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

Oslo looked at his brother being sincere and hummed in satisfaction. With an imaginary tail of pride wagging, he led the family to the ’delicacies’ one by one.

The table was a beautifully arranged masterpiece that attacked the family’s senses and stomachs. They struggled to listen to Oslo’s every word because they felt their tummies were growling too loudly.

Didn’t they eat, like, a few hours before? Already so hungry?

However, they still had strict upbringing so they still listened and didn’t jump to sit down as they wanted.

Oslo started with the center viand, placed on a massive plate. It was luscious-looking beef shimmering with unknown sauce and garnished with colorful vegetables, some of which were unfamiliar.

”This is a special seasoned Hog beef. It is the usual meat you eat, but softened and infused with a special sauce that would bring you to the Elves.”

He then moved to an odd-looking dish at the side. They were like greenish worms on a plate? But they were long and tangled and… chewy-looking.

”Next one is special beef noodles. It’s a special pasta found only in the Altera area. It is chewy, sumptuous, and flavorful.”

It had a special shimmer and aroma to it, but it had to be said that the appearance was definitely unique. They had never seen anything like it.

Obi opened his mouth for snide remark like ’Did you start eating worms in the village?’ but he was shut up by Oslo with putting a small hard bread in his mouth.

He chewed on it and raised a brow. The texture was similar to what was offered in restaurants. It did have a bit of flavor though. What’s more, because it was crunchy, it shut him up, which was why it was shoved into his mouth in the first place.

”It’s crutton,” he said, ”An addition to the salad.”

The blonde then moved to colorful greens, coated with an unknown yellow sauce. ”This is a salad with special Altera salad dressing, making grass a delicacy.”

Although Xeno people naturally ate a lot of greens, they never really innovated. This was especially true because there was an abundance of them (for now), which exacerbated the culture.

Ms. Althea said it had something to do with complacency. Because there were too many food resources, people simply didn’t find the need to be creative. At the same time, especially in villages and towns, too many things threatened people’s safeties—how could they have the mind to think beyond what they knew?

Anyway, back to his show-off session, he also introduced some other common delicacies in Xeno, but using different ’seasonings’ and ’sauces’ he brought.

When he finished, no one asked questions as the family sat in their places and started eating.

They moaned as the flavorful meat and soup entered their tongues, bringing them to gastronomic heaven.

”This…!”

”So good!”

”My tongue is with the Elves!”

Even Gaia, with all her poise, couldn’t help but make an enthusiastic comment. She looked at the plate that should’ve been familiar, but so different. ”Is this really my favorite Hog broth?”

”Yes, Mother,” Oslo said with a smile, ”We added several condiments and sauces, I already taught the chef some ratios.”

His mother’s eyes widened, obviously loving the gift. ”It’s delicious, thank you.”

Seeing the woman like this, his father patted his shoulder with a proud smile. ”You brought us good things, son.”

Oslo smiled graciously, but he was extremely complicated inside.

He was extremely loved, yes, but they were never proud of him.

He was also aware of the fact that food alone made them so proud. Was the expectations of him so low??

It was only when the plates were cleared out that they remembered to catch up with each other’s lives.

Obviously, the first person to be ’interrogated’ was Oslo. But he shook his head.

”I want to hear everyone’s stories first,” He told them, ”I have been away for too long.”

Everyone was in a good mood today, especially chewing on something delicious, so they humored him without much question.

It started with Orion’s latest achievement—a partnership with the cloth cities. This was actually the reason there was a new building type, the Clothing Store, in the system, when it wasn’t there a month or two prior.

Of course, because he was not one to speak long sentences, Hilda spoke for him.

He had apparently entered a deal to supply the cities with necessary Blu and Papyrus in order to create the building type—which was a lot, because even Level A Architects could not create Level A Blueprints each time. On the contrary, they were quite rare, and most top architects could only make a few top-quality plans every year, even if they drew every single day.

Then there was the twins’ latest venture, wherein Otto got special exclusive goods from Holt City and made a killing.

Olga opened a beauty shop, partnering with Hilda.

By beauty shop, however, it meant selling some plant combinations with very expensive help and commissions from pharmacists, who could only be directly accessed via this channel. This was a new concept and they were confident the noble ladies would love to try it.

Oslo knew they’d particularly love to go to Altera after he told them his story.

There was also Obi’s latest victory, where he was sent to assist another city in a war, gaining a lot of kills and prestige.

Even little Honda had a story to share. He was twelve soon, and he would be going outside the walls to fight monsters. In that reserved way of his trying to mimic his father’s stoicness, he told of his training with low-level monsters and how he was looking forward to fighting stronger ones.

People of their class trained their children early, albeit that was just catching weak beasts, taking them to the training grounds, and assisting the children in their kills.

The true training, that was, going outside, was set for another month. The little lad was quite excited, thinking he’d be as cool as the guards the moment he stepped out.

When it was Oslo’s turn, everyone looked especially interested.

Hey, he felt a bit shy.

In retrospect, after his silly imagination-filled storytelling as a child, it seemed that he never had particularly interesting stories to tell anymore?

But now, everyone was listening so aptly.

He felt a certain sense… of pride and relief.

He gathered himself and cleared his throat. ”Well, it’s a long story,” he said, ”As you know, I’m a level D professional with dual elements, so hiring me is very expensive.

”And then you limited my hiring to villages, so no one could afford me for a while.”

His parents smiled awkwardly at this, not really considering it until after realizing he was not being hired. However, they were stubborn and refused to pull him out.

”So, I did indeed suffer until I got hired.” This was true because he was sent to a chancery of a very small and poor town.

In every Town and City, there was a Chancery of Appointments. They had to stay in their facility (with them paying additional dormitory fees, of course) so they could be summoned at a moment’s notice.

However, in the spirit of banishment, his family sent him to a nearby ultra-poor town to settle in the Chancery there, instead.

”Basically, I have only been hired about a month ago.

”What?” It was Obi, of course, it was. ”What were you doing the months before that?” Then he proceeded to answer his own question, ”Philandering, no doubt.”

Oslo ignored the annoying older brother and faced the more ’mature’ family members instead.

”So… this village that could hire someone with my fees... naturally wasn’t like any other.”

”Still, I didn’t have much expectations—not really, who would? But then I saw the l—the territory. How beautiful it was, how strong for its level, and the fact that it was only established for several days when I was summoned was incredible to me.”

”What?”

Obi shook his head, ”Is that what they told you?” He asked with a mocking stare. ”You’re a Gold, they could just be saying that to impress you.”

Oslo ignored him (again) and continued with his story, ”It had unique buildings, facilities, and food. The citizens were extremely open-minded and free. The culture is unlike we’ve ever seen.”

”That good?” They said, ”What about the military strength?”

”Have you ever seen a village with Level 5 walls and sentries even denser than cities?”

”Seriously?”

Oslo tried to paint as accurate an image of Altera for them. It was just that Altera was so unique it was unlikely it had done it any justice. Fortunately, he had a skillful tongue, especially in sweet talk, so he managed to paint it accurately enough that it riveted the family.

Although some were a bit cynical, like Orion and Obi were, they were mostly extremely curious, even fascinated, with the unknown territory.

He clapped his hand. ”Well, storytelling is over for now. I happened to have brought everyone gifts!”

He looked at them, quite proud. ”I’m sure you’d love them.”