After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 629

Chapter 629: Town Upgrade Requirements
Now that the small talk and business deals had been settled, it was time for Althea to know what she had always been meaning to ask. However, she looked at the Golds and wondered if either party would mind the other learning too much.

It was fine before because they were all, essentially, a network of business partners now, but her questions had to do with the integrity and safety of the lords themselves.

“You can ask what you want,” Jonathan said, sounding very generous at this time. Her lips pursed, tentative.

“My final question, this is especially targeted to Sir Jonathan, the lord of a town,” she began, “But I can ask you later if you mind.”

“I assume you want to know the requirements of a Town?” he asked, and Althea nodded in agreement. The Golds also looked on in interest, wondering if they’d be hearing this as well, even if only for curiosity’s sake.

Jonathan didn’t mind the Golds hearing at all. Anyway, it would probably add his good impression on them, so he wasn’t stingy with this information. Anyway, there was no way it would damage his town. “According to our records, you’ll need 20000 population, 15000 residents, and 1000 prestige to upgrade from Village to Town.”

A normal village would take decades to achieve this, and the fastest ones were probably Bluelle and Holt which—according to tales of the previous generations—took a few years to develop into a town. When he heard this, he was very amazed. After all, other villages took decades to accomplish the same.

The population wasn’t the difficult part in the requirement. After all, Xeno was a dangerous place that never seemed to lack refugees. Further, because of the long lifespans, the population of the world wasn’t exactly small.

The challenge in upgrading to a Town had always been the prestige.

The average prestige for a village that had been established a couple of years ago seemed to be a hundred or so according to his subsidiaries, but he reckoned that was already above average in number.

After all, his subsidiaries theoretically should have relatively higher prestige because their backer—his Ferrol Town—was rich and had a good influence. If anything, he estimated the standard prestige of a new village to be less than 50.

His late father was very smart to hold all those events and then partner up with cities, ensuring the continuous flow of people in his town.

Among Towns, Ferrol was definitely among the better ones. But Altera, which should become a Town in about another year or two, may not take too long to catch up.

In any case, Jonathan was very curious what Altera’s current prestige was… so he asked.

“It’s 300.”

“…” Jonathan couldn’t speak for a moment. “What?”

“Is it very odd?” Althea asked, pretty eyebrows furrowed in worry. The others similarly looked at Jonathan in curiosity.

“300… uh, no… it’s very good. Very high,” he said, heaving a deep breath to gather himself. “Very much above average, and I project Altera’s upgrade after another year.”

At this, the others on the table couldn’t help but look at each other with wide eyes. Becoming a town less than two years after conception… it was a miracle.

Altera’s potential… was even higher than he thought!

Speaking of potential, most other towns would feel threatened by Altera’s development. If other lords were in his place, it was more likely they’d send subsidiaries to weaken Altera rather than hang around the place like a guest.

Especially… Altera was a bit close in distance. If it became a Town, it had too big a potential to take his citizens, his customers, and his money.

In fact, Jonathan as a lord actually considered this. However, he had a glimpse of its strength as they investigated and especially during the war.

He was still self-aware—none of his villages stood a chance.

Worse, the relationship would’ve only soured and the goods he liked so much might become inaccessible!

He couldn’t risk it—he liked those noodles too much!

Ahem.

None of these thoughts was obvious on his face, however, and he cleared his throat to say a few caveats.

“This is the requirement for upgrade gathered during my town’s upgrade many years ago,” He said. “Add some tolerance as this was done by my father back then, so I am not sure of its accuracy.”

Althea nodded at him, smiling. In fact, this was also partially a test. She wanted to see if she’d feel any hostility and threat from Jonathan.

She was expecting it, but surprisingly he was much more open-minded than she thought.

“We thank you, on behalf of the Elders. It is very helpful to us already.”

“If I gather more information from the other lords, I will be sure to send them over to you.”

At this, Althea’s eyes shone. “Thank you lord Jonathan, this will certainly be taken as a show of sincerity.”

Jonathan nodded, agreeing that he was indeed being very helpful. Overtly so, but he always believed in his instincts—being helpful now while Altera was not yet so strong would be the right decision!

“May I ask what is your population now?” Althea asked, curious.

“We are over 300,000,” he said, a little smug. This was peak among towns, which would usually have around half or even less of that.

Populations in Cities, on the other hand, could go to a million or two.

Althea noted this, hoping to be able to plan accordingly. She wanted to keep a comfortable density in her territory, and to do that she had to carefully calculate and plan the future expansions.

“Finally, I have a number of questions. Anyone who knows the answer can answer,” she asked, including the Golds in her questions.

“Ask away, Ms. Althea.”

She pursed her lips before asking, before finally doing so. “Does anyone know about the special child from Holt City?”

“You mean that brat?” Obi mumbled, turning to Otto, “Aren’t you acquaintances with the lord there?”

“That’s a misconception,” Otto said, but answered anyway. “Oh, the child is around 4 years old now, and he’s the treasure of the entire territory. Unfortunately, this turned him into quite a brat.”

“Is there anything else special about him?”

“Other than his ability to make a calm person crazy?”

“…yes.”

“I heard that he was very smart. He also started walking very early, in less than 8 months, from what I heard.”

Typical babies in Terran took 12 to 15 months to stand, with the fastest record at 9 months. Eight months was basically half the time as Terran children.

“What is the normal age for children here to walk?”

Olga was quite interested in baby news so she also knew something about this. “I think children here typically walk at 12 months.”

“Hmn, the child is very impressive then.”

Olga nodded. “He is also very cute, but… like they said, he’s a little devil that can turn the calmest maids crazy.”

Althea nodded and pursed her lips, but she did her best not to show too much emotion while she asked. Outwardly, she only seemed curious.

“What about powers?” she asked. “Is there anything different in terms of strength?”

She hoped that she could get an idea about her children’s powers!