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Tia’s eyes shot daggers at Herold after she finally managed to get out of the shack. She would have to reeducate him for his constant insubordination. He had shown a few times that he was useful and he managed to evade the worst outcome just a few moments ago at the entrance, but! But he was far away from being an ideal general. It was not even funny. Maybe she should just get rid of him finally. Her expression turned darker and sourer with each passing second.

  “I’m sorry I forgot… the box.” Herold, who was flustered by her whipping her tail pouting around, leaned forward and whispered to her. He had regretted his decision as soon as Asoera threw the box through the window and Tia’s pitiful grunts from moving the box entered his ears.

“Ah, so you get your error?”, Tia exclaimed with a happy smile forming on her face. In her mind, it was a stoic face. But even if her face had been as cold as an ice-block her twitching ears and curled tail gave her away anyway.

  “Ye, yeah. I should have noticed. I am sorry.” He was bewildered by her sudden change. She went from almost crying to the happiest person in the world. But this was only natural. Tia had high hopes for Herold. He had shown that he was despite his attitude and love for the power troopers a good asset. Also, she had fun playing with him, but that thought was put into the back of her mind as soon as it crossed it. So the thought of seriously ending her relationship with him filled her more with depression than she could have imagined. And then he apologized to her in earnest and even recognized his mistake on his own. So not only had he the insight to realize her thoughts but he also thought about his own actions and compared them towards her intentions. If those were not key ability's a general needed then what was?

Tia nodded a few times heavily with a smile from ear to ear plastered onto her. She patted his back which twitched on the touch. “Right, right. I’ll forgive you this time. Just keep remembering to think first, alright?” With newfound vigor, she climbed onto the box. She turned around, proudly grinning and announced: “My beloved members of the demon lord Armee, tod…” “I told you that sounds stupidly dumb”, yelled Asoera with a straight face and crushed Tia’s spirit. Almost. Herold pushed his elbow against Asoera’s side and looked at her with pleading eyes. “What? I will not be named like that.”, answered Asoera defiantly.

  “A, anyway,”, pressed Tia out before they could get into another argument again. Somehow dealing with so many people at once really tired her out. “We have many enemies and dangers around us. As the… as we have decided to become the protectors of our homes, friends, and families we need to find a way to first stop more dangers from coming towards us.” She let her eyes linger on each of her friends. Herold smiled and nodded, while Birim had his head crocked in confusion. Asoera was expressionless. Tia thought to see her mouthing the words ‘protect friends’. Her hand wandered unconsciously towards her with heavy clothes covered throat. She must have been impressed, figured Tia.

  “As such we finally have found our hideout where we can plan and scheme for our cause. We will clean it fast so that we can go as quick as possible to the matter at hand. That is to learn magic. Magic that will help us in defending ourselves. Magic that will help us in destroying those who stand in our way. Magic that will help us to control who can enter our sector and who not. Magic that will help us to gain all the power and rule the world!” She pumped her fist into the air. For a moment nobody said anything. Herold had now a wry smile on his face and Birim was the same as before. Asoera had a shocked expression. But then. “Yes! This is indeed perfect! We need the power to get rid of anyone who dares to harm us!” Asoera stormed towards Tia and gripped her hand. “Eh? What?” Bewildered at Asoera’s sudden outburst Tia tried to take a step back. Asoera inched closer, stepping onto the box too. With swift movements, she pressed Tia against the wall of the shack.

Tia’s mind almost blanked out. That girl was way too close, just like Herold often was. Her eyes were nailed against Tia and the pressure Asoera radiated was similar to Tia’s mother. It was great that Asoera showed such eagerness. It would have filled Tia with joy and pride. But being literally pressed against a wall by a girl, who could without effort crush her, gave her a scare. She shrunk unconsciously as her knees gave away. “Could you give me some space?” After Tia had regained some composure she tried to sound as non-bothered as possible. But the way her voice shrieked, proved that she failed. The ears that were pressed against her head were a small hint too. Maybe that was why Herold called out towards Asoera. “Hey Asoera, give her some room to breathe. You are scaring her!” Tia wrinkled her nose in disdain at Herold’s words. There was no way that she was scared.

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But if that would get Asoera off of her, she was lenient to overlook his statement this time. “Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” Asoera let Tia’s hand go as if they could explode any second, and stepped off the box in the same manner. Her blueish scales turned into a slight purple while she intensely starred at the ground. Herold stepped to Tia with a concerned look. “Everything alright?” “Yes, of course. No problem at all.”, said Tia while wringing her tail in her hands. Herold raised a brow and turned to give Asoera. Angry eyes glared at her. Tia raised her hand. “I am alright. But Asoera please don’t do that again. Though I am glad to see you so into it. I can understand to give those fake heroes their earned death sentence.”, nodded Tia trying to pull herself together. She herself was furious at those trooper lovers and would throw a fireball without further notice. It would be a great sight. Just imagining it put a smile on her face. “Huh? Err, yes?” Asoera gave her a confused look. Tia pulled her brows down in wonder but decided to get back on track. “Alright, so tomorrow we will clean this out, but for the rest of the day I can teach you guys magic for real.” She put her hands on her hips and raised her head proudly. Herold formed a wry smile and glanced over to Birim who seemed to be scared.

  “Err, Tia? You sure? I mean I would love to learn magic but do you understand now how it works?” She furrowed her brows and gave him a look that said, what are you talking about? “Of course I know how magic works. You do it like this.” Irritated by Herold’s comment, she created a small flame on her palm. But despite her wondrous performance, he gave out a groan. “Woah. That is amazing. How do you do that?”, asked Asoera, her eyes sparkling.

  “Huh?” A confused sound escaped Tia’s mouth. “You do it like this.” She made the flame disappear and appear again. Asoera crooked her head. “I can see that you make a flame appear but how do you do it?” Tia’s confusion grew. She had shown it exactly how it is done. What was there not to understand. She tilted her head a little herself. Somehow this gave her the feeling of a deja-vu. Did something like that happen before? But before Tia could say anything. Asoera sneered at her. “So, you can not explain it? And you want to teach us? What a joke!” Her voice was filled with frustration. “Nonono, I can teach you guys. You just have to observe better, alright?” Tia became desperate. She was the demon lord after all. How could she fail at anything magic related? “Just stop Tia. How about you think at home how you do it before it gets worse again?” Herold tried to calm her in a gentle voice down. But this resulted only in the opposite of what he wanted.

Tia remembered a similar occurrence and her confidence fell into the depth of despair. And it didn’t help that Asoera gave her a disappointed look. Wordless, she turned around and crouched before the wall of the shack. “I am just a fraud who can do nothing. Why am I even alive if I can not even do the simplest of simple things? I should just…” “Huh?” Asoera couldn’t help but making a surprised sound. She had expected anything but that. Helpless she searched for Herold’s eyes. But he sighed in resignation. He had seen this scene once before and though he was scared that she could snap at him he had to calm her down. Tia’s mother was not here to take her home and he was almost sure that she wouldn’t move, even if the bells notified them to return home. He wondered why the girls around him were always such a handful. Though Birim could take some of their attitude for himself. “Hey, it’s alright. You just need to grasp what you are doing right?”

An empty laugh escaped Tia’s mouth. “Sure. As soon as I understand how I can move my arms, legs, and tail. I am just a worm who has no brain. Me being the demon lord is nothing more than a bad joke and…” But Herold only made it worse. Helpless he turned to Birim. He was scared but at the same time, he seemed relieved. “Bu, But is it not be, better not to do majik? The ad, adults fobit it.” “No, Tia is absolutely right about learning magic to defend us. That is what will make us into heroes. There is already a threat close to us and we have to do something about it!”, said Herold with a conviction strong enough, that Tia stopped her murmuring and looked at Herold. “You are right. This is no time to be scarred Birim. We will save this district from any danger. We will stop anything that wants to get inside our district.” Herold formed a wry smile. Didn’t she waste time right now?

But Asoera starred at both of them with a look full of skepticism. “And how do you want to stop someone from the outside to come inside? Not with that little flame, do you?” Both Herold and Tia fell silent. Tia only knew how to make the flame after all. Another despair closed into Tia’s heart. But then a rather unexpected voice gave the solution. “Wit a barrier, of cose.” Birim looked at everybody as if that was self-evident.