Chapter 152
Juseomjuseom juseomjuseom.
Pastel fiddled with the luggage bag slung over the horse's saddle. The strap came undone, and she grasped a white Magic Stone Broom.
She lifted the broom high.
"Broom friend~!"
It's faster than a bicycle!
Reassuring!
She placed it between her legs. As she focused her mind on the magic stone inside the broom, the broom floated up.
She pointed at the Black Train that had already gotten quite far away.
"I don't know what evil trick you used to have better technology than our merchant guild, but that speed is far from enough to escape the grasp of the great Governor-General Pastel!"
Pastel gripped the broom tightly.
"Eeyah-!"
With a shout, the broom began to slowly take flight, puttering along.
Huh, it seems a bit slow.
"Cheer up, broom friend! You can do it!"
Adjusting to boarding the broom after a long time, she gradually accelerated. Her pink hair was pushed back by the air and increasingly fluttered in the wind.
"Alright! Pursuit! Pursuit!"
The wind wrapped around her body.
"Pastel! You dropped your sword!"
Melissa shouted from behind.
Oing.
As she looked back, the thrown magic sword came flying, spinning. The sharp blade flashed.
"Uwaaak!"
If you throw a sword like this...!
I'll end up as Pastel who suffered an assassination by her best friend!
Pastel flailed her arms. Then, in her flailing, she perfectly caught the sword. She made a dumbfounded expression.
Oho.
She stared blankly at the magic sword caught in her hand.
Actually, I had good reflexes.
Hehe.
She waved her arm toward Melissa.
"Thank you!"
But why did she give me the sword?
Does it mean there's a use for it?
Gasp.
Pastel froze slightly.
Was I going to fight bad people right now?
No, no, it's true I was going to fight (argue), but I wasn't going to fight (to the death).
A life-or-death battle is a bit...
From the ground, Melissa smiled gently, waved her arm, and began talking with the employee. It seemed she intended to leave the train tracking and combat to Pastel while she investigated the situation herself.
Eue.
Pastel suddenly wanted to work hard on investigating the situation. It would be so great if Melissa did the train tracking instead.
But Melissa didn't seem to have any intention of doing so.
She stealthily looked down at Lord Demon on the ground.
Lord Demon shook his fist to tell her to cheer up, then led the horse friend, which Pastel had carelessly left behind, along with the broom, to the stable.
Uwaaa.
It's nice that you're helping the horse friend that I couldn't pay attention to, but that's not what I was expecting.
Pastel looked back at the train that had gotten quite far away and hesitated.
They are bad people committing theft from someone else's business. Wouldn't there be a need to fight physically?
The business world is originally gentlemanly. Unlike the back alleys where guns are aimed and knives are drawn at the drop of a hat, it's a place where you coldly do a Cost-Benefit Analysis and decide the opponent's ruin regardless of whether the opponent begs or not.
Gasp, now that I think about it, it's even scarier.
An atmosphere where they'd coldly do a Cost-Benefit Analysis while aiming a gun!
Uwaaa.
Pastel really didn't want to go and fidgeted before coming up with a plausible safety measure. She looked down at Lord Demon.
"Lord Demoooon! Please throw His Imperial Majesty's Sword! Ah. Gently! Please throw it gently!"
Lord Demon, who was just about to enter the stable, looked up and reached into the luggage bag. A fancy sword was pulled out and thrown into the sky. Unlike when Melissa threw it, the sword came flying without spinning. The handle part faced forward, making it easy to catch.
"Uwang."
Pastel caught it easily without being scared.
Is this the difference in proficiency between a Mage and a swordsman? I end up respecting Lord Demon.
She slung the magic sword around her waist and held His Imperial Majesty's Sword in her hand. The tip of the sword was aimed at the distant train.
"I heard news that there are impure elements cooperating with the Demon King here! Subjects, obediently comply with the Governor-General's investigation!"
Backed by the authority of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, Pastel became triumphant.
She suddenly felt a sense of duty to confiscate that train for investigation and thoroughly examine its internal technology.
Gasp, that's right.
Because it's a very important matter with a high possibility of them being the Demon King's subordinates, if they possess suspicious technology, I must examine it thoroughly!
Loyalty in following the imperial command grew rapidly.
"Pursuit! Pursuit!"
The white broom accelerated.
#
"It's pink, right?"
The cultist said, turning pale.
"Why is Kraft, who should still be at the port, all the way here? Aren't we completely exposed?!"
"Shut your mouth! I'm thinking!"
The team leader furrowed his brow, deep in thought.
It was a given that Governor-General Kraft would visit the Demon Realm. The Church had also decided to respond accordingly.
However, they hadn't expected the Governor-General to move to the Demon Realm almost immediately without even establishing the Governor-General's Office on the Sky Island—shouldn't she at least build the Governor-General's Office building before coming!—, so their response was somewhat delayed.
During the short period between the urgent dispatch from the Sky Island and the arrival of the Governor-General's Airship in the Demon Realm, the Church's traces were first erased from places the Governor-General's gaze might reach, but there was no way it could be done properly in time.
So they gathered the cargo they hadn't managed to clear away and operated the train hurriedly but...
Governor-General Kraft was on standby at the Station, as if waiting. It was a simple procession with no visible troops, but people couldn't believe what they saw.
"What do we do?! Do we fight?! I heard she's at least Semi-Knight Level and is hiding her true realm!"
"I told you to shut that mouth!"
The team leader snapped in annoyance and looked at one side of the engine room.
An ordinary wooden box locked with a padlock could be seen. It looked ordinary, but the inside was densely packed with various sealing Magic Circles.
Only the Artificial Spirit would be fine, as long as its existence wasn't discovered by the Governor-General.
If the countless cargo filling the freight cars were taken, there was a high possibility that some of the Church's facilities would be implicated, but it wasn't that important. From the standpoint of the Church, for which the deal with the Evil God was important, such damage was a trivial matter.
The Evil God wanted to arrive in this world, and the Church, which had something it desired, had to fulfill the demands.
The team leader himself didn't know the specific details, but the Artificial Spirit was an important element in that plan.
The Artificial Spirits, created with the Soul Power extracted from the Evil God's transmitter, could strengthen the location signal that was insufficient from the transmitter alone. It would become possible to clearly inform the Evil God of the location of this world.
"She's flying over! She's faster than us!"
A cultist who looked through the engine room's window frame at the rear shouted.
The cultist who had been pale for a while heard this and freaked out.
"Do we fight?! Do we fight?! Are we fighting?!"
The cultist gripped a gun in his hand.
"Pretend not to know! We are good-natured..."
The team leader hurriedly hid the wooden box in his arms. Then, seeing the cultist run to the window sill and pull out the muzzle of the gun, he was startled.
"You punk! What the hell are you doing!"
Even so, she's the High Priest's daughter. What a crazy thing to do!
The team leader's punch struck the cultist who was about to shoot the gun.
"Ack! Why are you hitting me!"
The fallen cultist protested. The team leader's chest boiled at these trash-tier actions, but he barely held it in.
This subordinate bastard wouldn't know that Governor-General Kraft was the High Priest's daughter and that there were instructions to accept Governor-General Kraft if she came to defect, so it wasn't his fault.
The cultist rubbed his mouth.
"Ah man, my lip is busted. Why did you hit me! If you have a complaint, you should use your words!"
"What do you mean it's not your fault?"
The cultist was kicked.
"Ack!"
"Team leader! Please hold back!"
Another cultist hurriedly stopped him.
"Let go! Let go...!"
#
Thump-thump, Pit-a-pat.
Pastel held the broom tightly and soothed her pounding heart.
W-wasn't that a gun muzzle just now?
Right around the time she approached the engine room, she clearly saw a gun muzzle peek out from beyond the glassless window.
It disappeared in a flash, but it was clear!
Uwaaa.
If they had even fired the gun, she might have had to shout, Hormone Friend, save meee!
Uwaaa.
There must be really bad people over there, people who are Wanjeonwanjeon bad enough to carry guns around.
But since it disappeared in a flash, couldn't they be decently bad people rather than Wanjeonwanjeon, people who don't just blindly aim a gun at their opponent?
No, no. Carrying a gun around in the first place is really, really Wanjeonwanjeon bad. And I have to meet those kinds of people.
Uwaaa.
Pastel stuck to the side of the train and flew along hesitantly. She was approaching the engine room, but at a turtle's pace. Since the turtle friend was faster than the rabbit friend, it could be considered an incredible speed.
As she got right in front of the engine room, she sluggishly lifted His Imperial Majesty's Sword. She poked just the blade in so the sword could be seen well from inside the engine room.
"Receive the strict command of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor!"
Pastel shouted and then paused, wondering if this was right.
Then, realizing her supplementary explanation was lacking, she shouted.
"This is His Imperial Majesty's Sword!"
Shooting a gun is an act of antagonizing His Imperial Majesty the Emperor!
If you shoot, you're a really, really bad person...!
Surprisingly, the effect was good. The train began to reduce its speed without any armed resistance and then stopped.
Gasp.
This is the majesty of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor. It is amazing!
Backed by authority, Pastel became triumphant. Bursting with confidence, she put on an expression that said she knew this would happen.
She flew leisurely and landed in the Engine Room with its open door.
Pastel put on the most arrogant expression fitting for an emissary of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor and looked around the engine room.
A tense engineer and several personnel could be seen.
Are these the people who committed theft against my business?
Ppuruppuru.
It's beneath my level, as I have received the strict command of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, but since they dared to mess with my business, I'll have to teach them a lesson. I will.
The engineer took a step forward. Then, crouching his upper body, he opened his mouth with the most polite attitude possible.
"What brings you here?"
"Ahem, ahem."
Pastel arrogantly clasped her hands behind her back.
"From what I heard, this train is using the Kraft Merchant Guild's railroad without permission. It's classified, so I can't tell you the reason, but offending the Kraft Merchant Guild can be considered an act of hindering His Imperial Majesty the Emperor's command!"
Obstruction of official duties!
Yeah, yeah!
The engineer became dazed.
"Without permission?"
Then he met eyes with the other personnel. Nods were exchanged indicating they had no idea what was being talked about.
They were reactions to having heard something unexpected, expressions as if they had realized they were caught for a completely unforeseen reason, when they thought they were caught for something else.
Oing.
The engineer hurriedly searched his pockets and then looked at another person.
"Hey, where did you put the contract?"
Another person rummaged through the engine room drawer and brought the contract. The engineer checked it and handed it to Pastel.
"As you can see, we received permission to operate the train. We already paid the down payment too."
Looking at it, it was true. On top of a very expensive down payment, the area manager even stamped the contract seal with a bang.
"How could we operate a train without permission in the first place? Our train departed from the Kraft Merchant Guild's station and strictly operated up to here. Normally, it's at the Kraft Terminus."
Oho.
But I've never heard of this, and the Demon Realm Branch doesn't know either.
But the area manager knew well enough to manipulate the subordinate's report, and he wrote the contract himself. He also received a large down payment.
Oioing.
Pastel tilted her head.
As she silently met eyes with the engineer, his complexion gradually turned pale, as if he realized something.
"Don't tell me..."
Pastel nodded and spoke in a businesslike manner.
"The manager who wrote this contract is only in charge of the area's maintenance and does not have the authority to manage the rental and operation of the railroad. Therefore, he has no authority to contract a railroad rental, and this contract is also invalid. It's unfortunate, but I would like you to know that this matter is unrelated to the headquarters."
The engineer was shocked and took the contract back as if snatching it. Then, his hands trembling, he stared at it intently before his face turned red and blue with rage.
"This son of a...!"
Another employee made a blank expression. He approached Pastel and asked as if he couldn't accept the situation.
"Were we scammed?"
Pastel nodded in a businesslike manner.
"Yes. It's unfortunate, but I would like you to know that this matter is unrelated to the headquarters."
I should reflect on my past self who fell into confusion after realizing there was no major embezzlement in the Demon Realm Branch.
The Demon Realm Branch wasn't embezzling; it was committing fraud!
Gasp, is this the Demon Realm?
How scary!
The somewhat calmed engineer spoke in a drained voice.
"What happens now?"
"First of all, since it's true that you used our railroad without permission, I think you'll have to come with us. However, since you are in the position of a victim, we will also do our best to resolve the situation."
"Understood..."
Pastel took the engineer and employees who had suffered the fraudulent contract and returned to the Demon Realm Branch.
Sniff, poor victims.
As the Trading Group owner, I'm not entirely without responsibility, so I'll work hard to help you!