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

As for Silva, they had to adjust a lot, since he was a bit of a loophole. They recorded everyone who went through the array and everyone who went to the party, so it was a bit troublesome as there was a chance of him being recognized in Bleulle.

While they could make excuses and explanations, he could become a small thread or clue that could be used in the investigation, just because of his association with the Golds. Even a seed of suspicion could get troublesome, especially when the seed was in any way or form related to the Golds.

Alterra didn’t even want him there at all because of this (they were planning on making him travel back to Alterra some other way after the rescue). However, when the Lord Evos allowed them to bring a servant for each party, the Lord questioned why they’d leave a capable guard behind, and that was that.

Silva’s mission meant he couldn’t leave without Lady Zinnia, so when the lady stayed, so did he.

He did not want to leave either, not with Esstia in the mix.

So what they decided to do was reveal that he had worked for Otto once (because he had to take an oath, there was no avoiding this, otherwise hiding it would make things more suspicious), but worded it as if it were a shallow employer-employee relationship.

”Otto Gold had asked me to slowly establish a market in Hassen City, especially after finding out that Lady Octavia was marrying into it, so closer trade was inevitable,” he said.

When they sent him out to spy on Hassen City and get news about Lady Zinnia, they did not specify that he had to be a guard.

One of the ways to do so was through commerce. Silva had been the guard of Otto’s caravan for years, so he knew a lot of the processes, so it had been one of the roles he seriously considered.

Hence, although there were a lot of questionable parts in that sentence, none of that was a lie.

”I had only been there for a little while, but after speaking with locals, they told me that the Gold family had already fallen.

”I figured that making deals using the Gold’s name was no longer feasible and I ended up taking the guard’s job, ultimately getting assigned by superiors to Lady Zinnia.”

Silva could not act, nor did he talk a lot, but he was surprisingly eloquent. He must’ve learned it from Otto.

”I swear that, while I was working directly under Otto Gold before, I did not know that Lady Zinnia was alive.” This implied that he had not planned the connection and that it was merely a coincidence.

His statement was not a lie. Technically speaking, he was already working in Alterra, under master Honda, when the family found out about Lady Zinnia. Fortunately, the oath allowed it.

”Now, I work under Lady Zinnia, wife of the Lord of Hassen City, and I will remain with her during her stay there. I also do not know where the young master and the Lady Margaery are right now, or who exactly they are with.”

Again, technically not a lie. Their path to Alterra wouldn’t be a straight line. Who knew where they were at, right at this moment? He also didn’t know exactly who was joining the mission and rescuing the others.

To clear himself of suspicion, Silva had to be as wordy and detailed as possible in his answers. It could get troublesome if the Lord decided to do tricky follow-up questions.

”Again, I will always remain with Lady Zinnia whether she stays here or in Hassen City,” he reiterated, indicating he had no plans on escaping, and all they had to do was keep watch on Lady Zinnia, which would inevitably loosen as soon as they landed in Hassen City.

It would be better if things between the Cities were made awkward, however, and he had seen what Lady Zinnia was trying to do.

”You seem to like Hassen City,” Bleumrick asked out-of-nowhere, his first follow-up question. Silva nodded.

”Hassen City is the City of Black Metal, and each product is superior and abundant,” he said. ”When I got there, their supply, production, and innovations were far more vast than I had expected.”

A pause. ”Even Master Otto did not know it was to such a scale.”

Bleumrick’s eyes sharpened at this, and Zinnia covered her face—still pretending to be sobbing—to hide a smile.

”That is all I know, however, as I had been assigned to the palace after that.” And that was that.

Fortunately for him, there were still hundreds of people to be interviewed—including the witnesses on the roads, and the people who saw the ’mysterious’ carriages. So the Lord passed over him—at least for now.

Next to be interviewed were Veronica and Vangh. They were on the opposite side of the room. After all, on the surface, there was no connection between them, so they weren’t supposed to even know Lady Zinnia on a personal level.

Like others, they had to take a mild honesty oath.

”What about you?”

Veronica and Vaughn also answered ’honestly’. ”We were together... running away with the crowd, Milord.”

”We never thought of escaping, Milord,” Veronica said, upping her innocent look, though she made sure to mess her face up with dirt (from the chaos, of course), lest the lustful Lord take interest in her.

”It would be impolite to our relatives and the Lord, so we held on for as long as we could despite our low levels.” She came off as an innocent town girl who just wanted the approval of a City relative.

This was already fine, and the Lord didn’t pay more attention to them. After all, they were from a town, and he did not even consider Hubble Town to bring him any sort of trouble at all.

But then, at some point, it was Estra’s turn to speak. Veronica and Vaughn flinched a bit, a bit nervous. She might’ve been slightly conscious, or she could’ve seen something, after all, but they had no chance to pry to know for certain.

”When it happened, Leccher Roach was trying to kidnap me,” she said. ”He said that my family sold me for a piece of good land.”

Her family—who were several meters away—paled. ”Estra!!” Someone—her stepmother—even grabbed her hair to stop her from speaking.

Something like this was not an uncommon practice. Offspring were precious, and female offspring were designed to bring honor, glory, and whatever advantages to the family through marriage.

What made them aghast was that she revealed they were selling her off for a single piece of land. They were not! There were also other advantages to this deal, but a lot of which they did not want the public to know!

Estra glared at them, pushing back against her mother for the first time, causing gasps. ”I am not lying! I guess my family had also gotten weak!”

Slap!

Estra then looked at the pink-haired people not too far away. Their hearts stopped, but then she turned away again, as if she wasn’t looking at them at all.

But then, Estra glared at her stepmother and lunged, doing her best to pull out all her hair. Liaroa, who was next to them, was somehow caught up in the fight, with Lia accidentally becoming collateral damage from the stepmother’s sharp nails.

Well, the interrogation became quite chaotic after that.