"I don't like that spell."

"Irrelevant, I like it."

"And you're lying to yourself, it's quite evident you enjoy it to the fullest."

"No. It's weird, and my voice gets weird. I don't like it."

"I would say it happens... probably at least once every couple months? I can make a good guess on some nights the Chosen was particularly happy and felt like spending a lot of money on his... interests. Why are you asking?"

Wow, she’s not totally sure what they’re talking about but every possibility she can think of is concerning. If Sofia hates the spell, she shouldn’t have to have it cast on her just because her boss likes it, and telling her she’s just “lying to herself” doesn’t make it any better! Especially if it’s connected to an Asmodean priest somehow!

“I think it matters whether she likes the spell,” she says. (Which might be a terrible idea, depending on how powerful a magic-user she is, but the alternative is not saying anything, and she’s done pretending it’s fine for people to just treat their servants however they like.) “—But it’s weird that there’s still a teleporter coming. There’s no way they haven’t heard yet, and if they don’t want to risk the new government actually making them pay for what they’ve done, they could always just leave.”

"And yet they aren't, so what's happening?"

"Are you sure the "new government" is actually opposed to Asmodeus?"

(But could she actually say no, or is she just saying that so she doesn’t get in trouble?)

“I think so? Or — I’m not sure any of them care about all the ways Asmodeans hurt regular people, but they care when the Asmodeans hurt them or get in their way. They did get rid of some of the nobles, more than changed in the history textbooks from one year to the next, and they changed the laws on which gods people are allowed to worship — although I guess they are letting Delegate Lebanel get away with being a priest of Erecura, for some reason — and they invited a whole bunch of people to come write a new constitution, which is basically the laws for the new country, and I thought it might be a trap but they didn’t actually just kill everyone who showed up, even though there are a bunch of priests and priestesses of gods that aren’t Asmodeus.”

"You seem very convinced. I'm trying to think of a way to check if what you're saying is true that doesn't end up with both of us impaled if you're wrong."