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

By this time, rumors of various famous persons in Alterra were already abound. It was impossible to completely block this, after all.

The alchemists, even if they spent the vast majority of their time behind closed doors, would often go out and enjoy the shops. Not to mention, when things like these that were associated with certain people or territories suddenly appeared in bulk quantities in Alterra, anyone would surmise a few things, especially if they investigated the original sources.

Sometimes someone would recognize one, though for the most part, they’d just doubt themselves. Outside the center and some trusted individuals, the identities of the old men weren’t disclosed, so people didn’t know them when the aborigines asked.

The alchemists themselves barely went out either, so even those people who might’ve seen the alchemist from a distance once or twice tended to doubt their own memories.

It had been months since the occasional report would appear here and there, and this included reports on the Golds despite their dyed hair. It was just that, for the longest time, it was just too ’out there’ to actually believe, especially back when Alterra wasn’t that well-known outside its region yet.

Some did find the clues and decided to investigate, but what could they do? It wasn’t like the Golds, and the others didn’t throw random misdirections to consume pursuers’ resources.

For example, a pile of a certain specialty item would appear in another city, and witnesses would say the creator themselves were there or something.

Another was the spread of rumors that a bunch of Token Guards was actually sourced out from Flaret Town instead.

Anyway, it was all a bit confusing and would take a while for even nobles to investigate so thoroughly that they would have no doubt these professionals truly were in Alterra.

Even if they did, there wasn’t anything they could do about it. Alterra was simply delaying the inevitable, just to minimize the potential trouble—if there would be at all.

After all, the longer the time, the less effect and impact. It was much like how a big scandal could’ve been a major issue this month, but would just be passing gossip in the next.

Now, the appearance of the fertility pill naturally—once again— caught a lot of attention and stirred up a lot of tongues. Especially so since it was a characteristic product of one alchemist, thereby adding substance to the rumors of Cheman.

Sad for them, no matter how they investigated, they wouldn’t get concrete answers. Rather, because they asked a lot of questions, they were added to the list of suspicious individuals instead.

At this time, a certain Obi and Leez were paired up and making rounds around a certain area as guards.

Their job in this assignment was to just walk around, help people when needed, and respond to nearby disturbances. They could also receive reports from the Guard Station, and they’d be sent to handle the problems accordingly if it was within their ability and jurisdiction.

Some ’troubles’ did get annoying, but at the same time, not big enough to get thrown to prison. For example, there was Obi’s brother Oslo, who seemed to be getting better at getting under their skin

The topic was fanfiction about him! Someone approached them during the rounds, but unexpectedly, instead of a legitimate report, he was stopped to get his permission to write fanfiction about him, even offering a larger-than-usual royalty share!

Oslo appeared right next to them at this moment. The timing was suspicious but Obi didn’t think much of it for now.

”I actually agreed to get my fanfiction with Leez written. They actually wanted you, but they were afraid you wouldn’t sign the agreement.”

”I agreed though, and so did Leez.”

”What?” Obi exclaimed and then whipped his head to stare at his partner. ”Is it true?”

Leez blinked. She did not think it’d be used for romance...the writers said it’d be mostly adventure...

Oslo’s eyes were on his brother’s face and the younger Gold gave out a knowing smile. ”Anyway, since you don’t agree—”

”Who says I won’t agree!?” Obi screamed, and he sighed the papers then and there.

Obi grabbed Leez’s arm, and he pulled ”him” away from these people.

Behind them, Oslo watched the guards scurry away with a smile. He then looked at Ria, one of the writers, and the one who approached Obi with the contract.

”See? I told you we could get his signature. My profit share is settled, right?”

Ria grinned, saluting. ”Of course, Sir!”

...

Obi grumbled at the side, and an annoyed aura emanated from him. It was so bad that no one dared approach anymore.

Fortunately for the citizens, there were plenty of ways to make reports and plenty of people to ask help from who were not the irksome high-level aborigine.

Obi paused when Leez stopped, staring at something.

Curious, he followed her sight. She was staring at... a baby store?

Specialty stores had long popped up in Alterra. With the appearance of many pregnancies and newborns, there were now shops specifically catering to them.

Amusingly, most of these also had maternal and baby ’goblin’ collection and items since that’d make up most of their customer base while humans were still gestating.

They also had specialized toys for them. Similar to the toys Linlin had growing up, such as geology sets, they also had clay and stuff to try to see if the baby had a passion for building.

The specialized function was interesting to Obi, though not much else. He wondered what Leez was so curious about.

”So many people are trying to have kids,” he muttered, until he saw her look longingly at the children. ”What are you thinking about?”

”I just find children so cute...” she told him, a bit shy.

She wanted to be a mother someday. Sadly, her situation was making it difficult.

She had yet to gather the courage to ’come out of the closet’. How could she dare want these things?

Obi, whose EQ was slowly rising up, had sensed the despair in her tone and her stance.

Obi wondered, a bit presumptuously: Was there a way for two men to conceive?

Just how much ’help’ could Cheman’s fertility pills give them?