After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World novel Chapter 1622

Chapter 1622: Don’t Take Loans You Can’t Pay For

In a Town far far South of Voumi Town was Uber Town. This was a place not too far from Jacoba Town, located somewhere East of it.

Uber Town was one of the Towns in the fertile belt, and its citizens were relatively well-off... at least until about a month ago.

At this time, a few commoners were huddled together in the living room of their home, all looking pale.

It was a family of seven, an old woman, two middle-aged men, and one of their wives, as well as some younger folk in their 20s.

Other than being a family, there was also another similarity between them: they all had pale and dry complexions, massive eye bags, and a general dark atmosphere around them.

They were antsy and itchy, scratching their own skins to alleviate the discomfort they were feeling.

"What is that brat taking so long to send us anything?" one of the middle-aged men asked.

"Why are you asking me? That’s your son," the other snapped. "Is he rebelling?! Shame."

The man sneered. "My son is still better than yours, who couldn’t make money!"

"So what? Thorance isn’t sending anything anymore, is he?!"¹

The two were incredibly irritable and very close to fighting.

They did receive a letter recently, but all the bastard said was that he had no money! Then they sent another letter telling him it was life or death, and he better come to send some money.

So far, there had been no response, and it was making them itch in irritation so much that wounds were appearing (festering now) on their skins!

Thon screamed at his wife. "Send a letter again. Tell him we’re dying!"

It wasn’t even an exaggeration anymore!

The woman looked at him. "We do not have the money to send any more letters!"

"What?!"

It felt like their crumbling world was getting more and more unhinged.

What would they do now?!

However, they were not able to discuss anymore as the door burst open a moment later.

BANG! 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

It was a group of bulky men, looking menacingly at them. "So here is where you’ve been hiding. Like the destitute pests that you are."

"What—"

They forgot that they were forced to allow access to these people as part of their loan deals!

Anyway, the loan sharks didn’t even wait and just grabbed them. "Your debt has piled up. Unless you have money outright, someone needs to be sold to make up for it."

The family gaped, and they screamed when people started to grab them. "What— NO!"

"Please!

"Money is coming! Please wait!"

The men sneered. "Heh, pretty sure you don’t even have spending money for basics."

They had spent all the money that Thorance sent on various things that were decidedly not basic needs.

"We...we can pay for it!!"

"You’ve been saying that for weeks," the loan sharks said, impatient, pulling them out the door and dragging them across the stone pathways in front of their house

They had no qualms hauling them to the wider avenues, in fact, and people only watched without pity. This sight was nothing new, after all.

"NO! PLEASE!! AHH! HELP!!"

"NOOO!"

"PLEASE! WE CAN PAY!!"

Speaking of that, after Ester Town¹ won over Jacoba Town,² they (Uber Town) really did get a bit of a sum for helping out. That was many months ago, however, and there seemed to be some talks that Jacoba would start a revenge war soon.

At his words, the Uber Town Lord’s eyes darkened. "Your son? Thorance?"

The family gasped. Their stomachs dropped.

It was just that one couldn’t tell if they were in despair about their son’s safety, or that they didn’t have a source of funds anymore.

Thon crawled to the Lord, rubbing his hands together. "Milord, please check again! He just sent us a letter not too long ago!"

Someone from his side nodded, adding detail. "From Ferrol Town! He must’ve been hired from there!"

The lenders shrugged. "Anyway, this means he’s gone, so pay with your own bodies.

"Nononono!"

The Lord looked at them and then at the lenders. Looking at their appearances his eyebrows rose.

"You got hooked on the powder? How could you afford that?"

They used Thorance’s funds, of course.

Unlike them, the lord’s level was pretty high so the effects of the drugs were mostly pleasure to him. He was very much hooked on the powder and couldn’t feel comfortable letting a day pass by without his ’inhalation’, but the Lord didn’t feel anything wrong about it just yet.

As for the ’weak’ willed who were overcome by the powder—also called ’demon of pleasure’ —he just looked down on them.

That said, he should ask for more in the upcoming war. He actually got his stocks from there, and in their area, Ester Town was one of the powder’s main distribution points.

He doubted Jacoba could do anything about them, and the token could still sell for quite a bit.

The Lord stared at them for a moment, and narrowed his eyes.

He didn’t see much use about them, especially since they were so weak that the powder could take over them. They’d actually contribute better if they were treated as slaves, instead.

However, there was no harm in investigating first.

"Wait," he told the lenders. "We’ll borrow a few of them for a while," he said. "I’ll think about what I can use them for after that."