Chapter 196
A thrilling Vertical Mine exploration.
Except it required going down 10,000 stairs.
The management staff, who had no choice but to keep following the Governor-General's procession, were sweating profusely and gasping for breath.
After going through the process of descending countless stairs and occasionally occasionally climbing up some, the employees' legs could be seen trembling. A few of them collapsed with pale complexions.
"Apparently, they don't usually come down all at once. Unless it's an emergency, they rest several times at the rest area while descending. We skipped that, though."
Melissa, who wore a Mage's robe but actually did physical training every day, explained, her complexion relatively fine.
"Oh, really? Uwang."
Pastel, whose body was sturdy just from eating Magic Stones, marveled.
No wonder people seemed to want to say something but couldn't, and were groaning!
Since the Governor-General was a girl who hadn't even reached adulthood, they naturally must have thought she would go down a bit, look around the upper mine levels when it got tiring, and head back. They probably didn't expect her to just go straight down to the deep levels.
Your Excellency: *Pant, pant.* We're just at the entrance and it's already so hard! How can such a harsh work environment exist? The employees here must be incredible elites!
Manager: Haha. I wholeheartedly agree. We do such exhausting work, after all. This isn't something just anyone can do! Let's head back now! We have prepared a banquet!
Your Excellency: Uwang. You elites working in a place like this are amazing! This wasn't a place that a novice like Pastel, who just acquired the Magic Stone Mine, could mess with! Not a layoff, but bonuses for everyone!
But in reality, the Governor-General had just come all the way down obliviously.
Heok.
Pastel looked back with trembling eyes at the management staff, who had forced themselves to follow her without daring to say they were tired or wanted to go back, and were now exhausted.
I feel like I did something wrong.
I feel like a chairman who came out for a factory inspection, realized there was a mountain trail right in front of them, and abruptly started hiking!
I feel like a Chairman who, upon seeing an employee following them collapse, fires the employee, saying that watching the guy fall over feels like seeing the future of this factory and it puts the chairman in a bad mood...!
Uwaah!
I'm not that kind of person!
I'm not a bad chairman who fires employees on a whim every day and can't even make a distinction between public and private affairs!
Pastel, who had initially visited with the intention of just firing them anyway, felt infinitely more wronged.
If I go back and fire them now, I feel like I'll be misunderstood as a bad chairman who fired them just because they couldn't hike...!
If this happens, if this happens!
No matter what valid reason I add, my true intentions will be seen as those of a petty chairman who fired them for not being able to hike!
Uwaah!
It's so unfair!
However, Pastel's skin tingled, her heart pounded pleasantly, and her complexion improved.
Oing.
Chairman Pastel was a super ultra powerful person who could fire a subordinate on a whim and no one could say anything about it.
I shouldn't be like this, but it's kind of fun!
Is this the taste of power?
I think being a chairman is my calling!
Uwang.
"Tsk, tsk."
Lord Demon clicked his tongue. His red eyes looked at the exhausted management staff with disapproval.
"To think that the guys whose workplace is here have such poor stamina, they are unqualified. They have no right to remain here."
Heok, true chairman spirit...
The difference with the kind Pastel was that he was being sincere.
"Their lack of diligence is a bit disappointing. Since there are so many stairs, they should have trained by going up and down frequently."
Melissa agreed as if it were obvious.
Uet?
If even Melissa reacts like that...?
No, no, if they're office workers, of course they can't hike!
It has nothing to do with their work!
I think bringing in a different work area to do a performance review makes no sense!
Pastel was flustered.
She felt fearful gazes.
Looking back, the employees who hadn't collapsed had dismayed faces, and the ones who had slumped down had expressions of utter despair.
The dominant atmosphere was that this was indeed grounds for dismissal.
Uee?
Uee?!
It's not grounds for dismissal at all!
Firing good employees for such a ridiculous reason is completely a misdeed!
Firing an office worker for having no muscles when they couldn't even do self-care because they were exhausted from processing documents every day is too much!
It's really, really too much!
Gazes that seemed to be waiting for some kind of reaction came her way. They were fear-filled looks, expecting that words of firing a few people would come out of Pastel's mouth naturally.
Pastel looked ready to cry. Her sense of unfairness grew rapidly.
A screeching sound came out of her mouth.
"I'm not that kind of person! I was just planning on restructuring anyway! I'm not a frivolous person who decides on dismissals after just one inspection...!"
Silence flowed.
Blank stares focused on her.
Uwaah!
The explanation isn't working!
It's so unfair...!
#
The kind Chairman Pastel decided to temporarily halt the inspection and rest the exhausted employees.
"A kind chairman who thinks of her subordinates!"
I admit it!
"Hmm. Is that so?"
Lord Demon looked at her subtly.
Oing-oing.
"Lord Demon, what's with that look?!"
Feeling like firing someone on a whim!
I feel like I am just evolving into a bad chairman since I'm already misunderstood!
"It's nothing. I asked around, and there are simple cooking facilities. I will use a fresh Magic Stone as an ingredient like you wanted. Though I don't know what the concept of a fresh Magic Stone is."
Her pink eyes slanted.
"You just changed the subject, didn't you?! A smart person like me doesn't miss things like that!"
Lord Demon didn't bother to answer and left the lounge with quick steps. He looked as if he was running away because he couldn't handle her puberty.
"Ugh! Ugh!"
Indignant, Pastel swung both her arms around.
"I think Lord Demon's personality has gotten worse lately!"
He wasn't like this before!
He used to answer my words well, react well, and we would jest and jape.
"Lord Demon has completely changed! He's completely changed! A total demon!"
I want to suddenly confess to him out of nowhere and scold him.
Lord Demon is a criminal who will go down in history for being unable to forget his unrequited love interest, half-adopting her lone daughter, raising her to his tastes, and slowly seducing her!
The thought of turning him into a criminal surged up vigorously.
Isn't it Lord Demon whose honor will be sullied anyway? No, in the first place, if a demon does demon things, would there be any difference to his already sullied honor anyway?
―How was he before?
The Fairy popped out from behind her back.
"Uwak!"
Pastel trembled. She hurriedly looked around the lounge to see if there was anyone who could see the Fairy's presence.
Sophisticated furniture came into view.
Although it was the harsh Mine Depths, it looked neat, perhaps because it was a space set aside for a high-ranking official. If it weren't for the lack of windows and the walls and floor being made of stone with its natural patterns intact, it wouldn't have been much different from the ground. The air magic circle on the display stand emitted light and hummed.
There was no one else.
Pastel remembered that Melissa had left, saying she would comfort the employees, and felt relieved.
But why did Melissa go to comfort them when she was the one who created the atmosphere that they should be fired?
I was suddenly feeling wronged.
As she was about to sulk, the Fairy stared at her blankly.
"Ah. What did you say?"
―How that demon was before!
One of Pastel's cheeks puffed up. She stayed like that for a moment before letting the air out with a *pfft*.
"I don't know! Anyway, Lord Demon is totally bad! You think so too, right, Fairy?"
―Huh?
The Fairy was flustered.
Then, as if it wasn't really her business, she smiled and nodded enthusiastically.
―I see! Just as you said, he's a totally bad demon! To torment you, he must be the worst demon I've ever seen!
A refreshing affirmation.
Oing.
When the Fairy actually agreed, Pastel felt unsettled. Hearing it from someone else's mouth didn't feel good.
She pursed her lips and then relaxed them.
"I don't think that's it. Lord Demon isn't a bad person."
Right, right.
―Huh?
The Fairy was flustered.
Silence flowed without conversation.
Pastel looked around the lounge with a slightly sulky expression.
"More importantly, didn't you feel anything while coming down? Was it like the reason the Church tried to acquire this place?"
―Feel?
The Fairy placed the edge of her hand against her eyebrow and turned her head, looking around carefully. At some point, her fairy eyes widened.
―Ah? This feeling?!
Oing.
"Do you feel something?!"
Since they said the Magic Stone contained the Evil God's wicked energy, could a wicked being be sealed in the Magic Stone Mine?
The Fairy's bright eyes sparkled.
Her mouth opened.
―I don't feel anything!
It was a confident voice.
Heok.
Pastel's face looked as shocked as if she had just heard that the Evil God was sleeping there.
Then she returned to a calm face.
"Is that so? That's a shame."
Even when she had mobilized the Knights Order to first investigate the inside of the mine, there had been no particular news.
Will I have to wander around by myself?
Ppu-ppu.
It doesn't seem like a novice wandering around would easily find out something that even the resident miners don't know.
Was securing funding really their goal?
That could be it.
Suddenly, a sound was heard from her bosom.
Oing.
Taking it out, she saw it was some kind of compass.
The needle spun round and round before pointing in a certain direction.
What was this again?
Pastel's expression went blank.
Come to think of it, I did carry this in my pocket every day.
At some point, I had been packing it out of habit, like carrying house keys and a wallet, so I don't actually know why I carried it around.
―What's that? I thought it was an attachment item, but it works?
What was it, what was it.
Something surfaced in her memory.
"Ah! This phenomenon is?!"
Pastel was shocked.
―What is it?!
She raised the compass high.
The compass shone under the lighting.
"This is...!"
Pastel shouted with a smarter expression than ever before.
"I forgot what it was!"
Uwang.
I think I'll have to think about it a bit!