Last Embryo

───Great Tree of "Underwood" - Bathing Area.

The Aquatic City that boasted with beautiful sceneries had underwent a rapid change from the festive mood from earlier and had fallen into a state of utter chaos. The interior of the Great Tree was full of refugees all the way up to the cave that was dug for the underground water veins, and every room was occupied by the wounded. This was just like the forefront of a battlefield.

The whole evacuation process would have needed about three hours to finish, but with the quick guidance and encouragement, it was completed quickly.

Actions taken by Kuro Usagi and Shirayuki-hime who had volunteered to aid with the flooded riverside were splendid in particular. Kuro Usagi who worked hard in the rescue operation for three hours without rest, was sprawled on top of Shirayuki-hime, completely exhausted.

"*Yawn*.........I"m so exhausted. To think that doing a rescue operation in a storm would be this difficult. I can"t help but feel respect towards the aiding communities in the world."

『Yes. If Kuro Usagi-dono wasn"t there, there would"ve been a great deal of people that couldn"t have been saved. Despite your little power, you did well.』

"Not at all. You too Shirayuki-hime-sama, as expected from the Water G.o.d!"

Shirayuki-hime and Kuro usagi exchanged words of praise. In truth, if not for these two, many people would"ve been washed away by the downstream. Had it been only a single river, Shirayuki-hime"s Gift would"ve been enough to save them, however in the Aquatic City where the complicated waterways were spread out like meshes, there was a limit to the extent where her eyes could reach.

Shirayuki-hime who thanked Kuro Usagi for her cooperation, let her down from her head, and then she also transformed into her human form. She, clad in a white kimono, said while pointing at the top of the great tree.

"It seems we got quite wet. Me aside, Kuro Usagi-dono shouldn"t let her body catch a cold. Just above here, there"s a large public bath dedicated to special guests. It would be good to go there along with the children to warm up."

"I-Is that okay?"

"It is. I will convey the story to "Six Scars". Kuro Usagi-dono had it bad ever since yesterday, right? Rest your body for a short while."

"Understood. I will do as you say then!"

Kuro Usagi headed to the upper floor with raised Usamimi.

My my, Shirayuki-hime shook her head slightly while smiling.

".........Well then. Let"s look around for some more, shall we."

As Shirayuki-hime reverted back to her serpent form, she entered the waterway in order to explore the downtown once more.

At that time, at another place.

Ayato searched about frantically for the sickroom where Suzuka was brought to, and after finally finding it, rushed inside.

"Suzuka! Are you alright!?"

She came running while being completely drenched, and rushed inside as she was calling out her name.

Thereupon, Homura glanced at her from inside the room, looking displeased.

".........Ayato. Enter quietly."

"Ah, s-sorry."

She strode quickly towards Homura while her cheeks got dyed red from embarra.s.sment. On top of bed, Suzuka lay there sound asleep.

Her complexion looked good as well, and there didn"t seem to be any danger to her life.

Overwhelmed by the relief, Ayato almost sank onto the floor, looking as if her knees gave away.

"T-Thank G.o.d......! I thought that injury was life-threatening.........!!! There was a medical Gift in "Underwood", right, Senpai?"

".........Yeah. Her life shouldn"t be in danger."

Homura, in contrast to Ayato, looked at Suzuka"s sleeping face with a sad expression.

Just at that moment, a voice searching for them was heard in the sickroom.

"Excuse me. Is Saigou Homura inside?"

"? I"m here."

As Homura peeked his head outside, Porol immediately looked at him with completely serious expression.

"I see. In that case, come with me at once. I wish to hear about the current Game."

"Got it. Ayato please watch over Suzuka. Her condition is stabilized already, so let her take a bath once she wakes up. It"s also bad for you to stay drenched, right?"

"Y-Yes."

Ayato noticed that there was some anxiety in Homura"s mood, but she still remained at that place as told.

Homura who was called to a separate room, relayed the whole story about the current matter.

About meeting the Celestial Beast Taurus in the outer world. And as he was explaining up to the part about coming to Little Garden, Porol suspiciously removed his gla.s.ses and stared at Homura.

".........I can"t believe it. I have never heard about Celestial Beasts being able to go between the outer world and Little Garden."

"Even if you tell me something like that, I don"t know how to respond. That"s not something I would know."

“Well, that true. ───But it was pretty bad huh. If all the "Floor Masters" become unable to be reached, how about staying in "Underwood" for a while?"

"No, that might also turn into something bad. In my world, this typhoon is spreading a virus that"s even infecting the plants. It"s not certain whether this Great Tree won"t get infected either."

Porol knit his brows from Homura"s report.

It seems all the means are used up, he shrugged.

".........Well, it happens when it happens. No other choice but to persuade the inhabitants of "Underwood" and rely on another community. What will you guys do?"

"I.........have someone I have to meet by any means."

He looked at Porol with eyes that contained composure and peacefulness. Those eyes appeared to hold both resolution and resignation in them.

When he was about to ask what was on his mind, the door suddenly flew open.

"E-Excuse me! Is P-P-Porol-kun here!?"

The door opened with a loud bang. As the two of them turned their eyes thinking about what was the matter, a new Nekomimi girl, Carol Gundark came flying in.

From her noisy voice, Porol looked greatly perplexed and sighed regretfully.

"Carol......You also became an adult cat, so calm down a bit. Also, call me a boss, a boss. ───So, what"s wrong? Did "The Bull of Heaven" start acting up again?"

"N-No, not that! It"s something more important! L-L-Look at this!"

After saying so, what she took out was a single envelope.

It was an envelope with an elegant seal pattern that was wrapped up in an extravagantly high quality parchment. It was obvious just by looking at that wrapping that it was written by a person of high cla.s.s. Even to Homura, who usually didn"t send any written letters, the status of its sender was clearly apparent. It would be all the more obvious for the residents of Little Garden.

But what truly surprised Porol wasn"t that.

He who knew of the banner stamped on the wax seal, received that envelope as his lips were twitching.

"T-The golden seal......! Why did a letter from "Queen Halloween" come with such timing!?? She"s not trying to force some unreasonable demands during a crisis like this, right!??"

"H-How should I know! A-Anyway, just read!"

Carol handed over the letter as her hooked tail flicked up.

Porol took out a knife and carefully opened the letter so as to avoid damaging the seal.

By all rights, a seal is something one should cut open, but to open it while avoiding any damage to the banner is probably a form of etiquette showed towards the Queen.

Taking out the letter from inside, Porol timidly read the contents aloud.

"........."I will tell you the situation regarding Taurus. Before the day becomes dyed in red, I wish to invite Saigou Homura to the audience room.""

"Is this true!?"

Homura"s face brightened up in an instant. Queen was the person he had to talk by any means after all. But for Porol, it was also the only person he didn"t want to contact at any cost.

"Until the sunset......Hey hey, are you serious! There"s not much time left!"

"I-Is that so? Is it that far?"

"No, the audience room is inside the Great Tree. It"s the room used for pleasing the Queen. The problem is───"

Porol examined Homura from top to bottom.

From yesterday"s battle with the Minotaur and the summon uproar, both his hair and clothes were in a complete mess. His body that had got drenched by this heavy rain hasn"t dried yet either.

Understanding what Porol was trying to say, Homura looked at his own appearance and bent his head.

".........So this getup is inappropriate after all?"

"Exactly. Just try seeing Queen in that state and she"ll ma.s.sacre your whole lineage."

"S-She"s someone that dangerous?"

“There"s also that, but normally thinking, that"s not an appearance you should have when seeing a floor master. ───Carol, prepare a uniform immediately. His size shouldn"t be that much different from mine."

"U-Understood!"

She gave a bow while flicking her hooked tail again.

Porol turned towards Homura.

"Homura, follow me. Fix your appearance after taking a bath. Do it fast if you don"t want to die."

"I"m shedding tears from grat.i.tude. Is the bath inside the Great Tree?"

"Yeah. It"s near the VIP rooms, so it"s not that far. Hurry up, there"s no time."

Homura bent his neck in slight wonder while looking at Porol who repeated that there was no time so many times.

"She"s the one who asked for the unreasonable. Is it really necessary to fuss over it so much?"

"Are you an idiot, what the h.e.l.l are you asking! Negotiating with the Queen puts even my life on the line. She is someone who would even fuss about the time. The communities who have earned her dislike getting annihilated the next day is something well known. Besides, the reason that the inside of the Great Tree is safe now is because we presented a tribute to her and she took it under her protection. We have no choice but to abide to her rules, right?"

So that"s how it was, nodded Homura. If there"s no time, then this was also no place to be asking questions. Homura began to prepare at once.

＊

───"Underwood" Among the Greenery - Large Public Bath.

After having woken up, Suzuka couldn"t hide her surprise when she found out that the wound on her flank had perfectly healed.

"No way.........I certainly thought that I was a goner. Gifts sure are amazing!"

"Y-Yes.........However, Suzuka. Are you sure everything"s alright?"

"Yeahh, I"m fine, I"m fine! I just thought I might have lost a little too much blood, but that healed up quickly too!"

Suzuka waved her arms around to show that she was healthy at Ayato"s uneasy questioning.

Ayato was still anxious, however she felt relieved that Suzuka was healthy, so that"s all that mattered.

And so, the place they came to was the large public bath of the Great Tree.

Unlike the ones made by simply linking the wooden boards, this large public bath that was made by carving out the trunk of the Great Tree had no joint parts. It looked like a strange optical illusion as if the bath was inside a living organism. The bathroom didn"t have a faucet that supplied hot water to it either, and it was arranged in such a way that it would naturally flow from the water tree"s trunks.

Heading towards such a mysterious bath, Ayazato Suzuka and Kudou Ayato as well as Kuro Usagi and Sharol Gundark, b.u.mped into each other in the bath house as if they had conspired beforehand.

"Ooh! Kuro Usa and......Nekomimi-san?"

"Nyahaha, name"s Sharol Gundark, miss stranger. Thank you for standing up to the Minotaur some time ago. It"s not something we could handle by ourselves."

Sharol hung her head down with her Nekomimi dropping down.

Suzuka raised a thumb and smiled.

"It"s fine, it"s fine, we should rely on each other in times of trouble!"

"Nyahaha, thanks for the manly reply. At least let me wash your back once."

The simpleton girls pa.s.sionately shook their hands, finding the mutual understanding. Although it"s a secret, Suzuka"s affinity with stray cats was always good.

Showing a wry smile, Ayato removed her white blouse and touched her underwear. It"s nice to clean the body.

(I don"t have good memories of the public baths.........But, well, it shouldn"t be a problem with these members.)

She put large towel around herself and touched the bath door.

But, at that moment───Her b.r.e.a.s.t.s were strongly ma.s.saged by the demonic hands that suddenly extended from her armpits.

"Hya!"

"Nyahahahahahahaha! Good, good, your face is docile, but aren"t you releasing quite a charming voice, blond beauty! You have such good objects considering your age, and yet to be hiding them in the large public bath among the greenery is nothing but outlawry conduct! Now an adult, I, Sharol-oneesama, shall teach your body the traditional Underwood culture of *beep*ing *beep* and *beeep*!"

"That"s as far as you go! Dirty things are banned on Aya-chan!"

Suzuka who put a towel on her body, rotated her body in the air and did a spinning teleportation kick on Sharol"s skull.

───Incidentally, this kick that required jumping into the sky for a moment, acquiring a falling energy, then adding a rotation to it and kicking the target flying, was a deadly kick with a high lethality ratio that she came up with three seconds prior.

Although Sharol was particularly tough amongst the Beastmen, this kick was still effective, as expected.

She looked up at Suzuka as if glaring at a bitter enemy while she lie collapsed and held her neck.

"You.........Did you betray me, Suzuka!?"

"Too noisy! Before being a friend to you, I am Aya-chan"s Senpai! Didn"t your daddy teach you not do what others dislike, you moron!"

"But my older brother also said that if it feels bad at first but becomes pleasurable later on, then the gain and loss becomes even!"

"You can"t do that!!! Rather than that, what kind of siblings are you, keep away from them everyone!"

Hiss! Suzuka and Sharol had their hair standing on ends. It seems that their friendship lasted short.

While dropping her Usamimi, Kuro Usagi rushed over to Ayato who held her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and had her head hanging down.

"A-Are you alright, Ayato-san?"

".........Y-Yes. It caught me by surprise, but I can handle this much."

That said, she held her b.r.e.a.s.t.s while her cheeks were dyed pink from embarra.s.sment. coupled with the surprise attack, it seems she was startled. That behavior of hers was just like a small animal.

It was unusual for her who carried an air of dignity and calmness to be disturbed to this point.

Suzuka explained the circ.u.mstances as she sighed and scratched her head.

"Haa.........Listen, Sharol-san. Aya-chan is sheltered to an amaaaaaazing degree. So much that she didn"t even talk with the kids of the same generation before joining our school."

"O-Oh wow. And so?"

"Well, it would be fine if it was just that. But, it"s about a sheltered girl who was separated from her birthplace entering the Pandemonium(Female Dormitory) that was inhabited by girls from thirteen to eighteen years old. That"s why, um......Look, as you can see Aya-chan is a beauty, right? She wasn"t exactly teased, but she was still being jostled. She ran back home in a week."

Fuuh, Suzuka released a sigh. In reality, Ayato wasn"t teased. On the contrary, there was a girl with  backbone who gave three-fold retribution to those who used vicious means.

The problem was, the dormitory girls didn"t have any bad intentions.

Instead, they warmly welcomed Ayato.

Blond hair that was as beautiful as golden threads. Beautiful eyes of premium color that could be said to be a mix of green and blue.

Unique skin produced by a mix of European and Asian blood. Furthermore, her mother was an outstanding woman who had single-handedly managed the beauty department of Everything Company.

Despite being pet.i.te, her standing figure overflowed with elegance, and looked so imposing that made her appear as if she was a standing sword.

While she possessed such high stats, there was hardly anyone who burned with jealousy and was hostile towards her. Rather, the ones who looked at her with innocent envy were far more in number.

"So, that......L-Look. Girls make groups just for girls right? It makes the girl power drop down rapidly, doesn’t it? Things like cleaning the room or scattering the underwear everywhere is are still fine, but the problem is in conversation topics and actions that only happens between girls."

They finally realized at that point.

Although Ayato could be harsh towards the opponents, she didn"t have experience to deal with those who were envious of her. So by being overly kind, they took the wrong approach.

As a result, she left the female dormitory as if running away from it.

"Well, I think those girls were entirely at fault. Next were the senior high school guys who treated the innocent first year middle schoolers as playthings. ───I still can"t turn a blind eye to them even now."

For a moment, a voice, so cold that it made one wonder whether that place froze resounded there. It was no ordinary thing for such a gentle girl to be burning with such cool-headed anger.

Understanding the circ.u.mstances, Sharol apologized to Ayato while dropping her Nekomimi.

"I"m really sorry. I didn"t think you were a girl with such a trauma in the heart. It was just skinship like in my family........."

"N-No please don"t mind it. That"s how this world is, so the sense of values between the races would naturally differ."

"Come on, Aya-chan. If you take such an att.i.tude, the other party will become even more impudent, you know? Sometimes you just have to forcefully drive it into their heads!"

"No no, what Suzuka did was on a level where even a beastman was half-killed, you know?"

Sharol painfully rubbed her neck, while Suzuka sniffed at her saying "You reap what you sow".

Kuro Usagi revealed a wry smile while she inclined her head and Usamimi to the side.

(Kudou Ayato-san.........I wondered whether you were that person or not, however......She wasn"t someone who would be shaken from something like that.........right?)

Three years ago───The Female Knight who got reincarnated to the outer world as one of "Queen"s Knights".

Kuro Usagi thought whether Ayato could be her after seeing her excellent horsemanship and fighting spirit that she displayed at daytime, however her thoughts grew duller after witnessing such a girly appearance of hers.

However, if one thought about it carefully, even if she was the same person, Kuro Usagi was still unrelated to it. Because that "Queen"s Knight" should have had all the memories of her soul erased at the time of reincarnation.

(Let"s just forget about this matter. I"ll cause the other person to harbor suspicion.)

Shaking her Usamimi  slightly on the side, Kuro Usagi put away the memory of this matter in the corner of her mind.

After the four of them reconciled, they decided to enjoy the Great Tree bathhouse together.