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Last Embryo Volume 2 Chapter 5 Part 3

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Saying that, Queen raised her right hand with her palm facing upward, and then she flicked her wrist and snapped her fingers, materializing a silver card from a seemingly empty space. It bore a symbol of the golden sun, so perhaps that was Queen Halloween’s personal emblem? However, when Homura took a closer look at it, he had to tilt his head to the side to properly contemplate what he just thought he saw in it.

(Eh…?! That symbol! If my memory is not playing tricks on me, then it looks just like Everything Company’s…!)

Homura discreetly lowered his eyes and looked at the logo imprinted at the back of his smartphone. He was right, the trademarked symbol of Everything Company resembled Queen Halloween’s emblem to a frightening degree.

(What does this mean, exactly?)

Homura thought hard about the possible explanations, but no valid explanation popped up in his mind from the get-go. On the other hand, Scathach must have guessed Queen’s intentions already, because he covered her mouth with her hand and smiled in a very questionable way.

「I see. You want to return her beloved sword to her and reevaluate her?」

「Something like that. After all, she was defeated while the weapons she was the most familiar with have been taken away from her, so in lieu of that I think it would be perfectly fine to overlook that one loss of hers, don’t you think?」

Queen flicked the card with her finger again, and while wit was spinning around, she gently blew on it, sending it towards Ayato.

Scathach wiped the smile from her face and informed her while folding her arms behind her back one more time.

「That is how things are, Kudou Ayato. Queen Halloween decrees that she will forgive you for the defeat that cost you your previous life, but in exchange, the next time you will encounter the Monster of the Labyrinth and the self-centered fools who chose to ally themselves with him, you are to show them the way that a true warrior of Ulster fights and crushes all who would dare to oppose him!」

She ordered Ayato with a glint in her eye that was as sharp as the sharpest of blades. Ayato accepted the card, and as she caught it with both hands and looked at Queen Halloween’s emblem engraved upon it, she hugged it to her chest and bowed respectfully.

「I humbly accept that order and swear upon my honor as the Queen’s Knight to fulfill it to the best of my abilities…. Well then, senpai, I guess I will be excusing myself first. Fufu, I hope you’ll get the answers that you’re looking for~~!」

「Y-Yeah, sure. But… is that really okay? Will you be fine on your own?」

「Yes, absolutely! Right now, I feel like I could take on anyone and win without any problems, so do not worry, Homura-senpai, I won’t allow anyone to touch you or Suzuka with a single finger… no, with a single hair!」

Smiling gently and looking happier than ever, Ayato left the special guest room, and the last thing that Homura was able to hear before the door completely closed behind her was the sound of her breaking into a run towards the other wagons. If he was a betting man, then he would e willing to bet that she went to fight with the enemy that was attacking the Giant Spirit Train right now.

Once she was gone, Queen and Scathach directed their gazes towards Homura, who was completely at a loss as to where he should even start. Unable to simply watch him in his silent suffering, Scathach took a step forward and bowed while suppressing a giggle.

「Allow me to start over with a simple greeting. Nice to meet you, Saigo Homura. My name is Scathach, and I am one of Queen Halloween’s loyal servants and Head Butler/maid/whatever she needs me to be at the current moment. For the time being, you do not have to be afraid of being killed out of the blue simply for looking at me or the Queen, so you can relax and stop avoiding eye contact.」

「I… t-that’s…. that’s not what I was worried about… not, not at all…」

Even if she went as far as to explicitly tell that to him with a smile, that really was not the problem here. There was many things he wanted to ask Queen about before he bumped into Ayato here, but now that he heard the conversation she had with her, the number of questions that he desperately wanted to know the answers for just kept piling up. In any case, he had to say something. He couldn’t just stay silent all the time and expect the other party to keep taking the initiative. Which is why he decided to put Ayato’s matter aside for now, and begin by bringing the matter from 3 days ago to a conclusive end.

「First things first: Queen, regarding the question that you asked me 3 days ago, I wanted to give you my answer to it.」

「Oh my, is that so? Well, let us hear it then. I’m all ears.」

Queen put down the cup filled with black tea and looked directly into Homura’s eyes. She was a difficult person to talk to, because even when you thought that you could read even the most vague of her emotions and mannerisms, in the end you had no way of knowing what she was truly thinking for sure. Not to mention that any attempts at negotiating with her could fall apart at literally moment, because her tongue could be just as sharp as she was beautiful. That is why Homura had so much trouble picking the best possible words for his opening statement, but since there was no use in hiding it or prolonging the inevitable any longer, he finally spoke up:

「Queen, you want me to fight as your representative in the 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority, correct?」

「That is not entirely true, but close enough.」

「In that case I can say that I agree to do it for you. Also, if there really are individuals who wish to claim the Star Particle Bodies for themselves and abuse their power, I will be more than glad to fight them. But if I am going to fight for you, then I want this to be for our mutual benefit.」

「Mutual Benefit」. The moment he spoke those two words, he could see that Queen slightly raised her eyebrows, but that was probably because she deemed his decision to be not the unexpected, but rather a boring one, but since it is her we’re talking about, then Homura had no choice but to employ the tried and true strategy of revealing about 70% of his hand to your opponent and observing their reaction to it. She might have not passed any immediate judgements onto him, but it was obvious that she lost any and all interest she might have still had in him. Without even bothering to look at him anymore she turned the entirety of her attention to her cup of tea and asked him in a monotone, almost machine-like voice that indicated that her consciousness was already someplace far, far away from here:

「I see… and? Is that all you wanted to say?」

「If I am to fight for you, then I want all the information about the enemies I’m going to face as you can give me. 『The Bull of Heaven』, those guys that are attacking the 『Sun Thousand』 now, I want you to tell me everything you know about them, no matter how insignificant it may be.」

「Now, that is quite an assertive demand for someone who dared to insult the Queen not once, but twice, don’t you think?」

Scathach, who was quietly listening in on their conversation from the side remarked in a sarcastic voice, most probably because she was amazed at how bold Homura got with that statement, but those reckless conditions of his apparently managed to score him the Queen’s attention back.

He told her that he wanted their cooperation to be 「of mutual benefit to the both of them」 meaning that in exchange for Queen Halloween’s information he would offer her information of his own, and that was a fair thing to do since giving him the information about their enemies would naturally mean presenting him with the answers to some of this Gift Game’s mysteries, but is also bound him to present the information of equal value to the Queen, which would give her the opportunity to determine Homura’s worth: whether he was worth keeping so that she could use him or should he be dismissed.

Facing Homura with her usual smile one more time, Queen Halloween asked him a question that might have as well been her last:

「I wouldn’t really mind sharing that information with you, but the question is: what can you offer me in exchange for my knowledge?」

「The remaining Sun Authorities and all of the details regarding them.」