Culture Shock.
Princess Elly said that being wiped out by the faction that got the line wrong without realizing it is a tradition of the Demon Realm. Executing everyone wouldn’t be a big problem.
Huh, why is the culture like this here?
I could understand why the moderate demon faction at the last secret meeting on Sky Island started singing praises for the Demon Lord. It’s because lining up under the Demon Lord, who is the safe bet, is the best option.
Furthermore, I also understood why the Parliament suddenly established itself in the United Kingdom, where the royal family openly exists. While the reasons included the vacant throne of the Demon Lord and the weakened authority and justification of the royal family, even if the members all get executed, they can just elect new ones.
Weak monarchies that compromise at the back while fighting each other are not in line with the traditions of the Demon Realm.
It’s a good outcome, but the reason is not good at all.
Ugh.
Nathaniel introducing himself every time as Nathaniel of the noble Presley family was honestly astounding, but now I felt like I could consider it just okay.
In a Demon Realm where devastation is tradition, maintaining a clan intact is quite an achievement, isn’t it?
Wow.
However, this is just a tradition of the Demon Realm.
If the list Mr. Penguin pointed out as innocent gets wiped out, Pastel plans to faint from a jumbled state of mind rather than just being anxious, so she vehemently opposed it.
“Devastation, from a political engineering perspective, isn’t beautiful at all!”
If it could be easily solved like that, they could just stab with a sword! Why would everyone engage in politics?
Setting aside morality, devastation is a huge loss in terms of cost-benefit analysis.
In fact, if strictly examined, the mental shock from being anxious and fainting is not as big as the practical loss. Just as immorality doesn’t guarantee benefits, morality doesn’t guarantee benefits either.
The bigger problem is that it involves unnecessary risks that don’t need to be taken.
Let’s be honest; if someone who harbors a grudge from the devastation terrorizes the innocent Craft trading guild’s railway while risking their life, who would compensate for that?
If that someone is highly competent and doesn’t stop at a one-time terrorist act but carries out organized and planned terrorism, the scale of damage would be unimaginable.
“Ugh! Just imagining it makes my heart…!”
Fortunately, Elly was smart enough to retract her statement quickly.
It was just a careless remark made in a private space, so it likely wasn’t her true intention.
“What degree do you want?”
It seemed like Elly was thinking about the sort of punishment the victim Pastel desired.
Huh?
Was that an execution of all suspects?
What do you think of me usually?
Pastel became very curious, but she didn’t bother to ask.
“More than that, we need to establish justification first!”
Elly, who was unaware that her close aide brother, who had been friendly since childhood, was actually a spy, had to approach the assassination plan with care since it was clearly innocent.
Pastel bit her small tongue and swirled her fountain pen.
“Let’s differentiate between confidential justification and diplomatic justification.”
Confidential justification is a strong rationale for secretly contacting the messenger and pressuring. It refers to the assassination plan of the governor.
Diplomatic justification is a plausible rationale to announce to the public. Investigating corruption or suppressing cults might be included.
If the assassination plan of the governor is openly declared, the empire will react, and the public will resist. In such a case, what remains for the messenger isn’t a politically fatal agreement, marked as a loser, but only more radical statements and actions.
If we’re to reach an agreement, we must give the opponent an escape route first.
“Have secret talks with the messengers to honestly convey the situation. It’s under the pretense of meeting as those considering national interest in the same Parliament, not as competing factions. If this is publicized, it’ll not only put the messenger in crisis but also shake the United Kingdom.”
It appears benign, but, of course, that reasoning is close to taking advantage of overwhelming justification.
If the leadership of the messenger faction resists, it would be possible to encourage a coup within the party by contacting members aligned with the overwhelming justification.
Whether the coup succeeds or fails, handling a divided opponent is easy.
“Then, on the parliamentary level, let’s organize a joint investigation team to investigate those who plotted the assassination of the governor and punish them according to the law.”
The key point here is that the public should know that the justification of the joint investigation team is not for attempted assassination of the governor.
The investigation team would be formed for reasons such as investigating corruption or suppressing cults, and those who plotted the assassination plan would be punished for such charges.
Since it’s not innocent but rather a real crime, Pastel could feel at ease without anxiety!
Wow.
Elly pressed her lips with her fountain pen.
“It’s true that the messengers did wrong, so should we come to an agreement with the leadership in advance and include a few who had been a thorn in our side?”
“Exactly!”
Just pointing to a few messengers who were innocently sitting idle and really investigating corruption would yield enough charges to put them in prison!
No one in the world is without some dirt!
This would prevent the messengers from hindering the great Governor Pastel’s path, even if it wasn’t devastating power.
If the dove faction can’t even handle this, I think we need to forcibly dissolve the Parliament and transition to the Princess Elly regime.
Elly twisted her side hair.
“After the measures, let the empire be notified through a confidential communication network? We’ll handle it ourselves and carry out the punishment, so they shouldn’t question it.”
“Yes! That’s it!”
If we do this much, it could really be considered internal interference externally.
Of course, the public might attempt to demand reparations vigorously through the contact network that they are unaware of, but as long as the public doesn’t know, it’s fine.
“I understand. This is what we usually do. It should proceed without trouble.”
Elly had Mr. Penguin jot down notes for her.
Huh?
Is this something we usually handle?
Yet, immediately mentioning the execution of all suspects makes me think Elly was momentarily confused by the fact that a friend faced an assassination threat.
Hehe.
Pastel shot a mischievous glance.
“Meow~.”
Since I became aware of Elly’s unexpressed affection, today seems like a good day.
However, there’s something troubling about this good day.
The document containing the governor’s assassination plan is fake, prepared by Mr. Penguin.
The messengers aren’t fools; they will have to conduct verification investigations to find the culprit. But this is the manipulated document.
Even if the messengers were pressured to form a joint investigation team, if it’s revealed to be innocent, the situation would turn strange.
It was said in a private location and private time, so I can retract it anyway, but to what extent is this document manipulated?
Is it okay to form a joint investigation team with this document? Was the scene manipulated so that plausible evidence of manipulation could be revealed during the investigation?
Pastel glanced sideways at Mr. Penguin. Mr. Penguin, who had been diligently taking notes for Princess Elly, suddenly met her gaze.
Then he smiled brightly.
“I hope the confused Parliament gets sorted out through this.”
Seems there’s no problem.
To what extent was it manipulated that forming a investigative team wouldn’t be an issue? It doesn’t seem like they just manipulated the document plausibly.
Since he has status within the messenger faction, he must have done something.
Ugh.
Mr. Penguin is terrifying.
The extent of the manipulation would soon be revealed.
After a seemingly coordinated discussion, the Parliament publicly announced an agreement to eradicate cross-party corruption.
It appeared that the messenger faction, who had already failed, was cooperating to gain the external justification of having made a noble sacrifice for the country and preparing for a future leap.
That day, the entirety of the Demon Realm was intoxicated with the feeling that this is a true country that can perform the self-purification action that the empire cannot! You can’t eradicate corruption, can you?!, while their beer glasses rattled.
While Pastel was rolling around on her bed, she was able to receive the interim results of the investigation team that had already been organized contrary to the newspaper announcement.
Her pink eyes blinked drowsily as she read the document.
Investigation Results.
Arrest of 47 individuals planning the assassination of the governor.
“Huh?”
It was written that a member of the radical faction disguised by Mr. Penguin had cooperated with some factions of the cult to lead the assassination of the governor and ultimately fled.
“Huh?”
There were also contents about discovering involvement from individuals of knight rank and that they had confessed.
“What?!”
Even though it was clearly Mr. Penguin’s manipulated fake document, upon investigation, things were coming out one after another.
“Wow!”
This is impressive!
Pastel clapped her hands.
“Mr. Penguin is totally elite! To manipulate documents and prepare an assassination plan in such a short time to make it a fact!”
A true spy!
A super super elite!
Clap clap clap!
Clap clap clap.
Clap clap.
“Considering it like that would be foolish…!”
Ugh!
Pastel clutched her head.
What is this?! What is this?!
Even if they try to make the assassination plan a fact, it couldn’t be accomplished so immediately, right?
There must have been a real assassination plan…!
Ugh!
“I didn’t do anything wrong!”
Pastel trembled in fear.
The assassination plan is one thing, but what’s more frightening is Mr. Penguin’s overly quick outcomes.
Preparing the assassination plan under a disguised radical identity couldn’t possibly happen overnight. This meant they had been preparing the assassination plan before Pastel requested manipulation.
For what reason?
Ahaha.
What reason could there be?
It means there was a thought to kill if things went awry…!
“Ugh!”
Just recently, a conversation flashed in her mind.
―I was questioning why the governor met with Duke Redgrave and surveyed the republicans.
So if things go awry?!
Pastel realized that by sacrificing the imperial republicans to gain the Emperor’s trust, the need for future preparations was eliminated, thus using the coup of the messenger faction, which was a sub-plan, to implement the assassination plan!
No wonder they brought the manipulated document right away!
A true liar doesn’t lie.
Mr. Penguin didn’t manipulate anything. He just slightly adjusted the existing versatile plan and brought it along.
He could have modified it more delicately to keep Pastel guessing about the background, but by throwing it out so openly, it likely also served as a warning that he would keep an eye on her.
Tears welled up in her pink eyes.
“You’re a demon!”
She grabbed the white pillow. Pastel sprang up and dashed out of the bedroom.
“I’m scared to be alone…!”
Waaah!
