The suspicious mercenary group’s airship arrived deep within the dark mountain range. An artificial clearing covered with temporary tents came into view.
Pastel moved when the faint campfire in the clearing came into sight. Drawing out the sword that hung precariously from the airship, he leaped towards the tall trees on the ground.
Safe landing~!
The vegetation quickly approached. His feet touched the tree. The large branches swayed.
Whoa.
As he balanced, the tree gradually stabilized.
Pastel brushed off the twigs and leaves from his body and peered through the branches.
The airship continued flying and landed on a landing pad prepared on one side of the clearing. Armed mercenary members came out to welcome the airship from the tents in the clearing.
“Totally suspicious, right?”
Entities of unknown affiliation flying in with a low altitude to avoid detection and reaching a hidden refuge?
There must be something going on.
“It’s suspicious, but since it’s a guild affair, it might be an organization for tax evasion. It’s common to reduce the official scale of the guild organization on paper only and hide part of the harvest to pay less tax.”
“No, no, no.”
Pastel shook his head and wore a serious expression.
“The king of tax evasion is smuggling, right? In my view as one who deserves to be called the king of kings, that’s not tax evasion! There’s no scent of money at all!”
He took a deep breath, inhaling the crisp mountain air.
“Rather, this is the scent of wicked crime!”
Crisp air = Anyway, wicked scent
Whoa, so wicked.
The smuggler Pastel clearly sensed that an unimaginable crime was hidden away.
The demon was baffled.
“I don’t know how to respond to that. More importantly, don’t proudly introduce your smuggling career. Since when did you start calling yourself the king of kings?”
Pastel ignored the scolding and headed towards the end of the branch. He jumped to the opposite tree, repeating the motion until he neared the clearing.
Hop hop.
Bunny Pastel…!
As he got closer to the clearing, he stopped moving and gathered branches. With leaves generously covering his body, he observed the somehow strange clearing.
Besides the tents lined up as temporary accommodations, bizarre birds either tied to leashes or caged took up one side of the clearing.
The caged bizarre birds were fierce, but those leashed were curled up and sleeping without making a fuss.
“Ooh, they’re tamed. How did that happen? I thought only the illustrious demon tribes, who visit the holy land of the sky islands riding skywhales from generation to generation, could do such a thing.”
“Demon tribes?”
Pastel tilted his head.
“Are those suspicious people demons?”
Their ears, which should be slightly pointed like Elly’s, looked normal.
“The visible members may not be, but seeing as they’ve tamed the bizarre birds, some must be demons or in cooperation with demons. Taming bizarre birds is a rare skill.”
A suspicious group with a rare skill?
Whoa, really super suspicious.
“As the king of tax evasion, I must assess that those people are definitely not here for tax evasion! A legitimate tax evader would never act like that! I know!”
“I really don’t know how to respond to that.”
“It means there’s a highly suspicious conspiracy! This won’t do! Let’s carefully infiltrate!”
Pastel jumped down from the branch of the tall tree. He landed on a mid-height branch and then jumped back down to the ground. His pink hair flowed down as he softly landed.
Hiding in the bushes and shadows, he swiftly moved. He concealed himself behind a tree right next to the clearing.
He whispered just barely.
“The bizarre birds will bark if we get too close, right?”
“Hmm.”
The demon spoke flatly.
“A bird is not a dog.”
I see.
Pastel seriously acknowledged this but paused.
Huh, was I just treated like a fool?
Am I fool Pastel now…?!
Whoa?!
“However, it will become noisy. Be careful not to approach too closely to the bizarre birds that aren’t sleeping.”
Feeling that he hadn’t really been treated like a fool at all, Pastel became very suspicious but didn’t press further.
He glanced sideways at the magical sword and sneaked into the clearing.
He moved carefully or swiftly while using the bizarre bird cages as blind spots. He thought about eavesdropping on the conversation of two individuals that appeared to be guarding the bizarre birds, wondering what kind of group they were.
However, since they were having a conversation next to sleeping bizarre birds, they spoke in hushed tones, making it difficult to hear from a reasonable distance.
Pastel approached a nearby cage as closely as he could without being noticed, using a bizarre bird as a blind spot to hide and strained his ears to listen.
But he couldn’t hear anything…
It would really be difficult to determine whether they were truly a bad group or not.
He could imagine his hormonal friend being disappointed and whining.
He shouted firmly in his imagination.
“No disappointment allowed!”
What if I kill someone for no reason!
No whining, no whining!
Hiiing…
Still, it’s not allowed!
The world is cold and merciless!
Just because you cry doesn’t mean you’ll get anything!
Ahem.
He firmly suppressed his hormonal friend and lightly tapped the magical sword.
“Mr. Demon, don’t you hear anything?”
Anything evil enough to make my hormonal friend roar?
If even the demon doesn’t know, we should try to infiltrate the airship or approach the tents noticeably.
“I might be mistaken, but didn’t we see those young birds a few days ago? The nest they were in, that is.”
That’s not what I meant.
Telepathy didn’t work at all.
Pastel turned away slightly with a pout. He looked towards the place the demon mentioned.
He saw familiar forms in a cage about two cages away.
Three baby birds had their beaks shut with leather muzzles laced with chains. The baby birds, about the same size as Pastel, gazed up with pitiful eyes. They looked like giant chicks.
Oh?
Pastel’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth in a triangular shape, just like the baby birds, as he locked eyes with them.
Silence flowed.
He sneaked a glance at the guards and crossed the cage. When he reached the cage in front of the baby birds, they looked up at him with sorrowful eyes.
Why are you guys here?
Where’s your nest? Where’s your mother bird?
The baby birds tried to open their beaks as if to answer, but the securely laced leather muzzles were too tight.
Only their suppressed cries could be heard.
—Pii…
The pitiful gazes were upon him.
Pastel’s heart ached.
How did you end up like this?
You were surely having a cozy time in your nest just a few days ago!
You were making good memories with me…!
Nostalgic memories rushed back.
On the deck of the airship, he had been suddenly pecked by the mother bird.
After falling from the nest, he found himself surrounded by three baby birds who were pecking at him.
They had become friends after clearing up the misunderstanding, but instead of a farewell, he had just had his pink hair ripped out, which had been decorated in the nest.
When a group of jaguars showed up and he had been asked for help, he chased them away, only to become the leftovers condition right after.
Huh?
Aren’t all of these bad memories?!
Pastel was shocked, and his expression turned complicated in an instant.
Aren’t they supposed to be my friends?
Even popular Pastel knows how to get mad.
Just like a firm celebrity against paparazzi and stalkers.
Feeling the change in atmosphere, the baby birds chirped pitifully with their suppressed beaks. They seemed to shrink back and avert their gazes.
Pastel crossed his arms and sighed deeply.
Is this what it feels like to see a troublemaker in danger?
A calm voice was heard.
“They’re coming.”
Huh?
I definitely heard that voice from the demon and then was bitten by the birds, right?
Pastel flinched and looked up at the sky, but of course, it wasn’t a bird. He heard footsteps and voices of people approaching.
“When are we moving all of this before dawn?”
“Guess we won’t be sleeping at all today.”
Whoa?!
They’re coming, they’re coming!
Pastel hurriedly searched for a hiding spot. There was no decent place among the cages that just contained bizarre birds.
Whoa!
Crisis level!
Great crisis!
Super great crisis!
The baby birds watched.
—Pii!
The baby birds wobbled and created a space inside the cage. It was a blind spot surrounded by fluffy baby birds.
Oh?
Pastel’s eyes widened.
You guys don’t mean…?
—Pii!
The baby bird’s eyes gleamed.
Baby bird friends…!
Here I come!
Pastel jumped into the cage. The iron bars for the bizarre birds were spacious enough for the girl to enter.
As he settled among the three baby birds, they wobbled around him until they surrounded him completely. The feathered, fluffy fluff that was only half-complete wrapped around the girl snugly.
But it was a bit too much, and Pastel was nearly squished.
Whoa!
Squished Pastel…!
Footsteps approached right in front of the cage.
Whoa.
Trembling.
“They didn’t just cry a moment ago, did they? Their beaks were freed, right?”
“If their beaks were free, wouldn’t we hear just fine?”
Oh?
The two didn’t seem to notice the girl surrounded within at all.
Is this the triangular position?!
It’s the triangle of friendship…!
Pastel overcame the situation with the power of friendship.
Oh yeah.
It was a perfect outcome, but the situation hadn’t completely improved.
The two people stopped right in front of the cage and began chatting about the number of cages they had to move and how excessive the workload was to get this done during the night.
Moving at night?
It must look suspicious to anyone.
But what kind of group are they, I wonder?
After a little while, the two’s conversation ended, yet the situation still showed no sign of improvement.
Was the move true? A crowd of people began milling around the cage, starting to work. The iron cages created noise as they were moved one by one.
The cage holding the baby birds was the same. It was pushed with wheels beneath it, then tied up and lifted with something akin to a crane.
Huh?
Pastel felt a sensation of floatation while his eyes widened.
What’s going on?
The cage let out a dull sound as it landed on the airship deck. People approached.
—Pii! Pii!
The baby birds cried out pitifully.
“Shut up!”
The cage was kicked. The cage holding the baby birds swayed and became noisy.
Whoa!
“If they cry, the mother bird might come flying over!”
The cage was pushed. The wheels of the cage made long noises as it passed the deck and moved into the airship’s interior.
Oh?
As they entered the warehouse, darkness fell. The warehouse buzzed with activity as it was opened and closed repeatedly. How long had it been? It finally quieted down.
As the airship began to rise, Pastel felt a sensation of floatation, which soon calmed down—the signs of departure.
Pastel, observing the atmosphere, cautiously peeked out from among the baby birds. The dark warehouse was visible. No one was there.
Oh?
He fully stepped out of the cage and looked around.
Indeed, no one is here?
He raised both arms.
Pastel, infiltration success!
He imagined a trumpet sounding.
Ba ba bam~!
Pastel danced joyfully, twirling around. Then, he covered his mouth and gasped in astonishment.
How easy can this be!
Could I be a genius at infiltration?
Wow.
I’m an infiltration genius…!
What a surprising fact!
