Chapter 120
A dark, dark, secret place.
In a place no one should carelessly peek into, a girl leaned back in her chair with an arrogant expression. A faint shadow covered her pink hair.
"In the end, is there no opponent I need to deal with myself? I am disappointed in the level of Sky Island."
Renard, standing crookedly in front of the girl, glanced at her. He roughly flipped through a thick report and skimmed it.
"The administrative staff would have filtered them out once, so in a way, isn't it an obvious result? If there's a problem, you should start by hiring new employees."
"Head of Inspection, that is a foolish thought."
The girl rested her chin on her hand and shook her head. Her pink eyes deepened as if looking at a distant place.
"Evaluating their level is meaningless, whether the employees did well or not. At my level, no matter how well they do, they will feel incompetent. If I apply too harsh a standard, none of my subordinates will be able to withstand my true restructuring."
One of Renard's eyebrows went up.
"Come to think of it, after Restructuring the Knights Order, you siphoned off the fired high-level personnel to your Trading Group. Is it okay to be so blatantly greedy? Even though it's already done, it's like you carved up and swallowed a wartime legacy."
"Ah, the Knights Order. Do I have to explain even this?"
The girl let out a small sigh.
"A bloated government organization is difficult to touch without a major catalyst. But just because an opportunity arises doesn't mean it's right to cause a huge scene. The government isn't the private sector, so even minor noise will have unnecessary impacts on society as a whole."
Her hand gesture pointed arrogantly at her.
"The measure I took was drastically named Restructuring as a warning to teach the Knights Order their place, but to be precise, it's closer to a change of affiliation."
Her chin-resting posture adjusted languidly.
"I moved some of the Knights Order personnel from the Knights Order to the Kraft Merchant Guild, or in other words, from a government organization to a public enterprise. I planned to make subsequent adjustments after observing the social repercussions. Such as returning personnel mistakenly judged as unnecessary back to the Knights Order."
"Oh, right. If the Privatization of Power is fully realized, you can operate it like that."
The girl sighed.
"Head of Inspection, do I have to explain even these basic strategies to you? Do your own simple deductions."
Renard's eyebrows went up.
"Hey, how is this simple?"
The report was closed roughly.
"Also, why are you talking like that today? Did you eat something wrong?"
"Huu."
Her pink eyes gazed into the distance.
"As expected, this place doesn't match my level. To think you can't even handle a trivial strategy."
"Level, my foot."
Suddenly, the door burst open. The intense light of the corridor invaded the dark, dark, secret place. The Demonkind girl who opened the door looked puzzled amidst the halo of light.
"What are you doing in the dark?"
Footsteps headed toward the window sill. A hand threw open the curtains of the Student Council Room. The dark interior instantly brightened.
Bright sunlight assaulted Pastel.
"Uwaah! It's blinding! My eyes...!"
I feel like my vision just dropped by 0.1!
Pastel hastily blocked the sunlight with both arms.
"Photosynthesis is too much!"
A bad environment for cherry blossoms!
Ellie opened the window as a bonus to ventilate the room.
"If you get here first, start by airing the place out."
The Demonkind girl looked at the agonizing Pastel, then looked at Renard. Her gaze met Renard's, who was also staring. The subject of inspection and the inspector found themselves in a subtle emotional state.
Ellie's gaze turned away. She glanced at the report placed on the desk.
"What were you doing?"
Pastel rubbed her eyes. Tears squeezed out of her eyes, which hadn't yet adjusted to the sunlight.
"I was embodying the secret mastermind activities of Her Excellency, the Great Pastel."
Since even Melissa was suspicious, I tried to see if the evil Pastel in her imagination felt like this.
"What is that?"
Ellie looked dumbfounded. Her gaze turned toward Renard.
Renard met her gaze crookedly without answering. Then he looked at Pastel and turned his body toward the door.
"I'm leaving."
"Bye-bye!"
Pastel greeted him while rubbing her eyes.
Once Renard left, Ellie glanced at the inspection report again. She looked extremely curious.
Is she wondering if I inspected her again?
Hmph.
The good Pastel doesn't do such things to her friends.
"This time, Chancellor Horace decided to hand over the bankrupt Trading Groups to the Kraft Merchant Guild. I was checking if there were any suspicious places among those Trading Groups. If there's a place with even a slight connection to the Church, it would be like the Church infiltrating my line. It would be very, very troublesome if I remained ignorant and had an important link encroached upon."
"Ah, that."
Ellie, who just as Pastel worried, secretly infiltrated and become irreplaceable in the administrative sector, changed to a guilty expression.
Pastel laughed, hehe.
"Of course, Ellie feels different! We're friends, after all!"
Yeah, yeah!
Ellie hesitated, perhaps having a thought about these words.
"I don't mean anything by this, just a simple question, but what happens if we stop being friends?"
"Eueh?"
Pastel's eyes went round.
"It's really a question with no ulterior motive, right?"
One was suddenly worried.
Ellie tensed up.
"You said it yourself. If we can't trust each other based on words and actions alone, let's build trust on the Calculation of Gains and Losses. If so, we need to know the risks of betrayal too. Regardless of my intentions, there might be cases where the political situation conflicts with your interests. We have to share the exact risks so there are no misunderstandings in our judgments."
"Now that I hear it, you're right!"
Uwaang.
A very smart and valid statement!
Is this a conversation with a friend where contemplation precedes disappointment?
Pastel crossed her arms and seriously pondered.
"I like Ellie a whole, whole lot! If Ellie betrays me, I think I'd work hard on persuasion rather than retaliation! I'd also be curious about the reason, like if I did something wrong!"
Yeah, yeah!
"Naturally, I think I'd try talking first! There might be a way to resolve it amicably, right? It's normal for friends to fight and then make up!"
Ellie's expression changed to a somewhat more comfortable one.
"I suppose. No matter how much I look back on it, your fondness for your friends doesn't seem to be acting. Even in a conflict of interest, talking comes first, huh."
Ellie muttered as she headed toward the cupboard.
"Yeah, yeah! Of course, Your Excellency Pastel would be different!"
Ellie, who was taking out a teacup as if to drink green tea, paused. She whipped around, her expression full of question marks.
"Why is that different?"
Pastel tilted her head.
"Public responses and private responses should naturally be different, shouldn't they?"
"Well, that is true, but..."
Ellie looked confused.
Hmm.
What could be the problem?
Ellie squeezed her eyes shut, opened them, and then touched her forehead.
"Then, instead of talking first, how does Your Excellency Pastel respond?"
Pastel thought for a moment. Having finished her thoughts, she spoke brightly.
"That's official business, so I can't tell an interested party! If I reveal the principles, it's easy to abuse them!"
Ellie's expression became full of question marks again.
"No, but earlier."
Heok.
I think I know!
This reaction is the reaction of friends who have a hard time understanding the popular Pastel!
A popular person sometimes has so many schedules booked that situations arise frequently where that person has to refuse even when a friend asks to hang out!
But there are plenty of cases where that friend feels disappointed, thinking it's because he or she is disliked!
Uwaah, I'm sorry for being so popular!
It's the same for Ellie!
Your Excellency Pastel has so many priorities that situations where the consideration factor of private friendship has to be placed on the back burner frequently arise!
But that's not because I dislike that friend! I like my friends a whole, whole lot!
However, from the perspective of a friend who likes Pastel soooo much, feeling disappointed can't be helped.
"Don't worry, Ellie! No matter what, I won't take irreversible measures!"
We're friends, after all!
"Irreversible measures."
Ellie muttered with a blank face.
"Irreversible, irreversible..."
The door to the Student Council Room slid open.
Dustin, with messy hair, peeked inside and felt embarrassed by the gazes directed at him.
"Am I late?"
"Hello, Dustin!"
Pastel waved her arm vigorously.
"You came to see me again today!"
Dustin looked flustered.
"Huh? Is, is that so? I came to work, though...?"
Then he rubbed his neck and muttered quietly, somewhat shyly.
"I guess that might be right too."
Waah!
I just said it for fun, but he says it's true!
Ellie stared at Dustin, still in a daze.
"Did you not wash your hair?"
It was a slightly soulless question.
"Huh? I washed it before going to sleep."
"Gross."
Ellie, having blurted that out, walked to her seat.
Dustin was dumbfounded.
Pastel looked at the state of his hair and shouted brightly.
"I think so too!"
Yeah, yeah!
"Huh?"
Dustin looked bewildered.
"Why, why is everyone doing this to me since this morning?"
No one in particular answered him.
Dustin looked around nervously, then quietly returned to the dormitory and washed his hair.