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

Estra was allowed to rest for a few more days before she received the recruitment notice. It was her choice whether she wanted to take it, of course, but Estra, who wanted to integrate as quickly as possible, didn’t even think twice.

It had a very strict probationary period, however, and this was something that spread out especially among Alterra’s well-off community. Several clubs, cliques, and groups of friends formed through time, and they also tended to hang around the same place, so it was fairly organic.

Anyway, at some point, Baron found out about Estra’s recruitment. Like many, he was flabbergasted and confused, but then he saw the money-making opportunity.

He started a bet guessing when Estra was going to get fired. The two sides were just deciding whether or not she’d be able to go through the six-month probationary period, but Baron took a leap and added a bonus amount that she’d last less than a month!

Estra somehow found out about it too, especially when she noticed people were reacting to her more than usual.

For instance, she’d show impatience about something like waiting in a queue, and she’d see some people shake their heads. With her good hearing, she heard them say words like ’there’s no way she’d stay for more than 6 months right?’

In another time, she had to go through the usual training routine outside the walls. She had a high level so even if her combat ability wasn’t special, she could handle town-level monsters relatively well.

’She’s not bad, especially if we trained her well. I hope she lasts. I bet a few gold on her.’

She heard this several times over the next few days until she grabbed a random person’s shoulder and asked outright.

It was then that she found out that Baron of the Woodworkers’ Company started a massive bet that now accumulated a few hundred gold!

Estra wanted to slap Baron so much, but their large level difference could get her to prison!

That fat bastard!!

In the end, she was just determined to make him lose the bet!

...

While this was ongoing, there were two important letters that landed in Alterra’s Post Office. The staff immediately sent the postboys to alert the recipients of the letter, provided that they paid for the Alert Service, of course.

One was, interestingly, received by Kalfene. He had sent a letter to Elron, one of Gold’s former guards, as soon as he arrived. This was also upon the Golds’ request, and they had already prepared arrangements if the man decided to go to them.1

The man was level 45 the last time he checked and was quite skilled. To be a door guard of a top city noble naturally had its requirements.

When he asked the Golds whether to order him to come, they reiterated it had to be his choice, and he also couldn’t state that they were alive explicitly. It wasn’t like they invited him here to guard their doors again, anyway. They were inviting him here to hopefully improve his life, should he decide to take their hands again.

After the Golds’ ”deaths”, Elron quickly escaped to a town with his family—which they later found out was Hubble Town.

In his letter, for safety, Kalfene asked someone else to send it for him. After all, they had shifted their residences and they were either thought of as dead or thought of as traitors.

His letter was very vague and would be impossible to decipher if it wasn’t Elron himself who read it. He started with ”Remember that time when my master accidentally sent you a flirtatious aether letter meant for another person and your wife thought you were unfaithful?”

This was a true story, by the way.

His late master was quite the womanizer back in the day. He would gift his favorite girl an aether letter and they’d chat all night, possibly about less than innocent topics.

At the time, Elron was newly married, and his wife was full of insecurities. It caused quite a bit of drama, which was just funny in retrospect.

The letter mentioned a move to follow the masters who love the sun, and that if he wished—and this was completely his choice—to follow, then he would be most welcome.

The Golds said not to tell Elron, but they were already preparing gifts to start up their lives here, like what they did to Koro, their chef, who now owned a small restaurant.

After several days, Elron finally responded to that letter.

He answered affirmatively, too, and he’d be bringing his wife and son there!

Kalfene grinned. ”See you soon, old friend.”

...

Hubble Town

”Are...we really moving again?” Elron’s wife, Lisa, asked her husband who was quietly packing up their things while people were busy with their day.

”Moving! Moving!” Bon, a young nine year old, seemed to like the idea. ”I don’t like it here at all.”

”Bon...” Lisa sighed, patting the boy’s head. Elron nodded, finishing up everything. They took their items to their spaces, and made sure they didn’t bring any big bags.

This family had actually been through a lot of tribulations.

The reason they chose Hubble Town was that his wife was from here. Hubble was an associate of Bleulle, so there were many people from here whose dream was to work in Bleulle. Lisa was one of these people.

They met while serving the Golds, but she got pregnant and they decided she should stay home to take care of the child.

Initially, when they moved back to Hubble, the family was still respectful, almost pandering. Not to mention, they had no family in Bleulle, and they figured it was better to be around people they knew after such a tragedy. He thought it’d be good for his son to grow up surrounded by blood-related family members, too.

This was also their excuse when people asked what they were doing in a Town when they had jobs in the City, and they assumed he was just taking a month off or something. He didn’t bother correcting them, primarily because the topic itself pained him.

It was just that, when news of the Golds’ fall reached even the lower strata of the associate territories, their interactions quickly changed.

He spent much of his day hunting monsters to sustain the family, and even gave a portion of it to his wife’s maternal family. Who’d have thought that, one day, he’d come home and overhear her family call her useless?

Apparently, she had been sending them part of the allowance he gave for the house, and those people had the audacity to demand the same when there was no more money!

It even got physical, and his wife got bruised. If he didn’t go home early, he might never have known it!

And now that they knew that the Golds had fallen, their true colors showed.

That was the first time he regretted making such a big decision. They should not have moved there.

He beat up the men in the family—not too much, but enough to warn them—and he made sure no one in that family would bother him and his family ever again.

Anyway, he already made up his mind then. There was no reason to stay connected with that family, and Kalfene’s vague invite was enough of a trigger for him to dream of a completely new life in a new place with his family.

He just hoped they wouldn’t regret it again.

Elron was the Gold’s guard we saw guarding the gates before + who visited Kalfene before he left