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

This brother of his went missing for a while, but when he returned, it was like the City went back on track.

Not only did he take down the evil uncle who had taken advantage while he, the Lord was suffering from his long-term illness, but he also played a key role during the current Fire Plague.

All this time, he thought this man had just run away. It wasn’t the first time he escaped from his responsibilities to frolick around. Who’d have thought it was just their damned uncle who manipulated so many things?

Fortunately, he escaped the enemy clutches. Fortunately, he was alive and well.

Virion had even brought in connections that had saved thousands of lives.

This was his heir and the only sibling he had left, Virion.

”I didn’t do much. It’s all them,” he said, shrugging.

Valhalla nodded. ”It is indeed a very interesting place. I hope to visit it someday.”

”I haven’t been there before either, though sometimes I do think we are fated.”

Before Otto contacted him back then, making deals about medicine, he already knew the place. After all, one of their guards once freed him from an embarrassing situation.

Virion’s casual expression slowly faded as he looked at his brother, and then at the bruises on his body. Some were covered by the tattoos, but the discoloration was obvious.

”They managed to formulate inhibitors, vaccines, and a cure...” he said, pausing. ”What if they—

The Lord sighed. ”I do not wish to get our hopes up, so I hope you don’t have many expectations.”

”But—”

He was already a young man in the previous Fire Plague, so he had really experienced the stark contrast of how quickly and cleanly it was handled this time.

Two of his siblings perished from the same illness, albeit a decade apart, while he was also afflicted. However, perhaps because of his denser orc blood, the illness had less effect on him, letting him live this long.

Orcs and half-orcs could still be affected by the plague, but they generally had higher chances of survival and avoiding the symptoms altogether. That said, Orcs had low fecundity, so it could be said to just balance things out.

However, in his case, he was already showing symptoms back then. It was his ability that saved him.

Unlike his siblings, who barely had any orc blood left, he was a quarter orc, though many people did not know this. His ears were just hidden underneath his lush mane.

Quarter-orcs might not be able to become elementalists or Powers, but there was a small chance for them to awaken abilities like the orcs and the half-orcs. Of course, the lower the blood, the less powerful the power.

However, to him, it was enough.

His power was regeneration. For the past forty years, it had been keeping him alive despite being destined to die all those years ago. After all, most of the survivors wouldn’t be able to access aether at all. It was as if the mysterious ’organ’ was gone.

In his case, it was alive, but barely so after all these decades. The disease was slowly catching up to him as he aged, and his level could no longer increase fast enough.

Valhalla knew that he was growing weak. There would be an increasing number of times, usually months, where he’d be bedridden. The last one lasted longer than usual, and this was when his maternal uncle, who had been slowly growing his power in the background, made the decisive move.

”I’d still like to ask them to check on you,” Virion said, a solemn expression on his face. ”I want you to give birth to actual heirs.”

Valhalla laughed, habitually ruffling his younger brother’s hair as if he were still a little kid. ”I pity your wife. Give her more attention.”

Virion sighed. ”She’ll be fine. Didn’t you see her pummel that level 30 beast that attacked our walls? She probably imagined my face there.”

”If you pity her so much, you go marry her.”

Valhalla gave him a look. ”You want to avoid this position so much?”

Virion’s face crunched to disgust. ”It’s so limiting,” he said. ”I’m a free spirit you know. You should make a new heir.”

Virion was half-serious about this because if there really was no choice, then he’d have no choice but to take it.

His greatest wish, however, was for this only remaining sibling to at least be able to live a full life, healthy and with his own children!

Please stop pushing responsibility on him!

....

Knock, knock

A few minutes later, someone from the other side of the door alerted them of their presence.

”Enter.”

The door opened, and a few uniformed individuals entered the throne room. They greeted both Valhalla and Virion with reverence.

”We have returned from Crystal City with their payment.”

”Good job.”

Since Alterra only sold the formulas to a handful of territories, the other places in their specific hemispheres went to them.

Crystal City was one of their customers.

They paid a lot of gold per medicine. Another one of their conditions was to send every half-orc and orc blood they had over.

Warrior City was one of the very, very few territories friendly to orc bloods. It stemmed all the way back to when the territory was young, only a Level 3 Village, and the Lord fell desperately in love with a half-orc.

Because of their location, they also had a larger than usual number of half-orcs, and whenever they went to war, they would always encounter new half-orcs that would eventually add to their population. This was the case whether they were fighting against a human village or an orc village.

The guard nodded and reported his earnings, including some items they exchanged to decrease the gold requirements, knowing full well that Warrior City would be much more willing to buy specific products at a very high price.

This included slaves.

”They brought in a couple of half-orcs,” one paused. ”And among them are two cubs...”