“Squeaky Friends, you can go back now!”
Pastel shouted from atop the sword’s hilt.
“Thanks to your help, I was able to win!”
Yay.
Hooray, hooray.
“So you all can go back now!”
Filled with hope, he shouted enthusiastically.
The Squeaky Friends above looked up. However, they didn’t leave and just stared blankly from below the sword’s hilt.
Their front teeth, gnawed on white sand, looked frightening.
“Uh, friends…?”
Pastel trembled.
“I-it’s fine to go back.”
The ground was teeming with giant rats.
Swarming.
After gnawing down all the white sand, many rats left, but dozens remained gathered below the sword’s hilt, looking up as if waiting for something.
Eek.
Looks like I’m super popular!
Is there such a side effect to being born with popularity?!
Ahh.
Pastel flailed his arms.
Flutter, flutter.
“Friends! I’m fine! You don’t have to worry, so really, you can go back!”
Really, really!
The Squeaky Friends squeaked. Their blood-stained front teeth flopped.
Flop, flop.
Pastel, sweating bullets, burst out laughing alone.
Ahahaha.
My friends are too worried!
I’m totally safe here~.
He glanced down at the rat swarm. Their eyes looked at him like a meal.
Eek.
“Demon Lord! Demon Lord! The friends are too obsessed!”
Is this the fate of a popular person?!
So, so troublesome!
“What should we do? Should we have a showdown with my friends?!”
Clash, clash?
He looked down at the giant rat swarm. They filled the sewer floor to knee height.
Wow, that’s a whole lot.
Probably a million times more than Pastel.
“It doesn’t seem like a good choice for a battle. Catching smaller creatures is tricky.”
Is even the Demon Lord acknowledging the crisis?
“If surrounded by them, a horizontal slash could knock out several at once. But it’s hard to cut multiple of them at once since they’re close to the ground. You can’t make horizontal slashes against the floor, you see.”
Gulp.
“If small yet predatory creatures are clustered together, avoiding them is the best plan. If you want to fight, you should at least be a knight to guarantee survival.”
Eek, eek.
Pastel trembled.
“Uh, friends, I don’t know what I did wrong, but I apologize! Let’s make up!”
Of course, making up was impossible.
That obsession is just too intense!
Having given up, Pastel gauged his jump distance. He looked to see if he could leap over the mass of rats and escape but shook his head. It seemed too much.
Eek.
Trembling.
“Please save me, Demon Lord!”
Pastel chirped like a baby bird.
Demon Lord~.
Demon Loooord~.
The Demon Lord replied.
“You could use the Demon King’s inheritance. Look at the treasure chest.”
“Inheritance?”
Turning to see the snake carcass, only bones remained. Inside the skeletal remains lay an undigested treasure chest turned on its side. One gem and one knife tumbled out.
“What’s that?”
“A gem manipulation ability and a gem knife.”
Huh.
“Reach out and hope you can grasp the gem.”
As he stretched out his hand, a gem flew to him and landed smoothly in his grasp.
“Wow!”
He rummaged through his belongings, pulling out a destiny compass. Opening it revealed a gem case inside.
The current ability is to consume gems.
The more gem he eats, the stronger his body becomes.
Wow.
He carefully placed a new gem into the empty slot.
Adding the gem manipulation ability.
Whatever it is, wowow.
He lifted the gem case up.
“Two gems!”
Sparkle, sparkle.
“Right, there are two abilities. This time, reach out toward the knife with the will to lift it. It’s probably a gem weapon created to match that ability, so it shouldn’t be hard.”
“Wait, is it telekinesis?”
Gulp.
Super ultra psychic powers?
Finally, Pastel’s life cheat has arrived?!
He doesn’t envy the automatic rifle magician at all!
He reached out. The knife on the floor rattled. Focusing his mind, the knife slowly rose.
“Wow!”
Telekinetic Pastel…!
“You’re doing very well. Now with that you can—”
“Sorry, Squeaky Friends!”
Pastel waved his hand like a psychic. The knife launched through the air. Its sharp silver blade gleamed.
The knife pierced through the giant rat in an instant, leaving a trail in the air. The silver trail swept across the rat swarm. Blood sprayed everywhere. The giant rats fell. Blood soaked the ground.
A girl reached out. The bloodied knife flew to her hand. She swung it a few times in the air, shaking off the blood.
She raised the gem knife high.
“Remote control knife!”
Specialized in mass slaughter!
An example of Strong-Weak-Weak-Strong!
Totally the essence of Pastel…!
Oh yeah.
After enjoying the feeling of obtaining treasure, she lowered the knife.
“Now that I’ve picked up the inheritance, let’s go back!”
Pastel jumped down from the sword’s hilt. Blood splashed beneath his feet. The corpses of giant rats filled his view.
Ooh.
“Sorry, Squeaky Friends…”
But honestly, they were a bit obsessed.
You know, popular people have to be kind of cold to those overly obsessed friends.
Otherwise, they might hurt other friends.
Picking up the Demon Sword and oil lantern, he stepped carefully to avoid running into more rat swarms and made his way out of the sewer.
When he reached the entrance, dazzling sunlight greeted him.
“Hello, sunshine!”
He inhaled the fresh air to his heart’s content instead of the foul air of the sewer.
Whew, whew.
He stretched out wide.
“Adventure completed~!”
That took it out of me.
#
Having resumed the dormitory construction and taking a good nap, Pastel rolled comfortably on the sofa.
He flipped the gem knife between his fingers.
“Strictly speaking, it’s called gem manipulation, right?”
“Indeed.”
The Demon Lord rolled up the white socks he had been organizing.
“The knife isn’t being manipulated, but rather the processed gem inside it. That knife was designed to match the ability. It may seem simple, but it’s a precision product designed with durability and versatility in mind.”
“Hehe.”
Pastel opened his hand. The knife floated and spun in his palm. Its sharp blade cut through the air here and there.
“Just don’t play with it too much. You might get hurt.”
“I’m a genius, so it’s fine!”
He waved his fingers upward. Following his finger’s movement, the knife soared.
Wow.
“It’ll be quite useful in multi-player battles. But if facing strong opponents, don’t expect too much. Controlling it with one hand makes it better to focus on a two-handed weapon.”
“It’s fine! Strong-Weak-Weak-Strong Pastel doesn’t fight strong enemies! I just run away!”
I, strong-weak-weak-strong.
Completely realistic.
Somewhat proud!
“You talk a good game after jumping into a snake’s jaws.”
Oops.
Hehe.
That was just a little different because it’s revenge as a head of the family.
Just doing my responsibility~.
While humming, he waved his fingers. The knife danced from the ceiling.
“But how does this move? Is it powered by mental energy?! Is Pastel really a psychic?!”
Super ultra psychic!
Fantastic and great psychic powers!
“It’s gem energy. If you place gems on the knife, it will absorb the energy.”
Huh.
Gem energy?
Pastel was puzzled by the term.
Gem energy?
The same gems equivalent to gold bars in worth?
Gulp.
His fingers froze. The knife fell, its sharp edge plunging next to Pastel’s face.
The Demon Lord flinched.
“Are you okay—”
“Ahhh!”
Pastel bolted upright. Grabbing the knife stuck in the sofa, he trembled.
“Gold bars! Gold bars! There are gold bars here!”
Ahhh.
“Knife, I’m so sorry! You’re precious and I was just playing with you! I can’t do this! I’ll take you for a ride!”
He placed the knife on his palm and ran around the room.
“Zoom~!”
His chaotic movements hit the table. The pile of laundry on the table trembled and fell. The neatly washed and organized clothes scattered across the floor. Immediately after, shoe prints stamped down.
“Zoom~!”
The Demon Lord, who had been finishing laundry and rolling up socks, blankly stared at the shoeprints.
The prints seemed to narrate a story to the Demon Lord.
Freshly ironed clothes.
Super ultra evolution!
Just created a pile of dirty laundry~!
Pink hair flew in the air.
“How’s the knife, sir? Is it a comfortable flight worthy of your noble value?”
The Demon Lord sighed as he picked up the new laundry.
“…Considering maintenance costs, you’re actually more expensive.”
A deep sigh escaped.
Pastel halted.
Gulp.
M-me, expensive to maintain?
Now that I think about it, I do eat gems, right?
Wow.
“The Demon Lord is right! There’s no need to feel diminished by the knife’s value!”
I, expensive.
Oh yeah.
Having calmed down, Pastel walked towards the sofa.
Then he noticed the pile of clothes that had fallen to the ground and tilted his head.
Huh?
Why is the Demon Lord’s organized clothes like this?
Could it be that the Demon Lord made a mistake in the meantime?
Gulp.
Pastel, surprised, burst into laughter.
“The Demon Lord makes mistakes too!”
Ahahaha.
To miss a mistake while playing—what a shame.
“Humanity! No, Demon-ity!”
Pastel playfully poked the Demon Lord.
“Demon-ity! Demon-ity!”
Poke, poke.
The Demon Lord murmured as he picked up the laundry.
“Maintenance costs are too high, for real…”
Maintenance costs?
Pastel wholeheartedly agreed.
“Right! Right! The Demon Lord thinks exactly like me! I didn’t need to feel intimidated by the knife’s value!”
Pastel, the expensive one.
“Demon Lord! Demon Lord! It’s amazing that we’re so in sync! We have a perfect bond as master and servant!”
Ahahaha.
Feeling somehow happier, Pastel laughed and spun around.
Then, he ran joyfully to the sofa and rolled around. Casual, he then swung his feet outside.
“If the gems are fuel, I’ll have to work harder to earn money. I have a family to support now.”
Family.
The responsibility as a head of the family swelled within him.
Looking at the knife, Pastel spoke seriously.
“I will earn money for you. I will never let you go hungry.”
I will never let you be in a situation like I was.
Absolutely not.
Pastel vowed, crossing his arms and ruminating.
Business mode, business mode.
He had already secured his inheritance and didn’t need to oversee the dormitory construction anymore. During the remaining vacation, he needed to earn money diligently.
Money, money.
There was a problem with his current income structure.
Smuggling was a super high-revenue business, increasing assets twofold, but Pastel would personally have to spend time traveling to the Demon Realm.
Ugh.
What a hassle.
Can’t someone just do the smuggling for me automatically?
After all, the student council’s permission to enter the Demon Realm is important. If it’s for public purposes, the military doesn’t block entry.
Then how about creating a business under the student council’s name?
A kind and noble business that merely helps the student council.
If he handed over the unavoidable public duties to the subordinate business and let it travel back and forth to the Demon Realm…
Huh?
Mobile games have automatic hunting.
So, why wouldn’t there be automatic smuggling in reality?!
Ooh!
Automatic smuggling.
Pastel, impressed.
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