After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World novel Chapter 1830

Chapter 1830: Phase 1 Updates (Part 2)

The advantage was that, should there be leaks in wars, there would be ready people to deal with them as soon as they entered. They could also reassign guards elsewhere where they’d be more needed.

In the ideal settings, some areas could be mostly defended by mercenaries, just with some guard teams organizing and bellowing out orders.

Not to mention, having huge amounts of mercenaries as mainstays also increased the territory’s ’overall strength’, which worked a lot as credit but in wars. The sheer amount of mercenaries would increase their cap for allied forces in wars, just by existing.

This was especially the case if these soldiers shifted their residencies and became true Alterrans. Powerful mercenary teams were not exclusively and strictly tied to their territory of origin or the territory wherein their main base stayed, so this was not an uncommon occurrence; it was just that this move was usually done from a lower territory upwards.

In Alterra, most mercenary teams that could afford to set up base were from higher territories, or at least much older and more established ones. This meant more powerful mercenaries, but this could also mean it was less likely for them to move branches.

But now, a lot of these mercenary teams from ’higher’ territories were seriously tempted. The more they saw, the more they knew about the future developments, the more tempted they became.

There was no way other Lords could monitor the movements of their mercenary teams every time, anyway, unless the person in question was really someone of importance, in which case their names in the Lord Panel would always be watched by someone.

However, even if the territory was powerful, if the mercenary team’s influence was wide enough and spanned multiple territories (in contrast to Lords who might only have influence in their own territory/satellites), then it was much easier to move out without conflicts.

The members of ’freer’ mercenary teams could choose to gain residencies outside the territory of origin, especially if they were permanently assigned to that branch.

The new territory they moved into would become less guarded this way as they appeared less of a threat. As citizens, the members of the branch would have a vested interest in protecting the territory as well.

In fact, most towns and cities had some sort of benefit system to encourage mercenaries to shift their residencies to them. They could be exempt from taxes, they could be awarded land or money, or there could be intermarriages going on.

In Alterra, there was no such thing, but plenty were definitely clamoring to gain contribution points and gold to buy a residency.

The risk, of course, was in the event of a betrayal. Maybe the mercenaries would even let the enemies in during wars. Their position relatively near the walls could certainly be advantageous in this way, too.

The administration knew all too well that there could be loopholes no matter what.

For example, since the mercenaries were already inside, it would be troublesome if they decided to stab people in the back. This was regardless of where they were based, and was even more dangerous if they were deeper into the territory.

There could also be those who suddenly decided to be neutral at the last minute. If it had been agreed that they were going to fight but did not do so, then that area would have an unexpected weakness because the resources placed there would have become insufficient.

Citizens were required to do basic oaths, and those participating in the war were also asked to do so. However, despite all these preparations, it would never be foolproof. The system could only do so much, and it would never tie people down so strictly unless they were slaves.

If the mercenaries were intent on betrayal anyway, it was best to handle them while they were far from the core, and thus, the current placement of their neighborhood. At least near the walls, they had a lot of sentries and a denser concentration of guards, so betrayals would be handled faster.

It wasn’t like they could prohibit the entrance of mercenaries at all, and they did not want to either, so they could only plan the best they could to minimize the risks.

Moving on to other parts of the phase, there were also groundbreaking for new buildings in the last part of the phase.

Some of the current diggers were aborigines. And there were also Terrans like Yayoi, who were among the recent refugees who encountered Alterran caravans (led by Otto at the time) going around during the unification.¹

They encountered a few bones here and there, but by this time, people were used to it. This world saw too many deaths. It was odd to go through a few hundred meters and not encounter a bone or two. They were placed haphazardly, so they were not proper burial grounds.

Unexpectedly, a bored Terran next to him decided to share some unnecessary trivia.

"Hmm...they probably got buried naturally through time. Even if they were buried, around 3 feet was indeed ideal." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Huh, why?" the albino asked. Wasn’t burying deep better?

"Three feet is for better decomposition. Burying six feet and below slows down decomposition due to lack of oxygen and could create methane—and, if there’s an ignition, boom! Fortunately, our utilities aren’t planted too deeply."

"..."

He shouldn’t have asked!

What they did not know was that the earth users had naturally done their job in scouting their land.

There was no need to worry about methane pits and the like. Still, it was good for the citizens to always be mindful of these things. Who knows when it’d be useful?