After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 319

Chapter 319: Leaving Fargo Village
Soon, the group finally went ahead to go out. Other than their group of 14 (including Gaudi), they had Beany with them.

He pretty much appeared all-packed up the morning they were set to leave. Something about the dictatorship had no freedom of speech; Poor reporters like him could only suffer extrajudicial killings.

And, of course, he too had a family to find!

In any case, the group—mostly comprised of soldiers level 15 and above—traversed forest after forest, hill after hill, with relative ease.

They dealt with the mobs so easily, with Beany gushing with every element manifested near him. His reporter stats quickly revealed itself.

“How do you handle the elements?”

“What was it like when you first transferred?”

He was there when Vincent asked Garan for more details about this strange world, but that was mostly about the world. The more emotional aspect of the story was left out and he wanted to know more.

“We transferred here about four months ago. All 300. A hundred survived the initial transfer.” Garan said, “Then we inexplicably found out we have a system and a space.”

“Three months? You guys got really strong. I’m only level 2 after a month…”

“There was no protection period, then.”

Beany blinked, the implications dawning on him and he paled. He looked at Garan and the others with a mix of pity and even more respect.

“It must’ve been terrifying,” he said, squeaking.

“Well, it could’ve been worse.”

Silence occupied the group as they walked, in their heads they couldn’t help but reminisce about what they went through coming here.

“Althea would be happy to find out you’re alright,” Beany said with a smile and Garan’s feet stopped.

“You have met her?” They had lost contact with Beany because he was adopted by foreigners. Their contact resumed separately many years later, though never as a couple.

The chubby man nodded, “Had a lot to do with you, in fact.”

Garan took a deep breath as he started walking again to Beany’s pace. “Tell me.”

“Long story.” Beany said in his typical gregarious fashion, “It started out when I was chasing a scoop…”

“Straight to Althea,” Garan said impatiently, knowing the other’s propensity to go on tangents.

He reckoned he’d do quite well in creative writing instead.

Beany tutted as he walked, annoyed by being interrupted. He wanted to tease him out of spite but shivered under his stare.

So, in fear of his life, he told him the story.

“Ahem, when you guys disappeared… well, the government tried to keep it under wraps for as long as they could.”

“But over a month passed and there was no news of you. She tried to get information from the government, but no one gave her a direct answer.

He frowned, “No one bothered to tell her?” He asked. His wife, of all people, had the right to know what happened to him! What happened?

In retrospect, he should’ve asked the general.

“I happened to be covering the same story. She was with a redhead and the Diplomat Mathilda, trying to get more information. I saw her during one of my stakeouts—”

“How was she?”

“What do you think?”

Garan’s jaw tensed and his hands formed fists as they walked. The atmosphere around him turned cold—literally—and Beany could only rub his shoulders with his hand to keep himself warm.

Althea… she must’ve been heartbroken…

She had just lost their parents at the time, how much pain did she have to endure alone? Ansel could be there, sure, but he wasn’t very reliable, especially as he was also mourning.

Garan knew that Althea was only truly vulnerable and emotionally dependent on him alone, and no one else. Losing him… would have hit incredibly hard.

The other soldiers nearby were also somber, especially Gill who heard about his mother, who had worked with Althea to find them.

After yet another hour of sadness with the soldiers venting on small mobs they encountered, Beany remembered something to lighten up the mood, even for a bit.

“She got a bit chubby,” he told him, and Garan was startled before his shoulders slumped in relief.

“Chubby? Well, that’s good.”

At the time, Althea was only a few months in and her stomach wasn’t obvious. Even Beany didn’t have an idea that Althea was pregnant at all.

“She must’ve been stress eating.” Beany thought out loud, earning him a glare.

“…er… eating to distract herself.” He said.

Beany shut his mouth, afraid to offend this big demon. It was just that after a couple of mobs he just really couldn’t do it. He ended up asking questions here and there, chattering about endlessly.

“It’s amazing… how much mana would that take?”

“Did you learn that technique on your own?”

Sometime later, he turned to Garan. “Do you train like those old movies we used to watch?”

When they were children, they came across some very old movies—it was all they could afford—using antique playing machines they managed to scavenge in the bins of rich people.

They were mostly martial arts movies and Beany was more than a bit obsessed.

“You can join us train when we settle down,” Garan said, wordlessly killing a monster with a sword.

Beany’s face scrunched at the exercise, “Ehhh…”

“It’s to protect your family.”

Beany paused and nodded. “Fine.” He said, “They would definitely think I look very cool.”

As they walked further East, the forest began to look a lot less dense than before, and it looked a bit similar to the forests they had access to as kids.

Garan and Beany couldn’t help but be a little nostalgic. They used to play in the forest a lot, which was far from the orphanage so they spent an hour in the morning traveling concrete to get there. They also had Althea along with them, though her focus was more on plants.

“I see a lot of unfamiliar plants here…” Beany couldn’t help but mumble. “I wonder if Althea would eat a random plant again and get poisoned…”

Garan’s feet paused at this, puzzling everyone. Beany turned to him in confusion, only to see his pale face.

He gulped, realizing that what he said frightened the iceberg. “I was joking! Joking!!!! How could she still be like a four-year-old?! Right?”

Garan nodded, with a determined look on his face.

“Right. My Althea is so smart. She would absolutely not be poisoned by plants, even if they are unfamiliar.” He said, his stoic expression returning, and continued to lead the team forward.

If Althea was here, she’d look up at the sky and pretend not to hear anything.