After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 1084

Chapter 1084: Dune Town’s Past

“Speaking of babies. Your brother is recovering well,” Sienna said with a smile, making Sahara giggle in response.

Her brother, Sinnan, was a big man nearing his 50s. However, he had been her parents’ only child for almost two decades and her mother had treated him as her only baby until she was born.

They didn’t expect her to come to the world at all. They called her the ‘surprise blessing’. Anyway, this was why her mother always called him baby when at home—to his chagrin, of course.

Even after he had created his own family, they would still call him baby. As a little kid, she used to laugh at it a lot. She remembered him ruffling her hair to punish her, and she would glare at him to stop, which ended up making the entire family laugh.

Sinnan was also quite strong—a rare metal elementalist—and had carried the defense of the territory for as long as she could remember. Despite her laughing at him, she really thought he was the strongest in the world.

With him on the front line, the town managed to defend against beasts, humans, and the undead. They still had a lot of losses, but everyone knew—she overheard adults talking—that it’d be much, much, more difficult if he wasn’t there.

Her father was also a fighter, but he could not compare to Sinnan in terms of talent. She remembered her father always smiling, saying he could rest assured.

However, ten years ago, tragedy struck.

At first, she didn’t know the details because she was too young and was hidden in the bunker, but what kid wouldn’t be curious about events that completely turned her family over?

Her mother told her the story once after she was old enough—after asking repeatedly—and she remembered crying for three days straight.

At that time, their Town was attacked by a horde of Undead people—numbering hundreds.

It was the biggest they had encountered since those monsters were pushed back to their own region, and it was an attack that almost cost them the territory.

They lost a lot of people that day, including her sister-in-law. The monsters entered deep into the territory and managed to bite many people, making them fall into the ground and suffer painful deaths.

They almost lost her one-year-old nephew too, but sister-in-law hid him in one of the wooden chests there, fighting off the damned things with all her might.

She succumbed to them in the end.

Stepping over her corpse, those critters started hunting for the remaining life there. The monsters had a strong instinct of where life was and they surrounded the chest, pounding on it, all while the baby cried.

They were not weak, either, and they eventually made dents on the wooden box’s surface.

Sinna arrived after securing the gates, finding out too late that his own neighborhood had already been decimated.

Sinnan did not have the time to mourn for his wife who lay unmoving on the ground, rushing to where he heard the cries of his son.

Unfortunately, while desperately trying to protect the child, Sinnan was bitten by an undead. He was quick to act and cut off his arm immediately, saving his life.

Even with bleeding arms, he valiantly took care of the remaining Undead—going well beyond his limit.

They later found out that a portion of the tall mountains had slightly eroded due to weathering and an earthquake, allowing more Undead to pass through.

Dune Town was not the only place that got attacked, and there were at least 2 villages that fell because of it.

This news sent an alarm to the region and all territories sent forces on missions to reseal it. Earth users, some of their own while most were hired via the Mercenary Hall, were deployed to hasten the rebuilding.

That mission took a lot of lives, reducing their forces even more.

Worse, Sinnan grew ill since then. He had grown incredibly pale, his skin blistering a bit, and had lost a lot of strength. A lot of people feared he’d become an undead at some point.

He never did, and it had been a decade since then.

Sinnan never recovered his strength either, reduced to a fraction of what it used to be. Including their losses from the previous mob, the territory struggled to keep afloat for years after that.

They had always struggled, and the fact that their people were hungry—too hungry to deal with the threats—had caused them to lose more and more people as time went on.

Some also abandoned the Town, moving to nearby territories with better resources. They were not too deep into the desert anyway, and there were decent places a few days’ walk away.

For years they were stagnant like that, and the life of the territory was definitely draining, no matter how hard they tried to delay it.

However, after the deal with Alterra, they found hope. For the first time, they saw their farms so full of life—they were so lush, and they knew people would be able to set aside extra food for stockpile.

They also had thrice the amount of water they used to have. They were still mindful, but because they were used to using so little, the amount they could collect now could drown them by comparison.

“You should come by and visit,” Sienna said. “It’d be good to see the changes—the changes you took a huge part in making.”

Sahara’s face softened and her cheeks flushed a bit. Who wouldn’t be happy to contribute to their home like this?

Their conversation was interrupted when they heard a little yawn in the room, and they saw the little baby’s eyes—which had been wide with curiosity a couple of moments later—were now showing signs of lethargy.

The two broke into smiles. Sahara stood up. “You should take a rest, mother,” she said, going towards one of the doors. “This is your room.”

They had already arranged her room since they knew she was coming. They had another bedroom which was only used as storage before. Their baby was still so young, after all, so there was no need for it. Now, they could use it as a guest room for their mother.

They bought a double-deck bed from Baron, too, so this way at least one of her maids could come in and be with her.

What was curious to Sahara though, was that her mother brought two chests worth of items—mostly comprised of her daily necessities.

Typically, even if she planned on staying for months, one chest was enough. They were never the type to wear a different dress each day. Back home, even nobles didn’t even wash their dresses every day due to their lack of water!

So two chests on top of the items in their space was quite out-of-character for her mother. “What’s in your space, mother?”

“My space is full…”

“What do you have in there?”

At this, Sienna couldn’t help but feel a bit awkward.

“Actually, I am here for another purpose,” she said. “You see… we were attacked again by an Undead horde—a small one—not long before I left.”

“What?”

“It’s fine, it’s just a few and they were handled even before they reached the walls,” she said.

“But then we remembered what you said in your letter—how this place had the collection of the brightest minds, and how it felt like they could figure anything out…”

Sienna didn’t know how to explain anymore. She just asked Sahara to place the baby back in the room and close the door, before taking out the contents of her space.

It was a box that fit snugly in the space. The older woman then opened it up, and Sahara almost vomited.

Inside… was the curled body of an Undead.

“…”