After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 44

Chapter 44: Nanny’s Daughter
As they ate, Althea noticed that the girl beside her was a little antsy.

Sheila indeed couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable, and she was looking around the bushes and behind the trees every 3 minutes.

It got to the point where Althea had to point it out.

“What is it?” Althea asked, and Sheila looked at her worriedly. She scooted over and whispered. “Won’t monsters get attracted again?”

“Probably.” she shrugged, making Sheila flinch.

“EH?”

Althea only smiled mysteriously. She had dared let them cook because… she had a theory.

She thought that, perhaps, the system put the weak ones together in large numbers and placed them in relatively safer places.

That was to say she, who was at level 3 at the time, was thrown to that pair of level 3 monsters.

The other woman must have been nearby in the same hotel and became an unfortunate cannon fodder.

So… Althea had a feeling that they wouldn’t be encountering level 3 monsters for a while.

Even if the food attracted monsters, she’d just let them be whetstones for Sheila and the others.

After a while, the delicious aroma of grilled food floated and people stared at Sheila’s direction.

However, the group ignored them and they sat in a circle waiting for Althea to come and sit down.

Sheila gave Althea and the others some disposable/degradable utensils they gathered before. They all started eating the moment Althea took a bite.

The meat was chewy and flavorful. Not to mention the meat itself was delicious, but the combination of condiments was also very good.

Althea looked at Sheila, very impressed, since she remembered the monster meat they had so far was all hard and even a little tangy.

Sheila just blushed embarrassedly and turned her head to Harold. “Harold cooked this time.”

“Oh? Very good.” Althea smiled, remembering he was a rich man’s housekeeper. Maybe he did have some skills. “Can you teach the two of us?”

“Of course, of course! Though I did use a solar-powered pressure cooker…” Harold said embarrassedly. The meat here was really hard to eat.

The comment made Althea blink.

Someone actually brought a pressure cooker?

As expected of a true chef!

Althea’s eyes shone in admiration making Harold’s old face blush, but he was also relieved.

He had been wondering what to do for the two girls so they could take him and his daughter with them. He was very happy to be of use.

It was pretty harmonious for a while until footsteps were heard.

It was a tall, curvaceous, woman with a pretty face. Following closely were two men with stances similar to bodyguards.

“Althea.” She said with a gentle smile, eyes moist as if she was genuinely happy to see her.

Althea knew these were thick-skinned people that expected to get food from them.

Don’t look at the other woman being so friendly, but she was definitely the source of the other hostile stare.

This one also looked a bit familiar. Although she had a good memory, unimportant faces still tended to blur after a while.

“Who are you?”

This one at least had the decency to not show offense on her face. “It’s me, Sandra.” The woman said with a gentle tone. “I’m Theresa Jones’ daughter.” She said, tentatively sitting down next to the pot.

However, her eyes were all on Althea, gentle and looking like she was sincerely glad to see her.

Althea looked at her with unknown emotions. Nanny’s daughter, eh?

Didn’t she run away with her father, Nanny’s scum husband, a decade back? Ansel even had a lot of gossip about it.

Apparently, Nanny’s scum husband cheated with a rich widowed woman.

This daughter, who was only seventeen at the time, threatened to take her with him, or else she would go to the woman’s house and tell all his good deeds.

Seeing her all graceful now without a hint of her uncouth origins, it was obvious that she worked very hard to change herself.

Normally, Althea wouldn’t mind this. If she didn’t know Nanny, and didn’t know they weren’t really poor, Althea may even admire such a strong woman who knew what she wanted and did what she had to do to get it.

It was just that—

“Normal people would ask how their mother is.”

“…”

The woman paled, as if frightened. Even if she looked a bit less attractive than the peacock neighbor woman. She had a soft and gentle temperament, making the men want to protect her.

These people would not imagine that she used to threaten her own father. The type that said ‘bring me with you, or we die together’.

It seemed that this woman had really learned a lot in the past ten years.

If she didn’t know Nanny, she wouldn’t judge her too much. After all, her life could have been so miserable that she could only latch to whatever twig of hope she could get to.

But Althea did know Nanny and she also knew their living conditions weren’t bad at all. Nanny’s salary was actually very good compared to her peers, and this girl could still afford to go to mid-level private schools.

However, no one dared to tell Althea off.

“How.. how is she?”

“Dead.”

Sandra’s face looked heartbroken, softly sobbing as if she was holding back her tears.

Althea sighed. She actually preferred dealing with the peacock woman than duplicitous women like this one. She could at least punch the former in the face.

“So… what are you doing here? I don’t remember us having a friendship. I recall you abandoned your mother for riches.”

The woman sobbed harder and her suitors finally couldn’t help but speak up. “That’s too much. She’s obviously just trying to talk to an old acquaintance.”

Sheila finally couldn’t take it anymore.. “Oh? Not after our food right?”

Sandra was silent, her body freezing a bit.

Althea saw this and sneered. “Well, we’ve caught up now. You can go now.”

Sandra was silent, looking at her with a pleading expression.

“What? You don’t have your own hands to get your own food?” Sheila asked, really not wanting the pregnant Althea to deal with scum.

Althea’s lips lifted a bit and couldn’t help but add, “Wanna ask for a pregnant woman’s rations?”

She was getting quite fond of using her pregnancy to counter moral kidnappings.

At this point, Sandra couldn’t muster face to stay anymore and she ran to another area with her suitor.

Althea and her group ate happily, and no one else dared to place their face for slapping.

Sandra bitterly looked at the relaxed group, well-manicured hands—which now had traces of scratches and imperfections—gripping the fabric of her skirt.

She had always felt the world was unfair whenever she saw Althea.

Obviously just an orphan, but was so beautiful, talented, and loved by everyone.

While she—she had to try so hard and sacrificed so much to get a little love and comfort.

Her eyes flashed a determined light. In Terran, she could not get ahead of her no matter what.. even if Althea was strong now, she was just a pregnant woman. More men were bound to be stronger than she was.

She would find those men. Better: She would find a man even better than that perfect husband of hers!!

She would step on her someday, Sandra told herself.

Definitely!

____

Half an hour later, everyone had managed to eat, and they all stood up staring at each other, and then staring at Althea’s group, which were still lounging about. No one dared to talk to them.

Silently taking in the task of asking, Sandra went to them again with a kind-but-frightened face as if she was mustering the courage to face monsters for the greater good.

“Where are you heading to?”

Sheila didn’t want this woman to taint Althea’s eyes. “Why should we tell you?”

“The more people the greater the strength.”

Sheila looked at her up and down. “You?”

The blunt humiliation stopped the others who had wanted to sell themselves as companions.

Althea smiled in amusement. The little white rabbit really turned into a rabid one, though Althea thought it was just as cute.

“I won’t tell you where I’m heading. We will move after you leave.”

Realizing that they really weren’t planning on telling them, the remaining level two–named Spike–initiated a brainstorming session. A few smarter ones noticed the pattern.

It was the young man with C potential that spoke up. “The farther we went to the starting point, the stronger the monsters we faced! I think it’s best to go back!”

Althea very much agreed to it. They were relieved to be going the same direction.

Of course Peacock-lady didn’t forget to mumble ‘hypocrisy’ under her breath.

Althea almost scoffed and just turned to Sheila and told her and Harold to walk far from the crowd, lest they get pushed to be meat shields when they get attacked.

Peacock didn’t want to hear any of it. “Aren’t you going to use us to test if there are monsters?”

Sheila sneered and lifted her sleeves as if ready to hit this woman. Althea, half-amused, grabbed her collar to keep her back.

Sheila pouted and turned to her, meeting her beautiful green eyes that were as calm as the verdant forest. Unconsciously, Sheila’s aggressive stance softened and Althea finally let go of her hold.

“We’ll go first then,” Althea said and lifted Maya up. Nodding at Sheila, the other girl nodded in understanding.

Sheila then patted Harold’s shoulder. “Keep up.”

“Hmn, what?”

And the girls sprinted in a direction, and Harold was a second lagging in response.

“E-Ei! Wait for me!!”

He quickly ran after them, leaving a group of dumbfounded people behind.