“Why can’t I become friends with the baby whale?”
Pastel leaned against the railing of the airship, holding her head in her hands.
“Is this really all my charisma can manage? At this rate, I can’t call myself popular!”
The silver-haired girl next to her looked bewildered. Althea was onboard to prepare for any possible emergencies.
“Isn’t it normal that baby whales can’t be friends with humans…?”
The duchess’s merciless observation.
There was a sense of class pressure.
Pastel quickly turned around. She made eye contact with Althea, whose surprised expression reminded her of her own higher social standing, and she felt relieved.
Phew.
I almost became a ‘B’ who couldn’t refute an ‘A’s wrong statement.
But for now, since I’m the ‘A’, I have to say the right thing.
“You’re wrong! We can all be friends! Look over there!”
She pointed toward the sky beyond the railing, as if about to fall. The airship was flying straight through the fluffy clouds without circling around them.
“That’s a Cloud Roller! Not a Cloud! Don’t get it confused!”
They needed to remember that they were different creatures.
Otherwise… otherwise…
I’ll be sad!
Huh.
She said she’d be sad!
I have to remember that!
“One of my friends came out to greet us when they heard about today’s voyage! Hi Cloud Roller! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?!”
Pastel waved her arms at the cloud friend. It was an overly familiar gesture for someone she had just met.
Althea stared blankly at the cloud friend. The shaking of her silver eyes showed she was deeply contemplating what kind of response to give to this viscount’s words.
The airship burst through the fluffy clouds. The view was obscured by a hazy fog. A cool, moist feeling enveloped her whole body.
“Wow!”
It felt like being sprayed with a mist from an air conditioner while facing a strong wind.
“Cloud Roller! I’m so happy that you welcomed me so warmly! Our friendship is forever, cough! cough!”
As she spoke, Pastel accidentally inhaled the steam and started coughing. It seemed as though too much freshness was also a little chilly.
“Cloud! Your welcome is excessive!”
It was the fate of a popular person, but one might call this an obsession!
Althea suddenly glared at her with a loose wave of her hand to clear the steam. The intense gaze of her silver eyes.
Her lips twitched as she straightforwardly spoke.
“Your name is wrong.”
Huh.
Pastel froze in place.
Silence fell.
In the meantime, the airship broke through the fluffy clouds. The clouds wrapped around the airship like cotton and then scattered.
A crew member shouted.
“We’re approaching the Sky Mackerel territory!”
It was an area wrongfully occupied by the mother whale from the mackerel.
Oh.
Pastel’s stiff body relaxed. She looked at the crew member in shock and then turned to Althea.
“They said mackerel! Sky mackerel! It means flying mackerel!”
Althea, who had been watching the shouting crew member, turned back to Pastel.
“More than that, you got the name wrong—”
“Mackerel?!”
Ahhhh!
Pastel clutched her pink hair.
“It’s a mackerel the size of my head! Not its width but its height! That’s totally a tuna, right?! Why is it a mackerel?!”
I object to the name!
Althea pursed her lips.
“Well, it’s a mackerel, after all.”
It was clear that Althea had never properly made friends while spending time in the northern mountains.
If not, she wouldn’t say something so socially inept.
But it’s okay!
Popular Pastel had gone through all kinds of experiences, so she could deal with this kind of friend.
With a skilled strategy of letting it slide!
“Ugh. It reminds me of my poor past. I used to clutch my hungry belly and sail through the sky to earn money. But there was a wicked force that stood in my way back then!”
She waved her hands.
“Right, right!”
She gestured to Althea as if to say, “Come on, say something!”
But when she set the stage for conversation, Althea hesitated. The awkward pause lowered the tempo of the dialogue, and then she finally spoke.
“Pirates are strong—”
“That’s right! It’s the mackerel horde!”
Pastel screamed.
“I could only tremble in fear as the loud clashes and the trembling airship surrounded me!”
Shiver, shiver.
Althea, who had been hesitantly quiet, suddenly gained confidence. She seemed to have experienced a mackerel horde herself.
“A mackerel isn’t that scary—”
“The horde of terror! Ever since they came into my life, whenever I see a blue fish, I can’t help but drool!”
Ugh.
Such a sad life.
Althea looked blankly. After a moment, she glanced at the sky beyond the railing of the airship and then turned back.
“That’s just because you’re a glutton—”
“Oh Lord! Why did you bring me into this world and create mackerels!”
Pastel pointed at a mackerel flying by.
“Just like that mackerel, ahhhh! It’s a mackerel…!”
The mackerel swam through the sky. As it was about to collide with them, its body spun, and its tail fin hit Pastel’s face.
“Ugh!”
Thunk.
Pastel held her cheek, which now bore the red mark of the fin. She screamed.
“It’s a mackerel ambush!”
Ahhhh!
It’s an assassination of a viscount!
The biggest crisis of my life…!
The fallen mackerel flopped on the deck.
Mackerel flapping.
Althea picked up the mackerel. As it flailed around, she patted its body to calm it down.
Her touch discovered a small note attached to the mackerel’s body.
“Preserved Mackerel.”
It had a calm tone.
Her friend almost died from the mackerel, yet she’s so nonchalant about it.
Pastel rubbed her cheeks in disbelief.
What’s preserved mackerel?
Could it be that the pigeon cooing is ‘Pigeon’ and the mackerel is ‘Preserved Mackerel’?
A blurry fish eye appeared in front of her.
“Why are they using mackerel?!”
When there are perfectly good birds around!
Birds are cooler and prettier!
Mackerels just stink!
Althea, taking out the note, flinched.
“Don’t they also use saury…?”
“They use saury too?!”
Pastel was doubly shocked. Trembling, her hands shook.
“Saury, saury is even worse!”
Because why?
“Because ‘mackerel’ has the same three letters as ‘pigeon’, so it’s at least somewhat believable instead! But ‘saury’ has two letters! The letter count is completely different!”
Pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon.
Pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon mackerel pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon.
Pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon saury pigeon pigeon pigeon pigeon.
Ahhhh!
Saury stands out alone!
Althea hesitated.
“What does that matter?”
Pastel held her head and staggered.
This world is too strange.
Althea glanced around and handed her the note.
The note was slightly damp in a bad way. It seemed to have the mackerel’s sweat on it.
Pastel sniffed it lightly.
It stank.
“It smells bad…!”
Althea hesitated.
“That’s because it’s a mackerel.”
Ahhhh!
That’s not the meaning!
Pastel felt frustration from the communication failure.
She sulked and simply opened the note.
It wasn’t an official document, but it had the nature of an official document. It was a request or notification from the Knight Corps to the Academy.
“Currently, sky whale response exceeds the operational limits of the Academy, which is currently without its headmaster. Please transfer emergency duties to the Knight Corps and return?”
There was a subtle line expressing concerns about the Academy’s current situation, where the hierarchy had collapsed following the coup.
Wow, wow.
Are they trying to argue about jurisdiction?
During the terrorism, the Knight Corps didn’t help, claiming it was an internal matter.
Even after it was resolved, they drew a line saying they couldn’t reveal the reasons as it was an internal issue, so she had let it go for now, but with this, how should it be interpreted?
An organization using students’ lives to check power?
“Is it a jurisdiction dispute with the Knight Corps?”
Althea looked at her oddly, as if recalling a prophecy she had heard somewhere.
“No!”
Pastel laughed as she crumpled the note. As the paper rolled under her palm, it curled up.
She flung the paper wad over the railing. The white bundle fell swiftly to the ground below.
As Althea approached the railing and looked down,
“Can we throw this away…?”
“What?”
Was there something there?
Pastel tilted her head. As she looked around, her eyes widened when she spotted the flopping mackerel on the ground.
“Oh! A mackerel!”
It was her first sighting today!
What is that mackerel doing?!
She hurriedly picked up the mackerel.
This heavy weight.
The wet feeling.
“Are you a mackerel, a relative of the pigeon?!”
The mackerel had dead fish eyes. Its mouth opened and closed as if it were responding.
“Not so?”
Somehow, I knew it would be like that!
There’s no way a being like ‘preserved mackerel’ would exist in reality!
It’s a hopeless visual that looks like it would fly and get pecked by a pigeon, yet it would not send an important official document here!
If it did, it would have surely been eaten by a passing sky tiger!
Roar!
A sky tiger!
It may not have wings, but it’s still flying around!
Pastel squinted her eyes and looked around.
The sharp-eyed sky tiger (soldier) was already starting to quiet the Academy personnel and the crew.
“Roar! Roar!”
Indeed!
Althea looked blankly at the scene.
“Surely, the ramblings of a terrorist were not just insane…”
