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

"While the battles outside were reaching the climax, there were still some teams aiming for the 'big prize' — which was Alterra itself."

These people included Vara and his large team, a few other elementalist-led teams, and the spies who had been biding their time inside the houses.

The tensions were high and they were all itching to make a move, just waiting for the signal. Because they were all in hiding — and because most of their sources of information from the outside had been taken care of — they were relatively blind about the situation outside.

However, regardless of the uncertainties, they were sure of one thing: They really wanted to win this war. Not just to avoid becoming slaves, but because of the promises given to them!

The Basset Town Lord, Bentro, promised stewardship and profit-sharing to whoever managed to get the Lord Token from the enemy! The plan was for Basset to merge Alterra into it and this meant someone would have to act as leader in place of the Lord.

Alterra was the biggest prize that not even thousands of gold could compare to. Even if they hadn't stayed for a long time, they could see the amount of transactions, how expensive the properties were, as well as the great things it offered.

This was especially so for the spies who had seen most of Alterra compared to the others. Even while they were lounging around as spies, they would enjoy the food and the amenities.

At the same time, they'd feel regret when things were sold so… affordably. In their minds, if it was they who sold these treasures, then they'd be selling them for what they're worth — which was much higher than what these idiots were doing!

Not to mention the material things, the other stuff in the libraries and the Research Center would sell for even more. After all, knowledge in Xeno was invaluable — so much so that it was gatekept so tightly for generations.

When they take charge, they wouldn't do 'useless' things like sharing anymore! They would keep all the knowledge — and therefore the power — to themselves!

Anyway, as time passed, the more impatient they grew.

They were all just waiting for the others to cause chaos so they could move, which sadly had yet to happen to the degree they wanted.

Aborigines tended to work for their own gains — especially for the powerhouses who had their own pride and arrogance — so, rather than team up, a lot of them had been investigating, planning to hunt on their own rather than cooperate.

Anyway, there was only one token, and therefore only one winner!

The fortunate part was that Alterra was open to foreigners, but the challenge was when they had to register if they wanted to clear their names.

Those who did not were — and this was something they realized too late — monitored extremely closely. As a result, most of the spies were captured even before the war started.

Fortunately, there were still at least a handful of them that survived, because most of them had registered as citizens in other territories, like Ferrol, to go under the radar.

This was Fargo's recommendation. It was just that most people were too arrogant to follow his suggestions.

They had always disliked that Fargo, but he got the right idea this time.

Anyway, in one group, there was a total of eight people who had managed to stay behind. They took over one of the houses emptied by evacuees. They were lucky enough to choose one of the 'empty' areas where there was no one camping on balconies and ready to shoot trespassers as they came.

They had been acting as tourists within Alterra's walls and they had kept themselves low-key before and during the war.

This was excluding the most powerful people who had sneaked in before the war. They were strong ones who'd have been targets of suspicion, so they had to sneak back in just before the war, where it'd be too late for Alterra to spend energy to try looking for them.

For example: Futch, a level 32 water elementalist, Damco, a Level 31 wind user, and Feller, a level 35 fire user.

A few hours before the war, there was an announcement that shook the territory. Rather, the visitors and the spies.

Every elite force above level 30 was suddenly asked to sign oaths of non-aggression if they didn't want to help out in the war. They were asked to leave the premises if they did not want to do so — whether or not it was by force or not.

Naturally, a lot of them could not sign such an oath so they were part of the people who left the territory. However, thanks to Fargo — who was already camping nearby at the time — they managed to come up with a strategy to sneak in.

It was — as much as they hated to admit it — a brilliant plan.

They used their exact combination of elements: Fire, wind, and water.

In those few hours, Fargo taught them how to create a mirage.

Fortunately, they already had inheritances for the basic skills needed for it. They simply hadn't thought of such uses even if someone were to open their heads and pound on it.

For example, the water user had to create a soft mist — which he could — while the wind user simply had to manipulate and control the air in a small area, also to retain this mist. They were already in their level 30s as elementalists and had awakened decades prior, so such tasks weren't difficult for them.

The fire user, Feller, had the most difficult task because of a vague concept called 'bending the light'. This almost caused conflict because Fargo was so arrogant, but fortunately, they were all older men who knew what to prioritize.

In the end, Fargo just made him memorize a certain temperature — which was difficult — but fortunately he only needed to hold it for a few seconds.

They also had to time it well. They had to enter Alterra a few minutes before the war started. This way, the Lord — whoever it was — would realize their entry too late. This was assuming he would notice it at all, of course.

Anyway, even if he did, the war was about to start by then and therefore they could not spend any resources trying to hunt them down anymore.

And so here they were, safe inside the territory, intent on hunting him down!