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

After eating, people adjourned and started doing various tasks. They knew they'd be staying there for a few days, so they delegated the tasks, accordingly.

One of the main ones was the cleanup of the entire village. Since they'd be staying for a while, they should clean up the carcasses and prevent them from going bad, or at least get them out of the territory before they did.

Fos also hired hundreds of rescues to help do more, including cleaning up the actual houses, the streets, and the like. In exchange, they would be fed (Sammy and the others made it clear that the next meals would no longer be free).

This was his home, after all. Now that they were back here, they definitely had to help revitalize it. Even if it would just be a stopover, they wanted to do something for the place they once went back to every day.

Others continued with the recruitment process, while others continued looking for relatives. Anyway, everyone was scurrying about, doing something.

Amidst this continuous stream of activity, Rowan and Silvia calmly went to the Bright Village table and approached Juno.

"Juno. Can you forward to your Lord that we have found his sister?"

Juno immediately flinched and gave them a deep look, and they knew him long enough to know it was a signal for them to continue speaking. "She is fine, but she is currently attached to the leading party and could not be extracted easily."

"Then…can you tell me more about her?"

Silvia's stories were short because she hadn't known Misha for long. However, she did get Yulia and Gina to tell more.

When they arrived, they told him everything they had gone through, as well as the fact that, despite everything, Misha managed to keep herself 'untouched'.

This alone was extremely impressive considering everyone's circumstances, and this was a testament to Misha's ability to protect herself. Juno heaved a sigh, relieved.

"Thank you," he said. "I will indeed forward this to the Lord."

This was assuming they were not able to extract her during the second batch. The ideal was still to bring her directly to him.

"Misha is very good and we owe her so much," Yulia said. "Unlike Sasha and Sandra, who only think about themselves."

Unexpectedly, a new voice from behind them spoke up. "Sandra?" he asked, looking at them with a solemn expression.

This was Atlas, and he was part of the team of Alterran guards sent on this mission. "Sandra from Bright Village?"

Yulia nodded. Because Terrans tended to ask where each other were from, they also tended to mention which villages they had been to.

Sandra didn't share it out of nowhere, but while flirting with some of the men, she ranted about it. At the time, they were still in a village and hadn't been sent to Voumi yet.

"They didn't even become slaves, but they followed the enemies and they served the nobles of this place."

"They're living quite well from what I heard," Gina said. "Gingo even got promoted to a guard."

Hearing these names made Atlas' eyes redden. These were the people responsible for his brother's death!!

He almost rushed in the direction of Voumi, but he was stopped by Sammy's strong arms on his shoulder.

"Calm down. Look at your level. You're in no position to sneak into a town in your state and expect you'd be able to do what you want. You'd probably get killed within a day."

He gripped the younger man's shoulder tightly. "You'd get your chance, but that isn't today."

…

Meanwhile, the Old Shrao Cleanup drive continued.

The houses were typical of villages and most of them had been damaged by the monsters, but they were mostly intact since they were system buildings.

Back before the heat wave came, the monsters arrived here and took over their place, as well as the nearby caves. But because there were no people inside the buildings, the monsters didn't bother getting to them, so the houses were mostly still standing, except for a few.

Those would be easy to replace, however, once the Lord came by through the warehouse and fixed everything. Perhaps they could revive this village again.

As for whether Fos and the others would stay here and wait for the Lord, or they'd all go home first and travel back out, it would still be up for some planning.

All Fos knew was that, with hundreds of people looking for work, this was the chance to clean up everything for cheap.

He didn't just give orders either, he helped himself. He carried loose wood, cleaned up destroyed stalls, and swept the streets.

Fos eyes were a little teary. This is the place he grew up in, after all, and he knew every part of the village.

That was why, when he saw an odd contraption in one of the few parks they had, he immediately knew something was odd.

"This wasn't here before…" he said, blinking. He immediately took out his weapon and looked behind him, calling a team to back him up.

Unlike Alterra, most territories could not afford to have so many restrictions. They did not prohibit the construction of slums (because they couldn't afford to house everyone), and this meant people could build in most places within the territory, including underground tunnels.

He made a signal for everyone to be quiet. He used his voice blocker (lent to him by his Lord) so their entrance wouldn't make a noise. The team compressed so many of them could enter the scope of the voice blocker.

When they opened the door, they saw a crude staircase leading to an entire floor below ground. Fos and the others' eyebrows furrowed. How long had they been away so that this could get constructed?!

Fortunately, the tunnel wasn't big. After the stairs was just a room. However, just before stepping on the lowest step, Fos felt movement as well as the sudden burst of force from the side.

"Watch out!!" Fos yelled, stepping forward.

Crack

Just like this, the protection charm he used all his Alterran contribution points on activated immediately, and broke after one use.

However, there was still some lingering force left in the attack, causing him and his men to be smacked to the wall and the stairs behind them.

BANG!

"You—"

Fos groaned, lifting his eyes to glare at the bastards who dared hurt them on their own turf. However, his voice died down instead, and they stared at the new figures in disbelief.

"DWARVES?!"