『Is this skill… could it be the Cult?』
The Demon examined the awakening potion. He carefully split the drug and scrutinized the black substance with tweezers.
『…No way it’s the Cult. It hasn’t even been 20 years since we went through so much to eradicate them, so this can’t be happening. The Academy isn’t an easy place to infiltrate.』
The tweezers separated a specific component.
『Is this a Sky Whale’s fin? I don’t know the purpose of distributing this awakening potion, but they wouldn’t use such an expensive ingredient purely for sale.』
The Demon set the tweezers down.
『Young Craft, it won’t affect you anyway. Neither will the effects. Just like you can’t gain energy from food, various substances won’t work on you.』
The Demon’s finger tapped the table.
『But just to be safe, it’s better if you don’t eat it.』
Huh?
Pastel’s eyes went wide.
A few awakening potions rolled around in her open mouth.
The Demon, who turned back, facepalmed.
『Why are you eating that?』
“But, it’s delicious!”
Pastel mumbled quickly. Her eyes sparkled every time she chewed on the awakening potions.
The Gem tasted like cheap candy. But the awakening potion was way tastier.
Gourmet candy?
It seemed like a luxury candy, hand-crafted by a master candy chef over several days.
How should I express this?
After some thought, Pastel had a brilliant idea.
“Master Chef’s Drug Cocktail!”
Wow.
Chef’s skills are totally fantastic.
『Drug Cocktail…?』
The Demon’s face hardened. He then snatched the box of awakening potions away.
『Don’t eat it.』
Gasp?!
“Give it back, please!”
Pastel reached out her hands.
『No.』
The Demon stood up, lifting the box high above. His tall stature raised it even higher.
“Please give it back! Please!”
Pastel clung to the Demon, stretching her hands. She couldn’t even touch the box.
Gasp, his height!
His height…!
The Demon looked down, resolutely.
『What’s with this drug cocktail? Just don’t eat it.』
Ugh.
Was my expression too weird?
“I’ll correct that! It’s not a drug… uh, no.”
Ugh.
Pastel scratched her head, seriously pondering, then uncertainly looked up at the Demon.
“Gem Cocktail…?”
Hehe.
The Demon declared, with no change in his expression.
『No.』
Aww.
My special Gem Cocktail…!
Master Chef, please scold the Demon a little!
Is the Cult renowned for similar skills? I feel like I’m experiencing a bond of blood with the Cult. Shouldn’t I have been with them?
Ugh, calm down.
Top student Pastel, you can protect the Gem Cocktail.
Logical and rational brain working!
Yay…!
“Demon Lord, Demon Lord. I’m not in a position to choose what to eat. The expression might be weird, but just like you said, it wouldn’t be a problem for me to eat it!”
She pointed to herself.
She had just swallowed a few awakening potions, and nothing really changed.
『That’s…』
The Demon hesitated.
No matter how you look at it, having a child eat anything is quite unsettling.
A gap!
Pastel jumped. She snatched the awakening potion box and bolted away.
Hooray, hooray.
She stuffed the potions into her mouth.
The sweetness of candy!
The Demon hesitated, thinking about stopping her, but then gave up. He watched her with a look of unease.
Pastel smiled brightly.
“It’s okay!”
No problems at all.
Really.
#
The next day, Pastel submitted an awakening potion she hadn’t finished at the Faculty Meeting as part of the Student Council.
Then she headed to the old dormitory. She wanted to inform the first-year students about the ghost result.
“The ghost presence at midnight was from Leonard’s gang.”
Not a ghost, how disappointing.
“Le, Leonard?”
The first-year shook his pale face.
“No, there was a noise last night.”
“Really? Everyone was in the garden?”
“It really happened!”
Is there really a ghost?
Hooray.
Pastel’s eyes sparkled.
The first-year flinched and avoided her gaze.
“So, I checked it myself. To see if it was really a ghost.”
Oh?
Our friend has surprising courage.
The first-year walked into the hallway. Then he pointed at the floor, trembling.
“The cause was here.”
His finger pointed at the plain floor of the hallway.
“At midnight, a voice resounded from below. It must definitely be a ghost…!”
Huh?
Is that so? Isn’t there just a space below the floor? Maybe a basement or something.
“Got it; the Student Council will look into it.”
She sent the terrified first-year back.
Pastel put her ear to the ground to listen.
What could be heard?
As she waited quietly, she heard faint animal sounds.
Meow, meow.
Pastel’s eyes widened.
“Demon Lord! Demon Lord! It’s a cat sound! There’s a cat living underground!”
Wow, underground cat.
『It must be the basement. It used to be a military training facility, so it’s probably remnants of that. It’s been covered by the dormitory, but it seems it hasn’t been completely erased.』
Ohh, the signs of an adventure are wafting.
Pastel’s eyes sparkled.
“Let’s enter immediately!”
And after a whole day of digging, she found out there was no entrance to the basement at all.
Huh.
『Did they cover it with a dormitory? In that case, we can’t get in. Give it up.』
“What about the cat? How did it get in?”
『If the inside is spacious, there might have been an entrance that opened somewhere far away. Even if it was abandoned, it would have been a military secret in the past. Don’t expect to find a hidden entrance.』
“Aww, that can’t be.”
What a pity.
The adventure has ended just like that.
Is life usually like this?
What a shame.
Pastel pondered how to comfort the frightened first-year who was afraid of the ghost.
She crossed her arms and looked down at the floor.
Suddenly, she heard a sound from her pocket.
Huh.
She took it out; it was the fate compass she got from the Demon King’s ruins.
The needle spun and pointed at the floor.
Oh?
『…Seems the Demon King’s arrangement is underground.』
Pastel’s eyes gleamed.
Could it be a Gem duplication this time?
Or just breathing in the air and munching on magic?
Whatever it is, if it’s related to the Demon King, life must be too easy. There’s gotta be a cheat key in there somewhere.
『You might have to rely on luck, but digging through the library could help you find the underground materials. If you’re lucky, you might infer an entrance.』
What did you say? You want me to read a ton of books?
Sitting in a dusty library?
Ugh, top student Pastel wouldn’t do something like that.
“I have an idea!”
Smart people don’t study.
Pastel’s sharp gaze swept around the dormitory.
It was clean but quite shabby.
“A student shouldn’t live in such poor conditions!”
Everything in sight was outdated, totally outdated.
“I can’t tolerate this as part of the Student Council!”
She raised one arm high.
“We’ll build a new dormitory!”
Pastel’s eyes sparkled.
“The Student Council will take the initiative!”
If there was something below the dormitory, wouldn’t it be best to just demolish the dormitory?
Using the Student Council’s authority to slyly intervene in the construction site and munch on the Demon King’s arrangement.
Totally brilliant idea.
And then!
“We’ll recruit the construction company from the Demon Realm for the project!”
Why the Demon Realm, though?
Just, hehe.
It’s nothing serious.
“We’ll feed the poor kids~.”
The Demon muttered with an anxious voice.
『…Why the Demon Realm?』
The first time is hard.
The second time is manageable.
The third time is easy!
Hooray.
Off to the Demon Realm~!
Oh, wait.
Before that, I need to increase the Student Council members.
Elly seems to be struggling all alone.
#
Dustin Wild.
Second son of the Wild Baron family.
He grew up under a father who had a hobby of seizing commoners’ farms and a mother who matched well with such a husband.
Haha.
His older brother, who resembled their father, enjoyed whipping the maid and was so close to Dustin that he would seek his younger brother out every time.
Haha.
He had never been scolded or raised a voice at.
However, Dustin wanted to run away from home due to some inexplicable rebellious spirit.
As a result, with great effort and determination, he successfully enrolled in the academy.
Good job, Dustin.
But reality can be harsh.
What awaited him instead was a poor score on written exams.
Learning feels like thievery, and so Dustin couldn’t suppress his pride and picked a fight with the relatively weaker top student.
There was some calculation behind it.
As the second son of a baron family, his future was bleak. He had to establish some reputation and connections somehow to gain independence.
In that regard, defeating a girl from a renowned family in their first duel seemed rough but worth a shot.
Even if he got cursed out, being infamous would be better than being unknown.
As a starting point, Craft’s Pastel appeared to be an easy opponent.
She certainly seemed that way.
But the result was a disgrace.
The frail girl turned out to possess unbelievable strength.
Girl goes, hurrah!
Dustin goes, ack! ack!
No.
Afterward, Dustin began to face silent ostracism among his peers.
So thoroughly ostracized that he couldn’t make a single friend during the entrance exam.
Dustin cried quietly into his blanket. Tears streamed down his face.
He wanted to make friends.
He had made a list of 100 things to do with friends at the academy…
Every day passed with him eating alone.
The first item on the list—eating lunch with a friend—was left completely unachieved.
He shouldn’t have written it.
Every day, his pillowcase became drenched with tears.
But was there a bright day in life?
After enrollment, Leonard approached him. What he wanted was the battle experience gained from dueling with Pastel.
It seemed Leonard also wanted to gain notoriety and reputation by defeating Pastel.
A sturdy physique like an upperclassman and the meticulousness of an early investigation into his opponent.
He thought this kid could defeat Pastel!
Let’s become friends with him!
And then eat together…!
In truth, Dustin simply wanted to eat with friends, so he obediently answered Leonard’s commanding questions.
It felt like he was becoming a subordinate rather than a friend, but it must be an illusion.
And so began Leonard’s plan.
Leonard was cold-hearted. Despite his sturdy physique, he didn’t let his guard down about the girl’s strength.
When he heard Pastel was conducting continuous arm wrestling matches, he seized the opportunity to duel, waiting for the girl’s arm strength to give out completely.
This was a sure win…!
The cool-headed Leonard faced off against the clueless Pastel.
The girl went, wham wham!
Leonard went, ack! ack!
No.
Leonard, where’d you put that huge build? You can’t fall in one punch after such thorough preparation.
He gave up thinking.
Nothing is going right, sigh.
And still, nothing was going right, and Dustin was currently rolling on the ground, thoroughly enjoying himself.
“Hey! Step on it! How dare you fall for such a beauty’s scheme?! You rotten bastard!”
At Leonard’s command, the subordinates rushed in. Kicks hit him all over.
The kicks laden with the subordinates’ ulterior motives continued.
“That’s right! You rotten! We also wanted to be seduced by Pastel!”
Leonard, kicking along, flinched.
“What?! Who just said that! Who was it?!”
As Leonard’s angry gaze scanned the surroundings, the hunt for the culprit started, allowing Dustin to finally escape.
His thoroughly beaten body ached all over.
He leaned against the wall and staggered.
“Damn it, it was just an innocent friendship check… I’m the second son of a baron family, but even if I was an aristocrat, I wouldn’t have fallen for that. They are just indulging in their wild imaginations.”
He limped slightly, moving carefully. Was his ankle sprained? It was tingling.
“Uh? Hello, friend.”
A familiar voice caught his attention.
He turned his head.
Suddenly, he saw cherry blossoms blooming.
Her luxurious hair swayed in rhythm as she walked. Her hazy pink eyes met his.
In this moment, the wind smelled of blossoms.
“Are you okay? Does anything hurt?”
Dustin snapped back to reality at the worried voice. He hurriedly averted his gaze.
Damn it, of all times now.
How embarrassing.
“It’s fine, I have somewhere to go.”
His firm refusal made Pastel tilt her head.
“…Ah.”
The girl suddenly looked very sorry.
“I didn’t consider your feelings. Sorry, I usually don’t pay attention to my surroundings properly.”
A soft hand gently held Dustin’s. He felt a warm sensation. The heat seemed to rise through his hand and up his arm.
“I’m sorry, friend.”
Her pink eyes closed sweetly.
“Just one chance, please.”
Dustin’s heart raced. The warmth radiating from her hand felt like it engulfed his entire body.
“Of course, I’ll make sure Leonard stays away!”
His imagination ran wild.
Could this be what’s known as free love?
“Hmm, how can I put it… Ah!”
Pastel smiled brightly.
“You have a lot of talent for serving under someone! Join the Student Council! We’re currently lacking manpower!”
What was about to blossom in his heart shattered into pieces.
“What did you just say…? That I’m a sidekick?”
Dustin Wild, Student Council Member.
Position: Sidekick.
