NOVEL NEXT 11 – Ally!
“Alright then, my loyal sacrificial pawns! Let’s wrap it up for today! Until next time!” Jessica shouted over the room full of minions.
Some of them seemed disappointed while others let out a sigh of relief. It felt like teaching in a class… Well, except that the students ranged from kids to adults of all shapes and sizes. And also, nobody was forcing them to attend. Why had those whiny ones even signed up for this anyway?
That aside, Jessica had been busy training her new squad as the leader. Frankly speaking, it wasn’t too different from before her promotion. Just that in addition to teaching magic, she also had to teach teamwork and tactics for when they were dispatched on the field. Although for that, she was still trying to learn things herself. After all, she wasn’t a strategist but an actress.
Most minions left the big room, only leaving Jessica and a few others who helped clean up.
“Are you going home now?” the demonic spirit’s voice echoed in her head.
“Yeah, just gonna clean up and I’ll be off,” she mentally replied.
“Alright… I’ll be leaving for now then.”
“See ya, creepy cat stalker.”
Even as Nomed went dormant again, she could faintly hear his sigh in the distance.
“Hey! Thanks for the lesson as always,” one of the male minions called out to her as she finished rolling up the big training mat. It was the same bubbly guy she had first offered these magic lessons to. They had gotten pretty close since then. Although…
“No problem! Gotta train my loyal minions properly, after all!” Jessica laughed, eyeing him.
“By the way…” Jessica started as she and the guy lifted the rolled-up mat off the ground. “I have been wondering. How come such a positive, ever-smiling guy like you is in the demon army? You don’t exactly seem to be bent on the destruction of humanity.”
He paused for a second, his demon tail stiffening. “Oh… Well, it’s a long story…”
“Hmmm…?” Jessica quirked an eyebrow at him.
“Hahaha…” he awkwardly laughed. “Well, you know how it goes… One thing led to another and here I am now.”
That didn’t say much. It looked like Jessica needed a different approach.
She thought about her next angle of attack as they delivered the mat back into the storage room.
“Oh, I know! You only joined to learn magic, didn’t you? You’re just a big magic nerd. You don’t actually don’t care about destroying humans,” Jessica declared as they made their way back.
His body language didn’t give away anything... except for his tail doing its best imitating tangled headphone wires. “What? Haha! No way! Magic is cool and all, sure, but I’m here to get revenge on those shitty humans,” he declared.
Jessica smirked. This guy was so easy to read. His act wasn’t bad, but his tail gave his true feelings away.
She wrapped an arm around his shoulders – He was only slightly taller than her, luckily. “Great! I was worried for a second that you were a traitor or something! Let’s talk more about terrorizing the puny humans then!”
There was a slight reaction to the word traitor. “Hmm…? Sure. What’s on your mind?”
Luckily for Jessica, while they had carried off the mat, the other minions had already cleaned up the rest. The job was done, Nomed wasn’t listening, and she was free to talk to this guy. She couldn’t ask for a more perfect chance.
“Can’t wait for our next deployment! What is gonna be? Maybe we’ll attack a school? Imagine all those shitty brats screaming! Music to my ears!” Jessica said with glee in her voice.
“... yeah! That sounds great!” There was only a faint sign of discomfort in his voice. His act really was good… discounting the fact that his tail was performing some kind of tail equivalent of somersaults.
While she distracted him with her maniacal demon talk, she led him into the tiny office room assigned to her. He didn’t even notice what was happening until they entered it and he looked around to realize that there was no other exit in the room.
Jessica detached her arm from him and locked the door behind them. The lock clicked, prompting the poor guy to turn around. Jessica made a point of showing the key to him before hiding it in her pockets.
“Um…”
“So…” Jessica said in a low voice. “What’s your plan here? Destroy the demon army from the inside?”
“... What are you talking about?”
His voice was relatively level, but his tail was mimicking being electrocuted. He still had a long way to go as an actor…
“Weeell… I’m just curious…” Jessica began slowly waltzing around the room while keeping an eye on the guy. Her tail was gracefully swinging from side to side, like that of a cat ready to pounce. Unlike him, she had already mastered incorporating it into her body language. “Do you work alone? Or are you in contact with the magical girls? How exactly are you planning on overthrowing the demons?”
His body language still didn’t give anything away, but the lack of a reply was very telling… as was his tail’s gymnastics.
He was probably considering fighting his way out, but he also had to know that even though he was physically stronger than her, there was a reason why she was the magic teacher and he the student.
“Come on, Cody. No need to be a stranger here,” Jessica said with mirth in her voice.
And that did it. Even his tail stopped playing snake and froze in place.
“Wha–… H-how do you know my name?”
“Hmm? What are you talking about? Of course, I remember your name! We’re in the same club, after all!” Jessica proclaimed whilst reaching up to her mask and removing it.
Even through his mask, she could tell Cody’s jaw went slack. “Huh?! Jessica?!” His facade finally broke.
“Hey there, my fellow gay actor!” Jessica said with glee, completely switching away from her menacing tone from earlier. “You should really work on your body language. Especially with that thing.” She pointed at his tail.
Cody followed her finger and spotted his tail making involuntary movements and his eyes widened in realization.
“Easy to forget about it, eh? Took me a bit to get used to it myself.” Jessica nodded to herself. “But nowadays, my act is so good, the demons totally think I’m on their side!” She chuckled.
“Huh…? Wait… What? What do you mean? Are you saying that…”
“I’m also trying to topple the demon army from the inside, yeah. We’re doing the same thing.” She shrugged.
He stared at her for a second before deflating with a sigh. “I thought you were going to smite me or something…” He paused for a moment.
“Hey, I gotta keep up the act! You never know who might be watching, right?” She smirked. “Also, it’s kinda fun. You were shitting bricks over there.”
“You…” He started before interrupting himself by taking a deep breath and sighing. “Ah yeah… of course. Jessica, the lead villainess actress. How could I forget?” Cody shook his head, finally seeming to relax as he smiled. “So… Do you have a plan? I just kind of jumped into it thinking I would come up with a plan later.”
“Hmm, kinda? Well, my plan is to become one of the demon generals eventually. I ought to have a lot of influence by then.”
“That’s… pretty ballzy. I was thinking of staying low-key and silently sabotaging the army…”
“Hey, if we really wanna topple the demons, we need one big blow and not just tiny chip damage, you know? I already took out one of the generals. Almost got caught, but it was totally worth it.”
“Wait, you did? Who did… Forneus…? That was you?! You were the… err… ‘crazy bitch with pepper spray?”
Jessica laughed out. “Yup, that’s me! A certified crazy bitch with pepper spray!”
A moment of silence as Cody seemed to take everything in.
Then he sighed again whilst holding his head. “Well… alright. If it works… But still, I think I’m gonna stay low-key myself for now.” He smirked. “You’ll need someone to bail you out once you get caught, you know?”
“Great!” Jessica beamed. “A loyal minion joins the party!”
“Hey! Don’t call me a minion!”
They both laughed.
