Chapter 618: Penguins, and Aquarium Souvenirs.

A small penguin toddled around on the rocky area. Its beak was thick, and the area around its eyes was pinkish. A Humboldt penguin, huh. There were areas enclosed by waist-high acrylic barriers on the right and left; the left was a rocky area, and the right was a water tank. The two were connected by a bridge overhead, designed so that you could view the penguins toddling across the acrylic-enclosed bridge from below.

“It’s cute.”

“It is cute… Maybe I should make a penguin Golem next time.”

Watching the penguins swimming around in the tank, Leen and Quun were having such a conversation. A penguin Golem…? Mecha-Penguin? I wonder why? I get the feeling it might even fly in the sky with jet propulsion…

“The penguin over here is big!”

“The eyebrows on this one are amazing…!”

Approaching the glass Frei and Yakumo were peering into, inside were a King Penguin, larger than the others, and a Rockhopper Penguin with dashing eyebrows (?). King… King Penguin, huh. Indeed, when I think of penguins, I imagine ones like this. Is that why it’s the King?

“Huh? But wasn’t there also an Emperor Penguin? Is it another name?”

Like the King is called Emperor in another country?

“King Penguins and Emperor Penguins are different species. Emperor Penguins are a head taller and are only found in Antarctica.”

According to Dad’s explanation, apparently, after discovering the King Penguin, they found a bigger one. They named it King Penguin because it was a large species, but then they found one even bigger. What should we do? Then, next has to be Emperor! It seems it was named with that kind of feeling. Is that true…? Speaking of penguins, people tend to think of Antarctica, but actually, it seems fewer penguins live in Antarctica. Apparently, there are more penguins on continents slightly away from Antarctica. I guess living in such a freezing land is tough after all… We decided to take a picture together with many penguins in the background. Someone offered, “Shall I take it for you?”, so we accepted their kindness and took a picture with everyone in it. It’s a family photo including Dad, Mom, and Fuyuka. Allis is also in it, but she’s practically family, so it’s no problem. …Thinking about it again, there are a lot of us… If I even have grandchildren, how many people will there be…? …No, I don’t intend to marry off my daughters, so it’s irrelevant! Only Kuon and Allis’s children. Yep. In the tank next to the King Penguins, spotted seals were swimming energetically. Spotted seal pups are pure white, if I recall correctly. I wanted to see one a little, but there don’t seem to be any in this aquarium. The one over here is… a South American sea lion?

“Looks like a relative of the sea lion. ‘Also called the “Lion of the Sea” due to its mane-like fur. Occasionally eats penguins and fur seals…'”

Leen probably searched on her smartphone and explained it to us. This guy eats penguins…? Is it okay to put it in the tank next door…? While I was worried, Quun continued the explanation with a faint smile for some reason.

“‘Also, South American sea lions form harems where one male gathers about ten females…'”

Huh? I feel a sense of kinship somehow. The South American sea lion is also staring intently at me. You’re having a hard time too, huh? I see, I see.

“Oh, there’s a beaver over here!”

I feel several gazes from behind but ignore them and head from the South American sea lion to the American beaver. Its fur is fluffy. Its tail is large and paddle-like. It seems to have webbed hind feet too. Speaking of beavers, it’s dams. They have a habit of gnawing down trees near the water, damming the flow of water to create a dam. And then they build a nest in that dammed lake. Of course, perhaps because they can’t build a dam in an aquarium, the beavers were rolling around listlessly. How should I put it, there’s not a shred of wildness… Well, maybe they are aquarium-raised beavers. Are beavers nocturnal? Then is it nap time now? It seems the “Kaiju Plaza” ends here. From here, we go down to the first floor and return to the first hall.

“The penguins were cute!”

“I liked the otter…”

“I liked the black and white dolphins!”

While listening to each of their favorite animals heard from behind, we went down the stairs and found a food court in a bright, open space.

“Perfect timing. Let’s eat here.”

“That sounds good, indeed!”

“I’m starving!”

When I proposed it, the gluttons Yae and Frei were the first to voice their approval. In the food court, many chairs and tables were lined up, and several customers were having meals. For now, I go to the counter and confront the menu on the signboard. There’s a lot of ramen and curry… Oh, there’s even something like a large shrimp tempura rice box. Shark nuggets and dolphin curry… A dolphin and a small island made of rice in a sea of curry. And a fried shrimp palm tree, huh. Elaborate. It’s cute, but it looks like it’s for kids, so I’m a bit resistant. No, well, I am a kid right now. How about this Shark Miso Cutlet Rice Box? I’m curious about shark meat. No, this Corn Ocean Miso Ramen covered with corn is hard to discard too… Shark Fin Ramen…!? Nnngh…! Alright! I’ll go with this Shark Miso Cutlet Rice Box after all! I’ll eat shark meat! I order at the counter and receive a pager with a number. Since there are many of us, we split up and sat at tables. Water seems to be self-service, so I get it myself. I sit with Dad, Mom, and Fuyuka. This food court has a tank on one side and long windows looking outside on the other, and penguins and spotted seals were swimming inside the tank. It seems to be connected from the “Kaiju Plaza” on the second floor.

“Peegin!”

“That’s right, it’s a penguin.”

“I’m glad Fuyuka seems to have enjoyed it too.”

Fuyuka, sitting next to Mom, is watching the penguins swimming in the tank tirelessly. I wonder if she liked the penguins.

“It was quite fun.”

“Coming as an adult gives you a different perspective. We brought Touya-kun to the aquarium when you were about Fuyuka-san’s age, but you don’t seem to remember.”

“Eh? Really?”

I don’t remember at all… No, I feel like we went, but I don’t remember what we saw at all.

“Like Fuyuka-san, you were just frolicking at first, but maybe you got tired in the second half, you were half asleep.”

I was asleep… Did I mistake it for a dream or something…? Since the inside of the aquarium is fantastic, maybe it looked like a mysterious space to a child’s eyes. While I was thinking about that, the pager beeped, so I went to get the food. The Shark Miso Cutlet Rice Box has four small cutlets on top of rice in a box, covered with miso sauce. It also came with miso soup. This looks delicious.

“Itadakimasu.”

First, I bite into the main cutlet. So this is shark meat. It tastes plain, like white fish. Combined with the miso sauce, it’s just right. The rice goes down well too. The miso soup is also tasty. It washes away the taste of the miso sauce that might become a bit heavy and refreshes the palate. Now I can challenge the cutlets again. In front of me, Fuyuka was excited about the dolphin curry. She doesn’t put her spoon in easily. I feel heartwarming thinking she’s hesitating because of the cute rice dolphin.

“Dau.”

…Just as I thought that, the dolphin’s head was mercilessly cut off by the guillotine of the spoon. The dolphin’s head sinks into the sea of curry. Oh my… Fuyuka scoops up the curry-covered dolphin head with her spoon and carries it to her mouth.

“Yummy!”

“Is it yummy? That’s good.”

Mom wipes Fuyuka’s mouth, who is eating curry rice nom-nom, with a napkin. It seems to be sweet curry for children, and Fuyuka seems to like the curry. Next to me, Dad was eating the Corn Ocean Miso Ramen I agonized over. It looks like only yellow because it’s covered with corn like a lid… That’s a huge amount… It’s indeed an ocean of corn. Looking to the side, Lu seems to have ordered the Shark Fin Ramen, and she is moving her mouth munch-munch with her eyes closed as if analyzing rather than tasting. Wasn’t shark fin itself tasteless…? Well, I think it’s seasoned with something, but I wonder if she’ll mistake that for the taste of the shark fin. I’ll tell her later.

“Gochisosama.”

Having finished eating the Shark Miso Cutlet Rice Box, I return it to the dish return slot. It was quite tasty. Incorporating shark into the castle meals might be an option. We rested for a bit until everyone finished eating, and finally came to the souvenir corner. There are various souvenirs related to sea creatures, from sweets and goods to stuffed animals and interior decor.

“Stuffed animals!”

When Steph ran to the sales area where stuffed animals were placed, the other children, except Kuon, also ran out all at once shouting “Wah!”.

“Hey, don’t run in the store!”

However, there are various types of stuffed animals. Dolphins, seals, otters, penguins… eh? There’s even a giant isopod one…? Will something like this sell…? As if mocking me for thinking that, a pop card saying “Currently Selling Well!” is posted. It’s selling… No, well, it is deformed (chibi-style)… Buying stuffed animals is mostly children or women, so is it popular there? Kids like bugs… no, is that just boys? I feel like I liked bugs when I was little too, but as an adult, I’ve become rather bad with them… I can’t stand having many legs… even though I don’t think anything of shrimp…

“Steph wants this one!”

“I want this one…!”

Steph lifted a dolphin stuffed animal, and Elna was hugging an otter stuffed animal. The other children also seemed to have found their favorite stuffed animals; Yakumo was hugging a seal, Frei a clownfish, Quun a penguin, Yoshino a sea lion, Arcia a beaver, Linne a Commerson’s dolphin, and Allis a shark stuffed animal. Fuyuka also has a smaller dolphin stuffed animal in her hand.

“Are you okay, Kuon?”

“I’m not really into stuffed animals… I’m more interested in this over here.”

What Kuon was glancing at anxiously was a capsule toy machine that can be turned for five hundred yen per play. Inside are exquisite figures of Antarctic creatures. Emperor Penguin, Rockhopper Penguin, Adelie Penguin, Orca, Leopard Seal… they are quite realistic figures. I kind of want this too. I break five thousand yen at the change machine, and decide to turn it five times each with Kuon. As a result, Kuon didn’t get any duplicates, and I got duplicates of two figures Kuon didn’t have. Why though. Of course, since I’m an adult (?), I gave the duplicates to Kuon, okay? Kuon, who was able to complete the set with that, was happy, so no problem. Yep… The children were keenly interested in stuffed animals and toys, but my wives seemed interested in souvenirs, goods, and accessories.

“This mug is cute. Linze, wanna buy it together?”

“Big Sister, how about this penguin strap?”

“Ah! That’s nice too!”

At the goods section, the Elze-Linze sisters were,

“Lu-dono, this shark fin soup looks delicious, indeed…”

“Yae-san, there is even something called Ripe Oyster Oyster Sauce!”

“Mmm, that looks delicious too, indeed…!”

At the food section, Yae and Lu were agonizing, and

“These cookies seem good for distributing to a large group.”

“Yumina-neesan, it seems this Giant Isopod Sweet Potato is selling well?”

“Mmm… that seems like it would be hit or miss with people…”

At the sweets section, Yumina and Sue were discussing. Giant isopod again… That means sweet potatoes shaped like giant isopods, right? It’s not like they’re inside or anything… right?

“Giant isopods are edible…”

“Eh…?”

Dad muttered softly and walked away toward Mom. Hey, My Daddy. You didn’t eat one, did you…? I feel like it’s possible for Dad, who wants to challenge anything once he gets interested… Could it be that Dad was the one who made me eat ocean sunfish too…? We-well, leaving Dad’s suspiciousness aside, I have to buy souvenirs to distribute to everyone at the castle too. However, when it comes to distributing to a large group, I tend to choose things packed with individual wrappings. For everyone in the knight order, maybe cookies are fine? This aquarium furikake (rice seasoning) might be an option… since there is rice in the other world too. The Eashen group would be happy. For the butler Lime-san and the Prime Minister Kousaka-san, maybe ballpoint pens or memo pads would be good? Is a dolphin ballpoint pen a bit too cute? Ah, I have to buy for the development team like the Doctor, and the Babylon Sisters like Cesca too. If I go back without buying anything, I’ll definitely get snide remarks… In the end, I bought a considerable amount. Still, it’s an amount we can all carry. Once we get to a place out of sight, I’ll store them little by little in [Storage]. If a large amount of luggage suddenly disappears, it will be seen as suspicious. Now, having bought souvenirs, all that’s left is to go home. Before that, some went to the restroom. While waiting, the children and wives were watching the penguins swimming in the tank on the wall of the food court. It was quite fun, the aquarium. Being able to talk about this memory with the children will be over ten years later… Future us will probably be waiting for the children’s return looking forward to that. We leave the aquarium together with everyone who came back from the restroom. Finally, we took a picture with everyone in front of the aquarium. I hope this also becomes a page of memories. We board the bus heading to the station and leave the aquarium behind. On the bus back, the children who were in a good mood with stuffed animals in their hands all looked sleepy, like their batteries were running out by the time we arrived at the station.

“What should we do? Should we take a break somewhere before going home?”

“No, it’s better to go home by teleportation magic already. Walking from the station over there to Grandpa’s house would be tough too.”

Seeing the children dozing off while leaning on their mothers on the station bench, I propose that. Taking taxis separately because there are many of us is also a bit problematic. For now, we head to an underground passage out of sight, cast recognition inhibition magic just in case, and return to Grandpa’s house with [Gate] from a landing-like place with no surveillance cameras. As soon as we arrived at the house, the children fell asleep on the sofa and carpet. Finally, their batteries ran out.

“[Levitation].”

Casting levitation magic, I carry the children one by one to the futons laid out by my wives. Dad and Mom were frolicking “Ooooh!” at the children floating fluffily. Kuon, the only one among the children who was awake, also looked sleepy, so when I told him to sleep, he nodded silently and went up the stairs to the second floor.

“Haa… Being home is relaxing after all…”

Mom says such things while drinking tea brewed by Lu. No, this is Grandpa’s house… well, the title is in Mom’s name, so she’s not wrong. Fuyuka is also fast asleep hugging the dolphin stuffed animal. She was frolicking quite a bit. Blanca, who welcomed us, lies down next to Fuyuka as if it were natural.

“It was fun, the aquarium.”

“I want an aquarium in Brunhild as well, after all.”

Yumina and Lu declare such things chatteringly, but I think it would be tough to actually build and manage one…

“Come to think of it, what kind of place is Touya’s country?”

“Ah, I want to hear that too.”

“Even if you ask what kind of place. It’s an ordinary small country.”

Since my parents asked, when I answered honestly like that, my wives looked at me with scornful eyes. Eh? What is it?

“Um, I don’t think ‘ordinary’ applies…”

“I’d like to hear in detail what is ordinary about a country that possesses hundreds of giant humanoid weapons that no great power has, has revived lost ancient magic technology, and has received the blessing of the Great Spirits.”

I receive such words of total denial from Linze and Leen. No well, certainly not… ordinary… maybe…?

“Giant humanoid weapons…?”

“…I don’t really get it, but I understand Touya-kun did something absurd.”

“Mean!?”

I’m slightly hurt by Dad’s words. I feel strongly that I just went with the flow and it ended up like that.

“Do you have any photos of that country?”

“I do have some made into albums…”

Actually, I printed out photos that I and my wives took here and there and made them into several albums. I thought they might be needed after the children return. Since future us probably have them too, I think we can talk about memories from this era while looking at them with the children. I place several thick albums thud on the table.

“They’re thick…”

“Well, there are nine of us… Inevitably the number of photos…”

Ah, maybe I should buy a digital photo frame while I’m here. The one that does slideshows automatically. If I give it to the Doctor, she’ll probably make a magic engineering version. I’m sure the Kings will want it too.

“Heh, is this the castle? Isn’t it magnificent. Who is this child?”

“That’s the Head Maid Lapis-san. The person next to her is the Butler Lime-san.”

“Eh!? You ride robots like this!? I’m jealous, I want to ride too!”

“That is the ‘Heavy Knight Chevalier‘, indeed. It is a mass-produced Frame Gear for general knights, indeed.”

Mom and Dad are listening to various explanations from my wives while looking at the photos in the album. I wish I could really take them to the other world. No, it’s not that I can’t take them, but if they go, returning would be a year later, and there’s that time paradox… I wonder if God Almighty could do something about it? …No no, getting a homecoming once a year is already enough consideration, this is selfish. Besides, there won’t be any problems in the future where the children returned. I think future me will probably take the two of them to the other world. Is Fuyuka… okay? She won’t talk to anyone after she returns, right? If she says ‘I went to another world’, she’ll be treated as a painful child… Watching my family getting excited looking at the album, I was absentmindedly thinking about such trivial things.