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

TL;DR: Updates on Cassie and Bumi, as well as Mao and Lea. There are also some Cassandra and mentions of Veronica. Next chapter: Updates on the Golds~

…

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When she went here to visit Kimmy, she wasn’t really expecting much. She simply wanted to see how she was for herself.

After all, the previous nanny she hired for her wasn’t very good, and she blamed herself for that.

The only reason she could move on was because Kimmy was doing better.

And that child of hers—Hope—was so beautiful and pure. No one would associate her with that bastard still rotting in jail at this time.

”Is there anything wrong?” a voice asked next to her, pulling her out of her daze.

It was the handsome Lord of Shrao Village, looking at her with curiosity and concern. She looked around and realized she blocked his way to his table.

”I apologize,” she said, coolly walking out of the way. Unexpectedly, the Shrao Lord stopped in front of her, too. He turned, a bit awkward.

”Would you like to join our table?”

...

On another table was Cassie with the aborigine Bumi. Each participant was allowed to bring in 5 guests, so that was 10 per couple.

These two were—adorably— guests of a goblin couple. Inspired by the atmosphere of gaining strength, goblins also grouped into large mobs and hunted outside.

Cassie and Bumi were their favorite hired escorts, because they were very friendly and kind. Through the months, the groups had gotten closer, and it got to the point of inviting the others to their weddings.

Speaking of Bumi, he couldn’t help but daydream a bit. In a wedding in the future, would he and Cassie find each other there?

He had to confess first, of course, though he could only look at her as she watched the performances.

There were wedding performances while they ate. However, other than the band, the audiences were also called often. They were often invited to perform to show the newly wedded couples some blessings.

Interestingly, there really were a lot of performances, though they were understandably Terran. The majority of the shows were related to romance. Someone made a poem, and most sang love songs. There was even a pair who did a so-called ’contemporary’ dance.

Soon, the shows ended and the stage was left blank while the band continued to play some slow songs. After a while, some couples who had finished eating headed to the center to dance. This was led by some married couples, and were soon joined in by others.

A few minutes later, there were about ten couples having fun in the center on top of the newly wedded couples.

This included Toktok and Angelo, who were invited by Troy and Brenda. Toktok was deaf and unsurprisingly didn’t have much of a beat. However, it was just right—because Angelo didn’t have it either.

They looked silly—looking like awkward trees dancing to background music without rhythm—but at least they were having fun together.

In time, more and more people joined in, some of whom were just a group of friends, while some others looked on longingly.

Bumi gave the person next to him another furtive glance, gulping. He awkwardly played with his fingers as he tried to gather the courage to speak.

After taking a deep, deep, breath, he turned to face Cassie. The movement was a bit sudden and it startled Cassie who was just watching the fun in front of them.

”What is it?”

”Uh…”

Bumi wanted to say the words he had been meaning to say for months: I like you, can we dance?

However, instead of those words, he ended up saying something else. ”I… I learned break dancing… wanna see?”

”What?”

Cassie was very confused. Then she got even more confused when the aborigine stood on the open spot near them and started dancing hip hop to classical music.

The steps were reminiscent of Luke’s dance back in the carnivals a few days back, except it was a lot less coordinated, made use of the wrong music, and was just super silly overall.

Cassie wanted to cover her face in embarrassment, but she couldn’t help but watch the lad behind her fingers. In the end, she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Bumi smiled.

Ah well, at least he made her laugh.

…

While there were some cute couples forming… there was Mao and Lea.

”Heh, why is a girl eating so much?” Mao said, looking at Lea’s plate which had a mountain of food. He shook his head as if he was an elder disappointed in the younger generation.

It naturally irked the girl—very much.

Lea was indeed a bit chubby, but that she didn’t compare to Mao! ”Heh, what about you? When are you planning on toning things down?” She asked, staring blatantly at his stomach. ”All that food doesn’t look like it gets digested.”

”You—”

”You—”

However, before their exchange of insults could continue, it was abruptly cut off when someone made a comment.

”Reminds me of Winona and Ansel back then.”

”Right?”

”I thought so too.”

The two’s eyes went wide in despair, though it had to be noted that Mao’s cheeks were a bit redder than usual.

”WHAT?! NO WAY!”

”I want demure women!”

”I want handsome dashing men!”

Their bickering only got them more teasing chuckles, and it amused everyone around them.

Ansel was laughing particularly louder, though it was unknown if it was because he really thought they were just stupid or if he was laughing because it mirrored his own relationship, finding the parallels amusing.

It so happened that Bradon was sitting on the next seat, and Ansel was suddenly reminded of someone.

At this, looked at Cassandra, who shared the table with them, along with Gill. ”Speaking of which, I hadn’t seen that friend of yours in a while,” he said.

”What happened to Veronica?”

He asked this loud enough so the other table could hear. Some of the people there turned, also curious about the answer, and Ansel couldn’t help but send Brandon a teasing look. ”Hey, Brandon, don’t you wanna know where Veronica is?”

Brandon looked around to see if Ansel was really talking to him. He then looked at the redhead, a little confused. ”Why are you asking me?”

Everyone: ”...”

This guy was hopeless.

Cassandra could only hope her friend would fixate on a different handsome guy.

Anyway, ignoring the hopeless blonde, Cassandra shifted her attention to the redhead. ”Well, I am curious too, but the news I had of her was limited. I asked my cousin to send someone to check, but all we got was that Veronica was a bit ill and could not talk to outsiders…

”It seems like something’s brewing around Bleulle, but it’s so subtle we can’t tell what was happening. Even my cousin didn’t have an idea.”

This made everyone’s good mood tone down several notches. They also thought about the Golds, and felt a little worried for them.

But they were thrice the level of most of them and lived in a City—there was simply nothing they could do. They couldn’t casually send Posts either as per the deals because it’d reveal the source of the items to their Lord.

There was also a favor Althea asked—something she really, really, hoped to materialize soon—though it seemed to be impossible for the time being.

And… most importantly: They were her friends.

They hadn’t stayed here for long, but they were rare good aborigines in power, and they didn’t want anything to happen to them.

In the end, the Alterrans sighed. Oslo should have left by now, and they hoped to receive good news soon.