Chapter 629: World Tour and Magic Hour
“It certainly looks like the royal palace in the Kingdom of Mismede.”
“Right? I thought so too when I first went to Mismede.”
I nodded in agreement with Leen’s words.
Before our eyes was the chalk-white Taj Mahal, illuminated by the morning sun. We came to India this early in the morning just to see this. The tourist guide we had at home recommended that early morning was the best time to fully appreciate the beauty of the Taj Mahal.
Although there would normally be a time difference with Japan, we can adjust that easily with [Dimension Transfer]. That said, the time difference with Japan is only about three and a half hours, so we could have managed if we woke up extremely early, but waking up the children in the middle of the night wouldn’t be right…
The Taj Mahal, glistening in the morning glow, exuded breathtaking beauty. Since it was so early, there weren’t many people, and we could appreciate it slowly.
“The Taj Mahal is said to be a mausoleum built by the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire for his beloved wife who passed away,” Yumina explained. “What is a mausoleum?” Linne asked. “Well, it’s something like a tomb, I guess?”
Linze answered Linne without much confidence. Well, in the broad sense, it’s not wrong. A grave is where remains are buried, but a mausoleum does not necessarily contain remains. However, since the Taj Mahal does include a tomb, calling it a tomb is likely acceptable.
Shah Jahan, the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire who built the Taj Mahal, reportedly intended to build his own tomb out of black marble on the opposite side of the river to serve as a symmetrical counterpart.
Well, he spent too much money on the Taj Mahal, so that never materialized.
“I wonder if we will also get such a magnificent mausoleum built for us.”
“Don’t say such inauspicious things…”
“Hehe, sorry.”
I gently admonished Leen for making a joke. Besides, you probably won’t die of old age anymore… since you are becoming like divine retainers, or angels.
According to Karen, my elder sister, you could eventually even become subordinate gods, and then minor gods.
My wives becoming goddesses, huh? In a sense, that’s correct for me. The Nine Goddesses.
The children are also demigods, so I think they will have extremely long lifespans. We plan to retire to Babylon once we reach a certain age, but Kuon and the others might have to do the same a hundred years from now.
Since Quun and Yoshino have the blood of long-lived races mixed in, they have an excuse for living long.
Once I retire to Babylon, I will have to stop interfering with our home country and focus on various tasks as the world’s administrator… Well, as long as I’m with my wives, it should be fine.
“Is something the matter, Touya-san?”
“…No. I was just thinking that I want to be with everyone forever.”
“Of course! We will all be together from now on. Forever and always.”
Feeling my chest warm at Yumina’s words, I continued to gaze at the chalk-white mausoleum illuminated by the morning sun.
After India, we abruptly found ourselves in Paris, France, having breakfast.
We entered a cafe in the city and had a simple breakfast: the classic croissant and baguette with butter, café au lait, orange juice, and fruit yogurt.
Looking at the Paris cityscape from our terrace seats, Sakura started humming a tune from the next seat. I immediately recognized the song. It was the one based on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. …We’re not on the Champs-Élysées, though.
The original song was apparently set on Waterloo Road in London, England, but when it was translated into French, it became the Champs-Élysées. That sort of thing often happens when foreign songs are translated into local lyrics… In Japan, it was sung as the Champs-Élysées unchanged.
Incidentally, Champs-Élysées apparently means “Elysium,” the Eternal Paradise.
Maybe we’ll take a stroll along the Champs-Élysées after breakfast.
Finishing our light meal, we walked along the Champs-Élysées. It was a digestive walk all the way to the Arc de Triomphe. The rows of horse chestnut trees planted along the street strongly reinforce the image of the Champs-Élysées.
Along the way, luxury brand boutiques lined the street, but I politely asked my wives to refrain. The prices are what they are, and since they are top-tier luxury stores, I didn’t even know if we could enter. Also, even though it’s just a few more days, running out of funds would not be good.
Fortunately, my wives weren’t very interested in brand-name goods, and we avoided the issue. Phew. Let’s move to the next place before they change their minds.
After walking to the Arc de Triomphe, we used [Dimension Transfer] to jump straight from Paris.
We arrived in London, England, at the British Museum. This would be the perfect place to learn about the Earth‘s history, art, and culture.
However, it’s such a massive museum that a half-day is said to be insufficient to carefully view all the exhibits. We decided to take the two-hour tour that hits just the famous spots, which I found online.
“For now, let’s hold hands so no one gets lost.”
Well, even if someone did get lost, I could find them with [Search]. Everyone held hands with their own children, and since Kuon held hands with Alice, Yumina and I ended up holding hands. To an outsider, I probably just look like a little brother being led around by his older sister…
We set our smartphones to silent mode and entered the museum. Entering the entrance, we came out into a spacious hall where the light streaming from the glass ceiling was beautiful. We grabbed a museum map there and proceeded toward our destinations.
The British Museum does not have a designated route like the aquarium we went to before, and it is not structured so that you can see everything by following a set path. The floors range from the fifth floor down to the basement, and movement is via stairs and elevators. Because of this, a museum map is essential.
First and foremost is the Rosetta Stone, the greatest discovery in the history of ancient Egyptology and a popular exhibit at the British Museum.
The Rosetta Stone has the same text written in three scripts: ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Demotic (the common script), and Greek letters. This discovery made it possible to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. The content of the stone slab is said to be a decree by the priestly council confirming the royal rituals of Ptolemy V… or so they say.
“I can read it… but I don’t understand the meaning.”
Thanks to the World God’s translation ring, I could read all three scripts. The contents were hard to understand due to the difficult phrasing, though. And it’s incomplete anyway.
Oops, if I stay here too long, I’ll be in the way of others. Let’s move on. We briefly viewed the exhibits on the first floor: the Statue of Ramesses II, the Gayer-Anderson Cat, the Parthenon Sculptures, the Aztec Turquoise Mosaic, and the Easter Island Moai.
Since I saw the real Easter Island Moai on my honeymoon, it didn’t feel so novel. No, this is probably real too, though.
As we ascended the floors and looked at other exhibits, I noticed an excessive number of mummies. I looked it up and apparently, the British Museum houses over six thousand human remains…
“I have fought mummies several times… but this is the first time I’ve observed one closely,” Hildegard muttered softly while looking at a mummy wrapped in cloth. Yes, in the other world, they appear as monsters in dungeons… but we shouldn’t confuse them. Those aren’t bodies wrapped in bandages for preservation; they are just zombies that revived after dying while wrapped in bandages due to a major injury…
As I looked at the mummies, I felt a sense of pity, thinking that this person probably never imagined they would be displayed here thousands of years after their death…
As expected of the world’s largest museum, my excitement rose, thinking that the real artifacts I had seen in textbooks and on TV were right before my eyes.
Hohou, is this one of the oldest board games in the world…? It looks like Sugoroku.
We went up the stairs and looked around the exhibits on the upper floors. Among them was a Japan section.
There were netsuke collections, Buddhist statues, swords and armor, and Noh masks. There were also folding screens, hanging scrolls, Haniwa figures, earthenware, and even dotaku bronze bells…
What is it, maybe because it’s from my own country? I don’t feel much of a “Wow!”… Local museums display similar things too…
In any case, having seen what we wanted to see, we returned to the first floor. We decided to buy souvenirs at the shop in the center of the Great Hall on the first floor.
There are all sorts of things. Naturally, there are many miniature replicas of the exhibits. Rosetta Stone cufflinks, a model of Da Vinci’s helicopter, and…
Mummy magnets…? That’s a rather edgy item…
Oh, the Bastet plushie is cute. Maybe I should buy it for my Bastet.
I’m not sure if a cat Golem would be happy to receive a cat plushie… In that case, I might have to buy something for her partner, Anubis, too. If he’s the only one without a souvenir, he will definitely sulk.
A figurine of Anubis with the same name should be fine. Oh, he’s more handsome than the actual Anubis. Yes, let’s take this.
But why are there so many duck toys for playing in the bath…?
There are several variations, including Sphinx, Samurai, and Viking versions… Do English people love ducks…?
I thought English people loved bears… or horses… no, maybe rabbits… I don’t know.
We bought our souvenirs and left the British Museum. It was quite enjoyable. It was good that everyone felt a sense of Earth‘s culture and history.
Now, the sun is nicely overhead, so what should we do for lunch?
“Touya-sama, how about we go to Italy for lunch?” Lucia suggested. “Huh? Italy? Wait a minute, after all the pasta we ate yesterday?”
I frowned at Lucia’s suggestion. After the pasta festival yesterday, I felt like I was good on pasta for a while.
“Italy is not just about pasta! There’s pizza, carpaccio, minestrone, risotto, focaccia, tiramisu, and gelato… There are so many delicious things!”
Ah, oh, that’s right. Because of yesterday’s pasta that was stuck in my head, I associated Italy with pasta…
“Pizza, huh? I might want to try authentic pizza.”
When I went to Italy on my honeymoon before, I think I had gelato. I hadn’t had pizza.
I remember pizza and pizzas were different. The original Italian one is pizza, and the American one is pizzas, right? I think there were differences in size, crust thickness, and the use of stone ovens or regular ovens, but I don’t know the details.
“Hmm, where in Italy should we go…”
“Pizza is famous in Rome and Naples… it’s a difficult choice.”
Rome and Naples, huh? I do hear those names often. I have no idea about the differences, though.
“Neapolitan pizza has a thick crust with simple toppings and a chewy texture, while Roman pizza has a thin crust, rich toppings, and a crispy texture,” Lucia explained.
They are quite the opposite. My preference would be for the simple Neapolitan pizza… After taking a vote, Neapolitan pizza won by eleven votes to nine.
Alright, let’s go to Naples for lunch to eat authentic pizza.
“That was delicious!”
“Indeed. It had a different kind of deliciousness than the pizza we had on the first day.”
Alice and Kuon were smiling at each other, satisfied with the pizza they had at the pizzeria in Naples.
I also ordered a Margherita, and it was delicious despite its simplicity. Neapolitan pizza is not cut and shared like common pizza; it’s served as a whole pie per person and eaten with a knife and fork.
Looking it up, Neapolitan pizza has rules and regulations established by law, and if a pizza doesn’t meet them, it’s not allowed to be called Neapolitan pizza. It seems it’s important that the dough is shaped by hand, without using a rolling pin or machine. I guess that’s the one, the one where they spin the dough around.
By using centrifugal force, they can quickly and uniformly thin the dough. This technique has been registered as an Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Lucia and Arcia have been spinning their handkerchiefs for a while now… Well, I thought they would definitely want to try it.
Now that our stomachs are full, shall we do a little sightseeing in Naples while we’re at it? The great writer Goethe also said, “See Naples and die.”
We admired the Basilica of San Francesco di Paola from Piazza del Plebiscito, and then transferred to Castel dell’Ovo from Santa Lucia, famous for the Neapolitan folk song.
We were almost pickpocketed several times along the way, but we neutralized the thieves on the spot. The security doesn’t seem to be very good.
“That’s a peculiar name, Egg Castle,” Yae commented. “I don’t think it looks like an egg at all…” Elze and Yae shared their thoughts, looking at the large stone fortress built to jut out into the sea along the Santa Lucia waterfront.
I wonder what an egg-like castle would look like… It seems like it would easily topple over.
Leen, looking at her smartphone, offered an explanation.
“Apparently, when the castle was built, a sorcerer buried an egg in the foundation and cast a spell saying, ‘When this egg breaks, the castle and Naples shall perish.’ The legend is said to originate from that.” “There were sorcerers in this world, too?” Linze asked. “I wonder. Since we can actually use magic, I can’t definitively say there weren’t,” I replied vaguely to Linze’s question.
Perhaps in ancient times, the mana drifting over Earth was slightly more abundant than now, and there were some who could use magic to a certain extent.
Having enjoyed Naples, we jumped to our next destination: Greece.
The island of Santorini, floating in the Aegean Sea in Greece. It’s a resort island where the blue sea and white buildings are dazzling.
“This island looks similar to Refreese,” Hildegard said. “There are quite a few similarities between here and Earth,” Sue added, looking at the blue domes.
Santorini is part of a caldera formed by a past volcanic eruption, and the five islands, including the crescent-shaped main island, are called the Santorini Islands.
It was once a single large island, and around 1600 BC, an eruption of the submarine volcano caused magma to gush out, and the resulting cavity collapsed, forming the islands as they are today.
It is also said that the explosion of this submarine volcano was the origin of the legendary sunken continent of Atlantis, mentioned in Plato’s Timaeus.
Atlantis, huh? I read about it in Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, which was in my grandpa’s room a long time ago. I wanted to ride the Nautilus back then.
Santorini Island is apparently famous for its good wine, so I’ll buy a few bottles as souvenirs for Fuyuka and Uncle Takemune. Since I can’t buy it in this appearance, I had the most adult-looking person, Hildegard, buy it for me. Since you can buy alcohol in Greece at eighteen, there’s no problem.
As we walked around Santorini Island, buying souvenirs and browsing, the sun eventually began to set.
“Wow…”
“This is a magnificent view…”
The twilight sky was divided into blue, orange, and red, with the deep blue sea supporting it. The chalk-white town built on the slope housed warm lights in its windows, creating a fantastical landscape.
This is what they call the Magic Hour. Santorini‘s sunset view is world-famous. This is what we came here to see.
The tourists around us were also holding their breath, captivated by this superb view. We simply gazed silently at the somewhat surreal scene.
Before long, the twilight Magic Hour ended, and the surroundings were enveloped in the evening darkness.
“Shall we go home?”
In response to my call, perhaps wanting to enjoy the afterglow a little longer, everyone just nodded without speaking.
Leaving the completely darkened Santorini Island, we concluded our final world tour.
“We’re home!”
“Welcome back. Did you have fun?”
“It was fun! We saw a mummy at a place called Daiei!”
“Huh?”
My father blinked his eyes at Linne’s explanation. That doesn’t explain it… You should say the British Museum properly.
“Mother-in-law, I’ll help you with dinner!” Lucia said. “Grandmother, I bought very good olive oil. Let’s make Ahiijo!” Arcia added.
Lucia and Arcia headed straight for my mother in the kitchen as soon as they got back. Ahiijo, huh? That’s a Spanish dish, right? They seem to be using the olive oil they bought in Santorini right away.
“Here, Fuyuka-chan, this is a souvenir for you!” Frei said. “Ahiu!”
Frei gave Fuyuka the duck toy we bought at the British Museum. She was delighted, happily holding the Sphinx-shaped duck. It seems she likes it.
“I bought you a Tutankhamun pen case, pencil, and ruler, Dad. I thought practical things would be nice.”
“Uh, thank you…”
Dad accepted the souvenirs with a somewhat strained smile.
I understand why he feels a bit awkward about the taste. It clearly looks like a coffin pencil case. Well, it’s fine as long as he uses it inside the house. No one else will see it anyway.
For Mom, I bought a Bastet tote bag. She can use it for small shopping trips.
Tomorrow is the final day. It will be our last day spending time with Dad and Mom. And with the children, too…
Sometime in the future, we will surely have another family gathering like this.
It feels impossibly far away, but perhaps once we live through it, it will pass in the blink of an eye.
Our future is bright. Let’s believe that.
