The summoned gathered after breakfast Spiren had called for a meeting, but when they showed up it was Amyon that did the talking.
"War is coming and our armies will be gathering around our stronghold. You eight will take basic military training and will start sleeping in the war camp."
"Do we not have perfectly good rooms?" Azemo could not bear the thought of leaving his comfy bed behind.
"You eight have the duty of inspiring our troops as such you will take guard duty with them, you will eat with them and you will share tents with them." Amyon was much more serious than usual so Azemo would make sure to put his bed in his room bag.
'Can't leave behind the star of the show.'
Azemo was the only one who made any comment and after his outburst the group went out to see the demon army.
How the hundreds of thousands of demons had shown up in such a short time was a mystery. Most likely they used some sort of mass teleportation or maybe they had been somewhere near the stronghold. Azemo was too busy lamenting about losing his room to ask any more questions.
Amyon led the group up to a massive 10 foot tall lizard headed demon. "This is general Nictra, he will give you your assignments and training." Nictra just nodded and took the group out of Amyon's hands.
Nictra did not give them the treatment they were used to but the team knew war was no laughing matter. Nictra was very brusque and right to the point. "You all can sleep in those two tents next to mine, I don't care what you do when you are off duty but never be late." With that statement the group was handed off once again to a snake demon who taught them about patrols.
"Partner up, you and your partner will be assigned to patrol one night each week." The demon hissed. Azemo would have teamed up with Sillis but Benthar rushed over and gave him puppy dog eyes.
"Ok all you need to know is that if you see humans attacking raise the alarm." The snake demon then taught each one of them the basic skill alarm. Alarm allowed the user to wake up and alert nearby creatures.
"When on guard duty your only job is to raise the alarm. Do not try to fight the enemy, do not try to save attacked demons just raise the alarm. Once the alarm is triggered I don't care what you do."
'Geez all these demons who don't care what we do.' Azemo might have felt sad but he was already at an all time low because he wouldn't get to sleep in his bed.
"Now let's go eat." The snake demon led them to a clearing in the camp where a large number of demons were gathered.
"Is that the eight?"
"I heard they are going to win the war for us."
"They are supposed to be the demon lords successors."
It was funny seeing a bunch of terrifying demons gossip like school girls but Azemo felt immense pressure from all of the stares. The knife he wore on his waist signified that he was a member of the eight and he learned in that moment how much was riding on him
They quickly got their food and parted ways. Spiren never liked to eat with "the plebs" and Slithe and Noct weren't into all that team building stuff. Augory soon scared off Tryst so only Benthar, Azemo and Sillis ended up eating together.
"Thanks for ditching me Clumsy." Sillis had started to call Azemo this because of his weakness in stealth. Azemo might have thought she was offended but her enormous yawn made him doubt it.
"Why have they only just now told us about the severity of the war and why are we just common foot soldiers." Benthar was indignant and didn't want to let Azemo explain their pairing to Sillis.
"You are looking at me like I am Spiren or something." Azemo couldn't help but laugh at his own joke making Benthar more annoyed and Sillis more tired.
"Probs because it's super serious or something." Sillis' answer made sense. 'If they really were training us for war they wouldn't want us to panic. Of course telling us at the last minute could do just that, except these guys have faced much tougher challenges in their past lives.' Azemo's thoughts were interrupted when a small demon joined their group.
"You as strong as they say?" The little demon had an annoying high pitched voice.
"I don't know, what do they say." Sillis answered slowly before seemingly taking a nap.
"Let me set up a contest of strength for the big guy." The little demon was insistent and eventually Benthar agreed.
"Who." Benthar seemed to think that big deals used as few words as possible.
The little demon led Benthar to a hulking fat demon with a pig nose and large tusks.
"The game is simple, you take turns punching each other's arms and whoever yields loses."
"Bring..it... on." The big pig nosed demon was apparently stupid and took a long time choosing it's words.
"You can take the first punch." Benthar was all riled up.
The pig nosed demon wound up launching a massive punch that looked like it could level a boulder. Benthar was unphased. Benthar's punch was not as impressive looking but it was effective. As soon as it struck the pig nosed demon, he was sent sailing through the air, landing feet up twenty feet away.
Demons cheered for Benthar and rushed him, all wanting to get in good graces with such a powerful ally. Azemo used this distraction to take Sillis to their tents and got ready for his first night of patrolling.
The guard duty was uneventful and only served to take Azemo's precious nighty night time. Benthar was in high spirits because he had made many new friends that day and spent the night following Azemo around telling him stories.
Azemo crawled into his sleeping roll tired. He needed to catch up on sleep so he could have another night of exploring the forest. His last thought was of his beloved bed before he drifted off.