On the back of the whale, which was larger and wider than an ordinary island, various gigantic terrain features were established.
Among them was a steep cliff that soared into the sky, resembling a rocky mountain. Several strange birds flew around, building nests and residing there.
In one of the nests, three gigantic baby birds huddled together. A mother bird, larger than a person, repeatedly chirped as she waited for food to be brought to them.
Today, food was delivered once again. Thanks to the discovery of a new hunting ground called Sky Island, the busy mother bird quickly took off, but the baby birds didn’t feel disappointed. They were too busy pecking at the intriguing pink food.
The baby birds moved their beaks frantically around the pink food.
Peep, peep, peep!
“Uhh!”
A gigantic beak began to peck at Pastel. Her pink hair was messily ruffled and tangled.
“Stop bothering me!”
Pastel waved her arms in a pout.
The beak poked her head repeatedly.
Uhh.
“Look at me as a decorative piece!”
The fluffy baby birds stopped pecking. They tilted their heads in unison at the size of Pastel. Although enormous, she looked like a chick.
“Wow.”
Pastel, all messed up, tidied her clothes and hair. Looking around at the gigantic baby birds, she flapped her arms.
“Now do you understand?! Pastel is not food! I’m a proper sentient being!”
—Peep?
One baby bird tilted its head.
Are they finally understanding?
Phew, what a relief.
The baby bird moved its beak. The beak began to peck at Pastel once more, and the other baby birds joined in.
Peep, peep, peep!
Uhh!
Pastel was surrounded and flailed helplessly. The hair she had just tidied up was messed up again.
It felt like I was turned into a cherry blossom tree…!
Save me, Pastel!
Now a cozy nest, Pastel scurried to a corner of the nest. As the baby birds chased her, she unsheathed her sword.
“If you keep this up, I won’t sit idly by! I’ll call my Hormonal Friend!”
Hormonal Friend, are you ready?
The fluffy baby birds froze for a moment.
The lead baby bird tilted its head.
—Peep~?
Pastel flinched.
Whoa, that’s cute.
The tip of her sword wobbled.
Wobble, wobble, wobble.
“Ah, do you understand? If you keep this up, the fierce Pastel will arrive. I won’t let you slide just because you’re cute!”
Pastel made a fierce expression with all her might.
“Graaaah!”
Absolutely scary.
The world trembled with fear.
—Peep.
A baby bird slowly approached. Its cautious movements conveyed an apologetic demeanor.
Pastel’s expression brightened.
Did my feelings finally reach them?
Even an animal that couldn’t comprehend words could feel my affinity.
Is this what it means to be a popular Pastel?
The three baby birds encircled Pastel.
—Peep!
As one of them called out, all their beaks moved in unison.
Peep, peep, peep!
The beaks pecked at Pastel.
Wahh!
Unable to swing her sword, Pastel flailed around. Her pink hair was ripped out carelessly.
Save me, Pastel!
Pastel, weary, perched on the edge of the nest. She held a few strands of ripped hair. The pink threads fluttered in the wind.
“Is this what a popular person’s life is like…?”
Sniff.
A calm voice was heard.
“It must be the life of a castaway.”
Wow, a response with zero empathy.
After several exhausting conversations and flailing, she had finally been acknowledged as not being food.
She had made baby bird friends.
It was truly hard.
Was making friends always this difficult? Do people like the Demon Lord live a life like this?
Wow.
How do you live like that?
Respect.
Pastel swung her legs while perched on the nest.
The nest was on a steep slope close to vertical. The colorful rocky mountain was visible below. Beyond the white rocky mountain was a lush forest.
“Is this really on the back of a whale? It’s just a piece of land?”
“It’s more comfortable to think of it as an island.”
Heh.
I might really get stranded.
“Shouldn’t I have caught the strange birds and returned to the Scoff instead of waiting patiently?”
They weren’t man-eating birds; they had just misidentified her as food, so she hesitated to kill them and let herself be taken.
—Peep?
The baby bird looked back.
Pastel waved her hands in a fluster.
“Nothing at all, baby bird friends!”
I didn’t think about killing your parents or anything evil at all!
If I did, it was all the fault of that evil Hormonal Friend!
Nod, nod.
“If it were an ordinary girl, being stranded in such a dangerous situation would be very risky, but for you, it’s not a big deal. You have good stamina and, in any case, your food problem isn’t significant since you consume magic stones. You just need to move quickly to where there are signs of civilization.”
Pastel placed her hand on her brow. She squinted as if to examine the landscape.
Rocks, rocks, forest, forest.
“I don’t see any signs of civilization at all.”
“You’ll see it soon enough as you go. It looks like pure nature, but this place has been impacted by human hands for quite some time.”
“Really?”
It didn’t look like it at all.
“The Sky Island has been a holy land for magic users since long before the long-distance navigation technology for Scoffs was developed. It was possible to visit the Sky Island by riding this whale. This place has been frequented by people for at least several hundred years.”
“Then does the Demon Lord happen to know the geography of this place?”
“Correct.”
“Wow!”
With the Demon Lord as her navigation system, Pastel wouldn’t get stranded.
Pastel hummed as she stood up from the edge of the nest. She turned around to look at the baby birds.
“Baby bird friends!”
—Peep?
Fluffy baby birds looked at her.
Pastel made a sad expression. She placed her hands on her hips.
“Even though our time together was short, the depth of our feelings is deeper than any relationship.”
Just as many as the strands of ripped pink hair.
“But every connection and disconnection must exist. Now we have come to the time to part.”
Pastel wiped her eyes.
“Don’t be sad, friends.”
—Peep.
The baby birds stared silently before ignoring her and getting back to their tasks. It was a much more important task of pecking and tidying up the nest than sending off a departing friend.
A baby bird mixed a pink thread, the origin of which was unknown, with the nest. The nest made of sticks and straw was adorned with a pink thread.
The pink thread fluttered in the wind.
Pastel’s mouth dropped open.
Uhh.
My hair…!
They are decorating their home with my hair…!
Are you still calling yourselves my friends?!
Pastel was astonished but soon managed to regain her composure. The baby birds might have a culture of pulling a departing friend’s hair to decorate it.
She did her best to tear her gaze away from her hair.
“Um, um, anyway, it’s time to part. If you don’t have anything else to say, I’ll be going now, goodbye.”
Pastel honestly didn’t expect a send-off.
I don’t think these guys are friends.
But it really seemed like the culture of pulling hair to decorate was simply a misunderstanding, as the baby birds approached as if to send her off.
—Peep! Peep!
It was a hasty movement and a sorrowful cry.
Fluffy baby birds gathered around.
Oh?
Are they really giving me such a heartfelt send-off?
Pastel felt overwhelmed.
So it truly was a misunderstanding arising from cultural differences!
We were truly friends!
Emotion.
Pastel looked around at the pleading baby birds.
Then, her gaze caught sight of some strange four-legged beasts approaching along the rocky path on the other side of the nest.
Jaguar with sleek bodies skillfully climbed the rocky mountain towards the nest. Yellow eyes fixed in gaze, white fangs were bared. Drool hung from the fangs.
—Peep! Peeeaak!
The baby birds cried pitifully. They grasped Pastel’s clothing with their beaks and pulled her.
Pastel was unexpectedly dragged away. Their beaks pushed at her back. The girl was pushed forward, as though shielding the baby birds from the swarm of jaguars.
—Peeeaak!
The baby birds cried pathetically at Pastel.
Pastel turned her head in bewilderment. After looking at the pink hair decorated in the nest and the fierce pack of jaguars, she looked back at the baby birds.
—Peeeaak!
The baby birds cried pitifully.
You guys have no shame…?
The leading jaguar bared its teeth. The jaguars surged towards the nest.
Ugh.
Pastel drew her sword for the sake of the baby birds, who looked cute but seemed to have a nature that would have led to their extinction long ago.
“Hey, Jaguar friends, let’s talk—”
The jaguar lunged at her.
The girl sidestepped half a step. The beast brushed past her, and the blade flashed. As it cleaved through the beast, a torrent of blood erupted.
The pack of jaguars simultaneously lunged at her. A knife took flight from her grasp. The jaguars charging at the girl and baby birds were pierced by a silvery trajectory. Blood spurted from the pierced heads, and their forms collapsed. The corpses made noises.
Pastel brushed her hands off. She shook the blood from the knife in the air and put it back in her possession.
With her hands on her hips, she looked back at the baby birds.
“You guys! Now do you understand the value of friends?”
Ahem.
The plush baby birds approached her. And then they simply shoved Pastel aside as they passed.
Fluff, huh!
Thud.
The baby birds picked up the jaguar corpses with their beaks and tossed them out of the nest.
Whoosh, whoosh.
Pastel, having fallen over, looked sorrowful.
“Isn’t that a bit too harsh?!”
If those bad ones hadn’t looked cute, they would have been extinct long ago!
My Hormonal Friend would have taken them down!
A baby bird approached her. It nudged her roughly and then dragged the nearby jaguar corpse away.
Once again, Pastel, now more sorrowful, lay face down.
Wahhh.
“Demon Lorrrd! Please teach them a lesson! They’re bad ones! They’re totally bad ones!”
The girl chirped.
It was a cry that would have resonated with extinction if they hadn’t looked cute.
“Hah.”
The demon muttered in a voice that somehow felt self-conscious.
“Why am I doing this?”
#
Having parted from the bad ones, Pastel descended the rocky mountain and ran through the forest.
As the bushes obstructed her, her sword flashed. The path cleared as the pink figure sped on. When a rock blocked her way, she leaped. Her pink hair fluttered and her body twirled. She landed lightly with a thud on the ground.
She wandered the stream and cut down beasts.
Before long, traces of humanity were discovered.
The girl spotted muddy footprints and swung her sword once. The beast’s blood that had stained the blade was shaken off.
“The ordeal is over. We can join up now.”
“That seems so.”
Viscount Craft nodded vaguely with a subtle expression.
“Why do you look like that?”
“Oh, it’s just….”
Now that we had been stranded, did we really need to strive to rejoin through the standard route?
Wouldn’t it be effective to quietly survey an area from which the Scoff hadn’t prepared for our emergence rather than appearing from the original entrance route?
Viscount Craft intentionally smiled sweetly.
“Since it has come to this, let’s not join and conduct a secret audit instead!”
“Audit? Was that something you really intended? Not just a pretense for the collection of Skywhales?”
The demon was perplexed.
“Oh come on, Demon Lord. How many positions do I hold that I would just pursue my own interests?”
Regardless of the necessity of dishonest dealings for survival.
“With position comes responsibility. That’s a splendid thought. The Skywhale is indeed a no-man’s land where various crimes occur, so there is ample reason to conduct an audit.”
“Exactly.”
Nodding vaguely, she bent down to scoop up the mud. Then, she poured it onto her pink hair. The mud covered the pink strands.
“Shall we start by examining the largest Prism Upper Trading Guild first? I’m excited to see how many violations there are.”
May they get caught in whatever line of connection they might have with the cult.
Even if they had hidden and manipulated evidence, it wouldn’t matter.
The number of charges is a flexible matter.
Viscount Craft began the secret audit.
