Chapter 120 – Sightseeing in England

In the middle of November, we arrived in Europe.
The Olympic, which had continued a smooth voyage, stopped at Queenstown in Ireland and Cherbourg in France before reaching its destination, Southampton.

Southampton, I heard, is a natural harbor located deep inside an inlet between the Isle of Wight Great Britain, facing the English Channel.

It is often used as the departure point for England’s transatlantic routes, especially for luxury liners. Nearby is Portsmouth, the main base of the British Royal Navy.

But even after looking up such information with a tourist’s mindset, I had no business in this town.
England itself, however, I have business with. That’s why I didn’t disembark at Cherbourg along the way.

The primary purpose was to accompany Kouryuu-sensei, who wanted to personally congratulate Alexander Fleming for receiving the Nobel Prize.

On the other hand, that was about the only business we had.

Ootori Trading and Ootori Bank do have branches in London, but with America’s situation being what it is, there’s nothing in particular I need to do for the company.
Since they’ve already handled the travel preparations, it might be polite to visit and offer words of appreciation, but if I go, I’ll only be in the way. 

So instead, I simply arranged for a temporary bonus as extra pay for the people who were inconvenienced, however slightly.

The only people I absolutely couldn’t avoid talking to turned out to be exactly where I expected.
Actually, they were outright lying in wait. They greeted us at the port of Southampton, leaving me with no way to escape.

As far as I could tell, they were the shell-marked oil company that, in my previous life’s history, was closely tied to Idemitsu’s company.

So, with very serious expressions of “Shall we talk?” We ended up having a brief discussion.

Still, for all that they’re supposed to be rival conglomerates, in the end it seems they were connected somewhere after all.
From my perspective, my only impression was, (So you guys are just doing pro-wrestling, huh).

And once that heavy business was over with, I devoted myself to sightseeing as much as time would allow. After all, the whole reason I came to Europe was to blow off steam.

For me personally, if I could hit the classic tourist spots, the world’s most famous magic school from my previous life, and some places connected to King Arthur, that would be enough to clear the event.

The classic spots and the magic school locations were mostly within London.
Dr. Fleming, too, was at St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School of the University of London. 

Only Oxford University and the King Arthur-related sites were outside of London.

“So then, is King Arthur’s tomb worth visiting?”

“I want to go. Besides, King Arthur—”

“I know at least the legends of King Arthur. But we’re going to Oxford as well, aren’t we? Since the route would be Oxford first and then stretching farther out to that place called Glastonbury, I’ll go too.”

“Eh? It’s really a place with nothing there, you know?”

To my selfish request, Kouryuu-sensei said he’d go too. Which means everyone else will end up coming along as well. 

That honestly makes me feel guilty. 

After all, going to King Arthur’s grave does have an official excuse, but in truth it’s just my past life’s otaku-minded desire.
A simple “pilgrimage to a holy site” that I couldn’t do in my previous life.

“But it’s a place with history, isn’t it? Besides, outside of London and Oxford, the only other spot I’d like to see is Stonehenge. They’re both about the same sort of thing, aren’t they?”

“Fine, whatever. If you want to go, suit yourself. More importantly, Kouryuu-sensei, are you giving a lecture somewhere?”

“I got a reply to the letter I sent from New York to Dr. Fleming. He requested me, very strongly, to come.”

He said it that way, but he looked a little pleased.
Still, if it’s through Dr. Fleming, then it wouldn’t be Oxford.

“Then, the University of London? What about Oxford?”

“Since we’ve come all the way to Britain, of course I want to see it. That’s normal, isn’t it?”

“Well, more or less. But there are tons of places I want to go, like Big Ben and the British Museum.”

“The military museum?”

“There’s such a thing?”

When I asked, Kouryuu-sensei pointed with his free hand to a small booklet he’d been looking at.

“It’s introduced here. Well, not really a place for a doctor like me or for children. So, how do we plan the tour?”

“What about your lecture?”

“Three days from now. I’ll also be meeting Dr. Fleming that morning.”

“Then, two full days for sightseeing in London.”

“On the third day too, go wherever you like. Listening to my lofty lecture would only bore you.”

“Is that okay?”

“Go blow off some steam. Well, though you hardly seem to need it anymore, children’s hearts are softer than they realize. Stretch your wings while you can.”

“Okaaay.”

“…What’s this, you’re unusually obedient.”

He looked a little suspicious, yet also a little relieved.
In response, I tried to give him as gentle a smile as possible.

“I’ve grown enough that I can at least listen to advice.”

“The moment you say that, you really aren’t a brat anymore.”

Saying so, he gave a weary “good grief” look, shook his head lightly side to side, and even shrugged his shoulders. I countered by making a childish silly face, baring my teeth in a straight line with a big “Eeeh!” expression.

And without waiting for a reaction, I leapt up from the chair I’d been sitting on and landed with a “thud!” about a meter away.

“Come on, Shizu, let’s go sightseeing!”

“As you wish.”

And so, on the second day of our stay in England, we set out for sightseeing in London.
That said, from here on it turned into almost the London version of the opening of a nationally loved Sunday evening anime.

Unlike New York, even in 1929 most of the places I wanted to visit were practically the same as in the 21st century.
On top of that, since Britain hadn’t yet fully fallen from being a world empire, the energy was different. 

The wave of depression hadn’t hit yet either. 

Still, we absolutely avoided going anywhere near the financial district of the City.

As for differences from the 21st century, it was only really the famous spots tied to that certain magical school.
Even though everyone else was puzzled, I was the only one excitedly rushing around King’s Cross Station, and despite having come once before, I still had a hard time finding that particular platform.

And then there was the British Museum, which even at this time couldn’t be covered in a single day.
Apparently, if you wanted to see everything, you had to be prepared to spend at least a week, just like in modern times. 

Typical Brits.
Their obsession with collecting things could put even crows to shame.

From what I could see from the car window, there were plenty of fish-and-chips shops lined up alongside pubs.
But unlike in the 21st century, they were strictly for the common folk and not tourist-oriented, so even if I whined about wanting to eat some, I couldn’t just go and buy it myself.

Still, the servants went and got some for me, so I managed to have it anyway—and in a way, it was so exactly what I’d expected that I felt relieved instead.

Other than that, our meals were basically all fancy French cuisine at pretentious hotels, with the occasional Italian dish mixed in.
This wasn’t much different from our stay in America. 

I heard that both in America and Western Europe, if you looked around you could find Chinese restaurants run by overseas Chinese, but someone of my bourgeois standing couldn’t exactly just stroll into one casually.

That’s why the Japanese food we brought from home or had shipped over served as my real comfort.

So I gave up on food tourism and instead threw myself fully into sightseeing.
On the fourth day of our stay, I went around without Kouryuu-sensei, but afterward, we steadily worked through the “London conquest.”

However, on that fourth day, Kouryuu-sensei met Dr. Fleming, and he heard directly from the man himself the same story: that the Japanese medical community (Tokyo University) said the doctor had just discovered it by chance and was unworthy.

On top of that, Dr. Fleming, burdened with guilt, strongly insisted—backed with evidence—that it was actually Kouryuu-sensei who was the true discoverer.
In the end, it only served to deepen Kouryuu-sensei’s hatred toward the University of Tokyo’s medical faculty.

On top of that, Dr. Fleming also praised Kouryuu-sensei’s other discoveries and even said on his own that if the Nobel people ever asked him, he’d put in a good word.

Naturally, once we regrouped, he vented nonstop to me—since I’m basically the only one he can unload his complaints on.

Listening to his grumbling, we shifted course to Oxford.

There, both Kouryuu-sensei and I thoroughly enjoyed the university facilities, even though our goals and interests were completely different.
I had never been here even in my previous life, so honestly, I was really glad I finally got the chance.

And it was almost entirely thanks to Kouryuu-sensei’s reputation that we were allowed to come.

Filled with that sense of satisfaction, we headed to the final checkpoint: Glastonbury, where King Arthur’s tomb lies.
And there, someone was waiting for me.

“Ah, Princess of Phoenix. I’ve been waiting for quite some time.”

Standing before the overly simple grave of King Arthur, the one who addressed me was a man with a bold, defiant look—the kind of face that practically begged for a cigar.
A gentleman, or rather, an old man.

His name: Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill.

“Churchill…sama?”

In America, I had carefully avoided running into big-name figures from history, but in Europe, I’d apparently let my guard down too much, treating it as nothing more than sightseeing.
But having him come straight at me like this was way too unexpected.

(Or rather—why Churchill?!)

Shell-marked oil company:
Shell Oil. In this case, Royal Dutch Shell. Technically a rival to Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, but since it’s Jewish-affiliated, it’s assumed to have some connections. In reality, I don’t actually know (lol).

Glastonbury:
The place is said to be King Arthur’s burial site. One of the otaku holy lands. That’s why the protagonist went there.

The City’s financial district:
The City of London, the central part of London. The world’s hub in the 19th century.
It has various landmarks, but most importantly, it’s the U.K.’s financial center.

World’s most famous wizard school-related spots (that could be visited in 1929):
In this era, likely King’s Cross Station, Oxford University, Borough Market, and Leadenhall Market.
King’s Cross Station
Platform 9¾, where the Hogwarts Express departs.
Oxford University
Christ Church College (the dining hall and staircase models)
Bodleian Library (the library the heroine used; second in size only to the British Library)
Borough Market
London’s largest market, boasting over 1,000 years of history.
Leadenhall Market
A covered shopping arcade located in the City, London’s financial district.