Cultural shock.
Cultural shocker…
Elly said, “It’s a tradition in the Demon Realm for faction members who queue up incorrectly to be annihilated. Executing everyone is no big deal.”
“Hormone Friend, why is the culture like this?”
Now it makes sense why the moderate demon faction was praising the Demon King during the secret meeting in Sky Island last time. It’s because lining up under the safe Demon King is the best strategy.
Plus, I can see why the United Kingdom could suddenly have a council while the royal family still exists. Although the Demon King’s seat is vacant and the authority of the royal family is weak, they can just elect new members even if the old ones lose their heads.
It’s not fitting for the Demon Realm’s tradition to have a weak monarchy where families compromise in the back while fighting each other.
It’s a good outcome, but the reasons are far from pleasant.
Wah!
Every time Nathaniel introduced himself as a member of the prestigious Presley Family, I thought it was quite “wow~,” but now I might just accept it as “wowwow~.”
Isn’t it quite an achievement to maintain a family in a Demon Realm where annihilation is the norm?
Whoa.
But this is just a tradition in the Demon Realm.
If Mr. Penguin’s list of wrongful accusations gets annihilated, Pastel, who was already on edge, will not just feel unsettled but might actually faint.
“I mean, annihilation isn’t politically elegant at all!”
If it could all be solved so easily, why bother with politics? Just stab them with a knife!
Setting moral considerations aside, annihilation is a huge loss in terms of calculations.
In reality, the mental shock of feeling unsettled and fainting isn’t that significant in terms of practical loss. Just like immorality doesn’t guarantee benefits, morality doesn’t guarantee them either.
The bigger problem is that there’s no reason to take on risks that really aren’t necessary.
To put it bluntly, if someone with a grudge from the annihilation conducts a terrorist attack against the innocent Craft High Merchant’s railroad, who will compensate for that?
If that someone is competent enough to not stop at a one-time act of terror but carry out organized and planned terrorism, the scale of damage is unimaginable.
“Whoa! Just imagining it makes my heart…!!”
Fortunately, Elly was smart enough to quickly retract her statement.
After all, it was just a comment made without much thought in a private space, so it probably wasn’t sincere.
“How much do you want?”
It seems Elly is thinking of inflicting some sort of punishment that the victim Pastel desires.
Huh?
That it was execution for all suspects?
What do you usually think of me?
Pastel was very curious but didn’t ask.
“More than that, we need to establish a proper justification first!”
Elly, who has been close friends since childhood, still didn’t know that her close aide was a spy, but the assassination plan against the Governor is considered a clear wrong, so careful approach is necessary.
Pastel bit her small tongue, stirring her fountain pen.
“Let’s distinguish between secret justification and public justification.”
Secret justification is a strong basis to pressure contact with the public secretly. It refers to the assassination plan against the Governor.
Public justification is a plausible reason to be presented to the public, like investigating corruption or eradicating a cult.
If the assassination plan against the Governor is openly announced, the Empire will respond, and the public will protest. In that case, what’s left for the intermediaries is not a moderate agreement that will politically mark them as failures but rather more radical statements and actions.
If a deal is to be made, you must first create an escape route for the opposition.
“We’ll have a secret meeting with the intermediaries to honestly convey the situation. It’s not just a meeting between competing factions, but a meeting of those who think of national interests in the same council. Once this is made public, the intermediaries will be in crisis, shaking the United Kingdom.”
It may seem like goodwill, but of course, it isn’t just that; it’s more about using overwhelming justification to put a leash on them.
If the leadership of the intermediaries protests, it’s possible to contact members within who empathize with this overwhelming justification and incite a coup within the party.
Whether the coup succeeds or fails, dealing with a divided opponent is easy.
“Then, at the council level, we will form a joint investigation team to investigate and punish those who plotted the assassination of the Governor according to the law.”
The key point here is that the publically known justification for the joint investigation team isn’t an assassination attempt against the Governor.
The investigation team will be formed for reasons such as investigating corruption or defeating a cult, and the perpetrators who plotted the assassination will be punished for those charges.
It’s not wrongful but rather getting punished for actual transgressions, so Pastel can rest easy without feeling unsettled!
Wow.
Elly pressed her lips against the fountain pen.
“Since the intermediaries did something wrong, you could make a prior agreement with the leadership to throw in a few that you’ve always found annoying?”
“Exactly!”
Just by tagging a few intermediaries that simply did nothing wrong, if they seriously investigate corruption, there’ll be plenty of charges to imprison them!
No one in this world is free of dust!
This way, even if it’s not a threat of annihilation, the intermediaries won’t be able to hinder the grand plan of Governor Pastel.
If the dovish faction can’t even manage this, I think the council should be forcibly dissolved and changed to a Princess Elly regime.
Elly twirled her side hair.
“After the measures, should we give a confidential notification to the Empire? Something like, ‘We took care of it ourselves and carried out punishment, so don’t question us.'”
“Yeah! That’s it!”
If we go this far, it is really internal interference on a public level.
Of course, the public might attempt fierce questioning through unknown channels and demand compensation, but as long as the public doesn’t know, it’s fine.
“Got it. This is just what I’ve been doing. We should be able to proceed without trouble.”
Elly got Mr. Penguin to take notes.
Huh?
Is this something they usually do?
But mentioning execution right away makes me wonder if Elly’s judgment was clouded by the fact that her friend was threatened with assassination?
Hehe.
Pastel sent a sparkling gaze.
“Sparkle!”
Since she found out about Elly’s unspoken affection, today feels like a good day.
However, there’s a part of the operation that doesn’t fit this good day.
The document containing the assassination plan against the Governor is fake, prepared by Mr. Penguin.
The intermediaries aren’t fools either, so they must conduct verification investigations to find the culprits, but this is actually fabricated documentation.
Even if they pressured the intermediaries to form a joint investigation team, if it turns out to be wrongful, the situation becomes strange.
It was said in a private place with private time, so it could be retracted, but to what extent is this documented manipulation?
Is it a document that’s okay to form a joint investigation team with? If they investigate, will there be convincing manipulated evidence coming out from the scene?
Pastel glanced at Mr. Penguin. Mr. Penguin, who was busy taking notes instead of Princess Elly, suddenly met her gaze.
Then he smiled brightly.
“I hope this chaotic council is organized through this matter.”
Looks like there’s no problem.
How much was manipulated that forming an investigation team isn’t an issue? It doesn’t seem like it was just the documents that were convincingly fabricated.
Since he has the identity of an intermediary, he must have done something, right?
Wah.
Mr. Penguin is scary.
I would soon find out how far he’d manipulated things.
After a discussion among the council that seemed to be choreographed, a report stated that they had agreed on bipartisan anti-corruption measures—this was printed in the newspaper.
Since the intermediaries, having already failed, cooperated to gain a public justification that they sacrificed themselves for the country, they seemed to be preparing for their re-emergence.
The entire Demon Realm was swept up in the emotion that this is a true country capable of achieving self-purification, something the Empire cannot do! You can’t clear corruption, can you?! On that day, beer glasses were swaying.
Rolling around in bed, Pastel received the interim results of the joint investigation team that had actually been formed, contrary to the newspaper announcement.
Pink eyes glazed over as she read the document.
Investigation result.
47 individuals who planned to assassinate the Governor were apprehended.
“Huh?”
It was written that a radical who was disguised as Mr. Penguin led the assassination attempt in collaboration with some factions of the cult and ultimately fled.
“Huh?”
There were mentions of discovering the involvement of knight-level personnel, who were interrogated and confessed.
“Huh?”
This fake document that Mr. Penguin made was clearly fabricated, yet upon investigation, it all began to come out in detail.
“Wow!”
So it was a pumpkin!
Pastel clapped her hands.
“Mr. Penguin is totally elite! He manipulated the documents and within such a short time, made the assassination plan into a fact!”
A true spy!
A super super elite!
Clap clap clap!
Clap clap clap.
Clap clap.
“If you take this at face value, you’re a fool…!”
Wah!
Pastel clutched her head.
What is this?! What is this?!
Even if they’re trying to make the assassination plan into a fact, it wouldn’t happen so smoothly!
There must have really been an assassination plan…!
Wah!
“I did nothing wrong!”
Pastel trembled.
The assassination plan was one thing, but what was scarier was Mr. Penguin’s overly swift results.
Having prepared the assassination plan under the guise of a radical, there’s no way this would happen overnight. It means he had been preparing the assassination plan before Pastel even requested manipulation.
For what reason?
Hahaha.
What reason could there be?
He must have been thinking about killing if it came to that…!
“Wah!”
Just a while ago, that conversation flashed in her mind.
“I was wondering why the Governor met with the Duke of Redgrave and observed the Republican Party. So just in case?!”
As a result, Pastel got the Emperor’s trust by using the Imperial Republican Party as a pawn, so now there’s no need to prepare for contingencies and instead exploited the collapse of the intermediaries’ sub-plan with the assassination plan!
No wonder he easily brought out the manipulated documents!
A true liar doesn’t tell lies.
Mr. Penguin didn’t manipulate anything. He just slightly adjusted the versatile plan he had already been preparing.
He could have more delicately adjusted it so Pastel wouldn’t guess the backstory, but the fact that he threw it out there so openly might also mean a warning that he’ll continue to watch.
Tears gathered in her pink eyes.
“I’m a demon!”
She grabbed a white pillow. Pastel jumped up and rushed out of the bedroom.
“I’m scared alone…!”
Waaaaah!
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