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

Now that they were in this stage, they naturally had to find a way to get the half-orc back without earning the lord’s ire. They discussed a few things first, just between the three of them siblings.

However, they were just talking in the room and Maomao could hear everything.

Were humans really trying to help her? Did Gochi really have the ability to ask a noble of such a favor? How?

…why? Why would nobles even bother? They never cared about anything unrelated to themselves…

She was very confused. This was beyond her realm of understanding and imagination, so she could only push down her curiosity for a while.

In the end, the four people headed back out about half an hour later, though Maomao appeared to be weak and had a lot of bruises on her body.

Obi and Otto approached the Lord alone, while the two women stayed in a corner, but within their sights. Bleumrick dismissed the pandering nobles surrounding him and looked at Otto. This made the nobles dislike Otto more but they could only begrudgingly walk away.

”You seem interested in my half-orc, Obi?” he asked, looking past him and to the long-eared critter not far away. ”So much that you punished her without my consent.”

Someone with such high level naturally felt intimidating. Even Obi had to gather his wits for a moment before he could reply.

”She threatened us,” he just said, and nothing more.

”We saw you were busy so we took it upon ourselves to remind her she’s a slave.” Otto butted in, saving the conversation again. ”We already punished her enough, however. Can we take her off your hands, milord?” ”

”Why?”

”She’s really cute and my sister wants her so badly.” This would make sense because Maomao was cute and fluffy, which were things women naturally lean towards.

Bleumrick stared at him for a while. ”Half-orcs are rare even in cities. I bought her for hundreds of gold, and that was at a discount by virtue of my position,” he said. ”They’re very rare and not many Lords had one. What makes you think that she is for sale?”

The rabbit shook in fear, looking down. It was as if doing so would make her less obvious despite being at least a head taller than most people.

Otto sighed. ”I can pay with a bit more.” Bleumrick looked at him.

”Do I look like I lack gold?”

The atmosphere silenced, feeling a bit colder as the Lord became palpably annoyed. Obi’s level was quite a bit weaker and he gritted his teeth, trying not to pull out a weapon just by the looming sense of threat.

Fortunately, Otto, even if his heart was pounding loudly, remained to be his suave self.

”My brother has upgraded to a Class C Architect,” Otto said, seemingly unperturbed. ”With some partners, he managed to build very good and growable buildings.”

His words caused everyone to look at him in disbelief. Oslo? That guy? Really?

Otto watched everyone’s beliefs and felt understanding. At the same time, he did ponder whether or not to drop his name at all. After all, there was the possibility of Oslo being hired by the Lord when he didn’t want to have anything to do with him. However, Otto decided to do it in the end.

After seeing such good products, Bleumrick would’ve demanded to know him and might perhaps force them to make an oath. Withholding his name now would only cause Bleumrick to distrust them more.

”The most useful to you is probably the Hospitals,” he said, ”It’s a building that is much like the Healing Sanctuary, but much more cost-efficient.”

”I can sell you a blueprint for a discounted price,” he said. ”Especially if you let us take her off her hands now.”

Knowing Alterra, they would not mind this. They would not only make money, but they’d also get a half-orc.

”I’m interested,” he said, before turning his eyes to the half-orc who shook under his stare. ”However, that blueprint better be worth it.”

…

When Helios and Sahara were doing final preparations for the trip, they did not expect a new critter—a half-orc—to join them!

Helios was quite casual about it, though Sahara was a bit startled. She had never seen a half-orc in person before.

She did have a little bias as an aborigine, and this manifested in her keeping a distance. It was not much of from a place of disgust however, but from a place of protection for her unborn child.

Helios did not mind. He knew pregnant mothers and new mothers would protect their babies even from their own husband’s ”germs”.

Fortunately, it wasn’t hard to soften up with her because Maomao just effortlessly triggered the maternal instincts of many women. It was just that noble women tended to have an image to withhold and being close to the ’dirty’ thing was usually seen as unbecoming.

Anyway, the time to depart quickly arrived—just before dawn the next day—and the Golds sent them to their personal beast cart stables where Sahara’s Beast Carts were parked. She had two. The servants and guards she had (as well as the people from Takoda Mercenary Team) were already there waiting for them.

The entire walk there, Helios was holding her waist.

She blushed, pushing it away. ”It’s embarrassing.”

”We’re officially lovers now,” he said. ”I also feel comfortable supporting your back at all times.”

”You—”

”You are bearing my child, because we slept together. Are we not lovers?”

Sahara’s cool face was red as a gouji fruit and the Golds couldn’t help but be amused. The servants also smiled, seeing their usually-stoic mistress show such cute expressions.

The beast seemed uncomfortable with Maomao though, but the magic of the Beast Tamer whistle was fortunately able to make it behave.

Helios led her to the carriage before turning back to the Golds to say a few more goodbyes.

The men slapped each others’ arms. ”We will send some strong guards to block people trying to follow back,” Otto said, and Helios nodded, expressing his gratitude.

This was their way to delay getting traced back to Alterra, if not to avoid it entirely. Hopefully, the Lord would be too preoccupied with his own things to bother with a new village.

Another reason, of course, was to maintain their business advantage. It wouldn’t do if the customers decided to go directly to the source, right? They ought to make a lot of money from it first!

Otto also sent him another 30 sets of blueprint materials. This cost a fortune, but he thought it’d be worth it. According to the deal with Alterra, he was also getting his shares for the blueprints.

Other than this, he also handed him very costly small bottle of Limb-regeneration potion. It was the best he could do and it could only regenerate a finger, but he was sure Althea would appreciate it.

This particular potion took forever to enter the market, and the alchemist responsible for it was notoriously anti-social. He hadn’t even seen his face for years now, but they were certain he was in his laboratory by virtue of the occasional smoke escaping out his window.

Anyway, after a few more words, Helios entered the Beast Car. The mercenary team members divided between the two carts, squeezing in, though there was usually someone with the driver so they could defend as soon as a threat appeared.

The whistle sounded and the car lurched forward, reminding Helios a bit of Terran cars.

The cars exited the mansion and left the inner area, passing through the somewhat chaotic avenues with fortunately no more drama (they kind of expected someone like Estra to make a scene, though to be fair they did leave at an awkward time).

Helios had a feeling the Golds’ strong men were watching over them, and would do so until they were outside the City’s scope. They were so dependable. Helios would make sure to put a lot of good words for them, on top of swearing to pay back their goodness with interest someday.

Helios held his lover’s hand, before shifting his eyes away from the forests outside that seemed to move like a blur.

His heart raced at the fact that he was finally heading home—with the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

To Alterra!