“I’m sorry, but even so, you were cheated by your employee, shouldn’t you be the one to resolve this?”
A cult member pressed.
“Eh?”
Governor Pastel flinched and stammered, “That’s… um, ehhh! But it’s just an individual’s wrongdoing, and the headquarters are not at fault! Please resolve this with the involved party!”
Meanwhile, the team leader stared intently at the patent contract.
“What is this?”
He couldn’t comprehend the governor’s intent.
Another cult member approached and whispered, “What do you think that governor is up to?”
The team leader cautiously answered in a voice too soft for anyone to hear, “I have no idea. Why are we being given this? Is it really just about a pure patent deal?”
Or is there some devious plot mixed in? For now, it seems the fact that they’re a cult hasn’t been discovered, but I wonder if being entangled for some other reason will cause unnecessary trouble.
“Have we applied for the patent?”
“Do you think we have?”
This isn’t some legitimate business under the sun.
At the strong demeanor of the questioning cult member, the trembling Governor Pastel flinched.
His head whipped around to look at this side, and his expression turned to one of confusion. Then a completely wicked thought flickered across his mind before he came to his senses and exclaimed, “No! We have no fault in this! But I can be lenient with the circumstances, so please calm down!”
The whispering cult member was taken aback.
“What was that just now?”
“Can they hear our voices?”
“In this street with this tone? No human could do that, let alone a beast!”
The team leader nodded, thinking of the ant-like voices far away.
“True, they say geniuses’ thinking gets all mixed up, and I guess this is one of those cases.”
“Team Leader.”
A cult member with chapped lips approached hesitantly. He was a low-ranking member who almost caused a scene on the train by aiming a gun at Pastel and got beaten by the team leader.
“Uh, right. Is your lip okay? I might have been a bit harsh earlier even if it was urgent.”
“It was. But since you’re apologizing, I’ll accept it, but I hope you won’t act like that next time.”
What a brat.
“More importantly.”
The low-ranking cult member rubbed his chapped lips with his tongue, and his expression turned serious.
“I think we’ve fallen into the trap set by our Craft governor.”
“Um.”
The team leader’s expression shifted to one of anticipation.
The low-ranking cult member passionately stated, “Just look at our situation. We’re trapped in the Craft trading guild. It may not be visible immediately, but they must have surrounded us with their forces.”
The team leader looked around. He could see the train and the railway, surrounded entirely by walls or buildings.
Although it was a spacious clearing that also served as a station, it vaguely felt like they were trapped. Even though the railway was on the outskirts, they had entered the station inside the guild, meaning the surrounding area was all guild territory.
They could indeed be surrounded, but…
“Why?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why would the governor go to such lengths?”
“What do you mean?”
“If they were going to surround us, they would have done it earlier. The governor had arrived before we even got to the coastal station. They could have done it then.”
Back then, he was worried about being discovered as a cult, but thinking about the governor’s actions since then, it seemed more likely to have been a coincidence.
The low-ranking cult member hesitated, then thought for a moment and rebutted.
“No, they would find it easier to capture us in this environment, which is why they lured us here.”
“Huh? Is that so?”
The surprisingly rational statement changed the team leader’s expression.
“That could be possible. So, the goal is capture, and they change the location under the pretext of creating a distraction?”
His hand subconsciously wandered to the edges of the wooden box he had hidden. If the governor had caught wind of this being a magical spirit, he’d certainly want to capture the carrier to gain additional information.
“See? If the governor’s plan had gone smoothly, we shouldn’t even have come here! It’s like sticking our heads into a tiger’s mouth!”
“Is that so?”
The team leader crossed his arms and went silent.
“But it’s been a while since we arrived, and since the governor hasn’t called for reinforcements, it seems unlikely that it’s true.”
If it isn’t, then it’s even more problematic for them to make a move.
If the governor mistook us for innocent engineers, it would be best to blend in and slip away unnoticed.
“I understand your point, so you stay still. I’ll check slowly.”
Though the junior had almost caused a disaster earlier, it seemed like he provided a sharp opinion this time.
The team leader kept an eye on the trembling Governor Pastel, who was now being pressured by the strong protests from the cult members.
The low-ranking cult member suddenly furrowed his brow.
“Are you trying to take credit for my efforts now? I could have shot the governor who was off guard, but you interfered, and now you’re trying to use this to cover your responsibility?”
“What?”
The team leader was left speechless in disbelief.
“You should have just run away with the wooden box; it wouldn’t have been an issue. But instead, you caused this by hiding it in your arms! Now you’re trying to take my credit for covering your responsibility.”
“Hey, how did we get here?”
The team leader attempted to explain his position and duties.
“Ouch!”
Suddenly, from the corner of his vision, Governor Pastel collapsed.
“But the guild must take responsibility! Are you okay?!”
“Ugh, I’m fine!”
Governor Pastel wobbled back to his feet. He shook off the white hem of his clothes and inspected his pink hair with horror.
“Ah, my hair got dirty too. Just a moment, let me shake it off and redo my hairstyle.”
The small braids he had tied together came undone. The governor shook his hair and began re-braiding the small braid on the left side.
The team leader observed the governor and, finding nothing more to look at, turned back to the low-ranking cult member.
“I can understand the misunderstanding you might have had, but what on earth is my fault? That was the best decision at the time; you’re just spouting nonsensical complaints.”
“Are you trying to evade responsibility right now?”
An argument ensued.
As their faces flushed, ready to escalate from verbal conflict to a physical one, a group suddenly ran towards the station leading into the clearing.
“Everyone, stop!”
These were guild members openly showing off their knight armor, clearly former knight corps members.
“With the recent unrest due to terror activities, why did you enter without permission?!”
The team leader flinched.
“What’s going on?”
“Aren’t we supposed to be running away?!”
“You stay quiet for a moment.”
The team leader suppressed the low-ranking cult member with his body and hurriedly looked at Governor Pastel.
“Ehh.”
The governor’s eyes were wide with surprise.
“Everyone, what’s going on here?”
The former knight corps member saluted with a stern expression.
“The atmosphere is tense due to terrorism from radicals, and even if it’s you, Governor, it’s unacceptable to recklessly admit outsiders.”
“Eh? Ahhh, do we have to undergo a body search or something? If explosives are hidden on someone, that could be dangerous, I suppose… Ugh.”
“Body search. Yes, that is correct.”
The former knight turned to them.
“We will conduct a body search on everyone. Normally, outsiders should undergo this every time they enter, so please cooperate.”
The team leader felt a rush of confusion.
What is happening?
The engineer and his party murmured among themselves and complied with the body search willingly.
The engineer stepped forward with a nervous look.
“We don’t have any intent to terrorize.”
“Yes, it will be over soon.”
The former knight inspected the engineer’s body, pressing down on his clothes as if it were an informal check, but given that a junior knight was doing the examination, it wasn’t easy.
“Wow.”
So this is how a knight’s body search works.
Pastel curiously poked around the former knights who were diligently working per the guidelines.
“What is this wooden box? It’s the perfect size to hold explosives.”
The former knight retrieved the wooden box from the engineer’s arms. The lock on the wooden box rattled.
The engineer responded calmly with a tense expression.
“It’s a customer’s valuable item. Ideally, it should have been transported along with the cargo.”
Gasp, a valuable item.
The former knight looked back at Pastel.
Pastel scampered closer, hiding behind the junior knight and peeking only his head out.
“What is it? What kind of valuable item is it?”
I’m curious.
The engineer became flustered. Thinking hard about what it could be, Pastel answered for him instead.
“Could it be that it’s so valuable that the engineer doesn’t even know what it is? Though, we sometimes have customers who don’t tell us what their goods are.”
“That’s correct. I don’t know. So it has to be handled with even more care.”
“Gasp, then you can’t just leave it like that!”
“Eh?”
“We’re not responsible for this, but because your employee misled you, we’ll take the valuable item and deliver it on behalf of the Craft guild!”
This is the Craft guild fulfilling their responsibility!
Yes, yes!
The engineer waved his hands in dismay.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s fine! Our guild started the delivery service with the good intention of helping those who lack necessary items, so we can’t just overlook this situation!”
Pastel received the wooden box from the former knight.
“I’ll move this to a dedicated container since it’s a valuable item! Let’s double wrap it in a special box!”
So professional.
“Keep undergoing the body search!”
“Eh?! You don’t have to do that…!”
Pastel skipped away.
Lalalala, a tune came out.
Today, too, Pastel is doing good deeds~.
Beep beep, brrrr~.
Suddenly, the wooden box began to shake.
Huh?
Pastel stopped in his tracks and looked down at the box. The lock rattled violently and vibrated.
Oh my.
The surface of the wooden box that was securing the lock shattered, and the lid flew open violently, releasing a black energy.
“Wooaah!”
From the energy emerged a dark, round shape. The small, murky mass of energy rushed straight through Pastel.
“Ahhh!”
Pastel screamed and fell down.
Save Pastel…!
Grabbing at the penetrated chest, she hesitated.
“Huh, no feeling.”
She thought something very serious had happened, but it turned out not to be the case.
Screams sounded from behind.
Looking back, the black energy that had passed through Pastel was now taking revenge on the people who had trapped it by penetrating one by one into the body of the engineer and his party.
The engineer screamed. The clothes that were covering his body rotted and fell off, exposing his skin. The skin cracked and turned black, with decay setting in.
Ugh?
The engineer’s party clawed at their bodies, screaming one after another as they fell. In agony, their limbs twisted, their skin burst, and blood splattered everywhere.
Ugh?
After taking its revenge, the black energy seemed poised to attack the former knights next but suddenly hesitated. As it halted, one could see a small form resembling a human within the black energy, though it was not human at all.
The figure seemed surprised and flew over.
After staring for a moment, a voice rang out.
—Why are you unharmed…?
A loud scream echoed. The engineer’s body decayed and rotted until it couldn’t hold on any longer and burst apart. Blood splattered, and severed flesh covered the ground.
Ugh.
Pastel felt one of her mental gears slip loose.
A small entity with limbs that wasn’t human.
“Gasp, is that a Lord Fairy?”
Silence lingered.
The dazed Lord Fairy turned around. The mangled, blood-soaked flesh lay blackened as it decayed.
The Lord Fairy turned back to Pastel. Then looked up at the sky, then back again, rolling its eyes before it covered its mouth with its small hands.
—That’s right!
The Lord Fairy had an expression of shock.
Wow, it’s a Lord Fairy!
