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Last Embryo Volume 8 Chapter 3 Part 4

The unicorn muttered, apologetically. Unicorn horns possess immense healing properties, which is why they are constantly being threatened by poachers who want to make a fortune out of them. And now, even though they went to such a mountainous area aiming for a safe place to live, they were still found out by poachers in no time.

The unicorns’ anxiety must be immeasurable because of this situation

『If you hadn’t protected me, you wouldn’t have fallen into such a petty trap. I am sorry for that. I don’t even know what I can do in order to make it up to you for this.』

「It can’t be helped. Don’t worry about it. It’s just that the opponent’s trap was excellently prepared, nothing more to it.」

You comforted the unicorn by gently stroking its mane. Sharol scratched the back of her cat ears and looked intently at the ivy cage.

「But you know, this whole situation doesn’t make sense to me. If we’re talking about Kasukabe-neechan, then she shouldn’t have any reasons to stay in that cage, right? So, is there any reason for why you didn’t break out of it already?」

「Yeah, about that… I think there’s probably a piece of parchment around there that describes how the cage works… so could you read it for me, Sharol? Because I can’t do it myself.」

「Huh? You want me to do it, not Kuro Usagi?」

「That’s right. The characters written there resemble the language I showed you before, so I was wondering if Sharol could read it since she’s from the cat people tribe.」

「Oh, so that’s why. Hahaha…」

Sharol raised her cat ears and stepped forward.

She is a descendant of the cat people tribe, who is said to be able to master various languages without any difficulty whatsoever. Not only that, but even among the cat people, Sharol’s bloodline is the most famous one descending from the Puss in Boots himself.

If it’s her, who is one of the core members of the 『Six Scars』Community, then she shouldn’t have any trouble with taking care of such a trivial task.

「When you put it that way, then it is certainly my turn to act. Wait a minute, I’ll translate it right away.」

Standing in front of the ivy cage, Sharol put down her luggage and started translating the text that You mentioned.

In the meantime, Kuro Usagi approached You, who was on the other side of the ivy cage, and spoke to her.

「You-san, I’m glad you’re safe. Do you know how worried I was about you?」

「I’m sorry for making you worry so much, Kuro Usagi. I no one showed up I was planning to wait for one more day before prying this cage open by force, but… but since this is a part of a Gift Game, then clearing it and winning in such a brutish way would not be an ideal result at all.」

「Well, that is certainly true.」

Kuro Usagi agreed with You with her ears swaying back and forth. The conviction that a win is a win no matter which methods have been used and how underhanded they were is widely regarded as one used by the weak Players, and using such cowardly tactics is below those who shoulder the weight on an entire Community on their shoulders.

If you can’t win a Gift Game is a way it was originally intended to be won, then even if you do win, then you won’t capture the hearts of the audience watching that Game. As a newly appointed 「Floor Master」of the East Side, Kasukabe You needs to be able to do at least that much, and that is probably why she was waiting for someone to come by and rescue her, but…
「This is just like You-san. And that is also what makes you our leader!」

「Thank you very much. I do have to wonder… is something as cunning as that even allowed? A Geass Roll that is unreadable to the Player, I mean?」

「No, this is absolutely unforgiveable! Not being able to read the rules of the Gift Game is one of the worst possible things that can be done! But at the same time… such a happening is definitely strange. The world of Little Garden has been created as a backwards calculation of various historical facts and with the concept that all languages will eventually be unified into a single, universally understood language, so the Gift of a 『Unified Proto-language』should always be applied to things like letters to make it possible for people to always understand them.」

The world of Little Garden is the one where various eras, religions and races have been invited to and mingle together.

The reason why they are able to communicate with each other, which should not be possible under normal circumstances, is precisely because the Gift of that『Unified Proto-language』is always enveloping the entirety of Little Garden, allowing the history of mankind to finally be summarized by one language.

And the Gift of the『Unified Proto-language』has always worked backwards from the afterthought Omega in Little Garden, which is the ubiquitous space-time and the Third Observable Universe.

「Well, if you can’t write and read what is written on the Geass Roll, then you won’t be able to take part in any Gift Games that involve phantom beasts.」

「Yes! That’s why I think that it is highly likely that these “Illegible letters「 might be some form of Gift themselves… what do you think about that, Sharol-san? Do you think you can read them after all?」

Instead of answering Kuro Usagi’s question, Sharol did her best to force her cat ears to ignore any external sounds as she focused entirely on reading the text that was placed before her with a serious expression so that she could comprehend it. Usually she was extremely cheerful person, so seeing her showing such an expression was a pretty rare sight.

Sharol traced the letters over and over with her fingertips and muttered to herself:

「The symbols used for the letters are similar to the ones from the Celtic language, but they are not the exactly same ones, and I don’t where are they from or what exactly are they. They are definitely not ogham letters or runes. Can we also assume that whoever created this Geass Roll was a woman because ivy typically symbolizes women… so, is this pictogram right here a synonym for “goat”?」

While remaining half in doubt, Sharol traced the letters with her finger while still muttering to herself… but even then, nothing happened.

「…No reaction, huh? If I can’t comprehend it, then it probably means that anyone also cannot do the same after reading it, though. So, is there perhaps a property that makes it impossible to read from the start? Then… wait, no… it’s not that the letters are “unreadable”, but rather that they are “unobservable”!」

With that, Sharol vigorously stood up with her cat ears jumping with joy.

「W-Wait a minute, big sis! T-This is amazing! I think we just happened upon a truly monumental discovery! T-This, this is probably one of the lost proto languages! A-A-And on top of that, judging by the letters, this must be one of the Proto-Celtic languages dating back to at least 2000 B.C! If this is not a rare item, then I don’t know what is!」

You tilted her head in confusion as she stared at Sharol, who jumped up and down in surprise. In contrast, Kuro Usagi was so surprised when she heard that that her bunny ears stretched out in the same way as Sharol’s cat ears.

「Lost proto-language… I’ve heard about it! It is one of the proto-languages of mankind that became unobservable as it fell out of use in later eras as human history continued to develop! S-So this is basically an ancient proto-language that was used in the era before and after the age of the gods?!」

「That’s right! The earliest Proto-Celtic language is said to date back to 800 B.C, but this Proto-Celtic language clearly predates even that! The characters or this text correspond to the same ones that have been used in the Book of Invasions!」

In the world of Little Garden, there is a major principle that says that 「Those who become unobservable lose their Divinity as a result」.

Beings who have become like that are colloquially referred to as 「No Formers」.

For example, the 「Book of Invasions」that Sharol mentioned just now is a pseudo-history of Celtic mythology that was modified along with the introduction of Christianity. This false history book is a story of Celtic mythology that has been modified by Christians to incorporate other religions into it, and where its ideas about them are reflected.