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Last Embryo Volume 1 Chapter 5 Part 5

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Editor: Weasalopes

Both Homura and Suzuka tilted their heads in wonder at the words that came out of Kuro Usagi’s mouth.

「Queen Halloween… now that you mention it, that is what the mail address of the person who send me that mail was. So you’re telling that she is the one responsible for bringing us here?」

「YES! She is not what you would call a people person since she doesn’t show in public all that much, but she is widely known and revered as the Golden-haired Queen of the World’s Boundary.」

「Queen of the World’s Boundary?」

「YES, that is what she is called, although it would be better to describe her as the personification of the deified Halloween Festival. You know what, maybe we should start here to make things easier for you. Tell me, how much do you now about Halloween and its origins?」

「Not much, aside from its general assumptions.」

「I have no clue whatsoever.」

「Me neither.」

All three of them shook their heads in unison after exchanging brief glances.

「Okay, so we have to start from the very beginning then.」

Kuro Usagi cleared her throat with an *Ekhem*, raised a single finger into the air and puffed out her chest proudly.

「When it appeared in recorded history  of the ancient Celts of Western Europe for the very first time, Halloween was known and celebrated as the festival that worshipped the sun and good harvests. For ancient Celts, the sun’s movement and its shine throughout the year as a representation of the cycle life, death and rebirth, worshipping especially the weakening sun shining between the end of summer and fall as an entity which will die in winter and rise anew in the spring. The ancient Celts believed that the day of October 31^st was the day when the boundary of the Sun, and in consequence the entire world was at its weakest, allowing the spirits of the dead to cross back into the mortal realm from the Land of Shadows. However, they knew that on that particular day the spirits of their deceased ancestors won’t be the only ones to try and come back to the living world: man-eating fiends were mixed among them as well, hiding any=d lying in wait so that could pray on the souls of the living once more. So in order to keep them from crossing back to the other side, the celts began to dress themselves in costumes that mimicked the fiend’s appearance, hoping it would be enough to keep them contained.」

「Uh-huh, so basically they later deified that concept itself, effectively giving birth to the Queen of the World’s Boundary?」

「YES! And now comes the most interesting part: after being deified, even among all of the Gods, deities, buddhas and spirits inhabiting Little Garden, 『Queen Halloween』 is the only one to ever bear the title of Queen. If there was ever someone who would knew of a way to send you back home, it would have to be her, without the shade of a doubt! And guess what, today is definitely your lucky day, because as luck would have it, you will have a chance to meet Queen Halloween herself here in the Underwood.」

「For real?!」

In response to Suzuka’s raised voice, Kuro Usagi’s ears perked up as she responded with:

「YES, that’s right! Incidentally, the water which is the foundation of the Underwood is known across the entire Little Garden for its cleanliness, and it would seem that it goes especially well with Queen Halloween’s favorite brand of black tea. She is said to be especially fond of the Underwood’s morning dew, which is so rare that you can only gather a few droplets of it each day, so once a month she travels here in order to collect it.」

「Once a month, huh? And you said that the time of her visit is close at hand?」

「That is indeed what I said. As luck would have it, she should be arriving in the Underwood tomorrow night, so if all goes well, you might be able to negotiate with her through me.」

With Kuro Usagi’s proposal, Suzuka’s and Homura’s faces brightened as they stood up from their seats.

「All right, that settles it. Now that we have a clear objective, we cannot just sit here all day and wait!」

「Right? We have to do something to start earning for our living expenses!」

「I am glad you seem to be so enthusiastic, but aren’t you forgetting about something, Suzuka, Homura-senpai? Do you have anything that could be used to pay the participation fee?」

The two of them became silent after Ayato’s calm words brought them back to the ground from cloud 9, but Kuro Usagi just smiled gently and raised har hand to comfort them.

「Please, do not worry about that. The two of you are family to Izayoi, one of our greatest benefactors. Therefore, this Kuro Usagi here will step up her game and pay all of the necessary fees with her own money!」

「Ooooh! Kuro Usagi, you’re a saint!」

「A true angel!」

「We’ll take you up on your kind offer, but we’ll be sure to return everything once we’ll start making money ourselves! I think we should practice with an easy Gift Game first to familiarize ourselves with them, but which one should we choose, exactly?」

「In that case, we should try one of the shops we passed by earlier. I looked like it was a hosting ground for Gift Games, so…」

「STOP RIGHT THERE!!!!! (TL NOTE: CRIMINAL SCUM!)」

At that moment, a giant pillar of water erupted from the great river next to them. Many of the people who were passing by must have mistook it for some kind of street performance, because they were stopping to give a loud round of applause with smiles on their faces. However, the people who knew what was truly going on really weren’t in such festive moods. The falling torrents of water left them all thoroughly drenched, and all of the food they ordered got washed away, only about half of it actually being eaten, never to be seen again.

「Ahh…」

Seeing that, Suzuka looked to be in especially great pain. Right now, she honestly looked as if the world was about to end. But the figure that emerged from the water simply landed in front of Homura’s group with a loud crash without a care in the world.

「I have heard every last bit of your conversation! So rejoice, ye mortals, for the magnificent and beautiful Shirayuki-hime decided to oversee you very first Gift Game! Now be grateful and shower me with praise, Ohohohoho!」