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

Two days later, the temporary ban had been lifted and the Alterran caravan was finally heading back home. They were with a few aborigines who had taken the Alterran tour.

The Alterrans had what was called a bus, though it was still pulled by a beast. Broats were still not ready to travel outside the territory for now, as encountering even a small mid-level mob could make them run far, far, away in the opposite direction, along with the people they carried.

Beast carts weren’t particularly common, either, but they opened some up for VVIP customers willing to pay for them. As for the rest, they were carried by bike cars, where a few people would pedal in sync. They were slower than the beast cart (especially since the bikers needed rest), so the cost was slightly less than that of beast carts.

For another package, a cheaper one, the people would go on foot, but the carts that went on the same path earlier would’ve cleared out the beasts already, making their travel easier as well.

Anyway, the ’buses’ were relatively large and could carry at least 15 people each.

It was designed in a way that could be easily pulled without toppling to the side, even with uneven ground, which was amazing.

They were using a principle of something called a (mechanical, not electric) gyroscope that was now in all decent-quality Alterran carriage, which really made for the stablest rides.

It was a patented design by the Woodworkers, adding to their massive collection of patents that gave them royalties.

Speaking of patents, a new practice regarding these arose with the leadership of the Gaea Chamber of Commerce.

For patents that were just copied from the Terran technologies, Gaea had vowed to donate half of the money collected from such royalties to public works. Those in the team would feel it would just switch wallets, since it’d go the same place either way, but it was a matter of principle that inspired other people to do the same.

Of course, other teams were a bit less generous, giving a fraction and only in technologies that were easy to copy by someone else, and they just happened to have patented it first.

The gyroscope technology was not one of these (since it still required quite a lot of trial and error), but the basic suspension system (also partly patented by the team) was.

All cars would use this, and using the royalties from several patents,

the Woodworkers founded the Woodworker’s Foundation. It sponsored the education of children and also the education of adults, hoping to take on vocations.

Of course, there was also a test of grit to make sure they wouldn’t waste the scholarship, and there was also a request for them to work for Woodworkers for a few years after they graduated.

Interestingly, some of the people who had been stranded in Ferrol were some sponsored people from the Woodworker’s team. They were apprenticing under Bianca and joined her outside for the first time. They were also quite panicked when they realized something dangerous was brewing.

Fortunately, Alterrans were always somehow confident and prepared in their own way so no one went out of their way to make trouble. Rather, they all just decided to wait and see what the administration would do, and trust whatever they decided on.

That said, after waiting tensely for a couple of days, the ban was lifted and they were finally going home!

They would also be guarded by a few mercenaries from the Takoda Mercenary Team, who had been requested via the Mercenary Hall the previous day.

The highest level and the leader for this team was the small and stout Shim, a level 32 archer, who was also a close friend of Helios.

Next to him was Puto and his sword, while the rest of the team were relatively new to this region. The more familiar Raz and the others were with other missions, so they were not able to come with them.

Of course, even if others didn’t know, this was actually a pre-assigned schedule for a week now. The Takoda Mercenary Team, based thousands of kilometers away, asked for the favor to get the mission because they needed to head to Alterra to restock their items. Basically, they were just doing bonus work since they were heading here anyway.

Other people, though, interpreted it differently.

For example, Wazan and his team.

”Heh, do they think a few mercenaries can stop us?”

Although they could just go ahead on their own (they had already bought maps from some people who had been to Alterra), where was the fun in that? Besides, gaining hostages early on was definitely better.

”They claim they were heading there anyway, and they would just be tagging along.”

Wazan sneered, not believing it. He had always believed in his effect on people, after all, and frankly, he gets a high whenever people scramble to prepare for him, only to see their hopes crumble whenever he made a move.

How many territories had he affected in the past couple of decades? This Alterra would be no different. Even if they hired a low-level mercenary team from a City, his magic tool—a Class B one, inherited from his ancestors—was a treasure no one had beaten yet.

”What else have we discovered in the past few days?”

Naturally, while they waited for the caravan in Alterra, they investigated as much as they could about the events in this region. This region was too far from Valov, so they had to catch up on a few things.

At this, Loin, his main scout and intelligence personnel, had a dark expression on his face. He was the one who would have the deepest and most reliable intelligence.

”Well, I did find something,” Loin said. ”It was very difficult for me to extract, and I paid a lot of money for it.”

He narrowed his eyes, orbs filled with suspicion. ”It seems... like Voumi is involved in this somehow,” he sneered. ”That Town is really trying to go against us!”