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Last Embryo Volume 4 Chapter 4 Part 11

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

「You see, the thing is. . .」

Pritt offered as concise of an explanation as possible to the cow head mask-wearing people, telling them that they have been summoned from the Outer World in an irregular fashion while also pointing out towards the girl on Izayoi’s back, adding that there were some unexpected circumstances and complications that they could not do anything about. As soon as she was finished, the attitude of the would-be guides did a one hundred and eighty turn, changing completely.

「So you were summoned here without any prior explanations, and along with a sick child at that. . .  why did you not say so earlier?! If only we knew that those were your circumstances, we would not have treated you like hostiles in the first place!」

「You were right to make finding a shelter for the girl your top priority. In that case, the place closest to here where she could be treated safely could be. . .  yes, the best place would definitely be the southeastern pier!」

「If you want, we can even call a Pegasus for you! If you put her on its back, it will take her there in a matter of minutes without you having to burden yourself with it.」

「I see. . . yeah, that would be great. If we could ask that of you, that would really be appreciated. We will be leaving her in your care then.」

Izayoi was a little bit taken aback by their sudden shift in attitude, but after his initial hesitation, he concluded that if they wanted to hurt them they would have done so the moment Pritt released them from her vines, so he decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, at least for the time being. Taking the albino girl off his back, he handed her off to one of the cow head mask-wearing people. Their immediate and decisive response to the predicament that this child was in was surprisingly gentle, and made Izayoi raise his overall opinion on those guys by a few points. Who knows, maybe bumping into them was just the sort of a stroke of luck they needed so desperately if they wanted to increase the chances of her survival as much as possible before Homura arrives with the proper treatment?

For the time being, one of the masked warriors took out a very specific-looking whistle, no doubt the one used to summon a Pegasus to their side, another one, who was shorter and somewhat less ripped than the others took out a cloth, moistened it up with a bit of drinking water and then gently wiped the forehead of the albino girl, who did not look like she was in that much pain anymore. This made Izayoi incredibly curious, so even though he realized that what he was doing will probably come down as incredibly rude, he still leaned forward and squinted his eyes while frying to take a peek through the gaps and cracks in the mask of the one who began caring for the albino girl.

「Sorry to be so direct about it all of a sudden, but are you. . .  a woman?」

「So what if I am. Is that a problem?」

「No, not at all. If anything, I think that women who are trying to do their best in the fields that are dominated mostly by men are all worthy of praise for their bravery. And since there are records depicting how in the Minoan civilization women were even serving as high priestesses to the gods, I guess I am not the only one who thought that way.」

The female warrior with a cow head mask furrowed her eyebrows and looked at him with confusion, clearly not understanding what one thing had to do with the other. Seeing that reaction of hers, Izayoi could no stop himself from laughing with his usual 「Yahaha!!!」laughter, not to ridicule her, but to indicate that he actually found it to be very entertaining.

「Okay, okay, sorry, my bad. I did not mean to say anything rude. Just a little bit of friendly banter I wanted to engage in before the Game starts properly, that is all.」

「Hmm, friendly banter you say? Because for something that was supposed to sound innocent, it sounded pretty barefaced instead.」

「Oh come on now, there is no need to get angry over something like that. My apparently poor choice of words aside, it is true that I am grateful to you and your people for the help that you offered us, and I assure you that we will do anything in our power to make it up to you people later.」

After which Izayoi sat down and laughed with another one of his trademark「Yahaha’s」.

Just like he thought, these guys must have been connected to the Minoan civilization from the island of Crete in some way. He did not know what caused them to be summoned to Little Garden in the first place or if Asterios, the 「Minotaur」 from the legend of the Bull of King Minos had anything to do with them or this Lost Continent, but if he does, then it will be almost certain that Homura & Company held the best possible hand required to winning this Gift Game in their hands.

High above their heads, the stone would-be giant was still making its way forward slowly without showing any signs of engaging in any kind of hostile activities.  A part of Izayoi was hoping that something would happen to make it shift its attention towards rampaging throughout the area which would give him the excuse he needed in order to go truly wild now that the albino girl was no longer acting as a restraint placed upon his back, but on the other hand, if they manage to reach the village on this southeastern pier where these cow head mask guys supposedly live without bumping into any fight or rowdy incident whatsoever, then it is going to be a splendid ending nonetheless. Also, that scenario would open a whole new possibility to him and Pritt.

If they leave that girl in the care of the natives, it will be possible for them to go and meet up with Homura’s group with just the two of them, allowing them to save so much more of precious time, which is really off the essence. But other then the clock continuously ticking on the albino girl. . . it could definitely be said that their luck has turned for the better for the first time in four days, almost unexpectedly so. The only thing that Izayoi regretted though, was that he probably will not have a chance to sneak away to go look for Heracles so that he could challenge him for a little fight before the Game starts. Or maybe. . . ?

Looking away from the scene of Izayoi obviously plotting something evil, Pritt seemed to notice something, because she narrowed her eyes and looked into the distance.

「The sky. . . it is getting all dark.」

「Come again? Ah, that? Well, why would it not be? I mean, with that giant Rock Giant-looking thing moving just above our heads it would be pretty difficult for it not to be. . . 」

「No, that is not what I meant. Take a look at that. You see, up there in the southeastern sky? It is a cloud of intense black smoke, the one that appears only when something has been set on fire. Did you not said that there was supposed to be a pier in that direction?」

When Pritt spoke out and pointed with her finger to the southeastern direction, the tension between the cow head mask-wearing warriors went right through the roof.

「Y-You are right! This is definitely the direction where the pier ad the docks are located!」

「What the hell is going on over there?! Is it being attacked?!」

「But why would anyone even do something like that?! The fishing industry has been suspended for the duration of the Gift Game, and the only boat that is being docked there now is the one that Lord Heracles came here in!」

While everyone else was busy panicking, Izayoi rolled his eyes around.

(No, no matter how you would look at it, that is definitely the reason why the pier is being attacked now.)

He suppressed his desire to point that out loud. As he already discovered thanks to the years of experience with teasing Kuro Usagi, being exposed to too many strong tsukkomis actually ends up affecting people’s mental states in the negative way. Also, Heracles was one of the inhabitants of Little Garden said to possess multiple Sun Authorities, so it was highly possible that the ship her arrived here on was one of them, or that it was manifested by it.

But now that this ship of his got attacked, that meant a whole another problem for them.

「Pritt. Looks like we are not the only ones who have reached Atlantis ahead of time.」

「Sure looks that way. So, what do you want to do? G」Should we go and help them?」

「Nah, I alone should be enough for this. Besides, you are not even a Player, so you should not get yourself all wound up in the Player’s messes. Just go to some other village with that girl and the others.」

Pritt nodded silently and handed him a bunch of seeds.

「In case you would like me to join you after all, just plant these in the ground and they will show me the way.」

With a nod of his own, Izayoi began to run to the southeast. Without anyone to slow him down, his legs were creating clouds of dust with every step as he got far away from Pritt and the others in a matter of seconds.

But his expression was not a clam one.

Focusing his worried gaze on his destination, he looked at the clouds of black smoke rising from the far-away beach.

Everything seemed to be pointing out that the first clash between the Players in the official first round of the 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority was about to begin.