After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 1058

Chapter 1058: Lord Yassop’s Letter

Ladron nodded. “I… I understand that Alterra Village is in a league of its own,” he said. “But I assure you that our V—Yasof Village—will be more useful as an ally than as anything else.”

“Shall I continue to read?” Mathilda asked with an eyebrow up, evidently not appreciating the interruption. Ansel smiled awkwardly, symbolically waving the platform back to her. “Yes, Elder Mathilda.”

Mathilda looked at the room, as if waiting for anyone else to speak again. Everyone sat up properly under her silence. When she saw there was no one who’d be speaking over her, only then did she continue to read the letter.

/As for why I did not want to renew my contract, all I can say is that I have suppressed anger with that territory because they caused me to lose my precious daughter. I do not want to be attached to them anymore, but I cannot do this without endangering my whole territory because I did not join another force./

“Yeah, like allying with a village against a town is logical,” Ansel sneered though it quickly disappeared when he met Mathilda’s eyes.

Mathilda’s pet peeve was being talked over when she was making a speech. Reading a long-ass letter apparently counted. Noted.

He cleared his throat, awkwardly pushing himself deeper into his chair in shame. “Sorry.”

/Even if Alterra is a fellow village, it is very strong, wise, and good. I know I will not be at a disadvantage by allying with you./

“Sounds a little bootlicking,” Ansel couldn’t help but whisper at the side. He was more careful but Ladron, who was nearby, gasped at him.

“The Lord does not lick boots!” he retorted with a bit of emotion, making everyone look at the two of them awkwardly.

Ansel covered his face, feeling like he’s in a classroom and stared at for a blunder.

Mathilda shook her head and sighed, just finishing the latter half of the letter with that exasperated-deadpan-but-classy-old-woman look of hers.

/With our alliance, I know those subsidiary villages would not be able to handle us./

/I know this proposal is sudden and you have little reason to trust me—especially after I had just declared war against you—but I am willing to go there in person to make strict oaths to prove my sincerity./

/As a show of good faith, I will tell you a few things that Basset Town has been planning against you. Further, while I cannot betray Basset Town directly, I can at least inform you who the subsidiaries are./

This made Ansel and a few others’ backs to straighten. They leaned forward in interest.

Usually, smarter territories would not only make subsidiaries take oaths of loyalty for the duration of the contract but also non-betrayal oaths after. This way, even if a territory was no longer a subsidiary, it wouldn’t turn back and bite its former master.

However, there were always loopholes, particularly if the information was easily obtained, not a secret, or information that would not directly damage the master territory.

/Basset Town has a number of subsidiaries all around it. The ones you should be worried about are those relatively nearby, and all of them have expressed wanting to take over Alterra./

/Their names are: Khlack Village, Ugoy Village, Resso VIllage, Picno Village, Tangga Village, and ours./

/I am just the first one, and I served as an unwilling sacrifice to test your power. It is unlikely it would remain one-on-one for the next wars. It is more likely that an alliance would form and more than one village would be attacking you soon./

/The Rongo Mercenary also has significant power in the Town, and could be said to be the Lord’s greatest force there. They are from a City, albeit I do not know which one. In any case, even if their average levels were nothing special there, they are proper houses for Town-level territories, let alone villages like ours./

/They would definitely try to attack your people outside eventually, if they hadn’t already started planning for it./

This made Mathilda pause and look at Garan, who nodded. They would be implementing the standard procedures done prior to wars, but they’d probably add a few more soldiers.

/The Basset Lord’s son, Patte, will probably come to you soon, as well. He’s infamous for terrorizing villages, please be careful./

The women’s eyebrows rose at this. What happened to Kimmy was extremely gruesome, so they naturally made sure to know the details of that incident.

Althea narrowed her eyes. Kimmy and Raine would want to know this information, though she was not sure if a woman entering her second trimester could handle this stress…

/Lastly, if you know someone with the name of Fargo, he is there working with them and feeding information. He is hoping to come with a vengeance./

This made everyone look at each other in alarm, especially Garan whose fists clenched. Up until now, he still felt guilty and embarrassed for his allowing him to escape.

Even when everyone said it was not his fault—he was dealing with more than one aborigine of higher levels—Garan naturally couldn’t help but blame himself for it.

His wife had done what she could to give him the chance to kill Fargo, but he let him escape in the end.

His turbulent mood was softened when delicate hands patted his own. He turned to look at his wife and her smiling eyes, and his anger felt a bit better.

/For my own safety, I would like to hide our alliance. However, to show my sincerity, I present you half of my population. I do request your good territory to be humane to them./

At the last part, Ladron couldn’t help but want to cover his face in embarrassment. Obviously, this would’ve been a good show.

Even if Alterra would’ve won the slaves regardless, there was a difference in winning them versus them being given. Because Yasof gave up very early, things leaned towards the latter because the ‘goods’ were, at least, in ‘good condition’.

At least, that was the intent.

The Elders looked at him teasingly. “As you can see, we have no use for half of your population,” Althea said. “So.. you better think of a few more things your village can offer.”

.

.

Back in Yasof Town though, Yassop couldn’t help but gape at the thousands of people who had returned in disbelief.

…huh?