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

On one corner, a certain uncle-niece pair were butchering a monster together with a few others. A mercenary was even kind enough to lend them a dagger that could easily cut through the monster's meat.

They were confused but also flattered, but they didn't reject the kindness.

The uncle, Ersat, looked at his niece, Yulia, who was passionately taking her favorite part: the loin.

The extremely tender parts, best for grilling, roasting, and searing!

Her stomach growled just at the thought of it, and she maybe even drooled a bit.

Ersat looked at his niece. He remembered that before they were bought off, she acted like she was really going to die. She was coughing everywhere, apologizing for leaving him alone.

"This sickness will get worse..." she said, sobbing, though she suddenly got energized the moment they left the territory.

For some reason, he had a feeling she was lying about something. He practically watched the child grow up, after all, he could tell when she was acting.

He did not question her, however. He knew she must have her reasons.

"For someone about to die, I feel healthy," Ersat said while putting meat in his space. He was quite satisfied with his own loot. Yulia flinched and looked at her uncle in guilt.

Gina, who was on the other side of the monster, rubbed her nose and looked away, and Yulia fiddled with her fingers.

"Actually, uncle—everyone—there's something we haven't told you…"

Misha said not to tell anyone unless absolutely necessary. After all, they were all slaves and could easily be compelled to say the truth.

This made him and the other slaves nearby turn.

"There's no disease," she said. "Our illness is cosmetic. It will disappear in a few days…"

"What?"

She wasn't used to the attention and looked at Gina, who was looking down with her hair practically covering her face as she helped out with the meat.

"Gina? Can you tell them?"

Gina shook her head. Speaking now and explaining things would inevitably put attention on her!

She didn't want those people—especially the dark-skinned archer—to see her like this!

Sad for her, Sammy was nearby and was concerned that something had happened to her instead.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked, kneeling down to check her.

This made Gina curl deeper into herself by instinct, which got Sammy to get even more worried!

She gasped when she felt his large, calloused hand on her arm, helping her up.

Gina bit her lips, and she wanted to cry!

"I'm ugly…" she said, shaky, and attempting to escape his grasp. It was only now that Sammy realized why she was hiding.

He didn't think too deeply about it, though, and just nodded in understanding. Most girls cared about beauty, so she was naturally conscious of what the fake disease did to their appearances.

So he didn't push anything and just helped her stand up properly.

"Ah… you're not, don't worry," Sammy said, trying to be kind. "You're the prettiest pus-filled lady I've seen."

"..." Was that supposed to make her feel better?!

…

People didn't take much notice to the flowery atmosphere and the slaves just turned to Yulia instead.

Ersat looked at his niece. "What did you want to say? Our disease…it's not real?"

"We're… being rescued," she nodded. "This was part of their plan so they could rescue as many of us as possible."

A wave of silence passed by the area, and the slaves farther away looked over, curious, and were soon informed about the news too.

Some looked at the mercenaries and the Alterrans around, who nodded with smiles on their faces.

When it finally dawned on them that Yulia was telling the truth, Ersat fell on his bum, relieved, and many others did too.

This had been nagging at them for a long time. Their time was up, and they had actually lost much of their fight, some believing this disease was untreatable and they were bound to die. Even if it didn't, it would cause them to be abandoned, which was still just death with some detours.

If Sammy and the others didn't push them to go out and fight, they might've easily succumbed to monsters, just because there was no difference to them at all.

But now…could they really live? And they were being rescued?

They cried.

What a relief!

…

The group rested for a couple of hours in a nice, relatively protected area. They had maps from the Shrao village people, who used to live around, so they knew a few places to rest and eat.

Because there were so many of them, the rescuers simply allowed them to eat the meat they got on their own, and helped them set up fires if needed.

Monster meat was generally hard to chew unless it was treated, but it was fine because it filled their stomachs. Sammy and the others naturally had Harold's softeners, which were a common household item in Alterra and sold in the grocery store. However, what they had now was just enough to use for themselves.

Sammy did, however, give a few pieces to the people who contributed the most to this mission. This included Gina and Yulia, who were flattered by his gratitude and were shocked by how soft the meat was! And the flavors! It was so dense they almost moaned!

How long has it been since they had eaten such juicy meat?

Anyway, the group continued traveling in a certain direction farther from the Town. Soon, the monsters that started appearing had relatively lower levels and were much easier to deal with.

Unlike before, much fewer people had tried squeezing into the car. Rather, it was actually quite loose there now, leaving behind some of the weaker people who couldn't walk too far anymore. The rest of the able ones now preferred to walk outside.

Even Rowan and Silvia had gone out of the carriage to help, and newcomers could only give them looks. Whether it was because they were good-looking, because they were skilled, or because of the fact that they—a Terran and an aborigine—were obviously a couple, they often had a few looks coming their way.

The mercenaries took care of some town-level monsters to lighten up the load, but the rest, they asked the slaves to handle, though they did protect them when the fight got too much.

Still, the area of influence of a Town was not to be underestimated. Even after moving for a few hours, they were still encountering town-level monsters, and it was inevitable for some injuries to happen among the slaves.

They knew they still had days in their journey (they could surmise this simply because no territory close to Voumi would dare rescue them), and they couldn't help but feel a bit worried.

Sammy and the others saw their expressions and smiled. "Don't worry too much," he said. "We'll meet more people soon."

…

And it came sooner than they expected.

It was when they were facing a mob of a few hundred. The fortunate part was that they were nearing the Town's border of influence, so most of the monsters were village-level.

The newcomers appeared en masse, scores and scores of people, Terran and aborigine alike, started taking down the monsters from the outside.

The slaves were taken aback, and even the mercenaries were surprised.

They looked at Sammy, who was having fun shooting away whenever he felt like it.

"Did Alterra send so many people?"

Sammy shook his head.

"No, they're from other villages," he said. "Alterra can't hog everyone, right?"

Alterra opened up this mission to their allies and subsidiaries as well. After all, these territories could all use a bit more force, being next to a Town. Who to recruit and what they'd offer were, of course, up to them.

That said, Alterra would never take losing deals with other territories. As it was now, they would already gain back what they spent buying them from Voumi, just from allowing the others to recruit among the former slaves.

Even so, the mercenaries were surprised. Who would strengthen other people so easily?

Sammy didn't explain because it really would be difficult for aborigines to wrap their heads around. As long as Alterrans understood, that was already good.

For Alterra, it was all to develop its surroundings and enrich them. After all, the stronger and richer their environment, the more Alterra stood to gain.

Viva taxes, right?