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Last Embryo Volume 2 Chapter 5 Part 4

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Just as Homura expected, a declaration of such caliber had to intrigue the Queen, because she ended up opening her eyes a bit wider in surprise. If he said something boring, predictable or uninteresting she was planning on disposing off of him and finding a replacement on the spot, but now that he went and said something like that, she simply couldn’t allow herself to do so just yet, because now he managed to get her curiosity. How did someone like him, a boy who was summoned to Little Garden just 3 days ago, could know anything about the Sun Authorities that she already didn’t know?

Homura took out his smartphone and pointed at the logo imprinted on the back of it.

「This symbol of the sun… it only came to me when I had a nice long look at the logo of Everything Company. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong about this, but as long as one of you Gods, Demons, legendary figures or an organization that has been granted their own flag and emblem won’t act as a middleman, then I think you have no way of actually interacting with our world.」

Moon Rabbits, Shirayuki-hime, Minotaur, Bull of Heaven… even if all of them were belonging to the legends and mythologies of Homura’s world, they have been accepted into Little Garden as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. That was a proof that Little Garden and the Outer World could interfere with one another and that they have most definitely done so in the past.

「To be honest, I should have noticed that sooner, when the three of us kids living in the 21^st century were summoned here. Those with enough power here in Little Garden possess the ability to meddle not only with the past, but also with what would be the modern era from our standpoint, or rather, if you have the means to interact with the past, then why wouldn’t you do the same with the present? At this point, I wouldn’t even be surprised if you told me that you can also do that with what we would call the future.」

Even though he was saying all of that now, it was something akin to a blind spot for him up until now, but if you thought about it properly, it shouldn’t really be anything all that surprising. After all, the past and the present can fundamentally be called one and the same thing with the only difference between them being if they could be properly observed or not.

Satisfied with his deductions so far, Queen leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs.

「Your suspicions are correct. When we Divine Spirits wish to make contact with the Outer World, we are usually doing so through a person or an organization acting as a medium between us. Most common ones are the religious organizations, but it can also be done through the countries and organizations we lend our flags to, since such an act is the sign of a deep connection between us.」

「Like with the Union Jack of the Great Britain?」

The one who replied to him with a nod was Scathach.

「That is usually how it is. It is exactly the same with the Welsh Red Dragon flag and the staff encompassed by two serpents adopted by the World Health Organization. As you have keenly noticed, the crest of Kudou Ayato’s Everything Company follows the same principle, being modeled after Queen Halloween’s emblem, the sun, which was given to them in exchange for their support when they were still one of the Zaibatsus (TL Note: Zaibatsus are “financial cliques”, the term itself is referring to industrial and financial vertically integrated business conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period until the end of World War II). As for the specific timeframe, I think it happened right after an event that the dwellers of your world refer to as World War II.」

Scathach’s words made Homura verify something in his head. According to his knowledge, the staff that acted as WHO’s symbol came from Greek mythology.

「I understand that it is something convenient for you, but the thought that you have so much power that you can freely use even the international organizations as your playthings is admittedly pretty scary.」

「That is perfectly understandable, but rest assured that it is not always a smooth sailing for us either, since more often than not such interferences require us to go through a number of obstacles in order to properly fix the torn reality. I guess you could say that the Gift Game that is currently going on can be counted as a part of that as well.」

「And the fact that the 『Bull of Heaven’s』 rampage is now threatening to destroy our world? Is that a part of this Gift Game as well?」

「I like to call it 「the fact that the Star Particle Bodies will be what saves the world from him」.」

So she wanted to say that Homura using his father’s invention in order to save the world was also a predetermined result. Strengthening his conviction after listening to the Queen’s explanations, Homura continued.

「Let us get back to the main topic of this conversation, shall we? I understand that you want me to fight the one responsible for the creation of the 『Bull of Heaven』, so I can assume that the one who made him and the one who stole the results of my father’s research and abused the Star Particle Bodies for his own gains are one and the same person…」

Queen nodded silently and urged his to continue with a small gesture of her hand.

「… and quite paradoxically, whoever the person or people who want to use them for themselves are, there is a very high probability that he/they are also involved with the 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority. As for the identity of those responsible, I already have a few leads in regards to that, and if you want, Queen, I can show you the flag they are using as their symbol right here, right now, in this very moment.」

Just as he expected, that particular bit caused Scathach and Queen to exchange meaningful glances, after which both of them fell silent for a few seconds, but ultimately said nothing against Homura’s story, which meant that they have probably accepted it as not that bad of a compromise, since it was not their goal to forcefully decrease the number of people researching Star Particle Bodies.

Taking their silence as a 「Yes」 to his proposal, Homura unlocked his phone and navigated it to the images folder, where he have prepared the picture of the flag in question beforehand.

「If you’re good with me just showing you the picture, all I need to do so is one tap of a finger, but if you want more detailed data, then I’m afraid that’s only something I can provide to you if I’ll have the access to my laboratory in the Outer World…. So? How about that? Can you still call my hand weak?」

「Hmm, let’s see… it’s not weak per se, but still too weak for me to disclose the secrets of this Gift Game to you I’m afraid.」

「But Queen, I think we cannot allow ourselves to reject this young man’s proposal unless we want to allow the Buddhists to snatch all of the good spoils, like Star Particle Bodies or the Adamantine ore for themselves.」

Then Scathach the Head Butler looked at Homura with an amused smile on her face, the one that send a cascade of ice-cold chills down Homura’s spine, because he knew exactly what kind of smile that was, because he was at the receiving end of it before. It was a smile of someone who has just found an interesting new plaything for themselves. So even if she looked dignified and calm, deep down inside this Scathach was exactly the same kind of person as Queen Halloween. Perhaps that was the reason why they got along so well?

Queen rested her arms on the chair and gave Homura a suspicious look.

「You say that, my dear Scathach, but no matter how I try to look at him, he does not look like someone who’s cut out to be a warrior. So what, are you telling me that you can whip him into shape to become one?」

「I am not 100% sure of that, but it would be a nice challenge to try. Fortunately for me, I have been blessed with good disciples so far, like Setanta (TL Note: Cu Chulainn in other words, those of you who are into Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Grand Order should be well familiar with him) for his raw fighting prowess and Kudou Ayato in terms of sheer ability, but I was thinking that it was just about time for me to get myself a disciple who is physically weak, but is packing in the wisdom and courage departments.」

「Is that so?」

Queen answered straightforwardly. And since neither of the sides seemed to have any objections, then it would seem that their conversation has been settled successfully.