I Became a Burden to the Conscienceless Party

As always, Lilith, who was formulating various strategies for the Demon King’s Army, bowed her head slightly as she saw the elderly man returning with dignified steps.

“Ah, Major General Eleven, you’ve returned. How was it? Lieutenant Jim?”
“As you said, he’s certainly a special young man.”
“Hoho, that’s fortunate then.”

Lilith nodded.
It’s a satisfactory result. She still doesn’t know what’s special about Jim, but Eleven, who was in a similar position to her, confirmed it himself.
The doubt that Jim might not be special, which had been latent within her, flew away cleanly at this moment.
The probability that the future of the Demon King’s Army would also fly away cleanly because of this increased.

“Lieutenant Jim must have had a hard time. Where is he now?”

She could ask Eleven what was special about Jim, but Lilith decided to speak indirectly rather than make such a mistake.
It would be ridiculous if she didn’t know after claiming he was special.
She can find out the truth herself when she meets Jim directly.

“Ah, about that. The mission itself failed.”
“…Eh?”

For a moment, Lilith was so flustered that she even forgot to act.
Her cold and intelligent expression was suddenly tinged with stupidity.

“Failed? Even considering the power difference with the hero… no, even considering a battle with the entire hero party, it shouldn’t have been a plan that could fail?”

It’s not like Lilith sent Eleven without any thought.
She has done her job well as part of the Demon King’s Army Strategic Planning Department.
Although there are some clumsy and strangely sloppy aspects, all the strategies she has devised so far have been rational and efficient.
That’s undeniable talent.
That’s why this mistake she encountered again hurt her to the bone.

“The problem was that I didn’t trust your words and tried to test Jim. I’m sorry. Things turned out like this.”
“It’s not… your fault.”

Lilith flinched for a moment.
She had thought that given Eleven’s nature, he might check Jim’s abilities. It was tacit approval.
She couldn’t open her mouth.

“At first, I swung my sword to kill that friend. Instead, I got badly burned. It wouldn’t be strange even if he ascends to the Demon King’s position later, though not now.”
“What? You swung your sword without warning? You tried to kill him? No, did you even try to talk?”
“That’s how it turned out.”

What turned out how?
No, more than that, was it to that extent?
Is he saying he got beaten up and returned after offending such a being? And he’s saying it as if he’s proud?
Lilith felt dizzy with a headache as if she had been hit hard on the head. Today, the feeling of wanting to quit work was several times stronger than usual.
Of course, she had implicitly allowed such behavior. But she didn’t expect him to make a life-or-death decision. No matter what, would a grown adult bully a young man in the prime of his life?
Seeing him laughing while saying he not only bullied but even swung his sword, she felt like she was looking at a madman.

‘I’ve heard that age makes people more brazen, but…’

I never thought he could act so dignified after committing such a crazy act.
Lilith finally realized that Eleven’s rise to Corps Commander wasn’t just because of his strength and loyalty.
It was his brazenness and madness.

“Still, this was all my arbitrary decision, so you won’t be affected.”
“Did you explain?”
“Pardon?”

No, this crazy fellow?
Eleven’s arbitrary decision? Right. It was arbitrary without need for excuses.

‘But will Lieutenant Jim accept that at face value?’

Isn’t it natural to think he’s making excuses like that?
The situation where Corps Commander Eleven swung his sword at a talent who could even be evaluated as a potential future Demon King.
This looks like nothing but a plan for usurping the throne to anyone.
Lilith’s knees went weak. Fear slowly consumed her.
And Lilith glared at the culprit that was the root of this fear.

“So in the end, after provoking him, you ended up becoming his enemy.”
“That’s how it turned out. I made a big mistake. Deal with me according to military law.”
“Haa…”

But because Eleven readily admitted his fault, Lilith couldn’t say anything.
Even if she wanted to get angry, she couldn’t, and even if she wanted to rebuke him, she could only deal with it coldly and fairly according to military law.
That’s how she was able to play an active role in the staff department.
She knows. That it’s a waste to discard Eleven’s military power like this.
Therefore, Lilith, as usual, gave an answer as an executive.

“Go to the border for a while and take time for self-reflection, Major General Eleven. I won’t delve deeply into your crime.”
“Is that enough?”
“Didn’t you say to deal with you according to military law? How should I deal with a major general who failed to gain the favor of a mere lieutenant by military law?”
“I see… Thank you.”

Eleven was surprised, his eyes widening at Lilith’s surprisingly calm and cool response.
He had been subtly disrespecting her, thinking the Demon King had parachuted his niece into the position. But seeing her make such a cool judgment, he realized his eyes had been wrong.
Thus, one operation failed.
Instead of losing Jim’s favor, Lilith was able to gain Eleven’s favor.

‘Ah! Damn, what the hell is this because of that crazy old man!’

Of course, the somewhat sloppy Lilith didn’t know how to calculate that far.
After Eleven left like that.
Lilith immediately considered contacting Jim to apologize for the mistake, but soon shook her head.
She wasn’t mentally prepared yet. Let’s do it a little later.
With such thoughts, Lilith sighed deeply and said.

“…There shouldn’t be anything bigger happening than this.”

But her prediction was wrong.
And exactly three days later.
It was when the corps commanders, except for Eleven, and the Demon King gathered for a meeting.

“By the way, what happened to that Eleven? I haven’t seen him lately.”
“Your Majesty, didn’t you tell us to pull him out last time?”
“Ah, did I? So what’s that guy doing these days? Major General Lilith.”
“Eh.”

Lilith’s mind went blank again. Come to think of it, she had moved a corps commander-level personnel without the Demon King’s approval.
Even if she was given full authority, she should have at least reported.
But not only did she arbitrarily mobilize manpower, but the operation failed, and she even chased him to the border telling him to take time for self-reflection as punishment.
Lilith’s pupils shook uncontrollably.

“Well, I wonder. Wouldn’t he be recuperating somewhere with clear water and good air by now?”

A somewhat distorted smile that came out while trying to maintain composure.
And words that plainly conveyed only facts without a hint of excuse.
Because of this, the way the corps commanders looked at Lilith changed.
From a subtly disrespectful attitude to an expression as if they had seen something terrifying.

‘…Major General Eleven.’
‘She purged him?!’
‘She’s out of her mind!’

At this moment.
Lilith was reborn as the most dangerous person in the power struggle within the Demon King’s Army.
‘Ah, I’m envious. I want to just keep resting too, but he makes mistakes and gets to rest? What a petty guy!’
And Belphegor, who took Lilith’s words at face value, was really thinking about purging.

“Um, Mr. Jim?”
“Yes?”
“Ah… It’s nothing.”

Recently, Esmeralda has been continuing her journey with Jim feeling like she’s about to die. After what happened last time, she couldn’t raise her head at Jim’s surface thoughts every time she had to change bandages.
At least his attitude was respectful. He didn’t sexually harass her while wrapping bandages.

‘I can’t say anything about what comes to mind…’

But his thoughts were specific.
She couldn’t help but flinch every time she read surface thoughts like ‘What if I do this?’
It was a situation where she was essentially suffering from Jim’s one-sided sexual harassment.
Esmeralda flinched at the situation she was experiencing for the first time in her life.

“Ugh.”

Jim’s face seriously and politely wrapping bandages and the thoughts contrary to that.
Esmeralda felt like her body was being touched because of those thoughts, even though she knew he was just wrapping bandages.

“Haa… I-I’ll take care of it from here.”

[Note: He’s thinking it’s somewhat erotic.]

‘Kuk! This damn…’

Esmeralda gritted her teeth.
She had occasionally seen Jim having such thoughts about other comrades before.
Well, having been forcibly dragged around in the same party for 3 years and monitored every day, how could he not? He probably didn’t have a chance to relieve his desires.
Of course, usually Esmeralda would just look at Jim with disgust-filled eyes, thinking it couldn’t be helped that he only stopped at thoughts, but she never imagined she would become the target.

‘I let my guard down. The problem was that we got too close.’

Jim usually didn’t see Esmeralda as a target for sexual harassment because he thought she was stupid.
But on the day they encountered Eleven.
The problem was that Esmeralda, exhausted in body and mind, asked him to wrap bandages.
Of course, it’s also a problem that Jim changed strangely after that day.

‘No, thinking about it like that makes me angry. Doesn’t this mean this bastard hasn’t been seeing me as a woman until now?’

Esmeralda felt uncomfortable but couldn’t help but flounder, not knowing how to handle the current situation.
It would be fine for other people.
They might be able to guess what Jim was thinking, but they wouldn’t know exactly.
But Esmeralda had no choice but to see Jim’s unadorned inner thoughts in real-time, so she was just troubled.
She couldn’t get angry about this so she had to ignore it, but she herself had no resistance to this kind of thing at all.
So she had no choice but to just endure it.

“It would be better to finish quickly and find Irina first.”

Esmeralda had never missed the existence of a priest who could heal wounds in an instant so much.
To the extent that she desperately longed for Irina, whom she had been most wary of.

Thus, they arrived at Jim’s hometown.
Of course, it’s not his real hometown. Should we call it the stage he had set up to infiltrate the hero party?
Honestly, there wasn’t much of a feeling.
She thought there wouldn’t be a more dangerous enemy than the one who had already passed, so she let her guard down.
Yes, Esmeralda was careless.
Of course, she didn’t completely let go of her tension, but it was a problem that she only worried about possible demon forces.

“Jim? Are you Jim?”

The village that was clearly in ruins had a slightly lived-in atmosphere, and an unfamiliar middle-aged woman approached with wide eyes.

“Huh? Who…”
“Oh my! My son! You were alive! We thought everyone was dead!”
“…”

Esmeralda was shocked.
Incredible acting skills. She’s an actress!
She realized that the reason for bringing Jim back to the village wasn’t simply to isolate the hero.
Yes, Lilith may have some sloppy aspects, but she was certainly capable.
She devised a new plan the moment she realized Eleven’s failure.
That’s a justification that even the hero can’t easily ignore.

[Note: She agreed to cooperate with the acting for a large sum of money.]

“Let’s live together now. Let’s go down to a safer city and live together! I won’t neglect my family anymore!”

It destroyed the very reason Jim initially tried to join the hero party.