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

Voumi Town

A few more days passed, and the next auction of slaves had arrived.

"It's too soon…" one of the slaves, Gina, said. "Has it really been a month?"

Her face was gaunt, and the color of her hair was faded due to dryness. Now, her eyes expressed extreme dread of what was to come.

Time felt weird when you're terrified. It felt like it wasn't too long ago when a hundred of them were taken and sold. In the past month, how were their lives?

Were they even still alive?

The tension in the elementalist slaves' dormitory was palpable, and most people felt terrified of what was to come.

Although life wasn't that great here, it had improved after they awakened.

While it was still horrible in Terran standards—with six to eight people sharing a small 6 square meter room—it was better than the previous pigsty where they shit and eat at the same place.

At least here, they had a "toilet" where they could do their stuff, akin to how Terran prisons were back then, except said toilet was just a hole on the floor.

At the same time, many also didn't care, especially after they had been through worse.

They didn't know about other territories, but it probably would not be too worse than here. Even as slaves, they were at least elementalists, which held quite a good place in this world.

Many had already adjusted in this place, already going past the intense training they all had to go through. More importantly, there were many of them here. They were suffering, but at least they were together.

"I don't want to go…" Yulia mumbled, wrapping her arms around her body. "At least I have uncle here."

Having a relative nearby made so much difference. She couldn't imagine waking up the next day if she didn't have her uncle. At least, she would think of him, and how alone he'd be if she were gone.

Another was that, at least here in Voumi, the men she had to serve were few, and they had plenty of other women to keep them company, making them forget about her sometimes.

It was sad, but those were the days she was looking forward to the most.

Life here was horrible, but she was terrified just thinking about being sold elsewhere, where things could be worse—especially without her uncle around.

Just thinking of being molested by a new group of unknown men made her truly want to kill herself. Sadly, she wouldn't be able to even if she wanted.

All the women were ordered never to kill or harm themselves after a few did so.

About a week ago, a dozen women took their own lives. They were organized, too, because they knew that the 'masters' would've ordered a stop to it if one did it ahead of others.

It was a horrifying sight that, because the Terrans all lived in close quarters, many of them had seen.

It started when a group of women asked to exchange beds with other people. The next day, the slaves' day started as usual, but the oddity was noticed when the guards were doing a roll call, though in some women's cases, it was because specific men were looking for them.

When many women did not respond, it immediately sent alarms amongst the guards.

At first, they thought the slaves had somehow escaped. No one could imagine what kind of loophole they could've found, but it was the first possibility they thought of.

The slaves were all ordered to look for their 'escaped' companions, and they all combed through the territory.

Yulia was one of the people assigned to look through the dormitories with a few others. They checked on every room, expecting to see empty and messy bedrooms, and for a while, they were right.

Frankly, the longer it took them to find those women, the more their dead hearts started beating again.

However, in one bedroom on the farthest corner of the second floor, their dwindling hopes were dashed again, stomped down on by the reality of everything.

At first, the door didn't open easily, as if something was blocking it. The men in her team forced it open while the women watched on.

The door burst open and people screamed at the sight that greeted them.

Yulia didn't scream, but her eyes were wide as they reflected the sight of the women hanging on the ceiling, their dirty feet floating half a meter above the ground.

Then her vision went black, and honestly, at the time, she didn't mind not waking up again

…

Soon, the guards and others came to see, though the guards had expressions of either disgust or pity that their merchandise was gone.

No one cared for the people who were puking and sobbing, traumatized by the sight. Yulia, who was dragged to the corner of the hallway, soon woke up to see the bodies being hauled out.

She shivered, but she caught glimpses of the room and noticed the details she hadn't seen before.

The beds were rotated vertically to give more space, and then the women had the ropes tied to the beams. She was familiar with these ropes. Some of them were used on them…

Another detail she noticed was on the bodies being hauled out.

They had smiles on their faces.

It was then that she realized. They were free. They no longer had to suffer, no longer had to lose themselves every few nights.

At the time, she thought, lucky them, and wondered when it would be her turn.

…

Yulia cried at the memory, knowing she was also close to her limits. However, since she couldn't kill herself, her mind was inspired to do something else.

She took out a sharp edge, preparing to stab her own face. Maybe she could even cut her own breast. At the very least, this would make her less attractive.

She took a dagger from her space. Slaves weren't prohibited from having weapons, especially since they had orders never to harm guards and nobles, anyway. After all, they could be conscripted to a war or a fight at any time, it was more advantageous for them to have weapons ready.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Gina asked, sighing. She was also wondering whether to do the same. Maybe those bastards would lose interest in her.

"It's the only way—what if they choose to sell me?" the younger one said. "No… even Misha couldn't escape with her scar."

Misha once did the same thing, very early on.

However, she was forced to drink healing potions—before being forced to fill up her space in front of everyone—so she had no choice but to remove her scar.

However, those healing potions could only do so much. At the very least, it wouldn't be able to handle a body part missing.

At this, she raised the dagger, pointing it at herself. "Maybe I should cut off a few fingers—"

However, the door burst open and soft hands held on to hers, stopping Yulia's next movements.

"No, don't."

"Misha?"

They flinched. She had been living with Hesso and only visited them occasionally. Usually, she would sneak them food and drinks, and do small talk with them.

This was their little comfort as women, the feeling of companionship.

None of them could do much in their situation—and it showed in the way they carried themselves—but these sessions kept them sane, at least.

However, there was a difference with the newcomer at this time, forming a stark contrast with everyone else.

There was a different glow on Misha today, the glow of confidence and determination.

She smiled at them, her hazel eyes seeming to sparkle."There's another way."