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

Otto found out from their teams’ teasing and others, and he started insisting to come with the rationale of finishing the job faster. To no avail, of course, at least until they confirmed there was a chance of partnerships.

Anyway, after a while, they knew more about the relatively ’untouched’ territories.

There were a couple of exemptions but considering the rate of fallen territories in their East and West, the ones in this area had escaped harm from the worst enemies—aborigine humans—mostly unscathed. All they had to worry about were beasts and each other, which was both sad and ironic.

In the territories they had been to, wars were not that uncommon either; many of them went to war at least once a month—and it was always against a fellow Terran territory.

Well, how many people could be like Alterra? Instead of trying to take over everyone else and expand territory, they aimed to help and grow with the others instead.

Technically speaking, their territory still expanded, but it was in a much more organic and sustainable way.

Speaking of Alterra, they had been in no contact with them since the bird was injured. However, since Otto was with them, there was a lot less worry.

Anyway, if they were to count, they went through about a dozen territories, and less than half would have the possibility of trading with them. That said, there would definitely be a lot of trade happening because there were a lot of resources in the north that might not be available in the South.

Anyway, after about a week or so of travelling, Otto’s group finally headed back. Because there were so many territories and this team’s mission also involved a lot of terrain exploration, the Alterrams just promised to send a few escorts to the territories that agreed to partner up with them. Hence, when heading back, the Alterrans didn’t have outsiders with them.

They skipped the final and northernmost Terran village, because Luis had already dealt with them a while back, during the first batch of exploration.

”That village,” Otto said, looking at his map. ”Was it the one where they found the... unusual kid?”

It was an odd kid, and in his world, most thought of those types of people as broken-brains. Otto felt disgusted with the term, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure how to refer to him.

Misha saw this and smiled. ”His name is Aldrich, and he is indeed unusual. From what I heard, he is actually a genius.”

”Oh?”

They looked at her, ready for gossip. She shook her head but told them the story anyway.

After Aldrich was found and settled down in Alterra, Evelyn took him in as a student. She and her husband, Turbo, also practically adopted him and were taking care of his needs.

”According to the child, this next territory had been through a war with aborigines,” she said. ”They barely won, however.”

Well, not that it was allied with Alterra, it should do better. It wouldn’t be quick though. Trial Village was so far away from the ’developed’ territories, and it’d take a while before a proper trade route was established.

It was also another one of their reasons for going around so thoroughly. It was also to detail and map the place, so that proper routes—and possibly roads in the future—would be built at the minimum cost.

After a couple more days and a couple more territories, they soon arrived at one of the most important villages in this direction, the Guardian Village, which Misha and the others had only observed and reported on before, but they were finally approaching for a formal alliance.

Because it seemed to be doing well on its own, they wanted to study the surrounding territories first, in order to facilitate the deals better. After all, if they could claim that every other territory was contacted already, they’d be less likely to be suspicious of them.

The outer territory walls were level 3 walls with a decent number of sentries, around two to three hundred meters away, slightly denser towards the gates area.

From outside, they could also see some platforms with guards. They seemed to have employed what many smarter territories did when they lacked money to densely fill the walls with sentries—that was to say: have a lot more sentries on sensitive areas and place watchtowers in other places.

In most cases, the sensitive areas were near the gates, while watchtowers were in many other places. After all, the beast mobs tended to focus more on gates, so having a dense amount of automatic shooters was best for everyone.

On the other hand, having watchtowers and human eyes on other areas could be an advantage as well. After all, during wars, most enemies would avoid the gates, and they’d likely sneak around elsewhere. In those cases, humans might be better as guards than some sentries.

That said, its centuries were definitely a lot more than other villages except Alterra. It could be said to rival even Belluga and Bright Villages, which was saying a lot.

There also seemed to be an inner wall with level 5 walls, too, and those had a relatively denser amount of sentries, though they’d had to go inside to see more.

This time, since it was the last one, Otto wasn’t constrained and headed inside with them. This was also the main village they ought to secure as an ally in this area.

Guardian Village was a superior village with three Terran allies, a subsidiary, and even a satellite. In a sense, this village, about two hundred kilometers north of Alterra, could become the center of this sector.

The Northern Aborigine territories were also too far from Alterra. Hopefully, if Guardian village was as good as they initially thought, they could be the ones consolidating the forces in this area, instead, at least if Alterra had its hands full from the threats coming from other directions.

With a rough idea in their minds, Otto and several others entered the territory.

[Welcome to Guardian Village (Lvl 3)!]

The fees were a bit higher than Alterra, but it was still much more affordable than many of their territories with good quality facilities.

They also saw that the roads were relatively wide. It was not as wide as Alterra’s—with only four lanes for each direction—but it showed enough foresight.

There was also evident planning involved, considering the houses.

The Alterrans headed to the inn to get some rest while they explored, but they were greeted with a rather impressive procession on the way there.

They were a group of fit men, and they had the stance of soldiers. They also had uniforms, though using simpler linen fabric in its natural color. However, their pleats were structured and had leather epaulets of sorts as if to signify their status.

The man leading this group was a middle-aged man in his mid-40s. He had ash-blonde hair and some white hair growing at the side, but he looked young overall.

”How can we help you?” he asked, standing with pride despite feeling intimidated in his heart.

They must never have seen a level 40 before.

Although Otto wasn’t trying to intimidate, his level alone was a cause of tension.

It was here that Misha stepped forward, smiling gently, making many men stare at her again. Otto’s jaw clenched, and he held her shoulder. He also did not forget to send looks over the men who had just been gaping at Misha, making their backs straighten.

Misha held back her smile but continued with her job.

She had decided to help her brother’s territory and start a few businesses, but she decided to settle in Alterra in the end. She was gathering contribution points to gain more access to resources and citizenship, which would ultimately help her brother out as well.

For now, she had a great temporary job working under Mathilda. This was her first major mission and she wanted it to be perfect. ”My name is Misha, a Terran originating from Eden Country. Most of my countrymen migrated some distance South of here.”

She paused, looking at them. ”Here, in Xeno, we are from Alterra... a Town south.”

”I... see...” the man looked at them, still with guardedness. ”Then what can masters from a Town need in our region?” He asked this while looking at Otto. They knew from their center hires that the average level in towns was level 20s. Level 30 was already above average, and level 40 was a definite powerhouse.

”I ask this because we are wondering whether we can assist you—assuming, and I hope, that you are not hostile to our territory.”

To their surprise, it was Misha who spoke again. ”We are not. Rather, we hope to be friends.”

”I see...you people are really from a Town, but somehow ended up here.”

These people assumed that this was an aborigine territory and Otto was the representative. They had captured many Terran slaves (including Misha) in the process.

This naturally made them guarded. Friends? Wouldn’t it be more likely that they wanted for them to lower their guards, attack, and get them as slaves instead?

”It’s a Terran Town,” she said, sensing what they were imagining. ”And we are sent out to look for allies and subsidiaries. Would you like to join?”