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

While Alterra was already settling down and heading toward an inevitable level-up, most villages were still trying to recover.

However, the villages around Alterra were visibly much faster to do so, already showing great improvements.

For example, Belluga Village, with the leadership of the androgynous Raine, restructured what she could, building things up.

Fortunately, they gathered a lot of refugees the past week or so—Terran and aborigines alike—and her workforce and economy were revitalized by their presence.

She even added more sentries and a few of the custom house modules they got from Alterra.

Further, unlike Alterra, Belluga also kept their slaves as slaves. They needed the minimal-cost workforce as well as a strong battle force that they didn’t need to care for so much.

Not to mention, these people had been associated with the former humiliation they—and their former lord—had suffered, so they didn’t think these people deserved freedom at all.

This was what Eagle’s team gathered during their stay there, and they didn’t judge. People had to do what they had to do, and Belluga’s approach towards slavery was the most practical one considering what they had and their current status.

Anyway, their Prisoners of War were essentially the same—they simply did not refer to them as slaves. The main difference was that they had a chance of freedom if they contributed long enough, and if they showed remorse and change.

However, they did not go here just to study the allied and subsidiary territories.

Eagle’s Team—like all the guard teams who went out a few days ago—had various purposes for making rounds.

One was to protect the standard caravan for citizens who wished to sell their items. It also doubled as a chance to find their relatives.

Of course, there were disclaimers that the guards were not obligated to sacrifice their own lives for theirs, so they should still be able to protect themselves well. This was why, on top of the upfront payments, the caravans required everyone joining in to have a minimal level so the guards wouldn’t be too burdened.

Speaking of which, some mercenary teams had also appeared, albeit from other territories. In Alterra, Guards was still the ideal job for fighters, but it wouldn’t take long until more mercenary teams—the official ones—popped up, especially among those who traveled to Ferrol a lot. After all, mercenary teams had more freedom to do what they wanted.

Better-off villages like Belluga had already seen a few forming among their Terran population, though it was still informal as they hadn’t been to Mercenary Halls yet. Bellugan caravans to Alterra had mercenary guards protecting them instead of their guards.

This was fine for Raine, as they preferred their guards within and around the territory at all times. Not everyone could be as secure as Alterra, right?

Anyway, it so happened that there was a Bellugan caravan in Alterra when Eagle and the others were about to leave, so they all traveled to this place together for maximum safety.

A new mercenary team called Corps Mercenary Team was guarding it. It was led by a man named Smithy. They arrived in Alterra several days ago and had actually extended their stay.

Interestingly, he was old friends with Esias, a former lord himself. He left for Alterra just as Esias and his team arrived so they missed each other. Thankfully, not for long, and they reunited as soon as Smithy landed back home.

They even went to get a drink at the tavern (owned by a citizen)—which Esias found so impressive—to catch up.

There was talent everywhere with a Terran and—modeling Alterra’s citizens and its economic explosion—a lot of local people gained the confidence to start their own businesses. They naturally shone in their own light as well.

When Esias and the others encountered these shops, they were very shocked and saw the difference in people’s lives.

They were struggling to have a sip of water, while other people were starting businesses. For a while, it was hard to digest.

Speaking of Esias, he and the team members had been offered very good terms by the lord here. He and Celia were already gifted permanent residencies, while their people’s temporary residences were discounted.

Belluga Village was far better off than the territories they had been to for sure, and there was no reason to reject it. It was just that from his friend Smithy, there was an even better one nearby, making him feel reluctant.

He didn’t stop his former citizens from settling or going away, but his group—hundreds of people—had gone through so much, and he showed such sincere leadership that they followed him everywhere.

So… whatever Esias decided, then most of his former citizens would follow.

Smithy realized the dilemma his old friend was going through and just patted his shoulder. ”Oh don’t worry, Belluga is still very very good, and the benefits you got are really great,” he said. ”Even if you decided to stay, I can tell that you will be among the Terrans living their best lives.”

”Was it always so good?”

”Well, it was always better than others, except maybe Alterra itself,” he said, his voice lowering unconsciously. ”Especially now that our lord is better.”

”The lord was another person before?”

”Yeah… it’s actually a little sad, but it was all for the best of the territory in the end,” Smithy said. He felt guilty for saying this out loud, but it was something most people actually thought about in their own minds.

It so happened he was a little drunk and Esias was an old friend of his. ”She was an innocent girl, quite kind despite her eccentricities—but leading a territory was not something she should be doing.”

Smithy shook the thought off for a bit, trying to forget the horrible sights they saw that day.

He gave a weak smile, patting his friend’s shoulder. ”Anyway, welcome to a good place!”

…

At this time, Eagle was meeting up with the lord. The others had their own assignments so Raine only had an aborigine with him. The aborigine was like a wallflower though and seemed to like blending with the wall.

Anyway, it was more or less just the two of them for now. Eagle smiled and handed Raine some wine from their own Taverns. It wasn’t something Miss Althea did herself, but it was also good quality—definitely much better than what they had here.

”Here’s a little gift,” he said. ”We expanded our map a lot thanks to your people’s cooperation—particularly those who came in from the East and Northeast regions.”

”No problem,” Raine said. ”I’d appreciate a discount when a complete map of the region becomes available though.”

Eagle chuckled. ”I will forward it.”

This was the other reason why Eagle and the others were periodically sent out to make rounds.

They hoped to expand Alterra’s world map! This was done by buying the maps of refugees—Terrans and aborigines alike.

This was inspired when they bought Otto and Obi’s maps in exchange for some premium goods. Otto said he traveled for a few weeks at the longest, but there was still plenty of land to be covered.

It made them realize that the continent was really large, so they upped their efforts to filling up their maps.

In time, they’d have a clearer view of their region and maybe—maybe— Alterra’s library would even have the Map of the World someday.