After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 1688

Chapter 1688: Limestone Valley War (Part 1)
Since the usual industries were useless, the most lucrative business he had was elementalist sales. He looked at the elder in charge of this, and the man immediately shivered.

He was a new elder, after the previous one died a horrid death.

“SPEAK.”

The man was reluctant to speak, but he had to. “I…there are no new arrivals, Milord,” he said. “B-But I am in contact with more territories!” he hurriedly added, afraid that he’d be killed.

“What do you mean?” Mafo asked with gritted teeth. “Wasn’t there a scheduled delivery today?”

“We lost a few subsidiaries in a war, Milord,” he said. “Weren’t you alerted?”

Mafo paused, vaguely remembering such a thing. He was too high to care about it at the time. It did not mean that he was less livid, however.

SLAM!

“Are you calling me stupid?”

“N-N-NO, MILORD!” the elder squeaked, crawling to him and prostrating himself to keep his life. “We…we are being targeted, M-Milord! P-Please deal with me a-at a later date!” Asking for complete forgiveness when the lord was in this mood was counterproductive.

He’d just beat them up more, asking how the person dared to ‘order him around’.

“The Village that was supposed to deliver had been taken over,” he said. “When our people went there, they were defeated instead. I o-only found out about it recently when the few who had escaped r-reported to me, Milord.”

“Who is it?” he asked, tone dark and sent shivers down their spines.

“Iron Mountains, Milord,” he said. “It was Guia Village, formerly.”

“That is Valov’s territory!”

An elder shook his head. “It’s Alterra, Milord,” he said. It wasn’t a secret, but not everyone knew it at the top of their mind, especially when they were not paying attention. “Iron Mountains is owned by Alterra Town.

“What?” Mafo muttered, reminded of it. “What are they planning?”

Was it a preemptive strike?

So that was the war they were going through last time, eh?

Eian looked at the elders with sharp eyes before turning to the Lord. “The Elder is correct, Milord. Perhaps it is time to declare war on Alterra Town now,” he said. “The gap should be over now.”

Indeed. It was better to fight against the new Town rather than an established one!! Besides, when he won, he could get his much-needed funds!

“It should’ve been two weeks now, indeed,” he said, anger slightly subsiding. Rather, it found a new target to vent. “This time I will successfully take over—”

[Alterra Town (Lvl1) is not open for war at this time.]

“WHAT!?”

….

This time, it was Limestone Valley going to war.

As decided upon by the Elders, they chose Inko Village this time in order to retrieve Juno Village, the place that Penelope, Sarah, and many others had once called home.

It was quite poetic in a sense, since they had attacked Limestone Valley twice now.

This operation was naturally led by Victor and Henry, with some assistance from Garan.

Unlike the war for Calming Village, though, Limestone Valley was quite near Inko. They also had a bit more time to make things easier for themselves.

One of the main strategies? Get a few people to register as residents at least a week before the war.

The people sent here were, for the most part, not permanent residents from Limestone or Alterra, otherwise, it would’ve felt wasteful because they’d have to repurchase residencies.

There were plenty of reasons for sending spies so many days in advance. One was to gather info and make sure everything they knew was as updated as possible.

Another, which was what their enemies loved to do, was to sow discord and cause chaos during the war.

Most importantly: This was so they could give orders to slaves!

The spies naturally had to be at a level that was relatively strong for village level, but not too eye-catching, which was around level 10 to 11. They needed to be strong enough not to be bullied, but also not too strong that people would be too guarded with them.

Limestone Valley placed two small teams in Inko, one set of aborigine guards and another set of Terran guards.

Each team would settle on opposite sides of the territory. The aborigines found accommodation near the local bosses, and the Terrans would live near the denser residential areas, specifically near the areas with Terran slaves to camouflage themselves.

The teams naturally had different roles, and they were placed where they could be maximized while minimizing suspicion at the same time.

These two groups pretended not to know each other, and could even acted out scenarios as needed.

They practiced this, in fact, and Juni—the seasoned actress—directed a lot of scenarios.

For example, for their aborigine spies, they were to gain camaraderie with the local lords, powerhouses, and leaders. They were even tasked to ‘beat up’ their Terran comrades.

For example, while walking along a street, the aborigine spies would pull the Terran spies into an alley to torture.

They would make loud sounds that gave the impression that an intense beating was happening. The ‘victims’ also screamed and shrieked, making sure the passersby would hear what was happening.

The Terran spies hired this time were actor wannabees. Someone even acted like a zombie (the concept was that he was tortured so much he went crazy), creeping people out.

That said, in every beat up or scene they planned out, there would be a lot of emotional lines blurted out.

There were some specific lines that they must include. There were a lot of ad libs, and the sequences could vary, but there were a few messages that must be spread out before the war.

“I only focus on working and making a living, why do you people make it so hard for us?!”

“Why can’t you just leave us alone? Are you so insecure about your manhood that you have to beat people up to feel better about yourself?!”

“You think this place is so special?! There are plenty of better places than here! Just you wait—I will leave this place!!”

“You aren’t even that strong!”

And so on.

Anyway, just like this, the two small teams integrated into the territory very quickly.

By the time the war started, all seeds had been planted— and continued to be nourished—and the locals had no idea they could be spies at all.

[The war with Limestone Valley Village (Lv3) has begun! All citizens must fight; otherwise, you’ll get kicked out!]

Hearing the announcement of the war, an air of unease naturally enveloped the streets and the houses. There were plenty of mumblings, mostly of fear, though some felt more impactful than others.

“Wow…we’ll get kicked out? So maybe… I shouldn’t fight at all? I heard the enemy is strong…didn’t we lose twice already?” One voice mumbled amidst the crowd. “Might as well just hide away and then get kicked out after…”

He seemed to be whispering, but it was loud enough for an entire crowd to hear.

His companion nodded. “If we’re going to die anyway, why fight?”

This was Tacky Brat and his friends.

They lived in Limestone Valley for a while, so many of their current team members were friends. Anyway, they meshed quite well with them.

“I know, right? I also heard Limestone valley is so good. The people we lost there in the previous wars got better lives than we do! Some even bought their own freedom. How unfair is that?”

“EH!? Then…shouldn’t becoming a slave over there be better for us?”

Silence

“HUSH! Do you want to go to prison?” Tacky gasped as if he wasn’t loud enough for everyone to hear.

They knew when the retreat though, so while planting seeds here and there, they would disappear amidst the crowd.

Even if guards were in the vicinity, they wouldn’t be able to trace them, nor would they notice what they were doing until it was too late.

…

On the other side, there were the forever-spies Tambai and Tanod, who were now acting as drunkards.

“Another war? How many times is it? We lost twice in a row already!”

“Look, damn! Another fire!” Tambai gasped, sobbing. “My shop! My shop!” he yelled, as if he wasn’t the one who set it on fire.

He used the alcohol he was currently drinking, and he also used the easy-to-fire lighters from Alterra.

“Urgh, and it’s against the same territory, too,” his brother cried, kneeling down in front of their pitiful little stall, dramatically punching the ground.

“Might as well just surrender already!”

“Life is so unfair! So unfair! Wuuu—”

“WUUUUU!”

“I can’t do this anymore!” Tambai screamed, as if truly bellowing from his stomach. “I’d rather just surrender when the enemies come in!”

That said, they walked around drunk, and some people looked at them in thought, while there were also those who were sobbing in empathy, completely agreeing with them!

There were also some who shook their heads, thinking guards nearby would take care of them.

However, after two failed wars, how many guards could Inko assign to do rounds?

They’d all be focused on the walls or be with the Lord instead, wouldn’t they!?

Like this, more and more chaos spread out even before enemies breached! There was absolutely no area with solidarity, and everyone was filled with doubts instead.

Except for the slaves who were compelled to follow instructions, the rest of the citizens would more likely hide away and wait for the war to end, instead.

And by the time the first breach entered, the people of Inko had no idea how to deal with it!