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

At this time, Oslo finally arrived at Bleulle City. The city had a proud level 8 wall nearly thirteen yards in height—relatively rare as most cities only had level 7 walls, at most.

The walls were well-guarded by sentries every few hundred meters or so, with the battlements occupied by many guards and archers, ready to defend as needed.

There was a long line of people waiting to come in, and he lined up patiently this time—uncharacteristic of the prodigal who used to wave his family emblem everywhere.

He stood along with the others, ignoring the curious stares of many people around. However, his noble bearing intimidated anyone—as any one who lined up were commoners—so no one dared talking to him.

As he entered, the message [Welcome back to Bluelle City!] flashed since he was a permanent resident, and therefore didn’t need to make any payments anymore.

Going past the gates, he was immediately greeted by the lively streets and the cacophony of sounds.

Bluelle City was one of the oldest cities in the area. It had a permanent population of hundreds of thousands of people—not including the visitors and tourists.

He walked past and observed for any changes. While there was none, it was still as beautiful as before.

Although Bluelle was much denser and less aesthetic than Altera, it was still home after all. He admired the five-story buildings that abutted the streets, and also the various stores and stalls that announced their presence in hopes of sales.

They were also not afraid of the sun at all, because the tall buildings protected the streets by projecting their shadows onto them.

He smiled at the painted white buildings predominantly made of stone byproducts after quarrying the city’s main industry—The Blu.

The Blu was a mineral found in the mountains within the territory walls. It was a primary ingredient in creating aether blueprints. It had been supporting the economy of the city since it was discovered.

Blu was a renewable resource, but it renewed slowly—increasingly so. Hence, there would always be a limit to the amount released every year, no matter what.

This drove up its already sky-high price further upwards.

Of course, the visitor industry—called Tourism by Alterans—was also very good, with the tourists being people who hoped to buy the mineral. During the off-seasons, when the city wasn’t supplying, this naturally died down.

There were several problems with this.

Although the Blu was renewable… the consumption was still too large. Even if they tried to control it, along with the fact that the refresh of the resource seemed to be getting longer, Oslo felt it would no longer be sustainable—a concept he truly understood only in Altera—to depend on it.

Eventually, this production would become too slow, and the other industries depending on it might also die down.

Oslo hoped to help his city to develop other industries, so as to not be too dependent on something that could disappear at any time.

This thought was also inspired by his stay in Altera.

While he was pondering on how to help his hometown with the knowledge he learned (oblivious to the stares he was getting), a bit of a carriage drama exploded nearby, pulling him back to the present.

BANG!

He blinked his glittery blue eyes (as the girls around would whisper) and walked over to where the commotion was.

”Hey! Watch out!” One of the carriagemen yelled when he was almost bumped by a Siloh monster carriage. The other man was driving a Byul monster carriage—much bigger—and he was therefore much more arrogant than the other.

Unfortunately for him, the driver of the Siloh monster wanted to ignore him and whistled for it to go past it. Unfortunately, this was seen as aggression by the monster and—

ROAR!!

Oslo (and a few other bystanders) watched in interest as the monsters lunged at each other—not as uncommon as anyone would want—knowing it would make for a good show.

The advantages of getting a strong monster as a mount were that when traveling, not only would the carriage go fast (assuming the carriage was built for the speed and bumps), but monsters of the same level or below wouldn’t bother attacking.

The disadvantage, not including the previously mentioned ones, was that similar-level monsters also tended to fight when placed too close to each other.

The hold of the whistles loosened when this anger state was activated, especially at first. During this time, more often than not, the skills of Beast Masters would be required.

It was why there was a distance requirement between carriages and there had to be several yards distance between converging traffic. In towns, one-way traffic was also a common practice.

From what he could tell, the Byul driver wanted to overtake the other in a fork, the monsters got too close, and now they were brewing.

Soon, the monsters did attack each other.

ROAR!

Going berserk enough not to listen to the drivers, the two monsters slapped and lunged and bit at each other, and he could hear the yells of the people in the carriage.

It happened that the family crests in the carriages were from families he didn’t like, so he chose to turn a blind eye to the suffering but his apt attention on the good show.

However, some stalls were damaged and this naturally triggered the regulations, immediately kicking the monsters (and their drivers) out.

This meant that the carriages remained and the momentum let them fall uncontrollably. Oslo blinked at the fact that they were falling over two people. They were two motherly women who were obviously just doing their pre-lunch shopping.

Sadly their groceries were now all on the floor, and their wide eyes stared as they saw the carriage the size of a small shed was barelling towards them.

Unexpectedly, a large earth wall reinforced by metal appeared in front of them, catching the debris in time before it hit the pedestrians.

The people in the carriage gasped, looking horrid with chicken nests for hair, and Oslo finally decided to sneak out of the area.

He stepped back and didn’t wait for people to absorb what happened or figure out who created the earth wall. He simply sneaked away and continued to walk ahead.

It was just that as he walked along the streets, appreciating the sights, a beast cart suddenly stopped next to him.

”Master Oslo?! It’s really you!” He said, ”That earth wall was yours, right?”

Oslo blinked and watched as the man immediately went down the cart to greet him, revealing his appearance.

It was a tall bald bearded man with tanned skin, and he immediately went to Oslo and assisted him with his heavy backpack.

It was quite large and the old man paused his steps.

The bald man turned and looked at him strangely, ’Doesn’t master Oslo have space, why does he bother to carry so many things?’ he asked in wonder.

’Is it a new fad?’

Sensing the man’s stare, Oslo only smiled.

”Thank you,” He said, entering the cart.

He remembered this person as one of the leading managers of the beast cart business, one of his late grandfather’s—now his brother’s—biggest businesses.

He entered and the cart started moving again, joining the dozens of carts traversing the road.

Unlike Cassandra’s town, Bluelle had a lot more beast cars available.

This was a city that obtained a lot of resources by exchanging Blu. His grandfather, decades prior, made a deal with the Lord of Beast City. They have been exchanging resources since.

Of course, even if his grandfather did all the work and did all the risk, over half of the proceeds still went to the lord.

By his generation, he heard they only retained 10% of the profits, and they were still in charge of every single aspect of its operations.

Ms. Althea would never be so greedy. She would support her people with open arms.

Heh, before, he really didn’t think much of the Lord here. He even admired him. But there was no way—Ms. Althea set the bar very high.

”Welcome back, young master,” the man said as he closed the door of the beast cart, and Oslo nodded in response.

”I’m glad to be back Uncle Liu.”

The middle-aged man smiled and, using the specialized whistle, ordered the beast under him to start moving.

The carriage lunged forward and he opened the curtains to look out the window. He wanted to see the place he was born in, passing by the lively streets lined by its three to five-story buildings, feeling a little melancholic.

He recalled the various memories he had here, some happy, some sad, and some banal—but all of them felt… so long ago.

Had it really only been a few months?

”How was your trip, young master?” Uncle Liu asked, seeing the young lad looking deeply outside, feeling… different, more mature.

”It must’ve been enlightening.”

Oslo’s light-colored eyebrows rose. ”So obvious?”

”Well, it wasn’t that it was so obvious,” the man said, answering his question, ”You seem more… adult.”

Olso laughed. ”Well, thank you?”

Indeed, when he left, his attitude about everything was… lax. He reckoned it could be because he got everything so easily—even women’s hearts.

But not long after he stepped into that then-small village, meeting its beautiful Lord and her people, something stirred inside of him.

The fire of challenge; the spark of growth.

Ah, what to do, he missed them again.