After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World novel Chapter 861

After some hours of travel, the rest of the party that went to Shrao had finally arrived. Behind them were the surviving Terran Citizen that remained or were kept in Shrao.

There were only a few thousand though, which was much less than they anticipated. Obviously, a lot of people died in the war as well as after it.

Ronny and Okuri had already recovered and were now watching their arrival with the others. They looked complicatedly at the rescued people, who were now safe and sound. This was a good thing of course, but they couldn’t help but look at their own suffering.

"Do you think we did the right thing back then?" Okuri asked, genuinely wondering, her eyes fixed on the molded cover that now hang on her boyfriend’s ears. "If we hadn’t escaped…, maybe we didn’t have to suffer so much."

"Your decision was not wrong," Yao—who was greeting the others with them—said. "Although a lot of people had been rescued, a lot had also passed. Although it was mostly Cain’s doing and a few of the lord’s citizens, a lot of people were tortured for days."

During the initial investigations, the Shrao slaves indeed lived much more humanely than others. However, it was a village with thousands of people. Slaves, unless otherwise indicated, could follow any citizen—temporary or permanent—from the winning territory.

In the case of conflicting orders, they would follow the stronger person. After the ’threats’, all of the Terrans were released and they found out about the fraction of slaves who suffered.

That was to say, behind closed doors, a lot of people still suffered a lot. Some may be within the lord’s knowledge, while some weren’t.

"Many women had been abused. It’s just a normal thing in this world, and things really could’ve been worse for us had we stayed," Yao said, heaving a deep breath.

Ronny held her hand tighter at this, no doubt thinking of what could’ve happened to her if they did not leave when they did.

Neither of them had doubts—she would’ve really suffered that way.

Yao sighed. "It’s just the way of this world."

He wasn’t making excuses for the people of this world, but stressing out and shouting injustice each time was too tiring. This world had too many problems to be focusing on every little thing.

This world was so dark, but what could they do? Until there was a chance for vengeance, they’d just hit them back but… until then, they could only move on with their lives, living it as peacefully as they could.

Hopefully, they would create a little patch of life where things were better.

To them right now, this was Alterra, and the Region they were slowly forming around it.

…

The newcomers were brought to the dormitories. Some went straight to the bank, putting oaths as their collateral. In Alterra Bank, they could pay off their debts by promising their own workforce to the territory. This was something explained to them on their way there, and it immediately injected hope in everyone.

Of course, the amount was minimal for now. After all, all they had was their own labor and their promise. Many of them had been captured as slaves, and this meant they had nothing in their names.

The amount they could loan out at this point was only a couple of golds, just enough to feed, shelter, and clothe themselves for about a month using the most basic food, dormitory services, and maybe two pairs of clothes. They could also buy a set of basic equipment, though how long that’d last would depend on their usage.

Fortunately, to most, it was more than enough—already very kind. They didn’t believe they’d be useless for an entire month. They should be able to find ways to make money on their own during that time.

The amount was payable throughout one year with minimal interests, which was extremely doable as long as they weren’t lazy. If one had the right attitude, things would not get any worse for any of them in economic terms.

They were already glad to be rescued, but to think they would have a chance to live well as soon as they moved in was something they didn’t expect.

As for Alterra’s side, it was indeed very kind, but it always had a long-term vision in mind.

And… it so happened that the territory needed a lot of manpower for the tunnels.