The further they walked into King's Territory, the stranger it felt.
At first glance, it looked organized.
People moved along the dirt roads carrying supplies instead of running for their lives. Smoke rose steadily into the sky from several points deeper inside the settlement. Human voices drifted through the air from every direction, conversations overlapping with the sound of footsteps, creaking wood, and distant arguments.
Civilization.
Or at least something wearing its skin.
But beneath it all, Iris could feel it.
Tension.
Not the sharp kind born from immediate danger.
Something heavier.
Something settled.
Like everyone here had learned to live with fear instead of escaping it.
"The guards earlier…" Caleb finally broke the silence beside her.
He glanced back toward the entrance they had long passed. "Why'd you even pay those bastards extra?"
Iris kept her gaze forward. "Because there's power here."
Caleb frowned slightly.
"We just entered someone else's territory," she continued calmly. "We don't know how things work yet."
Her eyes swept briefly across the settlement around them.
"And antagonizing people before understanding the situation is stupid."
Benjamin nodded quietly to himself as if the answer made perfect sense.
Henry said nothing, but the slight shift in his expression told Iris he agreed too.
Around them, people stared openly as the group passed.
Not just because they were newcomers.
Because of the dogs.
Snow walked beside Iris in complete silence, her white fur standing out sharply against the muted browns and grays of the settlement. The black beast near Elias drew just as much attention, its large frame moving with unsettling stillness.
A little boy nearly tripped over himself after spotting Snow.
"Mommy…" he whispered loudly, clutching his mother's arm. "Is that a monster?"
His mother immediately pulled him closer.
"Don't point."
"But it's huge…"
Nearby, a man carrying a crate slowed nervously.
"That's a dog?"
"No way."
"It looks like an evolved beast…"
"How are they controlling it?"
Fear spread quietly through the watching crowd despite how hard people tried to suppress it.
Iris caught every reaction.
The caution, the curiosity and the greed.
Some people looked frightened.
Others looked interested in a much more dangerous way.
The deeper they walked, the more details revealed themselves.
Most of the territory's larger structures carried the same unnatural perfection. Smooth edges. Balanced proportions. Uniform wood without flaws or warping.
'System-built structures… so this was the power of a lord token.'
The realization became more obvious the longer Iris observed them.
Human beings could not have constructed an organized settlement like this within only a few days after arriving in an entirely alien world.
Not while fighting monsters and trying to survive.
But there were smaller changes everywhere.
Cloth coverings tied between buildings.
Storage areas added with scavenged materials.
Wooden supports nailed awkwardly against outer walls.
Human additions.
Messy attempts to adapt system structures into actual homes.
Unfortunately, the people themselves looked far less stable than the buildings.
Too many hollow eyes.
Too many exhausted faces.
Some carried visible injuries. Others moved carefully like they were hiding pain they could not afford to acknowledge.
No one looked comfortable.
Movement ahead slowed suddenly.
Several men were approaching from the opposite direction, and the crowd's reaction was immediate.
People moved aside without being told.
Voices lowered.
A path opened naturally through the middle of the road.
A woman near the roadside lowered her head immediately the moment the group approached, gripping the basket in her hands so tightly her knuckles whitened.
Nearby, a man subtly stepped sideways, shielding the teenage girl beside him from the view of
the man in the middle's entourage. Another pulled his wife closer behind him as the cronies passed, avoiding eye contact entirely.
Nobody spoke. But the fear was obvious once Iris started looking for it.
But the fear was obvious once Iris started looking for it.
The man at the center stood out immediately.
Cleaner clothes.
Polished boots.
Several rings gleamed across his fingers.
A thick golden chain rested visibly against his chest despite the apocalypse happening barely days ago.
The display felt deliberate.
Forced.
Like he desperately needed everyone around him to understand he held power.
His body carried the softness of someone who had not suffered nearly as much as the others inside the territory.
And the first thing his eyes settled on—
Was the women.
Veronica.
Priscilla.
Evelina.
Then finally Iris.
His gaze lingered slightly too long every single time.
One of the men beside him immediately barked,
"Watch your eyes!"
The crony glared aggressively at the group.
"You're standing before Lord Tobias of King's Territory!"
Marcus's expression hardened at once.
Beside him, Jin Tejin adjusted his stance almost invisibly.
Prepared.
Before the atmosphere could worsen, the man himself laughed warmly.
Or pretended to.
"It's fine," he said smoothly. "They're obviously new arrivals."
His smile looked practiced.
Too smooth.
The kind people wore when they wanted to appear trustworthy instead of naturally being trustworthy.
His eyes moved across the group again slowly.
Calculating.
"I'm Tobias," he announced proudly. "Lord of this territory." Pride swelled visibly across his face when he said the word lord.
Caleb's mouth twitched faintly like he physically struggled not to react.
Tobias either ignored it or genuinely failed to notice.
"We've built safety here," he continued casually. "Protection. Order. Civilization."
The words rolled off his tongue too naturally.
Repeated often.
Behind him, the men accompanying him watched Iris's group with entirely different expressions than the one Tobias wore. Their eyes lingered on weapons, bags, clothing, and especially the women.
Hungry.
Possessive.
Iris noticed Priscilla's jaw tighten slightly.
Veronica's expression cooled almost immediately.
Evelina simply stared back without emotion.
Tobias smiled again.
"If you plan on staying," he said, "I hope King's Territory treats you well."
Iris met his gaze calmly.
Not submissive.
Not confrontational.
Just steady.
Something flickered briefly behind Tobias's expression.
Then the smile returned.
"Well then," he said lightly. "Enjoy yourselves."
The crowd stayed quiet until he disappeared farther down the road with his followers.
Only then did normal movement slowly resume.
"…I don't like him," Caleb muttered.
"Good," Iris replied immediately.
Caleb blinked at her.
She continued walking.
"If someone feels wrong immediately, it means they've stopped bothering to hide it."
That silenced him surprisingly fast.
Not long afterward, a woman approached them carefully from the side of the road.
She looked to be in her mid twenties.
Thin frame.
Tired eyes.
Unlike the guards from earlier, there was no greed in her expression.
Only exhaustion.
"You're new here, right?" she asked quietly.
Caleb immediately looked suspicious.
The woman noticed and quickly added,
"I'm not asking for money."
A tired smile crossed her face.
"You just looked like you needed help."
Iris studied her silently for a moment before nodding.
The woman introduced herself as Nina.
As she guided them through the territory, she explained things gradually between pauses.
Tobias had awakened his lord token after arriving in Eldalon.
High compatibility.
Strong enough to establish a territory almost immediately.
"Unfortunately, I was part of the lord's original group when we first arrived in this world… the buildings appeared first," Nina explained quietly, glancing toward several of the cleaner structures nearby. "The ground literally opened and they just… rose up."
Even remembering it unsettled her slightly.
Caleb looked around again. "How many people are living here now?"
"A few hundred." Nina's expression dimmed afterward. "More keep arriving every day."
As they continued walking, Iris noticed the subtle divide inside the settlement.
The central roads looked cleaner.
The buildings larger.
But farther outward, conditions worsened gradually.
Like the territory had layers.
And the deeper toward the edges people lived—
The worse their lives became.
Eventually, the smell of food drifted toward them.
The entire group noticed immediately.
A large building stood ahead filled with people eating at crowded tables.
For a brief moment, the atmosphere inside almost felt normal.
Until they stepped closer.
Claire frowned first.
"There's no staff."
She was right.
There were no cooks, no servers, no workers carrying food.
People simply approached a glowing system panel near the wall, deposited coins, then waited.
Moments later, food appeared directly onto their tables.
Empty dishes vanished on their own afterward.
Caleb stared openly.
"…Okay, that's disturbing."
Nina laughed softly.
"You get used to it."
The prices quickly ruined whatever appetite most people had left.
Expensive.
Painfully expensive.
Still, the group bought a few simple meals carefully.
Dense grain bread.
And steaming bowls of nutrient stew.
The name alone sounded suspicious.
Caleb took the first bite of bread. Then immediately looked offended. "What the hell is this?" The bread was dry enough to crumble strangely in his mouth.
It was flavorless and dense. It felt like chewing hardened dust.
Priscilla quietly lowered her own piece after trying it.
Even Henry looked disappointed.
The stew wasn't much better. It was warm, but tasted salty and artificial.
Like something designed to keep people functioning rather than something meant to actually be enjoyed.
Nina watched their expressions awkwardly before rubbing the back of her neck.
"I didn't warn you because…" She hesitated. "Most people here can't really afford to complain about food."
That shut Caleb up immediately.
Because she was right.
When they finally left the restaurant district, Nina guided them farther outward through narrower paths. The cleaner buildings gradually disappeared behind them.
What replaced them felt entirely different. Makeshift tents. Crowded shelters made from scavenged branches, stitched cloth, and broad alien leaves. Cloth stretched over broken frames.
The people were packed together too tightly. And the smell changed too. The air smelled of sweat, dirty water, smoke, and rot.
Exhaustion lingered heavily over everything. Not physical exhaustion. Something deeper.
The kind that settled into people after hope started dying slowly.
Iris slowed slightly. Nina noticed. Then spoke quietly. "…This is where most people end up."
Ahead, somewhere deeper inside the crowded shanties, a child started crying.
Nobody in the group spoke after that. Because suddenly—
King's Territory didn't feel much safer than the forest at all.
A/N:
School has honestly been keeping me very busy lately, so my update schedule became a bit messy 😭 But I'm trying to get back into consistent updates again little by little.
Also, feel free to share your thoughts about the story so far. The theories, opinions, favorite characters, frustrations, literally anything 😭 I would really enjoy reading them, especially during slower comment periods.
And as always, thank you for the support, votes🤍