After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World-Chapter 1848: Distribution of the Cure (Part 2)

While Alterra was recovering, so was everywhere else, though unsurprisingly at much slower rates.

After all, Alterra would use their cures for their own people first. They only distributed a small, small portion of the slots for public access (by draw lots), primarily to keep people from getting too impatient and causing trouble.

A bit of hope could go a long way.

While the production rate for the cure increased, not many could be sold outside for a while. They also couldn’t send it out carelessly, opting to observe the test subjects for a few days first, so there were more vaccines coming out of the research center and Althea’s Pharmacy Store while the clinical tests were ongoing.

Fortunately, the vaccine had already spread all over the region by this time, so the trend for people getting affected in the first place was on a sharp decline.

It was inevitable for there to be someone new showing symptoms here and there—there were only so many vaccines, after all—but there were fewer and fewer of them, which was a massive progress.

Having only several hundred casualties for an entire region was actually quite miraculous, historically speaking.

First of all, that number ballooned because many people in the associate towns (Voumi, Flaret, and Basset) were not exactly cooperative. Many other territories had even lower numbers.

A region of this size and density, after a month of contracting the Fire Plague, would normally have several thousands, if not tens of thousands, of deaths. Then, if it lasted a year, that could’ve reached millions.

Now, those who had been afflicted but alive—many of whom would’ve died had they contracted it elsewhere—were on the way to recovery rather than death.

Among those who were still recovering was Quiro, Raine’s aborigine guard.

Unlike water elementalists, fire elementalists were not immune to the disease. Rather, it could be said to spread faster once it gets through the individual’s immune system.

However, the bright side of being a fire elementalist in the fire plague was that its damage was generally much more contained. There had been cases of fire elementalists completely recovering from the virus before, without side effects, despite reaching stage 3, though those were high leveled individuals.

Quiro’s level was high for a village, but definitely not high enough to completely overwhelm the virus. Fortunately, they managed to get the inhibitor before it got to the final stage, and his fire physique helped extend his time to get one.

Overnight, he was sweating buckets and burning through his skin, creating steam with his sweat.

The young man could not even open his eyes, and he literally felt like he was in a dream for a while. However, when he felt cold fabric on his forehead, he shivered a bit and felt relieved, comforted, as if the pain was balanced out by the extremely cold fabric.

Quiro turned to the side to see the Lord herself sitting right next to his bed.

His heart clenched and he was filled with embarrassment, shame, and...warmth. "Milord...using the remaining inhibitor on me...is too much..."

After each medicine—the inhibitor, the vaccine, and then the cure—was made, several first copies were sent to the allies. They were sold and handed over to representatives traveling there, and they were handed out outside the territory, where a simple camp was made for people like them.

The lockdown was quite strict, after all, and they would be automatically quarantined at a certain zone before they could enter and be let go.

This was too time consuming and inconvenient for people from other territories who were generally in a hurry to get back.

So, instead of heading in and undergoing various tests (and risking getting trapped in Alterra’s quarantine zones), many of the representatives stayed outside so they could do their business relatively quickly. Sure, there were monsters, but they camped next to the sentries as well as the always-guarded battlements, so they were okay.

Some food and water were also provided and some sleeping mats were lent to them, allowing for some rest before they ran back to their respective territories.

These people were also guarded well. Not just against monsters, but also humans who were understandably desperate for the items.

Alterra was, of course, low-key when passing over these things. They did not want the representatives to be mobbed or stolen from. Hence, they never handed over the medicine in public and would always send an aether letter of sorts to send an alert of the delivery.

Similarly, even when asked by refugees, the representatives never mentioned what they were truly there for.

Most of them claimed that they were waiting for some of their relatives inside to be released from the quarantine, and that there was no place to rent out for outsiders anymore (which was true), so they could only wait outside the walls.

Still, there was still some trouble and many people got injured by the time they got back to Belluga Village.

Many people were desperate, after all, and some sharper ones saw that many people outside looked well-off, not like normal refugees. When they left the perimeter of the territory without entering, it struck some people as odd and they followed after them.

Fortunately, no one among Belluga’s representatives died, though they were definitely worn out, and some were even afflicted midway.

Back when only the inhibitors were sent out, and the vaccine was still not released to territories outside Alterra, the Lord opted to give it to him as soon as he showed symptoms.

"You are one of my most trusted companions. How could I lose you?"

Besides, I am a water user. Alterra said we are immune."

Quiro looked at her, feeling relieved that she wouldn’t be affected. However, he also knew that they did not know this piece of information when she gave him the inhibitor. He, for one, only found out about this.

His heart clenched at the thought that— maybe, maybe—he might be a bit special to the Lord, but he calmed himself.

"I will recover and serve you well, Milord," he said, and his tone was like he was giving an oath of his own.

Raine chuckled, not noticing the warmth in her eyes. "Well, I’m looking forward to it."