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Chapter III: In Another World On My Honeymoon 

“That’s our Touya. Now he’s a married man in both name and deed, you know?” 
“...Well, he didn’t exactly go all the way with Sue... since she’s not really physically ready for that. Still, I think he’s happy to take things slow with her now that they’re married and all.” 
“Anyway, they’re going on that honeymoon now, right? I wonder what kind of things they’ll get up to...” 
“Hey, Touya! Sake! Bring me, hic, a bottle of sake back! I don’t want any non-booze souvenirs!” 
Karen, Moroha, Karina, and Suika were prattling on about whatever they wanted. Personally, I’d have appreciated it if they’d kept their gossip to themselves! I didn’t enjoy my marriage being the subject of rumors by my family members... Especially Moroha and Karen! They were my wives’ sisters-in-law, so they should’ve really watched what they said... Though honestly, it’d probably take something really bad for the girls to hate them. They were family now. 
“I definitely can’t warp all the girls across to Earth on my own... God Almighty said he was gonna help me, so we’ve just gotta wait on him...” 
The gossiping goddesses were sitting in the castle courtyard, eating some snacks at one of the wedding tables we’d yet to put away. 
The main issue with going back home was the fact that I was dead there. Back there, it wasn’t exactly normal for the deceased to rise back up. As much as I’d have loved to be like, “Hey guys, I’m back!” I couldn’t do that. It violated the fundamental norms of the world I grew up in. 
That was why I couldn’t visit as Mochizuki Touya the human. I needed to go as Mochizuki Touya, the god. Well, the apprentice god, at least. 
Also, I was a little worried about how thin the mana in the atmosphere over there was. The girls wouldn’t be able to use their spells as freely. 
I had divinity on my side, so I was safe, but they would be fairly limited in terms of power. That said, the divine traits they’d developed from their bond with me like Yumina’s foresight ability would probably work just fine. 
Yumina’s mystic eye probably wouldn’t work, however, since it was just a Null spell manifesting in her eyeball. 
“I don’t think you should worry that much, you know? Your phone’s a sacred treasure, so you can use magic through it to some extent. Just don’t use it too much, since it’s not a normal thing in that world. If some shady organization got wind of it, you wouldn’t get much time to enjoy your honeymoon, you know?” 
I wouldn’t want that to happen... Still, it’d be good to use it through my phone a little. I can use [Search] if anyone gets lost, and [Storage] for souvenirs and stuff. 
“God Almighty sure is late, though. He said he’d be here around noon.” 
“That’s just how it is, you know? The divine realm’s been abuzz about the upcoming resort, so I’m sure he’s really busy.” 
A group of gods had descended for my wedding in order to get a taste of life on this planet. There was the goddess of dance, the god of strength, the god of industry, the god of glasses, the god of theater, the god of puppetry, the god of wandering, the goddess of flowers, and the goddess of gemstones. Oh, and also Granny Tokie, but she was a more permanent visitor. 
It’d been ten days since their descent, and that was more than enough time for stories to spread among the gods in the divine realm. The number of gods interested in coming down to this world had reached its peak. 
“They might sound selfish, but anyone would jump at the chance to experience such a fascinating thing as a human life.” 
“...I don’t exactly relate to the idea of a regular human life being fascinating, but hey... I guess that’s their perspective.” 
“Wahahah, hic! It’s like that thing... Uhhh... That thing from your world, hic! Roll pray! Right? That’s, hic, it!” 
...Roll pray? Does the drunken little gremlin mean roleplay? I guess it makes sense that they’d want to immerse themselves in something completely different from their daily lives. Gods really aren’t all that different from humans in the end, are they? 
“I heard that the god of puppetry and the god of industry have already started creating their businesses, while the goddess of dance and the god of theater have joined a theatrical troupe. I have a feeling we’ll be hearing about them before long,” Karina spoke so casually, but that was a pretty short amount of time to do stuff like that... Even in human form, gods were still gods. I had a feeling they’d all end up becoming world-renowned professionals if they kept it up. 
“I noticed that the god of glasses has been handing out a lot of glasses, you know? I wonder why that is...” 
“Missionary work. Not a lot of people have glasses in this world, so he’s trying to raise awareness. He also thinks everyone looks better in glasses. His philosophy is that anyone who looks bad in glasses just hasn’t found the right pair yet.” 
...Well, that settles it. The god of glasses is a total weirdo. But so long as he keeps out of trouble, I’m not gonna complain about it. Hell, maybe he’ll become an optician or something? Who knows. 
“I just hope nobody causes any trouble while I’m away on my—” 
Hm? That presence just now... 
“Fret not. I shall keep a watchful eye on them.” 
I turned and saw that God Almighty had finally arrived. Because I directly benefited from his divinity, but he was the only god I could sense. 
“Sorry to keep you waiting, my boy. I got caught up in a heated debate about the resort project.” 
“Makes sense.” 
I’m not gonna ask for details, since I’m sure it’ll just make me worry. 
“Now then... Touya, could you call everyone together? I would like to go over some guidelines before your trip.” 
“Oh, sure thing.” 
Guidelines, huh? I guess we’ll need to be careful... I think Ende mentioned something about dangers while traveling through worlds too, though I think a trip to Earth should be simple enough. 
I pulled out my smartphone and sent a group text to the girls. 
 
“Now then. Starting tomorrow, you will be visiting the planet Earth. It is the world where Touya once lived.” 
Everyone was gathered in the courtyard, listening to God Almighty speak. Fortunately, we still had enough chairs set out. 
Karen and the other goddesses quietly watched us from a nearby table. 
“The rings in your possession will automatically convert languages, so you need not worry about communication. This will also extend to written words. I shall also provide you with some funds for the trip.” 
Oh, cool. So I can understand foreigners? That’s pretty convenient, but I guess it’s the bare minimum you can expect from a sacred treasure. 
I grinned slightly as I looked down at the wedding ring on my finger. I wasn’t actually that worried about my own speech, since I was just planning on taking them to Japan, but it was still a pretty sweet feature. 
I was also glad to hear he was handling our finances as well. In a worst-case scenario, I was planning on bringing some silver or gold to sell. 
“I will also ensure that your phones retain functionality over there. Otherwise, it would be difficult to make a call due to the lack of magic in the atmosphere.” 
The mass-produced smartphones created by Doctor Babylon made use of magic in the atmosphere to connect two individuals instead of radio waves. I didn’t fully understand how it worked, but as long as both parties on the phone were surrounded by the same kind of magic-enriched air, they’d be able to have a conversation. 
Considering the fact that the phones worked indoors, that meant the air was even connected in that manner... I wondered if that would mean the phones wouldn’t work in a closed-off area. I heard that water had mana infused into it, but I wasn’t sure if the phones would work under the sea, either... 
Regardless, if their phones were being tweaked to work on Earth, then that basically just made them regular smartphones. 
“The low mana in the atmosphere on Earth will make your magical abilities functionally useless, so please take care. You may be able to create small elements, like ice, but that is all.” 
Mhm. If there’s little to no mana in the atmosphere, magic just won’t work. It’s like trying to light a fire without any oxygen. Wait, but what about...? 
“What about self-applied magic drawn from within your own body, like my sister’s [Boost] spell?” Linze raised a question, taking the words right out of my mouth. Elze seemed curious about the answer. 
“It should be possible, but I advise against doing that. If you exhaust all the magic within your body, you will quickly exhaust your body itself. You would not want to spend your honeymoon bedridden, yes?” 
“Oh, I see... The atmospheric magic being so thin means we can’t replenish our own body’s magic stores. That makes sense,” Leen offered some astute commentary. That was definitely a major risk! If someone exhausted all their magic, they’d lose consciousness. 
I had the option of giving them some magic back with [Transfer], but I wouldn’t be able to replenish that amount for myself, either. 
“Could we not store the magic in something external, like one of Babylon’s tank storage units?” 
“I am afraid not. The moment you arrive in the other world, the magic would disperse. The storage tank is powered by magic. Thus, it would lose efficiency in Earth’s atmosphere much like other magic tools. Even that little bear would be unable to move on Earth.” 
Paula cowered behind Leen after hearing that. 
Don’t worry, Paula. You’re staying home... Man, I won’t even be able to call Kohaku or the others, since they’re such a drain on me. They’ll quickly outrun the rate at which my magic restores itself. 
Basically, any magical tool or artifact would become useless on Earth. Even the Frame Gears would just be large immobile structures over there. 
“Wait. My phone’s charged by magic... Won’t it run out of battery pretty fast?!” 
“...Electricity exists on Earth, Touya. You can just use that.” 
“...Oh. Yeah. That’s true.” 
...Wow, that was a really dumb question on my part, wasn’t it? I feel pretty damn embarrassed right now... 
Doctor Babylon had made sure to install charging ports into the mass-produced phones, so they could charge on electricity as well. 
“Lack of magic does not bother me, it does not.” 
“Same here.” 
“Mhm!” 
Yae, Hilde, and Lu spoke amongst themselves. I let out a light chuckle upon hearing that, since they were clearly a little despondent about not having any aptitude for the elements. 
“Well, magic isn’t a thing on Earth, so I think everyone’ll be fine.” 
“Oh, wait! What if something dangerous happens? What do we do if we can’t use our spells?” Sue raised her hand and asked me a question. She had a worried expression on her face. Her concern made sense. Magic was as natural as walking in this world, after all. She’d obviously have some anxiety about being robbed of it. 
“It’s fine. We won’t be visiting any war-torn countries or anything. We’re going to a peaceful nation without any danger.” 
I highly doubted that we’d have much to worry about in Japan. I couldn’t think of any real uses for magic there, to be honest. I personally thought that going there with magic probably would’ve been more dangerous. 
“I wanna ask something else! It’s about you, Touya!” 
“Huh? What?” 
Sue’s sudden direct line of questioning took me by surprise. 
“You’re supposed to be dead over there, aren’t you? So, what are you gonna do about that?!” 
“Well, that’s fine, honestly.” 
Sure, I can’t be walking around over there as a dead man, so I’ll simply use [Mirage] to... Oh. Ohhh...! 
“Uhhh... Wait, what? I can’t use disguise magic over there, can I?” 
“Technically, you should be able to. If you channel your divinity, you can hypothetically use any spell through that. However, constantly channeling your divinity to maintain a disguise will be incredibly taxing on your body. I doubt you will be able to maintain it for long.” 
Ugh... Yeah, I agree. Divinity’s way harder to control than basic magic. The fine control is a part that I still really struggle with. I can barely keep my hair from growing all the way out when I activate my Apotheosis. If I had the fine-tuned level of control that I actually need, then I wouldn’t have Granny Tokie down here repairing the barrier. Keeping my divinity constantly active would be way too stressful. I don’t think I’ll be able to enjoy my vacation if I do that. 
“Touya, if I might... I can change your appearance. It should not burden your body, but it will be a permanent change until you return. That may be a little inconvenient, but it is the best I can do.” 
Oh, that sounds good! I don’t wanna be paranoid about getting caught the entire time. 
“Hrmm... I don’t want the grand duke’s appearance to change... It’d be less fun...” 
“Yes... Sakura’s right! Even if he’d be Touya on the inside, I don’t wanna travel with someone who looks completely different!” 
Sakura and Sue objected to God Almighty’s proposal. They weren’t being unreasonable. It was supposed to be our honeymoon, so I could see why they wouldn’t want to spend it with someone who didn’t look like their husband. Plus, the main purpose of the trip was to visit my parents in their sleep, and I needed to look like myself for that. 
Wait, nevermind. We’ll be in a dream, so I should be able to manipulate my form at will in there. 
“Fret not. I have considered the matter of young Touya’s form, and this is the solution I have come up with. Behold!” God Almighty suddenly said that, clasped his hands together, and formed a cloud of smoke around me. 
“Wah?! Wh-Wh-What was that?!” 
I waved my arms around to clear the smoke, but something felt wrong. The sleeves of my coat were far too long, for some reason... And the pitch of my voice was ridiculously high. When the smoke cleared, all of my wives were surrounding me. They were gazing at me with wonder blazing in their eyes. 
Wh-What’s going on? 
“Is this Touya to your liking, young ladies?” 
...Man, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen him grin like that before. How weird. Wait... has he always been that tall? Wait... why’s everyone so much taller than me? No... Don’t tell me... 
“[S-Storage]!” 
I frantically pulled out a full-sized mirror and propped it up by me. The reflection in the mirror was that of a child. A five-year-old boy who looked far smaller than even Sue. 
Wh-What the hell is this?! This isn’t an appearance change! You de-aged me! 
“Who’s this?! Is this really Touya?!” 
“A-Ahhh! Amazing! It’s a teeny, tiny Touya!” 
“S-So cute! He’s so cuuute!” 
“A-Ahhh! The smaller he is, the better he is! This is fantastic!” 
Elze and Linze came roaring in from either side of me. And Yumina and Lu weren’t far behind them, either. 
H-HELP! 
 

“Amazing! He truly does have the face of Touya-dono, he does!” Yae said as she ran right up to me. 
Obviously, it’s my face! I’m still me, damn it! 
Yae picked me up from under the armpits and lifted me way up high. 
S-Stop! Stop! My pants are falling down! 
My body had shrunk, but my clothes sure hadn’t. I frantically reached for my pants, but there was nothing I could do when faced with Yae’s gorilla grip. My pants slipped away. 
Right on cue, a sinister wind blew in and lifted up my long shirt. 
...Yep. It’s cold down south. 
“T-Touya... Don’t be sad, it’s okay...” 
“Don’t give me that... You didn’t have your lower half exposed to the elements...” 
Lu tried comforting me, but her words didn’t do much to help. If I had the mind of a five-year-old, I probably wouldn’t have been so horrified by what had just happened. 
“I am sorry, I am... It is just so rare to see children in the castle, it is...” 
Yae really loved kids, so I understood how she felt. Still, that didn’t exactly make me feel any better... 
“No pouting, be a good boy! It was an honest mistake. It’s fine! You’re our husband!” Sue said that and grinned as she reached out to pat my head. 
...This is a hell of a role reversal. I feel kinda embarrassed about all this... 
Karina and Suika laughed as they watched from the nearby table. 
“Don’t worry about such little things, Touya. We’re all family here!” 
“Wahahaha, hic! You’re reaaaaaally small, little guy! Bwahaha!” 
What’s small?! Are you talking about me or my manhood?! What the hell! 
Right as I prepared to give Suika a piece of my mind, Sakura warped back with [Teleport]. She’d quickly gone to Fashion King Zanac. 
“Here... I bought some things... underwear included...” Sakura said as she dropped a heavy paper bag on the table. 
...Just how much did you buy?! 
Immediately after producing the first bag, she produced a bunch more. They were filled to the brim, so I thought they’d burst. 
Wait... what’s with the skirts? There’s girls’ clothing in here too! 
“You’ll look great in this dress!” 
“Ooh, this one’s pretty.” 
“If we’re going to dress him up, I should prepare some child-sized armor...” 
Lu, Yumina, and Hilde began whispering to each other. I wondered if Hilde was serious about the child-sized armor thing... It honestly made me worry about our future kids. 
Whatever they were planning to do to me, I could only hope they’d make it quick. 
The girls spent a while dressing me up like a doll, but eventually, they settled on a basic hoodie and some pants. This outfit worked well, since it looked like something an ordinary kid would wear. 
“...Are you all quite done?” 
“A-Ah! S-Sorry!” 
I totally forgot that God Almighty had been there the whole time! 
“I think you will be just fine in that child form. Even if you meet someone who knew you as a boy, they will only think of you as a child who resembles you.” 
That was definitely true. No one would just assume that some kid was a dead guy they once knew. 
“Couldn’t you have just made me look middle-aged or older instead?” 
“...I think it is better for everyone if you are a child. Trust me.” 
There was something ominous about that pause of his, but he had a point. If I was a middle-aged me walking around with all these girls, I ran the risk of being apprehended. 
Making me into an old man was a viable option, but I’d stick out like a sore thumb with all my wives. Plus, I didn’t exactly want to know what I’d look like as an old man... If my body was even capable of becoming old anymore, anyway. 
“Ah, and just to clarify... I did not make you any younger. I simply fixed your physical form into one static position. Once you ascend as a god, you should be able to learn that ability as well. I actually have several physical forms other than this one.” 
“Really? Why stick with the old man look, then?” 
“It is more dignified, is it not?” 
...Well, that’s a pretty generic answer. But it is what it is. 
“Well, that’s it for preparation. Oh, girls. You should get changed into different outfits before we leave tomorrow, or you’ll stick out too much over there.” 
Their appearances were fine, but their clothing definitely wasn’t normal by Earth’s standards. Most people would just assume Yae to be Japanese, but the other girls had eye and hair colors that would make them look like foreigners. Sakura’s hair alone would definitely turn some heads. 
I wondered if she could get a wig or something... Or maybe hair dye was the better option. 
“Fashion King Zanac had a lot of clothing in stock... Since it’s all based on clothing from the grand duke’s world, we should go get some.” 
“Sounds good to me. Let’s go buy a few days’ worth of clothing.” 
Leen nodded at Sakura’s suggestion, and all the girls agreed. 
Shouldn’t we just buy the clothes over there? I mean, we got free money and all... 
“Come on, Touya. It’s time to go.” 
“Huh? Me too?!” 
Before I could react, Elze yanked me away by the arm. My other arm was promptly seized by Yae. 
“You’ve got [Storage], dear. You can carry our things!” 
Please no... I’m too small to carry your things! Well, whatever, it’s fine... Just don’t treat me like a dress-up doll again. 
“Then I shall see you all in the morning. Take care.” 
“O-Oh, yeah! Thanks again!” 
God Almighty chuckled softly and gave us a wave. I bowed my head in apology as I was dragged off. 
The honeymoon hadn’t even started yet, but everyone was already raring to go. 
 
Everyone in the castle wondered why I looked like a child. It was a pretty reasonable line of questioning. I simply told them I was using [Mirage] to change my appearance, but that begged the question of why? And, by extension, why a five-year-old’s body? 
In the end, I just kind of sidelined all the questioning. I couldn’t tell them a god had come down and turned me into a little kid. 
“It would’ve been better if he’d transformed me right before the trip...” 
I was way smaller, so I picked up some child-sized pajamas at Zanac’s store. I still didn’t know how to feel when I looked at myself in my bedroom mirror. It felt pretty surreal. 
“Make sure you pack a lot of clothing. Do not forget anything, do not.” 
“Gah!” 
Damn it... Couldn’t you have made me a little bit older or at least a little bit heavier? 
I winced slightly as Yae picked me up by the armpits again. It felt like I was losing pride as a man by the second, but it wasn’t really my fault... It was my body! 
“You are so cute, yes you are... I wonder if this is how it will be when I have my own son, I do...” 
“...Just don’t ever bring him here to dress him up like a girl.” 
“Don’t fault us, Grand Duke... It was important research... We needed to investigate how our daughters might look. Please understand...” 
I groaned slightly at Sakura’s fairly casual and blunt response. Even with their excuses, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d been violated somehow. 
“Hey, Leen, what’re you gonna do about your wings? It’s not like you can cast [Invisible] over there. There aren’t any fairies in that Earth place, right?” Elze sat on the bed, brushing her hair as she said that and pointed toward Leen’s back. She’d raised a good point. 
“Oh, that won’t be an issue. The only reason you can see my wings is because a special pigment in them reacts to the mana in our atmosphere. On a planet such as Earth, there won’t be enough magic to reflect them, which will render them invisible. In a worst-case scenario, however, I could always flit my wings down against my back, then hide them beneath my clothes.” 
Leen flattened her wings against her back to demonstrate her point. I’d briefly considered asking God Almighty to hide her wings, but apparently, that wasn’t necessary. 
“What about Sakura’s horns?” Linze raised another fair question as she tapped her own forehead. 
“My horns can retract enough to be obscured by my hair... It should be fine.” 
That felt awfully convenient. Sakura’s horns had unique properties, since she was one of the overlord’s kin, so she had some degree of control over their length. They could flicker forward and retract like animal claws. That made me wonder if they were made out of keratin. I’d heard that vampires could retract and extend their claws, so it also made me curious if the overlord’s unique genetics had a little bit of that mixed in there. 
The only other point of concern about Sakura was the fact that she had pointed ears, but if anyone asked, we’d just play it off as being a fashion trend or something. 
“Your world sure is amazing, Touya... Even at night, the place twinkles like the stars...” 
Sue was transfixed on the image I’d projected into the air. More specifically, it was a live feed of Tokyo. 
We weren’t going to be staying in the big city, though. 
“There are so many ether vehicles in the streets. Fascinating.” 
“Indeed. From what I’ve noticed, the green light tells them when to move, while the red light tells them when to stop.” 
Yumina and Lu were going over some of the things I’d told them about in advance. I figured it’d be smarter to give them a primer on certain basic things instead of just addressing them as we came across them and causing potential issues. 
By using the [Recall] spell, I managed to share some elements of my legal knowledge with them. I also shared certain knowledge of technology, because I knew if I didn’t Yae would probably act like a samurai plucked into the modern era and attack a TV or something. If they were briefed on stuff beforehand, it made things less likely to go wrong. There were a few artifacts in this world that were similar to Earth technology anyway, so it wasn’t that hard to introduce those concepts to them. Plus, I’d shown them movies and shows before, so I doubted they’d be completely lost when it came to things like television. 
“I’m rather worried about traveling around without my sword... I can’t imagine being without it.” 
“I feel the exact same way, I do. However, if I cannot wield a wakizashi in the streets, then I will simply remain on guard with martial arts at all times, I will.” 
Hilde and Yae expressed a little bit of discomfort. I found that a little annoying, honestly. I’d already explained to them that we weren’t going to get into a combat situation in the other world, and even if we did, we wouldn’t be facing the kinds of enemies we encountered here. No thugs with knives stood a chance against my wives. 
They didn’t seem fully aware of it, but they were unreasonably strong compared to normal humans. They wouldn’t even need magic to handle most bad guys at this point. Even Sue, the weakest of the bunch, was more than a match for a party of veterans. 
Yae, Hilde, Elze, and Lu honed their physical skills every day, while Yumina, Linze, Leen, and Sakura honed their magical skills. Takeru and Moroha made sure of that. And Sue and Sakura had even been learning special techniques from Lapis and Tsubaki. 
On top of all that, they all benefited from tons of divinity from multiple gods. No human from Earth would be able to lay even a finger on them. Frankly, I was more worried about the damage they could do to others, rather than the other way around. 
Hopefully, we’d be able to get through the trip without any unnecessary trouble. 
“We’ve got a big day ahead of us, so we should sleep early,” Yumina said as she patted the pillow next to her. Usually, I slept at the end of the bed or on a separate couch, but now that I was a married man, I had no such reservations about sharing a bed with my wives. 
Given that I was in a child’s body, sleeping was the only thing we’d be doing that evening. I didn’t know whether to thank God Almighty for that or resent him. 
“I wanna sleep next to Touya! I call dibs!” 
“Gwah?!” 
Sue tackled me from behind, wrapping her arms around my front in a bear hug. 
“No fair... I want to hug him as well, Sue...” Sakura mumbled as she shuffled over toward me, embracing me from the front. I was sandwiched between the two of them. Ordinarily, that would’ve been a pretty enviable position, but in a five-year-old’s body, it wasn’t as exciting as it should’ve been. 
“Hrrgh...” 
“That’s enough, you two. Touya doesn’t seem all that happy about it.” 
Lu came to my rescue, gently prying the two girls from me. Sakura and Sue simply responded by pouting a little. 
Sakura had a surprisingly clingy side to her, and she often competed with Sue when it came to my physical affection. And her childish behavior was made all the more amusing by the fact that she was older than both Lu and Yumina. 
“Are you okay, Touya?” 
“I am now. Thanks, Lu.” 
“Now then... Let’s get you to bed.” 
“Huh?” 
Lu suddenly hugged me tight, pulling me down sideways to the bed. 
Wh—? You’re just repeating what Sue did! 
“No fair, Lu! He’s mine!” 
Seeing her chance, Yumina charged in and embraced me from behind. Sakura and Sue then closed in from the sides; I was locked in a four-way nightmare wife sandwich. 
I’m done for... 
“Hmph... I think I deserve to sleep by Touya-dono’s side, I do.” 
“Quite honestly... I don’t want to just watch.” 
“H-Hey, Sis... Shouldn’t we go after him too?” 
“Y-Yeah! We’ve got the right to be in there! I wanna sleep next to Touya!” 
“Goodness me... I know we’re all excited about our darling’s unusual form, but is this how we’re going to behave every night? We should settle things here and now,” Leen said that, then clapped her hands together and produced a box of rectangular blocks from beneath the bed. After that, she promptly stacked them all up until they formed a tower. 
The tower was made up of fifty-four identical rectangular blocks. Each tier of the tower had three of those blocks lined up next to each other. It was a very popular party game back home. The goal was to take turns pulling out the blocks, with the loser determined by whoever made the tower fall. 
The one Leen had pulled out was a leftover prototype I’d produced for Olba Strand. 
“So we’re settling it this way?” 
“I see... So we’ll be eliminated until one remains...” 
Elze and Linze nodded quietly. All of the girls had played this game before, so there wasn’t any unfair advantage when it came to individual ability. 
“Okay! Let’s go!” 
Sue charged toward the table, enthusiasm burning in her eyes. All the other girls shrugged and joined in as well. Personally, I thought it would’ve been better to sleep instead of staying up all night playing party games, but I wasn’t in charge... 
I leaned back into the soft mattress. Every now and then, I heard clattering noises and gasps, but I quickly faded away to sleep without finding out who won. 
My slumber was a restless one, unfortunately. I was plagued by nightmares about Tentaculars grabbing me. 
I woke up in the middle of the night, completely immobilized by the girls. Some of them held my arms, while others held my legs. I didn’t want to stay in that position, but I also didn’t want to disturb them by jostling around, so I escaped with [Teleport]. 
It was no wonder I’d had such vivid nightmares. They’d probably been pawing at me. 
Freed from the bed, I took my pillow to the nearby couch and snuggled up next to Kohaku. Then, I faded off to sleep once more. This time my dreams were peaceful. Though, I think I might’ve had one small nightmare about squishing Kohaku with my butt. And when I woke up, I realized that I’d done exactly that in my sleep. 
“Now then, are you ready?” God Almighty smiled as he posed that question. 
We were in Babylon’s garden. Karen and the other gods had come to see us off, along with Doctor Babylon, Cesca, and even Ende and Melle. 
The moment Ende saw my child-like stature, he burst out laughing. I made a mental note not to bring any souvenirs back for that bastard... 
Yumina and the others had changed into their Earth-appropriate clothing, and they really just looked pretty normal. But not in a plain way or anything. It went without saying that they looked exceptionally cute. 
Assuming all went well, every Japanese person we came across would assume they were all (save Yae), foreign tourists. I wasn’t entirely sure if we’d stand out or not, but there was only one way to find out. 
If anyone asked, we’d planned to use a cover story that Yae and I were Japanese siblings who were showing around a group of foreign friends. 
We didn’t have any luggage with us, either. The only things we’d planned to take were our phones. I could use my Divinity to interface with my phone and activate its [Storage] function, so I put our travel expenses and everyone’s clothing inside. 
I was glad my smartphone had become a sacred treasure. After all, if it was just a regular magic object, it wouldn’t work on Earth. Even ether vehicles and Frame Gears would be completely useless there. 
My Brunhild wouldn’t be able to transform to blade mode and back, either. Not that I’d be bringing it. No sane place on Earth would just be so lax as to let someone casually walk around with a gun. 
“Well then, it seems you’re all ready to go. You can contact me through your phone, Touya, so just let me know when you wish to return. I shall be right there for you.” 
“Got it.” 
“Now then, I hope you all have a lovely trip,” God Almighty said that, then waved his hand outward. 
A sudden burst of light assaulted my eyes. When my vision returned, my surroundings were completely different. We weren’t in Babylon’s garden anymore. Instead, we found ourselves in the middle of a forest-lined road. 
“W-We’re there already?!” Linze exclaimed as her eyes darted around in a bewildered flurry. 
We were on a small paved road that stretched out between the emerald-green trees. 
“Hey... Is this really Urf? Looks like a normal forest to me...” 
“...It’s Earth, not Urf. And we’re definitely not in our world. Just look at me,” Leen addressed Elze’s mispronunciation, then gestured toward herself. Her wings weren’t visible. If you squinted really hard, you could kind of make out an outline where they were, but no one who wasn’t specifically looking for them would notice. 
“So we are on the planet Urf, we are... But where exactly, Touya-dono?” Yae turned to me with a question. 
Wait, are we...? 
“Ah... T-Touya?!” 
I started to sprint down the road at full speed, ignoring Lu’s confused yell. The path grew narrower as I sped down it... until I came to an uphill slope. 
I spotted a single building with a red roof on top of the slope. Nostalgia washed over me. I was stunned to silence by the sight of the place. It was a western-style red brick building that was probably built in the early 1900s. 
The girls managed to catch up to me, and they all looked up at the building as well. 
“This house... Is this your old home, Touya?” Linze made a good guess, but I shook my head. It wasn’t my home. My house wasn’t western-styled. Though, we were within a few train rides of the place. 
Anyway, this house was one I knew well, but I didn’t grow up here. It was nostalgic for completely different reasons. 
“This house... used to be my grandpa’s.” 
My grandpa died when I was in junior high, so I hadn’t visited since. It seemed like my mother had still been tending to the place, though. The garden looked to be in pristine condition. 
It felt a little strange, honestly... The grandpa who lived here came from my mother’s side. And my mother was a rather bold and brash woman, despite her modest job as a picture book author, so I didn’t expect her to still be taking care of this place... 
The phone in my pants pocket began to vibrate. It was God Almighty. 
“Hey-o.” 
“Oh, good. Did you make it there safely?” 
“We did... But why here of all places?” 
“I thought you would need a solid location to use as a base of sorts. I made sure that the water and electricity were running properly as well. You are familiar with the location, no?” 
I mean, yeah, but... Well, I guess this is pretty smart, actually. If we all tried checking into a hotel, they might get confused about the lack of adults and call the police. 
“Is it okay if we stay here without permission?” 
“Come now, this place belongs to your family! Plus, it is not as if you will be there for long. So, why not?” 
...Well, maybe because the owner is dead and I’m a five-year-old boy? 
In the end, I agreed, since the remote location made it unlikely we’d get any visitors. In fact, the main reason my family didn’t move here was because of how isolated it was. 
I’ll just apologize to my parents for intruding when I visit them in their dreams. That should be good enough. 


 

“Hey, look! Door’s unlocked!” 
Right when I finished up my call with God Almighty, Sue scampered up to the front door and flung it open without any hesitation at all. 
A little flash of light appeared in the air in front of me. Then, the door’s key appeared by my feet. Presumably, this was also his doing. 
Did God Almighty unlock the door, or did my mother just forget to lock it in the first place? If she forgot, I hope nobody started squatting here illegally or anything... Wait, no, that’s exactly what we’re doing right now, isn’t it...? 
I shrugged my shoulders and picked up the key, silently apologizing to my late grandfather for the inconvenience all the while. 
 
“Oh, hey! The lights work!” 
There was a switch right by the doorway, so I flipped it. The area around the door was instantly illuminated. It was good to know the electricity was working. 
If the place is the same as it was when grandpa died, then there should be a fridge and TV around here, too... Wait, huh? 
The lights started flickering on and off. Initially, I wondered if the bulbs were going out, but it turned out to just be Leen flicking the switch. 
Don’t do that! 
“It really does work without magic... So this is electricity, hm? The ability to harness the element of lightning is impressive...” 
“Yep. The switch there turns the lights on and off.” 
“Most fascinating... Most fascinating indeed...” Leen smiled softly as she looked up at the retro-style light. 
“Let’s goooooo!” Sue roared as she charged forward through the door, stomping down the hallway. She was tracking dirt with her, and the other girls weren’t far behind. 
Wait! Stop, stop! 
“Wait, everyone! You must remove your shoes when you enter this house, you must!” 
“Good job, Yae! I’m glad at least you know.” 
Yae was from Eashen, a nation that had many customs similar to Japan, so she understood that this house was just western-styled and not actually a western building. Even if it looked like something you’d find in a western country, you couldn’t just wear shoes in the house. That’d be way too dirty. 
The girls realized their mistake, then quickly returned to the porch. Unfortunately, they’d trailed a little bit of dirt inside... Hopefully, there were some cleaning supplies around. 
The girls must’ve thought we were in a western country because of how the house looked. But luckily, they were familiar enough with Eashenese customs to get the message. We all took our shoes off and headed inside. 
My grandpa’s house often had visitors, but there weren’t enough slippers for ten people. Still, it would be fine to go around barefoot. The house didn’t have a speck of dust in the place! I didn’t know whether to thank God Almighty or my mother for that, but I had a feeling it was probably the latter. 
I wanted to check the water in the bathroom, but I was so pathetically small that I failed to reach the toilet. 
“Here, I’ll get it,” Elze said as she flushed the toilet for me. It went off without a hitch. 
Phew... Now we don’t need to worry about our bathroom needs. 
“Grand Duke! Is this the terryvision?!” 
“Ohhh! A tee bee!” 
Sakura and Sue got excited when they saw the flat-screen television in the living room. They knew about TVs thanks to me putting on movies for them, but they’d never actually seen one in person. 
“How do we control it without magic?” 
“There’s probably a switch like with the lights, right?” 
Linze and Elze walked up to the television, looking for obvious ways to turn it on. 
Uhhh... Where’s the remote... Oh, there it is! 
I picked up the remote control from a nearby side table, then pressed a button. The power light on the TV turned green, and a zebra appeared on the screen. It was a rerun of some animal documentary. 
“Oh! A horse! So this world has horses too!” 
“Huh? Why’s it striped...?” 
“That’s not a horse, it’s a tiger! It’s colored just like Kohaku!” 
“It’s definitely a horse, Sis...” 
I’d never seen any zebras in the other world, so presumably, they just didn’t have them. They did, however, have a striped monster known as a Tiger Bear. 
Huh?! 
Lu suddenly picked me up and dragged me into the kitchen. There was a large sink, two gas stoves, a fridge, a microwave, a toaster, a coffee maker, and various other things. My grandpa lived alone, so his house was well equipped. 
“Touya! Can I make use of this equipment?!” 
“Uhhh... yes...? Maybe? Yeah.” 
Lu, driven by her love for all things culinary, looked over the kitchen with an amazed expression on her face. Then, she held me up as I made sure the faucet worked and checked the gas stove. Everything seemed just fine. And since we had gas, we’d have heated water for the bath. Though, the bath in this place was pretty small. 
“What’s this big box and this little box?” 
“The big one’s called a fridge. Essentially, it keeps your food cold. The little one is a microwave oven that heats your food.” 
Lu set me down, walked over to the fridge, and opened it. 
“You weren’t lying... It’s actually cold inside it...” 
“Yeah... There’s no food in there, though.” 
The fridge was completely bare, but that wasn’t exactly surprising. It was shiny and clean, but there was no reason for it to be fully stocked. 
Lu found the kitchen knives, a whisk, and various other cooking utensils. She asked me a ton of questions, but to be honest, my knowledge was kind of limited. 
After a short while, Lu found a cookbook in one of the cabinets. Her attention immediately shifted toward it, allowing me to make a daring escape. 
I went back to the living room and found Elze, Linze, Sue, and Sakura still glued to the TV. 
Huh? Where are Yumina and the rest of them? 
I walked into the hallway and heard talking from upstairs. They were in my grandfather’s study, which was just a short walk away. It had a ton of books, but I never really went inside. Leen and Yumina naturally had an interest in the books there, but I wondered what Hilde and Yae were doing. I could clearly hear their voices from the study, but just what were they talking about? 
“How old is Touya-dono here?” 
“He must have been three or four.” 
“Pfft... He’s crying.” 
“Our darling was quite cute at this age, wasn’t he?” 
That doesn’t sound good... 
I glanced into the study and saw the four girls peeking into a thick book. 
Hm? What’s...? Oh no! 
“Oh, Touya.” 
“Where’d you find that?!” 
“We found it on the desk, right here. I opened it up to take a look, and it was filled with familiar faces,” Leen grinned gently as she spoke. 
Don’t mock me... It’s not my fault that my grandpa kept an extensive photo album of me! I remember he’d chase me around with his camera, and even take candid shots without me knowing! 
“I’m confiscating that!” 
I dashed forward and snatched the album from Yumina’s hands. 
Did God Almighty leave this thing out here?! It should’ve been sealed away, damn it! 
“Do not be embarrassed, Touya-dono. Many people have wet the bed as a child, they have.” 
“You saw that too?!” 
Utter embarrassment coursed through my veins as I used my divinity to open up [Storage] and throw the album beyond their reach. 
Ack... Huh? 
Leen noticed my surprise and raised her brow. 
“What’s wrong?” 
“Well, uh... when I used [Storage] just now, I felt my divinity drain way faster. I didn’t think it’d be this hard...” 
Karen had told me to channel my divinity through my smartphone instead of using it directly, and I understood why. 
I used my Smartphone to open up the [Storage] app instead. It was definitely easier that way, so using the smartphone as a crutch was the way to go. It was kind of like using an electric-assisted motorcycle. 
“I knew Earth didn’t have much magic in its atmosphere, but I didn’t think it’d be this scarce... We could technically use magic here, but it’d take considerable preparation and would likely need a lot of supplementary equipment.” 
If Leen’s hypothesis was correct, then magic could have seen some use on Earth. Perhaps some of our myths and legends weren’t quite as fabricated as we’d thought. 
“Touya! I’m hungryyy!” 
I heard Sue call out to me from downstairs. When I glanced at the clock in the study, I noticed that it was already past noon. Later than I’d expected, honestly. 
Unfortunately, the fridge was empty... There was some food in [Storage], but I’d come all the way to Earth. It was time for some of our cuisine. 
Everyone else agreed with me about eating Earth food, so we made our way into the nearby town. 
There was a fair bit of distance between Grandpa’s house and the commercial district, but I had enough bicycles in [Storage] for all of us, so that helped... Except my legs couldn’t reach the pedals, so Elze just let me ride with her instead. 
I noticed a local diner by the main street, so we decided to eat there. 
It was a little dangerous walking through the main street, though... All the girls kept getting distracted by the traffic lights, cars, guard rails, and traffic mirrors. They even ran into the middle of the road at one point, which was frightening... 
Thankfully, the restaurant wasn’t too crowded, but it did have some remnants of the lunch rush. We were led to a large table where the girls excitedly glanced over the pictures on the menu. By the time the food reached us, the girls had gotten most of their excitement out of their system, however. 
Yumina ordered omelet rice, Elze ordered diced steak, Linze ordered the shrimp gratin, Yae ordered beef stew (and a pork loin cutlet, and a chicken fried steak, and a pork bowl), Hilde ordered tomato-eggplant spaghetti, Lu ordered grilled fish with Japanese vegetables, Sue ordered fried shrimp and a hamburg steak, Leen ordered a club sandwich, and Sakura ordered a bacon pizza. I got the kid’s lunch set, since I figured I might as well use the opportunity to order it. 
“Ohhh! This is yummy!” Sue let out a gleeful cheer after she took a bite. A sense of deja vu washed over me. She’d had a similar reaction the first time she’d ever eaten a roll cake. 
“It tastes quite unusual, but it’s certainly delicious. There are many unfamiliar flavors in here...” Lu, whose tongue was sensitive enough to detect even a single grain of salt, took her time savoring her meal. I wondered if the unfamiliar flavors were the result of natural ingredients or chemical ones. Either way, I hoped she was enjoying her meal and not focusing too hard on the analysis aspect. 
We didn’t just stick to our individual orders. The girls took great pleasure in sharing amongst themselves. I couldn’t eat too much, though. It seemed my appetite had shrunk with my size. 
“I would like to try the deezurt, I would.” 
“...Dessert, you mean. And you’re still hungry?” 
Apparently, Yae was still hungry, and so were the other girls. They hurriedly started glancing over the dessert menu. 
I guess you guys have a separate stomach for sweet stuff, huh? 
Soon enough, the table was covered in strawberry pancakes, chocolate parfaits, mille-feuille, fondant, matcha, ice cream, and cakes a-plenty. There were even more dishes than they’d ordered for their main course! The sweet fragrance was overwhelming, so I quickly drowned it out with a post-meal coffee. 
“Touya, what shall we do next?” 
“Don’t tell me you’re already thinking about dinner...” I laughed at Lu’s question, but it was true that we didn’t have anything in our fridge. We didn’t want to rely on food from [Storage], so a trip to the grocery store was probably in order. 
“I’d like to visit a bookstore.” 
“Ah, so would I.” 
Leen and Linze seemed to have already made their decision. 
“Well... I want to check out some clothing.” 
“I wanna go somewhere fun!” 
“I’d like to inspect the local weapons.” 
Elze and Sue’s courses of action seemed simple enough, but Hilde’s request was tricky. I quickly explained to her that she couldn’t just buy stuff like swords and spears. Though, if she went to a hobby store, she could probably find bamboo weapons for kendo practice. Still, the girls wanted to go all over the place... 
I don’t really know my way around here, so... Hmm... What should I...? Oh, I know. 
“Excuse me!” 
“Yes, can I help you?” 
I flagged down a passing waitress, and she gave a big smile when she noticed I was a little boy. 
“About five years ago, I heard they built a department store around here. Where is it?” 
“Department store? Oh, right! Yeah. There’s a mall just down the street. Take a sharp left and you can’t miss the sign. Wait, did you say you heard about it five years ago?” 
“Um... Ummm... My sister heard it! She did! Haha!” 
“Um?! Uh?! I did, did I?! I did!” 
I quickly yanked on Yae’s arm and laughed nervously. That was risky... I needed to act more like a five-year-old boy. 
The waitress smiled awkwardly and got back to work as soon as possible. She probably thought I was a weird kid... 
Yumina tapped me on the shoulder. 
“Touya, what’s a mall?” 
“Oh uh, it’s like a big building with a bunch of stores in it. You can find food there, clothes, shoes, and so on.” 
“Is there a bookstore there too?” 
“Should be, yeah.” 
Linze beamed after hearing that. Thanks to her wedding ring, she could read any language. 
“Alrighty! Let’s head to the mall after we’re done eating. We can pick up some food for dinner, too.” 
“Hurray!” 
When I mentioned grocery shopping, Lu clapped her hands together with glee. The girls, all looking forward to visiting the mall, started chowing down on the rest of their desserts. 
One by one, the sweet treats vanished. I couldn’t understand how they ate such sugary stuff... I took another gulp of my bitter coffee as the sweet scent assaulted my nostrils. 
 
“Wow... This place is pretty big.” 
“Oho! So this is a shopping hall!” 
Mall... I sighed quietly. The place was quite surprising, in all honesty. The last time I’d visited the area, there was nothing here. 
We parked our bicycles outside, chained them up, and then headed to the entrance. The girls started looking around all the shops with vested interest, and their behavior was drawing a bit of attention. Other than Yae and I, we stood out pretty clearly as a group of foreigners. Hopefully, they thought Sakura’s hair was just dyed or something. 
“Ooh! It’s all so fancy!” Elze let out an amazed gasp as she saw the bright lights shining down on various fashionable mannequins. She looked from store to store, each one different from the other. Some sold bags, some sold accessories, and others sold shoes. 
I stopped Elze from charging into the stores and brought the girls to an information board by the escalator. 
Five floors and a basement, huh? Simple enough. 
“Touya! Those stairs are moving!” 
“I saw this in some of our darling’s memories. It’s called an escalayer. Most interesting...” 
“Uhhh... Hilde, Leen? Don’t make comments like that. You’ll draw unneeded attention.” 
I glanced to the side and noticed the girls were staring at the escalator in disbelief. The people on the escalator looked back down at them, probably confused as to why they were being so intently studied. I felt pretty awkward about it, to be honest. 
“What is this, a map?” Linze asked as she peered over at the information board. 
“It is, yeah. Do you wanna see?” 
Let’s see here... Bookstore’s on the fourth floor, along with movies and music. Then, there are some attractions on the fifth. Arcade’s there, too... 
Since there were so many people around, I couldn’t exactly use [Storage] for the grocery shopping. 
We should start with the bookstore first... Wait, what? 
“...Gimme a sec, guys. I’ll be right back.” 
“Huh? Touya?” 
I quickly ran off after telling Yumina and the others to stay put. I’d recognized a duo who’d just passed by, and I needed to find them. 
After a few moments of running, I saw them. An old man and his wife, walking hand in hand. It was Mr. and Mrs. Asano. The sight of them really brought back memories. 
Mr. Asano was a friend of my grandpa’s, and I’d met him a few times. He used to give me candy whenever I saw him, even going so far as to bring one to my grandpa’s funeral. I was happy to see he was doing okay. 
I watched the two of them from afar for a little while, but I couldn’t stay there looking at them forever. And so, I gathered my sentimentality up and headed back to the escalator... But by the time I made it back, none of the girls were there. 
“Whaaat?!” 
I scurried around in a panic. 
They’re normally easy to spot, but I’m way too short to get a good look around! Oh, wait! Over there! I can see Elze’s silvery hair! I gotta catch them before it’s too late! 
I rushed into a store and saw Elze talking to an assistant. Unfortunately, she was completely alone. 
“Oh, Touya. Which outfit looks better?” Elze asked as she held up a fluffy blue dress in one hand and a red checkered dress in the other. Both looked really cute. 
Hmm... It’s Elze, so I feel like the red one suits her better... Wait! I can’t afford to get distracted here! 
“Elze! Where are the other girls?” 
“We all decided where to go based on the board, and headed there! It’ll save a lot of time if we just do that and meet up later, you know?!” 
I mean... yeah, but no! I know from experience that wandering around in another world is a recipe for disaster! 
I whipped out my phone and called Yumina. There was no reply. Had she gotten into trouble already?! 
“Oh, we left our phones at the house.” 
“Why would you do that?!” 
“We can’t use magic here, so what if they get stolen? We wouldn’t be able to get them back.” 
The mass-produced smartphones were enchanted with [Apport] and [Teleport], so you could recall them to your hand if they got lost. 
Sure, that function won’t work here, but why wouldn’t you bring your phone anyway?! This is exactly the kind of situation where you need it! 
“Ugh... Damn it... [Search].” 
I quietly channeled my divinity through my phone to trigger the [Search] app. Now I’d be able to find out where the girls were. 
Crap... It’s a birds-eye view, so I can’t see what floor they’re on. It says Sue’s right around the corner, but I don’t see her, so she’s probably on one of the floors above. 
As I grumbled, Elze still struggled to decide on her outfit. 
“Mmm... I like the color on this one, but this one’s more breathable, right? Hmm...” 
“We’ll take both.” 
I turned to the assistant with a smile, ending Elze’s dilemma. I had no time to waste, since I had to find the other girls before they got into any trouble. If they got caught by police officers, they had no form of ID on them. That’d be a huge problem. 
Ugh... This shopping mall just turned into a dungeon with a hell of an annoying fetch quest. 
 
Even though I got separated from the girls, they were still connected to me through divinity. If I were to utilize my apotheosis to its fullest limit, I’d know their exact whereabouts. Right now, though, I just had a vague idea. 
If they were in danger, my senses would be alerted to their location. Thankfully, nothing like that had happened, and ideally, nothing like that was going to happen. 
“We thought it’d be okay to leave for a bit, sorry.” 
“Well, it’s my own fault for getting distracted. Let’s just round the others up as soon as we can.” 
There wasn’t any immediate danger, but they could still get into trouble. I left the clothing store with Elze, holding her hand in mine so we didn’t get separated. Her other hand held the bag of clothes she’d just picked up. 
“They’re not on the ground floor.” 
I’d used my magic to figure out where they were, for the most part. This place was big, but it wasn’t larger than Brunhild castle. If we went out and looked, I knew we’d find the girls again. 
Kind of annoying how well you guys managed to fan out... More than kind of, really. I guess I’ll go from top to bottom, since the grocery store’s in the basement and we were gonna head there last. 
Based on my search results, Yae and Lu were likely already down there. That also fit with their personalities. 
“Hm? Are we gonna ride the escargator?” 
“No. We need to go up to the fifth floor, so we’ll take the elevator.” 
I dragged Elze to the elevator and clicked the call button. She raised her brow in surprise when the button began to glow red. Eventually, the elevator came down to the first floor, and a family walked out. 
Once it was fully vacant, I went in and pressed the button that held the door open. 
“C’mon, Elze.” 
“Huh? Oh, right!” 
Elze got distracted by the family and almost missed the ride. I was a little concerned, but once she safely got inside, I pressed the button to close the door. 
“I-It closed?!” 
“Yeah, don’t worry. It’ll open up in a minute.” 
“Eek!” 
Once the elevator started to move, Elze shrieked and clung to my side. She clearly wasn’t used to this. 
“It’s okay. We’re in a box that’s slowly moving upward. I’ll take us to the fifth floor.” 
“I-I know that! I’ve seen elegators in movies before... I just never thought about how it’d feel!” Elze grumbled and tried to bluff some courage. I just shrugged and looked at the floor display in response. 
We finally arrived at the fifth floor. Despite the fact that Elze knew we’d be on a different floor, she still seemed surprised as she stepped outside. 
If I was right, Sue was on this floor. She was apparently at an arcade on the far end of the floor. 
I dragged Elze along again, taking her to an amusement corner. There were crane games, arcade cabinets, photobooths, and sticker machines dotted about. 
“What is this place? It’s kinda noisy...” Elze said, apparently not appreciating the ambiance. Thankfully, Sue had hair that was as vibrant as Elze’s, so it was easy to pick her out. 
Sue had her face pressed up against a crane game window. The interior was lined with packets of candy. Just what was she doing? 
“Sue.” 
“Oh! You guys! This masheen isn’t working... Not even when I press the button! Does it hate me...?” Sue groaned and sniffled as she pressed the buttons on the machine, completely ignoring the fact that it required money to operate. I’d forgotten to give everyone some pocket change... 
I’d brought the concept of gacha machines to their world through Olba’s store, so it was safe to assume they didn’t know about games like this. I pulled a hundred yen coin from my wallet and slotted it into the crane game, then pushed the button, and the crane went diving down into the pile of candy. 
“Ooh! It’s moving!” Sue giggled as the crane grabbed some candy. Most of them slipped back into the pile, but three pieces of candy stayed until the end. 
“And that’s how you do it.” 
“I wanna try! Touya! Lemme try!” 
I let Sue take my spot. The game let you try it three times for a hundred yen, so there were two more tries left. 
As I watched Sue excitedly control the crane, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Elze holding her hand out... She clearly wanted a turn as well. 
Elze cheerily took some money and went to try her hand at a game. After we’d spent a total of five-hundred yen, I brought the festivities to a halt. 
I took a plastic bag from the side of the case and put some candies inside before handing them off to Sue. She beamed a smile brighter than the sun itself. For five hundred yen, we definitely could’ve gotten better snacks, but I didn’t want to ruin the moment. 
Now we had Sue, so it was time to scout the fourth floor. 
The three of us took the escalator downstairs. And the moment we made it to the fourth floor, I spotted Sakura. She was standing in front of a CD store, humming along to an idol song blaring from some speakers. There was a small crowd surrounding her. 
Sakura’s hair really made her stand out. Even though she was cheerily watching the idol video and humming along to it, nobody had approached her. There was a kind of unearthly air around her that made her hard to talk to. 
“Sakura.” 
“Grand Duke... This song is amazing... I want it...” Sakura said as she started breathing heavily. I could see her nostrils flaring. 
Okay, calm down... 
My grandpa had a CD player at his place, so we could probably buy it for later. We could listen to it right away if we downloaded it to my phone, but it was better to buy things you liked. Plus, it’d make for a good memory with Sakura. 
“You must really like it, huh?” 
“Mhm. I know all the words... Want me to sing?” 
“Oh, that’s not necessary. We’ll listen to it when we get home.” 
If Sakura started singing here, she’d draw a huge amount of attention. We didn’t have the doctor’s mic, and she couldn’t activate her vocal magic either, but there’s no way her performance wouldn’t attract a crowd. 
We left the store with a CD in hand. If my calculations were correct, Linze and Leen were also on this floor. 
They were both in the same place... Presumably, a bookstore. It was actually a fairly big store with a wide variety of books, as well as a section for stationary. 
“Oh, there’s Leen.” 
“Hm?” 
Sue tapped my shoulder and pointed toward a bookshelf. Leen stood over in the corner of an aisle, browsing books in the world mythology section. It had books about events ranging from Greek mythology to Indian folklore to Japanese stories. 
Leen smiled, not even looking up from her book as we approached. Though, she closed it when we got near her, probably because she sensed us through our divine connection. 
“Ah, darling! Right on time. May I buy this book?” 
“You don’t need my permission... Wait, you’re interested in mythology?” 
“I am. The stories are rather interesting. Some are even similar to heroic tales from back home.” 
Really...? I guess that would be interesting to someone from another world. I wonder just how similar some of the legends are, though. 
God Almighty had told me that he’d chosen to send me to that particular world because, while it was quite different, it also had many similarities in its history, naming conventions, and code of laws. It was different enough to be something new, but still somewhat familiar. 
We’d found Leen, so now we just had to find Linze. 
“She went searching for a novel.” 
Novels, huh? Let’s see... 
I walked through the aisles, checking the genre labels. 
Horror... History... Mystery... Sci-Fi... Fantasy... Nope, she’s not here. But I can sense her nearby... 
“I feel like Linze is probably into romance novels. I think she was talking about them, at least,” Elze chimed in. She knew her best, so I followed her advice and eventually found Linze engrossed in a book. 
She actually was in the romance section... The book in Linze’s hands had an interesting cover... It portrayed a blushing young man being embraced from behind by another young man in glasses. 
“Ohhh!” Linze was so engrossed in the novel that she clearly hadn’t noticed us. She flipped through the pages at breakneck speed, sniffling and gasping every now and then. 
...Yeah, I don’t think she should be reading this stuff... She’s gonna draw attention... 
I didn’t want to just keep standing there, so I called out to her. 
“...You wanna buy that book, Linze?” 
“Huh?! T-Touya?! Oh, everyone else?!” 
Linze stood up straight, shocked to see us. Then, she quickly hid the book behind her back. It was a little late for that, though, given that there was an entire bookcase of that particular genre right next to her. 
“C’mon, you should buy it, then read it at home. It’s not good to read stuff before you’ve bought it.” 
“O-Oh, right! Yeah!” 
“Was there anything else you wanted to buy?” 
“Oh, yes. Um... this one, and this one... This one, too! I also thought this series was quite interesting. Ah yes, there’s also this one...” 
Waiiiiiit! Linze, stop! That’s practically the entire bookshelf! I can technically afford it, but isn’t that a bit much?! 

 

We gathered all the books and took them to the checkout counter. The clerk was initially shocked, but we managed to pay for them without incident. 
Next up was the third floor, but we needed to find a bathroom first. I didn’t need to go or anything, I just needed a private space to activate [Storage] and put all our heavy bags away. 
I entered the men’s room. It was empty except for a man who was washing his hands. He was initially quite confused by the sight of me, which I couldn’t blame him for. It wasn’t every day you saw a 5-year-old child walk into a bathroom with several massive paper bags. 
I went into a stall and waited for the man to leave. Then, I channeled my divinity through my phone and activated [Storage], stashing Elze’s clothing, Sue’s candy, as well as Leen and Linze’s books. My arms were certainly thankful for the lightened load. 
Being on Earth really hammered in just how convenient magic was. It was a pain to only be able to use it out of sight. 
I headed outside and was relieved to see that the girls hadn’t run off again. I’d made sure to very firmly tell them to stay put this time. 
“Who’s on the third floor?” 
“Uhhh... Hilde, I think. She should be right down here.” 
As I answered Linze’s question, I glanced up at the information board by the fourth floor’s elevator. It said “Fifth Floor: Arcade, Cafe, 100-yen Store, Home and Hardware Store, Bedding Store.” That was the floor we’d just come from. I quickly looked to the other part of the board and finally found the right part. It said “Third Floor: Children’s Clothing, Sports Goods, Kimonos, Baby Supplies, Toystore.” 
We took the escalator down and soon found Hilde. She was inside a store, holding a piece of merchandise with a puzzled look on her face. 
“Hmm...” 
“...What are you doing, Hilde?” 
“Oh, Touya. This fully-armored warrior... He has many dolls in this store, as well as numerous replicas of his weapons. Is he a famous soldier? Does he perhaps serve this country?” 
“Uh... kind of... I guess? He’s definitely famous.” 
That’s not armor, Hilde... It’s just his rider outfit. 
The item Hilde had in her hand was an action figure of a certain famous masked hero. I didn’t quite know how to explain it, though. The entire area was filled with merchandise of the character. There were swords, guns, belts, and more. 
“Do you want to buy it?” 
“Yes, I do. If this hero’s that famous, I’d like to keep this as a memento.” 
...But the design’ll end up completely different by the time the next season rolls around... 
“Oh. That bear looks like Paula...” 
“Oh, you’re right. Darling, I’d like to buy this. It can be a nice souvenir for Paula.” 
Not sure how I feel about buying a stuffed bear as a souvenir for a stuffed bear... Maybe if we applied [Program] to it, it could become Paula’s wife...? Husband...? Wait, is Paula a boy or a girl, anyway? I always just assumed... 
“Oh, there’s some little Ether Vehicles here...” 
“Eheheh... There’s a ton, huh, Sis?” 
Elze and Linze were amazed by the toy cars, but that was only a small fraction of the actual amount of merchandise available. 
“Grand Duke... This one’s interesting. I want it...” Sakura said as she walked over holding a magical girl wand. 
But you can cast spells without that! 
I felt like if we stayed in the toy store for too long, we’d end up buying the place. We needed to get the hell out. 
I picked up the action figure, the wand, and the stuffed bear, then rushed to the counter and paid for it all. The cashier probably thought they were for me... Scratch that, she definitely did. Now that we’d found Hilde, we decided to head on downstairs once more. Yumina would be on the second floor, then we’d find Yae and Lu in the basement. 
“Ah... This way.” 
The second floor was mostly for women’s goods. It had handbags, makeup, and other such products. I didn’t really fit in, but I didn’t feel embarrassed, since I looked like a little kid. 
Yumina was in a jewelry store not too far from the escalator. She was holding a small brooch in her hand. 
“Oh, Touya. Is everyone done?” 
Yumina came walking over toward us, and Leen peered at the brooch in her hand. It had a little rabbit holding a clock etched into it, clearly inspired by Alice in Wonderland. 
“What a nice brooch.” 
“Isn’t it? It’s a shame it’s a little coarsely made, though.” 
...Yumina, please don’t say that while the shopkeeper is still in earshot. 
This wasn’t a fancy store or anything, it was more for reasonably-priced purchases. It was pretty obvious to me that it wouldn’t meet the standards of royalty. 
“Ooh, this pendant’s really cute!” 
“I like this hair clip.” 
Sue and Linze walked past Yumina into the store, prompting all my other brides to fan out among the accessories. 
...Time for another shopping spree, huh? We still need to pick up Yae and Lu, guys! 
In the end, I was overpowered, so I picked up some accessories for Yae and Lu as well. Didn’t want them feeling left out. I got an ornate hairpin for Yae and a green glass bracelet for Lu. I could only hope they’d like them. 
I paid, once again, and left the store. Now we could finally do what I wanted to do, grocery shopping! 
The escalator took us down to the basement, but as we got closer to the grocery store, I heard a loud commotion. 
I have a bad feeling about this... 
 
“Ooh! This is the best, it is! It has a squishy texture, but then the flavor seeps through! It is incredible, it is!” 
“Right? There aren’t any other sausages around that are as tasty as this one! You have great taste, young lady!” 
“Come here, try this one out! I’m sure you’ll love it!” 
“If you insist... Mmm! These peaches are so fresh and delicious, they are! They are truly addicting!” 
I couldn’t believe my eyes. 
When we came down the escalator, we saw Yae surrounded by some older women who were giving out free samples of food. 
There was a large crowd surrounding them all, as well. They were all looking at Yae’s reaction to the samples, and deciding to buy boxes of the food. Somehow, Yae had been roped in as an unaware sales assistant. 
“That looks good... When did Yae start working here, though?” 
“I don’t think she is, Sue...” 
It was more like she was being used. She was very much the kind of person who overreacted when it came to meals, and her reactions often made people want to try out what she was eating. This made her the perfect lure for advertising free samples. 
Yae wasn’t picky when it came to her meals. She had a few things she disliked, but she’d eat just about anything available. In Yae’s mind, there were only two kinds of food: good and super good. 
It wasn’t that she didn’t have a good sense of taste, mind you. She just knew what she liked, and I could respect that... But her reactions were often so over-the-top that it honestly seemed like she’d have been a perfect TV personality. 
I was mostly amazed at how she could still be eating, given we’d only recently had lunch. 
Sorry, old ladies... but we’re here to pick up our Yae. 
Yae, who was still being fed like a baby bird, was about to have her eating spree brought to a halt. 
“Oh! Big Sis, there you are!” 
“Big Sis? I am your wif— Mfgh?!” 
Even though I deliberately spoke like a child, Yae didn’t get it and had to be muffled by Hilde before she blew our cover. I was glad Hilde wasn’t quite as dense. 
“Heeey. We gotta go! Mommy’s lookin’ for us!” 
I tried talking as childishly as I could, but it ended up coming out pretty forced. I’d seen an anime about a teen who turned into a child, and it kinda went like this too... Acting like that really hurt my pride... I was ashamed of myself. 
“Mommy? But my mother is in Eashen, she i—” Yae, continuing her campaign of obliviousness, was sharply elbowed in the side by Hilde. 
Luckily, she finally got the picture. 
“O-Oh, yes. I understand, I do. We should go back, we should.” 
“Aww, you’re leaving?” 
“Yes. I have some business to attend to, I do.” 
Yae apologized to the older ladies with a smile. 
Just as we were about to leave, we were struck with a silent pressure from the women. With a sigh, I picked up some boxes of the goods Yae had sampled. 
It wasn’t such a big deal, since we needed food anyway. I just wanted to go and find Lu already. 
“All the food here is so yummy, it is.” 
“I’m glad you like it, but we’ve gotta find Lu so we can do some grocery shopping.” 
Um... I guess she’s this way... 
I followed my smartphone display until we came to an aisle with frying pans and cookware. Of course she’d be here of all places. 
Lu was standing in the corner, narrowing her eyes as she scrutinized a square frying pan. 
“Lu.” 
“Mmm...” 
“Lu?” 
“Huh? Oh! Touya! Sorry, I was just thinking about this pan...” Lu said as she looked up at us with a smile. I had no idea what there was to think about. It was just a frying pan, but square, right? 
“I was wondering about the shape. All the other ones are round, but this one isn’t...” 
“Oh, right. I think this one’s for cooking tamagoyaki. You know, egg rolls.” 
I’d heard somewhere about professional cooks using separate pans just for eggs. If you used a pan for various things, the residue would stick to it, which would ruin the eggs. I didn’t know if square frying pans were common in western countries, though. 
“A pan just for frying eggs... Amazing... Can I, um...” 
“Yep. We can buy one. No, let’s get two, since Crea would probably like one as well.” 
“Hurray! I think she will!” 
Lu smiled gently as she brought the pan over to me. Crea served as Lu’s teacher in the culinary arts. The two of them had developed a close bond over the course of their cooking lessons. She’d probably be delighted to receive a gift from her apprentice. 
I turned to put the pan in a basket Hilde was holding... only to see her and Yae looking at some kitchen knives. 
“This knife is not well-made, it is not. It will chip easily.” 
“I agree... There isn’t much soul behind the construction. I would wager the smith didn’t care much for it.” 
It’s factory-made, guys... There’s definitely a difference between handcrafted blades and mass-produced ones, though there’s been some advancement on that front in recent years. Either way, if it cuts, I’m not gonna complain much. 
“Now that we’re all together again, I have to ask... What do we want to eat for dinner?” 
“This!” Lu immediately answered Leen’s question in an excited tone. 
I wondered what she had in mind. She held up a small card with a picture of a meal on it. The back of the card had instructions on how to cook it, as well as an ingredients list. 
“I got this at the entrance. They said I could take it for free, so I thought, ‘Why not?’ I’m amazed at how clear all the instructions are!” 
Oh, a free recipe card, huh? Looks like you picked up quite a few... 
“They all look so delicious! I’m itching to try cooking them!” 
Lu’s eyes were positively blazing. I’d given her tons of recipes for dishes from Earth, but so far she’d had to make do with ingredients from the other world. However, now she finally had the opportunity to cook meals with authentic interdimensional ingredients, so I couldn’t blame her for being excited. 
But you won’t have time to cook all of these, right? 
“There are a few too many dishes, so try focusing on a couple you like.” 
Think about it this way, we’re not gonna be here forever. We won’t be able to eat all of these meals... 
“Yae’s here, though.” 
“...Point taken.” 
Yae was certainly the master of waste disposal in our household. 
For the time being, we walked around the grocery store, checking off everything on Lu’s list. I’d never been to this grocery store before, but Japan’s rigid system of labeling and structure made finding our way around simple. 
There were veggies, meat, fresh fish, and more. We even picked up a couple of boxed lunches. 
We got sidetracked once or twice. Sue went to the candy aisle, while Linze and Sakura wanted to try some ice cream. Eventually, though, we got all our ingredients. The rice was really heavy, and they’d bought way too much dessert. 
I almost died from shock when I saw the total price at the checkout counter. Sure, I’d become unreasonably rich in the other world, but seeing such a vast amount of yen on the screen messed with my head. 
I wondered if that was normal for a family of nine... Though, without Yae, the cost probably would’ve halved. Still, with nine of us, there was plenty to share, so it would make for a lot of fun. 
We merrily left the grocery store after that, and I found a quiet corner in the parking lot to activate [Storage]. I made sure to take the extra precaution of having the girls surround me like a barricade. 
Magic sure was convenient. Never again would I take it for granted. 
We could’ve gone to a private place and used [Gate] to head home, but everyone wanted to see a bit more of the world, so we rode our bikes back instead. 
On the way back, we found a small boutique with little trinkets and clothes. The girls did a little more shopping in there. By the time we made it back to my grandpa’s house, it was almost dusk. 
“It’s time to do this! Linze, Sue, could you help me out?” 
“Oh, okay. I’d be happy to.” 
“Yeah! Let’s gooo!” 
Lu charged headlong into the kitchen with Linze and Sue in tow. They were the best choices as far as kitchen help went. 
Yumina and Hilde were royals, so they had virtually no direct cooking experience. Yae could make a few basic dishes, but her main talent was eating. Leen and Sakura just weren’t interested. Elze, on the other hand, was actually quite a skilled cook... Though everything she made inexplicably became horrifically spicy. 
Linze could cook just fine, and Sue had been learning a lot during her bridal lessons. 
To be fair to Yae, she was a valid helper. Lu probably just didn’t want her to nibble on the ingredients, since it was her first time working with Earth-based foodstuff. 
“Touya! Bring the ingredients out!” 
“Oh yeah, almost forgot.” 
I opened up [Storage] and dropped the bags on the kitchen table. My grandpa lived alone, but he had a very big fridge and a pretty high-grade kitchen because he often entertained guests. Plus, he enjoyed cooking as a hobby. 
I prioritized ingredients that looked like they’d spoil soon for today’s dinner. After cramming as much as I could in the fridge, I left the rest of the ingredients for the girls. The stuff in the fridge was mostly veggies, so they wouldn’t spoil super fast, and as they got used up, they’d free more fridge space. 
I went back into the living room and sat down in front of the TV. The girls had question after question about things that showed up on the broadcast. And obviously, I was the one who had to answer it all. 
As the smell of food from the kitchen grew stronger and stronger, the girls got so distracted that they stopped asking me questions. Only Leen continued to probe my mind until the food was ready. 
“Mealtime!” Linze’s voice immediately summoned a stampede into the dining room. There was a fairly large table there, but it could only seat four people on either side. We remedied that issue by bringing in two extra chairs and placing them at either end. 
“Wow, amazing!” 
“This is a lavish sight, it is!” 
The table was covered in various dishes. There was salmon drizzled with tartar sauce, cabbage and apple salad, swordfish in lemon sauce, potato and bok choy simmered in cream, paella with clams and chicken drumsticks, gyoza dumplings, a yakisoba noodle platter, and many other smaller sides. 
I was utterly amazed by the sheer quantity of food, especially since Lu had made it all with only a hobbyist’s kitchen to work with. 
“Come on, everyone, take a seat.” 
Everyone grinned wide as they sat down. The plates, chopsticks, and forks were all set out. 
“Let’s eat!” 
We all cheered and dug in, greedily devouring the vast smorgasbord of food. Unfortunately, just like in the family restaurant, I couldn’t eat very much at all on account of my diminutive form. 
Food definitely tasted different with ingredients from the other side, but maybe my obvious nostalgia and general bias tinged my opinion. 
After we finished eating, Linze and the others brought out the ice cream. And they didn’t stop there. They also set out cakes, pudding, jelly, and more traditional Japanese confections. I really couldn’t believe their appetites... 
I was a little worried we’d start getting fat, but they seemed happy, so I couldn’t complain. Besides, no amount of weight gain was going to stop me from loving them. Although, it was possible the divinity in them would prevent their physical forms from changing all that much... As I pondered that idea, I bit down on a sweet treat Linze passed to me. 
Oh, this one’s good... I haven’t had this style of ice cream in a long time. I prefer the one wrapped in mochi, though. 
“What will we be doing tomorrow, Touya-dono?” 
I was amazed Yae could speak, considering how many sweet buns she was ramming down her throat. 
“Well, we can’t visit my parents until they’re sleeping at night... so why don’t we take a day trip somewhere?” 
I wanted to make some fun memories. 
“In that case, Touya, I would like to ride a train.” 
“Me too! I wanna ride a train with Yumina!” 
A train, huh? I guess that could be fun. So long as they bring their phones, and it’s not too crowded, anyway... 
Just riding the train seemed a little boring, though, so we needed an actual destination... 
I pulled out my phone and looked up the train line. 
Museums... That’s no good. The girls don’t really know any of this world’s history. 
A movie theater, maybe? Nah, they watch stuff on the smartphone projector all the time. Then again, the experience of going to the movies is pretty unique... 
The amusement park’s way too far out, so how about the zoo or the aquarium? That’s within riding distance. 
“A... zoo? And you say you can see lots of animals there?” Yumina asked, sounding mighty curious. 
In the other world, there were regular animals... but there were also a lot of monsters, so zoos hadn’t really caught on. Some palaces had botanical gardens for wild birds and fish, but I’d never visited any. 
“What kinds of animals?! Could we see one of those striped horses?!” 
“Uh... maybe? I dunno...” 
Don’t get too excited, Sue. I’m pretty sure most zebras are in Africa... 
I looked it up on the zoo website, and apparently, they actually did have zebras. They were known as Grant’s zebras... and they were surprisingly common in zoos. I had no idea. 
“Here, it looks like this.” 
“Ooh!” 
I projected an image showing what the zoo had to offer. Lions, tigers, kangaroos, camels, bears, chimps, gorillas, hippos, elephants, and more... 
“What about food...?” 
“We can eat there, Sakura. It’s okay. They’ll have a cafe or something.” 
I chuckled softly as Sakura nibbled through her slice of cheesecake. She was getting worried about tomorrow’s meal a little too prematurely, I thought. 
Lu probably wanted to make lunch, judging from the disappointment on her face. Even my grandpa didn’t have enough lunch boxes for ten people, and I wouldn’t be able to use [Storage] in a place as crowded as the zoo. 
Elze stopped eating her pudding, glanced at me, then opened her mouth. 
“Are there no monsters or magical beasts in this world? They’re just regular animals, right? Are any of them dangerous?” 
“They’re all in enclosures or cages, so there’s no risk. Some are dangerous, though.” 
“Can I punch one if it chases me?” 
“No! I mean, that’ll never happen, but I guess if it really comes down to it, maybe...?” 
I didn’t think it would happen, but if a lion or tiger happened to escape, then Elze had my full blessing to kick its butt. If it was just a goat or a red panda, though... not so much. 
I knew for a fact that Elze could probably kill anything in that zoo. Even without her [Boost] enchantment, she could clobber a gorilla or an elephant. 
“Hey, isn’t that a bit rude?!” 
“What, no way! It’s mine!” 
“Really. Really now, Linze? You’re gonna pretend I didn’t see it first?!” 
“First come, first served!” 
Elze and Linze started bickering over a cream shortcake... I really couldn’t believe how many desserts they’d eaten. It seemed like, when it came to sweet foods, everyone was Yae. 
“I hope I am not overstepping my bounds, I do...” 
“Don’t sweat it, just keep eating!” 
“Yeah, feel free to take it.” 
Yae sighed softly, but the other girls encouraged her to reach for a slice of castella cake. 
Hmm... Ever since we got married, the girls have been able to read my thoughts more clearly... Did they develop a telepathic link or something? Sometimes, it feels like they just know what’s being thought around them... It’s kinda like how I have that link with Kohaku and the other heavenly beasts. 
Then again, it might just be because they have sharper intuitions. They’ve gotten to know each other a lot better, after all... Still, I should be careful what I think, just in case... 
 
It took thirty minutes by train to reach the big city from my grandpa’s town. From there, we took the subway to the zoo, which was our destination for the day. 
The girls had enjoyed watching the scenery fly by on the train, but the sight of the dark subway made them shudder in fear. The rumbling noises probably didn’t help, to be fair. Yumina was the only one who gazed out into the black with curious eyes. 
“An underground travel system... That’s very interesting. It’d be a fairly safe method of travel back home, since it could help avoid monsters or bandits... We could probably start building one if we employed a group of earth mages...” 
An other-world subway, huh? Maybe we can think about it after Felsen figures out their magic train properly. 
Yumina was pretty interested in taking inspiration from Earth, it seemed. 
We walked out of the subway, and from there it was only a few minutes of walking until we reached the zoo. 
It wasn’t too big, but it wasn’t that small, either. It was also fairly modern, but not to the point that it felt unwelcoming or sterile. All in all, it was a fine zoo. 
Let’s get those tickets... It should be a hundred and fifty yen for the kid ticket, and five-hundred yen for an adult one. 
“Let’s see here... I guess it’ll be five kid tickets and five adult ones?” 
Yae, Hilde, Elze, and Linze all looked like high school students, so they’d get the adult tickets. Sakura probably just fit into that bracket, too. Yumina and Lu were technically old enough to be high school students, but they were still kind of petite. Plus, it was better to make use of the reduced rate, all things considered. 
Leen and Sue definitely looked like they were in junior high, and obviously, I fit into that category as well. 
I couldn’t reach up to the ticket counter, so I gave Yae the money and asked her to do it. She came back with the tickets and a small pamphlet. 
“This is a map, isn’t it?” 
“Wow, look at all those animals.” 
As the twins spoke, I unfolded the pamphlet into a map. It had illustrations of animals all over it. That’d make navigating the place easier, at least. 
When we entered the zoo, the tall trees all around us made it feel like we’d traveled into the wilderness. It was a weekday, so the place didn’t have a ton of people. It was mostly parents with their little kids and a few junior high students in some places. Presumably, they were on a field trip. 
A few pigeons were hanging out on some nearby benches, but something told me they weren’t part of the zoo attraction. Pigeons just had a habit of gathering around places with food. 
“Ooh! Look at that white birdie!” Sue pointed forward and charged a nearby pond. 

 

I didn’t think much of the birds Sue was so enamored by, but they weren’t a super common sight from our castle. Though, if she’d ask Kougyoku, I was sure she could see whatever kinds of birds she wanted... 
Still, there were definitely a lot of birds by the pond enclosure. I glanced toward a nearby plaque that listed them. 
“Whooper swans, tundra swans, snow geese, and spot-billed ducks...” 
They were definitely swans, geese, and ducks. That made sense. Some of them made loud honking noises from behind the fence. 
I’d seen swans on TV before, but never actually in person. It was kind of cool to look at them up close. 
I glanced down and noticed some of the pigeons eating the swans’ leftover food. That explained their presence. 
“Touya... Is that a bird as well?” 
“Hm? Whoa! It’s a penguin!” 
Hilde pointed at another nearby pool, and much to my surprise, there was a penguin there. I’d never seen one before, so that was really cool! 
I was maybe a little too excited, but I just rolled with it, since it wasn’t out of character for a five-year-old to act rowdy at a zoo. 
The information plate said it was a Humboldt penguin. There were quite a few of them waddling around. It also listed their individual names, but I couldn’t tell them apart. I wondered if the person who cared for them knew the difference... 
“So cute...” 
“Yes... I want to take one home...” 
Yumina and Lu instantly fell in love with the adorable penguins. Personally, I thought the sight of their smiling faces was far cuter than the birds. 
We reluctantly headed away from the penguin display, then carried on until we saw some llamas. 
Wait, are these llamas? They look a little funny. 
I checked the information plate, just to be sure. 
Ohhh... They’re llamas, I guess? I think they might be more related to those humpless Andes camels, though. 
Everyone looked over at the llamas as I read the information aloud. 
“Let’s see... When angered, the llama will spit a foul-smelling substance at its aggressor. This substance is derived from stomach acid...” 
Once I finished reading, I noticed the girls had backed up as far as possible. 
Wait, what’s that smell? 
I nervously glanced at a nearby llama, and it was craning its neck back as if preparing something. That was all I needed to see to escort everyone away from the beast. 
Next, we saw some Bactrian camels. They were massive... With those two humps, it looked like they’d be easy to ride. 
Apparently, they were used as mounts in deserts because they could go days at a time without drinking water. That made them unique in such dry climates. With the aid of the camel, humanity managed to dominate those sandy dunes. 
It’s just standing there menacingly... The thing’s barely moving at all... Oh wait, it kinda twitched a little, I guess... 
“It’s not doing much... Is it a slow animal?” 
“I think some cultures have camel races, so it’s probably fast if it wants to be. There’s just no reason for it to act right now.” 
The camel’s enclosure, surrounded by a fence and a small moat, wasn’t all that big. It probably didn’t need to trot around at high speeds. 
We waved our goodbyes to the motionless creature and carried on to the next exhibit, which contained a red panda. It was bigger than I thought it’d be, but about as cute as I’d expected. 
For some reason, it kept prowling the perimeter of the fence, but it didn’t stand up on its hind legs like the one I’d seen on television. 
We walked down the path some more, seeing animals like Japanese macaques having fun in their playground, black bears lazing in the sun, and wild boars taking muddy naps. 
“They’re tiny... Really cute...” Sakura was enchanted by the sight of several black-tailed prairie dogs playing with each other. Or at least, I assumed they were black-tailed prairie dogs on account of their black tails. 
One of them stood by the entrance of the burrow, feeding himself with his tiny paws. If I remembered right, he was basically acting as a sentry. 
“They’re hugging! They’re hugging!” Hilde cheered out in sheer amazement as two of the prairie dogs gave each other a big hug. They even moved to kiss each other shortly after that. I remembered reading somewhere about how they greeted each other, and that seemed to line up. With happy expressions, we moved on to the next enclosure. 
“King of the jungle? That means it must be dangerous, no? It doesn’t seem all that scary...” 
I understood Leen’s feelings as she read the information plaque. The massive lion was laying down on his back behind the tempered glass. He was so limp and defenseless that he didn’t exactly conjure the image of a king. He looked like a big kitty, if anything. 
No matter how long we stared, the cat simply stayed still. 
I sure hope he’s not dead in there! 
We moved to the exhibit next door and saw a Sumatran tiger. A man with a hefty-looking camera took several shots of the beast, but it didn’t really move a muscle. It looked like it was enjoying a morning catnap. 
“It reminds me of Kohaku, it does...” Yae couldn’t help but make that comment, and I kind of agreed. Though, Kohaku did have some responsibilities, like commanding the mammals around town, so at least she had that going for her... Sometimes, anyway. 
We left the tiger enclosure and headed into a cave-like structure. Then, we carried on through the dark until we came to a wall of tempered glass. On the other side of the glass, we spotted a pool of water that reached higher than Yae’s head. I wondered what kind of creature this enclosure was for... Seals, perhaps? 
All of a sudden, a huge white mass dove into the water. I almost fell over from the shock! 
“Wh-Wh-What was that?!” 
“It’s a bear! It’s a huge white bear!” Elze excitedly roared as she pressed her face up against the glass. She clenched her hands into fists the very next moment. 
Wait, don’t punch the glass! It’ll break! 
Elze must have realized my concern, as she lowered her hands. I didn’t know exactly how thick the glass was, but I had a feeling Elze could break it with ease. 
“Geez, a bear huh...? That scared the crap out of me...” 
I looked at the nearby plaque. Sure enough, it was a polar bear. I guess that made sense. We’d just seen a lion and a tiger, so the seals were probably kept in a different section. 
The polar bear swam through the water with incredible ease. And eventually, it rose to the edge of the glass and stared right at us. 
“Heh... This one reminds me of Paula... I do hope she’s doing okay,” Leen said as she placed a hand up against the glass, looking right into the polar bear’s eyes. The bear recoiled from her glance, then swam away immediately. 
“Goodness me... Is he scared?” Leen giggled softly as the polar bear fled. 
We quickly exited the polar bear cave and arrived at the birds of prey section. Various falcons, owls, eagles, and other such birds glared down at us from their perches behind high wire fences. I was in the body of a five-year-old boy, though, so I was pretty much used to being looked down on... 
We finished our walk around the east side of the park, so we decided to head west. And once we did, we walked past cages of ring-tailed lemurs, lion-tailed macaques, siamangs, and chimpanzees. At one point, our walk continued up a slope that went so high I could see the swans from earlier down below. 
There were quite a few groups with little kids... Though, my group was no exception. I even noticed a few elderly couples sitting around, watching the birds together. 
“Hey, what’s this pretty bird?” 
“That’s an Indian peacock.” 
Sue loved to comment on all the animals. The two peacocks were a vibrant blue and green. I’d read that female peacocks were more subdued in terms of coloration, so that meant they were likely males. The females, if there were any, were probably hiding somewhere in the shade. 
We waited a while to see if they’d fan out their tail feathers, but they didn’t. If I recalled correctly, they only did it as a method of courtship, so that tracked. 
“...Don’t male peacocks spread their feathers out toward each other, too?” 
“Well... maybe if they’re trying to intimidate their opponents or something...” 
For some reason, I felt like that wasn’t the answer Linze wanted. 
“Oh, Touya-dono! That establishment seems to be for eating, it does!” Yae exclaimed as she pointed toward a restaurant in the middle of a park area. There was a small terrace for outdoor dining. It wasn’t noon yet, so there weren’t many people eating there. 
“It’s a little early, but maybe we can...” 
Before I even finished my sentence, Yae, Lu, Sue, and Sakura began speed-walking toward the restaurant. Clearly, they had their eyes on the prize. 
I followed after the four of them, walking through the restaurant’s automatic doors. The moment we walked inside, we were greeted with a cheery “Welcome!” 
“Wow... This place is really nice!” Linze said, seeming impressed by the restaurant’s interior. It was a wooden building, and the inside was surprisingly roomy. The warm sunlight poured through the glass windows and doors, making it feel like an outdoor space. 
Hilde turned her attention toward a machine near the entrance and asked, “Touya... Is this a ticket matcheen?” 
“A ticket machine, yeah. You put money in and it’ll print out a ticket, which you can then exchange for different foods.” 
The ticket machine let you pick from various dishes, and there were pictures of each meal on an acrylic panel nearby. In short, it was an electronic menu. 
“Ohhh... Cute!” 
“It really is.” 
Elze and Leen smiled as they looked over the pictures. They weren’t wrong, the food was definitely cute. 
There was a hamburg steak arranged to look like a bear paw, with cheese clumped up to form the paw pads. Then, the rice on the side of that dish was arranged to look like a bear’s head. There were other such animal-themed dishes, including curry with rice clumped to appear like an elephant, as well as a parfait with cookies shaped like rabbits and goats. There were also more regular meals like spaghetti, pizza, and omelets. 
We each decided on our meals, bought our tickets, then brought them to the counter. 
After we got our food, we decided to eat outside in the terrace area. It was a sunny day, so the weather was perfect for it. There weren’t any tables that seated ten people, however, so we split into two groups of five. 
...Hold up, Yae. I definitely do NOT want that kiddy chair. 
“Mmm... This is good... Yeah, it’s tasty.” 
“It’s cute and yummy! We’ll have to get Crea to make this back home.” 
Sakura and Sue had purchased the Beary Yummy Meal, which was the hamburg steak with rice. It was served with fried shrimp, salad, and fried potatoes. Quite the versatile dish, really. 
Lu and Crea would definitely be able to make it, and it was the kind of thing kids loved. Which was great, since we’d have nine of them to entertain, eventually... 
I sat with Sue, Sakura, Yae, and Lu. As a result, there was quite the spread of food in front of us. I could sense jealous, confused eyes from those that passed by. 
“...Mm... This has quite an interesting texture... The tomatoes have a sourness and sweetness to them, but it matches perfectly with the rich nature of the cheese...” Lu muttered to herself as she ate her pizza. She’d ordered most of the food on the table, but it was Yae who ate the vast share of it. Lu had eaten a single slice of pizza, but three had already disappeared into Yae’s belly. Still, it was nice to see them sharing... Sort of. 
“Mmm! This is delicious, it is!” 
Lu loved savoring all kinds of food, while Yae loved devouring all kinds of food. In a way, they really worked well together. I was glad to see them happy. 
The meal I’d ordered was spaghetti bolognese, and I was quite keen to tuck into it. 
Ahhh... It’s so nice. 
“Grand Duke, where are we going after this?” 
“We’ve seen the eastern part of the zoo, so I figure we can hit the west next. There should be elephants, gorillas, rhinos, and zebras. More stuff like that.” 
“Ohhh! Zebras! I can’t wait!” 
Judging from the map, there were also giraffes, ostriches, and flamingos. The western side of the zoo seemed to have an African savannah theme to it. 
“The animals here are very docile, they are. I heard they were locked in cages, so I assumed they would be more ferocious, I did.” 
“Tigers and lions usually are pretty deadly, actually. You definitely can’t use Kohaku as a baseline. She’s way too friendly.” 
The fact that the big cats we’d seen so far were mostly napping didn’t exactly help my case... We might’ve gotten to see more active animals if we did a drive-through safari where we watched the animals roam free from the safety of a car, but that would’ve proved difficult. 
“Is this the only place to see animals like this? Aren’t there many in the wilderness?” 
“Well... Japan doesn’t have many large animals. There are some, but they’re really rare and quite dangerous. I wouldn’t want to see any.” 
Japan’s wilderness was home to some surprisingly deadly creatures. Wild boars were a real risk, for one. Otherwise, it was mostly just stray domestic animals or wild monkeys. 
In the other world, it wasn’t uncommon to run into wild wolves and stuff, but feral canines weren’t exactly common here. All in all, Earth seemed to be a pretty good planet for humans... Though that made me wonder... was it any good for other animals? 
Creatures like Behemoths and Dragons existed in the other world that most humans couldn’t defeat, but they couldn’t exactly live in peace with them, either. 
It made me wonder what would happen if Dragons existed on Earth. Would the people here have captured them and put them in cages for display? I had a feeling that would be a pretty difficult feat, especially when you factored in their ability to fly. 
There was also the fire breathing to consider... Well, Earth probably wouldn’t ever have a Dragon zoo, so it was a moot point. 
“Ready to get going again?” 
We finished up our desserts and started to walk around the park again. And as we moved along the path, I pulled out the brochure map again. 
Hm... So we’ve got the African Zone up ahead and... a reptile house? 
 
We saw two elephants in the distance. They both looked down at the ground. Our group watched the elephants from a bridge suspended over a moat. It was a bit more natural to see them without a cage, but it was also a shame they were so far away. 
“It’s pretty big... I expect it’d be hard to prepare.” 
“I imagine biting through it would be tough, I do.” 
I turned toward Lu and Yae, not entirely certain what they had in mind as they observed the elephants. 
I think people used to eat mammoths, but I don’t know if elephants are common food... 
I looked up elephant meat on my phone and found that it was traded alongside ivory on the black market in Africa. 
I didn’t know if it was because I’d eaten weird stuff like Dragon meat already, but I kind of wondered what an elephant tasted like... Maybe it tasted good... I didn’t plan to try it, but the thought still lingered. The elephants in front of me suddenly turned around and started heading away. Perhaps they’d read my mind? 
We left the elephant area and headed to the ostrich enclosure. Much like with the elephants, we found two ostriches lingering at the edge of the moat. 
“They look like Mismede’s runnerfowl,” Leen stated as she tapped her chin while looking at the ostriches. Apparently, there was a similar kind of bird native to the south of Mismede. Some of the beastmen there had domesticated them and trained them to pull carts, so they served as mounts. 
“They eat them in Mismede, right?” 
“That’s correct. It tastes much like horse meat, but less fatty. I’d like to try cooking with it...” 
“That sounds yummy, it does.” 
Lu and Yae joined in the conversation. Frankly, it made me feel concerned for the animals. 
Leen was a being with a long lifespan, so she always took the chance to eat whatever kinds of interesting things she came across. I once had a friend like that, too. Though, obviously, he had a normal lifespan. He was the kind of person who’d always buy whatever new, weird flavors of soda came out. Even if he knew they’d taste bad, he couldn’t stop himself from trying out new things on the off-chance they were delicious. 
The ostriches, perhaps sensing the danger emanating from Yae’s hungry eyes, fled for their lives. 
“Ooh! Look! Zebras!” Sue screamed as she pointed over to some distant zebras, then promptly began running toward them. Everyone hurriedly followed after her. 
The zebras stood on the other side of the fence, leisurely walking around without even paying attention to us. There was a long, artificially-created river flowing between us and them. 
We could see the elephants from earlier off in the distance. Clearly, the enclosure was all connected, but separated from us by the water and fencing. 
“Aww... I wish I could ride one...” Sakura said quietly with a frown on her face. Some places let you do that, but this wasn’t one of them. Plus, I’d heard that zebras were kind of temperamental. 
“Look! A baby!” Yumina exclaimed as she pointed toward a rock. And sure enough, there was a zebra foal there. It stuck quite close to its mother. 
“What a cute baby...” 
“If that’s the mom, then the dad’s gotta be that one, right?” 
Linze and Elze smiled at the zebra family. 
...Well, it’s hard to tell which one’s the mother and which one’s the father. 
The image of an older woman watching a TV drama while a frantic dad tried to wrangle his kids came to mind. 
Good luck, zebra dad... 
We left the zebra family behind and moved on to the next area. 
“Wow...” 
“That’s a long neck...” 
Yae and Hilde stared on, feeling amazed by the creature behind the fence. There stood the giraffe, the tallest creature on Earth. It was so docile and motionless that at first, I thought it must’ve been fake. 
“It’s not moving...” 
“No, look, it blinked.” 
Just as Elze said, it moved its eyes here and there. It wasn’t doing much else, though. I wondered what it was thinking. 
I hope it’s not tired or stressed. I’m sure even animals have troubles like that, right? 
I kind of wanted to coax it over, but I decided it was best to let the giraffe rest. 
The next area had water all over the place, like a big river. 
What kind of creatures live in African rivers...? 
Just as I wondered that, one such creature surfaced and approached. 
“A hippo!” 
I’ve never seen one in person before. Man, it’s huge. It’s the second-heaviest land animal after the elephant, right? I think they range from anywhere between one and three tons... That’s kinda crazy. They’re supposed to be a ferocious species, especially their females when protecting their young... Can’t say they look it, really... But I guess mothers can be really scary. 
I certainly never wanted to get on my mother’s bad side. She was my grandfather’s daughter, after all... I was sure she could be even more frightening than him. Frankly, I’d rather find myself locked in a room with a lion than with my mother in a bad mood. She was really scary... 
“What’s wrong?” 
“O-Oh, nothing... I just remembered something...” 
I cowered slightly, prompting Yumina to ask after me in concern. 
I had a flashback to my mischievous days in junior high... There was nothing I could do when faced with my mother’s firm spankings... 
We passed the hippo area and walked across a wooden bridge that went over a pond. Various flamingos were resting below. One of them had darker coloration than the others. He kind of seemed like a show-off, if you asked me. 
“That one’s a similar shade to your hair, Sakura. It’s cute.” 
“Mmm...” 
Linze’s comment made Sakura touch her own hair and blush. 
“Why are they that color?” 
“It’s based on the food they eat. The pigment in it helps color their feathers.” 
“Ohhh...” Elze nodded as I answered her question. 
I was at least sixty percent sure I was right, but I checked the plaque, just to be sure. 
Yep, says it right there. Oh, what? These are European flamingos. 
I’d assumed the darker-colored flamingo was just a big eater like Yae, but it was actually an entirely different species. It was an American flamingo. 
We went to the gorilla enclosure next, but they weren’t there. Apparently, they weren’t feeling well. I did manage to sneak a peek at one through the glass, but he looked a bit lethargic. I hoped they’d get better soon. 
We’d visited most of the zoo at that point, so there was only one place left. 
“The reptile house...” 
The building’s entrance was decorated with two large carvings, one was of a snake and the other was a Dragon. The snake I understood, but surely there wouldn’t be any Dragons in there. 
“Oof!” 
The moment we stepped into the building, sweltering heat washed over us. The temperature in there was far hotter than outside... Clearly, it was some kind of climate control for the reptiles’ sake. 
There was a paneled wall with various little habitats for different reptiles. 
Ratsnakes, striped snakes, pythons, even anacondas... 
Ugh... I’m pretty used to snakes because of Kokuyou, but the fact that I can’t talk to these ones makes me feel a little uneasy... 
“They’re not moving much...” 
“That’s because they don’t have any prey. There’s no need to zip around.” 
Hilde tapped at the glass, gazing down at a rat snake. None of the snakes moved much. Most just remained coiled up. 
The girls weren’t scared of the snakes, since they’d seen much scarier monsters before... but at the same time, they clearly didn’t find the snakes all that cute, either. 
We walked through the area, striding past the reptiles behind the panels on the walls. 
Snake, snake, turtle, turtle... Oh, a crocodile! A smooth-fronted caiman from Brazil. That’s the second-smallest crocodile, I think? 
“Creatures like these exist in the Sea of Trees. They’re primarily used for food.” 
Leen’s comment prompted Lu and Yae to turn their heads. 
“Ohohoho... Is it delicious, is it?” 
“How is it cooked? Is it roasted whole?” 
“I’m not entirely sure how it’s cooked. I think it’s baked? It tastes quite a bit like chicken, and has a chewy texture to it.” 
Geez, Leen. You’ve got more patience than I do, considering the fact that you entertain their questions all the time like that... 
Leen was secretly quite a caring and motherly person, but I had a feeling she’d be embarrassed if I pointed that out. 
I crouched down and looked at some other small habitats. 
Oho, an African spurred tortoise... That’s much nicer than a snake. 
I had a feeling Kokuyou would probably consider me a racist for saying that... 
They didn’t just have snakes and tortoises, there were lizards too. I saw a Japanese skink, a Chinese crocodile lizard, and a leopard gecko... They were all pretty docile. 
There were a few seats nearby to rest on. I didn’t personally see the appeal of sitting down while surrounded by reptiles, but I was sure there had to be some people who loved the idea. 
It was pretty interesting to see the different patterns on the snakes, at least. It reminded me of how much I liked Kokuyou’s scales. They were black like obsidian, which was pretty cool. 
Once we left the reptile house, the regular temperature outside felt like a welcoming breeze. 
Ahhh, that’s nice... 
I was happy to be free of the humidity. I wanted to enjoy the breeze a little longer, in fact, but Yumina suddenly pointed toward a relatively modern-looking two-story building that was nearby. 
“Touya, what’s that?” 
“Hm? I think it’s like an exhibit hall. It should have displays of skeletons, stuffed animals, and stuff like that. Oh, I think there’ll be a gift store as well,” I answered Yumina’s question, confirming the information on my brochure. 
“A gift store? I’d like to pick up some souvenirs, then.” 
“I would like to go as well, I would!” 
“Hey, Touya! Let’s go!” 
“O-Okay! No need to drag me!” 
Hilde, Yae, and Elze started yanking me along to the building without a care in the world for my poor little legs. 
We walked through the automatic doors... and the first thing I saw was a stuffed polar bear. 
...Damn, that thing’s huge. Wait, what does this say...? Polar bears have transparent fur? It’s not white...? Lemme read more... What? The sunlight refracts off the black skin beneath and just makes their fur look white? That’s nuts! Polar bear fur is hollow like macaroni tubes, and that helps insulate them against the cold... Wow, what a textbook case of environmental adaptation. 
“There’s a lot of specimens here...” 
Linze looked around at the stuffed animals and skeletons that lined the room. There was even a zebra skin hanging up on the wall. 
“You can learn a lot from these remains... It’s quite interesting,” Leen muttered as she glanced between herbivore and carnivore skulls. 
Wait, this is an elephant’s skull? I didn’t know they had no bones in their nose... It looks totally different. I wouldn’t even recognize it without the stuffed one nearby. 
The room had a stuffed black bear, a stuffed antelope, a stuffed boar, stuffed pine martens, and anatomical models of birds flying in formation. They all looked surprisingly intricate. 
“I like living animals better!” 
“Mmm... I agree...” 
Sue and Sakura didn’t seem to enjoy this section of the zoo. Leen, Linze, and Yumina seemed quite interested, however. I was even surprised to see Yae and Elze peering at some skeletons. 
“So the bones are weakest here, they are...” 
“Looks like it. If we hit them here, here, and here... they’d definitely crumble fast.” 
Oh, that explains it... They’re just thinking in terms of combat again... 
“Ooh! It’s a giraffe!” Linze exclaimed as she pointed up at an extremely tall skeleton. Standing up close to it really gave you a sense of scale... Or maybe it was just because I was shorter than usual. 
“Where’s the gift store?” Hilde asked as she kept glancing around, but I couldn’t see one anywhere. 
Oh, there’s an arrow pointing to it on the wall. How convenient. 
We followed the directions on the wall until we came to a set of automatic doors. The gift store was right through them. It had a warm atmosphere, with pine flooring and bright lights giving the place a more natural vibe. The shelves were lined with different animal-themed products. They had everything from cushions, to tableware, backpacks, figurines, plush toys, and more. 
“Yumina! Yumina! Isn’t this cute?!” 
“Ohhh! It is! Look at this, Lu!” 
“Hey, Sis, do you like this backpack?” 
“Wow, that’s nice... I wanna get one too...” 
Everyone ran toward the items that interested them most. I was just glad the place wasn’t as big as the mall, so there was no chance of them getting lost. 
They really did have a lot of stuff... Keychains, placemats, even lunchboxes... I figured I’d take the chance to get some souvenirs for the castle denizens. 
Hmm... Maybe Laim would like this tie? But it has a sheep printed on it... Oh, there’s a set here with animal-ear hoodies, paw pad gloves, and paw pad slipper-socks... If the girls wore these... Man, that’d be a sight for sore eyes... I’m gonna buy some... J-Just to commemorate the occasion, obviously. I have no ulterior motives, I swear! 
There were lots of animal figures lined up on a shelf. It’d be hard to collect them all. They even had a ton of stuffed animals, ranging in size from tiny to massive. 
“I want this toy zebra!” 
“Yeah?” 
“Mhm! I’m gonna give it to Ed!” Sue said as she grinned wildly. She was being very considerate of her brother. I was certain that even though he was a baby right now, he’d come to appreciate that side of her. 
Yumina picked up a stuffed lion doll for her brother, too. 
King of the jungle for a future king, eh? Fitting. 
We bought enough souvenirs (mostly snacks and stuffed animals) to completely shock the cashier. 
There were ten of us, so there was no avoiding it... I figured I could quietly stash it with [Storage] once we left the zoo. 
That was a pretty random detour, but we had a lot of fun. I didn’t exactly think of a zoo trip when I thought of a honeymoon, but it was only the second day. 
Tonight, we had a pretty big event ahead of us. I was going to introduce everyone to my parents. That was why we’d chosen Earth to begin with. I planned on using magic to put them in a fake dream-like state. They’d probably recognize me like this, but I was gonna use [Mirage] to project my regular form anyway. 
I wanted to tell them that I was okay, even if it was through a dream. 
I wonder how they’ll take the news that I have nine wives... Hell, I wonder if they’ll be shocked. Oh well, whatever happens, happens. I’m ready to see them again. 
 



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