Chapter 8: After Dinner (part 1)
After eating and drinking her fill, Aoxi lay on the beach in a “wood” shape… no, now it should be a “big” character shape.
Her golden pupils stared at the sky that was already somewhat reddish, yet she suddenly said, “I miss Dad and Mom. I’ve been thinking about them since dinner earlier.”
Obei, who was thinking about where to sleep at night, was slightly startled upon hearing this, and the air became somewhat silent…
“Sigh~”
“Me too. They must be very worried since we suddenly disappeared. I hope nothing happens to them.”
“With Boss and Second Brother there, there should be no need to worry.
Both of them are careful and filial people, and moreover, Boss’s son, the eldest grandson, has been accompanying Dad and Mom, so there shouldn’t be any big problems.”
La, having completely incinerated all the kitchen waste, sensed the somewhat low mood of the two and spoke to comfort them.
“I hope so.
I didn’t expect that just after Dad and Mom retired, we pulled this stunt. I just hope they don’t search the whole world for us.
Their bodies aren’t as strong as they used to be.”
Another period of silence…
“Eh? What do you think we should say if we go back one day? How do we explain the current situation?
We can’t just say, ‘Dad! Mom! Didn’t you always want a daughter?
Now your son has ‘whoosh’ turned into three daughters. How about it? Impressive, right? Surprised? Happy?’
Whether intentionally or not, in the somewhat stifling air, Aoxi suddenly said something so out of tune.
“That would probably scare the old couple into some illness.
It’d be better to say, ‘Dad, Mom, we’re all your youngest daughter-in-law. How about it? Your son is capable, right~'”
Obei chuckled lightly, unexpectedly following along with Aoxi’s words for once.
“Alright, you two, stop saying such out-of-tune things.”
La was also amused by the two’s whimsical remarks, her corner of mouth slightly upturned, then she said softly:
“No matter what, we probably can’t go back for a short time. What we need to do now is live well.
After all, even if separated by a world, Father and Mother would surely hope their son lives healthily and happily.”
Although she didn’t show it, compared to Aoxi and Obei, La, who seemed the most emotionally detached, was actually the one most worried about her parents.
Setting aside the influence of the Divine Power of Orichalcos on her personality, the maturity La displayed beyond before, as well as her speech and behavior habits when interacting with Aoxi and Obei, were partly subconscious imitations of her parents.
Even before Aoxi suggested she be the eldest sister, when La first saw the two lying unconscious on the ground, she had subconsciously placed them in positions needing protection and care.
That’s why she unconsciously used the tone her parents normally used with her toward Aoxi and the others.
Aoxi and Obei had deliberately shifted the topic to something lighter precisely because they noticed La’s worry about her parents, and it seemed to have some effect.
……
“By the way, speaking of other worlds, let me show you something. Our hope of going home might lie with it.”
After cleaning up the kitchen waste on the ground, La remembered the Millennium Puzzle.
“What what, quickly take it out and let us see!”
Upon hearing it was related to going home, Aoxi quickly rolled over and crawled toward La on all fours.
Obei also patted the sand off her body and got up to move to La’s side.
Seeing this, La didn’t keep them in suspense and directly manifested the Millennium Puzzle.
“Do you remember the thing we were wearing on our chests when we crossed over? This might be the key to us going back.”
“Millennium Puzzle?!”
Aoxi and Obei naturally recognized this inverted pyramid-shaped object at a glance.
“I remember now, this thing was glowing exactly when we crossed over! Clearly, there were no glowing components inside the parts.”
Aoxi recalled the situation at the time.
“I’ve long felt this thing was strange. It doesn’t feel like plastic to the touch, but it’s not as heavy as iron, and the gold color on the surface doesn’t look like sprayed paint.”
“So Big Sister, is there something wrong with this Millennium Puzzle? Could there be a Pharaoh’s soul inside it too?”
Obei took the Millennium Puzzle from La, turning it over and inspecting it thoroughly.
“There is a ‘Mind Room’ belonging to us inside, and besides that, many worlds.”
La didn’t keep them in suspense and directly stated the unsettling fact in a calm tone.
“Worlds!”*2
Subconsciously ignoring the ‘Mind Room’ before it, the word ‘worlds’ far exceeded their previous guesses.
“Yeah… It would be more accurate to say this Puzzle connects to many worlds.” La thought for a moment and corrected herself.
But that wasn’t important. Since this Puzzle could link to other worlds, then…
The same idea uncontrollably formed in Aoxi and Obei’s minds.
“Maybe we can use this Millennium Puzzle to link to our original world and go home.”
A voice belonging to the Third person voiced the idea in their minds, but didn’t raise their expectations too high. La still calmly stated her judgment:
“Of course, currently it just has this possibility. No one knows if it will succeed.”
“Well~ Anyway, having hope is fine. After all, where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Before that, Sister La, quickly let us see what the other worlds are like!
Are there many blue Avatars riding birds flying in the sky like in movies or anime?”
Aoxi clenched her two small fists like a curious baby, her eyes sparkling.
“That’s Avatar. Nasreddin Hodja is the one who rides a donkey.”
Obei retorted from the side, but her gaze never left the Millennium Puzzle in her hand.
“The world I saw back then was a World of Duel Spirits, with a few Fairy Tale Animals.
I guess the other worlds are probably also Duel Spirit worlds under the Yu-Gi-Oh! worldview.”
La, of course, didn’t care about any Avatar, and seriously answered about the scene she had glimpsed for a few seconds back then.
“World of Duel Spirits?! Fairy Tale Animals?!”
It had to be said that for card game enthusiasts, the World of Duel Spirits was far more attractive than any Nasreddin Hodja.
“Quick! Show it to me!” Aoxi directly pressed her face against the Millennium Puzzle, earning Obei’s disgust.
“To enter the Spirit World, you need to use Divine Power combined with Mental Power to barely break through the barriers between worlds. The consumption is very high, and with your current power, you probably can’t enter yet.”
La poured cold water on the two.
“But you can first see what our ‘Mind Room’ looks like.”
According to La’s estimate, without using the Divine Power of Orichalcos, simply using the Winged Dragon’s power to open a passage between two worlds would require dozens of times the total Divine Power currently in her body.
In other words, it would only be possible on the day this body matures and can fully exert the Egyptian God Cards’ power.
“Anyway, let me try first.”
Aoxi closed her eyes, pressed her forehead against the Millennium Puzzle, and began to exert effort, but soon she opened them again.
“Um, Sister La. How do you get in?”
“Just probe your mind into the ‘eye’ on the Puzzle, like telekinesis in TV shows. Focus your consciousness on it.
Our souls now can exert strong Mental Power, so you should succeed easily.” La patiently explained to Aoxi.
“Telekinesis, Mental Power… So does that mean we can bend spoons with our minds like on TV now?” Aoxi always let her attention drift to strange places.
“Theoretically yes. In fact, that’s the method I use to control the shape of flames.”
“Oh! Is that how it is! Then I’ll try again.”
Aoxi said this and closed her eyes again, then furrowed her brows as if exerting force.
Obei, listening to La’s explanation nearby, also frowned and stared at a crab poking its head out on the beach, seemingly exerting effort silently.
Crab: “…”
“Oh oh oh! I’m in! There really are so many doors~” Aoxi suddenly shouted excitedly.
Obei nearby heard this and gave up competing with the crab, her eyes looking at Aoxi pressed against her chest.
To be honest, if she wasn’t afraid of causing some bad effect by interrupting midway, she would have pushed Aoxi away long ago.
“Do you see that white door? That’s our ‘Mind Room’. You can try opening it.” La guided patiently from the side.
“Yeah… I’m already trying, but it won’t open! The door handle feels so heavy!”
Outside, Aoxi’s face was flushed red, her body trembling slightly, looking like she was using all her strength.
La frowned slightly upon hearing Aoxi’s words.
It was this situation again. Clearly, she had pushed the door open with just a light push back then, but Aoxi couldn’t do it.
『Aoxi being able to enter the Puzzle’s interior means she is recognized, but why can’t she open her own ‘Mind Room’? Could it be related to the Divine Power of Orichalcos again?』
While La was lost in thought, Obei volunteered. “Big Sister, let me try too.”
“Yeah, let’s do it together.”
With that, La also placed her hand on the Millennium Puzzle, her consciousness instantly entering it. Obei followed right after.
“Eh~ You’re here too? Quick, come help. I feel like this door is about to open.”
Aoxi turned back and saw the two, hurriedly calling them over to help. Obei stepped forward first and also placed her hand on the door.
“Hiyah—!”
Finally, under the combined effort of Aoxi and Obei, the white door was slowly opened.
