After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World novel Chapter 962

While Alterra was already settling down and heading toward an inevitable level-up, most villages were still trying to recover.

However, the villages around Alterra were visibly much faster to do so, already showing great improvements.

For example, Belluga Village, with the leadership of the androgynous Raine, restructured what she could, building things up.

Fortunately, they gathered a lot of refugees the past week or so—Terran and aborigines alike—and her workforce and economy were revitalized by their presence.

She even added more sentries and a few of the custom house modules they got from Alterra.

Further, unlike Alterra, Belluga also kept their slaves as slaves. They needed the minimal-cost workforce as well as a strong battle force that they didn’t need to care for so much.

Not to mention, these people had been associated with the former humiliation they—and their former lord—had suffered, so they didn’t think these people deserved freedom at all.

This was what Eagle’s team gathered during their stay there, and they didn’t judge. People had to do what they had to do, and Belluga’s approach towards slavery was the most practical one considering what they had and their current status.

Anyway, their Prisoners of War were essentially the same—they simply did not refer to them as slaves. The main difference was that they had a chance of freedom if they contributed long enough, and if they showed remorse and change.

However, they did not go here just to study the allied and subsidiary territories.

Eagle’s Team—like all the guard teams who went out a few days ago—had various purposes for making rounds.

One was to protect the standard caravan for citizens who wished to sell their items. It also doubled as a chance to find their relatives.

Of course, there were disclaimers that the guards were not obligated to sacrifice their own lives for theirs, so they should still be able to protect themselves well. This was why, on top of the upfront payments, the caravans required everyone joining in to have a minimal level so the guards wouldn’t be too burdened.

Speaking of which, some mercenary teams had also appeared, albeit from other territories. In Alterra, Guards was still the ideal job for fighters, but it wouldn’t take long until more mercenary teams—the official ones—popped up, especially among those who traveled to Ferrol a lot. After all, mercenary teams had more freedom to do what they wanted.

Better-off villages like Belluga had already seen a few forming among their Terran population, though it was still informal as they hadn’t been to Mercenary Halls yet. Bellugan caravans to Alterra had mercenary guards protecting them instead of their guards.

This was fine for Raine, as they preferred their guards within and around the territory at all times. Not everyone could be as secure as Alterra, right?

Anyway, it so happened that there was a Bellugan caravan in Alterra when Eagle and the others were about to leave, so they all traveled to this place together for maximum safety.

A new mercenary team called Corps Mercenary Team was guarding it. It was led by a man named Smithy. They arrived in Alterra several days ago and had actually extended their stay.

Interestingly, he was old friends with Esias, a former lord himself. He left for Alterra just as Esias and his team arrived so they missed each other. Thankfully, not for long, and they reunited as soon as Smithy landed back home.

They even went to get a drink at the tavern (owned by a citizen)—which Esias found so impressive—to catch up.

There was talent everywhere with a Terran and—modeling Alterra’s citizens and its economic explosion—a lot of local people gained the confidence to start their own businesses. They naturally shone in their own light as well.

When Esias and the others encountered these shops, they were very shocked and saw the difference in people’s lives.

They were struggling to have a sip of water, while other people were starting businesses. For a while, it was hard to digest.