"So, you don't know your name. I see"
Demon lord gave me a small nod.
I understand. I totally understand.
...I do. I really do.
It's a pretty casual thing. Happens from time to time. That's life. People are forgetful by nature.
...
"Don't you have records or anything of the kind? Someone who knows about your name? You might have forgotten but someone else might remember?"
...or she is just the biggest old hag.
I didn't dare say that.
I have long gone learned my lesson to not comment on a woman's age, more so, when you know you are weak.
"My parents died when I was around in my 50's? I think. I became the lord when I hit the age of 100, and since then I have been only called demon lord or queen. Also, about any written records I don't know about them."
Damn...
She has been a Demon lord for centuries now, that's amazing.
The thing is, the 'Demon lord' is selected by having a match.
Whoever is the strongest Demon, gets to be the demon lord.
If you want to be the next demon lord all you gotta do is challenge the current one and win, incase you lose, well you lose your life.
The Demon lord in front of me is the SSS+ ranker. There's no SSS- ...so, of course, she is the strongest and will remain Demon lord until the day she dies.
"What was your rank when you became the Demon lord"
"It's the same, SSS+ rank. My potential in the system window is SSS+ rank"
Holy mother of common sense ...
Didn't her words mean she became an SSS+ ranker when she was only 100 years old?
I mean, our protagonist will become an SSS+ ranker in his early 20's but still..
She is impressive. Man, if her potential cap wasn't SSS+ rank then she sure would have been quite a monster.
In a way, she is better than the demon lord outside this hidden dungeon.
"You know, all species have different life spans but their emotional development is the same except for vampires."
What the fuck is she on about all of a sudden...
I nodded my head at her words, I knew what she was talking about, I had done my common-sense gathering studies in the first 2 weeks when I came to this world.
What I don't get is why is she talking about it.
Ignorant of my inner confusion the demon lord continued to speak.
"Vampires, their emotional development is the slowest among all species, they are immortal so it makes sense."
I know.
By the way, the term emotional development doesn't have the typical meaning. Here, it's meant for one's own feelings(?)
It's hard to describe but if I have to give an example then, slow emotional development for vampires doesn't mean they don't understand the emotions of others, it means they just don't get attached to things as fast as other species do.
They can't empathize or sympathize easily with others, they can't 'feel' as if they have become friends with others as easily.
For instance, if a human spends an entire day with someone they call that person an acquaintance at least, and if they meet them again they would greet each other but in the case of vampires, that other person will remain a stranger, a hard-core stranger.
But it was a necessary requirement for their species, they live for eternity, if they were to end up becoming affectionate of others just like other species that easily they would be in a hell of a pain.
It would be like a curse.
Right now, they don't get attached to anything that fast or become close to others which helps them live without having to feel that much emotional pain.
"Elves who live for 200 years, then dwarves who live for 150"
A change of topic?
What is she on about? I still don't know
"Then beastfolk who live for 130 years, humans who live for 100 years"
Okay...
"They all have the same emotional development but their lifespan isn't really that big"
Uh-huh
"On the other hand demons live for 1000 years, 10 times more than a humans life span and 5 times more than an Elves lifespan. Despite that demons have the same emotional developmental growth rate."
Yeah...
That's something I still find weird.
Demons despite having a 1000-year life span have similar growth to humans in terms of emotional state.
"...What I want to say is I-I... never really bothered about the name until now but for some reason, I want to ...to be called by one"
Seriously?
You went in such a roundabout way to say this.
Oh wait, It seems my manga is doing wonders...
It was an obvious thing to happen, what's the best way to manipulate people? Media, duh.
Using movies, advertisements, and such things you can run propaganda and instill the idea inside people's heads.
Good old method.
And I am doing the same, also by having demon lord spend almost all of her time with me she doesn't have anyone else to have opinions with.
Being the lone reader of my manga she also doesn't have the luxury of other's opinions, currently.
So, her perspective is changing into one that I want to change into without running into trouble by outside party's interference which in a way I am blocking. As they say, slow and steady.
That is how brainwashing works.
Wait, that went dark.
Ahem Ahem.
Point is,
'Watch me as I save the world by creating manga!'
I thought as I took the last bite of my food.
"So, let me be clear. You want me to call your name when you don't even know your name"
What kind of bullshit is this? This wasn't part of the plan.
"Give me one then," Demon lord said looking me in the eye.
What?
Do you want me to give a name to someone who is my great great-great-great-grandma's age?
She didn't break the eye contact, her poker face now had an earnest expression.
Oh lord... I just realized the troubles that are going to follow me from now on.
"Can't you just see it on the system screen?" I asked
"It was changed. A long time ago"
Damn.
You see, the system will change your name if you don't use it or if others call you by some other name.
Once a certain period is over, that is.
Just like one can change their name in real life, they could do the same with the system.
"I will give you one after you teach me demon language"
For now, let's divert the topic.
I know the basics of all languages I learned all of the basics in the first 2 weeks when I arrived in this world.
Yes, basics only, like learning all the cussing words and stuff that will help me not get scammed.
I can learn them perfectly later, I just wanted to get the gist of them all.
Except for demon language.
There are no resources to.
Demons and vampires live hella long so they know all languages and talk in whichever is preferable to other's. Most people don't know if Demons even have a language of their own or not but they do.
I know for a fact.
The Demon Lord here knows the human language and so does Liza and the teenage girl is a human to begin with, we never had to use some device to talk with each other.
Anyways, back on point, demon language I don't even know the basics for it.
So, I wanna learn.
"Alright, that's easy but you will give me the name and call me by it, I will eat you as my dinner if you won't"
Geez...
"I understand."
But..
"You could have asked Liza or someone else to give you a name"
Why me?
"...Because you don't care about me being a Demon lord?" She said tilting her head as if saying 'Isn't it obvious?'
No, I still don't get it.
"And?"
"No demons would call me by a name. As for any other species, they will probably call my name if I ask but likely coz they are afraid of me or hate me, I don't want a name like that."
Ah, I remember now.
"Gotcha" I replied to demon lord as I started making my way towards my desk to draw manga's.
You see, 'Demon Lord' is a title that once obtained all the demons will respect you and revere in a really extreme manner.
When I say all, I mean ALL demons.
So I can understand why no demon would willingly call her by her name as for other species, it doesn't need to genius to figure that answer.
Also, once the 'Demon lord' title is attained all demons will be under your command, what I mean by that is.. they can't disobey the commands.
Yes, you heard me right.
Now you might wonder how some demons still cause damage when the 'Demon lord' said they will isolate themselves and not attack others- outside of this hidden dungeon- the novel main world.
The answer to that is simple, it's Demon lord orders.
You see, it's only been 300 years since the world changed and only 200 and something years that people learned about other species. There still exists information that's not clear.
But in this hidden dungeon, it's been thousands of years, Demons aren't hiding either, they are on the damn rampage, so lots of information that isn't known outside in the world, you can learn all about them from this hidden dungeon.
Of course, when the protagonist learns about this huge piece of baffling information he was shocked, beyond shocked and you can already guess how big of a plot point this hidden dungeon carries for the novel.
Now, the question that's left is 'Why did the Demon lord enter a peace treaty with everyone?'
The death toll during the war was simply greater than he anticipated, so he needed everyone to reproduce, not only that the world was still in developing stages, so he simply wanted to develop a bit more before making it all his.
Also, that guy reached the SSS+ rank and he wants to go beyond it. So, he wanted to meditate and break through it. That's why he wanted peace.
Yeah, he just played everyone because of the lack of actual information.
And the food problem was solved by other species anyway, so who cares?
He simply told the demons to keep causing a little bit of chaos from time to time and to garner lots of strong beasts from all around the world.
Keep in mind they came to this world recently, so they still didn't know which beasts are strong or which ones are not and where to find them, that kinda information.
I mean, demons themselves are strong but their strength lies in the ability to control beasts.
Also, demons don't reproduce like other species, so they can't just die willy-nilly, or else they could get annihilated.
2 kids are all they can reproduce, I mean female demons, of course. Male ...demons are just males.
You get the gist.
These are all the reasons why the 'Demon Lord' in the outside world of this hidden dungeon chooses to enter the peace talk back in the day or at least that's what was told in the novel.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
creak~
The door opened, revealing Liza with morning breakfast.
Breakfast time!
Just when I was feeling it would be nice to have something to eat, she appeared!
A true pro maid.
"Hm? She isn't with you today?" Demon lord asked pointing her finger to Liza's side.
By she, demon lord must mean the teenage girl.
I was focused on what might be for the breakfast so I failed to notice she wasn't here today.
"She is resting today, humans are fragile they need to rest from time to time"
No, humans aren't fragile, you guys just don't make any logic.
I mean, Demon lord has been wide awake since the day I came here. It's one thing for me since I consume potion to remove all mental, and physical fatigue or sometimes just straight up mess with my brain with brain tempering but demon lord hasn't done anything like that.
"Noah, doesn't rest though and he seems fine?"
For a good second, Liza looked at me.
'Ah, must be because she is calling my name'
I wanted to tease Liza, but alas, my damned conversation skills were just too low to actually think of the words that would help me act smug.
"Please don't think of 'this' thing as a person, my queen"
Fuck you, Liza!
"..I see."
Why does she always agree with Liza when it comes to denouncing me as a person!?
As unfortunate as it is, I am a full-fledged human!
"Why do you care about her, anyway?"
I cannot understand why she is even here, I mean, you are Demon Lord, you sure aren't gonna have a problem with finding maids for you.
So why is it that only Liza and that girl the only one's who are your maid?
I have been holding my curiosity for a long time now.
"Oh, I killed her mother in an attack, she died while holding onto the crying baby. I wanted to know why she tried to protect the baby, she could have made a run for it instead of trying to shield the baby. After all, if she dies, the baby will of course die, it won't survive without someone taking care of it, right?"
Did I forget to mention she is a 'Demon lord'? A story like this suits her title.
"Then it occurred to me, what if I decided to raise this baby and then one day tell her that I am the one who killed her actual mother? How will she react? Will she resent me even though I raised her with lots of care? Will she try to put it past it and keep our relationship the same way as it is? I wanted to know how things will unfold"
'Bloody hell'
I thought as I took a sip from the cup of coffee which I took from the food tray that Liza had brought along with her.
"So, what happened?"
Keep the story going.
"Nothing, I am still raising her, she is but 17 years old after all. I will wait until she is 20"
Wait... 17? She is 17?
I-I thought she was younger than me!
I have been tricked by her appearance!
Never judge a book by its cover.. and yet here am I, knowing full well about the phrase and still making such a blunder.
"Let me get this straight. You thought it would be fun to raise her and then see how she would react to you? Why do have her as your maid? You haven't raised her properly at all. Raising someone doesn't mean, you give them a roof overhead and food to eat, that's not it"
Those parents aren't good but not worse either. They do fall in the category of bad though.
"..It's not?"
The demon lord looked at me, her face expressing immense shock.
"No, it's not. Also, I can bet my life she already suspects you or Liza killed her parents or.. she has a terrible misunderstanding, something like, her parents worked for you before they died that's why you took her in"
Now I understand why that girl is always nervous.
She is simply feeling too pressured, the suspects for your parent's death are the same people who you have no idea why are not treating you like other slaves.
But just because she doesn't get treated badly like others doesn't mean she is gonna be super grateful to them, rather it just doesn't make sense to her.
Or..
She is already at the age where she knows what's right or wrong. Knowing that she is treated differently from other people in this place my Demon lord she probably thinks her family had joined hands with demons and helped them.
Every time she would see a slave in the castle or those people who were turning into food she would of course feel guilty.
Damn.
She is going through a lot.
Or maybe I am making stupid assumptions and there's a different reason altogether.
"What do I do now then? Kill her?"
Demon lord asked me with an innocent face.
Makes sense though, her experiment went down the drain just now, I also throw my school projects in the trash once I am done with them.
I shook my head as I caught the slight crease on Liza's face.
The fuck?
"Just have her as your maid till she dies. I am sure Liza would love her company. Don't just lump all the work on one person"
"That ...also works, Liza, do whatever you want with her. I don't care much anymore." Demon lord asked tossing the manga she was reading aside.
Phew, I saved a life and someone from grief... wait, Liza what's with that creepy smile you have.
"Understood, my queen!" This was the most enthusiastic response I have heard from her till now.
...
I spend the day as I usually do with the demon lord except now I have new things added to the schedule and that's learning demon language.
The next day arrived. Both maids with breakfast came into the room.
"Hm? Are you ill or something? Your face is all red and you seem to have eye bags. Did you not sleep?" Demon lord asked to the 17 old girl, should I call her onee-san too?
"N-no, I am fine!" She replied bowing her head down.
'Wonder if it counts as losing virginity if it's Yuri? It does... I think
Whatever.
On a side note, different species can't form a baby together. That means, go wild if you wanna, there's nothing to worry about.