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Last Embryo Volume 6 Chapter 4 Part 14

Unaware of those thoughts swirling in their heads, Homura took out his smartphone and opened up its mailbox application.

「I have already talked about this with Tokuteru and Big Bro Iza, but since you look so curious about it, then I do not mind explaining it to you as well, Suzuka, Kuro Usagi. After the crisis with the virus generated by {The Bull of Heaven} got resolved, we have been seeing a steady influx of people who expressed their willingness to invest in Star Particle Bodies and their research. Sometime ago I received a mail for one such possible investors, a fictitious company named Figure Out, and this symbol came in that mail as an attachment to their proposal.」

He then showed the LED screen of his smartphone to Izayoi and the others. And what was displayed there was a symbol that contained a crown, two keys and three circles. Surprisingly, the first one to react to them was Suzuka.

「A crown and two keys crossed together. . . . . . . . . . . . . . this is the crest of the Medici family, is it not?」

「The Medici family. . . . . . . . . . . I am sorry, but who are they?」

「Hmm, how can I put this without making the explanation longer than it needs to be. . . . . ? To put it in simplest terms possible, they were a family of super-rich Italian bankers during the Renaissance period, I suppose? Members of their household were also quite famous as investors and supporters of prominent artists, and they were the ones who helped Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo usher in a new era of art and scholarship. They also appeared in one of the questions that were on our final exams right before summer vacation came along.」

「As expected of our student council president. You are not one of the best runner-up students in our school year for nothing.」

「Hahahaha. . . . . . . . I do not know why, but being reminded of it like that is making me feel more than a little annoyed for some reason. And also in a mood to punch someone’s face in if they continue to talk about it!」

Suzuka said while having a vein pop on her forehead.

The Medici family. . . . . . . . . . just like Suzuka said, they were a family of rich bankers from the Renaissance period Italy who supported the growth and spread of the new age of art with their generous fundings. It is also said that they have contributed to the growth of various cultures and civilization by using the surplus of the fortune they possessed as one of the leading finance-related families in human history, and some of the rumors about them even stated that they incorporated the myths and tradition from mythologies and legends that were presumed to have been otherwise lost into the art and literature of the many cultures that they were backing with their money. At the same time, The Medici family itself served as inspiration for many works of art and literature, and some even speculate that the enormous hidden treasure found claimed by Edmond Dantes in Alexander Dumas’ novel {The Count of Monte Christo} has actually been modeled after the hidden riches of the Medici family, and it is because of their immense wealth and influence associated with it that the crest of the Medici family gained international fame on par with the other famous European families of that time.

Homura said that this crest arrived to him in an attachment to the mail he received from that fictitious company, Figure Out, which would imply that whoever sent that mail must have been related to the Medici’s in at least some way, but at this point it was perfectly natural to doubt the legitimacy of such a claim. . . .

「Homura, wait just a moment if you can. I am sorry to be interrupting your story like that, but was it not that the Medici family was practically bankrupt by the 18th century and because they lacked the male heirs who would inherit the family, it ended up being absorbed along with all of its lands and remaining money by the Habsburg dynasty?」

「We learned about that in school during history classes, but apparently things looked a little but differently for the parts of the family dedicated to business and politics. Or at least that is the story that I have head from Lady Ayato’s father. . . . . . . . . . . . .」

As a dynasty, the Medici family, famous as one of the wealthiest families that both Europe and the world has ever seen, had a history that lasted for hundreds of years. Across the long years of their existence they have been involvement in the growth and enlightenment of civilization many times, but exactly because of that the fortune that they have amassed was continuously threatened, because some of the people began to perceive such a wealthy family as a legitimate threat. And just like that, with fear being their main motivator, the enemies of the Medici family decided that the only way to keep the rest of the nation and themselves safe from their influence would be to completely erase them from the main political and economical stage, hoping that with their complete erasure and their descendants pushed to the sidelines of history they will never become a threat ever again.

「Ever since then, they have gone into hiding, sticking to the shadows and only emerging back whenever a big Paradigm Shift was about to occur. According to some of the more popular conspiracy theories, they were always the ones who stood behind every last one of the world’s most famous geniuses like Alfred Nobel, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein and others, backing them and pulling their strings from behind the scenes where no one would ever dare look for them.」

「Heee. . . .it that turned out to be true, then that would be all sorts of amazing. Because it would be like. . . . . you know, if they have been supporting various civilizational pioneers throughout the ages, then would that not mean that they would at one point have to turn their attention to Homura, considering what it is that he is trying to achieve?」

「Exactly. And if they were really the descendants of the Medici family, then it would not be all that difficult to establish a firm connection to the pope of the Roman Catholic Church and meet him thanks to them. . . .」

「. . . . . .. huh?」

「W-Why did the story made a sudden jump here?! What does the pope have to do with what you were talking about just now?」

Suzuka and Kuro Usagi had a number of question marks floating right above their heads. However, Izayoi seemed to have already guessed what Homura was gunning for here. He pointed towards the picture on the screen of Homura’s smartphone that depicted the crown and two crossed keys and then said excitedly while grinning from ear to ear:

「I see. . . . .  the crown and the two crossed keys! This is a combination of the Medici family crest and the flag of the City of Vatican!」

「W H A T. . . . .? ! ! ! ! !」

「. . . . . ! ! ! ! ! ! !」

「And that is not all, oh no! There is definitely even more to it! After all, two of the popes from the past, Leo X and Clement VII were from the Medici family, and the official flag of the City of Vatican that has been introduced during their reigns was based on the crest of the Medici family, a crown with two crossed keys! And since the popes of Vatican are still using that flag even today, then that has to mean that the connection that the Medici had to the Roman Catholic Church has not been severed throughout all these years when they were not in power!」