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Pastel fiddled with the luggage bag draped over the saddle. The strap came loose, and a white magic stone broom was grasped in her hand.
She raised the broom high.
“Broom friend~!”
It’s faster than the speed of a bicycle!
Supportive!
She wedged it between her legs. Focusing her mind on the magic stone inside the broom, it began to rise.
She pointed at the black train that had already distanced itself considerably.
“I don’t know what kind of evil trick they used to acquire better technology than our trading guild, but their speed is nowhere near enough to escape the grasp of the great Governor Pastel!”
Pastel gripped the broom tightly.
“Yahap-!”
With a shout, the broom started to flutter and slowly took to the skies.
Hmm, it seems a bit slow.
“Broom friend, you can do it! Keep going!”
She adapted to the broom she hadn’t ridden in a while and gradually accelerated. Her pink hair was pushed back by the air and began to flutter wildly.
“Good! Chase! Chase!”
The wind wrapped around her body.
“Pastel! You dropped the sword!”
Melissa shouted from behind.
Huh.
Turning around, she saw the thrown magic sword spinning towards her. The sharp blade glimmered.
“Waaah!”
If the sword is thrown like this…!
I’m going to be assassinated by my best friend!
Pastel flailed her arms and, by chance, perfectly caught the sword. Her expression turned blank.
Oh dear.
She stared blankly at the magic sword held in her hands.
Actually, I had great athletic ability.
Hehe.
She waved her arm towards Melissa.
“Thank you!”
But why did she give me the sword?
Does that mean she thinks I’ll need it?
Gulp.
Pastel froze slightly.
Am I going to fight bad people right now?
No, no. I was intending to argue (debate) but not to fight (life-or-death)!
Life and death are a bit…
Looking down at Melissa on the ground, she saw Melissa smiling gently and waving her arm while starting to talk to a staff member. It seemed she would handle the train tracking and combat, leaving Pastel to investigate the situation.
Ugh.
Pastel suddenly felt a strong desire to start investigating. It would have been great if Melissa handled the train tracking instead.
But it didn’t seem like that was on Melissa’s mind.
She glanced at the ground where the demon lord was.
The demon lord shook his fist as if to cheer her on, then guided Pastel’s casually abandoned horse friend to the stables.
Waaah.
It’s nice to help a horse friend that I neglected, but that’s not what I was expecting.
Pastel turned back to the distant train and hesitated.
They are indeed bad people stealing someone else’s business, but isn’t there really no need to fight physically?
Business dealings are supposed to be gentlemanly. Unlike alleys where you pull a gun as soon as you say something, here, you coldly calculate gains and losses, deciding the other’s demise.
Gulp, the more I think about it, the scarier it gets.
It feels like I’d be calculating gains and losses while pointing a gun!
Waaah.
Pastel became quite reluctant to go, fidgeting until she thought of a reasonable safety net. She looked down at the demon lord.
“Demon lord! Please throw the Emperor’s sword! Ah, gently! Throw it gently!”
The demon lord, about to enter the stables, looked up and placed his hand on the luggage bag. A splendid sword was pulled out and thrown into the sky. Unlike when Melissa threw it, the sword flew without spinning. It was facing forward, making it easy to catch.
“Wow.”
Pastel fearlessly caught it with ease.
Is this the difference in skill level between a wizard and a knight? I found myself admiring the demon lord.
She secured the magic sword at her waist and held the Emperor’s sword in her hand. The sword pointed toward the distant train.
“I’ve heard news that there’s a traitor collaborating with the demon lord in this area! Citizens should comply willingly with the investigation of the governor!”
Pastel, bolstered by the power of the Emperor, felt emboldened.
Suddenly, a sense of duty arose to seize the train and thoroughly inspect the technology inside.
Gulp, that’s right.
Since this is a very important issue with a high possibility of being subordinates of the demon lord, if they possess suspicious technology, we must examine it thoroughly!
Loyalty to follow the Emperor’s edict surged within her.
“Chase! Chase!”
The white broom accelerated.
#
“Is it pink?”
A cult member said with a pale expression.
“Why is the Craft train that should still be at the port all the way here? Aren’t we completely busted?!”
“Shut up! I’m thinking!”
The team leader furrowed his brow, deep in thought.
Craft’s governor visiting the demon realm was a foregone conclusion. The cult had decided to respond accordingly.
However, they never expected that the governor would move to the demon realm without even establishing a governor’s office on Sky Island—at least, they should have built the governor’s office first!—so their response was somewhat delayed.
As an urgent report came from Sky Island during the inadequate time before the governor’s airship arrived in the demon realm, they quickly erased any traces of the cult that would be within the governor’s line of sight, but there was no way it would be done in time.
So they hurriedly gathered unsorted cargo and operated the train…
Just as expected, Governor Craft was waiting at the station. Although his force looked sparse, one could not take appearances at face value.
“What do we do?! Fight?! I heard there are at least semi-knight level fighters, and they’re also hiding their true skills?!”
“Shut that mouth already!”
The team leader snapped, looking toward one side of the engine room.
A locked, ordinary wooden box was visible. It looked ordinary, but inside it was densely packed with various sealing magic circles.
As long as the presence of the artificial spirits wasn’t discovered by the governor, all would be well.
The countless pieces of cargo filling the freight car, if seized, would likely lead back to parts of the cult’s facilities, but that wasn’t very important. For a cult that dealt heavily with the evil god, such losses were trivial.
The evil god wanted to arrive in this world, and the cult having desires must comply with the requests.
Although the team leader himself didn’t know the specifics, the artificial spirits were a crucial element of that plan.
The artificial spirits, created with the power of souls extracted from the evil god’s transmitter, could strengthen the positioning signals that were too weak with just the transmitter alone. They would be able to clearly inform the evil god of the location in this world.
“They’re coming! They’re faster than us!”
One cult member shouted from the engine room window, looking back.
The pale cult member who had been anxious from earlier paled even more.
“Are we fighting?! Are we fighting?! Are we really fighting?!”
The cult member grasped a gun.
“Ignore them! We’re innocent…”
The team leader hurriedly hid the wooden box in his cloak. But seeing the cult member rush to the window, pulling out the gun, he was startled.
“You fool! What are you doing?!”
Still, she is the high priest’s daughter, not someone to make such reckless moves!
The team leader’s punch struck the cult member who was about to fire.
“Ow! Why’d you hit me?!”
The fallen cult member protested. The team leader, boiling with frustration at this worthless behavior, but held back with difficulty.
This lowly scum didn’t know that Governor Craft was the high priest’s daughter, nor the order to accept governance if Craft came to undergo a conversion, so it wasn’t their fault.
The cult member rubbed their mouth.
“Ouch, my lip is split. Why are you hitting me?! If you have complaints, you should talk it out!”
“It isn’t a matter of being at fault!”
The cult member was kicked.
“Ow!”
“Team leader! Please hold back!”
Another cult member hurriedly intervened.
“Let go! Let go…!”
#
Thump thump.
Pastel firmly held onto her broom and calmed her pounding heart.
Was that… a gun just now?
As she approached the engine room, she definitely saw a muzzle peeking out from the window without glass.
It disappeared in an instant, but it was definitely there!
Waaah.
If they had shot, I might have had to shout “Hormonal friend, save me!”
Waaah.
It seems there are truly bad people over there. Completely bad people who carry guns.
But since they disappeared in an instant, maybe they are not completely bad people? They might not be the type to point guns at others without hesitation.
No, no. The very act of carrying a gun is truly, truly completely bad. I must be meeting such people.
Waaah.
Pastel flew awkwardly alongside the train. Though she was approaching the engine room, her speed was only as fast as a turtle. Her turtle friend is faster than her rabbit friend, so it could be considered quite fast.
As she got right in front of the engine room, she awkwardly raised the Emperor’s sword. She nudged the sword’s blade through the opening to the engine room so it could be seen clearly.
“Hah, receive the Emperor’s command!”
Pastel shouted but then paused, wondering if that was correct.
Then realizing she hadn’t given enough clarification, she shouted again.
“This is the Emperor’s sword!”
Shooting it would mean opposing the Emperor!
Firing would mean they’re truly truly bad people…!
Surprisingly, the effect was good. The train began to slow down without any resistance and came to a stop.
Gulp.
This is the majesty of the Emperor; amazing!
Bolstered by the Emperor’s power, Pastel felt triumphant. She wore a confident expression that suggested she had predicted this outcome.
She leisurely floated down and landed in the opened engine room.
Pastel tried to maintain an arrogant expression befitting the Emperor’s envoy as she surveyed the engine room.
She spotted a tense engineer and a few other crew members.
Are these the people who stole my business?
Brrh brrh.
It doesn’t match my level; after all, they dared to meddle with my business, so I must deal with them. Or so it goes.
The engineer stepped forward, leaned forward, and opened his mouth in the most courteous manner he could muster.
“How may we assist you?”
“Ahem.”
Pastel arrogantly placed her hands behind her back.
“I’ve heard this train has been using the Craft guild’s railway without permission. I can’t tell you the reason due to confidentiality, but violating the Craft guild’s interests is nothing less than obstructing the Emperor’s orders!”
Obstructing public duty!
Yes, yes!
The engineer looked blankly.
“Unauthorized use?”
Then he exchanged glances with another crew member. They exchanged head shakes that indicated they had no idea.
They appeared shocked to hear something unexpected. It seemed they thought they were caught for another reason but realized it was entirely an unexpected reason.
Oh, dear.
The engineer hastily rummaged around and then looked at another crew member.
“Hey, where did we put the contract?”
Another person rummaged through the engine room drawers and brought out the contract. The engineer checked it and handed it to Pastel.
“As you can see, we have permission to operate the train. We already paid the deposit.”
Upon inspection, it was indeed real. The deposit was exorbitant, and the responsible person for this zone had stamped the contract.
“Oh dear.
But I haven’t heard of that, and neither did the demon realm branch.”
But the zone manager knew enough to manipulate reports and had drafted the contract themselves. They had received a large deposit, of course.
Oh wow.
Pastel cocked her head.
As she maintained silence, matching stares with the engineer, the engineer’s complexion gradually turned pale as if he had realized something.
“By any chance…”
Pastel nodded and spoke matter-of-factly.
“The person responsible for drafting this contract is only in charge of maintaining the district; they do not have the authority to manage the leasing and operation of the railway. Therefore, they have no authority to contract the leasing of the railway, and thus, this contract is also invalid. Unfortunately, I ask that you recognize that this matter is unrelated to the headquarters.”
The engineer, shocked, snatched the contract back. Then, shaking, he stared at it with wide eyes, his face turning red and then pale.
“This is outrageous…!”
Another crew member became blank-faced and approached Pastel, looking as if they couldn’t grasp the situation.
“Are we being scammed?”
Pastel nodded matter-of-factly.
“Yes. Unfortunately, I ask that you recognize that this matter is unrelated to the headquarters.”
I need to reflect on the past when I realized there was no significant embezzlement at the demon realm branch.
The demon realm branch was committing fraud instead!
Gulp, so this is the demon realm.
How terrifying~.
The engineer, somewhat calmed, spoke in a drained voice.
“What will happen now?”
“First, since you indeed used our railway without permission, I think you’ll have to accompany us. However, as you are the victims, we will do our utmost to resolve this situation.”
“Understood…”
Pastel took the engineer and staff members who had been scammed back to the demon realm branch.
Ugh, poor victims.
I, as the owner of the trading guild, am not without responsibility, so I’ll do my best to help!
