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

As promised, because we Topped October 2024’s Golden Rank, we get a total of FIVE chappies today~

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While the others were handling the mobs, Althea and the other elders were in the Village Center.

It was time for another Elder meeting, in which the updates on all three territories were discussed, as well as some future plan of action.

For one, Limestone Valley was attacked by a place called Inko Village.

Althea, as the lord, also saw the money they received and was very satisfied with it. She promised to use at least half of it to improve Limestone Valley. After all, they deserved it.

As for the rest, she’ll take them as payment for those weapons and tools she sent there.

They also received a lot of new slaves, and Henry and the others were wondering what to do with them.

In this case, Althea and the others wouldn’t automatically be messengers of justice and ask them to free everyone. After all, they were enemies who would’ve killed or enslaved their people if they were weaker.

Even if they could swear allegiance via the Center, there could still be loopholes in place.

Even Alterra had ’slaves’ now though they were technically called prisoners of war. These people had the chance to be released after they earned their freedom through manual labor, and each one of them also signed oaths—just in case.

Mathilda looked at the Elders in front of her, wondering what was their opinion regarding the new Inko slaves. ”What do you think?”

”I don’t think they’d mind being slaves for a while,” Ansel said, chewing on something, as everyone else was. ”To them, having something to eat and not getting killed by the heat wave is the priority.”

Mathilda nodded, ”Showing them the goodness of our territory would entice loyalty in them. After all, oaths could sometimes be forced, but if we want citizens to be truly sincere and productive to the territory, they would need to fall in love with it.”

In the end, they decided to give Victor and the others the prerogative of whether to ’free’ the slaves or not.

By freeing, it meant that they would be treated as proper human beings who could buy their own freedom after working for the territory. This would likely apply to the Inko slaves, who didn’t attack them of their own free will.

On the other hand, they also had the option of using the slaves as Prisoners of War, whose labor would definitely get taken advantage of in exchange for a bit of food and water. This would mostly apply to the citizens of Inko.

For the most part, their tasks would be to help the goblins in the mines and to handle the maintenance and cleanliness of the territory. They’d be assigned to jobs that no one else would want. For example, clearing up the septic tanks, handling fertilizers, and the like.

There would also be those assigned to clean and handle the carcasses of monsters killed by the sentry towers (and were therefore territory property).

The products of these monsters would go to various places. It could go to the territory-owned meat shop, the territory-owned leather shop, and so on. Alterra also sent one of their many weapon makers there to create Class E Bone weapons, which were superior to the Class E wood alternatives created by the System Weaponshop.

If there were strong mobs and enemies, they would naturally be ordered to defend the territory as well, but with the guards and citizens. They would not be sent out to die uselessly.

They would at least have a weapon. They would also be assigned to Guard teams, making sure their positions were strategic and they were efficient on the battlefield rather than becoming mere canon fodder.

Further, in this case, Althea would not be returning the money she obtained from them. Even if they were freed, if they wanted to earn their own freedom, they would still need to work properly.

”Now for Iron Mountains,” Mathilda said, shifting to the next agenda.

Ansel read the letter for them. ”They received guests from Ferrol…,” his eyebrows rose as he looked at Garan and the others. ”It seems like they are mercenaries you have met before the protection period ended.”

Garan nodded, recognizing the names indicated. ”This shows how far our products have gone,” he said.

Althea blinked. So was

that

why her Prestige spiked again…?

Anyway, while she pondered this, the meeting moved on to the next topic.

”I received a notice from Gill that he and Helios would be leaving for Ferrol when the Heat Wave ends,” Garan said. ”He assured that the territory is in good condition and in good hands with Rowan and the others.”

”Did they say why?”

”Gill mentioned he’s looking for Cassandra. Helios seems to be looking for someone, too.”

”How curious,” Mathilda said. ”Did he say who it was?”

”They didn’t specify…”

Ah, young love.

And finally, there was an issue consistently reported among the four: The Regeneration Rates.

The regeneration rates really got slower for everyone, but the plants inside the scope of territories didn’t get affected much. The growth of the plants inside was a little slower, but that was due to the heat. Otherwise, it should be the same.

At the very least, nothing noteworthy was recorded within her walls, and especially not the Level 2 Farms. She would really need to maintain—and add—more plants within the walls, just in case.

It was very different outside the walls, however. When she had noticed the decrease before, she sent instructions to all territories to watch out and record the growth of their plant life.

The events so far confirmed some vague theories she had had in the past. That was: The regeneration rate was slowing down, especially outside the territories.

The System worked best within the lines of the territory. It was so powerful and it was understandable that it had its limits. Whatever was happening, the power of the System couldn’t fix it.

As for what they learned from Bart—about this area being ’dead’ before they arrived—they still needed a bit more information. For now, they had to figure out if the territories far away were witnessing the same phenomenon.

Regardless, if the regeneration rate continued to decline, then the resources outside territories would—in time—no longer have the same abundance as they once had.

And that would add another layer of challenge to this world.