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Last Embryo Volume 2 Chapter 9 Part 1

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Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

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Giant Spirit Train 『Sun Thousand』, guest wagon.

After successfully taking refuge inside of the train, Homura and company waited for the entire thing to be covered by the protective barrier made from the shadows from Scathach’s 『Dun Scaith』.

The attacks of the bull heads continued for a while after that, but it looked like they possessed enough intelligence to know that continuing the assault would have been a fool’s endeavor, because they eventually stopped banging their fists against the shadows-covered walls of the train, and after an hour has passed, the surroundings were completely silent, as if they were never there to begin with.

The protection of 『Dun Scaith』 was impregnable, but it did have one major downside to it, mainly that it didn’t allow even a bit of sunlight to pass through the train’s windows, making its entire interior pretty dimly lit aside from the flames of the candle lights mounted on the walls, but the constant flickering of their flames was filling them with an unexplainable sense of anxiety.

Now that they were safe and the state of high alert has been temporarily disabled, they finally had the time to explain the situation to Izayoi who joined them half way through their run here in a rather bizarre way. Listening to Homura’s and Ayato’s explanations with folded arms, Izayoi was constantly nodding his head, indicating that he fully understood everything they were talking about.

「I see. Who would have thought that Asterios would be reverted back to his fifteen years old self just so that he could participate in this Gift Game? And if that is the case, then your conclusion that he is not the Minotaur would have been the right one indeed.」

「But why would that be, exactly? Because no matter how hard I try to think about it, I fail to see how those two matters are connected with one another!」

Suzuka joined back with them shortly after they got back on the train, but now that she heard that Izayoi’s line of reasoning was similar to Homura’s, she inadvertently ended up being confused just like Ayato was when she first heard about that, but to her relief Homura raised his hand into the air to offer an explanation.

「According to the tradition of Greek mythology, the ritual man-eating of the sacrifices prepared for the Minotaur was being held every nine years, and during those times, seven boys and girls were offered for him to devour. You get it now? The ceremony was held every nine years.」

Both Suzuka and Ayato were taken aback by the implication behind Homura’s words.

「Ohhh, I see now! If the cycle of him gobbling up his offerings was held every nine years, then him being only fifteen years old wouldn’t make any sense!」

「Most certainly. If we assume that his legend was telling the truth in that regard, then he should have been at least eighteen years old. But if that would be the case, then we would have another problem presenting itself before us, mainly: who in the hell is he? Can we really be sure that he is Asterios of Crete spoken of in the legend of the Minotaur?」

Holding her chin with her hand, Ayato presented them with the question that was on her mind ever since Homura made that shocking reveal back there in the Labyrinth. Also, it would be great if Asterios himself could take part in the conversation as well, but unfortunately for them, he was still laying in one of the beds in the guest rooms, unconscious.

Without him being able to either confirm or deny their musings, Izayoi was the next one to speak up.

「Personally, I have two theories regarding him: first one, that the boy named Asterios never existed as a prince of Crete in the first place and the youth we rescued is just one of the children who was destined to be a sacrifice for the beast, and the second one: Asterios the prince of Crete really existed, but he died as a young boy by some unknown factor. Taking the current incident into account, the latter one of my theories seemed like the more probable one. I am positive that the brat most likely died from smallpox or some other virus.」

That would mean that Homura’s group’s reasoning that 「he was called a monster because of some kind of skin disease altering his appearance」 was half-correct and half-wrong. If he was indeed suffering from some kind of debilitating disease, then he must have died without ever making a full recovery.

「The island of Crete has a strong mythological connection to bulls, and even the monster’s name – Minotaur – means 「The Bull of King Minos」. Coupled with the reasoning of the 「Beauty Ruining Diesease」 being the main culprit behind the monster’s creation, the negative implications only grow stronger from here on out. While he was alive, the boy’s name was Asterios, which could be roughly translated as 「The Son of Stars and Lightning」. Dying without ever reaching adulthood, his name has been changed into 「Minotaur」. And so, the true identity of the man-eating monster inhabiting the Labyrinth… is the royal tomb and the final resting place of Asterios, the young prince of Crete.」

「「Huh?!」」

Suzuka and Ayato both exchanged surprised looks.

「Royal tomb of Asterios… s-so that’s it! All those sacrifices must have been made for the purpose of granting repose for the soul of the young prince who died a premature death!」

「The selection itself might have been for that very purpose, yes. As for the sacrifices themselves, they might have been a homage to the tradition of having seven servants following their master into death.」

In the monarchies that existed in the BC era, it was not all that unusual for the deceased members of the royalty to cross over into underworld with their most loyal servants accompanying them. Of course, there was also a possibility that these sacrifices might have been the rituals meant for stopping the diseases from spreading, as crazy as that might sound.

Homura glanced over at Asterios who was still sleeping soundly without showing any signs of waking up.

「Or.. or maybe… maybe this fellow was supposed to be a sacrifice himself?」

「Eh? What to you mean?」

「While I was doing some reading, I happened upon an information that one of the rituals meant for the purpose of pacifying dieseases and natural disasters was to make an offering out of a sacrificial bull. Since his name was later changed to Minotaur – 「The Bull of King Minos」, it might mean that towards the end of his life where he has fallen ill and didn’t have that much longer to live he was chosen to become a sacrifice meant to stop the disease from rampaging through the population any further.」

In that case, it would indicate that Asterios didn’t meet his end because of a disease claiming him, but by being decapitated by his own father instead. Unable to bear the thought that a parent would condemn his own child to such a tragic fate, everyone present in the room lowered their eyes with sour expressions. Since they were from an orphanage themselves, Homura and Suzuka were the ones who were hit especially hard by it, having a multitude of conflicting thoughts go through their heads all at once.

Their place of belonging, Canaria Family Home, was an orphanage that took care of the kids who had various 「special circumstances」 behind them. Most of its inhabitants were the ones who were either born with certain peculiar characteristics to them or were abandoned by their real parents who simply couldn’t bear bringing such “abominations” into the world, as well as the ones who were mistreated because of how different they were from the rest of their peers which has left them with deep scars on both their hearts and souls, leaving them unable to face any adults even to this day, and Homura and Suzuka were the one who were acting as the reliable siblings for such a diverse group of kids, so naturally after hearing such a heavy story they couldn’t help it but to feel for Asterios and his circumstances.

「So, what you want to say is that this princeling over here is not inherently a bad person, right?」

「That is what I believe, yeah. After all, we’ve all seen it, right? How his horns and weapon broke when he stopped being a monster?」

「In that case, we will definitely have to discuss his future with him later, right?」

「Right!」

Homura and Suzuka both nodded at each other. Ayato tilted her head to the side, unable to follow the thought train those two were riding at the speed that was way too fast for her, but it would seem that Izayoi also understood what they were talking about it and was 100% aboard with supporting it. Could this be what people called difference in world-view caused by different life circumstances? Ayato didn’t know that, and thought that it sure would be nice if someone were to explain it to her.

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