I Think I Found a Job That Suits My Aptitude

『It's unnecessary meddling. If we are meant to get along, it will happen naturally, and if not, it won't.』

"The Great Demon Lord is right. Rather than caring about such trivial things, it would have been better for us to start the meeting right after our friends finished seeing us off."

Lord Demon and Ellie's united rejection.

The Let's-Get-Along~ Project ran aground before it could even start.

Hmph.

Pastel sat with her chin resting on her hand. Her lips jutted out in a pout.

As soon as Melissa bowed her head and apologized without excuse for peeking, and Ellie neatly arranged the map of the Demon Realm, the atmosphere immediately shifted to a meeting.

Ugh.

Such stiff people who only work!

Pastel glanced down at the map of the Demon Realm in front of her. With the miniature railroad and train placed on the map, it looked quite plausible.

"The black miniatures represent what currently exists, and the gray ones represent what isn't there yet but is planned."

Ellie unfolded a collapsible pointer and waved it around, pointing at the map as a whole.

Pastel picked up the train, which just looked like a toy and was, in fact, a toy. When she placed it on the railroad and pushed it, no Chug-chug clouds puffed out, but the wheels rolled smoothly.

"Chug-chug~! Did Ellie prepare this train friend? Your tastes are cuter than I thought!"

Yeah, yeah!

Above all, I can clearly see that your preference is all-black and the alternative is gray!

Ellie casually ignored her. The pointer tapped here and there.

"As you can see, the railroad construction centered around the coastline is complete. Even after the trading group went bankrupt, we somehow continued the construction."

Hmph.

Pastel noticeably stuck her lips out in a pout. It was her way of demanding their attention.

No one paid attention to the sulking Pastel.

Lord Demon, with his arms crossed, was focused on the explanation while looking down at the miniature map, and Melissa, who already roughly knew about it as a Student Council Member, was admiring the miniature models once again.

"The engineering technology of the Demon Realm is truly exquisite. It would be really effective to hold a military council with something like this. Should I send a letter to Mother?"

Hmph.

The Next Southern Commander is muttering scary things to herself. More importantly than that, give some attention to the good Pastel who is sulking right here.

Ellie's pointer curved along the coastline.

"Currently, we have connected port to port, and next we plan to expand the railroad network to the surrounding inland cities. As you can see, the railroad has currently been laid to the major inland cities around the coastal areas."

Ellie handed out statistical data.

"The train itself is still slow, so transportation takes a long time, but even with just this, mass transportation has become possible, to the point where we've confirmed an overall drop in prices as goods related to railroad transport are supplied in large quantities. It means it's effective enough to be felt by the civilians."

『Interesting.』

The Demon rubbed his chin.

『Why did the trading group that went bankrupt start from the port? Starting from the capital would have been better in terms of both profitability and impact, wouldn't it?』

Ellie let out a deep sigh.

"That's because I was too greedy. That trading group was nominally a private trading group, but it was heavily influenced by our kingdom. So I participated in the construction plan."

Ellie made a gesture of frustration.

"I made a plan to push through from the coast to the capital all at once. The magic stone fuel for the construction golems is being controlled by the Demon World Corporation, but it's easy to smuggle and use around the port areas. It was a plan to create synergy by simultaneously smuggling fuel, laying the railroad, and explosively constructing it before the Empire could even realize it."

『So it was a plan focused on the overall construction speed. And then the Imperial Bank noticed and bankrupted it by targeting the moment when profitability severely worsened because the railroad was laid only along the coast.』

"Yes... I didn't expect the Empire, which doesn't even know what a railroad is, to come out so aggressively. It was a misjudgment. It's my fault."

"That's not true."

Pastel, who had been pouting with her lips sticking out, opened her mouth with an expression that clearly showed she was sulking while resting her chin on her hand.

"Your plan itself wasn't bad. Not starting from the capital would have had the effect of delaying the imperial diplomats residing in the capital from experiencing the railroad firsthand as much as possible. If you had started from the capital, the Empire's response would have been on a whole different level. It wasn't a misjudgment; the plan just had its pros and cons."

"That was also a reason, but..."

Ellie smiled softly.

"Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah."

I'm so nice for comforting a friend!

Having done a good deed, Pastel's sulking mood vanished before she knew it. She sat up straight.

"Stop talking about things only Lord Demon doesn't know! It doesn't matter if Lord Demon doesn't know anyway! Let's talk about work!"

Ellie looked flustered. Her eyes glanced at the Archdemon to gauge his reaction.

Lord Demon looked dumbfounded.

『The treatment is too harsh, but you have a point. You don't need to mind me. I'll understand well enough on my own. However, I do have one question.』

"Yes! Ask away!"

His gesture pointed at Melissa, who had just been quietly listening.

『Is it okay to discuss the grand national strategy of the Demon Realm in front of a core warlord of the Empire?』

Gasp, is Lord Demon a genius?

To think Melissa was a wicked spy!

An unimaginable truth!

Given how she successfully infiltrated without any suspicion and listened to classified information, she has incredible skills!

All eyes turned to Melissa.

Melissa, who looked like a professional spy to anyone, panicked.

"Isn't that question a bit too late? I've already discussed the military application of the railroad with Alcier a few times."

Melissa spoke as if tracing back memories from teatime.

"We discussed the point that if the mass transportation of supplies and troops becomes easier, the deployment of new troops recruited from the rear will overwhelm the troop losses occurring at the front lines, and then the front lines will become deadlocked, potentially changing the paradigm of strategy."

A peaceful voice, as if saying, 'I talked with a friend about the poetry book I read that day during teatime.'

Waaah!

What kind of scary talk are you having during teatime!

These warlords with no self-awareness are scary!

Pastel started trembling.

Gasp, surely not!, surely not.

Was Melissa actually Melissa Kraft?

She hid her wicked intentions and infiltrated the Student Council to spy on the Demon Realm's latest military technology!

To think she did such incredible things with Alcier, who was clueless all day!

Innocent Pastel has been had!

Waaah!

Suddenly, she felt Ellie's gaze.

Looking back, Ellie was staring at her with eyes full of trust.

Oh.

That was a look as if Ellie already knew about the existence of the spy Melissa, but since Melissa couldn't possibly surpass the wicked Pastel's schemes, she trusted that Pastel had naturally prepared countermeasures or safety devices.

Gasp.

Is that it?

Was I supposed to do that?

Aren't you trusting me too much?!

Pastel, who had no countermeasures whatsoever, swallowed dryly. Her trembling pink eyes looked at Melissa.

"My best friend Melissaaa~."

"What is it?"

Pastel fluttered over to her.

She placed her hands on both of Melissa's shoulders and gave them a squish-squish massage.

Squish-squish, squish-squish.

Then she lightly clenched her fists and tap-tap-tap-tapped the shoulders, stiff from her chest.

Pastel asked affectionately with an expression that said, Hehe, I just genuinely like my friends without any ulterior motive~.

"We're best friends, riiight?"

I've never once doubted our relationship~.

Melissa tilted her head.

"I suppose so?"

Wow!

She says so!

Pastel cheered.

"I knew it!"

As expected, the Friend-Love Beam~! is great!

Crisis resolved!

Hooray! Hooray!

Pastel jumped up and down in place.

"I'm best friends with Melissa!"

Yahoo! Yahoo!

As she did so, she felt a somewhat subtle gaze.

It was Ellie.

A very reasonable suspicion of 'You don't happen to be without a plan, do you?' arose, but then it subsided, perhaps as the thought that Pastel couldn't possibly be so unprepared took hold.

Hehe.

Ellie, Ellie, don't worry.

The Friend-Love Beam~! is great!

Pastel returned to her seat with a La-la-la.

"Since Lord Demon's question has been resolved, let's proceed, proceed!"

Ellie fiddled with the pointer before tapping the map.

"Anyway, so what we need to do right now is set the expansion of the railroad network and preparation against railway terrorism."

"Right, right! Didn't the railroad get ruined by the terrorism of the radical demons?"

Ugh, the evil demon king's minions.

"The railroad is already almost completely restored. Railroad construction progresses in a straight line, so it's very easy to automate with construction golems, meaning it can be done quickly as long as there's plenty of magic stone fuel."

Heh.

"The problem is that the magic stone fuel is being controlled by the Demon World Corporation. Smuggling is fine, but if possible, we should find an alternative."

Ellie glanced over.

"Me! Me!"

Pastel raised her hand like a good child who hadn't even considered things like smuggling.

"I will meet with Count Macenas and try to conclude a formal deal!"

The Right to Operate a Private Army given by His Imperial Majesty the Emperor will be pulled out on the negotiation table instead of a gun, but it's just there; so don't mind it!

"Then the magic stone fuel side is settled. As for preparing against the Hawks, I think we can discuss it after arriving at the Royal Palace and hearing the latest reports."

"Yeah, yeah! I agree, I agree!"

The Demon World Airship arrived peacefully at the Demon Realm's coast. It was because there were no pirates bold enough to mess with a warship.

"Wow! It's the Demon Realm! The Demon Realm!"

Having disembarked, Pastel stepped onto the ground and cheered.

Melissa took out the schedule.

"We arrived more easily than expected. I failed to consider the President's purchasing a warship for us in the schedule."

They were so early that the Demon Realm Branch of the Kraft Merchant Guild couldn't even come out to meet them.

"It's right to factor in troubles and set things loosely, so this is correct! How much free time do we have?"

"About three days."

"Theeen."

As one looked around, delicious smells wafted gently from around the docking bay.

Woah-Woah.

Pastel drooled a little before wiping it away.

A brilliant thought filled her mind.

As expected, at times like this...

Pastel brightly raised her arm high.

"I want to do a surprise inspection of the Demon Realm Branch!"

Yahoo~!

"Pardon?"

What's more delicious than delicious food is power!

The Governor-General is visiting without prior notice!

Oh yeah.