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Last Embryo Volume 5 Prologue Part 6

. . . . . . . . . . . . But the one to deliver the explanation was Suzuka, who did exactly the same thin as the other two because she did not want to be the only one who would be left out in the dark.

「Rotary dial. . . . telephone?」

「Basically an old kind of telephone where you have to insert your finger into the dial and spin it every time you want to input the numbers that make up people’s phone number so that you could call them. I never used one myself, but I have seen plenty of them I old movies and such. But I wonder, how is she able to speak to whoever is on the other side? A matter of signal’s reach aside, are telephone cables a thing here? And if so, where would they be planted in a cave like this one?」

「I do not see any lines, cables or anything that could be imitating them anywhere near. . . . . . but in short, she is using something that works just like telephone to talk to someone, so for the time being let us just call it a Communication Prop.」

There was no point in overthinking that matter further, so the three of them simply agreed to conclude that the person who created it must have modeled it in such a way, most likely because that was their peculiar hobby.

After she listened to Suzuka’s explanation, Alma once again turned her attention towards the blonde girl and continued to eavesdrop on her phone call conversation.

「. . . . . . . . . . Yes, it was exactly as you have told me, James. 「Heracles’s Stone Pillar」is actually a stone monument, and 「overlapping stars」were actually a double meaning of 「Stella」. . . . . . . . . . . . Eh? Am I doing fine by myself? O-Of course I am doing fine! Mighty fine, I would even dare to say! I am already twelve years old, after all! A refined lady!」

The blonde girl puffed out her cheeks in irritation and began to move around restlessly. Her words and deeds seemed to be pointing to her being a Player participating in the 2nd War for the Sun’s Authority, just like Asuka and Suzuka, but no matter how they looked at her, she looked way too young to be an actual competitor in the Great Gift Game. Maybe she was one of the Player’s kid running an errand for them or something along those lines?

「Uhm, Miss Asuka, Miss Almathea? A thought occurs. Is. . . . . . . is it really okay for us to leave such a small kid alone to fend for herself in such a place?」
「Hmm. . . . . . . . . . you do have a point there. She does not look like someone who would pose any immediate danger to us, so maybe it would be fine for us to come out of hiding and approach her directly?」

「No, master. It would be foolish to reveal ourselves now. We should stay hidden and gather more information. Do not forget that whoever this girl might be, she arrived here before we did, which means that she must have also solve the mystery of the 「Heracles’s Stone Pillars」 and the 「overlapping stars」, so if we eavesdrop on her for a while longer, there is a very high possibility of us learning something that might give us an advantage in this Gift Game.」

Alma, who was still being wary of the girl, warned Asuka and Suzuka not to let their guard down. Just because that girl looks like a small child, it does not mean that approaching her carelessly is not going to be dangerous. Alma did not know how humans in the Outer World were dealing with such situation in the modern day, nut right now they are not in the Outer World, but in Little Garden, a place filled with all kinds of Gods and beasts where nothing might be as it seems at first glance. For all they know, that appearance of a beautiful young girl might as well be deception used by that child, who is actually a bloodthirsty human-eating monster, to lure the unsuspecting prey to her side where she then proceeds to tear the unsuspecting victim apart. That is why she was convinced that even if they were to interact with her, they should still remain as cautious as possible.

「Eh. . . . . . . . . . . ehhh? A-Auntie? Ah, y-yes! I was able to do it by myself just fine! We were the first ones to arrive here! Are. . . . . . . . . are you pleased with how I handled it, Auntie Leticia?! Did I make you happy?!」
The blonde girl, who must have been surprised by something that the person at the other end of the call must have said, began to happily jump and frolic around. However, Asuka was just as surprised as her, if not even more.

「Auntie Leticia. . . . . . . . . . ehhh, LETICIA? ! ! ! ! ! !」

Beautiful blonde hair that could easily have been mistaken for strands of gold, and big, round, red eyes that shined like a pair of rubies. It was true that she looks like a child, but upon closer inspection, Asuka could definitely see the signs of this girl’s resemblance to Leticia, a good friend of hers. And more importantly, if that girl looks so much like Leticia, then there was a very high probability that she was also a vampire. For Asuka, that was all the evidence she needed. And so. . . . . . . . . . .

「Eh? M-Master, what are you doing?! Wait, Master!!!」

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . and she jumped out of hiding, marching straight towards the girl.

Alma was surprised by her Master’s sudden action. Suzuka was also surprised. But the one who was the most surprised of them all was the blonde girl herself. She was so surprised in fact that she dropped both the telephone and the receiver onto the ground, where it rolled three time with a loud clang until it finally landed directly at Asuka’s feet. She vigorously picked both of them up, and then shouted so loud that veins started popping up at the side of her temples:

「LETICIA! ! ! ! ! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU NOW? ! ! ! ! ! ! !」
『That voice. . . . . . . . . is that you, Asuka?』

「You bet your ass it is I! Do you have any idea how worried I was about you ever since I receive the Letter from Miss Kasukabe saying that you have up and disappeared?! What the hell were you thinking?! As my personal maid, you should have at least said something, literally anything, to me! That would have been a proper, polite way of handling it befitting of my servant! I thought I taught you better!」

『I. . . . . . . I am sorry, I really, truly am. It was not my intention to leave without saying a word like that, so could you just listen to me for a moment?』

Leticia apologized to Asuka and tried to calm her down in order to explain herself, but Asuka was not going to have it. Fueled by the anger at her friend which she has kept bottled up for so long, she rode on the momentum and continued to give her an earful without giving her even a moment to refute.

In the face of all of that which happened so suddenly, the blonde girl has been frozen absolutely still, and no one could blame her for that, since that was probably a natural reaction that could not be helped. I mean, everyone would probably react in the same, or at least very similar way if they were talking to someone over the phone only to have that phone snatched from them by some unknown girl whom they have never seen before, right? Suzuka was pretty much as dumbfounded by Asuka’s bold display as the blonde girl was, but even so, she still asked Alma, with whom she was still remaining hidden in the shadow of the stalagmite, the question that was currently on her mind.

「Uhm, Miss Alma? Who is this Leticia person that Miss Asuka seems to talking so. . . . . . . . passionately right now?」

「I do believe that she is Master’s former maid.」