3 bar menu

Last Embryo Volume 1 Chapter 5 Part 4

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Editor: Weasalopes

「What I would like to know the most is why did something like that happened in the first place? If we don’t get an answer to at least that, then I think we won’t be able to move forward and find a solution to our current predicament.」

「I-I know, and I am sorry, but what happened to you is something that’s difficult even for me to understand. All I can say with absolute certainty is that it all must have happened because of the preliminaries to the 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority’s preliminary round. Even if I were to compare it to the other large-scale Gift Games held all across Little Garden, it is clear that this one is going to be especially wild and unpredictable. Other than that, I am afraid I cannot say anything else.」

Hearing her explanations, Homura bit down on his lip in an attempt to suppress his rampant emotions. All this time, he only agreed to share his father’s research results and work for the Everything Company so that he could improve the living conditions in the orphanage so that the kids living in there would smile more, that was all there was to it. And now some assholes wanted to take that reason away from him simply because they felt like it?! At first he was going to treat this sudden arrival in a different world as a short adventure and a nice distraction from his daily responsibilities, but in just a short moment it all went from having an adventure to a survival crisis. Taking all of that into consideration, he had every right to be angry… no, it would be strange if he wasn’t angry about it in the first place.

Faced with such righteous anger, Kuro Usagi could only hand her head and ears down in shame.

「I realize this is not what you wanted at all, but for now it looks like you have no choice but to participate in this Gift Game, at least for now. The situation in which you have done so does not matter, it remains a fact that you have accepted the invitation to the World of Little Garden of your own volition, so before you even start thinking about negotiating with the one who organized the entire Gift Game, you would have to at least clear its preliminary stage.」

「E-Even if you say that, it literally wants us to defeat an ox monster like the one that attacked us back in our world! No matter how you’d look at it, there’s absolutely no way for us to fight such a thing on our own!」

Unable to hold back any longer as well, Suzuka also raised her voice.

Those two monsters that appeared in the school on the night of the typhoon… those were definitely the things that could be classified as something transcending human comprehension. Taking that into account, that storm-woven ox could most definitely be called a Celestial Beast, a being that they could never even dream of defeating on their own unless they wanted to be wiped out from the face of the earth without a trace. But if they don’t defeat it, it will probably mean that they won’t be able to go back to their own world again.

As the three of them wen silent with sullen looks on their faces, Kuro Usagi’s ears suddenly perked up and she stood from her seat, clapping her hands together with a bright smile on her face. Could it be that she managed to figure something out?

「Ah, that’s right, why didn’t I thought about it sooner?! In those types of Gift Games, there is more than one way to fulfill the winning conditions, so there’s no need to resort to brute strength alone!」

While Ayato continued her questioning with a stronger and stricter tone, all Kuro Usagi could do was to nervously play with her ears.

「Eh? Really?!」

「YES, YES, YES and YES! In games like this, where the goal is the subjugation of a powerful target, there are also means of fighting it with methods other than using power, like utilizing one’s wit or intelligence! For example, if the opponent is the Avatar of 『Taurus』, a.k.a Minotaur, then it should be entirely possible to defeat it in the same way it was brought down in its legend!」

*Usaaaa!* Kuro Usagi’s rabbit ears danced happily.

As agitated as Homura was, he had to give it to her, that was actually a very helpful information that might just be exactly what they needed to turn this hopeless situation around. Using it as an anchor, he crossed his arms on his chest and started thinking.

「It would be great if that was indeed the case. Based on what you’ve told us, the beasts and monsters of Little Garden can take the shape of the creatures of various myths, so if we do enough digging about the legend of the Minotaur and everything that surrounds it, then we might just be able to find a way to beat it without fighting it head on, just like you said!」

Clinging onto that newfound ray of light in the darkness, Homura raised hs face and looked Right into Kuro Usagi’s eyes.

「Kuro Usagi. What is this Sun’s Authority? Is it something like an extremely powerful Gift?」

「YES, you’ve hit the jackpot, Mr. Homura! Even among the countless Gifts present in Little Garden, those of the Sun Authority can be said to be of the highest class. There are 24 of them in total, and in addition of being one of the strongest weapons this world have ever seen, they are also mediums needed for the summoning of the Celestial Beasts!」

Kuro Usagi explained with trembling ears. Homura then realized something after pondering this matter for a while.

「The invitation said that my preliminary round for this Gift Game involves Taurus of the twelve zodiac constellations, right?」

「YES, that is explicitly what the message has stated.」

「I see. So that is why Minotaur is said to be 『Taurus’』 Avatar for this. Hmm, if all those strange happenings around me were caused by this Gift Game, then I guess it all starts to make sense now.」

He continued to voice his thoughts out loud with his hand still on his chin. It was a sign that he was analyzing the matter in his mind with the entirety of his brain’s capacity, but this time his expression wasn’t all tensed up with rage and despair like before. Gathering all of the strange events that involved him since yesterday and applying the cause & effect rule to them, he quickly sorted them out into a chain of logically connected events.

「The typhoon’s sudden appearance… damage done to animals and plants alike… going by that logic, famine would be the next thing on the list, huh? But I have already developed a countermeasure against that, so I guess we can stop worrying about that for now, since the nanomachines destined for the medical usage have already passed the second clinical trial, meaning that they should be able to start distributing them en masse withing a few days. So now, the biggest question that are yet to be answered are where is the typhoon now and what happened to the Minotaur…」

Rhytmically tapping the table with his finger to keep himself concentrated, Homura announced his deductions. He was sweating and breathing heavily, but despite that Homura still had a  confident smile on his face the entire time.

「Yoshaaa! Suzuka, Ayato! I know it might sound crazy, but we might just have a chance to win this thing!」

「For real?!」

「Is that true, Homura-senpai?!」

「Yeah. It happened by a complete accident, but I have brought a trump card that will allow us to win I here with me.」

Despite Homura’s remark, Suzuka looked like she didn’t know what he was talking about. Ayato, on the other hand, had a worried look on her face when she inquired:

「Senpai, don’t tell me… you want to use the remaining 『Origins』?」

「As much as I don’t want to do it, we have no other choice if we want to succeed. The progress is still at the measely 10%, but thankfully we still have some of them stocked up, so it should be fine as long as we will use just one of them. But that still leaves the matter of how are we going o return to our world…. Any ideas on how to deal with that, Kuro Usagi?」

Homura turned towards their guide and asked. Answering his determined gaze, she made up her mind and said:

「Now that I heard your story, please allow me to help you out as much as I can! In the end it might not be much, but if you are that determined to go through with it, then it is the least I can do, YES! This Kuro Usagi here will lend you her aid!」

「So there really is something we can do?!」

「Like I said, it might not be much, but for the time being the best thing you can do is to meet with the one responsible for summoning you here… Queen Halloween!」