MTLNOVEL Chapter 1443: Post Street
While Alterra was shaping their youth to become great members of society, a good portion of the population was just relaxing for the weekends. Interestingly, a lot of them were concentrated on a particular street.
There was a new popular attraction that would be on par with the entertainment street, the Market Street, and the central plaza.
This was the new street created for the Post Office and the Pharmacy. Along with the entire line of new shops, it was thereby named Post Street.
People had always been fond of new things. New shops and functional system buildings were guaranteed to create a bustling street.
The Pharmacy's perennial popularity was a given. Even without wars or mobs, it was one of the most patronized shops there.
People wanted to have stocks after all, and Althea's private pharmacy simply wouldn't be able to cater to the tens of thousands of population that Alterra had now.
They had also learned from various wars and mobs that it was best to have huge stockpiles of consumables. At this point, every household had storage rooms dedicated to these things.
The farms for the raw materials had also expanded and were able to supply all the necessary raw materials for the potions. Like this, even if another disaster came, the production of the pharmacy wouldn't be hindered.
The Post Office was also very popular. In fact, it was really quite busy for a new Town, even busier than the Post Office in more seasoned towns.
After all, Alterra had a lot of aborigines now. Even if they were not citizens, most of them had some sort of economic partnership with Alterra or its citizens. Even if they didn't, they would target creating such connections, and they might need some assistance and leverage coming from their hometowns.
For the most part, they would be sending information about the Alterran products, services, and their features back home. Whether they were mercenaries, caravans, or spies, they would often be in the Post office.
The Post Office did give rise to a rather solemn discussion. Privacy wasn't as sensitive in Xeno and Althea—and whoever she decided to assign in the Post Office—had access to what was being exchanged.
For the safety of the Town, it was seriously considered that they check a good portion of the letters. It made many of them uncomfortable, however. When she opened up this topic in the Elder's Table, it started a whole debate.
For one, as people born and raised in modern times, many were uncomfortable with breaching privacy like this.
On the other hand, everyone knew this was not respected in other territories, especially by their enemies, so why should they?
This was a debate between ethics and safety, and it lasted an entire day of discussion.
Would they risk their lives just for ethics? Who determined what was ethical anyway? Wasn't it still them in the end? Free for all?
In the end, it was decided that they would take advantage of it as needed, particularly on suspicious individuals.
Breaching of privacy was on an as-needed basis only. Anyway, they didn't have that many resources and free time to spare checking every letter that passed through there.
As she granted access to make announcements to the Elders, and how she granted access to certain system-based information to the administrative department, Althea now gave access to the Post Office to the necessary departments, which was the Intelligence Department.
The first batch of 'suspicious' people were all aborigines, for now.
On the surface, there was nothing too noteworthy. It was just people rambling on about the products of Alterra and how they would sell in their hometowns.
However, perhaps it was because she had hidden so well as the lord, some were careless with their words.
They were bluntly reporting about what they knew about Alterra's force value, advising to prepare a lot more if they wanted it as an enemy.
Of course, there were those who were safe from such a breach out of respect. Anyway, they had oaths, so the chances of betrayal were too low to compromise this trust.
One of these was Bart and his team, who actually happened to be in the Post Office at this time. He and his team were in the waiting area, though they couldn't help but admire the interiors.
The Post Office was also customizable in appearance, so Althea made sure to spend quite a bit to decorate. Bart reckoned that very very few territories would bother so much with aesthetics.
It fit well with the aesthetics of the streets and was differentiated not just by the sign, but also with its open appearance achieved by glass, though it could be blocked by curtains as needed. It allowed a lot of light in the Post Office, and gave it an open feel.
Even if the queue was long, there were few people showing impatience.
It could seem wasteful to some, considering there was no outright function to it. However, he had stayed in Alterra for long enough to know their concept of 'spiritual well-being'.
Basically, beauty and order just made people feel peace and happiness, even if just a bit, and Alterra was willing to spend a fortune on that.
Not to mention, there were also comfortable waiting areas inside. Lately, they even added stalls for snacks.
The stalls were small at occupied a narrow area by one of the walls. They were also simple snacks that were easy to carry and weren't messy, like biscuits, candies, and some drinks.
Anyway, it made the wait for letters very comfortable.
Bart sipped on his drink through the bamboo straw. "Isn't it our turn yet?" he asked. His companion, Sipa, who was sitting next to him, shook his head.
"I'm still surprised how long the line is every day," he said. "Even in Twinwave, the traffic is not so consistent.
"I wonder what this means..."
Bart smiled. "Have you heard of the saying?"
Sipa looked at him, and gave him a mysterious look.
"Where words travel freely, so too does fortune find its way."
"???"
"Nevermind, you won't get it," Bart said, shrugging. "You hit your head too much."
"..."