Sphinx

"Pyramids!"

"Mummies!"

Watching the two of them clamoring to see other people's ancestral tombs and ancestors' corpses, Adam could not help falling silent.

"All right, since you want to see them so badly, we'll put the pyramids on the first day."

Adam looked at Uther in shock.

"I told you, it's fine. The pyramids currently open to tourists aren't fake; they just don't have the real stuff inside."

Uther shrugged.

"Perfect timing to take you to see the Sphinx."

Because of their species' natural intelligence and fondness for difficult questions and riddles, sphinxes' main occupation, whether in Egypt or elsewhere, was guarding treasures and passageways. In Egypt, that naturally meant guarding pyramids and temples.

So, regardless of whatever itinerary Uther had originally arranged, under Klon and Bernard's insistent demands, they set off for the pyramids.

Their transportation to the pyramids was a minibus. It did not look large from the outside, but an Undetectable Extension Charm had been cast inside, making it spacious enough for a dozen or twenty people without feeling crowded. Fruit, drinks, and ice sat beside the seats.

On the road, Uther looked at the two excited faces and reminded them:

"Although we're going to the pyramids, they definitely won't be what you imagine. Those pyramids aren't open to the public, but the Ministry of Magic dealt with them long ago, so there's basically no chance of anything dangerous happening—provided you don't go running around recklessly."

Otherwise, Uther's parents would never have let him take them out alone.

"Got it!" x2

Unlike the pyramids near Cairo, they drove deep into the desert, only reaching their destination after several hours.

"Even with Muggle-Repelling Charms in place, some things inside those pyramids made the ancient Pharaohs build them deep in the desert."

Uther spoke as he got out of the vehicle.

"I'll take you around Cairo over the next few days, let you admire the Nile River, and then take you to Thebes. The Valley of the Kings there has plenty of Pharaohs' tombs too, and they're much more interesting than this place."

At this point, Uther could not help smiling.

"And my favorite—the pride of Egypt, the Ramesseum. I'll show you what it really looks like."

The Ramesseum Temple (RamesseumTentyris), a mortuary temple built during Ramesses II's reign, ranked among the greatest in Egyptian history in both scale and splendor.

Yet in the modern Muggle world's understanding, it had been reduced to nothing but ruins.

After briefly mentioning the plans for the next few days, Uther led everyone to the tightly shut door of a pyramid and ran his hand down the crack in the door from top to bottom.

"Rumble—"

Amid the sound of sand and stone trembling, Uther led them around to the other side of the pyramid.

"What was that just now?"

Klon curiously looked toward the door, which had shown no other movement.

"That door is the switch for entering the pyramid, but it isn't the entrance."

A trace of mockery entered Uther's smile.

"Even if they use the correct method to open it, anyone who enters through that door, aside from descendants of the Pharaoh, will fall into the underworld and never return—don't tell anyone."

Bernard leaned over and asked:

"So you've seen the underworld?"

"No. An ancestor once entered that door out of curiosity. Inside was a dead end: a long corridor where all magic was forbidden, ending at a wall made from a single solid block of stone. Apart from a linen curtain hanging at the entrance and images of Anubis on both sides, there was nothing in the entire corridor."

As they spoke, they arrived at the true entrance.

Uther tapped a massive stone with his wand. Centered on that stone, more than a dozen boulders seemed to melt and transform into an enormous Stone Gate, its painted patterns as vivid as though they had been applied only yesterday.

"Come in~"

With a gentle push, the Stone Gate opened inward. What met their eyes was none other than a gigantic male sphinx!

"Please tell me, what can... uh, Master?"

The sphinx had originally thought someone from the Ministry of Magic had come to feed him, and he was about to recite a new riddle he had come up with recently. But when he saw Uther, he hurriedly swallowed the rest of it and stood up, moving aside to clear the path.

"This is a sphinx I raised. His name is Mao Tuan. You can look around as you please, but it's best not to do anything disrespectful."

As he spoke, Uther looked at the enormous creature named Mao Tuan.

"These are my friends. Don't resist."

"...Mao Tuan?"

Eugene looked up at the sphinx and could not help saying.

Even lying on the ground, the creature was at least three meters tall!

The reason for Eugene's question was obvious. Uther sighed.

"Believe me, Mao Tuan really was tiny when he was little... Somehow, he grew this big before I knew it."

"You expect me to believe he got this big before you knew it?"

What a cause for celebration—Eugene could even crack jokes now. His roommates did not think much of it, but Eugene's grandmother was delighted. She had little interest in the sphinx and rested off to the side with Old Reed and Kelly.

Old Reed had no particular fondness for magical creatures, so a quick look was enough for him. Kelly had seen a sphinx before, so she naturally had no interest in it either.

Adam walked over to Mao Tuan and reached out to stroke him. Sphinxes were also called human-faced lion beasts. Adam had no interest in the human-faced part, but the body was indeed much like a lion's. Its coarse, stiff fur had clearly been carefully groomed, and when stroked along the grain, it was as smooth as satin.

It was nearly comparable to Kero's true form.

Having gained plenty of experience from petting Kero, Adam unconsciously used professional techniques. Mao Tuan's tail rose into the air and swished so fast it left afterimages.

Klon had no interest in petting Mao Tuan. Rather than stepping forward, he looked at Uther expectantly.

"Mao Tuan was about to give us a riddle earlier, right? Let us try to solve it!"

"Yeah, if you run into a sphinx, of course you have to experience a sphinx's riddle!"

Bernard chimed in.

The moment Mao Tuan heard that, he perked up and looked at Uther expectantly.

"Hmm, all right. But once a sphinx's riddle is answered incorrectly, the sphinx will become irritable, and its aggression will increase. Even though Mao Tuan was raised by me, I can only guarantee he won't attack us. When that happens, we won't be able to observe him from this close."

"Then let's solve it."

Adam let go and stepped back a few paces. His interest in the sphinx lay more in its riddles anyway.

If he really wanted to pet something furry, he had other beasts to choose from.

Seeing that everyone had agreed, Mao Tuan proudly raised his upper body.

"Please tell me: what can run but never walks, has a mouth but never speaks, has a head but never cries, and has a bed but never sleeps?"

Uther raised an eyebrow. Years of familiarity allowed him to quickly guess Mao Tuan's riddle, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At least this would ensure Mao Tuan would not fly into a rage.

Adam thought for a few seconds. Sphinx riddles were usually not made up at random; they were generally tied to the environment in which the sphinx lived. So he quickly guessed the answer as well.

"Those who've figured it out shouldn't say the answer yet. Write it down on paper, and we'll take them out together to compare later."

Eugene suggested this as he took a notebook from his bag, tore out several sheets of paper, then took out a few pens and handed them around with the paper.

"Huh? You've already figured it out?"

Klon, who was still thinking, looked at him in surprise.

"Not yet."

Eugene shook his head, then looked at Uther and Adam, who had already started writing.

"But I think they've already figured it out."