After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 911

Chapter 911: One Step Forward

Shiro felt their disadvantage, but he was not one to give up. “We may not be much now, but our forces are generally superior to other villages.”

“We were near a town so the monsters in our old territory were relatively stronger. While most of the strongest guards had transferred to the town, I still retained a good portion. Our average level is 10, and we have many level 11s.”

That was indeed very good.

Ansel looked at them. “We took you down with fair ease though.”

“You—” the other Shraoans finally snapped at him. “That was only because you caught us off guard, and the territory just happened to be their subsidiary! They’d have made a lot more of a fight otherwise!

Ansel shrugged. “So strong right? You don’t need help from us, right?”

“YOU—”

Shiro sighed and lifted his hand, making his people tone it down a bit.

“I also still have the control of Old Shrao Village,” he said. “It is near a town. When the Heat Wave is over, perhaps the monsters there will leave.”

“Which Town?”

“Voumi Town.” They were located directly West of the town.

They looked at him in thought. How did a subsidiary work if it was a satellite, anyway? However, looking at things, even if they didn’t get anything from their old territory, the contracted one—Vismont—was still a subsidiary in function.

In any case, Shrao was not weak, which meant they could be a good added force for them in the region. However, there were also cons to this.

“How do we guarantee you wouldn’t just decide to separate after a few months?”

The contract would end in less than a year. What if they grew enough and separated, maybe even causing them trouble because of their proximity?

“We can sign an oath of non-betrayal,” he said. Their scouts had managed to investigate some useful things, at least. They knew that Alterra was very strict on its oaths. This might seem restricting to others but, on the contrary, they were given much more freedom after taking it.

“We will add additional duties as your subsidiaries, just support our survival.”

“For example?”

“We… we will be willing to provide maximum allowable forces during wars, as needed, and you don’t have to do the same to us without a high price.”

Ansel sneered. “Do we look like we need you?”

“Having a lot more natives can still be an advantage,” Shiro said, ignoring him. “Regardless, the more power, the better it is for the safety of most.”

Shiro spoke with the thought of keeping the safety of the territory which, to be fair, improved his impression on the elders… even if by just a bit.

“We are also well-travelled in our region,” he said, primarily because they were nomads for a bit. “We can give all the information we have to you for free, and until the indefinite future.” One of the things he heard from the former scouts was how Alterra placed importance on knowledge and information. Other than using the beauty trick, this was the best leverage they could think of.

After all, there was really nothing else they could give to Alterra that they didn’t already have—and better.

The Elders looked at each other, and Mathilda stared at Althea.

When the younger woman nodded, Mathilda stood up. “We accept. However, as with everyone else, you will still purchase the items,” she paused. “However, we can give you the dealers’ price as our subsidiary.”

This was already enough. After all, if they just bought things on their own, the purchase limit would be too small.

Shiro brightened, looking at them, especially the women with a bright smile. He was, indeed, a bit handsome.

“Thank you!”

Even if it wasn’t big, it was still one step forward.

…

The couple headed home after a long day… er, night of work. They took baths after the daylight ended, so they didn’t take a bath before going to bed anymore, not unless they went out to fight monsters.

When they got back, the babies were in their play cot with Harold, who just had a blank expression on his face as the babies massacred him.

“Mwammmmaaammmm…” Pepper mumbled as she continuously tried to bite Harold’s hand with her gums… er, teeth. Harold would just rotate or move his hand to avoid it.

“Googmmammmwwwwaaa…” Meatball mumbled as he tried to climb up on Harold, pulling his hair with as much power as his little hands could muster.

Harold sighed and would just gently pry off his small paws when it got too painful. It seemed like this had been going on for some time.

Poor guy.

Anyway, he eventually did notice their arrival and life was immediately injected into him. “Finally!” he yelled, standing up and carrying a baby on each arm, practically shoving them at a parent’s arm.

“…”

“Gosh, they just can’t be satisfied anymore,” Harold said, heaving a deep breath. Now, Harold was usually a saint, but apparently taking care of the babies for hours was now too stressful even for him.

This was understandable. The babies… they just got more troublesome after she took away the aether toys.

Sadly, after experiencing the magical toys, they had lost interest in most of their ‘static’ toys, so now Bianca and the others were working on mechanical ones… which, in a way, was also great business.

In the meantime, they had to harass living beings. Sometimes it was them, sometimes it was Harold, and sometimes it was the dogs (who always squeaked in pain because they pulled on their furs too much).

Harold couldn’t bear to pass the babies to the kids, who were busy with homework. The dogs were out hunting mobs and the other adults were busy at work as well. So… he had to endure the entire night of abuse all by himself.

“Thank you,” was all they could say before Harold excused himself to get a well-deserved rest.

The couple sighed as they took their babies to their cribs. They looked down at the babies in their arms, so cute and soft and could easily melt hearts. It’d be hard to imagine they could be little devils if they wanted to.

“Mwammmaahhh!” Pepper mumbled, rubbing her chubby face on her chest.

“Googgmmwaaa…” Meatball also mumbled, trying to climb up his father this time.

The couple smiled, kissing their faces. They giggled and laughed, but started squirming again, no doubt wanting to do some activities.

Those aether toys were useful in that aspect, but she didn’t know enough—neither did Oslo or the other aborigines—about the phenomenon she had witnessed.

She had tried to experiment with the toys after she took them. Basically, the kids were able to input aether as well. Normally, this would not have been a cause for concern… except they were babies.

The reason why children didn’t attempt to level up too much before reaching the age of 12 was because their developing bodies couldn’t handle the aether yet.

Being in the vicinity of the aether toys, or any tool apparently, would entice the children to unconsciously use aether. What could this imply? No one knew, and no one dared to imagine the possible worse consequences.

“So… what do we do with them?” she asked, just as she placed Pepper in her crib and set up the mobile toy hanging above the cribs to distract them.

It was really complicated. They knew too little to determine which approach was best for the children, so in the end they could only forbid them from getting close to aether tools that needed power to trigger.

At the same time, for now, they should probably limit the use of their powers, too, at least until they knew for certain it wouldn’t be bad for them.

How though, when they hadn’t even mastered what activated them in the first place?

…

_____

[Shameless Plug]

We got FOUR games up~ (links on my discord)

The contest game (wherein the price is a recurring character + discord nitro subscription good for 1 month) is the Crossword puzzle game~

The other three just-for-fun games are:

Sliding puzzle game – personally I found this hard, but apparently some of you found it easy lolol

2. Match Game – Match the voices to the character images~!

3. Memory Game – well, memory game xD

The winning Price? It’s bragging rights! Lololol

Anyway, they were fun to make and I hope everyone could get to play them~