A lot of establishments also joined in the celebration and held promos. Pretty much every shop was open at that time, all with lively decors (in Xeno standards, anyway) and various activities each.
For example, Heartbreak Tavern held a little event on the street in front of it. At the price of buying a small bottle of his most common alcohol (and downing it immediately), they would have the chance to shoot a tiny ball into a small basket.
Not only was the ball tiny, but this basket was placed over a wobble board, so it wasn't even still. Each shot cost a bottle, so it'd be more difficult each time because the shooter would be inebriated.
The prize? Depending on how many balls they shot, they'd receive rewards in the form of premium bottles of beverage from the Vino Alcohol Shop!
It was no surprise, then, that his shop was particularly rowdy. It was too worth it to win, though sadly no one succeeded for some time, giving Vino quite a bit of profit.
This liveliness before the sun even set shocked the two newly-hired aborigines named Saul and Seal Jo.
At this time, the two brothers were staring with wide eyes as a certain inebriated man shot his own head on the basket, causing boisterous laughter all around.
"Brother…" Saul mumbled, looking at the well-organized streets, consistent building and aesthetics, and the bright surroundings.
"This is really… a village?"
Speaking of these two, Althea finally heaved a sigh of relief when she saw some new hireable aborigines.
Don't look at how she had five chances to choose and hire 2 a day, there wasn't anyone worth hiring the past few days!
These two happened to be cousins from a family of Armor Makers. Saul was a Class D armor maker while Seal—fifteen years younger—had just been awakened at Class E.
As for how she got another pair of relatives, Althea didn't read too much into it. She was just relieved to add force to her territory.
The happiest was, of course, Clutch who finally got new helpers! He was so happy he met them personally. He was still reeling from the happiness of getting an Armor Shop from Fargo, but he now had new assistants!
It wasn't that Clutch hadn't been training Terran apprentices, but people who had intimate knowledge about this stuff—like Eugene and Troy—were very rare. It would take a while for the others to actually be useful.
Anyway, at this time, he held out a few sticks of delicious barbeque and handed a few to each.
"No worries," he said, smiling at them. "To answer your previous question, Altera is indeed a village. It's a level 3 village that had just upgraded a month prior."
The cousins looked at the bustling streets at night, the lovely smell, and all the smiles.
"This is too… lively," Seal mumbled. In his memory, villages were mostly poor and backward. While he did have higher expectations for villages who could afford to hire him, he didn't think it was too… far off.
Saul nodded, "This is akin to a town." He said, "A very good town."
Clutch felt so proud. He was a bonafide Alteran now.
"Go, eat them, I'll show you where to go and you can explore on your own."
"Where are we going?" Saul asked, reluctantly looking at the barbeque stick. But when the aroma reached his nose, he gulped and his hand moved on its own, guiding the unusual meat into his mouth.
His soul left his body for a moment there.
His cousin saw this and took a bite, joining the momentary death.
Cluth was smug, having fun watching others experience what he did.
He cleared his throat, resuming his cool and respectable expression. "Anyway, go eat while we walk to the equipment factory."
First, they went past the weapon and armor shops, and the two thought they'd be going here. Surprisingly, they literally just passed them and headed elsewhere.
"We don't stay there anymore. Those are for supplying the common weapons. Our Altera produces better ones, though for a higher price."
Of course, these two buildings were still essential. After all, there were thousands of hard-working citizens in Altera. Although their population was fewer than others (for now), the ratio of people fighting outside was still higher due to the atmosphere and the policies in place.
Having buildings that could automatically churn out equipment in exchange for some resources was too useful!
They headed to the industrial areas which was, even at a distance, awe-inspiring. The factories were pretty large monolithic buildings that could appear intimidating to someone unused to seeing such arrangements. And there were rows of them!!
As they entered the industrial park's street, they walked past human-pulled carriages with various items at the back.
"Hurry! Hurry! We gotta deliver these to the clinic soon! I think the pharmacy also has an event going on!"
"Do you think they'll be using these items?"
"Possibly? Then I want in!!" the other yelled, though they were soon out of earshot to hear what else they were talking about.
Anyway, the trio went on their way, with the newcomers also looking forward to walking around the territory.
This curiosity though was quickly put at the back of their heads when they reached what was the Main Equipment Factory.
The weapons, armors, and other equipment took two factories but were combined. This was because many of the steps were shared and it was much more efficient to combine them.
"Working hours are over so there's barely anyone here," Clutch said, looking around the quiet factory. There were plenty of machines, forging tools, furnaces, and the like, but only a few people were around.
The cousins looked at him. "Working hours?"
"Yes. In Altera, we only work a certain number of hours."
The two wanted to ask more when Seal accidentally stepped on a rock that had rolled on the floor. "Eh, what's this?" The younger one asked, leaning down to get the black rock.
Saul, the older and more experienced one, blinked. His feet moved to look closer, eyes blinking in disbelief. His eyes then ended up in the large mountain of that same rock.
"These… black metal…" he muttered, speaking to himself. "Why are there so many in a village…"
"Oh, I forgot. We have two Class C equipment makers here."
They gaped at him. "Class C?!"
A level C armorer and weaponsmith in a village? But looking around… they felt they shouldn't jump to conclusions.
The brothers looked at each other. They were already happy that they were hired together, but it seemed like they got hired somewhere… very special.