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

A/N: Another one of the 'could've been two chaps' thing, but the first chap would've been too boring, so I just combined them. Again, this costs you LESS, okay! xDDD

Also, just a gentle reminder that what the character says does not necessarily reflect author's belief. xDD

...

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This made Misha flinch and glare at him. Otto found it a little cute. "Why would I?"

Stephanie could not bear just to watch and be ignored at this time. "Excuse me… do you know each other, Master?"

Otto didn't answer and just turned to them with a friendly smile. It was his standard businessman's smile, but it made the women's hearts beat.

"What are your names?" he asked. They softened a bit. The voice was as handsome as he was. "Tell me as much about yourself as you can."

They might have been sent early to him, but he didn't have the mind to socialize at the time. Anyway, the girls introduced themselves passionately, putting themselves in a bright light.

It was Stephanie who spoke first. "My name is Stephanie Melise," she said. "I used to be a supermodel back in our home country."

She touched her coffee-colored skin and combed back her curly hair, looking at him with blinking eyes. In terms of desire, she emitted it in droves.

Otto smiled. He was a flirtatious man by default. While he didn't really feel like flirting at all, particularly when Misha was around, he did it by habit, which fuelled the woman's desire instead.

Stephanie smiled at him, leaning closer.

He looked at her. "What's a supermodel?"

"That…"

She then recalled this man was an aborigine and there should be no equivalent of the profession here.

Rather…

"It's what we'd call a whore, master," Lacie said at the side, making Stephanie glare at her.1

Lacie graciously ignored it, and she blinked her eyes as she stared at the man. She was also very pretty, but in a totally different way from Stephie.

Her skin was very pale and she had slightly slanted eyes, and her curves were not as pronounced, but she was well-proportioned.

"My name is Lacie. I was a food influenc—a cook," she said. "A well-known one."

The two women exchanged looks, as if challenging the other. They then turned to Otto almost simultaneously.

"We will serve you well, Master."

Otto chuckled good-naturedly, while Misha rolled her eyes.

At this, Otto cleared his throat.

"First of all, you won't be serving under me."

This made the women pale.

"What?"

Who, then? An old man? An ugly bastard? An abuser?

The fear on their faces made Otto blink, and he quickly realized what this was about.

"Don't worry, you won't be serving anyone," he said. "Technically speaking, you will be free, though you'd have to work to get your own official freedom. You'd also have to pay at least part of what was spent on buying you, of course."

As for how much he spent on them, it'd probably be reimbursed by Alterra (though it would be fine if they didn't). This meant they'd be paying Alterra instead of him.

The two women didn't know what to say. Was he saying he spent so much gold only to set them free?

Is that possible?

"It's true," he said, looking at Misha, who was just looking out the window, decidedly ignoring his interactions.

She seemed to be watching the passing forests outside. Otto didn't know if she was really doing that, but his eyes unconsciously softened anyway.

"In fact, the thousands of slaves bought earlier were the same, like you, they are rescued.

"Misha here worked with me. Rather, she was the main contributor."

"What?" The two girls gasped in shock, while Penelope's eyes just sparkled in admiration.

They then whipped their heads to look at Misha, though she didn't react much. Otto sighed.

"What about you?" he asked the remaining girl, who played with her frizzy hair.

"My name is Penelope," she said. "I was a student in biology—it's a scholar's subject—and was at my school when the tragedy happened."

Otto nodded, smiling gently at the women. "Nice to meet you, then.

"Also, to manage expectations, I'm not from a City, at least not anymore. Rather, I'm from a Level 1 Town."

Stephanie and Lacie frowned, obviously disappointed, though they fortunately had the tact not to be blatant about it.

Otto saw this reaction and shrugged. "You'd soon see…it's not bad at all," he said. "I can guarantee it'd be beyond your expectations. If all of you want to hear about it, I can tell you more."

It was here that Misha finally turned to him. Her curiosity triumphed over whatever bitterness she felt for him. This made Otto smile, though he forced it down lest Misha get annoyed with him again.

…

Eventually, they went far enough North to cause misdirection. And, after confirming once more that they weren't being followed, the beast carriage made an abrupt turn and turned Southeast.

Before, Raz passed on the message that they had changed bases and gave him the map of the new place. It was a proper village, apparently the old village of those people in New Shrao.

The girls soon moved on from their disappointment. It also became clear that in Towns, they would be at least freer, not as weak as ants.

Besides, regardless, Otto was an incredibly handsome and charming man—rich,too—so it wasn't like he was no longer attractive. Rather, he became a bit more approachable.

The girls chatted Otto up and he was quite gregarious himself. As a businessman, it was an essential skill. He must've spoken to thousands of people in his lifetime.

Of course, whether or not he actually enjoyed the conversation—only he would know.

The girls also asked more about where they were going, what kind of territory would do all that for others, and what he actually did for a living.

"They're probably collecting elementalists," Lacie said after thinking about how many of them were 'rescued'. "Hopefully, the atmosphere population is better than Voumi."

Penelope looked at Otto. "Do you really mean we'll be set free?"

"I mean that you wouldn't be treated as slaves, and those who do try would be punished."

"Why?"

Why would a territory be so kind?

Otto smiled. "Because they're your brethren," he said. "They're what you call Terran."

"Wait, what?"

"You mean the territory who sent you… is one of us?"

"How is that possible?"

Otto smiled. "You'll see when you get there."

…

The group continued to chatter for a few more hours.

Since Otto said they were free, the two quickly got comfortable too. They hadn't been enslaved for long enough to become completely servile.

They also adjusted quickly enough by sleeping with a fugly lord and retaining sanity, so psychologically they were pretty well-adjusted.

Lacie and Stephanie, at some point, changed seats. They sat on both sides and would subtly flirt with Otto and he may or may not reciprocate, depending on how aggressive they were being.

They would subtly rub against him whenever there were bumps or others, they'd accidentally graze his leg, and the other would touch his arm in jest.

To be honest, the two were beautiful women, and Otto could see the appeal. In normal circumstances, a little more push, and he might've taken the bait.

He was really surprised by how liberated the women were; he couldn't help but sneak a peek at Misha, wondering how she'd be when she was flirting.

Any attraction he could've felt for the other two women stagnated, just like this.

Sadly, the other blonde couldn't care less about him. After he told his stories about Alterra, the view outside seemed more attractive to her.

Misha… just didn't feel like talking. It was nothing personal.

While she admitted that she was unreasonably annoyed when she thought he had abandoned her and how unreasonably relieved she was when he came, she didn't think too deeply about it.

She had been in a couple of relationships herself, so she wasn't blind to the attraction. However… she wasn't in the mood to deal with that right now, nor was it the time.

She knew that attraction did not necessarily mean it had to lead anywhere. It could just happen and fade away. It happened many times, and she had too many things to think about now to bother with it.

The fact that she could hear him flirting with two women in front of her certainly wasn't making it attractive for her to explore that route.

Soon, the carriage stopped, and they looked out to see the wall.

The women's shoulders slumped at the sight of the 3-meter wall. "This is it?"

They were already a bit cynical of his words—Otto had the playboy vibes who made many promises—but seeing this cemented this fact.

Otto saw this and didn't bother explaining. He just shrugged and asked the driver to enter the village, and they were immediately greeted by dozens of people there.

The carriages stopped and Otto led the way down, with the women following closely behind him.

They gasped at how they were immediately surrounded. "Ah, it's Otto!" one said.

"You're back!" another said. "Finally!"

A dark-skinned strongman appeared out of nowhere, patting Otto's shoulder. He was in uniform, and he had the stance of a soldier. "How many did you get?"

"Sammy! Not that many, sadly."

"It's alright," the soldier said. "This must've cost a lot."

The women felt dazed. They also saw several familiar faces, though because they didn't stay in the dorms, they only knew faces.

What they did know was that in the few days they saw them, their entire temperament had changed! Before, they were pitiful and hopeless. Now, they looked like they were actually...excited and lively?

The two women hadn't talked with them before, however. This was in contrast to Misha, who was quickly recognized by her friends.

"MISHA!!!" This was Gina and Yulia, who dashed towards them, hugging Misha, as soon as they saw her.

"Oh, Misha… I was so worried."

"I felt so bad you were left behind…"

Misha smiled, patting the girls' backs. "It's not your fault…"

Her voice died when her eyes detoured past them and saw stout, unfamiliar bipedal creatures tied up not too far away. They reminded her of gnomes… except they were as large as a young child.

Otto was watching her face the whole time and saw her abnormality. Curious, his eyes followed her sight.

His calm and suave expression immediately cracked.

"Dwarves?!"

To be clear, the author does not agree with this. xDDD