Baugh couldn’t help but internally sigh in exhaustion.

It had only been angry shouting and calls for execution since Tepes and her crew broke out of the castle and left everyone reeling. He was really straining himself to contain all the spirits at this point.

He really wasn’t cut out for this position.

“To let a spy be a general…”

“Our king is so incompetent…”

“Pft, she would have been a better queen than him…”

“If only the old king was here…”

“Wouldn’t have minded if she overthrew him…”

It was so bad that they weren’t even afraid to voice their treasonous thoughts out loud anymore. The only reason why he was still the king at this point was because he was still overwhelmingly more powerful than anyone here thanks to, technically, being the fifth weapon’s wielder, and the fact that he and Hecate were the only true demons with a physical body left.

The nervous minions hosting all the demonic spirits certainly didn’t help matters. A lot of them weren’t even adults. Just teenagers completely out of their depth.

Jessica just had to have gone and stirred the hornet’s nest. Not even forcefully separating her from Nomed helped calm down the masses. In fact, it only angered those who were, for some reason, in favor of her becoming the ruler of demons. How much of a failure was he if they would have preferred a human teenager as their demon queen?

And then, of course, to make matters worse, Hecate returned from her meeting with Jessica.

Except, according to her, it hadn’t even been Jessica, but former magical girls who were now working for Jessica? And the girl in question had instead gone to Earth, where he had sent Salem.

His relationship with that woman was still tentative, even after all these years. He couldn’t be sure whether Salem would actually try to kill the former general. Sure, he had told her to do so, but that had only been because of the demonic spirits nearby. He had to pretend.

That was why when Salem finally returned by suddenly barging into the main auditorium from the teleporter room, Baugh couldn’t help but feel a cold dread in his stomach. The crowd of spirits immediately went silent by her presence, everyone waiting with bated breaths for what she had to say.

The woman stopped, aimed her sharpened eyes straight at Baugh, and opened her mouth.

“Tepes… is dead!”

His stomach dropped and the pandemonium restarted. The demons and minions became even noisier than before. Some of them cheering, some of them cussing Salem out, some simply staring in disbelief.

Hecate, standing off to the side, was visibly restraining herself from jumping at Salem or shouting something incriminating. Not surprising. Jessica had essentially been her best friend.

“Where’s the body, then?!” someone shouted.

“Incinerated. There’s nothing left of the traitor,” Salem replied without missing a beat, before turning around and promptly leaving the room without a care in the world.

Baugh’s hands clenched.

Jessica was dead.

And it was all his fault. He had told Salem to kill her.

He had been trying so hard to make sure this whole war against the magical girls wouldn’t have casualties, and in the end… he’d failed. Not only had he let someone die, but it was Jessica of all people. If what the former magical girls had told Hecate, Jessica figured out the solution to the problem. She had been the key to everything.

And now it was all for naught.

Baugh spent the rest of the conference – which didn’t take long now that the supposed traitor had been dealt with – in an emotionless daze. He recalled assuring the demons in a flat tone that this would never happen again and that they will surely get their revenge on the magical girls for this.

Once it ended and the minions and their spirits dispersed, Baugh immediately headed into his office, Hecate trailing behind him. Once they closed the door behind them, Baugh stopped, took several rough breaths as he clenched his shaking fists.

What was done… was done. As much as it pained him, he couldn’t falter now, or Jessica’s death would have been meaningless. After all, thanks to her, they had several breakthroughs in their research of Trish’s condition. He just had to bring it all the way to the end now and…

A wet sob broke him out of his spiral.

When he turned around, he spotted Hecate, tears streaming down her face.

Baugh froze in shock.

Hecate never cried. That just didn’t happen. This must have hit her way harder than Baugh thought.

Before he could figure out what to say or what to do, he was once again interrupted, this time, by a swift knock on his door, before it opened without waiting for a reply, revealing Salem.

Hecate’s eyes locked onto the newcomer before her grief-stricken expression warped into one of rage.

“You!” she roared as Salem closed the door behind her. “How could you?! Why did you kill her, you bitch?!”

Salem stopped for a split second, before setting her expression back into a scowl and replying. “Because she was a traitor, of course. Traitors have to be dealt with.”

“You…” Hecate growled, her hands shaking, as magic swirling around her.

Salem then raised her hands, one in front of her mouth in a shushing motion, one pointing at the secret room at the back, while her eyes darted around the room, searching for something.

“Wha…” Hecate blinked, her fellow general’s actions confusing her for a moment.

Baugh, however, had an inkling of what was happening and hope blossomed in his chest.

“You did well, Salem,” he said out loud, even as he walked over to the secret room’s entrance and motioned for the two to follow them. 

They did, though, Hecate’s confusion didn’t abate.

“We need to check on her to make sure Tepes didn’t do anything,” Baugh said out loud as he tapped the wall in a specific pattern, his fingers laced with magic.

The secret entrance opened and the three shuffled in before it closed again.

Safe behind the privacy enchantment of the room, Baugh and Hecate finally turned to Salem. 

“Salem, what–” Baugh began.

But before he could finish his question, Salem raised her hand and used her pocket dimension magic. But instead of her staff, something else came out of it. Or rather, someone else. Multiple someones, in fact.

All four magical girls, a minion, and… Jessica.

“Ack! Finally! It was so weird inside there! Never again!” she immediately complained as she dusted herself off.

She didn’t get a chance to say or do anything else, however, because Hecate was already tackling her in a hug.

“Jessica! You’re alive! You’re fine! You’re not dead!”

“He–?! Ha–?! Wha–?!” Jessica sputtered in confusion. “Hey, uh… yeah, I’m alive. Didn’t think you would be that relieved, though…”

Baugh let out a breath..

Jessica wasn't dead.

That fact alone was more relieving than he dared to admit.

After a moment of watching his daughter fuss over the former general, his attention shifted to the magical girls, who stood to the side, whispering among each other while eyeing everyone around them.

This was… the first time he met this generation of the magical girls, wasn’t it?