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

Within the week of deciding who would rule Flaret Town, the new Lord of Voumi Town was also decided.

And...the unfortunate soul happened to be Rowan in the end. This was after a lot of discussion among the elders and, of course, the couple themselves.

Voumi occupied an important position geographically for them to let go. Well, Flaret was important too, but between the two, it was more doable for them to manage Voumi, despite it actually being tens of kilometers farther than Flaret was to Alterra.

Although Rowan was weak, he was wise and had very good character. For the administrative concerns and planning, Silvia could help him out. As for the trouble with his level, they assigned a guard to assist them.

This time, the person designated was Elron, a level 45 guard of the Golds back then. The people assigned would be in a rotation every quarter, and at least level 40, and they’d be given generous contribution points and gold allowance each time.

Elron took it as a favor, though he also appreciated the rewards. This way, he could stand up on his own and not depend on the Golds’ generosity, especially with the points.

Elron had a wife and child in Alterra, and they had already been given homes and residencies by the Golds, so they didn’t ask them to relocate to Voumi.

Other than them, an elite team of level 20s and 30s came along to help with the initial ’cleansing’.

The Elders hoped to fix Voumi within a couple of months, so the poor couple (Rowan and Silvia) as well as their guards could also have their vacation.

Having to deal with such a big problem that they weren’t even responsible for would definitely take a toll.

The first thing they did was to do an upheaval of the remaining people in the leading party. Many were not imprisoned for now while investigations were being finalized, but they were all stripped of their positions.

Such a rotten place, one had to flip it over from the top.

This included those who openly supported Rowan’s return.

After all, anyone who let such chaos and evil reign free was responsible to a degree.

For those who did not contribute directly, their punishment was simply to lose their Elder positions and the salaries that came with them. They might also lose one or two assets in their name, but that was about it.

In contrast, those who contributed directly, and even took advantage of so many people, especially with the drugs, were set to be imprisoned and all their assets confiscated. Their families would be up for investigation. Some would be let go, but would have to fend for themselves without the elder’s wealth, and some might also get imprisoned.

It wasn’t easy to do this, of course, as these people weren’t weak. Their guards and the mercenary teams that were attached to them definitely wouldn’t go down easily.

However, now that Rowan was the Lord, he had added rules and regulations (loaned from Alterra) that would disable them from going against the guards without getting thrown to the Prison (Voumi had a level 2 Prison, fortunately).

The mercenaries were also given an ultimatum: that if they did not cooperate with the Lord instead of the Elders, then they could really be kicked out or even imprisoned.

Finally, every addict was rounded up and deposited in the building where the Terran slaves used to reside. They used the better ones, of course, the ones that the more powerful slaves like Sarah used before.

Using Alterra’s methods for rehabilitation, they started fixing everyone there. As for the medicine, Flaret took priority as they paid for it, but the Voumi addicts were also treated humanely.

They would have to work for Voumi for at least a year wth minimal salary, however, in order to earn back what was spent on their recovery.

Basically, what remained of Voumi was turned over. It was chaotic, but it was necessary to start afresh.

Many of them had pushed for Rowan because that was the path with the fewest obstacles between the rest of the Elders. This was because, after taking over, Alterra announced that none of the current elders would be granted the token.

It was an unwavering announcement, saying that no matter how much they paid, none of them would be given this right. Not to mention, none of the elders were willing to give the power to the others, either. So, at the time, they thought Rowan was the most cost-effective choice. He was weak, and they could at least influence him.

How wrong they were.

So...quite a number of them retaliated rather violently.

Some even tried to attack Rowan, even with the new ’anti-violence’ rules, thinking that if they moved fast enough, they could attack before they were sent out.

They did not know that Voumi applied the same detailed rules as Alterra, where even the hostility right before making a move was detected.

It cost quite a pretty penny, too, but fortunately, they earned a lot from Flaret’s wallet.

It was inevitable. Such a place was a nest for violence, and they didn’t exactly have the overwhelming strength to iron down a fellow town and its citizens that had a higher average level than theirs. They could only depend on the system for this.

This was another reason they couldn’t handle Flaret, too. Just dealing with Voumi was such a headache.

That said, the ’assassins’ weren’t killed on the spot because the attacks weren’t meant to kill Rowan. After all, if Rowan went down, the whole territory would too. They just wanted to scare him...by injuring him a bit. Not that it worked, of course.

Still, it was fortunate that Silvia wasn’t set to move there within the next month, otherwise it could’ve been dangerous for her as well. They would’ve targeted her instead.

The fortunate part was that not all of the nobles were corrupt. In fact, those who had dared to speak against Mafo had either been removed from their positions or were already dead.

Alterra’s investigative team had enough time to study the place now that it was theirs, and with the help of Eian, who could actually send helpful intel to them.

The sad part was that many of these families had fallen already and thinned out, some even perished during the ’gang wars’ or the ’addict wars’ before. As for those who were still nobles, there was only one.

There was only one noble family that could be relied upon in this situation, and they had long been isolated when Mafo took the throne

It was the Thebes family, who lived at the edge of the town, and whose family members were never seen in banquets and similar things.

Considering they were the pioneers of Voumi’s earthenware industry, this was really unusual if one were to look at it from an outsider’s point of view.

Especially when Mafo took over the Lord Token, he also took over the industry, gaining all the profits from it.

When Alterrans started digging a bit deeper, they could see there were plenty of anomalies here. But Mafo gripped power tightly, and those who spoke against him had long met their makers.

According to records, this family was one of the few decent ones that had actually contributed to the town’s growth and had a good reputation among the masses. At least this was back then.

And they were also the previous Lord’s maternal family.