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

This happened just a few days after the cold started. It was found by guards on duty, wherein one would keep watch and the other would pass the time by meditating with their element.

Who would’ve thought that he managed to gather more elements than usual, more than what he usually gathered in the hot springs! And he was not even a water elementalist, but a fire elementalist!

Soon, they found out that training outside was helpful to every type of element. Despite it being cold, it seemed like the other elements—which always existed—moved more slowly or controlled and were therefore easier to absorb. This was just the theory, of course, but what they cared for was the effect.

Anyway, soon, it was proven that Alterra’s continuous dispatch of guards was indeed the right choice.

...

Another week passed, making it the second week of Cold. The previous one ended in two weeks, but this one seemed to be going strong.

By this time, many towns were also struggling, particularly the commoners and those below.

Alterra would be welcoming its first refugees in this period. They were not there yet, but they were already on the way.

This was the Culit family, composed of the old and dying patriarch, his two sons, their spouses, and their children. It was an entire clan, basically.

They came from... Jacoba Town.

This was led by the first son of the patriarch, Urkin, the person Gill made deals with back when he passed by to rescue Cassandra.

Since then, they had been dealing goods through Ferrol, which wasn’t too suspicious because Ferrol and Jacoba were loosely connected, considering the family trees.

He was asked to make a non-disclosure oath, however, it was only belatedly that Urkin remembered the chaos that happened around the time Gill was in Jacoba. That was to say: the failed wedding with Ester Town, the death of its heir, and the war that happened after that.

He had an inkling feeling that the handsome man might have something to do with that, but he shrugged it off at the time.

He thought it was none of his business. The Lord’s family was jerks anyway.

That said, Gill did not reveal Alterra as the source, but it did not take long for Urkin to put two and two together. He hadn’t been there himself, but his people had, and he had bought their maps from them.

Through this partnership, Urkin raised his family to new levels of riches in the past several months. Lady Cassandra had already introduced the products the first time she returned, and with her gone, there was a void that was happily filled by his supply.

The exclusive deals in Alterra only applied to the massive bulk buys. For small merchants like them who could only afford a cart full of goods at best, it was fine to buy and sell.

For the past several months, their family made their wealth like this.

It was just that...the Lord could see the amount of money in their wallets.

Even if they divided it amongst the family, it was still a sizeable amount.

Later, they found out that their money was even more than the Lord’s.

After losing the war with Ester, that bastard had always been desperate for money, so they framed his family. They were tipped off by a few good friends, so he took his family away, heading to the most neutral place in existence, Alterra.

The first day or two of travel, especially with a rented beast cart, was not too harsh. They originally were very near Alterra already.

However, one day, the beast suddenly went wild and went berserk, running away. They had no choice but to cut the carriage away, leaving them stranded in the middle of the forest.

They could only count it as bad luck back, thinking the beast might’ve been spooked by something, though they didn’t encounter monsters they could not handle, so they didn’t think too much about it.

Fortunately, it happened in a village zone, so even if they were tired, they could manage the level of mobs. However, about a day or two on foot away, it happened. The cold descended.

Who would’ve thought a disaster would come down on them?

With the patriarch dying, they decided to take a risk and venture out into the cold. Fortunately, they were town-level people, so unless they got bitten by the cold snap, they were fine for a while. Not to mention, Urkin himself was a fire user (though not a spectacular one), while his father was an earth user.

As long as they kept their mana and elements working, they should survive. It was not easy, however.

They had been traveling even before the Cold started, but they were already halfway through, so they could not go back. The only stopover they had on the map was Khlack Village, which was completely unprepared for the cold.

They only stayed for a few days to recover, using much of their money to buy pelts and other things. Many people saw the gold and silver and, with little foresight, sold them off.

Soon, the cold lasted several more days, and some people wanted to get their fabric back. However, they were still town-level, so no one really dared get violent.

Still, it was uncomfortable to stay there, and more and more houses had started to implode. There was also no food left to buy, even if they offered a handful of gold, and the Restaurant had lowered production due to the absence of the flute plant. They had no choice but to head back out.

So now they had to travel again, using long planks of wood under their feet to travel through several feet of snow. Their movements were slow because the snow was deep, and they often fell down, even when they added boards on their feet to keep themselves from sinking.

”How long before we get there?” Umiel, Urkin’s brother, asked.

”A few more hours.”

”Damnit, if father dies, I will blame you.”

The man frowned. ”It’s like you didn’t gain anything from my buying these things?!”

What, only wanted the advantages, but when it was gone, he was so quick to shift the blame! Ptooey!

Umiel sniffled, feeling a tad guilty, but otherwise in too much pain and discomfort from the cold. It wasn’t only him, but everyone was definitely snappy right now.

They were all shivering, and they could barely feel their toes and fingers. They feared that if they stayed out a bit longer, their toes and fingers would be detached from their bodies on their own!