slaves.

For safety, they were in a separate ward from the seriously injured Guia citizens, so that no one could order them there.

One of the patients here was the Goblin Hoku. He was the only goblin sent as a vanguard due to his disability. A goblin that couldn’t dig was useless in the mines, and the fact that he was useless even as a goblin slave truly felt like a large weight pulling him down the ground.

He wasn’t surprised to be assigned amongst the meat shields. These were the first sacrifices, and it was almost impossible to survive there, at least with all limbs intact.

And when a limb was gone, then they’d be even more useless. They’d likely be thrown as bait instead, which was an even more tragic death than dying in a war. At least then, they’d have the illusion of having a higher purpose.

He went in this war not expecting to ever get out, but somehow when he lost consciousness from weird smoke that enveloped him and everyone else.

He lost consciousness, finding himself in a rare nice dream.

In his dream, he was back home, surrounded by fellow goblins with smiles on their faces. They were not covered with wounds and had a good amount of meat in them. They were clean and their clothes did not have a single hole.

His parents, who had perished in the goblin war a few months back, were also there. They pulled him for a nice meal—the bread from the restaurant, but with added plants and fruits on top—and they ate until they couldn’t anymore.

In his dream, there was no human to tell them what to do. There was no human to hurt them, and there would be no human making them hurt each other so they could watch and laugh at the side.

It must’ve been Goblin Eden, he thought.

After this dream, he woke up feeling wonderfully comfortable. He belatedly realized he had really been asleep, and the fact that it was just a dream made him want to cry.

But he gathered himself somehow, absorbing that he was sleeping somewhere comfortable.

He had never been in such a soft bed before.

He opened his eyes and saw lines and lines of such bed with a lot of acquaintances. Some were with him, and others he didn’t think he’d see again!

They were both watching him as he eased awake and chuckled when his eyes widened like saucers as he saw them.

He flinched and gasped at his sudden movement, but he quickly forgot about it at the sight of old friends.

”Iko? Yut?!” he yelled, also looking around to see a handful of other goblins on their beds! ”You… where…. I thought you were… wuuuu—”

They wanted to chuckle at his silly face, but they found tears in their eyes instead. They looked weird crying as they laughed.

To be honest, when they woke up, they looked even sillier than Hoku.

When they drowned, swept away by the strong flood, they really didn’t think they’d open their eyes again. The others were placed in another room, but the kind nurse said they were fine.

Goblins had special senses and they knew the nurse was being sincere. His eyes were full of kindness and pity, and to be honest they still didn’t understand it until now.

Anyway, the goblins sobbed for a while before they stopped, hiccuping after crying so much.

”Where… are we?” Hoku asked, sniffed, and hiccuped. ”Are we really not dead?”

”No,” one said. ”We’re very much alive.”

He felt complicated after confirming if he really wasn’t in Goblin Heaven.

(This heavenly bed certainly felt out of this world though, he thought.)

”They saved us and healed us,” Iko said, looking around. ”Everyone in this room… were slaves.”

Yut nodded, wiping his snot, eyes wide as if convincing him it was the truth. ”They’re healing us… they’re healing slaves…”

He then looked down, appearing shy. ”I… I don’t mind becoming a slave here,” he said, voice low as if afraid to be judged, but the other two didn’t deny anything.

Beside them, Pency, a human slave, stared at the ceiling. He was in the same vanguard unit as Hoku. Like him, he didn’t think he’d get out of that war alive—much like the rest of his fellow villagers who had been slaves with him. They, too, were assigned as vanguards and they were always the first to die in the war.

He was a little dazed as he listened to the conversations next to him, having difficulty absorbing anything with his muddled head.

So… alive. He could feel both arms and legs, too.

And such a soft bed and clean atmosphere—it wasn’t something he could have imagined. Even he before becoming a slave hadn’t slept so well.

The slaves soon settled down on their beds, relaxing, and maximizing their time there. They didn’t know when they’d be in such peace again, after all.

Furthermore, they were now comfortable and light, as if their injured bodies and old wounds were healing.

Was it their imagination? Were they feeling so nice that they also imagined something else was happening to their bodies?

The slaves honestly didn’t know what to expect and they spent time just in deep thought. It was interrupted when the door opened, revealing a regal woman advanced in age.

They flinched, instinctively knowing this was a woman with power.

”Hello,” the old woman, smiling at them. ”My name is Mathilda, I am one of the elders of Alterra.”

They immediately sat up, gesturing to stand.

”No need, stay in your beds,” she said. ”You can stay until you’ve recovered a bit more.”

They gaped at her and her gentle words, unsure whether she was being honest or if she was testing them. Of course, the goblins who could sense emotions had an idea, but their minds still lingered in the negative scenarios.

They were afraid of becoming too hopeful. Their current states was already worrying. They didn’t dare wish for more.

Mathilda didn’t mind their reactions and retained her smile. ”As you can see, Alterra is a very good place that is sought after by many.

”It can use a lot more loyal citizens in its midst,” she paused, looking at them with deep eyes, making them feel as if she was staring straight at them. ”Would you like to join us?”