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Last Embryo Volume 4 Interlude Part 2

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

「. . . . . .???」

The look on Lamia’s face indicated that she was trying to comprehend how would that make any sense but failed to do so, so she simply tilted her head in confusion. When Heracles mentioned the Dystopian War, Leticia closed her eyes due to the influx of all the memories related to it, but since Lamia was too young to experience the horror of the Dystopian War herself, then of course she would not know what Heracles was talking about. When the man himself looked at Lamia, the sad expression in his eyes softened up quite a bit as he turned back to Leticia and asked:

「More importantly, Leticia. That girl is. . . ?」

「Yes. This girl over here is Lamia. She is my younger sister’s daughter.」

「I see. Then allow me to congratulate you as a friend. You finally managed to fulfill one of your lifelong wishes, so be proud of yourself, my comrade, for you also managed to save one life and its wish.」

The gentle smile that did not suit his giant, muscular body at all has caught Leticia completely off guard. But that astonishment of hers only lasted so long, and when she finally recovered, she laughed a little bit bitterly, caught up in the somehow melancholic mood that has filled the atmosphere, which caused her to reply to him in a teasing manner:

「I have not saved them just yet, but nevertheless, I accept your congratulations. But allow me to say this: you are still as 「My Pace」 as ever, Heracles.」

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ? You think so? And here I thought that I finally managed to improve that aspect of my personality after all these years.」

「Yes. But you will have to excuse me, as I am not sure what else should be said during the occasions such as these, even more so since I am more used to people trying to curse me than to congratulate me on something.」

Heracles tilted his head with a curious expression at Leticia’s statement. That gesture and the naïve questioning glint in his eyes seemed to imply that there was no hidden meaning to his words and actions other than him wanting to sincerely congratulate Leticia. It was just like she said, he really was doing everything at his own pace, to an almost scary degree.

Feeling as if she was about to be left out of the conversation entirely, Lamia came back to her senses after the initial astonishment at having met Heracles finally wore off of her, and interrupted the conversation these two were having.

「W-Well, it is nice that the two of you are getting along so well. . .  but more importantly! That we managed to run into one of the 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority’s Victory Candidates without having to actually fight him is a lucky happening, even if caused by a miscalculation. I heard from James that the hero Heracles supposedly went missing after the 『Arcadia』 Community was dismantled, but getting to know that this is not true firsthand is a souvenir that makes coming here well worth it!」

However, Heracles glared at the vampire girl with a mixture of astonishment and anger in his eyes. Not because he got angry at them destroying the Argo fleet. The source of his apparent anger was this golden-haired vampire girl who had the audacity to speak the original name of the current 『No Name』 Community, and moreover, she did that so casually. . . being here and hearing that insult with his own ears, Heracles’s body instinctively reacted on its own in the only way it could: by getting inflated and swollen up with anger.

「I am sorry for what I am about to do, but you have crossed the line, vampire. The only ones who have the right to speak the name of that Community are those who belonged to it. And since you are not one of its members, it can only mean one thing.」

『Arcadia』 Community, or The Great Federation of Arcadia, as it was called by some was one of the largest federation-type Communities that once existed in Little Garden. Formed for the purpose of defeating the Demon Lord Dystopia, this great federation of Communities has been attacked by a mysterious Demon Lord and was forced to disband as a result of that attack, continuing on under the new name: 『No Name』 Community. Although they managed to regain their lost flag and fame in the battle with 「Absolute Evil」Azi Dahaka three years ago, the current members of 『No Name』 have yet to regain the true name of their Community.

Even though Heracles was not showing any signs of hostility up until this point, right now his fighting spirit was rising incredibly fast as he continued to glare at Lamia with obvious hostile intentions.

「I am only going to ask this of you once, girl. Do you have the Name of the Great Federation?!」

「Well gee, I do not know. Maybe I do, and maybe I do not. In any case, that information is not going to be any good for someone who is going to be buried six feet under!」

Lamia was also getting ready for battle as a wicked smile bloomed on her face and she began to cloak herself in shadows. The Giant Spirit Train has yet to arrive at the Lost Continent of Atlantis, meaning that there would be no one to stop them if they tried to kill each other now. If Heracles wanted to extract any information this girl might have on 『Arcadia’s』 name or its whereabouts, now was the only time for him to get that information out of her, even if he would have to do it by force, and everything seemed to be pointing to the forceful solution being the only option left for them, since neither side looked like they were willing to solve that conflict by talking it through.

「Ever since that fateful day when the Great Federation was defeated and forced to be turned into 『No Name』, a nameless Community stripped of everything it once held dear. . .  ever since that day, I have been searching for clues about what happened then at 「The Demon Lord of the White Night’s」request, because she and I shared one conviction: that there was no way that our disciple, no. . . there was absolutely no way that our daughter Canaria would have been defeated by some unknown Demon Lord.」

The Demon Lord Dystopia as undoubtedly one of the strongest Demon Lord of his time, and yet, the combined might of the members of the original 『No Name』 Community was enough to overthrow him. They had many famous an powerful people among their ranks, like one of the world’s most famous poets, the strongest Game Maker, Canaria herself and many, many more people whose heroic exploits could easily bring other Communities to shame. And yet. . . it all ended in a single night. Everything they have build, everything they have achieved. . . one night was all it took for their achievements to be gone without a trace, just like the Community itself.

「I have searched everywhere and investigated every possible lead, no matter how insignificant it would seem to be: Laplace, Akashic Records, even Disaster Report. . . I checked all of those, but even then, after looking through all those records, it was still unclear exactly what happened that night. But finally, after years of searching I finally found them and caught them by their sleazy tail. . . 『Uroboros』 Demon Lord Alliance.」

「My oh my, it looks like you have taken quite a scenic route to get to that conclusion. So, what are you suggesting? That the predecessor of 『Uroboros』 was already active three years ago in the lower layers of Little Garden? Is that it?」

Lamia ran her hand through her hair with a graceful motion and smiled confidently.

The incident with the attack on the Floor Master of the North Side three years ago. It is a well known fact that the ones responsible for what happened at Kouen,「The Capital of Glittering Flames」, the ones who orchestrated the entire thing were the members of the 『Uroboros』 Demon Lord Alliance, Demon Lord Maxwell and Demon Lord of Confusion. Ultimately, the worst possible outcome has been avoided and the Demon Lord of Confusion has been confirmed to be dead, that incident was a clear and decisive demonstration of what 『Uroboros’』 intentions were and exactly what kind of Community that was.