Chapter 12: Hachiman Hikigaya Is Waiting
The effect of wielding power in ancient Egypt was completely different from that in modern Japan—this difference far exceeded what Hachiman Hikigaya himself had anticipated, and he would soon come to understand this fully.
From the Pharaoh at the top of the palace down to the lowest servants, their attitudes said it all.
Nobles and temple priests came one after another. After entering the palace, they all learned the truth, and each looked at him with a gaze that Hachiman felt was excessively reverent.
After all, although he was a god-slayer, he was not an omniscient being; his so-called god's-eye view was limited.
Besides, this crossing over was not the kind of story he was familiar with.
At this moment, he didn't even clearly understand how close the relationship between humans and gods was in this era.
But no matter what, he accepted the Pharaoh's thanks—he definitely didn't want to be shot down every day by waves of ancient Egyptians giving him "adorable" looks.
A bunch of bald guys—no, not adorable at all!
With this unease at being stared at by a group of ancient people, Hachiman moved into the large house the Pharaoh had given him.
If possible, Hachiman really didn't want to call this place a villa, but in this era, a residence covered in white plaster was probably considered very high-end.
After all, at this time, houses made of mud and tree bark were already regarded as decent.
Because he had crossed over and learned the extremely obscure language of ancient Egyptian, Hachiman noticed that most of the time, ancient Egyptians did not call this city Memphis, but rather Men-nefer.
Recalling that Ramesses called his new capital "Ramesses' House," the name Men-nefer was indeed low-key.
The somewhat better buildings in the city were almost all white, which was said to be the origin of Memphis's name. During the Old Kingdom era, this city built by Menes served most of the time as the capital and was the most magnificent city in the world.
However, as Hachiman knew, this city would ultimately be utterly destroyed by the Arabs in the 7th century AD.
Getting off-topic, Hachiman's mind wasn't big enough to consider how to help ancient Egypt avoid becoming a regional backwater within a century; he was currently resting in the mansion given to him by Ramesses II.
Although he didn't want to say it, this mansion was really quite high-end in this era...
It even had a garden!
Besides this, there was a cook, a maid, and a gardener working for him. But Hachiman spent most of his time in the garden. First, because the New Kingdom Egypt was already quite hot, and second, staying inside the house was no fun. Moreover, the ancient Egyptian cuisine was really not that great.
As for the wine, Hachiman could only say it was natural enough—the entire cellar of ancient Egyptian wine was treated as a beverage by him. At least compared to ancient Egyptian bread, it was much better.
It had been over a week since he rescued Ramesses II's daughter.
As always, Hachiman was in his favorite place—a pavilion in the garden supported by locust tree trunks and topped with palm leaves.
Since moving in, Hachiman had only gone out once.
Not because he was lazy, but because he really couldn't stand all the nudity on the streets—that outing reminded him that Egypt didn't know what "cold" was. Hence, ancient Egyptians regarded clothing as ornaments.
In the New Kingdom era, with increased exchanges with Asia, Egyptian clothing became more splendid, but the idea that clothes were ornaments hadn't changed much—they were still just for showing off.
Hachiman had previously not realized this because when he moved into the mansion, it was nighttime and there was no one on the street. Also, the ancient Egyptians he had seen before were either palace people or nobles and priests—people who dressed quite stylishly.
But after more than a week, Hachiman still did not know the whereabouts of Haruno and the others.
However, he was not worried.
He trusted the Egyptians' communication capabilities, especially for searching people along the Nile. Although their land transportation was a mess, their Nile river traffic was reliable.
He also somewhat suspected that his crossing over and that of the others might not have been at the same time. If he remembered correctly, Horus was the first sucked into the Black Sun, then he, and then finally Haruno and the others.
Since getting on the vehicle was sequential, it was not surprising that arriving was also sequential.
There were not many extra furnishings in the pavilion. Hachiman didn't appreciate the so-called "high-end" furniture Ramesses II gave him.
Those things were flashy with gold but not comfortable.
Therefore, in the pavilion, there was only a wooden bed and a somewhat wide golden low table.
Hachiman lay on the bed.
The headboard on one side was higher than the bed itself, similar to a modern reclining chair. The foot of the bed was wrapped in gold and carved into the shape of four animal legs.
The bed frame was decorated with carvings of lotus flowers and papyrus plants, also made of gold.
Because of Nubia's tribute, Egypt had plenty of gold at this time, and the 19th Dynasty's diplomacy was famous for "gold diplomacy"—buying and appeasing wavering Asian princes with gold.
Of course, this was basically useless, as most Asian vassal states tended to side with the Hittites since the Egyptian royal family, while treating princes well, heavily taxed their people.
Hachiman squinted in the pavilion. This simple structure didn't completely block the sunlight, which wasn't a problem for him, but the heat was indeed unpleasant.
He saw the maid walk in, holding a tall, narrow-necked wine jar—a precious item from Crete.
In this world, the Minoan civilization still existed; the supervolcano hadn't erupted yet.
Hachiman didn't remember exactly when the volcano erupted but vaguely recalled that the Santorini volcano was before Ramesses II's era, which not only destroyed the Minoan civilization but swept through the entire Mediterranean.
This reminded Hachiman of a modern speculation—that Crete's extinction coincided with the Exodus era, and that the volcano brought the "Ten Plagues" to Egypt.
Ramesses II was later considered by some to be the Pharaoh of the Exodus story, if that story were true.
Hachiman's gaze passed over the bowing maid, and behind her stood the supreme ruler of the Egyptian Empire, Ramesses II himself.
Behind him followed a large group of guards and several people Hachiman hadn't seen before, who didn't all appear to be Egyptians.