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

Alterra had seen quite a few refugees from the heat, let alone the associate villages who were more accessible than they were.

After several more days of the Heat Wave, the other associate villages also saw refugees and visitors, adding hundreds—if not thousands—of people into their population lists.

They actually had received more refugees than Alterra did, because they were territories easier to reach.

The refugees were a great mix of people, Terrans and Aborigines alike. And these people weren’t just refugees due to the heat wave or the starvation that came after it, the refugees were also here due to the explosion of wars.

The lack of resources almost always led to war.

For instance, Bright Village had increased by thousands of people, surpassing its population before they lost the war with Fargo. Because of their location South of the other Terran villages, they mostly received refugees from two aborigine villages: Got Village and Ugu Village.

They were both located south of Bright, which was nearer a place called Mount Rushless, located some 900 or 1000 kilometers South to Southeast of their region.

The mountain also seemed to have a bit more biodiversity than the other places, making it a pretty popular destination for mercenary teams who took material-gathering missions. In time, the villages there also flourished by virtue of the market these mercenaries created.

Mount Rushless was also the main contributor to the river that passed by this region. Of course, it got big because there were plenty of tributaries that contributed to its growth, including the ones coming from the mountains in Alterra.

Logically, compared to others, they’d be the least affected by the Heat Wave due to their proximity to the rivers and tributaries.

Sadly, it also meant they were very attractive to wage war with. Not to mention the wars they had to go through the past few weeks, there were also attacks outside the place, particularly near the streams.

The water sources were near them but they weren’t inside their territory lines, so it was a free-for-all. As the most important resource, one could imagine the wars that went on along these water sources.

Got village had actually won their war, however, the lord was old and the war took a toll on his body. The enemy was in their last straw with nothing to lose, and the war was hard-won, with too many losses.

The lord was gravely injured while being hunted to get the lord token. Even when they were near the water sources, it was still drying up and the materials and plants had long dwindled. There weren’t enough medicinal plants available and he perished soonafter.

Because they weren’t in a war when it happened, the lord token died with the lord.

Ugu village also won and got a good portion of the enemy resources… which wasn’t much. They basically just got famished slaves who couldn’t even move and maybe some silver.

But then it got attacked again by a different territory and they lost a lot more people.

When they were attacked by a mob that same night, they were helpless and it fell as well.

Micheal and Juno gathered all this information and sent them to Alterra via the allied villages channel in the village center.

During this time, they had been focusing on raising drought-resistant plants, most of which were bought from Alterra. They also had their own farms, adding some resources to their population.

After two weeks, they had managed to survive without anyone starving to death unless they couldn’t work and had no support or family.

Of course, due to the strict rationing, everyone was still hungry, but it was still much better than others.

They had also noticed that the regeneration within the walls was much faster than outside, almost the same as when they came, and they quickly realized they needed to add more greeneries like Alterra did.

They also shared this finding to Alterra. Whether or not they already knew, it was a sign of goodwill.

With the surge of the new people, of course, they would have to tighten their wallets a bit more. Micheal immediately sent hiring notices for the farms, though as always most of the movements will happen at night.

A lot of people were asked to dig to make the basements bigger as well in order to fit more people. While the smell could get bad, at least they didn’t die from heat stroke. At night, more people would also be needed to clean up the place, though this was required from those who stayed there.

”Things can be worse and the smell can’t kill people (yet). Sadly, some people refused to move and help out,” Rodney reported.

Rodney was a new guard here. If Gill was here, he’d recognize this man as one of the promising refugees he rescued.

”Then take them to prison, or threaten to do so. Tell them the top floor of the prison is reserved for them.”

The prison only had minimal insulation and was very hot. Staying up there for an extended period of time was horrendous. Not even counting the system prison’s punishment of sucking out life, staying there was akin to staying in an oven.

Anyway, it should be an efficient enough threat.

Rodney nodded and excused himself, intent on applying this threat.

When the door closed, Micheal sighed and looked at Juno, who was standing dutifully nearby.

”Is it too harsh?” he asked and Juno shook his head with a gentle smile.

”No, milord, you’re doing well.”

”Really?”

Juno nodded, firm and sincere. ”I have been to many territories. Your village is definitely doing very well.”

He wasn’t lying. Two weeks of this heat and—while many died due to stroke or in the mouths of beasts—no one died from hunger. This was already much more than what other territories could provide.

Not to mention…

”This tragedy… is much harder than what we have experienced before.”

Micheal closed his eyes. For some reason, the faces of his family passed by his mind.

”I just hope everyone’s alright.”