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Last Embryo Volume 8 Chapter 4 Part 5

The woman named Canaria rushed over to me in a hurry when she saw that.

「I’m sorry for surprising you like that. I never would have expected that somebody would be able to see through Ushimatsu-san’s humanization technique.」

「S-So that means that you could see it as well? Her…」

「Of course. But don’t worry. I made a contract with her that prohibits her from doing anything bad while she remains within the reach of my eyesight, so you can rest assured. As long as you’re here with me, I guarantee your safety and that no harm will ever befall you.」

Even though these were supposed to be words without any basis and reason for me to believe her, those words of hers were enough for me to feel my blood circulating throughout my body properly again. I instinctively guessed that this woman could be trusted, so I allowed her to carry me to the sofa while leaning on her arm.

When I was served tea by her, I decided to tell her everything about my life so far and how I came to this place.

「Ha~, so Izayoi-kun is an acquaintance with the descendant of the Tsuchimikado family? Talk about a coincidence. The world seems so wide, but it’s so surprisingly small.」

Canaria-san nodded deeply while sipping her tea.

「And just when I thought that it was going to be a consultation about a spiritual disorder related to the Tsuchimikado family, it turns out that it is just a consultation about a friend’s disappearance. It’s been a long time since my expectations were positively betrayed.」

For some reason, Canaria looked happy when she glanced at the photo sent by Tatsuya.

By psychic disorder, do you perhaps mean my ability of clairvoyance?

「That is a possibility, yes. The Tsuchimikado family is a lineage of venerable onmyojis related to Abe no Seimei himself, aren’t you? People with such a special lineage like yours are beginning to wake up to their abilities in a manner similar to how you did through genetic atavism at a different ages. We usually refer to people like that as the Awakened.」

Ha, haaaa… sounds like something taken straight out of a light novel or something.

「Ahaha, sure, you can definitely say that. But I have to admit that your talent is quite remarkable. After all, it would be impossible for an average magician to see through Ushimatsu-san’s camouflage at a simple glance.」

Well, I’m not happy to be praised for such things, if I am to be honest. If I don’t know how to deal with such things even though I can see them, it’ll be the same as if I couldn’t see them at all.

「That’s true, too. That’s why I thought this time I was going to consult you about how you could try to handle the things that you can see… but now I am at a loss, because this picture that you brought with yourself is definitely related to some kind of overseas mafia, but it doesn’t have anything to do with spiritual disorders at all.」

Canaria-san’s words made my blood leave my face once more. I optimistically thought that if it turned out to be related to some kind of spiritual disorder, then I could entrust solving this issue entirely to her…

…but how did you even reach the conclusion with an overseas mafia just by looking at a single photo?

「Hmm, I could explain that, but in order to do that, we have to put you through a little quiz first. Do you know what is the most demanded and consumed resource in the world today?」

The most demanded and consumed resource in the world, huh? Now, which one was it?

The consumption of rare metals itself is not that large, and even though precious metals such as gold and silver are undeniably in demand, their consumption is not that high as one might have expected.
When it comes to consumption, water should be a resource that circulates around the world in various different forms, which leaves us only with one other possible option with the largest consumption rate.

It should be wood, right?

「Fufu, unfortunately, but that answer is not correct. The correct answer that we’re looking for here is… sand.」

S-Sand?!

「Yes, sand. However, not every single grain of it has the same value. Even so, hundreds, thousands of tons, and tens of thousands of tons are being purchased by countries that have entered a period of high economic growth.」

But why would you buy such a ubiquitous thing like sand in such a large quantity?

「Oh, it’s a prejudice to say that sand is something that can be found everywhere. In order to obtain a large amount of sand, it is necessary to scrape the land, and sometimes there are people who would go as far as to scrape the entire islands and rewrite the maps in order to achieve that. Conversely, if you can get a large amount of sand, you can fill in the country’s territorial waters and expand your territory, and you can also process it to produce a large amount of concrete, which will then allow you to create a number of huge buildings. We buy a lot of sand from the ‘sand mafia’ who bring us sand from abroad.」
Seriously?

「Seriously, and it’s really only recently come to light that such shady deals are happening.」

Ah, but if a large amount of sand is transported from another country, won’t that country’s territory decrease as a result?

「That’s right. In other words, it can be said that this is a legal robbery of other country’s territory. The solitary island in this photo is a place that the sand mafia has been scraping away, so the USB may be containing the information where to transport the excavated sand.」

I unintentionally rolled my eyes at the information that have been revealed here, since this case just got much bigger than I could have ever imagined. There are countless solitary island counties like that in the world that are not managed by any proper government, and I am pretty sure that a mere student should not know that these solitary island were secretly dug up and sold to other countries for profit.

「Well, it’s strange to me that the business partner is a Japanese company. Japan, with its many mountainous areas, still has areas that can be cut down so it doesn’t need so much sand… unless that company is building something like a secret research facility that they don’t want anyone else to know about.」

I see… So, do you know where Tatsuya is?

「Well, he was probably already killed.」
「……!!!」

「Because he scattered this photo around, didn’t he? As a result, the Information that the mafia never wanted to be known by anyone else was scattered to an unspecified number of people, so don’t you think it’s highly likely that they killed him in retaliation for possibly ruining their entire operation?」

I glared at Canaria-san, who was bluntly talking about one of my friends being dead, with a look of anger. However, what she was saying sounded perfectly logical. There is no reason for the kidnappers to keep Tatsuya alive. If I move any further, not only myself, but the rest of my friends might end up getting in harm’s way as well.

「And there you have it. As for you, I think Izayoi-kun will protect you… but I can’t guarantee anything about the safety of your sister or your friends. With that said, isn’t it time for you to withdraw now? Or is that Tatsuya a friend so dear to you that you would go and risk your own life for him?」

Tatsuya is… Tatsuya is definitely an idiot.

「Yes. And?」

He’s the eldest son from among a total of six brothers, and he’s desperately working with many part-time jobs to support the household, and he only kills time with us whenever he doesn’t have to take care of his other brothers. He does not engage in battles that he knows he cannot win, and has never taken money from normal students. All my friends agree that 「Tatsuya is an idiot」because he spends a lot of money for his family, they hate him and say things like, 「Play with us more, you moron!」. And yet, even now… even now, people other than me are still running around looking for Tatsuya.

「…..I see. So what are you going to do about it?」

Canaria-san said this herself earlier. That the mafia might have retaliated because the photos got spread around, and that we as Tatsuya’s friends might also be in danger.

However, I have yet to hear of any disappearances or harm of coming to any of my companions, let alone me.