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

While Helios’ world was shaking, the Lord’s latest party was finally starting. His return naturally caused a grand fanfare, with him announcing a party shall be held in his house a few days after his arrival.

And so began a celebration filled with grandeur and luxury that lower territories could not imagine.

The food was lavish, prepared by a large team of chefs and their assistants. The menu was vast, offering dishes from all over the world, made with a variety of ingredients—many of which were exotic.

There were also elementalists performing on the stage.

Elementalists were incredibly revered in lower territories but, in big cities, the weaker ones could be found performing. It was a way for nobles to widen the perceived gaps between them and others, and it was quite an effective one.

The performers this time werethe famous brother-and-sister pair, Faira and Shala. Both of them had dark purple hair—almost black—though Faira had it short and spiked up, while Shala’s let it grow, its wavy locks flowing enticingly with her movements.

Faira was a fire elementalist who specialized in doing fire dances. He moved with a mix of masculinity and grace that was intense to watch.

The fire swayed with the rhythm of his body, his muscles flexing with each graceful step. He was fully clothed, but one could see the shape of his muscles through the fabric. The combination of expertise, strength, and charm made for a fascinating watch.

It made the women—and some men—swoon, though they were naturally very muted lest they be judged as indecent.

His sister, Shala, was a female water user. In contrast to Faira’s strong moves, hers was soft and graceful. She moved her body seductively as she controlled a smooth water snake around her body.

She was also skimpily dressed to the standards of this continent. She was wearing a sleeveless wrap dress with a relatively low neckline that showed a bit of her glorious cleavage, and it cut just above the knee showing half of her beautiful legs.

The women naturally gave her disgusted looks but the men enjoyed it, though they didn’t talk about it so vulgarly—at least not out in the open.

The way she moved her hips, the way she swayed her body, was so enticing that a lot of the men gaped in fascination.

She would even let her water snake crawl down her legs, slowly crawling up and teasingly disappearing under her skirt. It was an incredibly suggestive move that got most men in the vicinity painfully hard.

They would then be looking forward to when the party would end, so they could start bidding.

After the party a few hours later, the two of them would be open to making private performances, though what went beyond closed doors was something unspoken.

Neither of the siblings were slaves, but they opened themselves up like this. While it was frowned upon, the amount of money they collected after each performance was something other commoners wouldn’t be able to make for a year or two.

Bleumrick had also once tried to get Shala to be his wife, many years ago.

However, she had convinced him that she would lose her charm once he got her, so she begged him to let her be a special spice he could get occasionally. She was also barren, so she was not fit to be a wife.

Amazingly, Bleumrick agreed, and this heightened her value even more. Which twisted noble male wouldn’t want to taste the woman the Lord vied for, but didn’t get?

Anyway, this bidding was to be held after the party which was technically only starting.

At this time, the Lord hadn’t even arrived yet, and the nobles were still socializing amongst each other, most enjoying the shows prepared for them beforehand.

They were all subtly showing off to each other, throwing thinly-veiled brags and insults, passed around amongst each other. The lower nobles were pandering to someone, without exception, hoping to somehow expand their connections and influence.

Soon, the music stopped, and they all turned to the interior entrance of the hall. Their strong and regal lord appeared, standing straight and tall despite his age.

He was closely followed by his wives, slaves, as well as his daughter. It was a large entourage, and one wouldn’t be able to see the end of the line immediately.

”Welcome back, Milord!” They all chanted in unison, and looking at them being so welcoming put a satisfied smile on Bleumrick’s face.

”I’m glad to be home.”

He headed down with his entourage, immediately surrounded by the nobles welcoming him back, hoping to make small talk with him.

Some nobles close to him, like the Trions, couldn’t help but observe the new faces behind him. ”Ah, I see you found beautiful and… unique… specimens.”

”These are my new wives,” he responded, pointing at two beautiful women dressed in graceful attire. ”They’re both noble ladies from Hassen City,” he said. ”This one’s even a distant relative to our Golds.”

This made them look at the Golds with varying expressions. When did the Golds get reconnected to the Lord this way?

They were surprised. After all, considering what happened to Orion and Olga’s failed marriages into the family, everyone believed that a deepened alliance like this would no longer be possible between them.

The noble families—the top ones in particular—were threatened and suspicious, not thinking the Golds would make underhanded moves without alerting anyone.

The Golds though, were actually quite confused at first. To their knowledge, the only relative they could have in Hassen died relatively early on, so they didn’t think they’d have family there at all.

Zaol went pale as soon as he realized something, while his family—who also ended up with similar conclusions—did dare react too much, though they also felt cold.

The lord laughed heartily, seeing the Golds like this. ”Come here, let me introduce you.”

Zaol looked at his family before he nodded and walked towards the Lord. The first person he saw was a beautiful woman with blonde hair and wavy locks.

Zaol shook and his eyes felt warm with tears. His jaw clenched, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to speak without his voice cracking.

Bleumrick smiled as he pulled the woman close to him, making sure she was flush against him. ”This is Lady Margaery,” he said, looking at Zaol. ”She’s your niece.”

”I… see…” he said, voice a little weak as he looked at the woman who was a spitting image of his sister. He looked at her arm and saw a bruise there and his heart clenched.

She must’ve arrived with Bleumrick days ago, yet he didn’t know. While he was relaxing at home, how had she been living with Bleumrick?

”I… didn’t know—”

Bleumrick’s eyes didn’t move from Zaol’s face, as if relishing every expression of despair he let out. ”I went to visit and I was so surprised about what I found. Can you believe it?”

”Your sister, Zinnia, had apparently been alive all this time… the Lord there quite liked her. You should be happy!”

Bleumrick laughed but, to the Golds, it was filled with mockery.

After all, it was telling Zaol that his sister was alive and had been suffering for decades...

...and he didn’t even know about it.