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

Another recent arrival was Houser’s Wife, Saffa. Houser was Alterra’s premier woodworker.1

He was also promoted to a senior member of Baron’s woodworking company. Baron’s company got so big that they made several different companies under an umbrella company, Woodworker Corp.

Houser was the head developer for Woodworker’s Advertising, which was the company that specialized in marketing like signage, and even brochures, posters, and the like.

When the printing press and lithography processes became available in Alterra, Baron immediately jumped ship, bought the rights to use the technology from Alterra, and started this business. Now, they were the go-to people for things like these.

Houser was still only able to do signs and advertisements, but it was quite a lucrative business. With the expansion of business to the entire region, his business was booming, and this was something unthinkable to him just a little over a year prior.

There were shops in other villages, too, after all, and every associate village had its own business streets and so on. These were hundreds of territories with hundreds of shops. One could imagine how much money was involved in that.

Outside, anyone who had a Houser sign was guaranteed to have decent sales.

Not to mention, there were also sign requirements for the roads outside of the territory!

Anyway, Houser was living quite well and had also gained a lot of contribution points from the territory-commissioned projects, on top of the monster battles during village level, back when his strength was above average.

He had been wanting to get his wife into Alterra, though it was difficult at first.

Like him, she was also hired via the chancery. For a woman, even a married one, this was the safest place to be hired. If he had left her alone in their old home, he was afraid something might’ve happened.

Normally, women wouldn’t work, but for her safety and their house’s sustainability, she had to.

Their hometown was located East called Rumiko Town. It was actually within Warrior City’s jurisdiction, but they were at the very edge and could barely feel them. The town was a typical one.

It was better than most, but there would still be dangers everywhere, even within the territory.

Fortunately, she was a good cook and was a basket craftsman, so she did find work, albeit only in villages, which made it difficult for him to contact her for the past couple of months. He didn’t even know where she was.

The positive side of being in a village was that her level was high compared to the average man there. That, along with the safeguard provided by going through the chancery, brought him some comfort that allowed him to work without worrying much.

How he found her, on the other hand, was a lovely coincidence.

Most aborigine villages wouldn’t bother hiring women because they’d want fighters. Some lecherous lords with some backing and money might buy a whore or two, but that was about it. After all, hiring through the center was not cheap and generally limiting for most villages.

Not to mention, the hirees indicated what they were willing to do upon hiring. His wife, who refused to do those things, naturally had even fewer job opportunities.

So...it was not a surprise that the village that hired her—around the same time as when he was hired—was a Terran village.

It was in none other than Guardian Village, one of the better Terran villages, and that in and of itself was extremely lucky.

When Houser witnessed many reunions after the region was unified, Houser had the silly idea of putting his and his wife’s name to the ’Searching’ Database, which contained a list of people looking for friends and family, as well as their current location, which was updated monthly and could be purchased separately, usually delivered along with the newspapers.

Allied and subsidiary territories could buy a certain amount from their own bookstores, and most of them would leave a copy for public reference, usually placed in the center, along with the newspaper.

Saffa was curious about the new media—that was, ’parchment’ that could be accessible to anyone—and took a look.

She and her husband were literate. Houser’s grandfather was a scholar, and he taught her, in turn, so she could read everything.

She opened the newspapers first, since she didn’t think the list had anything to do with her at all.

The newspaper seemed to be a source of joy and relief to the locals. They would read the news, and sometimes they looked worried; most times, they looked relieved and happy.

After more than a year in this place, she had naturally integrated well and fallen in love with their worldview. She was naturally curious about the things that could rouse emotions among the masses.

She, herself, had gone through various changes as she stayed and befriended the Terran women. She was afraid of how her husband would see the change, but she put it aside for a while since she did not know when they could meet again.

Their initial plan was to send letters in two years after they separated, which was scheduled to be within the next month or so after the integrations. They were to find the nearest town and send a post to a common acquaintance, indicating the location they were in.

She had, in fact, already planning to ask the Lord for a month off. She hoped to lure her husband to Guardian Village if he was close enough.

She soon asked the Lord for a vacation so she could go to the nearest Town, which he said was Alterra, which they had just allied with not long before.

On her way out of his office, a friend of hers found her, gasping and with a surprised look on her face.

Saffa flinched when the passionate woman grabbed her shoulder and shook her. ”Your name is on the List!” she exclaimed, and Saffa blinked, not knowing what it was about. ”I’m so surprised. I really didn’t expect it.”

”What list?”

”The List!” the woman said, showing the paper in front of her face. It was so close that Saffa couldn’t read at first.

The woman saw this and put a bit of distance, before pointing at one of the names. ”This is you, right?” she asked, and Saffa, who wasn’t sure what to make of this overreaction, looked closer to read.

And...it really was her name. The list included the name and location of the person who was looking for her, as well.

Houser Road, Alterra Town.

Dude who can make (literal) attractive signs