Pastel goes “Pupu~!”
It was completely unfair, “Pupu!”
As unfair as the sound of a watering can clinking, making a “pupu~!” noise.
After rescuing Eli and Dustyn, who had been paralyzed for a while in the gas, and dealing with the misunderstanding while explaining to Melissa, who was watching Craft with a suspicious gaze, such thoughts crossed my mind.
Was I too naive?
Wasn’t it insufficient to express sincere feelings and honest thoughts in the friendships of fantasy?
Because of that, Pastel, who didn’t follow social rules, ended up in a situation where she had to clarify various unfair misunderstandings!
Huh, that seems right.
This is a dangerous world where swords and daggers shine!
Even in friendships, some basic sense of caution can’t be helped!
Yet, not knowing that, I rashly attempted to hug many friends.
Of course, I had to be cautious since someone might be rushing at me with a dagger hidden in their clothes.
As questionable circumstances coincidentally piled up and even an article from the journalism club was published, my caution exploded!
Pastel realized.
I mismanaged my conduct!
Thinking back, this is a noble society!
Even if not as much as Melissa, it might have been necessary to make friends with some degree of dignity!
Instead of grabbing hold of a classmate I encounter on campus and declaring, “You’re my friend from today!” I should’ve made a tea time promise, chattering happily to become friends!
Huh.
Imagining it, it’s completely noble-like.
Pastel, dressed in thin pajamas, covered her mouth with one hand.
And she smiled like a noble.
“Haha! Hoho!”
The demon, examining the magic stones of the mood lamp beside the bed, turned around. Fixing its crimson gaze on the girl, it contemplated and finished what it had been doing.
Feeling a sense of caution since the girl was in a sensitive state, Pastel felt guilty for no reason.
“I’m not in puberty!”
『I didn’t say anything.』
The demon took out the magic stone from the mood lamp and replaced it with a new one. The dim lighting brightened.
『However, it would be good to be aware of your own state. Don’t get swept away like in battle every time. Come to think of it, the acting by Craft in the demonic aircraft might have been overcome by hormones.』
The demon stroked its chin.
『Hmm, that’s not good. If it happens frequently, it could negatively impact your personality. Have there been any changes to your feelings or anything recently?』
Ugh.
It’s treated entirely as being in puberty.
Pastel covered her ears and pretended not to hear.
“Haha hoho!”
Noble Pastel doesn’t pay attention to the whispers of the demon!
The demon, realizing it had unnecessarily interfered, felt awkward. It tossed the drained magic stone and turned away.
『Sleep well, young Craft.』
Pastel poked her pink tongue out.
“Bee!”
『Oh dear.』
The demon chuckled and headed towards the door.
Just as it was about to open the door, Pastel swiftly shouted.
“Good night, Demon Lord!”
Bye bye.
The demon turned to smile and left. Though sealed by the magic sword, it couldn’t stray too far from Pastel, but it was able to stay in the adjacent servant waiting room.
Silence enveloped the room.
Pastel watched the bedroom door and then quietly slipped out of bed. With a bright face, she threw her arms up.
Wow!
“The freedom liberated from the guardian!”
Time to play until dawn!
She danced, taking light steps.
Doo roo doo tu~!
“The most liberated time has come~!”
She approached the wall bookshelf and pulled out a thick book. Hidden behind the book was a bundle of cookies.
“It’s now dawn, even more free than the warm bath time~.”
Though it wasn’t dawn yet!
Gathering the cookie bundle, she dove into the bed. The bed rocked, and her pink hair splayed in every direction.
Pastel hummed and rolled around in the bed. When she reached the end, she peeked under the bed with only her upper body exposed. There, she spotted a glass bottle filled with orange juice and a pepper shaker containing magic stone powder.
“Pupu pu!”
I completely grasped the demon’s cleaning schedule!
It’s a trivial thing for genius spy Pastel to hide snacks!
She arranged her pillow like a backrest and sat nearly lying on the bed.
Opening the cookie bundle, she chuckled and picked up the pepper shaker.
With a million snacks’ worth of experience, she had learned how to eat well.
Right away, she would put the food in the bundle, sprinkle magic stone powder, and shake it to eat.
That way, there would be no need to sprinkle it on piece by piece!
Am I a genius?
Admiring herself, she sprinkled the magic stone powder.
Pepper pepper.
The black powder fell a bit before stopping.
Huh?
Pastel shook the pepper shaker more, but when nothing came out, she tapped it. The powder fell a little more and then stopped.
Pastel’s pink eyes widened.
No way.
Upon opening the shaker, she found that all the magic stone powder was gone.
“Huhhh!”
Shock.
Pastel’s hands trembled.
Not having magic stone meant she could hardly eat anything, and the reality struck her like a flash.
Memories of picking something up off the ground and coughing up blood sparkled in her mind.
“No way…!”
Pastel cried out.
Despair!
Absolute despair!
A pitiful life unable to eat the desired snacks!
A cold world that ignores even hunger!
In despair, twisting her body, Pastel suddenly stopped. She looked at the mood lamp on the bedside table.
Oh?
Rolling her eyes, she gently grabbed the mood lamp.
She examined the lamp like an expert. It was a gaze as if she had studied only mood lamps for nearly a million years.
Then Pastel discovered an astonishing fact.
“Wow! This can’t be! I just left it on for a moment, and the magic stone energy has already run out! The magic stone was a defective product! I must replace it!”
Smacking her lips, she manipulated the mood lamp.
Creak creak.
The light rotated and slowly pulled away from the pole. Being a small magical structure, it had some gears inside that made it tighter than expected.
Clank clank.
Feeling impatient, Pastel added a little more strength.
Clank clank, crack-!
Ugh.
Pastel looked at the broken pole and the detached light.
Oh?
Was it originally like this?
The magic stone fell from the lamp. A dull noise echoed.
No matter how you looked at it, it was not a normal disassembly.
Pastel felt cold sweat trickle. She glanced back at the quiet bedroom door. Then she looked at the remnants of the mood lamp again.
Swallowing hard.
Carefully holding the broken wooden pole and detached light, she rubbed them together to restore their original shape.
Rub rub.
After sticking them together, she let go of her hands.
The mood lamp stood tall, maintaining its original form.
Pastel’s face brightened.
“It’s intact!”
In that moment, the light part fell from the wooden pole. The light rolled off the table and came to a stop.
Pastel’s cheerful expression froze in place. With that face, she turned her head to look at the bedroom door.
Then she looked down at the remnants of the mood lamp (not) again.
The girl’s hands trembled. Slowly, she grabbed the blanket. The blanket was pulled, covering the entire table. The remnants were completely hidden.
Pastel’s expression improved.
She turned her body. The cookie bundle and orange juice on the bed caught her eye.
Slowly, she gasped in horror.
“Who put snacks in the sacred bedroom?!”
With an accusing finger, she jumped up.
“Bad behavior! Totally bad behavior! Good Pastel would never do such a thing!”
Really, really!
After a brief moment, she hastily hid the snacks. Placing them behind the books and under the bed.
Before long, the bedroom was tidy.
“Huh!”
Pastel wiped her forehead with a cleaning expression like a demon’s.
“Speaking of which, the demon told me to sleep. I should go to sleep.”
Avoiding eye contact with the blanket and table, she lay down on the bed.
“Good night, Demon Lord.”
Uh-huh.
She tightly hugged an extra pillow.
Zzz.
The journey into dreamland was beautiful…
The girl fell asleep.
The next day arrived.
『What is this?』
The demon visited the bedroom and scolded the girl who had broken the extremely expensive mood lamp, which had been designated as the Viscount’s dormitory.
“Waaah!”
Pastel cried loudly.
She pointed to the remnants of the mood lamp.
“That one broke all by itself…!”
It’s true!
“Waaah!”
Bellamont’s eldest son, the Demonic Mercenary Captain Tmamut, was currently in a crisis.
No, the word crisis alone would be insufficient to describe the current situation.
Tmamut’s life was hanging by a thread.
“I curse you, Craft! I will curse you even in the afterlife!”
Tmamut’s body was tightly bound with chains along with a massive iron box. Just that was already a death trap, but the iron box was precariously positioned on the edge of the Sky Island.
If even the slightest balance was disrupted, the iron box would tip over and fall below.
So even in the midst of his shouting, Tmamut had to concentrate all his mind on maintaining the weight balance.
With a face flushed, he lifted his upper body and pulled on the chains surrounding him. He struggled to keep the iron box from falling.
“Craft…!”
From a distance, the Sky Island’s Knights Corps watched Tmamut and the massive iron box.
“What a vicious guy. He didn’t let us know what was inside until the end.”
“Still, we found out that there was a cult’s instigation through other guys. If the cult is planning indiscriminate terror, isn’t it likely to be some kind of poison gas?”
“Could be. It’s frustrating, but I guess we have to give up. Lord Craft said to discard it straight away, so it’s time to interrogate him today, right.”
The officer gestured.
A knight approached the iron box.
Tmamut glared.
“I will curse you! Even if I fall into the afterlife, I will curse you! I bet my everything on this curse!”
“What’s with the afterlife? God said there is no afterlife. You’re like an inferior cultist.”
The knight lifted his foot.
“That’s enough, let’s go!”
The kick struck the iron box. A dull sound erupted. The cliff crumbled slightly, and the iron box began to tumble.
Tmamut screamed.
“Craft…!”
The Sky Island quickly receded from sight. The vast blue sky unfolded.
Tmamut desperately scanned around.
When will someone rescue me!
They wouldn’t possibly abandon me, would they?!
As the iron box toppled, the chains binding Tmamut spun with it. Below, a waiting airship was visible.
On the deck, Professor Carlow, a robust figure, looked up at the falling iron box. The iron box was about to collide.
Professor Carlow reached out to the falling iron box. Suddenly, nature seemed to comply, and the world aligned.
The shock was offset, and a storm brewed. Cracks appeared on the airship’s deck.
The professor frowned, then placed the iron box down on the deck. A tremendous noise erupted.
In that process, the chains tightened, causing Tmamut to spit out blood.
“Take it easy!”
“Has he been tortured too much? The terror plan today seems impossible.”
The hand loosened the chains.
Tmamut staggered to his feet, shaking his head.
“I can do it! I’ve longed for this my entire life! Give me the cult’s drugs! I don’t care about side effects, just the effective ones!”
Professor Carlow raised an eyebrow. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a magic stone awakening agent.
“It’s said to be a new medicine. If you take it, you’ll die today.”
The awakening agent was thrown.
Tmamut caught it and laughed.
“Great! Good! I can take revenge on that arrogant Craft!”
“Craft, huh.”
Professor Carlow looked up at the sky with a peculiar expression. A giant sky island was floating above.
“It’s a bloodline full of sins.”
