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

They paled and stood up as soon as they gathered themselves, though a few were still chewing. ”We’re sorry milor—Sir Shiro. It’s just that the disaster happened and we couldn’t get back anymore.”

”Yes, yes, we don’t have families anymore, so we just accepted our fate.”

Fos’ and the others’ eyes twitched, while Shiro shook his head. ”It’s okay, I don’t blame you.”

Shiro led the way back to their assigned tables, leaving the ’deserters’ standing there, awkwardly staring at their backs and then at each other.

When Shiro and his team had sat down, some of the deserters approached.

They really couldn’t risk their new good lives to report too much. However, despite everything, Shiro and the former lord were rare good lords who cared about the citizens.

Further, they still had a lot of friends in the other village, they naturally wanted life to be better there now that they had a chance.

”Uhm… if there’s any information publicly available you want to know,” one said. ”We can perhaps help Sir Shiro out.”

Fos was the one who answered. ”Well, yes, our territory is hoping to get Alterra’s assistance.”

”It so happens that the Elders are having a meeting right now,” the scout said. ”They are in the Village Center right now, sir.”

”Okay, thank you.”

The schedule of Elder meetings hadn’t been kept secret. Oftentimes, they would receive a lot of suggestions and reports just before it.

Shiro looked at the scouts. ”What do you think will make them want to help us?”

”Well, our lord is a beautiful man,” one of them said, puzzling the others.

”And?”

”While most of the Elders are men, two of the most influential ones, Ms. Mathilda and Ms. Althea, are females.”

”Female elders?” Fos uttered. The others seemed surprised as well.

”Yes, sir Shiro. Women here hold significant positions as well.”

”I see…”

Of course, no one asked the lord to use his beauty for negotiations. They simply went to the Village Center and patiently waited until the meeting was over.

They didn’t have to wait long, and soon the concierge lady approached them, telling them someone would escort them upstairs soon. They were led upstairs by a man named Jun, an elder’s top advisor.

Althea didn’t want to approve the entry of people to the second floor each time. Hence, she just set it as certain people could enter whenever they have to and granted them the right to take people with them as needed.

As the Shraoans climbed the grand staircase with its intricate railings and meticulous floors, they couldn’t help but compare this Village Center with their own—whether it was the New or the Old Shrao’s.

Everything was customized to become aesthetic yet functional, and pretty much everything was changed.

This place… had too much money to be customizing like this.

Anyway, they arrived at the second floor a few minutes later, led to a big room with a large oblong table. An eclectic group of people sat around it, each one staring at them, the new arrivals.

Shiro’s eyes gravitated to the young woman at the near center of the room, and he couldn’t help but look dazedly at her.

She was indeed… very beautiful. She had an ethereal feel to her, beckoning any man to come closer—

”If you don’t want to lose your eyes, I suggest you stop staring at my wife.”

”...”

Shiro cleared his throat and gathered himself, acting as if he didn’t feel a literal chill in his body.

”Hello, my name is Shiro,” he said. ”I am the Lord of the New Shrao Village, one of your subsidiaries.”

No one spoke, everyone waiting for him to finish what he wanted to say.

”We request for your help. As your subsidiary, we hope you can give us some resources for us to survive.”

Ansel leaned back on his comfortable swivel chair, looking at the other men. Not too long ago, he was making threats at the other’s turf.

”Now… why would we do that?” he asked.

Seeing him there made the Shraoans flinch and clench their fists, recalling their various humiliations. They simply couldn’t do much against Alterra and their gangster tactics…

Not long ago, they had vowed to take revenge on him, but now they were in the position where they’d have to humble themselves—again!

Ansel obviously enjoyed watching them hold back whatever annoyance they felt for him. Their faces were turning red and they were gritting their teeth so hard he could almost hear it.

He couldn’t stop the urge to egg them on even more. ”Hey…, although subsidiary villages are guaranteed to pay tribute, this ’tribute’ is just a percentage of your income.”

He looked at them up and down. They looked horrible and dirty, and he could tell they hadn’t had a bath for at least a few weeks.

Wearing that smug punchable face of his, he asked them: ”Looking at how

poor

you are, that tribute must be too small to be worth our trouble, right?”

Their fists clenched tighter, doing their best not to climb the table and slide in the redhead’s direction to pummel his face.

Only Shiro himself didn’t look so red as if he had been holding his breath for a long time.

It wasn’t that Shiro was not angry—he was, very much so—but he also knew he was the foundation of this deal. His cronies could lose their cool, but he could not.

Althea and the others didn’t speak and just watched the exchange.

Although Ansel was indeed being an ass, he was not wrong. Back then, she took Vismont as a subsidiary primarily because they were all Terrans. Further, although they weren’t so rich, Vismont still did have some income.

Now that the village didn’t have her brethren and was too poor, technically speaking, she really didn’t have any reason to help or even keep them.

They also had to consider the fact that these people—even if it wasn’t them, directly—had hurt hundreds of Terrans, now living in their territory. Even if Alterra was rich and had ample resources, many of its victims might not agree with goodwill.

She looked deeply at the other lord.

Now… what would he do?