Hwaaa.
Why did I join the Student Council?
Shouldn’t the mindset of “Students belong in the Student Council!” only apply in a peaceful world?
This world, where swords and guns are rampant, is way too dangerous…
Pastel, who had escaped from the demonic airship, fell down with trembling legs as she boarded the Knight Corps’ airship. The cabin carpet cushioned her body pretty well.
“Life is so hard, Pastel.”
It’s really hard.
The magic sword at her waist scattered and transformed into a devil in a suit. The devil looked down suspiciously.
Wow, it’s the devil.
“Devil! It’s the devil!”
Pastel spread her arms with a teary face.
“Please comfort me, I’m being threatened by a bad person!”
Grrr.
Ah, I’m hungry!
“No, no! Ice cream! Please make me ice cream! A super big ice cream!”
A huge one that I can go wowwwww about!
Let’s call it…
Wowwwww ice cream!
Huff.
The name is really long.
It sounds super delicious!
The devil silently leaned down and stretched out both hands. Strong hands squished and pinched Pastel’s cheeks.
Soft, soft, squish, squish.
Pastel went wowwwww in a different way!
As her cheeks continued to be squished, they turned slightly red.
“My face isn’t ice cream!”
The red eyes looked down with a somewhat doubtful expression.
‘Young Craft.’
“Yes!”
Pastel replied while her cheeks were being held, and then something came to her mind.
“Gasp! Could it be that this is it?! Like how putting ice on a painful area feels cool and good, squishing my cheeks to hurt makes ice cream taste better!”
It seems like I’m right! I’m right!
I must be a genius!
The devil, dumbfounded, released the grip on her cheeks. Then, perhaps trying to match the height of his gaze, he knelt on one knee and stared at her.
‘Young Craft, how much is one plus one?’
Huh?
All of a sudden?
Pastel rolled her eyes.
Is there a great principle and extraordinary nonsense hidden in one plus one? She pondered and answered with an uncertain expression.
“Two…?”
Seeing her reaction, the devil had no response. He seemed to think it was a given answer and didn’t feel the need to say anything.
I guess I was right.
‘What is eleven plus eleven?’
Having already answered correctly once, Pastel felt a boost of confidence. She narrowed her eyes with a serious expression for no reason.
“This is a difficult problem that shouldn’t be guessed easily. But before my brilliant mind, no riddle exists!”
The pink eyes sparkled!
She shot her hand up like lightning.
“It’s twenty-two!”
Boom.
The perfect answer!
Am I, perhaps, a genius?
‘Hmm.’
The devil crossed his arms. His expression appeared complicated. It was as if he had conducted an intelligence test on a child, and the results were so dismal that he was worried about the future.
Huh?
Could it be that the answer isn’t twenty-two?
Could it be that I couldn’t even get eleven plus eleven right?
Am I, perhaps, a fool?
Pastel’s mouth dropped open.
Foolish, foolish Pastel?!
No way!
Hwaa!
As if he was about to pose a new problem, the devil opened his mouth.
Huff.
Focus, focus!
I can no longer tolerate the taint of foolish Pastel. I must get this right!
Brain, activate!
From today onwards, the legend of being called genius, genius Pastel will begin here!
Haaaah!
The devil stated the problem.
‘What is seven hundred ninety-one times five hundred forty-six?’
Huff.
Pastel held her breath.
Tweet tweet peep peep.
Silence fell.
The devil let out a sigh of relief.
‘As usual.’
From his voice, the feeling of treating her like a fool came through.
Ugh.
Completely treated like a fool!
The suddenly foolish Pastel felt extremely unfair.
“This problem is wrong! How am I supposed to solve a sudden three-digit multiplication?!”
She pointed an accusing finger at the devil.
“You don’t even know the answer, do you?! Smart me knows everything! You enjoy putting forth difficult problems and watching as I can’t solve them!”
‘The answer is four hundred thirty-one thousand eight hundred eighty-six.’
Huff.
Pastel’s mouth fell open and froze. Then, she slowly turned gloomy.
“Must be nice to be smart…”
I am foolish, foolish Pastel.
‘Oh dear.’
The devil, looking dumbfounded, got up. He dusted off his knees and adjusted his black suit.
‘I was just checking your acting skills out of suspicion. The Craft family has such a notorious lineage.’
“Huh?”
Pastel’s expression turned quite complicated.
Does that mean he suspected that what was on the outside was different from what was on the inside?
Was it because the acting she did in front of the Demonic Mercenary Captain wasn’t bad that he became unsure whether this was her true self?
Ugh.
I just said it without thinking, and it coincidentally fit her aptitude.
That’s just too much from the devil.
How could the devil, of all people, suspect that I was like Craft?
Of course, my name is indeed Pastel Love Craft, but still, that’s too much!
Pastel’s face turned sulky. Still, considering the circumstances of the devil who was imprisoned in the Craft mansion, she only pouted her lips.
“Would I hide my true feelings from you, devil?! I have nothing to hide! I can guarantee that!”
As she spoke, a sense of grievance welled up inside her.
“Of course, being human, there are times when I hide things! But when you listen, they’re really nothing special, you know? For example.”
She folded one finger.
“When I secretly drank juice in bed and spilled it, causing the wet pillow to be hidden under the bed, or…!”
Pastel followed her memories and folded another finger but suddenly stopped. Her eyes slowly widened.
Huh!
She just confessed!
That was a secret she’d carry for a lifetime…!
The devil looked stunned.
‘What did you say?’
Pastel avoided his gaze. She pretended nothing happened and slyly unfolded the finger she was holding.
She awkwardly whistled.
“What do you mean?”
Who would hide a dirty pillow under the bed? Innocent Pastel has no idea what that’s about.
The devil grabbed her shoulder and looked down at her fiercely with red eyes.
‘You brat, if you don’t want to get scolded, confess right now. Just how much mischief have you been hiding that you had to unfold your fingers?’
Hwaa!
Pastel trembled.
“I have nothing to hide! Innocent! Completely innocent!”
‘Don’t lie.’
A firm voice.
Ugh!
“Please respect my privacy…!”
Her chin didn’t even work.
Pastel ended up confessing a lot and getting scolded a lot.
She was caught.
All caught.
How she had broken a glass that she had dropped while jumping up and down on the bed after a drink and had secretly buried it in the dormitory yard.
And about how she had hidden the devil’s delicious cookies in her bedroom and, forgetting about their existence, ended up finding the moldy cookies hidden in the yard.
“Waaah!”
Pastel cried loudly.
“Waaah!”
Tears dripped down.
“I’m sorry…!”
‘Hmm.’
The devil looked at the tears and seemed to soften a bit, but perhaps due to the number of confessions heard, he looked down firmly.
‘Don’t do it again. Why are you bringing food to bed? If you really want to eat, just put it on the nightstand and eat it patiently.’
“I’m so sorry…!”
Tears burst forth.
#
Pastel sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeves. Once the tears were dried, her eyelids were red, but her face improved to a somewhat decent state.
“What happened?”
The knight in armor looked a bit bewildered at the sight of the viscount, who seemed to have been crying copiously, and reported.
“The mercenary captain Tmault’s airship has been taken over safely, and we searched it. As you instructed, we found nothing unusual except for a large storage box in the forward hold.”
The Knight Corps consists of one knight rank and its subordinate personnel. Even though they casually referred to the members as knights, the terms knight and knight rank were distinct.
The knight discussing in front might not be knight rank but rather a Knight Corps member specialized in administrative work.
However, even though Tmault was a knight rank, since the Knight Corps stepped in, resistance was nearly impossible.
“What about that huge storage box? It seemed like some kind of tremendous and great weapon when I argued with the mercenary captain. They mentioned that innocent civilians would die and stuff.”
As it is wrapped in chains.
The knight corps member looked awkward.
“We’re checking, but the interior of the storage box is magically treated, so it is currently difficult to discern its identity. For now, I suspect it might be a magical bomb.”
“Is it a bomb type? Then it would be hard to forcibly open it, right?”
“Yes.”
They also mentioned civilian massacre, so were they planning to successfully kill the courtesy and simultaneously detonate a bomb in the high streets of Sky Island?
Ugh.
Radical demon faction is scary.
The knight corps member shook his head.
“The demon might have been boasting.”
Hehe.
Pastel crossed her arms and pondered.
“Is it hard to figure out exactly what it is by the tournament event in two days?”
“That is correct.”
Bomb, bomb.
Pastel smiled brightly.
“Then let’s just throw it into the sky!”
Since this is Sky Island anyway, if we just throw it like trash from the edge of the ground, it would swoosh~ and plummet down.
What’s this supposed amazing iron storage box?
I don’t know.
Bye-bye.
When talking to Tmault, she was criticized for having allowed the contents of the storage box to be brought into the docking station knowing about it.
Then, it was fine as long as they got out of the docking station now.
More than just getting out, throwing it away would be even safer!
“Was that wicked Tmault captured?”
“Yes, we are currently interrogating him to see if there are any behind-the-scenes or collaborators. Though he is stubborn because of his pride, it shouldn’t take long for him to crack.”
Huh.
Was he that heavy-mouthed of a person?
Pastel recalled when she had received praise for her enthusiastic acting. She also remembered what Tmault had leaked amid the criticisms.
Ugh.
How much did I prick his temper for him to have leaked information while being scolded?
I feel like a really bad person now.
I’m sorry~.
While acting in Craft mode, somehow it seemed to suit my aptitude.
It was as if I had the feeling that even the devil could betray me!
Huff.
Suddenly, the guilt.
Just moments ago, she had been scolded by the devil, so this guilt surged even more.
How thrilling would it be to betray the devil who trusted me?
—Did you really believe in Craft? Obviously, everything was a lie. Our relationship and promises were all for right now.
Hm.
—Being deceived by such a naive act…
Giggling.
—You’re foolish.
She saw the shocked and wounded expression in the red eyes.
Huff.
So exhilarating…
Pastel, with her mouth agape, was horrified by her own thoughts.
What a completely bad heart!
A bad heart!
She quickly shook her head. Her pink hair fluttered.
Flutter flutter.
The knight corps member looked at her curiously.
“Your Excellency?”
“No! No! It’s nothing! Really, it’s nothing!”
Panic.
“Y-Yes.”
Pastel stood up abruptly.
“Please report any important information during the interrogation to the Student Council! And throw away the storage box, please! I beg you!”
“Understood, Your Excellency.”
Throw away the bad thoughts and focus on the tournament!
A one-on-one tournament is coming up!
