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Last Embryo Volume 5 Prologue Part 8

{. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Please, I beg you. For the sake of your good-for-nothing, spineless aunt, try to regain the honor that the royal family has lost. I know that you are angry, and you have every right to be so, but if all you are going to be focused on will be revenge, then we will never be able to achieve that goal.}

「. . . . . . . . . . . . I understand. I am going to do it, but only this one time, but only on one condition. When all of this is over, I want you to sever all ties you have with this girl. You are going to be my aunt, and my aunt only. Not anyone else’s, but mine. Can you promise me that?」

{Thank you so very much, Lamia. Now then, could I talk to Asuka one more time? Could you hand her the phone?}

「*Tch!*」

Clicking her tongue in displeasure, Lamia threw the phone and the receiver at Asuka while glaring daggers at her, and once she confirmed that she caught it, she turned on her heel and sat on a flat rock with her arms and legs crossed, demonstrating that even though she agreed to do as Leticia asked of her, she was not fine with it in the slightest. After moving some distance away from her, far enough to ensure that she would not hear a word of what she was saying, Asuka picked up the receiver and asked Leticia a question while covering her mouth with her other hand.

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . Uhm, Leticia? Care to explain what was that all about?」

{I am sorry for imposing something that I should be doing on you, but please, take care of my Lamia for me, would you? I promised myself that I would do anything in my power to save her . . . . . . . . but the truth is that do not know what I should do to make it happen, and that this is a task that I will not be able to accomplish alone.}

Hearing about the feelings of helplessness that were plaguing Leticia, Asuka let out a deep sigh, because she managed to pick the pieces of the puzzle together and realized exactly what her current situation was.

(Goodness gracious. . . . . . . . . in other words, Leticia did not leave {No Name} because of her own selfish whims, but her disappearance had something to do with her niece, this Lamia girl.)

Is she being taken hostage? Or maybe she is being deceived by someone, or perhaps she was brainwashed by some kind of powerful mental suggestion Gift? Whatever the cause might be, Asuka still thought that Leticia did the worst possible thing by trying to handle the matter by herself in the first place , and she was not afraid to openly tell her that.

「Really now, how stupid can you be? If you just came to us and asked for advice, then I am sure that Izayoi, Miss Kasukabe and I would have been able to come with a solution to that problem of yours right away.」

{I wanted to do just that, believe me. But when the push came to shove, I just . . . . . . . . . I just could not find the right words to say it. I am trully sorry.}

「It is okay, you do not have to be. Thinking about it now. Thinking about it now, I would not have been able to do all that much myself because I was already away at the time when you left. Also, I cannot say that I have a full grasp of the situation just yet, but if that is what you want me to do, then for the time being I am going to cooperate with that niece of yours. . . . . . Lamia, was it, and try to solve the problems in front of me in my own way. Is that okay wit you?」

{Of course. If it is you, Asuka. . . . . no, if it is you, my master, then I have no doubts that I can safely entrust my precious Lamia to you. All the more so since you were already quite formidable as one of the three problem children who were summoned to Little Garden to revive {No Name}, but now that you have been training and honing your skills for two years, I am pretty confident that you managed to become even more reliable.}

「Fufu, if you have such high expectations of me, then I guess I cannot fail them now, can I? Anyway, be careful out there and look out for yourself, Leticia.」

{Of course. I will.}

Nodding back to her friend’s heartwarming words, Leticia then hung up the call. And when she did, the telephone that Asuka was holding changed into a Gift Card after a brief flash of light and promptly returned to Lamia’s hand. Asuka was more than a little curious to know more about the feature of the Gift Cards that she has never seen before, but now was not the time for her to be indulging herself in idle pleasantries. She cleared her throat with a few coughs, and then looked back at Lamia.

「Uhm. . . . . . . . . I know this might be a little sudden, but this is what Leticia wanted, so I guess there is no point in worrying about it too much. My name is Kudou Asuka, one of the Players participating in the 2nd War for the Sun’s Authority. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Lamia.」

「. . . . . . . . . . . . I know who you are. And I also know that blonde woman with horns standing behind you is the Goddess Almathea.」

「My oh my, so you know who I am as well?」

「Of course. I always make sure to do my homework properly before jumping into action. So, why did you not come here earlier? With you at her side, solving this Game’s mystery should not be any problem for her, right?」

「Because my purpose is to make sure that Master grows up and matures on her own, not to hand her the victory on a silver platter.」

「Hmpf, what a nonsense.」

Lamia scoffed at Almathea through her nose. She probably thought that for someone with enough knowledge to ensure a swift victory in this Game, she was acting in a much too carefree way. But no matter how cute of a girl she was, that gesture of hers right now was not cute at all.

However, instead being irked or irritated by it, Asuka simply approached her with a smile.

「Well then, let us be on our way. The light is pretty dim out there in the cave, so do you want to hold hands not to get separated from us?」

「Thanks, but there is no need for that. Also, it is unpleasant to be treated like a child by a human, so I want you to stop that. And do not ever forget that even though Aunty Leticia asked me to lend you a hand, our Community’s interests are always going to be the most important for me.」

「I understand, and that is fine with me, because that is the same for me as well.」

「Also, I am impressed that you have managed to get all the way here all by yourself, since this place is supposedly the one that cannot be reached without the possession of a very specific knowledge. I should have expected as much from someone hailing from the royal family of the vampire clan, huh? I have to say, your wisdom is every bit as amazing as the rumors say.」

Alma praised Lamia’s accomplishment with a radiant smile. Faced with such unexpected praise, the sour look on Lamia’s face softened up quite a bit and she proudly puffed out her chest while running her fingers through her golden hair.
「*Hmpf*, that much should have been obvious. After all, our Community has a Game Maker who is regarded as being 「The Strongest」among all of them in its ranks. There is absolutely no one who can possibly beat him.」

「Hou? 「The Strongest」Game Maker, you say?」

Alma’s smile became sharper in the blink of an eye.

In the world of Little Garden, where various Gods, Demons and Buddhas are said to gather, using the word 「The Strongest」to describe someone was not a light matter.