Pastel walked down the hallway of a high-end hotel. She was alone, without the Demon Lord or Melissa.
“B-b-but…”
A sinister vibe.
It’s so purple!
The entire floor was rented out, empty of people.
Pastel twirled her keychain around her finger. Arriving at the door, she inserted the key and turned it.
Pushing the door open revealed a luxurious, vintage room. Muffled voices floated in the air.
Towards the terrace?
“Why am I suffering just because I messed up my first impression? Some people are leisurely on a train trip while I’m sweating it out here gathering intel. Hey, you better fall in line too, got it?”
“Oh! Sounds like a good point, Leader! I won’t challenge Pastel, but I’ll make sure to leave an impression!”
“Who are you messing with right now?! Hey, listen up.”
Pastel tiptoed closer, peeking her head over to spy on the terrace.
“Who’s standing in front of you? Huh? Who should you be lining up for? Come on, say it!”
Leonard, leaning against the railing with a wine glass, pointed at a well-behaved friend.
“That’s clearly…”
A friend from the inspection department pondered.
“Great Governor Pastel?”
Gasp, what a shock!
One million times the incentive!
“That punk?!”
Leonard grabbed the back of his neck.
“But Leader!”
Another friend raised a hand.
“The title ‘Governor Pastel’ is very cool, and even if I’m a subordinate, I feel proud! But if I’m just the subordinate of a nobody Leader, it feels lame!”
“Ugh! You guys! From now on, don’t call me Leader! I don’t deserve that title!”
Wow.
Pastel clapped her hands together and shouted.
“I got it! Not Leader, but Leonard!”
“What?! Who said that just now?! Which fool thinks the inspection department is easy to mess with?!”
Leonard glared around furiously. Then he caught sight of Governor Pastel spying on the terrace and froze.
“Hehe.”
Pastel cheerfully waved both hands and stepped onto the terrace.
“Hello, friends! It’s been a while! Have you been lonely without me? I wasn’t lonely, but I missed you!”
The friends cheered.
One quickly shouted,
“Pastel! Leonard, not the Leader, tried to privatize the organization!”
Quick gossiping!
“Hey, hey!”
Leonard was aghast.
“What?!”
Pastel gasped and covered her mouth in shock.
No way! How could this be happening!
Privatizing the organization!
All the organizations on Sky Island exist to serve the great Governor Pastel, and such villainy!
Shock.
Stunned.
Pastel’s expression turned to a frown.
“Huh, I’m fine. Even if Leonard, not the Leader, is trying to privatize the organization, Pastel isn’t sad!”
Pastel declared boldly.
“Pastel believes in her friendship with her friends!”
As she said this, she set a briefcase on the table. When it opened, shiny gold coins dazzled everyone’s eyes.
“Gold coins, friends!”
Pastel lifted the bag of gold coins onto her head.
“Gold coins, friends also believe in friendship!”
Yay!
The pile of gold sparkled.
“Wow! Pastel! The great Governor!”
The friends cheered, this time with a different meaning.
“Good friends! Let’s show our friendship! Everyone line up!”
The gold coins were distributed.
To the friend who insisted the most on lining up for Governor Pastel, she took out a handful of coins.
“One million times the incentive!”
“Wow!”
Even the one who gossiped the quickest got,
“One hundred thousand times the incentive!”
“Wow!”
Once everything was distributed, the briefcase snapped shut.
“Ugh!”
Leonard, who tried to line up sneakily and got nothing, pulled his hair out.
“Is this unpaid work…?!”
“Poo-poo~!”
Pastel wiggled her fingers side to side.
“Privatizing an organization isn’t a virtue of a public officer.”
“Hey! They were originally my subordinates?!”
Leonard protested justly.
His pink eyes widened.
“Gasp.”
That’s it!
That’s it…!
A finger pointed at Leonard.
“To call friends subordinates!”
Ding-ding-ding!
“Failed the character test!”
Failed to meet the promotion criteria!
Everyone fails~!
“Ugh!”
Leonard ruffled his hair in frustration.
“Ahaha!”
Pastel laughed as she patted Leonard’s back.
Just another day in Purple Town~.
#
“What took you so long?”
The buoyant mood settled down. The sturdy Leonard sat cross-legged on the sofa.
“Just like the letter said, there was an incident. I collapsed thanks to that cult group carrying out a massacre right before my eyes.”
Leonard shook his head incredulously.
“If that happened, wouldn’t you think about taking an airship instead of getting on the train as scheduled?”
“Checking business is also important! The train business is still a bit lacking.”
Pastel, scolded for no reason, pouted her lips and stirred her spoon. Sugar piled up in her green tea.
Leonard turned away, as if he couldn’t watch.
“Well, that’s your business. But it seems like you came here first without completing the schedule. Did something happen?”
“Oh wow, Leonard, so perceptive! That’s why I like you!”
Leonard glanced at her, clicking his tongue before looking away again.
“Right, right! There’s a problem!”
Pastel raised her cup with a bright expression. Just as she was about to drink, she noticed the mountain of sugar.
I wonder if I’ll end up vomiting blood if I drink this like it is?
After some thought, she set the cup down and pulled out a gem pepper shaker to sprinkle some powder over it.
White and black powders floated in the tea.
Leonard grimaced even more.
Pastel stirred with her spoon.
“What should I start with?”
She explained the politically messy situation of the Mage United Kingdom and the delicate position of Princess Elly.
Leonard raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, that. It’s a mess here. Honestly, Sky Island is better. What kind of ridiculous republic is this?”
Leonard’s fingers tapped on the table. He seemed to be recalling the situation he grasped by arriving here first.
“But that’s probably partly due to your family. The Dove faction went along with the agreement during the last secret meeting, but it’s not something you can just bring up in public. The existence of the Demon King is confidential.”
“Oh, is that how it is?”
Thanks to the Demon King’s assurance, they decided to consider Craft as an ally, but it would be difficult to clarify their stance in front of the public eye in the assembly.
“The prophecy of the Demon King’s appearance is known by the public, so the hawks have more power now. In a political situation where strong statements hold weight, trying to cooperate with Craft while keeping the fact of contact with the Demon King secret would be…”
“A serious political risk.”
“Exactly. If public sentiment turns completely and the hawks take over the assembly, it would be a much bigger problem.”
I see.
Pastel gulped down her sugary green tea. Despite adding plenty of sugar, a bitter taste filled her mouth.
Originally, it should be the radical faction that shares such a sensitive secret and subtly protects the confidentiality by not mentioning related topics.
But the moderates can’t mention the confidentiality, so they’re actually taking advantage and pressuring them, huh?
The dilemma of national secrets and public politics…
It would be easy if the moderates just openly ordered the Demon King to cooperate with Craft, saying they would follow it, but that would give the Empire the justification to respond aggressively.
Pastel smiled.
“I understand! I think I’ve been a little excessive with Elly!”
Being caught between the kingdom and her friends as a princess must be tough, so they were being considerate, but forcing her to choose between a traitor and a betrayer is truly too much for a friend.
Pastel pondered gently.
“In that case, I must use a more moderate justification.”
She had initially planned to mobilize the Demon Realm Stock Company’s soldiers under the pretext of capturing the evil Demon subordinates and to wreak havoc on the hawks! But she decided she needed to go through a less contentious route.
Finishing her sugary green tea, she rose from her seat.
“Did you bring back appropriately bad demons? Let’s check it out.”
Leonard glanced at her strangely but willingly guided her.
They arrived at the soundproofed door in the corner of the hotel.
A former Knight Member, not even a former Knight Member, but just a Knight Member, saluted like a gatekeeper.
“Governor! All is well!”
“Good job.”
When the door opened, the room was dark.
So dark that Pastel flinched a bit. But as the great Governor, she pretended to be okay and boldly stepped inside.
A faint scent of blood lingered.
It was a sticky smell that wouldn’t wash away.
Huh?
Pastel looked around, bewildered.
The lights illuminated. In the center pillar stood a Demon tied up.
Having tried to bomb the secret conference room and provoke with “We, radicals, don’t believe in the existence of the Demon King, and we are the ones who did the terror on Craft’s railroad!” while fleeing, they had been caught by the Knights—this was a radical envoy.
A typical example of a sufficiently bad Demon that followed the Demon Lord…!
With a gagged mouth, a vicious glare was fixated on her. Blood flowed down from its chin, catching her eye.
Blood?
Oh no…?!
“T-torture?!”
Pastel trembled.
She whipped around to Leonard.
“Leonard, was it really you, such a bad person?!”
Leonard was demoted from a friend to just a bad person in an instant.
“Are you messing with me?”
Leonard appeared dumbfounded.
“If I had tortured him sooner, maybe it would have been easier to work!”
“Presumptuous…!”
The Demon spat out the loosely tied gag. Its furious eyes flickered dangerously.
“How could you only feed this noble Nathaniel Priestley with raw mackerels three times a day…! I’ll never forgive you!”
It was a somewhat tearful exclamation.
Blood from the mackerel dripped down its chin. The noxious smell, whether it be blood or just fishy, blended into one horrible odor.
In the corner of the room, the raw mackerel flaunted its existence, giving a flap.
Flap, flap.
Mackerel, mackerel.
“Gasp!”
Pastel covered her mouth with both hands.
Three meals of mackerel!
This Demon!
This Demon person!
Eating well!
“Whoa!”
Pastel wiped her forehead for no reason.
“I thought it was torture!”
Thank goodness it wasn’t!
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