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

A/N: Laptop still not fixed. Sorry! I’m doing my best to minimize the mistakes, but I doubt I got them all T_T

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After poverty, and finding out there was a ’way out’, some people were determined to latch on to whatever they could.

For example, Basset Town refugees, Jest and Jord’s parents, finally found them in Alterra.

It had been many months since Basset Town had become Alterra’s subsidiary. Subsidiary and allies all had huge purchase limits, so they had an ample amount of Alterran products.

This also meant a lot of caravans between the two. Specifically, Basset Town caravans soon mixed with the growing number of merchants mixing in Alterra.

One day, one of the merchants in the caravan saw the siblings hanging out, living their best life. He had considered greeting them, but they disappeared to another street. He couldn’t follow them because he had a meeting with one of the suppliers, and then he just forgot about them.

He only remembered the scene when he returned to Basset Town. At some point, he encountered the boys’ father, wasting away in the gambling house, beaten up again after being unable to pay for his debts.

The merchant happened to have a lot of conflicts with the man through the years, especially in their youths. While their lives were extremely different now, there was still plenty of bitterness.

The merchant had not forgotten that the bastard had once stolen his girlfriend and then broke up with her right after, causing her to commit suicide, so the hate was deep.

So when their eyes met and the latter, inebriated, mocked him for being unable to keep women, the merchant’s mind cracked and he immediately snapped back.

The merchant was extremely derisive, and he told him about how he deserved to be abandoned like the trash he was. Without thinking, he slipped how the brothers were living well, and how pathetic he was right now.

It was not his intent to cause trouble to the brothers, but his annoyance to their father made for loose lips.

He realized it too late and, in remorse, he quickly sent a post to the brothers, warning them of what was coming.

And so here they were, found right outside of their dormitory by their parents who looked absolutely horrible. Their clothes were unkempt and hadn’t been washed for days.

They were fortunate that Alterra was very accepting and nonjudgemental of refugees, since the majority of them had experienced it, otherwise they might not have been able to go so deeply into the territory, especially not be able to talk to people to help them find their sons.

”HAH! You must be happy leaving us alone, struggling! WHAT UNGRATEFUL BRATS!” they yelled, very much intent on making a scene and pressuring the children to take care of them.

Jest and Jord shivered, but the older brother blocked his brother, glaring at the people they once called parents. ”You sold my brother to the damned Lord! Do you still think we’ll treat you as parents?”

”Isn’t he fine now?” the man said, no signs of remorse in their faces. ”Besides, he wouldn’t have been born if it weren’t for us! He should be thankful!”

They sent barrages of hurtful words, but the brothers stayed still while gritting their teeth.

In the end, they still couldn’t hurt their parents, and the long years of abuse integrated in their psyche, even if Jest’s level far triumphed theirs. The refugees saw the two like this and felt like they won, stepping forward to grab them.

It was here that someone blocked the path.

”Who are you!?”

The brothers looked up and blinked. ”Captain!” Jest yelled, looking at his team captain.

This captain was none other than the newly promoted Amos. At this time, his kind expression was gone, and only solemnity remained. ”Leave. You have no place here.”

”What? Who are you to—”

They were intimidated by the man in uniform. But these were brats they raised from young. There was no way they could live well while they—their parents— were suffering!

”Please leave them be or you will be sent to prison.”

”I gave birth to them!” The woman yelled, because that was literally the only thing she had done for them.

”I fed them!” the dad added, as if they hadn’t been the one feeding him in as early as Jest was six years old.

Amos coldly watched as they approached him, dismissing him as just an annoying bastard after seeing his level, which was not superior to the dad.

However, within a minute, the bastard was thrown down, hitting the wife as collateral damage, and then they were thrown to prison.

The atmosphere became better when trash was removed, and the brother’s looked at Amos with teary eyes. ”Thank you, Captain Amos!”

”Just call guards if they keep bothering you.”

And the siblings headed away with relieved smiles.

Jessie and Angelo looked at their friend who returned to their side. It was their break time and they were heading out to eat. They had been so busy lately, especially with the post-cold restoration efforts, so they had been looking forward to this.

Who’d know they’d encounter pests like those?

The two of them patted a shoulder each. ”It’s alright...” they said. They knew that although Amos seemed cool, he was actually deeply affected.

Amos held his head. That situation mirrored his own situation too much that he was unnecessarily affected.

Amos’ family, after nearly two years, had perished on separate occasions.

His brother Alon died first, not long before the cold wave hit.

It was during one the jobs, but even after everything, his arrogance hadn’t quite calmed down, and he’d try to exert superiority where he could, usually against other ’slaves’ who had a lower level than his brother, who he still believed would take him out because he told him so.

But the thing was, among the prisoners of war, he was among the weakest. When they were tasked to clear some monsters outside, and he was not protected by the rules, he was beaten up so badly that he no longer emerged again.

As for his mother, she died during the cold wave. Without the support of both sons, she was utterly helpless, even when the territory itself provided them with enough to survive every week.

However, the woman had no self-discipline and she consumed all her rations early on, and she was too weak to head out and ask for more.

When she was about to lose consciousness from hunger, she headed out, underestimating the cold.

She got this courage because many prisoners of war went out every day to help clear out the roads, and she was one of those people who believed they could do whatever others could.

The next day, they found her frozen not far from the tunnel doors.

And now, Amos was left alone. He didn’t know how to handle this.

”It’s just...although I disliked them, it feels heavy to be alone now.”

Jessie chuckled, before slapping the back of his head. ”You’re not alone though.”

Amos’s eyes twitched as he massaged his head, but he smiled in the end.

Right. Not alone anymore.