Part 3
---Ancient Vampire Citadel, Outer walls
At this point, Yō and the others had finally completed their search mission in the Outer walls that was divided into twelve sectors and have brought the items that represented the [Twelve Zodiacs] together.
Following procedure, Yō who was sitting on an old and broken fountain’s edge started with a question:
“We will now start on collation of the reports. Jack, have you found anything while flying in the skies throughout the whole operation?”
“Yahoho……Unfortunately, no. I’ve not found anything much other than the distinct division of the Citadel into twelve sectors and that there’s a symbol to represent the twelve zodiacs on the outer walls of each sector.”
“Symbol? Is it so for every sector?”
“Yes. The sector that we had first met up in was under the symbol of Libra. And from there, the adjacent ones were Scorpio and Sagittarius and so on. They were all arranged according to the sequence of the twelve zodiacs, but other than that….”
“Is that so? Thank you. Well, Ayesha and Kirino, how were things on your end?”
Hearing that it was their turn, the both of them smiled at each other as they presented a big gunny sack before Yō.
“Hoho. This is our find!”
“We have found shattered pieces that had the twelve zodiacs engraved upon them and fourteen pieces of what might have been another constellation!”
Klunk!* Ayesha and Kirino poured out the contents in the sack by tipping it upside down at the same time.
Amazed by the find, Yō and Garol started to pick up the pieces that have been gathered to have a closer look.
“A constellation that’s not of the [Twelve Zodiacs]?”
“OiOi…… what’s this? Could it be that we have been misled?”
The two looked at each other with unease forming in their hearts for they mustn’t have expected to find an item that depicted a constellation that didn’t belong to the [Twelve Zodiacs].
Ayesha and Kirino who had thought that they would be commended for their job well done had immediately caught on to the mood that was before them and looked crestfallen.
“Eh…. ? Could it be that we have done something unnecessary?”
“No, that’s not it! Just that these shattered fragments could be something left by the enemy to mislead ---”
“……so we did do something extra?”
“Ah…No… I already said that it’s not the case……”
Garol was desperately trying to find a way to explain the situation tactfully.
In the meantime, Yō was holding the fragments of the constellations while constructing the completed form of all the pieces as she fitted them in her mind.
These shattered pieces seem to be curved like the surface of a sphere. If the zodiacs were to be fitted together, it would probably form a sphere. If the pieces were to be completely gathered, it would probably be something like a jigsaw puzzle that can be fitted together……
But, how would that be significant?
What if they were to waste all their time on this sort of thing before the start of the punishments? Wouldn’t that be playing exactly into the hands of the Host? If she were to believe in her own conjecture, this might be an unnecessary step to take.
“……Kirino, what kind of structures did these fragments lie under?”
“Eh……The twelve zodiacs were found in a huge ruin that looked similar to a shrine while the others were found when we went through other debris.”
“Is that so.” Yō replied. As she had thought, these twelve zodiacs were treated differently.
But, if she were to get the wrong conclusion due to over-confidence in her own theory, it would be a waste of effort.
Yō worked her brain as she made a checklist of all the key words that they had identified previously.
[---[Zodiac], [The twelve zodiacs], Satellite created by gods, the same trajectory as the Sun, the division of the celestial longitude, [broken fragments of the constellations]……broken fragments?
Yō lifted her head abruptly as she picked up two fragments in her hands. The two that she held were Libra and Scorpio.
And these two fragments had their cracked off seams matching perfectly beside each other---
“……Ah, solved it.”
“Huh?”
“Solved it…… I……solved it! I found the solution!”
Yō abruptly stood from the ledge of the fountain---
“[broken fragments of the constellations] and the satellite! The elliptical path of the Sun! And the other way to explain it……Something that can be [broken, presented]! With that, everything has been connected at last! These broken fragments hold the key to be presented to the throne!”
Even she couldn’t believe what just happened. She had only thought of finding as much clues as possible while waiting for the arrival of Izayoi, Asuka and the others.
Yō gave a whoop of delight, which was the first that ever came out of her mouth, as she hugged Ayesha tightly.
“Eh? Wa…Wait a moment!”
“Ayesha! Kirino! You guys have done very well! With this, Leticia can be saved! [Underwood] will be saved as well!”
Yō continued to act as her feelings dictated as she grabbed Kirino’s hand to shake it up and down vigorously.
Kirino’s face had also lit up as she answered:
“Then this…This game…”
“Nn. Once we bring these broken fragments to present to the throne later…… the game will be cleared!”
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login