After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World-Chapter 1924: Dealing with the Aftermath

"Block all the exits," Garan ordered immediately, and Eagle beside him took out his aether letter to send out instructions to several Guard Stations, which in turn would disseminate it further.

Garan assigned most of the guards to various tasks, while the rest remained and studied their friends, wondering what to do with them.

According to Mathilda, the enemy’s ability couldn’t brainwash people to do something they wouldn’t do.

This was especially so because they were guarded by an oath. However, this enemy could certainly convince them of some things, making people believe certain facts as long as they weren’t beyond the realm of their understanding and belief.

For example, Harold wouldn’t do anything to purposely hurt Althea, nor would he believe she had done evil acts to warrant any violence. However, he can easily be convinced that someone important to her was in danger and that the master he admired was the one who could fix it.

Jun, on the other hand, knew that the people who could make Mathilda move swiftly were her family. Combined with the fact that Gwen had, indeed, headed out to train, the belief that she was in danger was planted in him.

It didn’t matter that Gwen was actually just along the walls. After all, she was pregnant.

The fact that the enemy convinced them to try and kill themselves probably took advantage of their caring hearts, the belief that they failed to save the victims, and therefore deserved death.

Ironically, this actually reflected the victims’ thought process, showcasing their loyalties and determination.

To make such unwitting subordinates into traitors was incredibly cruel.

"To say it’s a troublesome ability is an understatement," Althea sighed, her heart clenching in pain.

After this, the person who’d be harshest to Harold...was himself.

"We did not know about this," Loki, who was at the side, said, looking forlorn. "There’s no information about someone from Valov with such ability."

"I should have considered it—Lady Mathilda awakened it, so others would’ve too."

Althea shook her head. "Valov probably doesn’t have it, as it seems like a very rare skill."

When Mathilda showed her skills, the Golds had been quite surprised. It was apparently so rare that only one or a few in a city could be found.

The con was that it also depended a lot on levels. Most would have difficulty affecting anyone of the same level or above, so Mathilda’s was especially rare.

The Golds arrived soon after that, their faces dark when they heard of what had happened. In their case, when they saw the foreign goblins’ desperate faces, they already felt it was odd. This was why, when they asked for help, though reluctant, they said no.

The goblins outside Alterra were generally cowardly and wouldn’t insist on begging for help once they said no, but those did. They heard a distant explosion then, and they rushed over as soon as they could.

"The only good part is that it requires a lot of preparation, days of conditioning, and limitations on the number of victims. It’s unlikely new victims could rise after this, but still, it’s better to confirm any major news from here on forward."

"We don’t know a lot of things about Hassen City. This has Hassen written all over it."

They knew enemies had already planted a lot of people around, and they were doing their best to keep an eye out for any suspicious individuals. However, it seemed like it still wasn’t enough.

One way or another, this manipulator had been in contact with the victims often enough for that skill to work.

They even managed to procure bombs. There could still be more around, but this could not be cheap, so they used them to start everything, and also hurt the elders.

As for those who activated it, whoever lit the fuse should be in prison now, automatically pulled by the system as soon as they cause damage. Garan had already sent someone to confirm before.

Garan looked at Eagle. "Have the messages been sent?"

"Yes, captain. Every Guard Station should’ve received the message by now."

Unlike before, Eagle only had to use one aether letter, and it would send it to various endpoints.

This was one of the few prototypes for Kalfene’s updated Aether Letter. It was a combination of the standard one-to-one Aether Letter and the one-to-many (but no reply) Aether Board.

The original aether letter only had a one-to-one connection, with each side registering a certain signature to the other. This could not be taken back. Once it was synced, the two aether letters would be connected. If one were lost, the other would be useless.

Back then, they had the default letters. Captains would send news to the guard station aether letters, which were collected in a single room with a few people monitoring their movements the whole 28 hours of the day.

Depending on the message’s code or addressee, the Guard Station would then spread it out as needed. They could also serve as the liaison between two guard teams who didn’t have direct letters to each other. This could get cumbersome, especially if the news had to be spread quickly.

Guards and elders had several aether letters in their spaces, depending on who else they were connected with, and they had to use the right aether letter to get the message across to the right person.

In the same vein, the guard stations had a larger wall indicating which aether letter it was specifically connected to. However, as the territory expanded and as they promoted more and more captains as necessary, things got a bit too cluttered.

There was even some confusion here and there, with the guards erroneously sending instructions to the wrong guards.

Luckily, those were minor cases like assigning teams to rescue people outside who had called for assistance. Garan and the rest was determined not to wait until a more serious oversight happened.

So, the Research Center’s Toolmaker Department thought of combining the advantages of both aether letter and the aether board, which allowed the guards to send out messages to various parties almost simultaneously.

They would definitely not allow those bastards to escape!