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**Chapter 699: The Chairs Can Be Sat On**
"It's so big! Is that a real pyramid?"
A small commercial vehicle drove through the vast Desert. Looking out the right window of the vehicle, the huge pyramid could be clearly seen. Joey Wheeler, sitting in the back row, exclaimed, "Although there are many cards in Duel Monsters that depict pyramids, this is the first time I've seen a real one."
"Hahaha, after all, the pyramids of Egypt gave me quite a lot of inspiration during the process of me creating Duel Monsters." Hearing Joey Wheeler's words, Pegasus, sitting in front of him, laughed heartily. He glanced at the pyramid outside the window and couldn't help but exclaim, "Revisiting this place after so many years, even I feel a bit excited."
Pegasus realized that he seemed to be getting old. Just seeing the familiar past from his memories reappear before his eyes made him unable to help but start reminiscing about the past. Was he already old?
Thinking about the Duel Academy discussed yesterday, it really was a good suggestion. In a few more years, after a new batch of excellent Card Designers join Industrial Illusions, who knows what interesting cards will be born.
At Cairo Capital Airport in Egypt, after Pegasus picked up Hayato and his group who had arrived by airplane, although they had experienced many twists and turns the previous day, their trip to Egypt had officially begun. The first stop of their trip was Giza, not far from Cairo.
Besides the pyramids that amazed first-time visitors and are actually spread throughout Egypt, there is another famous attraction here, which is the Sphinx.
"Wow, it really doesn't have a nose, it looks like it was sliced off with a knife."
"Move closer, Joey Wheeler, your head is too big and is blocking my entire line of sight!"
"Hey, don't push me, my head is already pressed against the glass. If you want to see, go to the row in front, you can sit in the chairs there."
"No way."
Listening to Joey Wheeler and Tristan arguing in the back, Téa also withdrew her line of sight from outside the window and looked at Yugi, who was sitting next to her with a heavy expression, seemingly deep in thought: "What's wrong, Yugi?"
"Nothing, Téa." Turning his head to look at Téa, Yugi smiled slightly, shook his head, and said, "Just now The Other Me said he doesn't have any impression of the view here."
This doesn't mean that the Sphinx before them hadn't been built when Dark Yugi, the Nameless Pharaoh's Soul, was alive. Actually, based on the analysis of current archaeological findings, the construction time of this Sphinx in Giza is much earlier than three thousand years ago. In the era when the Nameless Pharaoh was alive, this magnificent and mysterious Building had already stood on the Earth.
Even in ancient times when information transmission was relatively slow, Dark Yugi, as the Pharaoh, should have had some knowledge of the peculiar Building within his country. But even for a special Building like the Sphinx, Dark Yugi still had no impression of it.
"The Other Yugi, he doesn't remember this place either..." Hearing this, Téa looked at the Millennium Puzzle Yugi held in his hand. Her voice was a little low, and the hand she put into her pocket subconsciously stroked the souvenir she had specifically bought at the airport.
"The Sphinx, huh? What's so good about this crappy Sphinx?"
Glancing at the Sphinx, Marik, sitting in the passenger seat, rested his head on one hand and said dismissively. As if thinking of something, he turned his head to look at Hayato in the driver's seat, "It's quite an accident that you, Brother-in-law, actually have a Driver's License that can be used in Egypt. But if you're driving, won't you be unable to properly see the view on the side?"
"Just assume I hate everything related to it. Let alone the Sphinx, I'm not even interested in a Human-faced Lion."
Hayato merely glanced at the Sphinx in the distance before withdrawing his line of sight. As he said, Hayato truly had no interest in the Sphinx right now. However, in 'Assassin's Creed: Origins', which he used to play, he took plenty of photos around the Sphinx from various angles. He would remember his grudge against Anubis for a lifetime.
But that was only limited to the Sphinx. Egypt wasn't just about the pyramids and the Sphinx as attractions. When he reached the vicinity of attractions he was interested in, he would also take a few more photos as souvenirs. When he left home this time, he specifically brought his pink camera.
As for the Driver's License,
"Although it's not the first time I've ranted about this, in Japan you can get a motor vehicle Driver's License as long as you're 18. By the way, you can get a Motorcycle Driver's License at 16, but I'm still two years away from the drinking age." Looking straight ahead at the continuous mountain range, Hayato paused, and added, "Finally, what needs to be corrected is, who's your Brother-in-law?!"
"Well, it's been so long, Brother-in-law, how haven't you gotten used to it yet? It's bound to happen sooner or later anyway." Marik chuckled, lowered his head, and glanced at the map spread open on his lap. "Hmm... looks like there's a small town up ahead. We probably don't need supplies, after all, we just set off not too long ago."
Although Ancient Egypt held the title of one of the Four Great Ancient Civilizations, unlike the country that broke free from its cocoon and thrived to this day, Egypt is not Ancient Egypt. Due to several instances of internal division, its current land size is smaller than neighboring countries like Libya and Sudan, and it's not even the size of a single province in some countries.
From setting off from Cairo until now, they had actually only driven for an hour. Let alone resting, there was arguably no need to even drink or eat.
However, if they wanted to visit ancient Building like the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Sphinx up close, it was necessary to stop here briefly and switch to transportation tools like camels to approach under the guidance of a guide. Looking at Joey Wheeler, Tristan , and Pegasus in the car, they all seemed to have the idea of going to see them, and even Téa was somewhat eager to try.
Although tourism in Egypt is not as developed now as it will be many years later, the job of being a guide is not outdated at all. Egyptians are professional when it comes to guiding. In fact, the vast majority of ancient objects from their country were guided out of the country by their own people.
Hayato and the others didn't even need to say much. Just seeing Pegasus, who looked like a white person with "Big Spender" and "Rich Fool" practically written on his face, emerge from a rare luxury car among Hayato's group, a crowd of locals enthusiastically swarmed forward, volunteering to introduce themselves and vigorously promoting their familiarity with the approach to the pyramid, as well as how deceitful their counterparts were.
Just the heavily accented foreign language was enough to give Hayato and the others a headache, not to mention the micro-expression performances the guides before them were desperately putting on to demonstrate the truth of their words. Even Pegasus, who had been to Egypt before, was somewhat caught off guard.
Fortunately, Hayato had the most effective trump card for dealing with the volunteering guides.
When Marik got out of the passenger seat, holding a small red flag of unclear meaning that Hayato had given him, the noise from the local guides paused slightly. Recognizing Marik as an Egyptian, they concluded that he was the guide Hayato and his group had hired in advance. Feeling bored, they scattered like winged beasts and squatted back down in the shade at the town entrance, waiting for the next easy mark.
Although Marik was basically just a fake Egyptian who fundamentally didn't know the way, he could serve as the ostensible guide to turn down the self-promoting locals. And Pegasus, the ostensible easy mark, was actually Hayato and the others' real guide.
As for why Hayato and the others, despite having money, weren't willing to hire local guides to save some trouble? In Egypt, there are many ancient Building, but there are even more scammers than ancient Building. Getting robbed by a greedy guide who takes the money and runs off without working is a minor issue. With bad luck, you could very likely encounter outlaws who commit murder and robbery. This is also why Grandpa Solomon repeatedly warned them before they set off to be especially careful of guides.
This was valuable experience that Grandpa Solomon, who had hired two Grave Robber, gained from his personal experience.
Relying on his money power, Pegasus quickly rented several camels for everyone to ride. The path ahead to the Great Pyramid of Giza had no flat roads for vehicles to transit; there was mostly Sandy Ground. After parking the vehicle in a paid parking lot by the roadside, the group took some luggage, mounted the camels, and were about to set off.
---Did you think it would be that simple?
Although the camels they rented were specially trained and suitable for beginners to ride, after all, they were people who had lived in the City for many years and had little opportunity to come into contact with live animal transportation tools. Just getting onto the soft back of a camel was already a considerable challenge, let alone freely controlling the camel's move.
Pegasus, who had traveled the World alone more than a decade ago, was wealthy but not some pampered individual. Although he hadn't ridden a camel in a long time, after mounting the camel hump, he quickly recalled the key points of camel riding he had specifically learned before. He skillfully controlled his camel, pacing back and forth in front of Joey Wheeler and Tristan .
"Heh hahaha, although so many years have passed, but the skill of riding a camel, me still haven't forgotten. But this shouldn't be too difficult for you, Tristan-boy, Joey Wheeler-boy~"
Just riding a camel could be used as capital to show off. Pegasus, with his youthful mindset, spoke like an old child.
Although Tristan and Joey Wheeler had long since obtained their Motorcycle Driver's Licenses, their experience of speeding on the highway was fundamentally useless in front of the silent, docile, and tall camels. To avoid being shown off to by Pegasus with that strange tone again, it took the two best friends quite a while to barely manage to ride the camels and issue the order to move forward.
If two boys with excellent athletic ability on normal days were like this, there's even less need to mention Téa. Although Téa could bravely approach a camel if it stayed still, getting her to ride one was simply too difficult. Helpless, she finally had to sit on the camel Yugi was riding.
Why would Téa, who was usually very outgoing and not at all like an introverted girl, be so afraid of camels? Hayato didn't know the answer, but he thought that the subtle "Plan Complete" smile that appeared on Téa's face when he inadvertently glanced at her sitting on Yugi's camel must have been an illusion, right? Yes, it must have been.
Compared to Téa, the most embarrassing one was Marik. Despite being a local Egyptian, and also from the Ishtar Family, the Tomb Keepers with three thousand years of history, Marik's adaptability to this Desert was even worse than Joey Wheeler and Tristan, who were visiting Egypt for the first time. He couldn't even ride a camel.
Not being able to ride was one thing, but this guy shamelessly started to give up and insisted on hitching a ride on the back of the camel Hayato was riding.
"You say you're an Egyptian, born and raised in the Desert, yet you can't even ride a camel?"
Hearing Hayato say this, Marik, who was in the back holding onto the camel hump in front of him like a stubborn piece of meat, said indifferently, "Isn't that normal? I told you before, I've hardly ever left the Tomb Keepers' Clan Territory since I was a kid. Do you think I had the opportunity to learn to ride a camel?"
Paused, Marik retorted, "What's strange is you, Brother-in-law. Although Mutou Yuugi hasn't learned to ride a camel, it's understandable that when he switches to the Nameless Pharaoh, he would subconsciously know how to ride a camel. But what's going on with you, Brother-in-law? You ride even more steadily than Pegasus."
Regarding what Marik said, Hayato was actually a bit strange as well. Let alone camels, he hadn't even ridden a horse before. But after riding the camel, his body subconsciously adapted to the mount beneath him and prepared for riding. Even the camel actively responded to Hayato's body's reactions and obeyed his commands. Even if Hayato wasn't holding the reins right now, just a slight idea from Hayato to turn would cause the camel beneath him to automatically respond and turn.
"Who knows? Maybe I learned to ride a camel in Hawaii too?" Hayato, not knowing why this was happening, replied casually.
"Oh come on, Brother-in-law. Before, you might have been able to fool me, but Tristan told me long ago that there's a training institution in Domino City called Hawaii."
"I told you, who's your Brother-in-law?!"
While chatting, the group of seven rode five camels, heading in the direction of the Great Pyramid of Giza under the gradually rising sun disc.
Before, just seeing the World's largest pyramid—the Great Pyramid of Giza—from a distance on the highway, everyone could feel its imposing presence. And after setting off from the nearby town, the closer they got to the pyramid's direction, the more the feeling of the giant object continuously growing larger before their eyes gave them a complete shock.
It's no wonder Pegasus would travel the World in this way to find inspiration for Duel Monsters cards.
And as they got closer to the pyramid's direction, both Yugi and Hayato simultaneously felt a very peculiar feeling in their hearts. It was difficult to describe in words; they could only feel as if something was calling out to them.
At the same time, Marik, sitting behind Hayato, said confusedly as they got closer to the Great Pyramid of Giza, "Strange, I should be visiting here for the first time, right? Why does the Great Pyramid of Giza from this angle look so familiar?"
"Huh?" After a moment of pause, Marik turned his head to glance at the Desert in the distance, then turned his head back to look at the Great Pyramid of Giza, and then turned his head again to look in the direction of the Desert. "Huh?!"
"C-Could it be?!"
Author's Note: There's a place in Egypt named Pegasus (found it accidentally while checking a map)
And PS: About the title, it doesn't have any special meaning, yeah.
(End of Chapter)
"It's so big! Is that a real pyramid?"
A small commercial vehicle drove through the vast Desert. Looking out the right window of the vehicle, the huge pyramid could be clearly seen. Joey Wheeler, sitting in the back row, exclaimed, "Although there are many cards in Duel Monsters that depict pyramids, this is the first time I've seen a real one."
"Hahaha, after all, the pyramids of Egypt gave me quite a lot of inspiration during the process of me creating Duel Monsters." Hearing Joey Wheeler's words, Pegasus, sitting in front of him, laughed heartily. He glanced at the pyramid outside the window and couldn't help but exclaim, "Revisiting this place after so many years, even I feel a bit excited."
Pegasus realized that he seemed to be getting old. Just seeing the familiar past from his memories reappear before his eyes made him unable to help but start reminiscing about the past. Was he already old?
Thinking about the Duel Academy discussed yesterday, it really was a good suggestion. In a few more years, after a new batch of excellent Card Designers join Industrial Illusions, who knows what interesting cards will be born.
At Cairo Capital Airport in Egypt, after Pegasus picked up Hayato and his group who had arrived by airplane, although they had experienced many twists and turns the previous day, their trip to Egypt had officially begun. The first stop of their trip was Giza, not far from Cairo.
Besides the pyramids that amazed first-time visitors and are actually spread throughout Egypt, there is another famous attraction here, which is the Sphinx.
"Wow, it really doesn't have a nose, it looks like it was sliced off with a knife."
"Move closer, Joey Wheeler, your head is too big and is blocking my entire line of sight!"
"Hey, don't push me, my head is already pressed against the glass. If you want to see, go to the row in front, you can sit in the chairs there."
"No way."
Listening to Joey Wheeler and Tristan arguing in the back, Téa also withdrew her line of sight from outside the window and looked at Yugi, who was sitting next to her with a heavy expression, seemingly deep in thought: "What's wrong, Yugi?"
"Nothing, Téa." Turning his head to look at Téa, Yugi smiled slightly, shook his head, and said, "Just now The Other Me said he doesn't have any impression of the view here."
This doesn't mean that the Sphinx before them hadn't been built when Dark Yugi, the Nameless Pharaoh's Soul, was alive. Actually, based on the analysis of current archaeological findings, the construction time of this Sphinx in Giza is much earlier than three thousand years ago. In the era when the Nameless Pharaoh was alive, this magnificent and mysterious Building had already stood on the Earth.
Even in ancient times when information transmission was relatively slow, Dark Yugi, as the Pharaoh, should have had some knowledge of the peculiar Building within his country. But even for a special Building like the Sphinx, Dark Yugi still had no impression of it.
"The Other Yugi, he doesn't remember this place either..." Hearing this, Téa looked at the Millennium Puzzle Yugi held in his hand. Her voice was a little low, and the hand she put into her pocket subconsciously stroked the souvenir she had specifically bought at the airport.
"The Sphinx, huh? What's so good about this crappy Sphinx?"
Glancing at the Sphinx, Marik, sitting in the passenger seat, rested his head on one hand and said dismissively. As if thinking of something, he turned his head to look at Hayato in the driver's seat, "It's quite an accident that you, Brother-in-law, actually have a Driver's License that can be used in Egypt. But if you're driving, won't you be unable to properly see the view on the side?"
"Just assume I hate everything related to it. Let alone the Sphinx, I'm not even interested in a Human-faced Lion."
Hayato merely glanced at the Sphinx in the distance before withdrawing his line of sight. As he said, Hayato truly had no interest in the Sphinx right now. However, in 'Assassin's Creed: Origins', which he used to play, he took plenty of photos around the Sphinx from various angles. He would remember his grudge against Anubis for a lifetime.
But that was only limited to the Sphinx. Egypt wasn't just about the pyramids and the Sphinx as attractions. When he reached the vicinity of attractions he was interested in, he would also take a few more photos as souvenirs. When he left home this time, he specifically brought his pink camera.
As for the Driver's License,
"Although it's not the first time I've ranted about this, in Japan you can get a motor vehicle Driver's License as long as you're 18. By the way, you can get a Motorcycle Driver's License at 16, but I'm still two years away from the drinking age." Looking straight ahead at the continuous mountain range, Hayato paused, and added, "Finally, what needs to be corrected is, who's your Brother-in-law?!"
"Well, it's been so long, Brother-in-law, how haven't you gotten used to it yet? It's bound to happen sooner or later anyway." Marik chuckled, lowered his head, and glanced at the map spread open on his lap. "Hmm... looks like there's a small town up ahead. We probably don't need supplies, after all, we just set off not too long ago."
Although Ancient Egypt held the title of one of the Four Great Ancient Civilizations, unlike the country that broke free from its cocoon and thrived to this day, Egypt is not Ancient Egypt. Due to several instances of internal division, its current land size is smaller than neighboring countries like Libya and Sudan, and it's not even the size of a single province in some countries.
From setting off from Cairo until now, they had actually only driven for an hour. Let alone resting, there was arguably no need to even drink or eat.
However, if they wanted to visit ancient Building like the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Sphinx up close, it was necessary to stop here briefly and switch to transportation tools like camels to approach under the guidance of a guide. Looking at Joey Wheeler, Tristan , and Pegasus in the car, they all seemed to have the idea of going to see them, and even Téa was somewhat eager to try.
Although tourism in Egypt is not as developed now as it will be many years later, the job of being a guide is not outdated at all. Egyptians are professional when it comes to guiding. In fact, the vast majority of ancient objects from their country were guided out of the country by their own people.
Hayato and the others didn't even need to say much. Just seeing Pegasus, who looked like a white person with "Big Spender" and "Rich Fool" practically written on his face, emerge from a rare luxury car among Hayato's group, a crowd of locals enthusiastically swarmed forward, volunteering to introduce themselves and vigorously promoting their familiarity with the approach to the pyramid, as well as how deceitful their counterparts were.
Just the heavily accented foreign language was enough to give Hayato and the others a headache, not to mention the micro-expression performances the guides before them were desperately putting on to demonstrate the truth of their words. Even Pegasus, who had been to Egypt before, was somewhat caught off guard.
Fortunately, Hayato had the most effective trump card for dealing with the volunteering guides.
When Marik got out of the passenger seat, holding a small red flag of unclear meaning that Hayato had given him, the noise from the local guides paused slightly. Recognizing Marik as an Egyptian, they concluded that he was the guide Hayato and his group had hired in advance. Feeling bored, they scattered like winged beasts and squatted back down in the shade at the town entrance, waiting for the next easy mark.
Although Marik was basically just a fake Egyptian who fundamentally didn't know the way, he could serve as the ostensible guide to turn down the self-promoting locals. And Pegasus, the ostensible easy mark, was actually Hayato and the others' real guide.
As for why Hayato and the others, despite having money, weren't willing to hire local guides to save some trouble? In Egypt, there are many ancient Building, but there are even more scammers than ancient Building. Getting robbed by a greedy guide who takes the money and runs off without working is a minor issue. With bad luck, you could very likely encounter outlaws who commit murder and robbery. This is also why Grandpa Solomon repeatedly warned them before they set off to be especially careful of guides.
This was valuable experience that Grandpa Solomon, who had hired two Grave Robber, gained from his personal experience.
Relying on his money power, Pegasus quickly rented several camels for everyone to ride. The path ahead to the Great Pyramid of Giza had no flat roads for vehicles to transit; there was mostly Sandy Ground. After parking the vehicle in a paid parking lot by the roadside, the group took some luggage, mounted the camels, and were about to set off.
---Did you think it would be that simple?
Although the camels they rented were specially trained and suitable for beginners to ride, after all, they were people who had lived in the City for many years and had little opportunity to come into contact with live animal transportation tools. Just getting onto the soft back of a camel was already a considerable challenge, let alone freely controlling the camel's move.
Pegasus, who had traveled the World alone more than a decade ago, was wealthy but not some pampered individual. Although he hadn't ridden a camel in a long time, after mounting the camel hump, he quickly recalled the key points of camel riding he had specifically learned before. He skillfully controlled his camel, pacing back and forth in front of Joey Wheeler and Tristan .
"Heh hahaha, although so many years have passed, but the skill of riding a camel, me still haven't forgotten. But this shouldn't be too difficult for you, Tristan-boy, Joey Wheeler-boy~"
Just riding a camel could be used as capital to show off. Pegasus, with his youthful mindset, spoke like an old child.
Although Tristan and Joey Wheeler had long since obtained their Motorcycle Driver's Licenses, their experience of speeding on the highway was fundamentally useless in front of the silent, docile, and tall camels. To avoid being shown off to by Pegasus with that strange tone again, it took the two best friends quite a while to barely manage to ride the camels and issue the order to move forward.
If two boys with excellent athletic ability on normal days were like this, there's even less need to mention Téa. Although Téa could bravely approach a camel if it stayed still, getting her to ride one was simply too difficult. Helpless, she finally had to sit on the camel Yugi was riding.
Why would Téa, who was usually very outgoing and not at all like an introverted girl, be so afraid of camels? Hayato didn't know the answer, but he thought that the subtle "Plan Complete" smile that appeared on Téa's face when he inadvertently glanced at her sitting on Yugi's camel must have been an illusion, right? Yes, it must have been.
Compared to Téa, the most embarrassing one was Marik. Despite being a local Egyptian, and also from the Ishtar Family, the Tomb Keepers with three thousand years of history, Marik's adaptability to this Desert was even worse than Joey Wheeler and Tristan, who were visiting Egypt for the first time. He couldn't even ride a camel.
Not being able to ride was one thing, but this guy shamelessly started to give up and insisted on hitching a ride on the back of the camel Hayato was riding.
"You say you're an Egyptian, born and raised in the Desert, yet you can't even ride a camel?"
Hearing Hayato say this, Marik, who was in the back holding onto the camel hump in front of him like a stubborn piece of meat, said indifferently, "Isn't that normal? I told you before, I've hardly ever left the Tomb Keepers' Clan Territory since I was a kid. Do you think I had the opportunity to learn to ride a camel?"
Paused, Marik retorted, "What's strange is you, Brother-in-law. Although Mutou Yuugi hasn't learned to ride a camel, it's understandable that when he switches to the Nameless Pharaoh, he would subconsciously know how to ride a camel. But what's going on with you, Brother-in-law? You ride even more steadily than Pegasus."
Regarding what Marik said, Hayato was actually a bit strange as well. Let alone camels, he hadn't even ridden a horse before. But after riding the camel, his body subconsciously adapted to the mount beneath him and prepared for riding. Even the camel actively responded to Hayato's body's reactions and obeyed his commands. Even if Hayato wasn't holding the reins right now, just a slight idea from Hayato to turn would cause the camel beneath him to automatically respond and turn.
"Who knows? Maybe I learned to ride a camel in Hawaii too?" Hayato, not knowing why this was happening, replied casually.
"Oh come on, Brother-in-law. Before, you might have been able to fool me, but Tristan told me long ago that there's a training institution in Domino City called Hawaii."
"I told you, who's your Brother-in-law?!"
While chatting, the group of seven rode five camels, heading in the direction of the Great Pyramid of Giza under the gradually rising sun disc.
Before, just seeing the World's largest pyramid—the Great Pyramid of Giza—from a distance on the highway, everyone could feel its imposing presence. And after setting off from the nearby town, the closer they got to the pyramid's direction, the more the feeling of the giant object continuously growing larger before their eyes gave them a complete shock.
It's no wonder Pegasus would travel the World in this way to find inspiration for Duel Monsters cards.
And as they got closer to the pyramid's direction, both Yugi and Hayato simultaneously felt a very peculiar feeling in their hearts. It was difficult to describe in words; they could only feel as if something was calling out to them.
At the same time, Marik, sitting behind Hayato, said confusedly as they got closer to the Great Pyramid of Giza, "Strange, I should be visiting here for the first time, right? Why does the Great Pyramid of Giza from this angle look so familiar?"
"Huh?" After a moment of pause, Marik turned his head to glance at the Desert in the distance, then turned his head back to look at the Great Pyramid of Giza, and then turned his head again to look in the direction of the Desert. "Huh?!"
"C-Could it be?!"
Author's Note: There's a place in Egypt named Pegasus (found it accidentally while checking a map)
And PS: About the title, it doesn't have any special meaning, yeah.
(End of Chapter)
