After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 594

Chapter 594: Three Old Men
An Hour Ago.

Because all of their local friends had been busy with the war, the Golds with Cassandra and Veronica were left exploring on their own.

The streets were mostly empty except for a few gardeners and hawkers, while the rest of those remaining were inside buildings and factories doing their jobs.

Altera set a limit to the level of participants to a relatively higher level, which was really considerate of them.

However, they also felt those left behind wanted to do their parts for the territory—which was why even when working hours were over at this time, no one had timed out. Normally, people would be coming out of the buildings in droves, looking for a place or somewhere to eat.

Somehow, they ended up in an alcohol shop with a very colorful sign—Vino’s Alcohol Shop. This store had been hyped up for a while, especially in the tavern and the boys had brightened at the sight of it. The boys immediately entered and the girls had no choice but to come with them.

Right behind them were also a few passerbys who—if one was watching them earlier—had actually hanging around the alcohol shop as soon as the normal working hours were over.

Of course, the Golds didn’t know this, and they simply entered the shop in curiosity.

It was just 1 store with no tables as well as some drawings as decorations on the wall. The room was divided by a counter in the middle, extending through the shop’s entire width. There was understandably no one around except the muscular man behind the counter—who they also recognized as the owner of the Tavern, Vino.

And the man brightened at the sight of them. “WELCOME GOOD GUESTS!” he bellowed, making them flinch a bit. They cleared their throats and approached the counter, looking at the displays meticulously arranged behind the muscular man.

They couldn’t help but appreciate the wide array of drinks behind the counter. There were various jars with different names and colors. There were also some descriptions with font big enough so the customers could read. The language used was very flowery, and it got them very curious.

So, they asked a few questions and, surprisingly, the man offered them a try.

“For you sirs and madames, we can give free taste,” Vino said, giving them small cups each. This made the other people behind the line gasp.

They were actually three old men with varying physical features.

“GASP! NO FAIR VINO! You never give me free taste!” One dark-skinned old man said, looking him in the eye. The pale and thin old man behind him nodded.

“Me neither!”

And behind them both, there was the smallest one with a hunched back. “Do you only like handsome men!”

Vino’s eyes twitched. “SHUT UP! Buy a big bottle from me and we’ll talk!”

Of course, Vino wouldn’t normally give free taste. The line of products sold here was much higher end than what was sold in the tavern! This was much, much, more costly and cumbersome to make—also consisting of more expensive and rarer raw materials—and therefore much more expensive as well.

Hence, considering this, many people would just get a free taste and be happy with that. For instance, most of the people from behind were just there to ‘abduct’ whoever bought his product, asking them for a taste!

From what he heard, they would only ask for a sip, but who wanted to share expensive alcohol? At the same time, who could reject old men so coldheartedly?

This group of old men was well-known. They survived so long because they found Altera early, coming with Mathilda’s group. They came from a retirement center and survived so long due to pure luck.

When their physiques somewhat improved due to leveling up, they realized they could move, and were passionate to do some work done. They had been one of the pioneers of gathering resources for the territory as much as they could.

If anyone wanted to go fight in the war, it would be them. Unfortunately, even if everyone improved physically, the improvement of a negative was still zero, so in terms of strength these men were left behind.

Further, they had white collar jobs in their youth which were completely obsolete in Xeno—so they were stuck with resource gathering or cleaning.

Anyway, they now apparently wanted to drown their stress with superior-grade alcohol, but they definitely did not have the money to buy a pint.

So… them asking for free taste?

DREAM!

But the Golds, on the contrary, were rich aborigines!

His smile resumed as he looked at his fat sheep. He took out three bottles of his most expensive products. The Golds noticed that it was also wet outside, which they would later learn to be ‘condensation’.

Otto’s blue eyes fixed on the nearest bottle. “May I? He asked, touching the surprise. He was a bit surprised.

“It’s cool.”

Vino smiled. “Yes! Saltpeter has now been made commercially available so cool drinks are no problem!”

One of the old men clapped.. “Wow!! We can make more ice now!”

“Very good, very good.”

“Our drinks can finally be cold!”

Obi and the others had some idea what ice could be used for, but they had no idea the vastness of its use in these people’s imaginations just yet.

Behind them, the old men expressed their excitement very much. “How refreshing! They said you got to put ice on your eyebags to lessen them.”

“Old man, if the skin is loose there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“Really?”

The dark-skinned old man ignored them and just looked at the ceiling in an excited daze. “I don’t have trialphas anymore! I can eat ice cream again!”

“Yes! Although I don’t have teeth anymore, that creamy goodness will be heavenly!”

Vino’s eyes twitched at the noise the old men were making. But then he looked at the Golds who seemed amused, but he didn’t dare think they’d keep feeling that way when the old men started bothering them directly.

Vino imagined the worst-case scenario. They were so old—a push could injure them.

So Vino waved his hand in the end. “Shoo! Shoo!” he said. “Go wait at the tavern,” he said. “I’m hiring some labor and I wanna test you guys.”

“What?”

“Really?”

“Yes, yes, now go before I change my mind!”

And the three old men rushed to the tavern—not that they were very fast.

Because life in Altera was getting better, the demand for his product had indeed been increasing. While the old men’s productivity wouldn’t be as big as younger people’s, he just thought he would be ‘giving back’ to the needy or something.

Besides, maybe back in Terran, those old men shaped the world they knew or something.

Vino’s job wasn’t that demanding. They could still gather resources as a side hustle, even. However, in order to meet the men’s alcohol demands, he decided to add a bit of perks to their job in exchange for lower pay.

The Golds saw his defeated expression and smiled. “That’s very kind of you,” Olga said, chuckling.

He could only smile weakly at them. “Well, Alterans help Alterans out.”