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Last Embryo Volume 7 Chapter 1 Part 3

Izayoi looked a little surprised. Apparently, the natives did not accept him as a king out of formality, but rather welcomed Asterios as their own king to be revered.

After introducing herself, Akasha tried to enter the room with Lalah, but Asterios restrained them with a tense look.

「I’m sorry, but you two can wait here.」

「As you wish, Your Majesty. Would you like us to brew some tea and bring it over in the meantime?」

「No, please refrain from that too. Yet another person will be joining us later, so don’t let anyone other than that person through no matter what.」

He ordered the two with heightened vigilance.

However, it would seem that rather than being wary of an attack from the outside, Asterios was feeling that it would be troublesome for the two of them to be present here for some inexplicable reason.

Izayoi felt a little dubious about it, but he ultimately didn’t dare to mention it out loud.

(Well, from Asterios’ point of view, he was suddenly picked up to be the king, and he’s leading the fight against the giants now. Maybe he has something else on his mind as well?)

Izayoi, who quickly snatched a basket of fruit from another room, sat down as if nothing had happened and encouraged him to talk.

「So what do you want to talk about? I heard that there is one piece of good news and three pieces of bad news?」

「If you have already heard that much, then allow me to cut right to the heart of the matter. First of all, the good news. You probably expected it, but all the members of the 『No Name』Community have been confirmed to be alive. Homura and Suzuka are also currently in this fortress.」

「Some of them are still missing, but there is no doubt that they are all alive.」

「…I see. That’s the best possible news indeed.」

Asterios was surprised at Izayoi, who relaxed his facial muscles slightly. After he realized that himself, Izayoi immediately became grumpy and started mumbling excuses under his breath.

Heracles simply nodded and continued.

「And as for the bad news… I think it would be better to explain this step by step.」

「Yes. First, there is the matter of the natives. I think you have already noticed, but they seem to belong to the same ethnic group as me. That’s why I have been elected as their official commander.」

「Official?」

「Yes. There are other people giving instructions from behind the scenes. It’s frustrating to admit, but that person’s instructions were accurate. If I had not accepted that post, then it is possible that all of these people would have died by now… if only they knew about this, then I am sure that everyone would be disappointed at how much of a worthless king I actually am.」

Asterios grinded his teeth in frustration, while Izayoi made a surprised face. He was apparently embarrassed not because he has been chosen by his people to be their king, but because he was ashamed of himself for not being able to live up to their expectations.

But if the source of his trouble was actually his own helplessness, then it was actually rather promising for him.

Izayoi erased his smile and leaned forward, saying:

「Do not be so silly. There is no way for a man who has just been chosen to be king to say that this is frustrating, and that is because the natives didn’t choose you because of your abilities. They must have chosen you because they knew that you are going to be the right person to assist them in their time of need.」

「Is that so?」

「Naturally. The natives of the Atlantis continent are far more talented than you think. There’s no way people like them, a civilization that is advanced enough to figure out how to make gaslights, would be so grossly incompetent to choose a wrong leader for themselves.」

That is exactly what Izayoi was impressed with when he saw the gaslights.

It’s not uncommon to see light being created by a Gift, but no Gift could ever create a combustable gas and teach people how to use it in their daily lives. A feat like that is not achieved by a Gift, but thanks to human wisdom.

And since the custom of using gas lamps is already ingrained in the minds of the people of this land, then they must be hella intelligent.

Izayoi had heard from them that it had been around 300 years since they had been summoned to Little Garden. If they were summoned in the 2000s BC, the invention of gas lighting would come about 3,500 years later after many discoveries and breakthroughs.

「Lalah said that this place has been called The Lost Continent because its people had almost no interactions with the outside world. The reason why they did not leave this continent was because they only heard stories about things from the outside of the continent from Divine Spirits who occasionally came here on a whim, and because of that there was almost no interaction between their civilization and the other ones. But you probably understood that much without me having to tell you that, right?」

「…..」

Why didn’t the natives ever tried to leave the isolated continent? Seeing how happy they were when they welcomed Asterios in as their king, the reason behind that would become pretty obvious.

For 300 years, the people of Crete have waited for the return of the next king, Asterios, in this harsh and hostile continent.

「In this land where there are no indigenous Divine Spirits, who would bestow their Gifts to the people, and there are mountains and legions of beasts that are more ferocious than any other human due to the circumstances of their lives up to this point. They waited for your arrival on such a land, so you cannot fail their expectations now. Lamenting over your own lack of strength and inadequacies is important, but now is the time when you can make up for those shortcomings of yours. Is that why you called for me?」

「Ah, yes….that is right.」

Asterios regained his spirit and clenched his fists and nodded.

「I’m sorry for whining over myself when we clearly don’t have the time for such things now. It seems that I was a bit overwhelmed because so many things happen around me all at once. Don’t worry though. I will do everything in my power to live up to my people’s expectations.」

「Good, good, that’s the spirit. Do exactly that, boy-king.」

「Of course. Alright, let us go back to the main topic of discussion now. Izayoi, did you hear that 「The Youngest Child of Gaia」managed to invade this continent as one of the Players participating in the War?」

「It’s the first time I’ve heard of it, but I expected it… Oh, I see. So that is what you meant when you said that my friends are definitely alive. In this Gift Game, the Players have been forbidden from killing other Players.」
A chill ran down Asterios’ spine. Izayoi’s ability to immediately understand the situation even though he had not explained it all to him yet never ceased to amaze him.

「At the current moment, 「The Youngest Child of Gaia」has yet to lose his eligibility to participate in the Game. In other words, he has not killed any of the other Players yet. Based on that, we can assume that he is probably going to continue operating under the guise of a Player until he regains all of his strength, right?」

「That would seem to be the most likely scenario. As for your friends, they are all powerful warriors, so it is unlikely that they have been killed by the giants, so we assume that they are waiting for an opportunity to counterattack while keeping a low profile somewhere on the continent.」

「I thought as much… Okay, I think that I more or less understand the situation now. Including us, there are at least three major internal and external forces. Does that cover what the guy working behind your back, who left you alone without joining you right away, told you in his instructions?」

「Yes, but.. I am surprised that you figured it out so quickly.」

「Well, there’s no point in having a detached unit that has not been noticed by the enemy. It would be more meaningful of them to prepare some good means of communication so that they could match their plans with our strategy.」

Asterios and Heracles looked at each other with solemn expression. It was a reaction that greatly surprised Izayoi.