The rescue team arrived at the rocky mountain.
Merchants and mercenaries moved busily to find the stranded Viscount Craft. They illuminated the white rocks here and there with lanterns, searching every nook and cranny, including various nests and pathways.
At the same time, they had to deal with a flock of monstrous birds attacking and were engaged in battles with a pack of beasts.
However, no trace was found whatsoever.
“Find her by any means necessary! Look for any traces of that pastel, whether it’s footprints or anything else! Isn’t it ridiculous that we can’t find that noticeable girl yet?!”
Leonard, who had been climbing all the way to the top of the rocky mountain and hadn’t properly slept, was getting irritated. The merchants and mercenaries, pointed at and scolded by him, were sweating nervously as they searched.
“Captain, what if something happened to Pastel?”
His subordinates trembled with anxiety.
Leonard frowned deeply.
“Shut up and don’t say unnecessary things!”
He slapped the head of the subordinate who made the unnecessary remark and shouted.
“Instead of talking nonsense, hurry up and find her! You just need to find the pink one! The pink one! Why can’t we find her?!”
“Captain, could it be…?”
One subordinate, looking suspiciously at the surroundings where the merchants and mercenaries were moving, spoke carefully.
“It may be a coincidence that Pastel was taken by a bird, but the fact that she’s nowhere to be seen could be a sign that a certain trading guild is plotting something against us?”
His comrades looked in astonishment at the subordinate who spoke up. It sounded plausible.
Leonard met the subordinate’s gaze without a word. He glanced around to see if any other merchant or mercenary had heard what was just said and then poked the subordinate.
“You go back and tell the knight corps to surround the trading guilds. They’ll listen if we say it’s to rescue Viscount Craft. No, tell them to surround the entire Skywhale. Not a single one must get away!”
“Understood, Captain! Let’s make sure to save Pastel who’s in crisis!”
The subordinate quickly left.
As the situation escalated, another subordinate grew anxious.
“What if they’re all innocent?”
Leonard frowned deeply.
“Innocent? If we still can’t find a girl who’s so easy to spot by now, then that’s incompetence and irreverence!”
“Oh, oh! You’re right! You’re right!”
The subordinates responded.
The search continued for a long time.
After some time without any success, they finally discovered something around dawn.
“There are pink strands of hair in the nest!”
“Really?!”
Leonard ran over with his subordinates.
It was an empty nest located on a steep incline. The place looked damaged as if a big commotion had taken place. It appeared that people had invaded and ransacked the nest.
The pink strands of hair adorning the nest fluttered in the wind. It was a sight to behold.
Leonard carefully touched the strands of hair. A soft texture was felt.
“Yeah, it’s Pastel.”
It seemed he could smell the fragrance of cherry blossoms coming from somewhere.
“Captain, how do you know it’s Pastel’s hair? Have you touched it before?”
His subordinates looked at him in bewilderment.
Leonard flinched and then shouted.
“If it’s this soft, it’s likely hers! Stop with the petty questions and search for more traces!”
The group hurriedly began to search the surroundings meticulously.
They were able to find traces of unidentified individuals who had invaded the nest. It appeared they had kidnapped the originally present young birds.
However, aside from the birds, Leonard became more convinced that there were irreverent individuals among the trading guilds. Kidnappers who had come because Pastel was taken.
“I won’t let these guys get away!”
Even though it was driven by emotion, it wasn’t a wrong judgment.
“Captain!”
A subordinate rushed over in shock.
“What is it? Did you find something?!”
“Not that! Look over there!”
His finger pointed towards the dawn sky, where a strange airborne vehicle was ascending vertically into the sky. It was moving at a breakneck speed.
“What is that?”
Leonard frowned. He took a telescope from his subordinate and examined the airborne vehicle.
It was an unidentified flying craft. Even though he had half-heartedly facilitated Pastel as unpaid labor, he remembered the crafts and members of the guilds that had been assigned to him for oversight. But this one was completely unknown to him.
“Who are these guys?!”
Some guild had hidden from the oversight of the student council or another unknown group was present. Either way, it would relate to Pastel’s disappearance.
The force of Leonard’s grip on the telescope made it creak.
“Gather everyone immediately! From this moment on, I’ll close all docking stations! Not a single one will escape from the Skywhale!”
He ordered to gather the search personnel and then turned to the airborne vehicle.
The airborne craft seemed to soar into space and then shattered into large fragments. Massive debris painted the sky, and a flock of monstrous birds flew to surround the shattered pieces of the craft. Several human forms fell.
Amidst this, a very noticeable pink color caught his eye.
“What’s that?!”
Leonard’s mouth dropped open.
“Pink! It’s Pastel!”
His subordinates were stunned as they hastily deduced with their bare eyes.
“Why is she over there?!”
“Help me!”
Pastel fell with the fragments of the airborne vehicle.
Swish~.
“Ahh!”
As she was about to become a flattened Pastel!
She flailed her arms and legs, swimming towards a wooden table right in front of her.
She flailed her hands and reached for the table, managing to grab it just in time and crawled up onto it.
Clinging tightly to the table, Pastel let out a sigh of relief.
Phew.
Having landed on the table after falling through the air felt completely reassuring. Human beings do need their feet on the ground.
Feeling satisfied, Pastel suddenly realized she was still in trouble.
Huh?
Nothing had actually improved?!
She was still falling…!
“Ahhh!”
Screaming, Pastel pulled out a magic stone knife from her pocket. She stuck the knife appropriately into the table and secured it with her hands.
Table, you are now a UFO!
She poured all her magical power into manipulating the magic stone.
“Fly, UFO!”
The knife energized, and the table began to make noise. Gravity gradually started to cancel out.
As her falling speed decreased, debris from the airborne craft above began to close in on her. Wooden beams and metal frames loomed overhead. Shadows from various angles shrouded the Pastel clinging tightly to the table.
Ahhh!
“Zigzag evade!”
Show the power of the UFO!
The table swayed this way and that as it flew. Dodging pots and plates, a wooden beam loomed overhead.
Pastel stood up and swung her fists. The beam collided with her fists. A shockwave erupted. The wooden beam cracked, and debris exploded.
The table soared up, breaking through the debris. Following a bizarre vertical trajectory, it soared through the metal frames.
Before long, the shadows of the airborne craft fragments disappeared. Her vision opened up and the sky stretched out before her.
“Wow!”
The table slowed down and finally stopped. Pastel staggered to her feet on the table fixed in the sky.
Am I alive?
There were no more airborne craft fragments to collide with, and the fall had stopped.
Pastel’s face brightened.
She raised her arms up high.
“I’m alive!”
I’m not a flattened Pastel!
Suddenly, a shadow fell.
Huh?
A huge flock of monstrous birds was flying around the table. Cult members riding the backs of the monstrous birds glared down at her.
“Determine the cause later! Eliminate the attackers first!”
Uh.
The soldiers’ weapons glimmered. Magic wands stirred to life.
『It’s a siege situation. The ground is very unstable. Focus on technique rather than brute force.』
Ahhh.
“I’m innocent!”
Pastel looked upset.
“I just hit a couple of your friends on the back of the head with some stones, okay?!”
Huh?
Now that I think about it, that wasn’t very innocent, was it?
Ahhh.
“Just please let me go!”
Only until I can kill someone.
Her pleas were not accepted.
A cult member, holding a spear, pulled at the reins of the monstrous bird. The bird flapped its wings and approached.
The spear pointed towards the girl.
Pastel watched the spear aimed at her heart with a frightened expression. Death was approaching bit by bit, and her thoughts became focused.
Adrenaline exploded.
The girl’s expression changed, and she drew her sword. The sword and spear clashed. The blade scratched against the spear, sending sparks flying. The metallic sound echoed. The spear’s trajectory twisted and barely missed the girl.
Still using the remaining momentum from the impact, the girl spun around. The blade traced a circular arc. She swept through the cult member who had been brushed by the blade. A spray of blood erupted. A fountain of blood gushed forth.
The mutilated body fell from the monstrous bird. The bird let out a screech and swayed, colliding with the table. The wooden table shattered from the impact.
With one swing of her sword, the girl beheaded the bird, and then jumped towards the cult members flying nearby.
The magic stone knife flew to create a foothold. The sound of consecutive jumps echoed. The pink silhouette soared and overwhelmed the cult members.
The cult member, staring blankly as he rode the monstrous bird, was vertically sliced by the blade. A fountain of blood drenched the sky.
Spinning downwards, the girl descended. The silver sword followed the same rotation. The blade spiraled down a curved trajectory. A cult member flying just below was torn apart. Body parts and blood splattered over the girl.
Chaos ensued, sending everyone into a frenzied panic.
With each leap, the girl slaughtered cult members. The blade deflected magical projectiles, producing new fragments of corpses.
A group attempting to flee was targeted by the knife. A silvery trajectory sliced through the sky, engulfing the cult members. A celestial chorus erupted. The birds without wings and the cult members fell from the sky. A long scream filled the air.
The knife returned, cushioning Pastel’s foot as she fell. The shaky impact stabilized.
Standing in the sky, Pastel looked down to the ground.
The cult members were tumbling down, mingled with the monstrous birds.
“Ugh.”
A calm voice echoed.
『Well done. Since there are still trading guilds remaining, focusing on combat rather than attempting a risky capture is a good choice.』
With her hormones surging and her mind slightly dazed, Pastel waved at the ground.
“Hello!”
Her gaze met that of one falling cult member. The cult member stared numbly at her without a greeting before crashing against the rocks. The debris shattered. A wide pool of blood stained the earth.
“Ugh?”
The startled Pastel hiccupped.
Hiccup, hiccup.
『…Hmm.』
The demon spoke.
『The girl isn’t witnessing anything good.』
“Yeah.”
Pastel covered her eyes with her hands.
Such a good child.
