After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 1539

Chapter 1539: Gathering Information (Part 1)

Back in Voumi Town, a certain Lord was feeling increasingly irksome.

“No news of them, still?” he asked his people, referring to the large group they sent to Alterra.

They should’ve arrived in Alterra by now, and they had yet to receive a post. They knew Alterra was a Town and no Town would bypass the Post Office, so they should be getting news right now.

“Perhaps they are being careful,” one of his advisors said. “After all, Alterra knows of us and might be reading letters directed to them.

Lords had the power to access the letters, but not block them. There was a chance that it was just delayed in sending. Perhaps they also made detours, sending to other places instead. However, the nearest town was so far away, so this was impractical.

He had also received word from the powerhouses’ families and organizations. They were expressing their concern for the lack of news.

Mafo frowned, unable to help himself, and went to look at his panel.

He looked at the Population List on the Lord Panel. The population list included people within the territory, but the Residency list included everyone who purchased residencies, temporary or not, including those outside of the territory.

His pupils constricted as he read through the list.

Gone. Their names were gone.

They wouldn’t have switched territories. So this meant—they were dead.

“AHHHHH!” he screamed, once again breaking another table, and slapping whoever was nearest to him.

BANG!

“THAT DAMNED ALTERRA!”

…

Putrid air, dirty streets, and arrogant people.

Atlas sighed as he walked past street after street, eventually reaching one of the few parks in the territory.

This area was surrounded by ‘better’ houses, so the people here were better off. There were also fewer drug addicts here because the people were generally stronger. Even if they were ‘using’, they wouldn’t lose their minds, unlike the weaker commoners in other neighborhoods.

Anyway, he specifically dressed decently so the few guards making rounds wouldn’t kick him out.

He had a large wooden box on hand and he found a place in the park to settle on. Such a large box naturally could not be low key and it attracted some attention.

Fortunately, some people who were around recognized him and immediately brightened up. “It’s him!”

“Hey, you!”

“Let me buy!”

“You’re not limiting our purchase again, will you?!”

Atlas didn’t say anything. He simply opened the box up, revealing a few hundred slices of flavored dried meat.

These were marinated with Alterra’s sauces, and made with techniques he learned from terran, so it was naturally superior in taste, quality, and shelf life.

The houses near parks were naturally one of the higher-end houses, and a lot of these people were rich people or their servants, and he could price his products quite high after introducing them to the market a few weeks back.

He sat there and sold his items, limiting each person to a maximum of 5 jerkies at a time. They could line up again, though, but there was no guarantee the stocks would last.

While he sold things with a smile, he also listened to the gossip of people lining up or just observing them. People at his level wouldn’t have a hard time eavesdropping on conversations a few meters away, especially when people weren’t being too hush-hush about things.

He had been doing this every couple of days the past few weeks, and this was how he had been gathering information. The other spies naturally settled elsewhere, too, but he was one of the more flexible ones because he could just change his shop location if he wanted to.

“Did you hear? Our masters had gone to the Lord to demand answers about our missing elder…”

“Yeah, I heard about that. Wouldn’t it be trouble? The Lord isn’t weak…”

“Well, we’ll see, we’ll see…”

“I feel like we’re going to war soon.”

“Tsk. There were so many problems right now, will we be safe this time?”

“Depends on who we’re attacking. Do you have news?” another said. “In any case, we should buy an anti-slave token.”

“Heh, you think that is so easy to encounter? Dream on.”

Anyway, conversations like these were abound. Some seemed useless, but a good spy would always remember, in case they could be useful in the future, probably in unexpected ways.

For example, one of the people there was talking about the Lord’s women. “Someone finally got pregnant.”

“Huh? Wasn’t the Lord injured back then? Did they find a healer?”

Atlas’ eyes were sharp, even when he had a fake smile on as he sold his items.

Wasn’t the person who got pregnant ‘Sandra’?

…

While some people were busy spying, many of the other fighters were just focused on strengthening themselves as quickly as possible.

At this time, Gurnam and Sarah were heading to Ferrol Town to join a mercenary team.

The past month or two, many Alterrans had actually created their own Mercenary Teams. Of course, because Alterra did not have a Mercenary Hall yet, they had to go to Ferrol to register it.

This was something good and encouraged by Jonathan. Not only would he gain a portion of the registration payments, but it’d also tie him closer to Alterra.

That said, the formation of official mercenary teams would’ve been sooner if not for the level requirements and, of course, the money requirement, which was at least a hundred gold.

This was the default price the Hall charged and the Lord didn’t even have that much kickback from each transaction. Most territories kept the price this way. After all, having more mercenary teams in the territory was only good for it.

Other than the money, the team lead had to be at least Level 15 to be able to create their own Mercenary Team. Each member also had to be at least level 10 to join in.

This was also why Baron—who had literally just upgraded to Level 10 the past week—would just be an assistant. It was actually his cousin Jesse, a guard, who was named Captain of the Mercenary Team. Finally, a person could only be part of one Mercenary Team.

Further, the Owner himself or herself must also be present and approved by the system during its creation, so all team captains had to go to Ferrol if they wanted to make an official mercenary team.

That said, there were big teams who had planned to make them, but had not yet done so.

The first one was the Alterran Official Mercenary Team. It wasn’t that Garan’s Terran Mercenary wasn’t official, but the former would be the first one the territory would create. All the guards above level 15 not part of the Terran Mercenary Team would have the option of joining this one.

In name, the Leader and the registrant of the team was Mathilda. They wanted her to form it as soon as possible, but level 15 was still ways to go for Mathilda.

Althea was not an option because se had already registered under the Terran Mercenary Team—which was on its way on upgrading to Class C within a year or two. She’d accompany her husband and, if they would take missions someday, it was also so they could take missions together.

This left Mathilda, the highest-ranking official, at least in public, though she had to work hard to gain the necessary level to do so.

Of course, the old woman was willing to push herself, and she already scheduled hours every day to train with soldiers, hoping to upgrade as soon as possible.

It was tiring, but according to her, seeing her wrinkles go away bit by bit every time she leveled up was a joy in and of itself.

Long chappieee