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

Althea didn’t bother hiding that she had three elements now, and this started slowly since she started to focus more on her training.

She was already a known elder and a pharmacist—Now, she was a Class A Alchemist’s grandmaster’s sole apprentice.

She was already a target—the shiniest one, in fact.

Why did she have to hold back at all? She wasn’t powerful enough to hold back when it came to anything related to strength and fighting, yet, especially not at their new level.

She didn’t announce it, of course, but people who had seen her use her skills gossiped a lot, and they would put two and two together eventually.

Anyway, as she went around the battlement, she also saw some intimidating ice walls in certain areas right in front of the walls. Obviously, these walls had stopped some monsters from jumping in.

The ice walls were not limited to a section, but as she walked along the battlements, she would see them here and there. The scale was large, and the quality was excellent, so even level 20 monsters were stuck, so it could only be her husband’s.

It seemed like her husband was also making rounds.

That said, the strongest monsters were naturally targeted by the powerhouses.

This would remove the main dangers from reaching the masses and let their people train well according to their levels.

For the soldiers and stronger guards, as people past the mid-20s, they needed to go against strong monsters to gain any experience!

The ’high’ powerhouses like the Golds and Gregor, who wouldn’t gain anything even from the more powerful monsters at town level, were divided into two groups.

Some were still along the ’active’ battlement to deal with excessively strong monsters that passed the initial layers, while the rest stood over the Level 7 battlements, filtering out monsters above level 20. Or at least those that passed through their areas.

This way, everyone could gain experience while ensuring some degree of safety regardless of the mob’s size.

One had to know that this mob size was much bigger than any other Town Level 2 Upgrade Mob and would take others a day to clear, excluding the time spent dealing with the damage that came after.

In Alterra, however, the mobs were completely killed within a few hours.

Despite being taken by surprise, Alterra sure seemed to have prepared well.

...

After the guards went around to ensure that all dangerous mobs had been cleared, they sent out a ’clear’ to tell people it was already safe to head out.

There were still loose monsters here and there (and more would get attracted), but they could be dealt with by the layers of sentries or a passing guard.

The logistics team immediately came out with their carts to gather specific resources a.k.a. monster body parts.

The broatbulances were also fully packed at this time. Fortunately, there were no deaths.

For the people who hadn’t witnessed Alterra undergo a war or a big beast mob, they really couldn’t believe it. Especially to those who were just hanging around inside their accommodations while all this was happening.

It was so unbelievable that some visitors were grumbling that the administration was probably just spreading propaganda to make themselves look good!

This naturally caused them to be the target of spit (not literal, mostly), with people quickly rebuking them with a passion.

”How dare you say we are lying! As a long-time Alterran, I vouch that this is achieved by foresight, planning, and cooperation!”

Other people nodded, smoothly supplementing. ”This is because Alterrra focuses on our safety more than anything else! After so long, how can we dare not keep ourselves safe when it’s spending so much precious resources to protect us?!”

”Alterra is not stingy!”

”Impossible for you, doesn’t mean it’s impossible for everyone else! Ptooey!”

The arguments were so passionate that one would think someone had killed their kid.

This occurred in all places of the territory, and many jealous or tactless newcomers were targeted, while others were just watching the show.

For example, Cauis and Mattheo, who had now moved to a nearby cafe, were tasting the samplers.

”I like mocha the most,” Mattheo said to his boss. ”It has that lovely full and earthy taste that comforts my soul.”

Now, Cauis wasn’t really curious when his assistant shared his own preference (personally, he liked terranicano the most), but seeing was quite passionate, he decided to humor him.

”What do you think about bringing this concept to Holt?”

”It’s interesting, though I’m afraid that even if we have the raw materials, we wouldn’t be able to duplicate it.”

”I agree.” Cauis smiled and looked to the side. Suddenly, he was talking to someone else.

”You can talk to us directly rather than sneaking around...” he said, looking at a tall plant.

A person awkwardly emerged from hiding behind the plant. His level wasn’t high, so naturally, the two of them had known he was listening in for a while.

”Is there anything you want to say?” Mattheo asked, Cauis raised his hand.

”You are the owner.”

”Part-owner,” the man corrected. ”I own the company with a few people, particularly my brother.”

They nodded, interested, and the man continued with his spiel.

”Actually, I might be able to help you with your problem. You see, we have an Alterran Cafe opening in Iron Mountains and Limestone Valley as well!”

”Villages?” they asked, confused. ”It is not easy to own establishments in different territories, especially when some do not have a Post Office.”

Especially in villages.

”We are doing something called a ’franchise’, good sir.”

”What?”

”Franchise. It’s a way for an individual or company to make use of an already established brand, products, and so on to make money.

”They will give access to the raw materials, the know-how, and the like. Of course, the requirement is more than just money.

”In layman’s terms, it’s renting a business idea and execution.”

Cauis blinked, very interested in the idea. He never did like taking things by force. He felt it was...not classy and unbecoming.

Holt had also grown so much because it focused on its own development. While there were plenty of nobles who preferred the conquest-style of gaining power, a good portion of them— including his own family, the Glens—preferred how it currently was.

He wondered...just what kind of relationship would they be able to establish here?