Chapter 10: 10 – Suspicious!

Jessica, along with six other minions who looked eerily similar to her when in costume, walked through the door into their general’s office.

The general inside scanned over them with her ever-frowning eyes as they entered. Salem, an adult woman with long blond hair, blue eyes, and a permanent scowl on her face. She wore her moon-shaped domino mask and her battle dress.

All in all, she truly looked like a menacing demon general. Or at least, she would, if she wasn’t sitting behind a desk buried in stacks of documents.

Once the last minion entered and closed the door behind her, Salem spoke up.

“We had a report of a traitor among us,” she announced, not bothering with any greetings.

All the minions, Jessica included, tensed up.

Shit… Was this it?

“Forneus informed us that one of my minions is trying to stage a coup. She pretended to be on our side while in reality she conspired with the magical girls and helped take Forneus down with unfair methods.”

Salem slammed her hands down on the desk whilst intensifying her glare.

“All of you fit the culprit’s description that he gave us.”

A moment of silence followed.

This wasn’t good. That jerk of a molester had lied to get back at her! Conspiring with the magical girls? Unfair methods? What a bunch of bull!

“Um,” one of the minions raised her hand. “What unfair methods are we talking about here…?”

Somehow, Salem’s scowl got even more intense. The minion flinched back.

“The culprit pepper sprayed him through his helmet in the middle of a battle against the magical girls, knowing he couldn’t remove it.”

Another minion snorted. A sharp glare from their general quickly made her straighten up again.

Jessica’s mind was in overdrive, thinking of ways to get out of the situation. Telling the whole truth was out for obvious reasons, but denying it wouldn’t work either. Once again, she decided to take a risk.

“Oh, that? That was me,” she boldly announced.

All eyes were on her in an instant.

“But hold on!” She raised her hands. “What was that about conspiring with the magical girls? I was just defending myself! That molester just grabbed me from behind, announced that I was his and that he would do all sorts of nasty things to me!”

“Ew…” one of the other minions let out.

“It was out in public, and I was in my human form, so I couldn’t possibly defend myself in other ways! Pepper spray was all I had!”

Salem didn’t let up her intense glare. Jessica’s mind was still racing in panic, although she didn’t let any of it show on the surface.

“Forneus also told us that you mocked him after the fact.”

Oh yeah… there was that… What now…?

“Uh, I’m sorry, what?”

“Several other minions saw you leave him in the castle hallways whilst laughing.”

… ah, shit.

“O-ooh… so that was him?” Jessica pretended to play dumb. “I was wondering why some random human was in the castle and why he just tried to attack me out of the blue. Now it makes sense…” She pretended to mull over it.

Salem didn’t seem convinced.

“All of you except this one,” she said while stabbing a finger in Jessica’s direction. “Dismissed.”

A few hushed whispers and sighs of relief and the other minions left, leaving only Jessica and her general in the room.

Jessica’s heart was beating out of her chest, but she still somehow managed to keep up the appearance of calm.

Salem stood up and slowly walked around her desk whilst keeping an eye on the minion. She made it all the way to Jessica, leaned down to her eye level, and said, “You… are suspicious.”

Jessica almost blasted out magic and ran away in panic at that moment. Somehow though, she held herself back.

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“But…” Salem stood up again. “This whole thing is a farce anyway. The demon lord said that if Forneus can get beaten by a girl with pepper spray, he doesn’t deserve the title of a demon general in the first place.”

The general crossed her arms and looked to the side.

“He told me that I just had to confirm you weren’t a spy.” She turned around to face Jessica again. “Frankly speaking, despite this, I don’t think you are.”

Jessica let out a sigh of relief in her mind.

“But I’m still keeping an eye on you,” the general declared whilst stabbing Jessica in her chest with a finger.

For a second, Jessica wanted to jokingly call her a molester too, but she refrained.

“In other news… You’re the one who’s been teaching some other minions magic, aren’t you?”

“Uhh, yeah. What about it? Are you gonna accuse me of conspiring with them too now?” Jessica said, pretending to be miffed. Well, she didn’t have to pretend.

Salem frowned again.

“No. I was thinking of promoting you to a leadership position.”

“Wha–” Jessica let out, genuinely surprised.

“You did well on your first mission, are skilled with magic, and already have people following you. You’re the perfect candidate… Unless you don’t want to?”

Jessica stood still for a second, already celebrating in her mind whilst pretending to think it over.

“I mean… I don’t really get it. You called me here to accuse me of being a traitor but instead, I get a promotion?”

“The demon king doesn’t tolerate traitors. But he also wants the capable ones to lead. It’s only natural that someone capable of taking down a demon general should be promoted.”

Didn’t that mean they were actively encouraged to take down their superiors? Jessica decided not to voice her thoughts.

“Eh. I mean, sure. I’m already teaching the others, might as well take the promotion and make it official.”

Salem’s eyes narrowed once again.

“Good. Starting today, you are a new squad leader. You have a week to gather enough minions to fill your squad.”

That’s how it worked. Jessica wasn’t replacing the old leader, she was just forming a new squad and had to recruit others into it. Although her old squad leader was probably getting demoted soon.

Odd rules.

“Dismissed!” Salem said and returned to her desk without paying Jessica any more attention.

Jessica left the room, grinning from ear to ear. Taking that molester down had been an even bigger win than she had anticipated.

“Hmm…”  a familiar voice resounded in her head. “Are you really not a double agent?”

Jessica rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed grunt.

“Oh, you know it! I’m at least a quadruple agent!” Her gaze went cold. “Seriously Nomed? Are you just gonna be a dick now?”

“S-sorry…”

“Anyway, weren’t you supposed to leave me alone at some point? What happened to that?”

“Well, it’s usually a couple of weeks or so before I go dormant… But after a significant promotion, I’m supposed to wake up again for a bit.”

“Hah?! What the hell? So you aren’t going away?” Jessica bit out.

“Nope! I’ll be staying for a little longer to show you the ropes again since you’re a squad leader now.”

Jessica grunted in annoyance.

One loss amongst all the wins.

Well, it could have been worse.