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

Honda blinked and nodded. ”Well, there are more,” he said with bright eyes, pulling them to continue their trip.

They continued walking along the relatively wide hallway, encountering a few staff and students along the way.

Soon, they ended up at the edge with a double door. Honda opened the door, revealing a large hall with high ceilings. There was a stage in front and seating that could easily seat about a hundred or so people.

”This is also where our conference rooms and auditoriums are.”

”Oh? What do you do in auditoriums?” Hilda asked, looking around.

”Sometimes we hold programs there. For example, the entrance and welcoming ceremony. Our dean made a speech to welcome us.

”In speech classes we will also be asked to make speeches in the auditorium, in front of a hundred people.”

”What would you be asked to talk about?”

This time, it was Orion who asked.

Honda blinked. It was rare for his father to ask such mundane details.

He blushed a little but he managed to keep his decorum, like a proper and well-behaved noble boy.

”Sometimes, they assign topics to us. For example, what did we think we should do to handle the next Extreme Heat? What if it was the Extreme Cold?”

”I learned a lot of things during the previous session. I learned how important the plants are, how people could react during certain situations, and how to fix some problems.”

The adult’s eyebrows rose. That was... interesting. From a young age, they’d then be familiarized with the event, in a much deeper level than most adults.

”More often though, we can choose whatever we are passionate about...”

”Such as?” Orion asked as a follow up. Even Hilda looked at him, a bit startled.

”I... I....”

Orion stared, waiting for his answer, though the little boy just couldn’t help but feel intimidated.

”I like drawing...”

He couldn’t help but look down. Art was considered for the weak and was a useless field to spend time on. In Alterra, it was admired and he gained a lot of compliments for his work. He forgot that his parents might not think the same.

”Hm, that’s nice,” Hilda immediately said, seeing her husband’s silence. He must’ve been expecting something grander, like a topic about power building or something.

”Tell us more,” she said, patting the boy’s head. She was not sure what Orion was thinking, but it was better to shift the topic for now.

Honda was obviously a bit shaken by Orion’s silence, but since his mother was waiting for his guidance, he pushed down the apprehension and continued with his tour.

”Through this main building, we will go through various classrooms depending on our schedules.

”We will learn literature, basic maths, flora and fauna, basic fighting, and the like.”

The couple looked at their son. Although he was quite ’professional’ they could sense the tone of pride in his tone, and it was quite amusing.

However, they didn’t call him out on it and listened well.

Today, there were no classes for his grade. However, there were still quite a few students with some classes at this time.

The school had large hallways that ended up in either classrooms or gardens.

”This is our literature classroom,” he said.

They saw that the classroom was composed of about 20 desks and small ’bookshelves’ at the sides. ”They teach us to read and write local language here,” he said. ”Since I’m a local, I am the teacher’s assistant.”

He paused, looking at them quite proudly.

Orion had no idea this was a signal but fortunately, Hilda could tell.

She bent down a bit to give her son a smooch. ”That’s impressive, my son,” she sincerely said, patting his head. Honda’s eyes sparkled with joy as he nodded, proceeding with his tour.

”This is the maths classroom,” he said. ”Here, we learn about addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division,” he said. ”The academy teaches a version of these subjects too, but I like Alterra’s techniques more.”

Orion was also quite curious about this. He himself had to do a lot of arithmetic due to his business. He was naturally interested to learn other ways of processing that information.

At some point, they ended up in the corner gardens where some kids were playing. Even if they didn’t have class, the playground here was open to them, and it was very special, better than the parks. The goal was to make the kids excited to go to school, even if it was just the playground at first.

At this time, Mimi, Maumi, and the others were using the play set, looking very much like they were having fun.

Honda paused his steps, startling his parents. He looked dazed at them before he shook his head as if gathering himself.

He was unable to do so because a few of the kids felt their arrival and turn. The more kids did it, the more others followed, and suddenly they were being stared at by a half a dozen kids.

Immediately, they dashed towards where the blonde boy was. ”Honda! Honda!” the yelled, with Mimi being the loudest. ”Come play with us! Honda! Honda!”

The boy waved his hand with a smile, but it was much more muted. ”Ah, I... I’m with my parents today...”

The kids looked disappointed, but they were understanding. They didn’t forget to greet the two adults, too. They were very cute.

”Ohhh... okay, see you later~” they said, running back to the park and resuming their game. Very quickly, the chime-like laughter of kids resounded the area again.

Honda looked longingly at the game. Although he tried to keep his face blank, he was still a kid after all: His emotions were still visible on his face.

Orion looked at his son with a complicated expression.

His arm rose awkwardly, and his palm found the boy’s blonde head. The boy’s eyes widened a bit, rounded eyes looking at him in confusion.

”Go... play with your friends.”

”Father?”

Orion didn’t know what to say, and he was completely awkward. ”Go. I will stay with your mother.”

”R-Really?” Honda asked, understandably baffled by this. It just made Orion even more awkward.

”Yes, really.”

Honda then turned to his mother as if to confirm.

Orion’s eyes twitched. Did he think his instruction was a code?

Sigh.

”Well, just get back home before dinner,” was all he said before stiffly turning away, his hand holding on Hilda’s as if signalling it was time for them to go.

As they left, Hilda looked at her husband with a soft smile.

For the first time, she thought her husband was cute.