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Last Embryo Volume 7 Chapter 5 Part 2

(Following the guidance of the overlapping stars, find the old hero and discover the mystery of the Chief God’s Declaration… Could it be that the victory conditions were referring to Asterios himself the entire time?)

The reason as to why King Minos was not listed as the firstborn child of Zeus might be that even though he was a child of Zeus, the incarnation of Zeus was not him, but the first bearer of the name Asterios.

Izayoi glanced towards Asterios.

The priestess Akasha and the assistant priestess Lalah were holding each of his hands, but his gaze was cast down the entire time as if he didn’t even know what he should be saying in this situation or what kind of face he should be showing them.

「Oh our king, even though you might be lamenting your own inadequacies now, know this: there is no human in this world who was born capable of doing everything perfectly since the moment they were born.」

「When you tasted the olives we cultivated in this land, you said that they tasted exactly like the ones that you remember from your hometown. Hearing you say those words filled our hearts with undescribable joy. They made us realize that you are still following in the footsteps of your father and you are continuing his lineage.」

「Lalah. Akasha.」

Asterios grabbed both of their hands.

When he was still a child, he lived his life believing that he was going to succeed his father’s throne. Ever since the time when his father asked him 「Do you still love this country?」, those words were warming his heart whenever he was feeling tat he had no place to return to after waking up from his long slumber.

If everything that has been said now was true, then he wanted to do nothing more but to vigorously nod his head and take on the challenge of rebuilding his father’s kingdom together with them. However, as the son of King Minos, Asterios still had something that he needed to clarify.

「Lalah. Akasha. There is something that I would like to ask from the both of you.」

「What is it?」

「As the two priestesses of the highest rank, you should know about it. About the true tragedy hidden in the legend of the Minotaur… the tragedy of the Star Particle Bodies research that took place on the island of Crete thousands of years ago.」

「Ha… haha!」

Misha, who has been listening quietly until now let out a voice of amazement. Other Players turned their eyes towards her, since that outburst was rather sudden and uncharacteristic of her. Most of them had no idea why she would do something like that, and so they became surprised.

However, she was not the only one who was amazed at the understanding that hit her. Since Sakamaki Izayoi was just as stunned as her after hearing Asterios’s words, it was obvious that what he said just now was something important and meaningful.

(T…That’s right! Star Particle Bodies are created things, and not something that was artificially produced by human hands, so it should be obvious that their existence must have been confirmed even thousands of years ago!)

It should have been something obvious since the Particle Bodies were parasiting on the Orichalcum crystals, but he failed to immediately connect the dots here.

In an instant, Izayoi began to gather information in his brain.

(The Star Particle Bodie were discovered in an underwater volcano in Japan. That is because the Japanese Archipelago is placed in a special location where many continental plates overlap with one another. But at the same time, it also means that if we were in the same location, we would be able to discover stellar particle bodies in the same way.)

The Japanese Archipelago and the island of Crete share many similarities between each other.
It can be said that the Minoan civilization, a country born in a volcanic region on overlapping continental plates, was in the same environment as Japan, where Star Particle Bodies were discovered.

And speaking of rituals that were performed by the Minoan civilization…

「Hey, excuse me, but I have a question for you, King Asterios. Is there a causal relationship between the Star Particle Bodies research that you were talking about and the monster of cannibalism… the Minotaur?」

「The causal relationship is exactly what you might expect. In the first place, the cause of my death was not smallpox either. You already know that the rejection of the Star Particle Bodies is very similar to the onset of smallpox, right? And I heard that Izayoi already knows that there is a primitive method of feeding Star Particle Bodies to the latent patients in order to have them forcibly adapt to the human body.」

For a moment, Izayoi’s face was warped with disgust.

As far as he knew, Nanami over there is a Black Albino Particle Bodies test subject. It must have been the same with the others who were made into other research entities. And if they were using Black Albino specimens as test subjects, then it would mean that the failed test subjects who lost their lives were shipped as meat to cannibalistic hobbyists. That is the reason why Asterios called the method of manufacturing Star Particle Bodies a primitive one.

Izayoi, who came to that conclusion, bared his fangs with an immensely angry look on his face.

「Ha! I see now. So that is the truth behind the legend of the Minotaur!」

No, to be more precise, it should be called the truth about ancient human experiments using Star Particle Bodies.

「Yes. Like you said, this is the truth behind the legend of the Minotaur. And the current incarnation of Demon Lord Typhon is most likely one of the boys that was used as an experimental subject by my father, King Minos.」

Asterios confessed with a sorrowful face.

All the incidents involving the Star Particle Bodies now became a complete and logical picture.

The 「former tragedy」 that Demon Lord Typhon spoke of was not referring to the Gigantomachia the Typhon himself took part in, but to the tragic experiences that his current incarnation went through.

(That bastard James must have kept that information hidden on purpose. After all, such a heavy background knowledge about the king of the country we’re about to defend from its enemies would probably be too much for some of the Players to bear.)

Most of the Players would not be able to understand it, but there should be more than a few of them who are aware of the circumstances and hide their abilities. Still, it would definitely hurt to be left out and undone by a Player who is familiar with the situation. But with all that in mind, Asterios still decided he should ask the question in front of everyone.

He decided that it would be better to risk letting everyone know about it fairly rather than hiding it and risking losing creditability when the truth would have inevitably surfaced later.

(But then…… I heard that that monster that was a recreation of the 『Bull of Heaven』 was taken out of the body of Typhon So what does that mean? Was the incarnation of the Minotaur being kept in some kind of cryo-sleep until now?)

He didn’t know if that assumption of his was true or not, but if it was, then it would certainly serve as a nice explanation for why was Demon Lord Typhon burning with so much anger.

Not only was his body being used for research purposes in the modern day, but his incarnation was also a test subject in the ancient times. The despair that the owner of that body must have felt, coupled with the tragedy that seemingly dragged on from the past into the future, must have been beyond all comprehension. And having his incarnation treated so disgracefully must have been enough of a reason for Typhon to burn with even more resentment, even more so since he himself was a Demon Lord.
「My father knew that his kingdom was destined to perish. The tragedy that followed might have as well been the result of him trying to change that fate. I also don’t think that what my father did can ever be forgiven. With all of that in mind, I want the two of you to think and ask yourselves that question again: is it really alright for someone like me to be the king?」

The training ground fell dead silent.

This was probably the thing that Asterios was the most worried about when the natives sat him on the throne and made him their king. Even before he would take charge and rebuild his country, the rumors about the past of his lineage would definitely followed him everywhere he would go.