Chapter 46 – Treat Your Subcontractors Well

“Friend friends!”

 

Pastel stood before the friend friends Leonard had gathered. She was standing on a wooden box.

 

“I’m sorry I have to give you sad news!”

 

She wiped her eyes with a sad expression.

 

“Sniff.”

 

Murmur murmur.

 

Pastel shouted as if confessing:

 

“I accidentally considered Melissa a friend friend!”

 

She messed up her hair.

 

“The uniqueness of the friend friend title has disappeared!”

 

Dun dun.

 

Uwaa.

 

The friend friends looked puzzled then whispered to each other.

 

Murmur murmur.

 

Though she couldn’t hear what they were saying, she could imagine well enough.

 

―No way! We’re no longer special friend friends?!

 

―To think Pastel lied to us! We wanted a unique friend friend title but now it’s no longer unique!

 

Huk.

 

Pastel painfully clutched her heart.

 

“I’m sorry, everyone! Forgive me for disappointing you! I’ll call Melissa close friend instead of friend friend from now on!”

 

Leonard who was watching with arms crossed raised an eyebrow. Then he looked at his subordinate beside him.

 

“What’s she talking about?”

 

“Boss, you don’t know? She’s just asking us to play along.”

 

The subordinate cheered.

 

“Pastel, we forgive you!”

 

When one person shouted, the friend friends followed shouting.

 

“We forgive you!”

 

Pastel’s eyes went round.

 

Huk.

 

Moved.

 

“As expected of friend friends! I feel like I can overcome any adversity and hardship with you!”

 

Pastel took out the student council budget plan.

 

“And coincidentally we have hardship prepared for us to overcome together! The student council budget has fallen into difficulty due to unavoidable circumstances! The student council for students might go bankrupt at this rate! We absolutely can’t let that happen!”

 

She looked around at the friend friends.

 

“The student council plans to board sky whales and collect animals and plants to raise funds!”

 

She raised her hand high.

 

“Heroes to save the student council with Pastel! Gather here here!”

 

Hands went up.

 

Not enough not enough.

 

“A once in a lifetime chance to spend vacation with Pastel!”

 

She continued in a whisper.

 

“Who knows? You might become somewhat special heroes.”

 

As she met each gaze, friend friends’ faces turned red. Hands went up in droves.

 

Good good.

 

“Hey wait a minute.”

 

Leonard frowned.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

Pastel tilted her head.

 

“The student council is just three people, right?”

 

“Yes!”

 

“No matter how hard three people work for a hundred days it won’t amount to much, so in the end we’re the ones working right? Then we’re the ones earning money? But why does the student council keep the money earned.”

 

Oing.

 

Pastel thought deeply.

 

Then she put her hands on her sides and looked at him seriously.

 

“Leonard! Friends shouldn’t calculate such things! If you consider profit and loss between friends, you’ll only grow apart!”

 

Such a bad friend!

 

Leonard’s mouth fell open.

 

“It’s unpaid labor! Look how shameless?! You’re going overboard just because you’re pretty?!”

 

“No no no.”

 

Pastel wagged her index finger side to side.

 

“Not pretty, popular!”

 

You could call it the merit of being popular.

 

She looked around at the friend friends.

 

“Right everyone~!”

 

The friend friends looked at each other then hesitated.

 

Ing.

 

Why are you hesitating?

 

Pastel examined the friend friends with a meoong~ expression.

 

Meoong~

 

Then the friend friends hurriedly agreed.

 

“Pastel is popular!”

 

“Popular Pastel! Popular Pastel!”

 

As expected!

 

Pastel turned to Leonard.

 

“See! Leonard you don’t empathize because you have no popularity since you see friends as subordinates, but reality is like this!”

 

Leonard grabbed the back of his neck.

 

“This is ridiculous?”

 

Really, is playing boss that fun?

 

She shook her head.

 

She looked down at the friend friends.

 

“The student council belongs to students! Let’s all work hard together for the student council!”

 

Aja aja!

 

#

 

After recruiting manpower, Pastel moved busily.

 

During the sky whale visit period, airship operations were strictly managed.

 

To make money from the sky whale visit, she first needed to solve the operation permit issue.

 

With Sky Island’s governor’s office disbanded, many Sky Island matters were managed by the academy and Knight Order. Sky whale permits were the same.

 

Pastel packed a fruit basket and went to find her reliable smuggling senior.

 

“Senior~!”

 

When she visited the professor’s office, Professor Horace turned around.

 

“Oh! Junior!”

 

Professor Horace welcomed her warmly.

 

“Did you find a good proxy? I couldn’t sleep all night feeling bad about not being able to proxy.”

 

“I found one! My close friend Melissa went in my place!”

 

Nod nod.

 

“Camelot student…?”

 

Professor Horace blanked out.

 

“That Melissa Camelot student?”

 

“Yes!”

 

Pastel affirmed refreshingly.

 

“Hmm hmm.”

 

Professor Horace was dumbfounded.

 

“I see! Well done!”

 

“That’s right! We’re totally close friends!”

 

Satisfied.

 

“Ah right! That’s not it! Take this!”

 

Pastel smoothly handed the fruit basket to the professor. The basket was full of red apples.

 

“Oho?”

 

“I visited Camelot’s apple farm and the apples there were super delicious! I thought of you and brought some!”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Professor Horace admired then subtly pushed aside the apples in the basket. As the apples moved, gold bars hidden underneath were revealed.

 

The gold bars sparkled sparkled.

 

“Oho! So these are Camelot apples! Golden from too high sugar content!”

 

The professor’s face instantly became goofy.

 

Satisfied.

 

“That’s right! Really delicious!”

 

“I can’t ignore my junior after receiving fruit! Are there any inconveniences in student council operations? As a professor I can actively help!”

 

“Ah!”

 

Pastel’s eyes went round.

 

“As expected of senior! How did you know junior was in trouble!”

 

A calm voice was heard.

 

『He knew from seeing the gold bars. Hah, how on earth did you come to naturally give bribes.』

 

Huk.

 

Demon what are you saying?

 

This is a pure apple gift.

 

Stop making completely demonic statements.

 

Pastel immediately consulted about sky whale permits.

 

Professor Horace listened to the plan then nodded.

 

“Excellent judgment. The empty hole in the student council budget is an unavoidable problem but it can’t be left alone. Junior is diligent!”

 

“I knew you’d understand!”

 

“However, this project should be operated with audit rights rather than permits.”

 

“Audit rights?”

 

“The student council has audit rights over almost all areas related to the academy. Though somewhat limited, you can do a lot if you use the authority a bit more broadly.”

 

Abuse of authority.

 

Huk.

 

Professor Horace pointed at the office ceiling with a serious face.

 

“Sky whales pass through academy airspace. Then isn’t sky whale collection a matter the student council should audit?”

 

Pastel’s eyes went round.

 

“D-do you mean?”

 

Professor Horace smiled brightly.

 

“To audit you need to use airships, of course you need to board on top of sky whales, and while boarding you can do various things.”

 

Completely agree.

 

“That’s right that’s right! For proper auditing shouldn’t we directly experience trading company work on site!”

 

“That’s it! Smart student!”

 

They high-fived.

 

Clap-!

 

『Just what are you proudly teaching.』

 

Hooray.

 

We realized we don’t need operation permits because we’re the righteous student council!

 

Yahoo~!

 

Pastel who solved the permit problem prepared for the sky whale visit.

 

Since she needed to prepare for academy student safety as the student council, she processed work and carefully reviewed.

 

When the day of the sky whale visit came, she walked to the docking area at the edge of Sky Island. Leonard and his subordinates followed.

 

Pastel led the way carrying a collection sack. She turned slightly and shouted.

 

“Friend friends! We’re starting an audit for student safety! Let’s do it with pride!”

 

Leonard who was following at the front carrying the same sack was dumbfounded.

 

“Why are you so shameless? Are you saying you’re a Craft too?”

 

Ignoring Leonard’s words, she took out a booklet.

 

It was a know-how booklet written by a merchant experienced in sky whale collection. It had pictures and explanations of various profitable animals and plants. The merchant was introduced by Grace Trading Company.

 

“Everyone read it all thoroughly right? You need to read thoroughly for proper auditing!”

 

“Isn’t it for money?”

 

Pastel looked at Leonard blankly.

 

“Leonard! This is why your subordinates call you captain without respect instead of boss! Right everyone?”

 

Pastel’s friend friends slash Leonard’s subordinates following behind nodded.

 

“She’s right, captain!”

 

“You’re not boss because you treat Pastel that way, captain!”

 

“You’re not worth respecting, captain!”

 

Leonard was dumbfounded.

 

“No, you call me captain because she demanded we change it since it’s confusing if you call me boss!”

 

His pointing finger indicated Pastel.

 

“Eh.”

 

Did I ask to change the title?

 

Well it is confusing with Preston boss from the demon realm.

 

Pastel who became disadvantaged subtly changed the subject.

 

“Anyway I’ll believe you all read it! Let’s go friend friends!”

 

Yahoo~!

 

Hop hop.

 

“Look how shameless?!”

 

They arrived at the airship docking area. Trading company airships of different sizes were lined up. Perhaps because they imitated sky whales, their huddled appearance looked like a whale pod.

 

Cute.

 

When the student council arrived at the busy docking area with people and luggage moving, gazes turned.

 

“The academy airship…”

 

Pastel looked around.

 

A merchant commanding armed mercenaries in front of the largest airship closed his notebook and approached.

 

The merchant looked over Pastel and her group.

 

“Are you from the student council?”

 

Pastel opened a mental name directory. It was the name list explained by the head of Grace Trading Company.

 

She scanned the docking area’s atmosphere and hierarchy, estimated trading company sizes, then compared with the name list to deduce who the other person was.

 

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Sinclair.”

 

Sinclair, head of Fregie Trading Company.

 

It was a trading company that occupied a significant portion of sky whale material distribution within Sky Island. It was also the largest trading company among those permitted for this airship voyage.

 

She held out her hand.

 

“I’m Pastel Love Craft. I hope you’ll actively cooperate with the student council’s audit.”

 

The head of Sinclair Trading Company’s eyes flickered.

 

“I’m Sinclair. If there’s anything to audit, I’ll actively cooperate.”

 

Really?

 

Pastel smiled crookedly in her heart.

 

After exchanging greetings with other merchants too, they parted.

 

As she walked to the academy airship, Leonard followed. A strange gaze came.

 

“Hey, if you can speak so calmly like this, why are you like that usually?”

 

“Uwa? Are you saying you don’t like usual Pastel? So mean~”

 

Pastel boarded the airship with a tearful face. The flustered Leonard was scolded by his subordinates.

 

After one round of insubordination and reestablishing the hierarchy, the airship deck was organized.

 

Pastel who had much to think about spent time alone leaning on the railing.

 

After waiting a while, a small shadow appeared at the edge of the sky far away. A whale swimming through the sky revealed itself breaking through clouds.

 

The whale swam flying drawing elegant curves. It gradually approached Sky Island showing its massive body.

 

The sky beyond was covered by the whale and turned black. The nature and plant groups accumulated on the whale’s back came into view announcing the visit of a small ecosystem.

 

When the wing fins moved leisurely, strong winds arose. All visible clouds were pushed away as if hit by a typhoon.

 

The wind reached the docking area even after pushing away clouds. All airships shook entangled in the wind.

 

“Uwaa!”

 

Her body was pushed back. Pastel grabbed the railing. Her pink hair and clothes fluttered wildly.

 

As if going against the wind, all the trading company airships took off at once. It looked like a scene of small whales flying toward a mother whale.

 

“L-let’s depart too!”

 

The airship rose. They needed to get above the sky whale before it covered the entire sky and dyed the ground in shadow.

 

As if welcoming human visitors, the nature on the whale’s back reacted. Birds took flight and charged toward Sky Island. They were huge monster birds.

 

Huah.

 

Feeling responsible, Pastel turned around. The dumbfounded Leonard and his subordinates were visible.

 

“Friend friends! Safety first! And safety first again! Let’s all be careful!”

 

She waved her arms enthusiastically.

 

“Especially the birds! They’re as big as people so you absolutely can’t get carried away! Fortunately they don’t eat humans so it’s very rare, but if you get carried to their nest you’ll be immediately stranded! Be careful be careful!”

 

A calm voice was heard.

 

『It’s coming.』

 

What?

 

Pastel paused then turned around.

 

A monster bird plunged down like an arrow. Its beak snatched the completely eye-catching pink girl in one go.

 

Uwa?

 

The girl was carried away by the monster bird just like that.

 

Uwaa!

 

The airship instantly grew distant. The open-mouthed Leonard and friend friends looked smaller and smaller.

 

Uwaaaa!

 

Save Pastel~!