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

Other than Yassop, there was another Lord who went to visit Alterra that day. It was none other than Jonathan himself.

He arrived early that day, which surprised everyone, though not so much. Villages receiving so many lords so often was definitely unthinkable for others, but not Alterra.

Jonathan went straight to Althea’s home, saying he had an urgent deal with her company to avoid suspicion. Of course, he didn’t rush them to get back home and just happily waited on the verandah, with Harold serving delicious tea and snacks.

He was quite enjoying becoming Harold’s experimental taste tester. ”What did you call this?” he asked, pointing at the small plate with small round circle sweets.

It tasted wonderful. The shells were mildly sweet, which balanced the aromatic and tangy filling in between. It went so well with the tea he was having, too.

”These are called macarons,” he said. ”I’m not much of a pastry chef so I had to ask help outside. This is one of the more difficult ones to make.”

Jonathan nodded. ”It tastes great,” he said, eating another one with a slightly different color.

Oh~ a different flavor. He liked this one even better—

”Sir Jonathan.”

He blinked, looking behind him to see Althea. She didn’t make him wait for long and left the Research Center earlier than usual.

Harold saw the boss there and simply refilled Jonathan’s cup with tea, and placed another cup for Althea before excusing himself.

”Lord Jonathan,” she greeted, doing the standard salute between equals.

He stood up and did the same. ”Lord Althea…”

Althea smiled, shaking her head. ”Please don’t call me that.”

Jonathan chuckled. ”I know, I was teasing you.”

To be honest, he was too shocked to open the topic with her before she left Ferrol Town a few days back.

The Lord of Alterra Village had established herself as such a mysterious entity that even Jonathan—a man many times stronger than she was—felt intimidated. Not to mention, they seemed to be in a rush to get back home and he didn’t want to hold them back.

As time passed though, he realized that he had a lot of questions to her and he regretted not asking them (not that he knew what to ask while she was there) so here he was, making a personal visit.

If others knew, they might tell him he was lowering himself—that he was being too humble. They’d tell him he should’ve summoned her back to Ferrol, instead.

However, Jonathan disagreed. Alterra would reach his level within the next few years—he could feel it—and there was no point trying to pretend his territory was superior.

”I’m still… shocked, really,” he said, and then narrowing his eyes at her. ”And those oaths of yours are really… prescient.”

She smiled.

The oaths allies and subsidiaries signed were really long, but they were also fair for both parties. However, they—particularly Mathilda and Jun—had added a lot of insurance for Alterra.

One of them was that the Lord or people who signed under him—under no circumstance—could reveal any information about Alterra that was not publicly known. They would not be able to utter, write, express, or otherwise give a clue of what it was at all.

The other lords assumed Alterra had a lot of secrets, but how many would actually predict who the lord was?

”Well, just to be safe.”

Jonathan looked at her. ”I can’t help but want to express admiration in your—and your people’s foresight, however,” he said. ”I still have much to learn.”

The more he thought about the advantages of keeping her identity a secret, the more amazed he was.

However, at the same time, he wondered how long she’d be able to hide it?

”I’ll try to keep it a secret for as long as I can,” she told him. ”Besides, all the people in position are already aware of my identity and they had signed strict oaths about it.”

He nodded.

Normally, even if a Village Lord managed to successfully hide his identity for the majority of his run as a village, it’d be difficult to keep as more and more powerful people and factions formed in the territory.

Prestige was extremely difficult to increase, and it was impossible for one person or family to carry an entire territory through to becoming a Town.

However, the exemption was if the Lord was so foresighted that she was able to assign people in power early on, before they got too big, and grab hold of them—ensuring they were all working on the same side: Their Hometown.

It was amazing.

”It’s why I admire you so much for delegating so early—not many people can give out their power like that.”

”I just want to focus more on things I want to do and to focus on my family.”

In any case, the two lords chatted for hours on end. They chatted about issues at their level—which was a rare occurrence for both of them—and was definitely an enlightening experience on both sides.

For Althea, there were many things and subtleties she had to learn as a Lord.

In particular, the differences in leading a town versus a village. The powerplay in Towns would definitely have variances.

Even in Alterra, they were already taking in some outside powers, starting with the Golds and the Rolan Mercenary Team.

When they expanded further, they’d have to let a few more powers in. While she would—ideally—only allow groups they trusted, they couldn’t filter every bad apple out. That simply wasn’t how it worked.

Wars between Towns were much more sensitive and intricate, especially when things like the Post Office, the Chancery, the Mercenary Hall, and the like were built.

If Villages could be considered to be relatively isolated, Towns were the opposite.

First of all, if they didn’t have connections to outside forces and territories, then prestige wouldn’t have become high enough for an upgrade in the first place.

Because of this, a lot of plants and seeds would’ve been planted even before an upgrade. Whether it’d grow to something troublesome or something that’d help the Town—time could tell.

She narrowed her eyes.

It looked like she was going to have to hold another Elder meeting which could, potentially, last for days.