After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World novel Chapter 2005

Chapter 2005: Planning in Acero

Hearing this, Anna and Wilem wondered if they could even stay here at all, even for a day. If it were a simple marriage, the enemies might not waste resources on them.

But if trade of resources for one side and safety on another was included in the equation, then the two of them were thrown at an even harder place than they thought.

"What do you think we should do?" Anna couldn’t help but ask Althea. Instead of a proper answer, however, Althea gave her a look.

"Are you asking us to think for you?"

"No, I—"

Garan did not like it when others pressured his wife for anything, even simple advice. He frowned and grabbed her shoulder, looking at the two with a frown.

They could only avoid his gaze.

Althea patted her husband’s leg, calming him down, before looking at the young couple. They were indeed young, both just around 20 years old. In Terran, this was just entering university age.

In this world, people had longer natural life spans, and the children’s personalities could go two ways. One was precociousness developed after having to fight for their lives early on, or late maturity due to being protected by their families.

Althea looked at them. "What do you want to do?"

"I...we just want to be together," Anna said, and the man nodded."

"We want to be together and live peaceful lives," Wilem added. "Ideally, without causing the deaths of hundreds."

They did not want to step on the corpses of others, including causing wars, but they truly did not want to go back and live their old lives.

"I am willing to elope, but I’m afraid we wouldn’t live peacefully, even if just with our conscience."

At least these two nobles had a conscience, which was relatively rare among locals, and this caused Althea and Garan’s stances to soften a bit.

"You are willing to leave your birthright behind? You have to know, you can do a lot of things if you have power. This includes protecting the people you love."

Wilem nodded. "I am aware," he said, his eyes clear. He was not greedy for power, but he also wanted it. But right now...he had to ask whether he had the capability.

"I...I hope to grow stronger first," he said. "As long as I am with Anna, I know I can handle whatever comes my way. As for power and my birthright, if it’s fated, they will come."

If he weren’t with Anna, he doubted he’d have the energy or willpower to fight. Miss Althea was right, power was needed to protect the people he loved.

However, the premise was that they had to be alright while he was in the process.

Althea’s eyes flashed a trace of appreciation. She nodded.

"Hmn, first of all, we have to know our timeline. Whoever posted the mission would be alerted that it was completed already. Fortunately, this place doesn’t have a Post Office, but sending messengers wouldn’t be too hard."

This meant that people could be looking for them now and would therefore be alerted that she had already arrived. That would squeeze their timeline by a lot.

Unexpectedly, Wilem raised his hand. "It’s me."

"What?"

"It was me who posted the mission," Wilem said, blushing as he avoided his lover’s gaze.

Anna was sacrificed to solidify it on paper, and at no loss to Illya’s side, because his parents had been wanting to get rid of Anna anyway.

No matter what, Acero was the losing side. However, they did not have a choice because it had been through several wars over the past few years. What it wanted now was some sort of stability. The Lord was probably regretting not choosing a Post Office by now as well.

"Illyan is an old Level 2 town. It is also the nearest proper settlement. On its west and southern areas are already drying zones, and the desert was not far from there. There are fewer and fewer settlements there.

"We can create active caravans between the two territories. One to take the metal to our area, and then supplies coming in from ours." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"The land here is also drying up, and the farms are a bit less productive than those in other places. They could use the fertilizers and soil improvement potions we have from Holt," Wilem said, obviously thinking about this a lot. "Holt is far but is easily accessible to Illyan, but almost impossible and dangerous to go to for the people of Acero."

"Illyan also recently discovered the Maso plant," Anna added. "It is one of the raw materials for that fertilizing potion that Holt uses."

This made Wilem look at her.

Anna smiled. "I believed I was to marry you, so I studied a lot so I could be of help."

At this, Wilem’s eyes glazed in warmth, forgetting the previous professional topic they had just been discussing. "Anna..."

"Wilem..."

Ahem.

Althea rolled her eyes. Why are people so easily distracted? So frivolous..

If people from Alterra knew what she was thinking, they would also roll their eyes. The number of times Althea and Garan kissed and hugged in public was no joke, okay?!