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

The City of Crystal City was a beautiful settlement with more than a hundred years of History as a City and more than a thousand more years of existence before that.

It remained located right at the eastern edge of the continent’s largest desert, and had a portion of its territory within it. This was especially so in recent decades, where the desert was expanding bit by bit.

It remained built along a massive canyon area, which shielded the territory from most harsh sandy winds the desert threw at them. This allowed the city to flourish and be protected against the intense heat and sandstorms.

Later, they also found underground wells and rivers, though discovered and developed a bit later, creating a very good place to create a settlement even in the drylands, and later, the desert.

It could be said that, for a territory that might have no choice but to be built on a dead area, the first Lord chose the location very well.

As the territory grew, it absorbed more and more land with canyons and mesas. The new rich neighborhoods, as always, were placed on the mid-level plateau areas, above ground but still protected from nature by the higher-level plateaus.

The rich homes were also shaded well and had the largest crystal windows. These windows might seem counterintuitive in a desert, but they were somewhat translucent and not completely transparent, so it wasn’t that hot. Granted, in terms of temperature, having smaller windows was still more practical.

But where was that status symbol in that?

As for when they cracked or got destroyed, they were rich enough to replace them after the disasters. Besides, as aether-infused materials, they were relatively sturdy, so typical weather and sandstorms didn’t damage the glass.

As the town expanded to a city, more and more people settled down. The land and houses were extremely expensive, made even more so after the upgrade, so many of the new settlers were on the ground level between the mesas.

For the most part, these were for poor people or refugees, as many of the houses on the ground floor could be flooded in events of Extreme Cold, as well as during Endless Rain or Great Flood disasters. These were relatively rare, though, so even this area was livable.

Other than those on the bottom of the canyon, the territory also expanded beyond it, right into the desert areas. For the houses here, they had small openings to manage hot, arid, and strong winds.

The rest of the houses and important buildings were above ground, many built along the face of the mesas and were connected by bridges carved from rocks. Some of them even had crystals embedded on it.

The buildings in the well-off neighborhoods were characterized by unique buildings with larger-than-usual openings, all of which were covered with their ’crystals’. Of course, this was just the customized buildings reserved for the very rich.

The next level—used by commonfolk—was typical system buildings, but the fenestrations all had varying degrees of ’crystalization’, done by the residents themselves, paying for the building’s customization.

Basically, the more glass there was on a house, the more social status the residents believed they had.

These zones also had several shops selling crystalware. The products came in various sizes and qualities. Many were connected to noble-owned workshops as well, creating their own products.

These workshops required a large area, so they did not settle on the ’rich’ area, but in the middle ground. This wisely targeted both markets—one could afford most of what they could make, and the other side was desperate to buy one or two to show off.

Overall, the city gave off a unique urban landscape that also attracted a lot of tourists over the years.

The largest residence was a gorgeous palace located near the top of the mesa. It was the largest plateau there, and the highest point still protected by other rock structures.

The lower portion of the structure was carved into the mountain, or it grew at the side of the mountain itself, and then extended to the plateau areas, creating the illusion of the building seeming to float overhead.

There could absolutely be no other structures at this height, only lower.

At several levels, there were also sky gardens with vegetation dutifully maintained by wood users or expensive potions. The maintenance cost was incredibly high, but the homeowner never seemed to care.

This was the Lord’s palace. On normal days, this place was relatively harmonious except for some scheming by the Lord’s harem members. Today, however, the tension was high.

Slap!

Inside the grand hall dedicated to the Lord, embellished with expensive decorations of crystals or imported metals all over, a very angry Lord stood in front of a handsome, dark-skinned man appearing to be in his 20s.

”Did you really disagree with me during the Hall?”

He was referring to the Hall with Elders that happened once a week. However, there was an extra session if there was an upcoming war, which was what the previous meeting was about.

They sent hundreds of reinforcements into this war, a lot of whom were in their level 30s, as well as some equipment support.

Many of the participants did not see anything wrong with it, except for one, whose expression was dark and full of dislike. He didn’t even hide it, which had offended the Lord.

”What do you want to say?” the Lord asked his heir, who unfortunately answered with bluntness he did not like.

”But Father...I just feel there are more...efficient ways to go about it,” he said, very concerned. ”With a lot less bloodshed.”

”Is it because of your friend?”

”It is because of the possible loss of opportunities we could suffer by cutting bridges prematurely.”

Although they were not the ones to attack directly, a little bit of investigation could reveal they had something to do with it, too. It wasn’t that he thought the Town was a threat to their City, but it simply was a network strained too early.

Interestingly, this other voice of reason was the heir of Crystal City, Salam.

He also happened to be Rigam’s childhood friend. Interestingly, it was actually him whom Rigam’s brother had bullied before, though neither of them knew the relationship at the time. Salam went to Papell, curious about their subsidiary and his friend’s home, not expecting to encounter someone without eyes.

Anyway, these two heirs both disagreed with their fathers’ moves.

But what could they do? They were simply the heirs, and even that was in danger.