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

The goblins arrived sometime later. They formed a small line towards the village center, and many people looked over in curiosity. It was almost like a procession of sorts, though they didn’t mean it to happen.

They couldn’t be blamed for this. Other than Alterra’s half-orc, this was their first interaction with a non-human intelligent life!

The goblins flinched at the attention, but unlike what they used to—where the looks were filled with derision—most of these stares were just… pure curiosity.

Victor and the others came to meet them. ”Welcome to Limestone Valley,” he said.

Because they were no longer slaves (in treatment), the goblins were treated as proper citizens.

”I’m sure the others have already oriented you on what to do and what your salary is?” He asked and the little guys nodded. They did so with synchronicity that made a few lips twitch upwards.

Aborigines called them rats, the Terrans found them adorable.

So cute!

…

Benny, Rasso, and a few others were assigned to be their guide, and the groups separated.

Victor met up with Silva and the rest of the team heading back to Alterra. They were asked to rest for a day, which they agreed because it was becoming a bit warm and their recovery had slowed down.

The Goblins assigned to Limestone Valley came with the locals, while goblins heading back to Alterra were settled temporarily in some houses.

There were two small houses rented for them, paid for by Alterra. It was a detached house that was rearranged to become dormitories.

The Goblins looked around the nice house—a Custom House from Fargo’s time, but greatly improved where it could be improved. The little ones couldn’t help admiring the nice soft beds as well as the bathroom, some even touching it with some reverence.

It was both cute and heartbreaking, and the people guiding them couldn’t help but feel for them.

The people guiding them this time was Rasso, another one of Victor’s men, and his son, Rian. They in particular had felt a lot of empathy for the kids, especially after what they had been through.

The young boy was naturally traumatized by what had happened in the past and had become less energetic, a cracked shell of the little sunshine that he had been.

Rasso was actually moving to Alterra with the boy, hoping a change of environment would be good for him. Juliet was also there now, and he hoped to be with her soon.

He’d be joining Silva’s party, and the reason they waited for so long was because there had to be a proper turnover for his tasks, and the boy had been understanding of that.

In fact, when the boy heard there would be Goblins, the light of curiosity in his eyes sparkled. Rasso asked if he could help to guide them, and the boy jumped in glee.

As they guided the green ones around the house, he could see a bit of the lost sparkle in his son returning. ”This is the bathroom, you just have to press this and poof!” he said and the goblins not that much smaller than him nodded in fascination.

Although Alterra’s Custom House couldn’t be built in Fargo, the former architect—bless his soul—fortunately designed the basics well so Fargo’s Custom House was really not bad either. Next to Alterra’s, it was the best one.

”These are your beds,” Rian said with a smile, pointing at the beds.

”You get one each,” he said, his little voice—not yet hitting puberty—tilting up a bit as he saw the Goblins’ reactions. ”You also get your own cabinets, here.”

The green ones nodded, again with interesting synchronicity, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.

”That’s all,” Rian said. ”I… hope you enjoy your stay.”

”T…Thank you…” the goblins mumbled and watched as the boy shyly scooted away back to behind his father.

Rasso smiled and patted the boy’s head. ”You did well,” he said, and they left after saying their goodbyes, leaving the goblins to absorb what they knew so far.

Some goblins sat down on the bed, laying down. ”This is so nice… can we really stay here?”

”I suppose so…?”

”This place is really, really, good,” another said. ”I did hear the place we’re going is even better…”

To be honest, they really couldn’t imagine it. How could things get better than this?

Not much building had been done in Iron Mountains for now, so the goblins hadn’t seen a lot of Alterra’s products yet.

When they did, they’d be very surprised. Not just because of the products themselves, but the fact that they’d have access to them as well!

…

Meanwhile, those who were assigned to stay in the territory were also assigned to a place of residency.

”We already set aside a housing for you guys,” Benny said with a smile, voice unconsciously smaller as if it’d scare them less.

They showed the goblins one of the dormitories built from combining the local custom houses.

Because Goblins were much smaller, a lot more could comfortably fit in inside a single room. Because of this, their beds were customized smaller-sized beds with three layers. It was much smaller than the conventional bed, but there was ample room for each goblin.

”This building is where you’re staying. You only need to pay 1 copper per day for a bed space.”

”One… copper?” Ussu, one of the goblins, asked. He was smaller than the others, weaker, but was loved.

Like, one copper? That is, they’d still have so much left after a day of work?

To be honest, even when they were free, they hadn’t had so much money!

”Yes,” Benny said with a grin, stopping himself from patting their green heads. ”You can take a rest and go around, we will start work early in the morning.”

After another lingering look and clenching of fist, Benny finally said his goodbye and ’rest well’.

The little ones stared at each other, slowly entering the room. They, too, admired the comfortable bedding and spacious arrangements.

Obviously, this was the cheapest abode, but in the similarly-sized slave houses they were in before would house five or ten times more people. Those may or may not have proper roofs or windows, either.

”This… this is our house?” Moki asked, eyes wide.

Back in Guia…er, Iron Mountains, although the new owners had freed them, nothing much changed (yet) nor did they expect anything to—of course they didn’t.

They were surprised they were—technically—freed although they were very cynical about it. They were even given an option to exchange their freedom for a certain amount of productivity.

However, they felt a disaster was coming and they didn’t dare roam outside at this time. They also felt the new masters were friendly and decided to see what happened next. Anyway, what could be worse than what had happened in Guia Village, where they’d be whipped and starved and even beaten up on a daily basis?

Now… they hadn’t been beat up for days and even had their own bed? It cost 1 copper, but this wasn’t a problem because they had their own salaries they could keep for themselves!

How many times they looked at their wallet to check if their own money was really there! And it was!

The little guys couldn’t help but look at each other, not daring to hope…, but still couldn’t help but feeling a bit hopeful anyway.