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 nonbooze 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-inlaw, 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 massproduced 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 finetuned 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 emeraldgreen 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...