After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 968

Chapter 968: Gill’s Investigations

He was stopped by a short queue outside the gates, and he took this time to look at the guards stationed there. He stared at them with dark eyes, as if gauging their strengths—already preparing for the worst.

His sights then shifted to the towers. The sentries here were also relatively dense (at least compared to many towns) at 300 meters apart near the gates and a little less dense outside of it. Level 6 sentries, he heard, had a longer range from what they had, so he supposed this spacing was sufficient for mobs… and for humans who kidnapped their princess.

He entered the threshold and was welcomed by the system, as well as by the whooping 150 copper visitor’s fee.

More than 1 silver per day…

He tutted and paid anyway, immediately looking around to study the place.

He saw the relatively tall 4-story buildings, the 10-meter wide carriageway, and the bustling activity on the streets. A good town was a good town, it really couldn’t compare with (aborigine) villages he had been in.

He also saw the many guards and the endless collection of strong men his level or above.

His jaw hardened and his fist clenched, eyes showing no hint of cowardice—even if he knew he could get surrounded by these strongmen if he failed to take everything into account.

He gritted his teeth, his feet taking him deeper, intent on finding out as much as he could. Gill focused on figuring out where Cassandra was, her schedule, as well as the forces he had to deal with if he wanted to get to her.

The whole thing was torture for him though. Everywhere, there was a reminder of Cassandra getting married. Or rather, there was a shop owner everywhere trying to capitalize on her wedding.

“The Lady Cassandra would get married to the Ester Town young master~ Let us celebrate together! Buy your blue dress here to join!”

There was also someone who was selling rocks claiming it was Cassandra’s lucky charm. “Maybe you can marry yourself into a rich lord’s house, too!”

It was well known that Cassandra’s fiance was the other lord’s only son. It was also much richer and had closer ties to the cities because the lord’s wife was a relative to high nobles in Bleuelle.

One of the things he noticed though, was that their attitude wasn’t exactly well-wishing to Cassandra. Rather, it was a celebration that their town would be rich again.

He determined this based on their wording. ‘Miss Cassandra married well for us’ or ‘the lord chose well’ when he also heard of the other man’s resounding reputation of being a philanderer.

Let alone his burning need to find Cassandra, he also had to hold back his acerbic tongue. The number of times he held back saying shit, bullshit, orcshit, idiot, blind, and many curse words was enough to cause him aneurysm.

He almost got into a fight the first time he called someone an idiot. He had to lose several silver to calm him down, even when his own eyes were twitching with annoyance.

His jaw clenched.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise, but until he encountered it happening to someone he cared about, he didn’t really absorb it so deeply.

If most women here were seen as tools by default, then their marriages—something that they’d have to endure for the rest of their lives—were something that was used to claim conveniences for others.

It was still hard for him to wrap his head around the idea that women were seen like this, but this was the reality, and he really wanted to take Cassandra away from it.

Anyway, it was the most torturous data-gathering he ever had to do.

However, after all that torture, he discovered that while Jacoba was indeed a very rich town, it was actually on its decline.

First of all, after all these years, various other territories had also learned how to handle the plant. It varied in quality and technique, but all of them sold it for a much lower cost.

Second, the lord party was known for their extravagance. The lord himself always bought the most unique thing that was sold to him—as if to show off his wealth—regardless of its actual function.

Both wives held expensive parties, trying to one-up the other. They would hold a gathering or a party at least once a month in honor of whatever celebration they decided on—to see which one had more powerful guests.

The reason could be as shallow as a grandchild (illegitimate) losing the first teeth.

This latest one happened just after the Heat Wave, when many of the poorer citizens suffered from hunger and thirst.

As for how he knew so much—after much trial and error and almost-fights—he figured out that he ought to focus on the old people of the lower strata, specifically those who served nobles.

He figured this out after he almost got into his 17th fight of the day. There was a particularly annoying bastard who spoke of Cassandra as if she was an object to have fun with.

“That Ester heir is so lucky! I wish I got a taste—do you think he’ll send her back after he gets tired of her? Since she’s dirty, maybe she’ll get thrown out the street!! HAHA!”

His brain stopped working and he immediately went to attack that bastard. Unexpectedly, the old man arrived and talked to him as if his master was looking for him. The master’s a noble so the bastards had no choice but to let him go, but not without him paying a gold worth of hush fee.

The old man helped him because he could tell he was a foreigner—an alien.

At the time, Gill didn’t quite know what he meant (his brain was still so heated from both anger and desperation). He simply thanked him and decided to thicken his face to ask some questions, which was how he got to know so much.

Later… he’d find out that this old man had interesting connections with an acquaintance.

If he wasn’t in such a rush, he might even think that some things were just… fated.