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Last Embryo Volume 3 Chapter 1 Part 5

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

Homura put as much strength as he could into his words in order to put an emphasis on them. Even if the Environmental Control Tower plan went smoothly and the could start spreading Star Particle Bodies across the entire world, only a few percent of the entire population would be capable of crossing the 10% barrier, clearing a requirement for the experiment to be called successful.

For him, that was the one line that he would never dare to cross, and something that he would never back down from even if the circumstances demanded that of him. Because if he yielded and started experimenting on humans with something so dangerous, then not only Everything Company but also other organizations would start doing the exact same thing in an attempt not to fall too far behind them.

The clash of their opinions was so fierce that the sparks flying between them were clearly visible. Among the silence that has befallen the room, His Highness raised his hand.

「Homura. I hate to say this, but is it not a bit too late to be worrying about such trivial matters like the problems of the ethical nature?」

「Why would you say that, Your Highness?」

「Try thinking about it yourself. Even though they do not have the advantage of having the『Origins』, the enemy organization, whoever that might be, already made more progress on researching Star Particle Bodies than you did so far since they were able to create that 『Bull of Heaven』, right? Right. Now then, the most logical question would be, how the hell did they managed to do that, to which the most logical answer would be: they must have used some kind of shortcut. But if you started doing experiments on humans, your own research would progress much faster, going two, maybe even three steps ahead of those who have yet to implement that into their own research, am I wrong?」

「T-That’s…」

Those words spoken by Kalki hit Homura to the head like a blunt weapon. He wanted to argue back that this was no excuse whatsoever, but he had to hold himself back since there was nothing he could say that would deny or undermine any of the things His Highness said.

It was highly likely that this organization responsible for the creation of 『The Bull of Heaven』 was performing experiments on human subjects.

Unlike E.R.A. that acted on the Star Particle Bodies in the atmosphere, the B.D.A. that acted on the Star Particle Bodies inside the bloodstream would yield far better results when applied to human test subjects. Under any normal circumstances performing such inhumane practices like testing dangerous inventions on humans would be unthinkable, but whoever was running that mysterious organization, he unleashed a calamity of unprecedented scale upon the world without a second thought, or at least that was what Homura was telling himself. It had to be like that, because if it weren’t, nothing like that would have happened. Questionable morality issues aside, if Homura’s side wanted to fight those supposed terrorists on equal ground, they would really have to start performing human experiments themselves. However, something inside Homura’s soul screamed that crossing that line was one thing that he absolutely cannot allow himself or anyone around him to do.

「Khh….no, even so, I simply couldn’t do that. I could not permit using living humans as livestock for experiments simply because that would be more convenient for me!」

「Why? At this rate, the unidentified terrorists would leave us behind in the technological arms race! If you want to get rid of the problem once and for all, you can’t do it by sticking to your morals and sense of justice as a human being! Not when the opponents you’re facing cannot be considered human anymore!」

「No, we will compensate our shortcomings in technology by strengthening the facility itself and make up for the shortages in numbers with the collective wisdom and intelligence of our staff! If we want to secure a path to prosperity for the humanity as a whole, we have to do it by gaining the world’s favor and cooperation, not to antagonize it by engaging in shady practices!」

With his hand on his chest, Homura declared that to Edward and Kalki. It might have seem like he was being stubborn and reckless, but his actions and words were partially motivated by the nightmare he was having, the one of the world that was swallowed by flames.

「Mr. Edward, Your Highness. I’m not saying we should give Star article Bodies to the world before they would be able to produce ample results. But their research is the key to unlocking the potential that keeps lying dormant in humans, and that potential will be what would allow us to fix desertification, prevent calamities by controlling weather, deal with radioactive waste and further our space development programmes. If we make even one wrong step here, I am sure that humanity as a whole will regret taking such shortcuts one day!」

Urged by the emotions burning inside of him, Homura made a fiery declaration. If their success wouldn’t be backed by just methods, they would only end up driving themselves to ruin with their short-sightedness and compromises. If they were to commit the original sin for the sake of the generations that would come after them, that sin would one day turn into a threat for all of humanity.

「I see. If you are going that far, there’s nothing else I can say. I won’t talk about what we discussed here with anyone either.」

His Highness took a step back, rethinking his opinions. But rather than being convinced by his words, he probably understood why he sounded so desperate, or perhaps he realized that the terms he had now as an investor of Star Particle Bodies that finally began to attract international fame after 『The Bull of Heaven』 incident were too favorable for him to lose them

Moving his gaze from Kalki to Edward, Homura asked about his opinion. Edward Grímnir narrowed his eyes as if e was judging him and then said with a wicked smile:

「Heh. To think a day would come when a scientist would talk about the original sin. Is this the so-called ethical evolution? I didn’t expect something like that from someone who would dare to talk back to me as vehemently as you did when we first met.」

「Please stop it! thinking about it now, it was quite an embarrassing speech to give, even more so since it came from someone like me!」

Edward suppressed his laughter in order not to outright ridicule Homura’s determination.

After walking towards the storage where the Crystallized Red Bodies were being stored, he took out a vacuum capsule and showed it to Homura as if proposing an alternate route they could take.

「I don’t think they were that embarrassing though. If nothing else, do know that some of your message appealed to me, if only for a little bit. I have to say, that was the best laugh I had in three years, but I guess it was that [Stubbornness as a Human Being」 of yours that allowed you to come this far on the battlefield of researching. Those words you said, the words of an idealist who’s still wet behind the ears were something that we adults couldn’t easily say. But if you’re going to yell at us about taking responsibility, I want you to take it as well. It should only be fair, don’t you think? Now, let’s have a more engaging chat. The Star Particle Bodies stored inside this storage room are the very first ones that Mikado Tokuteru brought to Everything Company. Did you know that?」

Suddenly, Homura jumped up as if he didn’t believe what he just said due to how absurd it was.

「Huh? Ehhh?!!! What?!!! Tokuteru was the one who brought them here!!? Are you shitting me?!」

「That he did indeed.」

In reaction to this sudden revelation, Homura once again raised his voice in disarray. Looking at this reaction, Edward thought that he must have been convinced that the one who left the Star Particle Bodies in the care of Everything Company was his deceased father. But now that Homura recalled the way Tokuteru was acting, such behavior wasn’t surprising from him at all. After all, the one who recommended Homura to Everything Company and set up a meeting between them was none other then Tokuteru himself as well, and it was probably due to that recommendation that they allowed someone as young as him to work for them in one of their top-notch laboratories without raising too many issues.

「I-I see. Thinking about it now, it makes a surprising amount of sense. No matter how big of a client he was for Everything Company, there was no way his recommendation towards me would have turned out to be something so simple…Ugh, what to do. I feel depressed just knowing that I am being indebted to him more than I already was. 」

「Now now, from where I’m standing it doesn’t look like you mind it all that much. Besides, it’s not like he was doing it from the kindness of his heart, but rather because it was good business for him as well, so you are being too hasty with giving him more favor than he actually deserves for this. But let us go back to the main question at hand. Do you know what is the source of these particular Star Particle Bodies? No? Then, here, let me show you.」

What he then threw towards Homura was a vacuum capsule made for the purpose of storing Star Particle Bodies. Normally they were supposed to be stored in a special amino-acid soup that made up the protein, but those seemed to have been stored there without it. Homura caught it in a bit of a clutzy manner, but when he saw what was inside of the container he became greatly confused.

「Crystallized Red Bodies? Is this material used in the process of creating『Origins』?」

「Close, but no cigar. Those aren’t Crystallized Red Bodies, but a blood clots. They are part of the samples of the fully assimilated cells extracted from a human who cultivated the {Origins} of the Star Particle Bodies inside of their body.」

That fact made Homura widen his eyes and hold his breath in disbelief.

Raising the capsule above his head and holding it against the light Homura watched its contents, the Crystalized Red Bodies, the blood clots of a mysterious individual as if it was something extraordinarily unbelievable.If those were indeed blood clots, they would single-handedly turn the entirety of Homura’s hypothesis upside down.

With their current level of technology, it was thought that an absolute rule regarding Star Particle Bodies was that parasitic multiplication could only yield the product that would be half as effective as they wanted. And yet, if there really was a human who could safely nurture the non-degraded {Origins} within their body… then that would solve all of the problems they were currently facing.

「So you’re saying that a human carried 『Origins』 inside them, and the Star Particle Bodies flowed as far as to reach the internal organs without destroying them in the process?No, that can’t be! If that really was the case, then that would mean that not only 10% of their blood vessels,but even their heart would be altered by them, and such a drastic transformation with the current generation of humans is…」

「Then, what if they were experimented on ever since they were just an embryo? Or, as unbelievable as that may sound, that the were a Star Particle Bodies carrier from the second generation? If that turned out to be the case, then the pieces of the puzzle would put themselves in place quite nicely, wouldn’t you say?」

For a moment, Homura was speechless from how inhuman the words that Edward spoke were and that he said them so matter-of-factly, as if it was the most obvious thing under the sun.

「T-That might have been be possible indeed. If the fertilized egg was exposed to the Star Particle Bodies from the very beginning of its existence… no, that would still be impossible! It has only been a few years since the research has began, 10 at best if you would count from the moment of the first leakage of the thesis! And even if such inhumane methods were employed, it would still be impossible to obtain tangible results unless the research proper was started another 20 years before that! Someone who could research alteration of genetics or embryos twenty years back, someone like that…」

Shouldn’t even exist. When he was about to say that, he suddenly swallowed his words, because he has arrived at a certain possibility that he always dismissed as too improbable up to this point: he remembered someone who could fit that description to a T. Someone capable of observing the assimilation processes from the fetal stage after modifying the first generation of Star Particle Bodies carriers and who began his research of them more than 20 years ago.

Seeing him put two and two together, Edward smiled in amusement.

「That’s right, there is only one such person in the world. Only a single person who could do that. Would you not agree, Dr. Saigo?」

「But still… no, please wait just a goddamn second. That person is supposed to be dead!」

「And he is as dead as one can be, that is a definite, undisputable fact, my dear Homura. Your father is dead, and nothing and no one can change that. Even if there was an almighty existence in this world capable of turning back time or bringing the dead back to life, I highly doubt that it would be willing to bring him back for you. And yet, the results of the research he was conducting are still alive in the son, no, two sons whom he had left behind.」

With a glint of a snake that was about to sink its poisonous teeth in its prey in his eyes, Edward directed his gaze at a shocked Homura. He sat with his kegs crossed, looking like an all-knowing storyteller who was about to start narrating one of the legends from his repertoire.Lighting the second cigar, he looked at Homura one more time and spoke as if he wanted to give him a warning.

「Now, let me tell you a  curious little story from the past. The story of a man who dedicated his entire life to pursue the research of Star Particle Bodies and of his two sons who have been raised in a certain orphanage in a far-away land after his passing.」