After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World-Chapter 1905: Crystal City (Part 2)

When the heir of Papell Town, Rigam, ran away from home to survive, with the help of some of his maternal grandfather’s loyal servants. He ended up at the nearest City, which was Crystal City, where his mother’s maternal family was originally from. It was also here that his great-grandfather received a Lord token back then.

They were a fallen noble family in this City, which was why his father didn’t care about what happened to his mum under his roof. It was quite the distant relationship, as the closest relatives by blood were his great-grandparents, but they were there and were more of a family than his father ever was.

He studied in Crystal City’s Academy as a student, which started from ten years of age to eighteen. He and Salam were classmates and clashed more often than not.

However, after a few ups and downs children went through in their acquaintance (i.e. the occasional fight and pranks), they eventually grew to become best friends.

It was Salam who also helped Rigam return to his hometown and regain his birthright, which would’ve been difficult as the Lord and his new wife would’ve already taken hold of the majority of things.

Like his friend, Salam had shown quite a bit of apprehension with how rash the Lords were going with this. For people who held the helm for so long, the two young men believed the older generation was being reckless. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Was it because the Lords were so used to things happening their way that even the slightest disturbance caused them to feel panicked?

There was actually some truth to this.

Many high-level territories remained stable for a long time that they grew stagnant. Since the two territories were well-established, well-connected, and had monopolies on their respective industries, they hadn’t seen threats for a long time.

As time went on, even their industries grew stagnant as well.

The Lords managed to do this, for the most part, by gatekeeping and some cutthroat work—the harshness of which depended heavily on who the one held the helm.

It could just be threatening business partnerships for those who threatened their monopoly, while others outright killed them. It seemed like this generation’s Lords were the latter.

Because of the false stability, many of them had always been afraid of taking risks, causing stagnancy and a lack of innovation. While there were some developments over the years, they were not much, nor were they rushed, because the Lords felt like they could afford to take their time, because there was no pressure to do so.

Until now.

Seeing their stability threatened, their instinct was to lash out. To cut the threat at the root early on.

These old people who had been used to a particular status quo for decades were more likely to desperately hold on to it.

In any case, Salam couldn’t help but express his concerns. He knew he’d be in trouble, but the Hall was the best platform to express his ideas and his worries, and it worked, with a lot of the Elders similarly getting worried.

At his words, the Lord sneered. "Ferrol is a mere Town. What bridge can we not rebuild?! Is it worth humiliating your father, the Lord, in front of his subjects?"

Salem did not answer immediately. He knew that his father’s anger was less because he disagreed with the idea (which would make him angry either way), but more because he was debated against in the first place.

In the end, Salam shut his eyes and kneeled down. "I apologize, Father, but I just did what I had to."

"You bastard!" The Lord yelled, slapping his head and shoulders over and over. Considering their level, if he wanted to kill the young man using more strength, he really could have. "What kind of apology is this?!"

"Papell Town has already declared war. What do you stand to gain by pointing this out at this juncture?!"

The Lord’s wording made it seem like Salam had an agenda, but he really didn’t. He was already the heir, and he had no legitimate male siblings that could threaten his position. He wasn’t particularly looking forward to becoming the Lord, either.

Salam bit his lips, remembering the time that he had asked the scouts to investigate more. Just that it was too late, as Papell had already declared war.

"Father, my point is that we should continue investigating first. The war is inevitable, but please let us find out more about our enemies before we deal with them after this."

Crystal City was a relatively new City of just a hundred years, but it had rapidly gained influence when it was a Level 3 Town when their artisans ’mastered’ the art of Crystal Making.

It also had to be noted that the reason why they developed this industry was precisely because of their proximity to the desert. Some ancestor found out about it by accident (accidentally ’cooked’ sand, creating glass-like material).

Through years of trial and error, they eventually developed the craft. He taught it to his children, and eventually spread out even to non-blood-related people, some of whom were through dishonest means.

The current quality had been polished through generations of work, but the products before this were too few because the conditions of creating glass (including extremely high temperatures) were not cheap.

The previous Lords had kept the trade going, simply placing high prices for the items since they were so difficult to make with such a large wastage.

When they could make more, they did not adjust the price and simply expanded their trades to farther cities, or to bigger caravans. This was to limit the supply in a territory to ensure scarcity, allowing them to sell their ware for a large amount of money.

Seeing another kind entering the market—with even better quality—was indeed disconcerting. The Lord looked at his son’s solemnity and paused, sighing.

"Well, we shall see how this war goes," the Lord said. "But if they prove to be a true threat—you will be responsible to fix it."