Chapter 67
"Save me! Save me!"
Pastel fled into the storage room.
"I'm only guilty of sneaking onto the airship to steal...!"
Huk.
Now that I say it, it's almost a capital crime!
Uwaa.
She frantically ran away.
The dark storage room was wide. As befitting a storage room located at the end of a deliberately designed I-shaped corridor, it seemed prepared for a special purpose.
That feeling grew stronger upon seeing the iron storage container placed alone in the center of the storage room.
The rectangular container was so large that several Pastels could lie down comfortably.
As if something as important as its size was inside, it was wrapped in chains and sealed with locks.
Pastel reached the container and panicked. Though it was a storage room, there was nowhere to hide or escape.
Uwaa.
What kind of place is this!
Shouldn't there be a hiding place prepared for benevolent thieves who came to rob the storage room~!
Humanity without compassion!
"Looking for an escape route? Give up."
The demon race mercenary captain walked over leisurely. His leisurely gait also seemed like an action blocking the only exit, the door.
"To think the cunning Craft would come to die on her own."
The mercenary captain laughed kuhuhu with an alcohol-tinged face.
"I had half given up, thinking you were a bloodline that would only save your own life and flee no matter what plans were made, but is the Demon King watching from the afterlife?"
Uwaa.
"It's a misunderstanding! A misunderstanding!"
Pastel waved both hands.
"You've got the wrong person! I'm not cunning and not Craft, just Pastel! Pastel Love Love!"
Pastel attempted a bold name change.
Though it was an embarrassing naming now that she said it, isn't living enough for now?
"Pastel, what?"
The mercenary captain rested his one-handed sword on his shoulder.
Ah, it feels like we're conversing!
Pastel brightened.
"Pastel Love Love!"
She made a heart with the index fingers of both hands.
Heart boing boing.
The mercenary captain stared silently.
Silence fell.
『Hmm.』
Demon, what's wrong?
『Hmm.』
Hello?
Pastel who became slightly embarrassed at this reaction rolled her eyes.
Then she decided to be shameless.
Popular people are difficult to understand originally!
She winked and shouted freshly.
"Pastel Love Love!"
Heart boing boing~!
The mercenary captain looked then aimed his gun muzzle.
"What nonsense!"
"Waaak!"
Pastel startled greatly and panicked. She quickly fled and hid behind the huge iron storage container.
She poked out just her head and desperately shouted.
"Don't shoot!"
The demon race mercenary captain didn't actually shoot but was enraged.
"Who are you taking for a fool! You have nowhere to escape anyway once you entered here! Put your life on the line and face a bloody battle!"
"Bloody battle?! Huaa! I'm a pacifist!"
"Pacifist? Don't make excuses!"
The gun muzzle was roughly aimed.
"Uwak!"
Pastel pulled in the face she had poked out.
"Hoo!"
The mercenary captain exhaled as if suppressing excitement. Then he spoke in a somehow calm tone.
"Even a Craft would know honor right? I don't plan to end the last Craft survivor with a dog's death when the Demon King is watching from the afterlife."
Ah?
Pastel poked her face out again. Pink eyes sparkled.
"You mean?"
Meaning you'll spare me?
The mercenary captain aimed his one-handed sword.
"So fight with your honor on the line!"
Uwaa.
"That's not the words I wanted...!"
Pastel's face turned pale.
She looked for an escape route with spinning eyes.
How can there be no windows even in a storage room!
Then she realized something.
Oing.
Pastel gathered courage and observed the mercenary captain. The demon race glared with a fierce expression.
But he literally just glared. Though he held a one-handed sword and even a gun in the opposite hand, he really just glared.
Oiing.
The demon race mercenary captain hated the Craft family and wanted to kill them, but he was actually trying to persuade Pastel through conversation without even attempting to attack.
Pastel pondered the reason then looked at the iron storage container she was clinging to. It was a container wrapped in chains and even locked as if very important.
Could he be acting carefully in case battle affects the container?
Since the mercenary captain lightly fragmented the iron door with sword strikes, he might be concerned about hitting the container while fighting.
What's inside?
Though she didn't know that, her mind calmed upon discovering the opponent's weakness.
Pastel regained her senses and looked around the storage room again.
They moved such a large container into the storage room but the storage room door was small compared to the container size. There must be a separate cargo door.
As she thought that, she found a lever when examining the side wall.
If I pull that down will the wall open ta-da~! and I can escape going yahoo~?
Nod nod!
A hopeful outlook!
Pastel secretly took out magic stone knives from her chest. She floated the knives low almost touching the ground and prepared to move them toward the lever.
She stepped forward as if drawing the mercenary captain's gaze.
"You said to fight with honor on the line?"
When she drew her sword slightly away from the container, the mercenary captain's eyes changed color.
"Kuhu! That's how you should act!"
The one-handed sword aimed at Pastel.
"I am Tmaout! I've devoted my life to exterminating the humans trampling Sky Island's holy land!"
Pastel slowly exhaled and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened her eyes again, pink eyes shone dully.
"Thanks for the self-introduction. But unfortunately what should I do?"
She pointed at herself.
"I don't know anything like honor."
"What?"
The girl aimed her sword at the container. She glanced at Tmaout with a sinister smile.
"How foolish. Your appearance anxiously begging in case something happens to what you prepared."
Tmaout flinched at the suddenly changed attitude.
Taking that opportunity, the magic stone knives flew along the ground. When they reached in front of the lever, they tried pushing the lever with their bodies but slipped unable to do it well. As they kept trying, a faint friction sound was made.
The girl hit the container with her sword blade. A clear ringing covered the dark storage room.
"Becoming arrogant because I acted a bit scared..."
Pink eyes glanced at Tmaout.
"How foolish."
Tmaout's face hardened.
"You..."
The girl put her hands behind her back and looked down at him.
"Don't you think it's strange?"
Is it just me?
"That Craft coming on her own feet to die."
She tilted her head.
The mercenary captain flinched. His pupils trembled as if becoming rapidly uncomfortable and his imagination expanded.
One corner of the girl's mouth darkened.
"From the moment you entered my domain, or even before that, I knew about you. Your thoughts, conceptions, plans. The common desires and flat ideas created by your resentment-filled heart."
"Don't make excuses!"
Tmaout gritted his teeth.
"What does a ruined Craft know to babble! Your family's intelligence network was uprooted long ago!"
The gun muzzle roughly aimed at the girl.
The girl didn't bother persuading.
Instead she spread both arms and leisurely spun in place once. Her clothes spread and pink hair fluttered.
A calm voice spread.
"I just wanted to tell you."
After stopping her rotation, she tilted her body and met his gaze.
"Thank you. Thanks to you creating a pretext, I was able to comfortably swallow the academy."
Tmaout's complexion hardened.
"Don't tell me, you knew and did that? Immediately catching the advance party in the sewers to create a pretext, then coming here right after gaining academy authority. Because you knew from the beginning..."
The aimed gun muzzle shook.
The girl smiled with her eyes.
Pink lips moved.
"How foolish."
Her voice filled the dark storage room.
Sparks flew in Tmaout's eyes.
"You knew and left it alone! Even though you knew!"
The gun muzzle aimed at the iron storage container wrapped in chains.
"You left it alone to be brought into the docking area?! You Crafts were always like this even in the demon realm! You put lives on the scales for mere power and laughed mocking people's hearts!"
Tmaout was enraged.
"But this time you don't care whether civilian humans die or not?! You don't distinguish between humans and demon race! And you call yourselves human!"
His finger pointed.
"You beasts worse than beasts!"
The girl was perplexed. She rolled her eyes thinking then smiled softly as if recalling something. She pointed at herself.
"I'm not human though."
It was a light voice as if joking about life.
Tmaout froze.
A chilling silence fell.
Pastel who was acting splendidly inwardly sighed in relief.
Phew, joke successful.
She trembled flutter in her imagination.
Uwaa.
Why is that person suddenly like that!
She desperately suppressed her fear but her mind was spinning worried he might suddenly start slashing.
But Pastel who lived her whole life as a popular person exerted super ultra quick wit.
Namely, a mood-changing joke!
How effective it was, the atmosphere that seemed like a fight might break out from the heat changed in an instant.
Satisfied satisfied.
I'm not human since I eat magic stones~
Surprisingly true.
Hehe.
Tmaout who coldly suppressed his anger glared.
"I don't need this petty plan anymore. I'll cut off the Craft family's lifeline even if I have to sacrifice my life."
Uwaat!
Why are you doing this to me...!
Pastel trembled inwardly while continuing her act.
She smiled and clapped clap clap.
"That's an admirable mindset. But what can you do?"
The magic stone knives barely moved the wall lever. The entire side wall rattled.
"You won't have such a future. I told you. Thanks to you I gained academy authority."
The wall opened completely and light poured in. Gusts entered and made the girl's clothes and pink hair flutter.
"A tool that finished its role..."
The girl walked toward the open wall. She arranged her hair fluttering in the wind with her hand.
"Is discarded."
Human silhouettes appeared as if blocking the pouring light from the open wall. People wearing armor jumped in from small airships waiting beyond the wall.
An elite group wearing magic stone armor.
It was the Knight Order.
The Knight Order surrounded and guarded Marquis Your Excellency.
Oing.
Pastel was dumbfounded at the unexpected situation, stopping mid-act.
Oing oing.
Did they get evidence from the demon race having dinner at the restaurant? So Leonard requested the Knight Order?
Uwang.
Hehe.
Tmaout's eyes bulged.
"You dog!"
The gun muzzle aimed at Pastel.
"Craft...!"
The trigger was pulled and sparks flew.
The bullet accelerated explosively, ignoring nature's principles and avoiding the world's resistance. The air was torn apart.
Pastel's eyes went round.
When she tried to raise her sword, the knight beside her moved first. The sword blade flashed and collided with the bullet. Sparks flew and the bullet bounced off.
Huah.
Pastel calmed her startled heart then continued acting.
She glanced at Tmaout who fired the gun.
Pink lips moved.
"How foolish."
Gazes focused and silence fell.
"Craft! Craft...!"
Tmaout shouted in rage. Then he kicked off the ground and charged.
Uwak!
I'm not acting anymore!
"I'm sorry! I was wrong! Please spare me!"
Pastel flailed both arms and fled.
"Knight Order! Knight Order!"
Please catch that bad person!
He really bullied me!
Uwang!