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Last Embryo Volume 4 Chapter 6 Part 7

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

After a bit of self-gloating, Izayoi wiped the proud smirk off his face and went back to wearing a deadly serious expression.

While it might have looked like as if they had everything figured out, the truth is that they were only on the starting line to fully solving the mystery of the Gif Game’s rules were telling them to tackle. And to be honest, if they needed that much information to only figure out what they were supposed to be doing just to get to the starting line, then Izayoi did not even want to imagine what sort of mental gymnastics they will be forced to make the further down the Atlantis rabbit hole they will be going.

Not to mention that the matter of north and south regions of the Lost Continent was still pretty much in the air. Whatever was going on here and whatever it is that this Gift Gae wants them to achieve, it does not look like it will be something that could be dealt with overnight or in a day or two.

「Hmm, this might just be one of the most difficult Gift Games I ever had to participate in. Well, it might not be on par with the ones that belonged to the highest difficulty, the ultimate difficulty or the no future mode, but other than that, it is definitely up there, no doubts about it. Not to mention that this time we are no alone in this Gift Game and have other teams to deal with. And speaking of whom, I wonder if we are the only ones who just managed to stand at the starting line, or if others also had difficulties figuring out what the hell were the Victory Conditions all about?」

「You know what? You are right. We cannot forget that the Game has only just begun. . . but now that we figured out that the 「Stone Pillars」 are actually 「Stone Monuments」, then does that mean that the location on the map of Atlantis, 「Pillars of Heracles」. . . . .  are they a fake? Or perhaps a distraction?」

「I do not know that yet, and it is definitely too early to be passing on any premature judgements. For all we know, it might only pretend to be a fake in order to hide the real source of the Game’s mystery. As for the distance to get there, normally we would have to go there by foot if we wanted to check it out, but since we can use Queen’s special jump as our own private taxi, I do not think that this is going to be too much of a problem, right?」

Izayoi looked at Homura with a smug look on his face, but he dismissed tha suggestion of his with a wave of his hand.

「Stop with this foolish nonsense. I thought that I have already told you that this is our trump card that should be used only in cases of extreme emergencies. And besides, she might be able to do much more then simply make us jump across vast spaces in an instant, so that is all the more reason not to use out all of the stacks of her {Guest Master Authority} in rapid succession.」

「*Tsk* What a cheapskate. Must be nice, having so many comrades by your side to lend you a helping hand. If only I had so many of them instead of having to do everything all by myself most of the time.」

「So noisy! If you do not know what you are talking about, then please do not open your mouth at all. We have a number of people helping us, that much is true, but, for example, we are only borrowing Arjuna’s help, and not for much longer at that. That blasted Jin, being all smug and saying things like: 「I will share the information about the albino girl with you, but in exchange, I would like you to return Arjuna back to us once the first round of the 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority draws to a close」. Seriously, who does he think he is, dictating conditions like that?」

「Huh?!」

When he mentioned Jin and Arjuna’s names, Izayoi looked back at Homura, and his facial expression immediately changed.

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I see. So Arjuna is mixed up in all of this as well, huh?」

「Hm? Well, yeah, but. . . . .  is there anything wrong with that?」

「Not particularly, but there was something that I wanted to ask him about, but since he is not here with you right now, I might as well do it later when the opportunity presents itself.」

Arjuna, one of the greatest heroes of the Indian mythology, otherwise known as 「The Hero of the Endowed」. According to what Orpheus told him, he is one of the 「Astra’s」 heirs, so maybe he also knows the truth that even Orpheus does not know about. . . is what Izayoi initially thought, but dealing with him might be a bigger pain in the ass than it is actually worth it, since Izayoi and him are more than a little incompatible with one another, and the last time they saw each other and exchanged only a few words was during the battle in the Labyrinth, the result of which could either be described as a complete victory or a complete defeat, depending on how you would look at it.

In any case, the only sensible option left to him was to ask Parashurama about 「Astras」, but tha is not going to be possible until she will not wake up from her sleep, which might still take some time. Well, even if he has to wait for some time for her to wake up, at least he can be sure that as long as no one decides to attack them like the last time they met, he will be able to ask her all of the questions he has in mind without getting rudely interrupted. . . . .  and while they are already on the subject of Parashurama. . .

「Homura, did you just say that you know about that Albino girl over there?」

「Yes, I heard about her. About everything, in fact. I know that it is probably not going to mean much, but. . . you have my sympathies, Big Bro Iza. I felt awful just listening about it, and I cannot even begin to fathom how you must have felt seeing all of that with your own eyes.」

While holding his hand over his mouth as if the memory itself was making him feel like he was about to throw up, Homura said that with a bitter look on his face. For someone like him, who lived peacefully throughout his entire life in the Outer World and only came to Little Garden a few months ago, hearing about the hell that the Black Albinos went through must have been especially hard-hitting.

He is someone who has never seen how a real battlefield where people killed each other looked ike, and he is not aware of how horrible malformed and disfigured a human corpse can be once other people were allowed to 「have their fun with it」.

And he should never have been allowed to learn that. Izayoi’s past was just too gruesome and willed with the inherent darkness and filth of the Outer World for other people to be hearing about it as if it was some kind of curious anecdote that could be shared at a party.

「When I heard that story for the first time, I did not understand all of it. But what I understood all too well is that the same factor that causes albinism turned out to also be immensely helpful in the process of colonization of the Star Particle Bodies in the organism of the host, and that is probably why Albinos were turned into the test subjects for experiments that involved them. If that turns out to be true, then it would be a big discovery as well as a potential breakthrough in the Star Particle Bodies research, all the more so since at the current moment the B.D.A is still too unstable to be using it in legal experiments on human subjects, and the time needed to make the necessary adjustments in order to make it possible is estimated to be fifty years at best, so I can definitely see why some people might see the appeal of using Albino people to reduce the research time by a significant amount.」

「A significant shortening of research time, huh?」