Chapter 167
The great Governor-General Pastel~!
Good at games! Good at gambling! And smart too~!
Having met the Entry Criteria, Pastel hummed as she walked briskly. The flat shoes she borrowed from Melissa tapped tap-tap on the red carpet of the VIP area corridor.
"Tap, tap! Tap, tap!"
The Demon King looked at her suspiciously.
“What did you do in that secret room to make those swindlers protest and scream in reverse?”
"Hehehe! I used my smart brain to do card counting!"
Scratch a card once, and you can call the Fairy!
Scratch it twice, and your poker hand goes sparkling!
Scratch it three times, and your wallet gets fat!
Gasp, this is card counting!
I must be super smart!
The Demon King grew even more suspicious. It was the attitude of someone who felt doubt rather than joy when a smart but study-hating kid somehow brought home good grades.
“Don't watch and learn to commit misdeeds. Still, you did well not to get scammed by those swindlers.”
Her pink eyes sparkled.
"Right! Right! I did super well, didn't I!"
Pastel is super-super ultra!
"Yay! Yay! I got praised!"
I should keep living like this!
Pastel hopped up and down.
“Haa.”
"How did you really do it?! I've been in and out of here countless times, but I've never won money from the big shots in the VIP area!"
Nathaniel asked excitedly. He looked like a gambling addict with a game cheat code right in front of him. Since he was actually a gambling addict, it wasn't just a metaphor.
"Hmm?"
Pastel smiled, dragging out the end of her words.
"Nathaniel, you don't even know that? card counting! Only smart people can do it!"
"card counting! Ha! Right! There's a secret method! I knew it!"
Nathaniel clenched his fists and shook them.
"Luck and probability aren't what are important; there's a secret method to all this! There's a way to win without losing, but it takes time and experience to learn, which is why I've been losing until now! These are all just tuition fees, so I'll eventually be able to recover them all later! No matter what the old man butler says, I'm not entirely wrong! I'm just a bit of a slow learner!"
Watching this, the Demon King looked so dumbfounded that his mind seemed to have spun half a circle, round and round. He came closer and whispered.
“What exactly is good about a guy like that?”
The Demon King seemed genuinely curious.
Pastel's eyes widened. She stayed like that without answering for a moment, then muttered in a voice that showed she was curious too.
"A wandering self...?"
His red eyes looked exasperated.
Pastel just laughed, hehe.
I did dress up feeling like it was a date today, but considering I forgot about Nathaniel's existence earlier, I don't really know.
Still, I definitely feel a sense of camaraderie. Normally, a gambling den is a slight mismatch for Pink-Pink, so I wouldn't have felt like entering, but even though I was in a Borabora disguise, I followed along as naturally as flowing water.
While thinking, Pastel suddenly remembered something and nudged the Demon King's side. Playfulness lingered around her mouth.
"Your Majesty, when you ask me a question like that, it makes it seem like you're indirectly trying to figure out why Mom chose Dad over you."
A heartbroken man lingering over a married woman is a little pathetic—you could say?
A little, little, a lot, a lot!
“You're talking nonsense.”
The Demon King rubbed his forehead.
But it seemed he did suffer a mental blow, as his walking speed slowed down and his face looked slightly soulless.
Gasp.
Pastel felt a thrilling sense of immorality.
I exterminated an archdemon!
Pastel has become an exorcist!
"Wow! I am an exorcist!"
Genius! Youngest! Record-breaking! And so on, all good descriptors!
Jumping up and down, she arrived at the VIP area.
The regular area was also operated for nobles and the wealthy, so it didn't lack splendor, but this place was on a different level.
It exuded a serious, relaxed atmosphere with restrained splendor. It seemed to say that since gold is a vulgar thing everyone has, what distinguishes the noble is formality.
It was a level of dignity that Melissa would nod at. But she would probably shake her head once she realized it was a gambling den.
"Gasp, black, red, black, red."
Colors that Pastel could only choose in business mode were all over the area!
Pastel felt completely intimidated.
It felt like an atmosphere where nouveau riche Pastel, who luckily became governor-general by meeting His Imperial Majesty the Emperor well, shouldn't be.
Oh dear.
I'm the sudden rich person, Pastel Lovecraft.
Oing.
Come to think of it, I'm from the founding contributor Kraft family. I wasn't nouveau riche, but of a deeply historical bloodline.
Pastel rolled her pink eyes and gradually regained her confidence. Suddenly, the air felt familiar, and she felt like she was where she belonged.
Her expression became slightly arrogant.
"I've finally arrived at a place suited for my dignified self! It's been a long time of persecution!"
Wow.
"What are you doing?"
Nathaniel waved his hand and pointed here and there.
"The VIP area isn't much different in terms of game layout, but the big difference is that everyone has a private room. It's usually used as a servant waiting room, but it can be used differently."
One of the rendezvous points was the rendezvous point for the Council's Radical Faction or the Church.
Normally, even if you knew the rendezvous point, it was demanding to access due to the encrypted communication system and the constantly changing locations. However, thanks to the cooperation of Nathaniel, who pretended to be a gambling addict but was actually the Princess's secret agent, they were able to easily break through the difficulties.
As expected of a secret agent!
He seems like a gambling addict and said things earlier that sounded very much like those of a gambling addict, but it's all just acting!
"I don't see the Church? What's this?"
The unfortunate part was that the vicious Church, which had committed a massacre at the train station right under Governor-General Pastel's nose and had fled, seemed to have caught on, as the Church's rendezvous point had vanished without leaving a speck of dust.
"Oh. They're quick to catch on."
As a daughter, I don't know whether I should be happy or not that Dad's work processing is so good.
Honestly, we gave up on the Church, which was a little awkward to poke around in, and headed for the Council's Radical Faction's rendezvous point.
The plan was to create a connection with the Radical Faction and, with Nathaniel's help, steal evidence from the inside.
Nathaniel could do it alone, but he wasn't exactly super cooperative. Objectively speaking, his skills weren't reliable, so a solo mission carried a higher risk of getting caught.
They stopped at one of the private rooms lined up very sparsely along the red-carpeted corridor. A luxurious gold nameplate caught the eye.
Pastel gulped down dry saliva.
"What do we do now? Three knocks and then two in time with the beat? Or maybe slide a paper with a password under the door?"
It felt like an adventure.
Nathaniel rubbed his nose in embarrassment.
"They usually leave it open, so you just open the door and go in."
"Huh?"
"This is an open corridor, so doing that would actually make it obvious."
That's true.
Her pink eyes sparkled.
"Wow, Nathaniel, you were totally a professional just now!"
This is the aura of a secret agent!
Nathaniel put on a somewhat proud expression. It was a face that said he was glad he frequented the gambling den.
Gasp, it wasn't that kind of praise.
"Thanks to someone, I was held captive for a while, so I don't know who the contact person is right now. You just stay still for now, and I'll handle it."
"Yes! Your Majesty, please wait outside for a moment!"
“I will.”
Nathaniel opened the door. The spacious private room practically looked like a hotel room.
A man sitting on the sofa right in front, reading a newspaper, looked up.
"Friesli Family Head? I heard you went missing, but you look fine. Where have you been all this time?"
"I stepped in trouble."
Nathaniel fiercely crumpled his face into a frown.
Uh-oh.
That reaction? Is that person a bad guy?
"Calling someone 'feces' is too harsh."
His finger pointed at Pastel.
"Whatever. There's a human who wants to join our faction, so I came to introduce them."
The newspaper folded. The man folded the newspaper one more time and neatly arranged it. He placed it on one side of the table and only then gave his attention to Pastel.
Because the Kraft special Borabora Dyeing and makeup technique was effective, his eyes didn't seem to recognize she was Governor Pastel.
"Welcome. There's a misunderstanding that we reject all humans, but it is strictly a misunderstanding. We like rational and reasonable humans, and we like external sponsors even more. Are you the daughter of some great trading group?"
Pastel felt like a job applicant at an interview.
Pass! Pass! Pass!
The important thing for passing is...!
Following her feelings, she shot both her arms up.
"Long live Your Majesty, the Demon King!"
Flattery! It's flattery! Flattery is the best!
"The absolute monarch whom the Empire's king, a mere common man, cannot even approach! Long live! Long live!"
Nathaniel and the man were dumbfounded.
"Long live Your Majesty, the Demon King!"
Pastel ran around the room with her arms raised. It was an expression 100 times more sincere, one that only a true loyal subject could make.
The man was the first to come to his senses.
"You've brought an amazing sponsor in many ways."
"Uh, well."
"I'll prepare the membership procedure. Do you have any other business besides that?"
"No..."
Nathaniel, who was about to answer no, met Pastel's Oing-oing gaze and remembered the additional thing he had to do.
"I heard Governor-General Kraft was attacked by the Church on her way here, and there's a rumor that our side was the cause. Is that true?"
The man let out a groan.
"That part has been a headache for us too. It's not even something we did, but the Governor-General keeps insisting. Why is she pinning something she needs to settle with the Church on us?"
"Oh? Really?"
Nathaniel looked back.
A pastel cast was visible. “Speak with your eyes!”
As a victim, I know that the Radical Faction is definitely the cause! It definitely instigated the Church, and innocent people died right in front of me! The fairy testified to it too!
"Got it. Still, I want to check, so send the related details to my mansion."
"Understood."
The man lightly jotted down the task.
"Although we skipped the ideological verification because of the family head's recommendation, since you are human, we still have to do it procedurally, so we'll have to move somewhere else for a moment. Young Lady, follow me. Let's have a brief chat, just the two of us."
"Yes! Long live Your Majesty, the Demon King!"
Pastel followed closely behind the man. They entered a secret room with soundproofing. The soundproof magic circle was activated.
"The Emperor of the Empire is indeed nothing but a mere common man. You know very well, unlike a human."
"Right! Right!"
Pastel's cheeks flushed red.
"Like betraying and ruining the family of his unrequited love interest! Or completely stripping the ruined Family's assets and pocketing them into the Imperial Family's privy purse!"
Her finger pointed in the direction where the Imperial Palace would likely be.
"Doing that just because he got rejected shows he's utterly narrow-minded! That's why he got rejected after making a public proposal in front of the Subjects during the reign of the founding emperor! Wait, wasn't it the Founding Emperor? Anyway, And just like that! A shameful chapter was written! Recorded in the history books!"
I acknowledge Mom's excellent choice! I acknowledge it!
"Long live Your Majesty, the Demon King!"
Pastel jumped up and down.
The man had a dumbfounded expression.
He looked at her as if at a loss for words, then brought his hand to the side of his face. He grabbed the skin, and it tore off like a mask being peeled away.
Huh?
His face was revealed, and Mr. Penguin fixed his hair. Mr. Penguin smiled with a neatened face.
"Governor-General, I didn't expect to meet you here."
Mr. Penguin looked embarrassed.
"As you guessed last time, Governor-General, our budget is indeed lacking. I've been running around trying to make ends meet."
Mr. Penguin.
Ellie's Older Brother, whom she had known since childhood, was a confidant of the Moderate Faction.
But as it turned out, Mr. Penguin was a spy of the Empire hidden to carry out an assassination of the Demon King by His Imperial Majesty the Emperor.
But upon seeing him today, it became clear that he had also infiltrated the Radical Faction.
Oing.
—Like betraying the Family of his Unrequited Love Interest...
O-i-ing.
—Doing that just because he got rejected shows he's utterly narrow-minded! That's why he got rejected after making a Public Proposal in front of the Subjects during the reign of the Founding Emperor! Wait, wasn't it the Founding Emperor? Anyway, And just like that! A shameful chapter was written! It was recorded in the history books!
Deep loyalty welled up from Pastel's heart.
Both her arms shot up like lightning.
"Long live His Imperial Majesty the Emperor, who watches over everything!"
The good Pastel has always been following you!