In the central region of Jin River Province, beside a lush mangrove forest, stood a settlement called Horseman Town, roughly 150 kilometers from Singularity City.
Though it was merely an inconspicuous little town, its population was actually far from small.
At least compared to the surrounding wasteland, it could already be considered a settlement with "smoke rising from every chimney."
A century ago, the local survivors made their living raising horses, and the modest settlement housed only two or three hundred people.
By around the hundredth year of the Wasteland Era, Jin River Province had gained more farms and estates. The plantation economy led by slaveowners flourished, and the local survivors switched to herding cattle and sheep, providing lodging and meals for traveling merchants. The town gradually grew to two or three thousand households, totaling seven or eight thousand people.
Now that The Alliance's railroad had reached the area, the locals had gained new lines of work: guarding the railway and selling grilled sausages, sunflower seeds, and the like near the station.
All they had to do each day was ride horses along the rail line, make a circuit, ensure the safety of nearly 150 kilometers of track, and make sure Alliance trains did not run into trouble there. In return, Alliance insurance companies paid them a sum of money.
As for why the money came from insurance companies rather than the company operating the railroad, they did not really understand. As long as someone was willing to pay, that was enough.
And ever since the railroad had been built, those smoking trains regularly brought along interesting little trinkets.
Tables and chairs, newspapers and books, shirts and trousers, furniture and appliances, as well as puffed snacks, canned food, and other things no one had seen before—all could be taken home