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Last Embryo Volume 2 Chapter 9 Part 2

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

But then, Izayoi who sharpened his gaze stood before them all of a sudden.

「Wait a moment, both of you. I understand your desire to help him and I’m all for it, but don’t tell me that you’re seriously thinking of taking him back to the Outer World with you?」

「Yup, that is exactly what we wanted to say, right, Bro?」

「Yup yup, that was precisely it, Sis.」

「Do you even realize what kind of bullshit you are saying right now? Just because this guy lost his horns, it doesn’t mean that he has fully reverted back to being a human, and everything that we talked about just now was nothing but baseless speculations, not stone-cold facts! What if he ends up attacking the other shrimps at the orphanage, huh?! What would you have done then?!」

Izayoi rebuked them with unusual seriousness, but that was to be expected, since who wouldn’t be anxious about letting a dangerous monster live in the place that he called his home for most of his life? However, if Homura and Suzuka couldn’t handle this level or anger, be it from their Big Bro Iza or anyone else, they couldn’t call themselves the Dependable Seniors of Canaria Family Home, so they simply glared back at Izayoi and immediately launched a verbal counterattack at him.

「But since Homura is going to be actively involved in this 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority, then wouldn’t it be better to increase the number of allies who could help him?!」

「She has a point, you know? I have already accepted that going to school might become a tad difficult, but we could really use some more hands when it comes to doing the chores and the housework around the orphanage.」

「Can you two idiots stop embarrassing yourselves and take it seriously?! Are you prepared to take responsibility for him if anything bad happens because of him?! Cause this is not a matter that can be solved simply by being pointlessly stubborn!」

「He shouted that last part so loudly that the entire interior of the Giant Spirit Train began to tremble. In the case where Asterios would have been brought back to the Outer world and  started living with the other kids in Canaria Family Home but he didn’t lose all of his instincts as a man-eater, how would they even stop him if he attacked one of them with the intention of eating them? They would have no choice but to kill him, and Izayoi knew better than anyone else that those two were simply not ready for that type of commitment.」

Their expressions darkened, but they still managed to give him an immediate reply.

「Take responsibility? What kind of stupid question is that? Have you grown retarded during all those years of staying in Little Garden, Big Bro Iza?! Of course we would take full responsibility for him, and if he did anything bad, we would have stopped him no matter what it would take!」

「And it’s not us being pointlessly stubborn, you know?! It’s our stubbornness as the human beings wanting to give a helping hand to another human being!」

The two of them proclaimed without faltering even once. Ayato watched that entire argument from the sidelines filled with anxiety, but she knew full-well how vehement both Homura and Suzuka could get when it came to helping the misfortunate children who were abandoned by everyone else. Besides…

Since Sakamaki Izayoi’s disappearance five years ago, these two have been trying to live their daily lives to the fullest all the while taking full responsibility for everything related to the orphanage and running it. They even continued to do they best and then some even after Mr. Ushimatsu passed away and the investors began to withdraw one after another and it became increasingly more difficult for the orphanage to continue functioning due to all of the financial trouble.

If the orphanage stopped operating, all of the children who lived there would have no other place to go. But even when they were faced with such a doomsday prospect, Homura and Suzuka didn’t lose hope, and instead of falling into despair they continued to run about working their assess off to the bone, and in the end through the sheer hard work managed to secure the financial support of Everything Company owned by the Kudou family.

If they abandoned Asterios now, it would go against anything they managed to achieve as they saved their home from shutting down, and that would be something that neither of them could live with, since all those years ago they made a vow between themselves, that as the children raised in the home created for them by Canaria, they would never abandon others who were once helpless just like they once were before Izayoi and Canaria found them.

「Stubbornness as human beings, huh?」

Izayoi was definitely surprised at the direction this unexpected quarrel took, so much so that he had to sit back on the nearby chair. He knew that these two could be stubborn, but he never anticipated that it would be to such a ridiculous degree. Guess that just goes to show that they weren’t the same little ten year old twerps he still saw them as.

Back when he was till with them all those years ago, Izayoi was the one who would stand before them as their sword and shield that protected them from all that was evil with the world, but he abandoned that responsibility in order to chase after his own hedonistic whims. From his point of view going into another world was the right thing to do which allowed him to become stronger than he would ever be if he just stayed in the Outer World, but that does not change the fact that he abandoned his duty, so he understood that it was somewhat unreasonable for him to reprimand them when they were only trying to fulfill their roles as the seniors of Canaria Family Home all the while staying true to their feelings. But even if he was the one who selfishly abandoned them, he still had to say what he had to say.

「If you really are that determined to go through with this, then go ahead and do whatever you want… is what I would like to say, but this time I do have a few conditions.」

「Sure enough. What are they?」

「Bring it on, you ruffian! No matter what you might throw at us, this magnificent Lady Suzuka here will take you on anytime, anywhere!」

「Whoa there, you’re like a million years too young to be throwing such a challenge my way, young lady! But enough about that. What I want is the insurance in case that guy ever started to make trouble for the orphanage. Will the two of you be able to provide me with that?」

Izayoi stood back up and started to tap at the shadow-covered window with his finger.

「Homura, if you were alone here without the help of any of your friends, how would you have gone about solving the mystery of this Labyrinth? Would you be able to fight with those bull-headed monsters outside with just your own power?」

「That’s….」

Homura didn’t know how he should respond to that. He knew that the Gift that he possessed. 『Proto Idea』 was not a battle-oriented one. As to what he would do about the Labyrinth, he already had a plan in mind, the one revolving around the final Winning Condition: 「Erase the lightning and return the star to its original form」, since it probably meant to change Asterios’ name to Minotaur. 「Return the star to its original form」 referred to the method of doing that that required three particular steps to be taken:

First one: curing Asterios’ disease by using Star Particle Bodies. Second one: returning him to the Labyrinth that was his royal tomb. And the third one: have him sit on the throne of king Minos at the top of the altar so that he could inherit the crown that was rightfully his. The thing is, if they do that, it will most probably mean that Asterios was going to go back into eternal slumber in his tomb once again, because 「Return the star to its original form」 could also mean returning the prince back to the royal tomb. But assuming that he would not be willing to go down that particular route, it would leave them with only one other solution.

『Defeat Minotaur, the Monster of the Labyrinth』

「If push comes to shove, will you be able to do it?」

「Yes, I think I will. Or rather, if I could not do it, inviting me to participate in this 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority would make no sense. It is also why I think I should be able to use that battle axe.」