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

Besston, the heir, as well as Waran left with varying moods.

”I was looking forward to watching that war,” he said. He was planning on jumping to the Hall, with his people already posting ’help us win the war’ missions.

The assumption was that Alterra would post a lot of mercenary missions to help with the war, particularly after the declaration. He was hoping to take those missions to watch directly.

Besston looked at Wazan. ”Is it really cold?” he asked. It was a bit chillier than usual, but it didn’t seem like anything noteworthy.

”Just a bit, but nothing much,” Wazan said, gritting his teeth. ”Alterra is bluffing, trying to get its way out of a war.”

”They dare announce that the Extreme Cold will happen tomorrow, pfft— as if anyone could tell that with such certainty.”

”Yeah, even the soothsayers would only give a month, or a few week ranges at most.”

Unknown to him, someone who was hanging around nearby overheard. As soon as they left, a certain pair of siblings squatted, whispering with each other.

”Did you hear that?”

”Hmmn, I think we went out at a bad time...” Tambai muttered as he chewed on his jerky.

They had jumped through several places and had gone through a few mercenary halls (doing missions). On the other hand, some sections they traversed on foot until they reached Valov.

The next level 2 Town was already beyond 1000 kilometers, so this meant they would have to head home on foot.

But now they could not due to the weather. This was assuming Alterra wasn’t bluffing, but they likely won’t lie about the extreme weather when it affected the citizens.

Anyway, if the Cold really was coming, then they’d be stuck here in this backwards place.

(If Lord Balthazar could hear their insults, he would definitely hunt for them himself.)

”How were we supposed to know the Extreme Cold was coming now?!” they muttered, sighing.

In the end, they could only send a post to their family to keep hanging on, and to prepare for the inevitable cold.

...

One day later.

[Zabon Town (Lv2) has declared war on Alterra Town (Lv2). The war will begin in 27:59:59]

”Ah, they really announced war,” Althea said, sipping a lovely tea blend in her office at the Research Center, facing her visitor, who was leisurely sipping tea with her.

”Well, it wasn’t like we didn’t warn them,” Mathilda said. ”It is their fault they are greedy.”

They released news that the cold would begin a day or so earlier, which had a small chance of happening. So when it didn’t happen, the enemy immediately declared war, likely offended that they were ’fooled’.

They might’ve also rushed for fear that Alterra wanted to delay the war in order to prepare for them more, possibly asking for reinforcement since they were surrounded by allies. From that perspective, it was indeed advantageous to attack as soon as possible.

Anyway, because of the timing, this meant that the Extreme Cold would start sometime during the war.

This was not bad news, but it would also be a bit troublesome for their poor guards.

For now, they could only insulate the watch towers and the rooms inside the sentries, and also give more warming clothing and insulation to the guards assigned to the battlements during the war.

While this was ongoing, Althea had mastered the array patterns that interested her. Specifically, those related to warming.

She was theorizing but, if she could modify a few lines, she could cancel it out without destroying the whole array, making it reusable. In time, she’d perhaps learn how to make it work on the other side of the spectrum.

This was all theory, of course. She hadn’t exactly made the array yet.

Anyway, after spending entire days theorizing, formulating, and making models (sometimes with the help of the computer), she thought it was finally time to try it out.

Especially now, when she only had a bit over a day or so left before the cold.

For this case, she asked Zenno to create fire-attribute potions for her. It wasn’t much because of the time constraints and the material limitations, however. She definitely wouldn’t be able to try it out at the large scale just yet.

Even when the fire potion was a bit diluted according to her calculations, she estimated it would only be able to cover a few tens of meter diameter at most—and this was assuming she’d do it perfectly the first time.

If she were doing something related to her elements, then she probably wouldn’t be this limited, but one’s gotta adjust to the circumstances.

She tested it out in her garden first, setting up a one-meter radius spot somewhere near the gazebo, on the stone pathways there.

She chose it because she wasn’t entirely certain if she wouldn’t burn the circle instead.

Another, if it worked, then the stone could allow the heat to travel to the rest of the pathway physically connected to it. This way, even if it snowed heavily, the clearing job would be lighter.

She wore a long-sleeved shirt and pants. The weather was only slightly cool at this time, and no one would think a sudden drop in temperature would happen in another day or two at most (otherwise the aborigines would be alarmed that there was indeed an anomaly in the weather).

Hence, she did not have to wear winter clothes just yet, though she had plenty of pairs already in her space.

Their clothing industry had long been developed, particularly when they found out about extreme weather. They had clothing lines for both weather and were sold in many clothing stores as well as department stores.

Of course, the stocks would usually not be so much, and the sales wouldn’t be high either (it would mostly be hoarders who just wanted to be prepared for everything early on), but the designs as well as the infrastructure were always ready, so mass production of either type was easy to start as long as they had the materials.

She was about to squat down when a few ground pillows appeared. She blinked and lifted her head to see it was her husband.

”The ground is a bit cold and hard,” he said. ”I will guard you.”

She looked at him. ”I’m pretty sure the place is safe.”

”From the children.”

”Ah.” She chuckled. Good point.