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Last Embryo Volume 5 Prologue Part 3

–2nd War for the Sun’s Authority’s First Round Gift Game 『The Lost Continent of Atlantis』–

Signed by the 2nd War for the Sun’s Authority’s Organizational Committee, *Seal*

And then, she also showed them the names of the locations that were written on the map that was enclosed together with the Geass Roll.

「Maze of Santorini」 in the east.
「Cowman’s Ranch」in the north.
「Orichalcum Mine」to the south.
「Heracles’ Stone Pillars」in the west.

After carefully reading through all of the contents of the Geass Roll, Alma looked at Suzuka with great interest.

「Hmm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . if both the Geass Roll and the text on Plato’s Stone Tablet, contain exactly the same thing, then it can certainly be speculated that there is truth to what you are proposing, but before we proceed any further, let me ask you this, little girl: where did you find the stone tablet with Plato’s original text?」

「Up until now it was stored in the Roman Catholic Church’s Secret Archives in Vatican, but recently some of its contents have been opened to the public for viewing.」

「Roman Catholic Church? In other words, Roman Curia? And then The Secret Archives in Vatican? That just makes me all the more curious as to how did they go about obtaining it. Care to share some more of the details on that matter?」

「Uhm, well. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . if what you want to know is how did the original stone tablet ended up in the custody of Vatican, then I am afraid that I cannot tell you anything more about it, since I do not know any of the details myself. All I know is that before they made it public, it was kept under lock and key in the Secret Archives for a long time, and the decision to make it accessible by the general public has only been made a few months ago.」
「So how did you manage to figure out that Atlantis was originally a part of the Ancient Greece? Because if you are so confident that the translation of Plato’s Stone Tablet’s contents into Latin language is actually a mistranslation, then you need to have some kind of proof that supports your claims with utmost certainty.」

「Ah, if it is about that, then we have found the proof quite early after arriving here. We found out that some of the stone pillars in the submerged ruins on the western lands had inscriptions in the Latin language carved onto them, and my siblings confirmed that geology-wise, the ground here is very close to that of Greece as well.」

That is probably why some of the things that Tokuteru bought with the money he embezzled from Homura included the equipment meant for carrying out geological surveys. He might have spent the entire five hundred million yen (TL Note: roughly 4.4 MLN USD) of what rightfully belonged to Homura, but the best part about it was that contrary to what they have initially accused him off, not a single yen of it has been wasted.

Alma’s expression relaxed slightly as she decided that the next question that she was going to ask of Suzuka was going to be the last.

「I see. . . . . . . . . . okay then, last question. There are traces of the agriculture that made use of the irrigational system present in this area. But during the time where Atlantis existed, that system of agriculture has not yet been introduced in Ancient Greece, where Atlantis was supposed to have been physically located. How did you manage to solve that mystery?」

「Well, in short, I thought that this has to be the case since Atlantis was supposed to have existed in a place where the culture of Ancient Greece overlapped with that of the other civilizations of the ancient world. Other than that, the trees that grow here bear a close resemblance to those that grow in the southern countries of the Outer World, and the natives seem to be worshipping cows and even wear masks that look like cow heads. So once we integrate all of those clues together. . . . . . 」

While listing off all of the key points and key words in her reasoning, Suzuka expanded the map of the entire world in her head.

– – – – – – Agricultutal ruins that seemed to be employing the irrigational system of watering the fields, which was not all that widespread in the world of Ancient Greece.

– – – – – – The presence of warm climate and trees and ecosystems that closely resembled the tropical ones.

– – – – – – Decorations and ornaments typical for the regions of the world where the worship of cows seemed to be especially prominent.

Atlantis was supposed to have existed in the place where the cultures of the various civilizations overlapped with one another, or to put it in other words, at an intersection of different civilizations, and the word intersection means that it must have been somewhere where the boundaries of different civilizations were literally merging with one another, and the number of the areas where something like that was possible was extremely limited. And since the existence if the irrigational system was the biggest hint here, it meant that Suzuka was looking for a place where the cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt could have meet even though both of these lands have been separated from one another by a vast ocean.

A place where all of the above conditions could have been met. . . . . . thinking about it, there was only one possible answer here.

「Then it means. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . it must have been located very close to the Island of Crete, right?」

Remembering that, Suzuka gave Alma her answer. The reason why Asterios was taken by the natives while they were on their way here must have also been because of his relation to Crete. Fully satisfied with Suzuka’s answer and her line of reasoning, Alma looked at her with glistening eyes.

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Splendid. You really are a person of exceptional talent.」

「Huh?」

「Oh, there is no need to be modest, Miss Suzuka. If your investigation of the Game’s mystery have progressed so far, then it should be fine for you to accompany us. After all, we might be competitors in this Gift Game, but if you are someone who dedicates so much to solving the puzzles placed before us, then I am more than happy to forget about that, and invite you to go to the 「Heracles’s Stone Pillar」together with us.」

All of a sudden, Alma’s attitude softened quite a bit, and she shown Suzuka her gentle smile. She did not understand what might have caused such a change in her, so she reacted in the only possible way she could: by having a number of question marks pop up above her head.