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Last Embryo Volume 3 Chapter 3 Part 4

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

However, the two people who were outside of such common sense merely looked at each other and nodded.

「Whatever is the case, she’s a precious source of information. Let’s change places for now and listen to what she has to say.」

「You are right. However, before that……we have to teach this white lassie here that destroying the environment is a bad thing.」

Hah? Izayoi asked suspiciously, but Pritt was quick to act. She grasped the Albino girl by the neck and swung her through the air… flinging her horizontally over a great distance.

「Wha…….Hold it, you idiot!」

「Wahyaaaaaaaaaahhh….!!!」

Izayoi was too late to stop her, and the Albino girl flew away while screaming her throat out. She who was turned into a human skipping stone drew an arc and flew towards the downstream of the Amazon river that she had damaged. Before she could understand what happened to her, she bounced on the water for the third time and lost her consciousness as her life flashed before her eyes.

The Republic of Brazil – 「Favela」 slums.

Several hours passed after that incident.

Both of them returned back from the forest to the capital city and were now nursing the Albino girl. By nightfall, the woodlands were visited by heavy rain, and they decided that any further search would be quite tricky.

Looking at how weakened the girl was, it was safe to assume that she wasn’t even provided decent meals. It wasn’t a good idea to let her wear those soaked clothes in such a weakened condition. She was the primary suspect for producing the 『Bull of Heaven』, however they feared that her condition would worsen if they left her remain the way she was. Not to mention the fact that her appearance clearly suggested that she had escaped from some kind of facility that didn’t treat her like a proper human being at all. They decided that they would first prioritize waiting before her strength recovered and then question her about where she had fled from, however…

As Izayoi searched for a doctor, he couldn’t help but question whether the {Twelve Devas} were actually just a group of problem children themselves. Hiding in the slums’ alley, he chose the right moment and started to reprimand Pritt.

「Good grief… You sure are something to make even someone like me do the scolding instead of being scolded, Earth’s Mother Goddess. Here I thought you guys were supposed to be the experts when it came to problem-solving in the Outer World, but it looks like actually causing them is much more up your alley, huh?」

「Of course we are the best problem solvers out there. But at the same time, I’m a deity that is supposed to guide humans. All the more if the last explosion was caused by that white girl. If she were to cause that big explosion within the territory inhabited by humans, she would have to face a fitting punishment. So before something like that happens, a good those of old-school discipline needs to be applied to teach her to differentiate what’s good and what’s bad through painful punishment.」

Pritt replied to his sarcasm with a slightly off-mark argument.

It wasn’t like Izayoi didn’t understand where she was coming from. Even he recalled receiving similar discipline from Canaria when he was a kid. But in her case, it wasn’t the physical but emotional pain that she utilized against him. When it came to physically educating them, there wouldn’t be many who wouldn’t reform after experiencing being tossed like a skipping stone. With all that considered, Izayoi understood that her method wasn’t wrong, but he would’ve preferred if she considered the time and place for it.

「An Albino kid……huh. What kind of inhuman experiment were they conducting, I wonder.」

「That is something unrelated to us. It’s not like I don’t want to properly protect the kid, but the investigation is what we should prioritize right now.」

「You say that, but we are already at a stalemate. Our detector is broken, and we did the opposite of what Homura told us. Didn’t he say that there was some device that operated the Star Particle Bodies? After seeing that explosion, it seems to me that the 『Bull of Heaven』 appeared through this girl’s power.」

「I’m not so sure about that. If she really was able to create ‘Bull of Heaven’ she should’ve shown something similar to it in the last encounter.」

Izayoi nodded after considering what she said for a brief moment..

「There are three possibilities I can think of now. One: She was so weakened that she couldn’t muster enough power for 『Bull of Heaven』. Two: She couldn’t use the power because the environmental conditions were unsuitable. Three: It’s impossible to muster enough power for the ‘Bull of Heaven’ with just her alone. And that’s about it. What do you think? It will be bad news if there’s a cooperator somewhere.」

「No way. Even if we assume that there is someone like that, they won’t amount to a threat anyway. I agree that it’s an interesting power, but it’s at around the seventh digit in terms of rank.」

「Well… you have a point, but…」

「In the first place, that Snow White had the power to separate electrons, didn’t she? I’m still not sure if it’s restricted to hydrogen and oxygen, but atomic compounds are the necessary power to make the dissociated atoms turn into water vapor, right? Separately they wouldn’t amount to anything big.」

「Is that how it is?」

Pritt said in wonder. Izayoi continued his speech.

「Rather than that, the main point is the physical condition of that Snow White. She’s too weakened, so it’s better if we just wait and see for now. Either way, I find it hard to believe that there would be a research facility in the dead center of that forest. It would be more problematic if we lose a valuable source of information.」

Izayoi proposed that they should temporarily go back to the city and threw firewood into the fire. Pritt knit her brows in dissatisfaction. She was also worried about her condition, but it was too illogical to just conclude that there wouldn’t be a research facility in the forest. Even if they prioritized her protection, dividing into two groups–one staying back, another heading to the forest would’ve been a good compromise plan. It was unlike Izayoi to not even consider that compromise.

「……What’s wrong? It’s not like you to be skipping on work.」

「Skipping you say?」

「That’s what it looks like. No, if I had to say, it’s like you have your priorities backwards. Are you perhaps sympathizing with her circumstances?」

That’s not it, Izayoi laughed mockingly and shook his head.

「That’s really not it. Rather than her circumstances, it has something to do with the fact that the Albino kid was used as an experimental subject.」

「With albinism? What, did you know someone who was an Albino?」

Pritt raised a slightly surprised voice. Albinism was indeed a rare symptom, but it wasn’t something this guy who was a self-proclaimed hedonist should’ve cared about. Izayoi ignited the fireplace of the abandoned building and stared into the empty space for a bit.

「Yeah. Long ago, there was one Albino of my age.」

「Oho? Were they a friend of yours?」

「I considered them my best friend.」

This time Pritt was extremely surprised. It was an unthinkable reaction for her who usually carried herself in a composed manner. But that was only natural. Even if she was a deity, never did she expect words like ‘best friend’ to come out from Sakamaki Izayoi’s mouth of all people. Brimming with curiosity, Pritt drew closer to Izayoi with an impish smile.

「That was surprising. I never thought you of all people would ever say that word.」

「Now that’s a surprise even for me. Was it so strange of me to call someone my best friend?」

「For Sakamaki Izayoi, that is. The word 「close friend」 is among the top three words in the 「even if I feel that way deep down, it’s too embarrassing to actually say it」 word rankings, am I wrong?」

「I feel like that’s a god’s prejudice there. While we are at it, what are the other two words?」

「「I love you」 and 「I’ll kill you」. Saying them is too embarrassing for you, and they require courage. …But putting that aside, what about this best friend of Sakamaki Izayoi. What kind of person were they?」

Pritt’s curiosity knew no end. The look in her eyes was just like a female leopard that had found her prey. But for Izayoi, the person in question, it wasn’t a topic he could speak of while messing around. He scratched his head awkwardly and returned back to the topic.

「Leaving that aside… why did the researchers of the Particle Bodies use Albinos as experimental subjects? That’s the main question.」

「……Ugh. That was quite a blunt way to change the topic. But you have a point, it’s indeed strange.」