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

Warrior City, on the other hand, was also going on as usual, with its Lord studying a few scrolls filled with reports.

”There really are cubs....” Lord Valhalla mumbled when the reports came in. How rare were children among orcblood? It was even rarer to show more half-orc traits. In his case, it was showing, in Virion, it was very much hidden, even if they shared the same mother.

The orc blood of both parents was very diluted, though, so his case of showing any animalistic traits was extremely rare. Virion looked like a full human.

It was a good thing. Rather, regardless of whether or not an orcblood showed the features, it was a good thing. Each side had its advantage.

Virion was an exceptional elementalist, and having excessive orc blood would’ve discounted him from that.

After confirming a few things, the two royals headed to the waiting area that served the Teleportation Array.

Warrior City was connected to three territories as of this time, which was the maximum the system array could assign to. One was Holt City in the far west, and the other was Crystal City in the far South, right at the desert’s eastern borders. Another was one of the cloth cities, which were their main buyers for pelt.

The waiting area for the Teleportation array was quite luxurious. After all, this was among the first things that visitors using the arrays would see, and it was a matter of first impressions and pride.

Of course, many men didn’t really care for it. His mother, however, did. Perhaps it was because of her bird-blood, who liked beautiful things.

The waiting shed was a large open space with wide roofings and comfortable furniture. The floor was made of colored stones patterned in a way that grounded the space while also drawing people’s eyes to it.

The columns were rounded and inlaid with metallic inserts bought from Hassen City, and there was also a welcoming staff to serve some tea and snacks to them in case they had to wait there a while.

This was a manual building spearheaded by their late mother, in fact. It was unfortunate that she had died before it was completed.

She had always been delicate and gentle, the complete opposite of their father, even when they were both with orc-blood. Well, mother’s family was in the beautiful avian archetype, though they all looked human in the latest generations. Their mother looked quite petite, too.

In contrast, his father was born from the aggressive archetype. He also observed completely human, but he was heads taller than the average man. It was quite a combination.

Sadly, their mother grew weaker by the day, and especially after giving birth. She was one of the rare women who had a high chance of giving birth, so despite their father having a high level and even having aggressive orc blood, she still gave birth to two sons, which was much more than anyone else in the harem at the time.

Because orc blood find it difficult to conceive, the children were especially precious. Well, in their case. They were different from cultures that confused race too much. As long as they were their children, no matter their appearances, they would be treated well.

This was also why, if Valhalla could actually conceive, he would have had a harem as per tradition. But he was barren after suffering from the Fire Plague back then, and he didn’t want to destroy women’s future with that.

This was also why he had been pushing for his brother to...work harder and conceive already.

Virion had two women in his harem, though he barely gave them time of the day and he preferred to go out.

There were a few human women who had claimed they were pregnant with his seed, but those were easy to prove with a tool they had in the treasury.

Valhalla loved children and would love to see his nephews and nieces running around the palace. However, as time passed, he started fearing he’d die before he could see it.

Sigh.

”I haven’t seen a baby half-orc before...” Virion said. ”Do you think the orphanage would be able to care for them well?”

Every city had its own version of an orphanage. In Warrior City though, they pretty much had a set path of helping their military prowess and would be trained from young.

Even those who did not have talent to fight would be part of the logistics team.

Most babies would be adopted though, so it was fairly rare to see them in the flesh. Human babies were one thing, but orcblood were rare, particularly those who were manifesting animalistic traits.

Anyone who was manifesting would be called a half-blood regardless of the concentration because their animalistic traits were a sign that they could likely use the characteristic skills of orcs, even if they were on the weaker spectrum.

That said, Warrior City had a lot of orcblood. He dared say that a fraction had some of it. However, half-orc babies were very very rare.

He thought they would be very cute, not that he would say this outloud, of course. He had an image to take care of!

...

They soon arrived at the waiting shed where the dozen or so orcblood they received as ’payment’ had been waiting. The waiting area was relatively comfortable, with good seating areas, and was insulated well.

This was rarely used by slaves, however, as travel through arrays was not cheap. For humans, it even had a level limitation of level 10. For orcs and orcbloods, this was not a problem, and their city demanded Crystal City to sponsor this transfer.

As most slaves were, they did not look too good. Their clothing was old, ripped, or clumsily patched, and their skin—or rather, their fur—was dry, knotted, and sallow or mottled.

They were looking down, mostly shivering from fear or apprehension, while others simply didn’t care anymore. Fortunately, the culture in his City was generally welcoming of them, so they were already given blankets even before they arrived.

Valhalla nodded, not surprised by their states, and then he looked at the guard leader there. ”Let them go to the dorms and, tomorrow, undergo the adjustment program.”

”Yes, Milord,” he bowed, and then he and his team guided the group to a facility at the edge of the city.

A generation ago, an adjustment program was established, aiming to help orcblood not born in their territory— as well as half-orcs they retrieved or purchased—to adjust to human society.

The treatment of them in the human territory truly shaped them negatively for the most part, and to be able to live well, their view of the world had to be adjusted. While they probably wouldn’t get freed from their nominal slave status, they would still be treated well.

The best citizens were those who were sincere, after all.

Anyway, after their conditioning—after the newcomers were enlightened that they could actually live well, and deserve to do so, as long as they served the city well—they could then be assigned roles.

For the most part, they’d be part of the fighter team, and they had to be trained to target the right enemies and also to never hurt brethren. Above all, this would allow them to live in a City with minimal discrimination. To do this, they had to adjust and be able to live without threatening others.

If a half-orc hurt a human, then it was a step back from every development that happened after that. After all, even if a fraction of the citizens had some orcblood, nearly everyone was human. Most of them didn’t have family members who exhibited any sort of beastification at all. Valhalla could not expect his people to be completely empathetic of the half-orc’s situation.

Speaking of this program, this was once again started by their mother. When she was young, she was kidnapped and was about to be sold, and it was enslaved half-orcs who had helped her out back. She didn’t know if they had sensed the very diluted orcblood in her, but they were very helpful and even risked their lives to help her out.

When she returned home, she had been quite active in buying off half-orc slaves when she could, hoping the orcs who saved her could be there.

Valhalla then shifted his attention to the children. There were two cubs carried by one of the half-orcs serving as administrative officials, Roouki, who had long antlers on his head and a kind air around him.

”These, Milord,” he said, walking over to show the two toddlers.

They were lovely little ones, probably only a year old if one factored in the growth rates of half-orcs. One, a little girl, had brown fur on her back and his ears perched above her head, while the other one, a boy, had feathers.

”They are twins,” Roouki said, mentioning what he knew about them when they were procured.

Valhalla raised his arms and took them both, startling the other two.

Virion looked at them, and his eyes sparked. ”Brother...what do you think of adopting them?”