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

There were also others who sent in their gifts earlier that day, even if they were not in the ’family’ gathering. After all, while the celebration with the actual celebrants was kept private, there were also plenty of people who wanted to give the children things.

There was also a joint party among the Munchkins and the Spices (Meatball’s and Pepper’s fangroups) somewhere, with painted pictures of the twins to represent their presences.

According to intel, there were a few hundred people in attendance. Rather, the tickets were done by raffle because the venue could only hold so many. It was estimated there would’ve been more if they got clearance to use a public park (which they did not, because Althea thought it would be too ostentatious).

The food and drinks were potluck and they had various games, like trivia games and the like. If Althea was there, she’d realize that these people actually knew many stories about the babies that she did not know.

After all, she wasn’t always with her children. And if they did anything remotely unique (like saying a new syllable), the people would record it and tell others. If they still had cellular signals and group chats, it was estimated there would be groups dedicated to the babies, filled with their moments.

It was also why they were very careful with showing them out lately. Because once the children exhibited their powers out there, even if just for a second, it would probably spread out. It wasn’t even malicious, but the spread would be due to love and admiration, which made the adults not know whether to laugh or cry.

The Golds’ gifts were naturally very good. The Golds were also privy of the babies’ powers as the people they asked about them first. Of course, at the time, they were no less shocked than the alchemists. Rather, they were still in disbelief.

Like the alchemists, they kept it a tight secret and had promised to send information if they received some.

Their gift was a magic tool called the Tumbletracer, which was a short-distance tracker. Basically, it was a set wherein an adult can determine where the babies were, provided the targets remained in a hundred meter distance.

It was bought in another city for a large price. It was so incredibly useful Althea gave them contribution points as a bonus.

They got two sets and each set could keep track of three individuals each, which was just right for the babies. One set would always remain with whoever was watching the babies at that time, and now they didn’t have to panic as much if Pepper suddenly disappeared on them or if Meatball was suddenly not on the ground anymore.

It worked more like a metal detector wherein the pinging would be faster and louder the closer they were to the target. The problem was the vertical distance, as the baby could very well be in a spot but would be either on the roof or in the cellar.

Fortunately, the baby had yet to do this—it was always in the same floor and same room or adjacent room so far, but they had an inkling that wouldn’t be the case for long.

Althea also sent another set to the Research Center for study. Along with the Tracking Bead they borrowed from Estra, hopefully a team would figure out how to do a similar tool en masse.

There were also a few ’interest’ toys which were designed to get the kids into a certain hobby. For instance, beautiful toy swords designed specifically for Meatball. It was a gift from Brenda and Troy.

By default, it had no sharpness, but it could actually be used as weapons if activated. To activate, there has to be a certain level of stress.

It wasn’t particularly sharp, of course, but they decided to keep this from him until he was a few years older.

There was also a garden set given to them as if they’d inherit their mother’s gardening skills. This was given by Gru, and they included small buckets, trowels, and so on. Very cute.

There were also some stuffed toys, like Sailor Cat toys from Gwen and her husband, and Piggy stuffed toys from Melissa, and so on.

The party ended a few hours after dusk, with the group starting to clean up, except several people were still taking a few bites of leftover cake. Meatball, for one, ate a lot of dessert and was now extremely hyperactive.

It was to the point that not only was he zooming around the garden and the house, he was floating everywhere, too.

Fortunately, his twin was much more well-behaved, busy eating more cake by the end. This was a special strawberry cake that Little Pepper adored.

Nom, nom, nom

By the time the party was packed up, she had eaten another plate, and was gesturing to get more.

Althea sighed. ”You’ve had more than enough cake...” she said. She might get a sugar rush and who knew when and how she’d use her power.

At this, Althea took away the plate and the baby’s eyes immediately glistened. ”Hnnnggg—”

The baby looked heartbroken, as if something precious was taken away from her! (In a sense, it really was).

Mother Althea was determined to stay strong even if the baby cried.

She gestured to stand up when the baby grabbed her face and smooched her cheek instead.

”Pepper... no...” Althea said, voice soft, but Baby Pepper did not give up, continuously smooching her mum, slobbering on her cheek.

Chu! Chu! Chu!

Several kisses later, Althea’s determination finally softened up.

”...fine. The last one...” Althea mumbled a bit begrudgingly as she handed a small slice for the baby to eat.

Anyway, the little girl’s appetite was nowhere near her brother’s. A small slice should be fine...

Little did she know that this planted a seed in Baby Pepper’s mind.

That was to say: she only had to kiss, and she could get things done.

Garan was destined to have a lot of white hair early on.