After Surviving the Apocalypse, I Built a City in Another World - Chapter 77

Chapter 77: Housewarming (Part 1)
Aberdeen City, 16 years prior

Little Althea looked around her new room in awe. It was very cute, even bigger than the dormitory room she shared with four other girls.

It had pink walls, a large bed, a table so she could draw and study, and a play space with toys! So many toys!!

She counted and there were fourteen stuffed toys. Fourteen!

And ‘mom’ and ‘dad’, when they showed it to her earlier, told her she had it all for herself!

She turned her little head to look up at the young Garan, who had been watching her reaction.

She grinned and her feet pattered in his direction, opening her arms to his arms.

“Is it our new home?” She asked Garan, who embraced her back, who was feeling sad that it took her so long to find one.

“Hmm…” he said after a while, “Yes. You can now eat all the delicious food you want until you’re full.” He paused, apprehensive she’d eat too much and hurt herself.

“As long as it’s healthy.” He said, touching her tummy without baby fat, not like the other kids, and his heart broke, “Or else you’d have a tummy ache.”

“Okay!” She said, as she hugged him. She couldn’t help but notice how her feet felt the boards warm, unlike the cold tiles of the orphanage.

“So warm…”

Garan smiled. It was now in the middle of fall, and the weather had long gotten colder. They were just too used to the cold and adapted, that she didn’t realize the warmth sooner.

“It’ll be warm, even in winter?”

She lifted her head to look at him in awe, “We won’t get cold in winter anymore?”

He smiled, a little heartbroken, and nodded.

“Hmmm~” she mumbled, burying her little head in his arms. “How nice…”

_____

Altera Village, present.

As soon as they woke up, the residents of the house except Althea (who was still sleeping rather deeply) had been walking around their new house to see more of their new home.

After all, it was already dark when they settled and they could barely appreciate a thing.

The total floor area of each floor (combining the floor space of 2 modules) was about 240 square meters, not including the added verandahs and balconies strategically added outside certain fenestrations.

Eugene explained that it was to maximize natural ventilation and shade. He even went on to the details (something like temperature siphoning et cetera) which more or less passed by their heads.

However, he did look like he was really enjoying leading them on this little tour around the house.

The coffee-skinned man was very much unlike his depressed self a few days prior, and it could be seen he really liked what he’s been doing for the territory.

“I thought you were a mechanical engineer…”

“I wanted to be an architect too, but I couldn’t draw very well…” Although they could use programs to draw now, there was something special about drawing free hand.

In that aspect, Althea was far superior. He had seen her notebook of plants, and it was admirable.

Harold just smiled and continued asking questions about the house, which Eugene gladly answered.

The group tacitly decided to live together, though it was mostly because they hoped to take care of Althea.

Their pregnant boss would be due soon after all, as constantly reminded by Sheila.

If she didn’t remind them, everyone—including the pregnant woman herself—would all forget.

Anyway, the house was huge with several rooms per floor. They would just make sure to work well to help her out with whatever she needed so they wouldn’t feel like freeloaders.

The interior of the house was mostly wood, though different types of it, adding liveliness to the design.

The surface and open plan arrangement was pretty, quaint, and had a relaxing quality to it.

They liked it very much.

They left most of the first floor to Althea. She would have her own bedroom, a study, and another room as her workshop.

One of the last rooms would temporarily be Eugene’s workshop while the remaining one was a storage space for their materials and inventions.

The basement, on the other hand, would be the cellar where their food stocks were placed.

As for the second floor, they decided to combine two rooms to create two dormitory rooms instead.

Althea was so charming, who knew how many minions would willingly follow her.

Sure, they could buy more houses, but people would definitely want to live as close as they could.

Anyway, 4-bedroom dormitories with ample spaces wasn’t bad at all.

Unlike the Boss, they were poor, weak-hearted people who wouldn’t want to live alone in a room after living in nightmare-ish worlds in succession.

Who knew if they’d have nightmares in their sleep and never wake up? Having other people in the bedroom provided some comfort.

Not to mention, this was a large dormitory and they had plenty of space for their own study, wardrobe, et cetera.

Then they furtively walked outside and they saw the entirety of the house.

The facade was mostly wood, and the fenestrations were also wooden slats, but there was notably a slab of translucent material attached.

It was peach in color, and it allowed light to naturally come in while properly protecting privacy.

“Capiz?” Harold mumbled, finding the material a bit familiar, as he had worked at an island restaurant before.

Eugene nodded. “Not exactly, but very similar. However, it’s good enough for now since we don’t have glass” he said, “We also added it around some torches, to replace glass to some degree, even inside the house.”

They then moved forward to see more details around the structure. The columns were clad with darker-colored wood to accent the lines, making the structure appear even more stable.

Another notable feature was the entire ground floor was made of stone walls. It was non-homogenous and had different visible aggregates of the stones used, adding quaintness to the entire thing.

This was basically a wood-stone house, and it combined the warmth of wood with the sturdiness of stone. They found it to be very charming.

Eugene explained that it was to deal with the currently unknown climate systems in this world.

After all, they were completely unfamiliar with this world and its weather, so he and Althea designed for everything they could think of and research about.

It was quite costly and complicated, but it was better safe than sorry. There was also the peace-of-mind it provided, which made all this already worth it.

And indeed…, this early consideration would eventually save a lot of lives.