Chapter 615: The Hot Spring Town, And The Shrine Visit.

“Daddy, mooorning! Waaake uuuup!”

“Guffu!?”

My consciousness was awakened by Steph’s early morning dive. Even though it was on top of the futon, I received a considerable impact. Guoo…!

“Hey, Steph! Father is a child right now, so you can’t jump on him!”

“Ah, I forgot…”

At Frei’s voice scolding Steph, I unintentionally gave a thumbs up while suffering inside the futon. I think Steph’s lady education could be a bit stricter… Enduring the pain, I sat up.

“Good morning…”

“It’s a good morning. Steph, what about your apology?”

“Umm… Daddy, I’m sorry.”

Prompted by Frei, Steph bowed and apologized. No, well, it’s fine. I just want her to refrain while I’m in a child’s form. Dad and Kuon were already up, drinking tea while watching the morning news on TV. It seems to be the soba tea Dad bought yesterday. It smells nice.

“Touya-kun, are you okay?”

“It was a bit tough with this body…”

“I apologize, Father. She dove onto the futon as soon as she arrived, giving me no time to stop her…”

I recall being woken up like that at the castle too… Could it be that this waking method is the default even in the future? A daily dive is a bit tough, though…

“Come on, we’re going to eat breakfast. Everyone else has already gone ahead, you know?”

Huh? Was I the biggest sleepyhead? Was I that tired? Anyway, I can’t keep everyone waiting. I changed out of my disheveled yukata, put on slippers, and headed to the banquet hall where we had dinner last night at a quick pace, but not running pata-pata. On the way, I caught up with the Elze & Linze and Elna & Linne pairs, and when we arrived at the banquet hall together, everyone else was already seated. When we hurriedly took our seats, just like yesterday, everyone started on the meal in front of them with Mom’s “Let’s eat.” Rice, miso soup, natto, seasoned nori, grilled salmon, ohitashi (boiled greens), simmered dishes, pickles, tamagoyaki (rolled omelet), simmered beans, and hijiki… A menu that screams ‘Japanese breakfast’ is lined up on the table. This looks delicious. Natto, pickles, nori, and such exist in Eashen too, so I can eat them in the other world, but the taste is slightly different… Why is that? Is it because the ingredients differ depending on the land where they were grown? Thinking about such things, I put the accompanying sauce and mustard into the natto and stirred it round and round until it became white. I put a small amount on the rice and shoveled it in all at once! …Delicious! The slight sourness of the plum-flavored sauce is a nice accent. I feel like I could eat many bowls of rice. The miso soup has fried tofu and tofu inside? Drinking it refreshes the mouth that is slightly sticky from the natto. The simmered pumpkin is also sweet and delicious. In the other world, breakfast inevitably tends to be bread, but I prefer this kind of breakfast after all. No, a breakfast of toast, bacon and eggs, salad, soup, and coffee isn’t bad either, though. Finishing the luxurious breakfast, we discussed today’s schedule while drinking tea. Since we plan to stay here for one more night, we decided to go to the hot spring town we couldn’t go to yesterday and buy souvenirs and such. We’ll have lunch there too.

“There is a footbath, so please try soaking in it.”

“That sounds fun.”

Young landlady Iori-san and Mom were talking about that. A footbath, huh. That might be nice too. We returned to our rooms to get our wallets and such, met up in the lobby, and went out to the hot spring town together. Since we would arrive shortly by walking down the gentle slope, we decided to walk. On the way, passing by the soba shop we ate at yesterday, we arrived at the hot spring town lined with retro-style wooden buildings after a while. There is a faint scent of sulfur and places where thick steam is rising. Is that the footbath?

“Let’s save the footbath for last.”

“Right. It might feel better to enter after getting tired from walking.”

While Dad and Mom were having such a conversation, I was waiting holding hands with Fuyuka. Fuyuka can already walk by herself, but if left alone, there’s no telling where she’ll go.

“Niitan, wan-wa. There’s a wan-wa.”

“You’re right—, the wan-wan (doggy) is cute, isn’t it—”

Fuyuka was slightly excited seeing an auntie carrying a poodle. It seems this child likes animals. Is it because she’s always with Blanca? By the way, Blanca is house-sitting. I want him to relax on this occasion. Fuyuka calls me ‘Niitan’, but I wonder if she properly recognizes me as her brother. I don’t want to be treated the same as a neighborhood older brother. If ‘Niitan’ means ‘Niisan’ (Brother), it’s fine, but if it’s ‘Niichan’ (Bro/Guy), the meaning is different again.

“Fuyuka, want some candy?”

“Eat.”

When she received the small caramel I took out of my pocket, Fuyuka put it in her mouth, mumbled, and smiled nihee without a care. What is this cute creature! Regarding the matter of my little sister being too cute! I wonder what it is; I feel like I’m going to be captivated by a cuteness different from my daughters. Are little sisters such cute things?

“He’s melting, degozaru yo…”

“Wow… Something amazing…”

“Is this what they call a, s-siscon?”

My wives behind me are saying something, but don’t mind, don’t mind.

“Anyway, let’s check out that souvenir shop.”

The shop Mom pointed to had the appearance of a quintessential souvenir shop. The cloth sign with ‘Souvenir Shop’ in white on a green background emphasized it further. Entering inside, various souvenirs were placed tightly. There are sweets like onsen manju, bath goods like soap and towels, wooden carved ornaments and accessories, and even those small lanterns often found in hot spring areas for some reason. I heard from Grandpa once. Those lanterns were once called the Three Sacred Treasures of the souvenir world… The remaining two were supposedly long triangular pennants and keychains shaped like the local prefecture (there are various theories). Should I buy one…? No, it’s one thing if it can be used as a lantern, but as interior decor, it feels iffy… I think it would definitely be a mismatch in the castle living room…

“Wow, this is cute.”

“Mom, this one is cute too!”

Elze and Elna were excited looking at character handkerchiefs and towels. It’s a character that looks like a duck soaking in a hot spring with a towel on its head. Onsen Duck? It only looks like a duck being boiled to me, but is it… cute? Everyone scattered inside the shop, examining souvenirs of their liking. Looking to the side, Kuon was focusing on a wooden craft toy. What Kuon was looking at was a so-called wooden puzzle, and what he held was two small boards with indentations crossing each other in a cross shape. If you follow the proper steps, it comes apart easily, but Kuon was struggling, shaking it and peering into the gaps.

“Shall I take it apart for you?”

“Allis looks like she’ll take it apart by brute force, so no. I think something is stuck inside, but…”

“Let me see it.”

I took the cross puzzle, small enough to fit in my palm, from Kuon, placed it on a flat surface, and flicked it with my finger pin. When I quietly lifted the top part of the cross puzzle, which rotated slightly kururu and stopped, the parts easily separated into two.

“Amazing! It came off!”

“I see, there were prop sticks inside.”

Yes. This puzzle has prop sticks on the left and right of the indentations respectively, so even if one side disengages, the other side acts as a stopper to prevent it from coming apart. If you shake it to the right, the left stick pops out, and if you shake it to the left, the right stick pops out. It’s made so that one or the other always acts as a stopper so the parts don’t come apart.

“So that’s why you rotated it, to retract both sticks with centrifugal force.”

“Grand Duke, you figured it out well!”

“No, sorry to interrupt your admiration, but actually, I used to have this a long time ago. So I knew the solution from the start.”

It was a capsule toy Grandpa bought for me. I couldn’t take it apart at all either, but I have a memory of Grandpa solving it with a triumphant face. So I wanted to do the same thing.

“So I don’t know the solutions for the other puzzles there. If there’s one you’re curious about, why not try buying it?”

Besides the cross puzzle, there were various wooden puzzles like spherical ones, barrel-shaped ones, and konpeito-shaped ones in the sales area. They looked far more difficult than the cross one. I probably couldn’t solve them. Do they come with solutions? I feel like I could find them if I search on the net, but… Perhaps liking the wooden puzzles, Kuon began to examine them carefully. This is a souvenir, but a souvenir for himself, right. Well, that’s fine too. Keeping a memento of today in physical form isn’t a bad thing. Turning my eyes to everyone else, Lu and Arcia are focusing on sweets-related items as expected. Not just the standard onsen manju, but onsen pudding, onsen rice crackers, and onsen cider were also there. The connection between hot springs and pudding or rice crackers is a bit unclear, but if you say that, manju is the same. They probably use hot spring water or its steam when making them. If they use hot springs to make them, naming them as such isn’t wrong. On that shelf, my eyes stopped on a semi-transparent sweet that looked like it was coated with sugar in a large jar. Because the tag hanging from that jar had the characters ‘Kohaku’ (Amber) on it. I casually picked up the jar.

“That’s Kohakuto (Amber Sugar). It’s a sweet using agar. Are you buying it?”

When I was looking at the sweet, Dad, who peeked from above my head, explained. I see, it’s semi-transparent because it uses agar. The sweets inside the jar, looking like gems, are colorfully colored in red, blue, yellow, orange, green, and purple. Kohakuto, huh. I can’t not buy this. Thinking of the white tiger who is probably sleeping spread-eagle on the castle sofa despite being a tiger right about now, I picked up the jar. Not just for Kohaku, I have to buy something for Luli, Kougyoku, Sango, and Kokuyou too. Since we aren’t only buying souvenirs here, I could leave it for the next place, but just in case there’s nothing, I’ll buy five… No, I want to eat some too, so I’ll buy about ten extra. If I put them in [Storage], expiration dates don’t matter. Everyone else also seemed to have bought baskets full of souvenirs. After paying and going outside, pretending to take a short break, I had everyone form a wall in a place out of sight and stored the bought souvenirs into [Storage] one after another.

“It really is a convenient magic. Isn’t it unlimited smuggling?”

That sounds bad. Though it is true. With [Storage], I could probably pass through customs and such without getting caught. In the first place, I can’t make a passport anymore, so I can’t travel abroad. Well, I can go with teleportation magic, though.

“Ka-sama, they’re selling dango!”

“Ooh, that’s good, dango. …Is that dango? It seems to be simmering gutsugutsu…”

Looking toward the conversation between Steph and Sue, a staff member was poking something like dango into a pot simmering gutsugutsu at the storefront. Turning my gaze to the side, the standing banner had the words ‘Tama Konnyaku’ (Ball Konjac) on it.

“That’s not dango, they’re selling konnyaku.”

“Konnyaku!”

“Konnyaku? Is konnyaku that squishy slime-like thing?”

Slime… Well, the texture might be similar. Hearing ‘slime’, I didn’t miss Yumina, Elze, Linze, and Yae making incredibly disgusted faces. Well, those four have a bit of trauma… Setting that aside, I’m a bit interested in Tama Konnyaku too. Let’s try eating some. I paid the staff member and received three skewers of Tama Konnyaku. Mustard comes with the three skewers of Tama Konnyaku on a styrofoam plate. Steph is better off without mustard.

“Here. It’s hot, so be careful eating it.”

“Thank you, Daddy”

I handed the Tama Konnyaku without mustard to Steph and put mustard on my own Tama Konnyaku. Sue seemed to hesitate but decided to put just a little mustard on.

“Hot…!”

Stewed in soy sauce and dashi, the seasoned Tama Konnyaku has absorbed the flavor well and is delicious. The mustard also works as a spicy accent. However, it was quite hot, so I had to eat it while cooling it down in my mouth hofu-hofu. Steph and Sue also seem to be eating little by little while cooling it fuu-fuu. Seeing us eating snacks, as expected, Lu and Arcia ordered Tama Konnyaku in the same way, and perhaps lured by that, everyone else ordered one after another. Well, Yumina and the other three refrained, perhaps remembering slimes. While eating Tama Konnyaku, discussing where to go next while looking at the hot spring town map signboard is also quite charming. Though it’s a bit bad manners. When we finished eating the Tama Konnyaku, Mom pointed to one spot on the hot spring town map.

“There seems to be a shrine nearby, so shall we go pray?”

A shrine, huh. Shall we pray for safety on our trip? The shrine wasn’t very far, but it was on high ground, located after climbing a fair number of stone steps. Me, my wives, and the children were fine, but indoor-types Dad and Mom seemed to find it tough and were breathing a bit heavily. Especially Dad was bad. Clearly lack of exercise. I went behind Dad, who finished climbing the stairs, and secretly activated [Refresh] clad in divine energy. Dad, whose fatigue completely recovered, turned surprised eyes toward me.

“Is this magic too? Thank you very much.”

“You’re welcome.”

Let’s recover Mom too while I’m at it. Mom didn’t seem that tired, though. Scattered figures of tourists could be seen in the shrine precincts. It feels few, but it’s a weekday, so maybe this is normal. First is the worship. I gave small change to everyone and taught them the method of two bows, two claps, and one bow. Bow deeply before passing through the torii gate, and walk on the edge of the approach. Because the center is the pathway for the gods. …Huh? Then is it okay for me to walk there…? No no, even if I am a god, I am a rookie new god; I should pay respect to my seniors. Yeah. Purify hands and mouth at the purification fountain, and now, worship. Seeing Mom ring the bell as a representative and toss in the offering, everyone tossed theirs in the same way. Two deep bows, then two claps. And a prayer… Please let us finish the trip safely and happily.

‘Ho ho ho. No need to worry, it will be fine.’

!? World God!? I unintentionally looked up at the sky. You’re watching from the Divine Realm, aren’t you!?

‘Ahh, see, we’re busted. Didn’t I say there’s a possibility our voices would reach in a Divine Area like that, World God-sama?’

‘Sorry, it just slipped out…’

‘Now, now. Sorry for disturbing you, Touya-kun. Then, please enjoy your family time.’

I heard Karen-nee-san and Grandma Tokie’s voices too. What are they doing in the Divine Realm… Finally, bow deeply once more to finish the worship.

“It looks like we can draw Omikuji (fortune slips) over there.”

“There seem to be Omamori (charms) too, degozaru.”

In the direction Leen and Yae looked, there was a shrine maiden inside a place like a shrine office. Omikuji, huh. Divining the fortune of the trip? Along with several children who wanted to draw Omikuji, I decided to draw one too, thinking “while we’re at it”.

“Small Blessing (Sho-Kichi)… Well, average, maybe?”

If I recall, Omikuji order goes Great Blessing, Blessing, Middle Blessing, Small Blessing, Future Blessing, Curse, right? But I feel like I heard there’s also an order of Great, Middle, Small, Blessing, Future, Curse. Either way, Small Blessing seems to be positioned as neither good nor bad.

“Travel: Good if with companions… huh.”

I have a ton of companions. This means it’s good, right? Fortunately, it seems no one drew ‘Curse’, so that’s good. Basically, you can take Omikuji home, but to tie a knot with the god, we decided to tie them to the Omikuji rack. The children also started tying them imitating me.

“Huh?”

Turning around suddenly, my wives were swarming the shrine office buying something. Are they buying Hamaya arrows or Ema plaques? No, charms. What is it? Surely not charms for fulfillment in love or matchmaking… right? Maybe charms for health or family safety?

“Did you buy something?”

“Eh? Y-Yes, well, some charms…”

Linze answered with somewhat inarticulate words. What? I don’t think it’s anything to hide. I also stretched to see the place where the charms were at the shrine office; there really are various types of charms. Financial fortune, business prosperity, traffic safety, family safety, academic achievement, warding off evil… Ah, there is even marital harmony. Is this what everyone bought? While feeling a bit happy yet embarrassed, there were two types next to it that were clearly fewer in number. Fulfillment in conceiving children and safe childbirth… When I slowly turned around, my wives all looked away while turning bright red. I think my face was probably red too.

“Th-That’s for eventually! We thought it would be necessary eventually!”

“S-Such things are not easily obtained in the other world, you see!? Since it’s a rare opportunity! Yes, since it’s a rare opportunity!”

Elze and Yumina raised their voices in a panic. Everyone else also lined up excuses like “Right, right” or “We bought others too?”. No, I’m not saying it’s bad or anything…

“What are you doing, let’s go—”

“Yes! Coming now!”

At Mom’s voice, my wives ran off pyuu as if saved. Umm…

“Excuse me, I’ll take this and this too…”

“Eh…?”

The subtle face the shrine maiden inside the office made when I bought the same child conception and safe childbirth charms as my wives was indescribably uncomfortable.