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

Chapter 2114: Taiso in Alterra

"Why, hello there..."

Taiso turned his head to look at the person who lifted him up, seeing a redhead with an amused smile on his face.

The dwarf’s bearded face reddened in humiliation and he tried to swat him with his short arms, all while his short legs swung as fast as they could (i.e. not very fast), as if Ansel would let go of him if he struggled as such.

He knew that a human territory was no good. Look, he was already suffering great humiliation!

The commotion naturally caught the attention of most people around, many of whom rushed forward to see.

"It’s a dwarf!"

"Very cool. Is he Cotto’s friend?"

"He looks like a Sotto friend to me."

"They all look alike to me. How do you distinguish them?"

"It’s simple..." one started, and then proceeded on saying some tips, like one beard was pointier than the other, another walked with a little hop in his gait, and another had eyebrows with a slight twirl at the ends.

This was Leo, one half of Ansel’s twin BFFs. Leo always had superior observation skills and was currently training to be a detective.

The guard team had also formed an investigative force. There were many things that could go past the rules, and as Alterra grew stronger, the more bad apples it also attracted. Sometimes, those bad apples had brains, so tracing the transgression to them wasn’t very easy.

"That’s impressive," a feminine voice sounded next to Leo, owned by a beautiful young lady. Leo struggled to keep his grin down.

Yes. Leo was very proactive in sharing knowledge today (he was usually reserved and wouldn’t answer unless asked) because he was showing off to his date, Viola.

The others consciously ignored the flirting going on at the side. "Those three did say they invited others from their tribe, didn’t they? Maybe he’s one of ’em?"

"Where are they?"

"I think they’re playing in the park somewhere."

Taiso, still hanging in the air, was not quite sure what to make of their conversations. Even if he understood the words, he found it difficult to decipher the meaning because it was really incomprehensible for him.

There were other dwarves here? In this human town?

And they seemed...friendly?

More of them are coming!?

...

Alterrans, especially Terrans, were naturally fascinated with the rare race—one that they had only seen in movies. Fortunately, they also knew to keep personal space.

"What’s your name, little guy?"

"I’m not a little guy!"

"So, are you looking for your friends?"

"I don’t know anyone here!"

Leo, basking in the bright, watery look of his date, couldn’t help but share more knowledge. "I think he’s telling the truth," he said, that gentle, mellow voice of his now having a lilt of showing off.

"He’s shorter and stockier than those three. His skin is darker, and his body hair is denser. You know, those three have very similar base traits because they lived in the same village. This guy must be from a different group! Possibly on a tall mountain!"

At this, everyone couldn’t help but look at Taiso, who was still hanging on by the way (he already forgot he was being carried at this point).

"So...you don’t know Sotto, Cotto, Batto?"

Taiso shook his head.

"You should meet them, then!"

"Yeah, you’ll get along just fine~"

They had the tone of arranging play dates between children. Taiso hadn’t encountered anything like it, so he was not clear what was wrong with it. He was just in a daze.

While they surrounded the poor dwarf, Ansel also observed the newcomer. "Hmn, there are indeed differences. Are those tattoos personal?"

Ansel pointed at the tattoo on the dwarf’s arm. It looked like a bracelet.

"In my tribe, all dwarves reaching adulthood would have one," he said. It signified the blessings of the crafting deity on their hands.

Ansel had heard dwarves have different tribes, but there were very, very few of them. Each one also had their own legacies and specialties. "Which tribe are you from?"

"Eastern," he said. "We live on top of a large mountain in the East."

"..."

Ansel paused. Sounds familiar somehow.

He shook his head. He didn’t have the energy to rummage his memory; it would come to him on its own.

In the end, he played the good host and arranged for the new dwarf to have a good time. The first step was to alert the other dwarves that they had a new friend in town!

[Please tell the three dwarves that there’s someone here I hope they can host.]

This was a letter directly to the Guard Station. The dwarves had their own aether letter, but the aether letter—even their improved multi-contact ones—had a finite number of slots per aether letter.

Ansel was a minister. He already had several multi-contact aether letters in his space, all of which were full-slots, but there was no contact with the dwarves.

Official contacts were strictly on an as-needed basis (because of the limits of the aether letter), and there was not much intersection between his department and the dwarves, unlike the dwarves and, say, the Construction team.

In these cases, they had to connect with the Guard Station, which had a large collection of aether letters that were connected to everyone, even if one had to go through two or three contacts.

Sigh. It’s such a hassle. When would they have mobile phones again?

...

While waiting for the dwarves, Tiaso accompanied Ansel in watching the children play.

To be frank, such leisurely interaction with a dwarf that appeared out of nowhere would probably only be in Alterra.

Even in associate villages, the dwarf would likely be mobbed by curious passersby. Not to mention local territories where they could be mobbed by people wanting to take advantage of their innate skills.

It was just that in Alterra, the four dwarves, since their arrival, had been very high profile. They showed off their hoverboards everywhere, and the locals had gotten used to them.

Taiso found the whole thing incredibly novel.

For one, he had never seen so many children together—let alone so many children of different races.

"Your highness!" Several milky voices yelled, mimicking some noble greeting, as they faced Pepper.

The baby looked regal with a flower crown and makeshift cotton cape. Her chin was up, mimicking some ’cool’ adults she had seen. She just looked adorable in the adult’s eyes, though.

She pointed at her brother, who was now ’tied up’ with random vines. "Offu head!" the childish voice said, likely saying ’off with his head’, a classic royal line in plays.

Obviously, the kids were now role-playing. They had no idea how these roles were assigned, but it is what it is.

As for the storyline, it was probably inspired by one of the plays where the hero was about to be executed, escaped, and got his revenge. As the head of Alterra’s entertainment scene, Ansel found the story and some lines very familiar.

Some lines were tropey, while others were relatively unique, though unsurprisingly, the children remembered only the simplest lines with the most in-character reactions.

Aditi wrote the script, and it was actually quite good. It was inspired by old period dramas, but instead of romance, the focus was more on finding oneself, action, and so on.

For little boys, it was an awesome show, while the little girls probably found the costumes pretty.

Case in point, only Baby Pepper had a full costume. Even her shoe had freshly plucked flowers on it.

Theo, Aditi’s godson, was now playing as the Queen’s butler. He had always played the good role of an older brother, especially with Baby Pepper, and amusingly hasn’t shown a shred of impatience.

Very cute, as always.

The goblins were the crowd, jeering at the person to be executed, and the half-orc babies were the guards and executioners.

Amusingly, because Goblins didn’t really know a lot of bad words and were never inherently mean, their ’jeers’ were random ’insults’ they heard from the adults.

As children, they just knew that they disliked being reprimanded, so they emulated this feeling to get into the role.

"Put on your shoes properly! They’re different!"

"You’ve gotten fat! Fat!"

"Why donyu eat ya vegetables!"

"You’re so naughty! Bump your head again and you be an idiot!"

And so on.

The seriousness they had in their roles was hilarious. Their reimagining was also hilariously apt.

For example, the execution was supposed to be hanging on the gallows. But Meatball, who could fly, probably didn’t think much of it. He hung himself upside down to show he really was captured.

The baby boy rolled around and jumped, landing gracefully with arrogance as he looked at his sister.

"Blehh!" he said, mockingly putting his tongue out.

He was two years old...

"Will escape! Meatball is a hero!" he said, fat arms raised up high, and the goblins—who were supposed to be booing—ended up cheering instead. Mob mentality was quite easy for goblins. As long as one started to cheer, others would likely follow.

"Offu withhead!" Pepper pouted, pointing her chonky fingers at him.

And that day’s sibling wars began, just like this.