The Demon Lord sat at the end of a large table, occupying the chair directly to her right was the Forgotten, who seemed to find mystery and wonder in every last item on the menu.
Following their duty as maids Lola and several other maids took their place around the room, having already done their part of setting the table and arranging the food so that it was easy to get to, anything that Verona might want was passed to her by a Demonling Maid, Lola had been given the task of making sure the Forgotten didn't find a way to hurt themselves accidentally.
Lola had thought the Demon Lord was being too cautious. That had lasted through the Forgotten's first bite and died as he proceeded to swallow his fork in his haste to eat his food, after managing to pull it out only to have to repeat the process with nearly every bite he took she had gone against the instincts of any good maid and confiscated his silverware.
The sight of someone in a maid dress and an elegant masquerade mask eating with their bare hands at the Demon Lord's table was almost comical, but the maids managed to keep their desire to laugh under control.
"I know this is a heavy start to our conversation," The Demon Lord said after having given the Forgotten ample time to stave off the effects of starvation, "but how long were you a slave,"
"A few days," The Forgotten replied confidently before taking a few more bites.
"And what did you do, before your short stint of slavery?"
"I mostly just hung around in my cell, when I wasn't fighting," The Forgotten managed to reply between shoving the mashed remains of fried potatoes into his mouth.
"I'll be honest with you, I attempted to look into your soul and find out more about you," The Demon Lord looked at her guest, hundreds of possible responses flowed across her mind, and none of them were what the Forgotten replied with.
"Do tell," He replied excitedly as he stopped eating, "Did you perhaps find my name? I seem to have lost it," The Demon Lord simply shook her head in response as the Forgotten peeked under the table cloth, perhaps in search of his lost name, upon seeing her response he frowned "Drat," The Forgotten ate a few more potatoes before asking another question, "So what did my soul look like, was it janky, I bet it was janky,"
"Despite my best efforts, the only information I could gain from looking into your eyes was simply the word Forgotten,"
"Yeah, that's my soul alright," He ate a few more bites of Potato and had only just begun to marvel at some weird green leafy thing when Lola pointed him in the direction of the demon Lord attempting to regain his attention.
"You mentioned a cell and fighting,"
"So much fighting" The Forgotten munched on the green thing, "Very day, I think, there's wasn't really a window or a ticker tock but…" The Forgotten scratched at his face, accidentally cutting into it as he had been using blood claws to make his food easier to chew upon being shoved into his mouth. "...I think it was every day," The Forgotten muttered as he tried to figure out how to properly his living conditions without making it sound like he was fishing for sympathy.
"You have the air of someone in pain trying not to show it for the sake of not being told their pain only exists for attention's sake," The Demon Lord's tone was sympathetic but oddly stern at the same time, "Tell me in exact detail about your life, and look me in the eyes as you tell me,"
As soon as he looked into her eyes he felt comfort, as though he could tell her anything and never worry she would hate him, so he did as she asked of him, without any care of being seen as being over dramatic for the sake of being pitied, he told the Demon Lord of his time in the Blood pits, how he had won his freedom only to be told it was the freedom to go back to his cell and continue to be beaten into the brickwork.
How one day not too long ago the Hero had pulled him out of the pit and placed the cursed mask over his face for the sake of infiltrating the Demon Lord's army, and how much fun he'd had thus far going out of his way to screw over the Hero to the best of his ability, even going so far as to admit freeing the slaves had been fueled by the idea of pissing off the Hero just as much as it had been by his spite against being locked in chains.
He expected to be thrown out without much delay after his declaration of being a mole, a two timing mole but still technically a mole, so he made sure to fill his belly as best he could before being thrown away, Lola put her hands on his shoulder and he fully expected pain, physical force, or both to quickly follow, instead, he was softly patted on the head as the Demon Lord took the information in and thought it over before speaking to him again.
"Nothing personal against you, I'm sure you fully believe your story is accurate, but even if you were at one point a Human, you're not one now, It's rare but if the right, horrible conditions are met, a Human can crumble away and from their ashes be birthed as a new Demon, and while you have done a fabulous job keeping your body in a like human state, probably from all the human corpses you've absorbed to keep your body functional, your soul has long become Demonic by nature.
"You said all you could see in my soul was the word Forgotten," He replied suspicious of being played a fool, being told no one would hurt you only to get your face bashed in was an old method of making the pain hurt worse, old enough that he couldn't remember the first time he'd fallen for it, but he remembered many times he had.
"Your soul does indeed only say you're Forgotten, but I am the Demon Lord, I can't read Human Souls, so the fact I can see your's, even as damaged as it is, it is still one belonging to a Demon, and even if I couldn't read your soul, Humans can't use Blood Magic, didn't you think it odd that as soon as you used magic you were labeled a Demon?"
"I thought it was the mask," The Forgotten replied simply as he took a drink of odd-colored water, and upon tasting a sensation unknown to him he couldn't stop drinking until Lola took the cup away and made him breathe before letting him drink more.
"And that Tea isn't even sweet," one of the maids noted in shock, earning a confused look from the Forgotten.
"What's sweet?" he asked curiously as Lola added something white to his hot drink called Tea, Lola stirred it into the cup, the Maids forsaking their positions as they all made sure they could witness his face as he tasted something sweet for the first time in his still intact memory.
The Demon Lord let them have their moment as he started crying at the flavor, Lola having made sure there was only enough Tea left for him to gulp it down in a few seconds to avoid drowning himself.
Lola took care to use the Forgotten's napkins to wipe his eyes before letting him continue his conversation.
"All Demons who touch Demona's soil are offered a contract, if they accept they are bound by my will and in return promise protection, as you have yet to touch the actual ground of Demona I would like to ask you here and now, will you serve under me? Same as all other Demons if any creature, Human or otherwise, attempts to harm you without a proper reason I'll see to it they are reduced to ash,"
Upon giving him the offer the Forgotten felt like someone had just magically forced him to memorize a contract, it was rather interesting to suddenly have a great deal of information in his head, even if all of it was regarding what counted and did not count as a proper reason for him to be assaulted, as most of the reasons where fair enough that he could see himself attacking someone for the allowed reasons he shrugged, "Yeah ok," He said, magically signing the contract with his words and being dubbed a minion of the Demon Lord.
"Wonderful," The Demon Lord cheered, "Now for your first and probably only assignment, as you probably don't know, my Tower has a revival blessing around it, so long as you die within it you will be revived so long as you are a Demon under contract, or are an adventurer with the proper licenses to scale it, In the last year or so I've been told the first floor is a little too pathetic, even as the beginner floor it woefully fails to prepare adventures for easy quests like low-level magical beasts, as such I will be filling it with Imps along with a few low-level Demonlings, Your strong but your also somewhat easy to fight with preparation, no offense but even the most basic Adventurer group could have probably taken you out if there had been any in the city, luckily the country of Yogallia's might is all condensed on the capitol so outer cities like the port with their measly protection forces barely stood any chance to contain you so I still get to keep you as a prize,"
"What?" The Forgotten's reply was the best he could manage to the wall of text the Demon Lord had just spoken to him. "Could you say that again but slower and with less words,"
"Starting tomorrow you will be moving onto the first floor, the Tower will remain closed for all of tomorrow so you can get a lay of the land, just try to get good at fighting adventures without drinking them, and as a bonus, I'll even let you beat the Hero into the ground when he comes trying to get you to let him into the top floor, if he beats you I'll simply turn him to ash and get you an ice cream,"
"What's Ice cream?" The Forgotten asked curiously as the Demon Lord snapped her fingers to the maids, who all held themselves at attention.
"Have the chefs prepare a fine collection of ice cream for dessert, General Nine would like to try some," The Forgotten looked around to see who this newcomer was the Ice cream was being prepared for so he could ask them to let him try it too.
Lola placed her hand on his shoulder again and got his attention, "That would be you," She told him simply, "as per the agreement you just made, you are now the General of the first floor, making you General Nine,"
"General Nine?" he asked before suddenly bursting with excitement, "Do I have a name now?"
"When One became the first General she stripped herself of her name and replaced it with the title of General One, or Ms.One if you're feeling fancy, to make sure no one could use her real name to track down her family and use them against her to get to me," Verona smiled, "Following in her footsteps, all other Generals have done the same, so yes you do have a Name, and might I say It's a pleasure to meet you Mr.Nine,"
"I have a name," Nine might have broken his chair with his excitement, but luckily the chair had been crafted by Five to hold Two, and with Nine being less than half of Two's total weight the chair held strong with Lola making sure its legs stayed on the ground.
One of the maids handed Lola a bowl of Ice Cream, whether it was because they still held misfortune for Mr.Nine, or because they were too low of a rank to interact with a General where questions Nine might have thought of if he'd noticed the exchange.
"I have a name," he cheered for the up-teenth time, Lola patted his shoulder to gain his attention and he replied to the touch with his best attempt at being formal, "I'm Mr.Nine, How do you do,"
"I am fine General Nine," She replied as she set the bowl on the table and then made sure he was holding the spoon right before directing him to eat it slowly and only using his provided silverware..
To the shock of no one Mr.Nine attempted to eat most of it at once, only being thwarted from doing so by the purposely tiny spoon he had been given with the bowl.
After many attempts he eventually surrendered and took the small bite, Verona had to stiffen a chuckle upon Mr.Nines dramatic reaction to the dessert in question being ice cold, he jumped back with such force Lola was forced to use both hands to stop the chair, only just stopping it before it could tip back.
Nine made several noises as he freaked out in the chair, as though trying to process the sweetness with the coldness, in the end he, as most had before him, decided the cold was worth embarking through as he continued eating, Lola had expected him to give himself a brain freeze, but his every bite was so dramatic in response to the cold that he was never able to eat enough at once to trigger a brain freeze.
"He kind of reminds me of a fish flopping in the air," One of the maids noted as they watched him fidget like crazy trying to fight the ice cream head on, "Maybe his teeth are damaged? It almost looks like it's hurting him to eat it,"
Verona head to concern from the maids, but was quickly able to confirm the state of her new Generals teeth as he tried to take a bite without actually using his teeth by opening wide and shoving the spoon past them, his teeth where pearly white, she might have though he took dental hygiene seriously but based on his story it was a better bet that his healing factor simply allowed him to pop his own teeth out and regrow them whenever he felt like it.
"Come to think of it a few of them fell out when he was straining himself, I suppose using his magic to liberally can and will bite him in his own ass,"
The More she examined him the more she was certain that Nine was just as dangerous to himself as he was to others, all one needed to beat him was to end it in one blow or beat him in a battle of nutrition, even if he did heal back it wouldn't be hard to prevent him from fully healing, it wouldn't take her anything more than handing the task to Two to keep Nine in a perpetual state of regeneration, and she doubted any other party would need to try to hard to find their own solution.
"Lola, as my head maid, and the only maid who seems able to deal with him, you'll be in charge of watching over Mr. Nine until I am able to set up his personal corners, until then he'll be bunking with his imps and Ratricks with all the probational recruits who work on the first floor,"
"Are you sure that's wise?" Lola asked, a tinge of concern in her voice, as she watched Nine polish off his ice cream, "The probational recruits have…a lot to prove,"
"Well as their general their best chance to prove themselves will be by gaining his favor, it's high time the lower level was properly organized and I can't imagine all of the current first floor staff members will be required to stay in the tower once Nine has a proper sense of the place,"
The idea of Nine being able to organize the first floor, compared to what she had thus far seen from him, sounded like it had the potential to take months or years if Lola was honest.
"I'll give him a week, see how much aid if any he might need from Eight,"
"No offence ma'am, but wouldn't Eight just take over the floor?" General eight was best known as the weakest of the Generals, as such she had a tendency to push herself to do more, despite being told by other Generals and even Verona she was still firmly placed as one of the strongest in the country, possibly the continent.
"I think it'll be good for her," Verona smiled back, "Nine is plenty strong, but I doubt he could stand against Eight in a straight one fight, I'm hoping her no longer being the weakest of my Generals might help her relax a little, maybe find a hobby or start dating if she's into that kind of stuff,"
"Maybe in time," Lola agreed, "But I can't imagine she'll accept him as weaker than her by word of mouth alone, it's only a matter of time once she finds out about him that she'll try to fight him,"
"She'll take his head off in a matter of second," Verona shrugged back, "Since he can survive it they'll be no way for her to back talk the ideal that she's not the weakest, and once it's confirmed he'll be named the weakest of the Generals,,"
As the eldest Demon Lord, those who served beneath her were able to live past their species natural expiration date, the high one was in given title, the more powerful the effect, with General being the highest position the Demon Lord could give, it linked them to her life force directly, if she died they would die, but so long as she lived, they could not naturally die.
As a result of a General living as long as her, General Eight and now Nine were the only ones of her Generals who had not already been at her side before her declaration of forming Demona. Eight had traveled halfway across the world seeking a new life after being rejected by her tribe for reasons she refused to share, so desperate for familiar attachments, upon winning Demona's first fighting tournament with flying colors she had been offered the title of General and accepted without fully understanding what it meant to be one. Now tied to Vernona's life-line and bound to her will Eight technically had no right to autonomy, thought Verona still let all her General's speak their minds and ideas, in the end if Verona made a decision, there was no arguing or refusing the call of duty for moral rejection, as nice as she was to them if Verona told them they had to do something, they physically couldn't deny her and where forced to do it.
What more if the Generals spent too long away from Verona it could negatively affect their mental health, meaning that despite their power and rank, they rarely left her tower since being in it was like being close to her.
When Eight had first joined she had no loyal followers of her own, most all other members in the tower being a part of Verona's pre-existing army and as such needed to formulate her ranks with demons who thought themselves better than her due to their time in Verona's army, or thought her a lesser General due to how new she had been at the time.
Eight had been forced to deal with harsh words, disloyal troops, and harassment for years before an old member of Verona's army had attempted to force himself on Eight, believing his time and service outweighed her rank.
It had been the first time Verona had ever had to execute a demon under contract to her, and had been her reason for adding that she would not allow harm to any under contract with her, within reason.
Following the unfortunate situation had been a few more years of strife for Eight due to the spreading of Misinformation, but eventually Eight managed to gain enough of a following in the country as more Demons migrated into it and found her an inspiration, enough so that when one bad mouthed her, like any of the other generals, a fight would start when an Eight loyalist attempted to defend her.
"I doubt Nine will have as hard a time as Eight did," Verona decided as Lola made sure Nine's face was cleaned up, "He already has a mighty fine fan club, and even loyalists to join him on the first floor," Verona finished her food as Lola continued having Nine feed until it became clear he was likely to keep eating any food offered his way till he was either sick of his stomach popped.
Nine had just barely been convinced that he would receive food whenever he requested it from a maid and didn't need to hoard any in his new dress, and was just handing Lola the potato he had stuffed his front when a door opened, a familiar face walking toward the table.
"Hello Eight," Verona greeted her sweetly as the Wolf Beast-woman, "How is everything going with captain chaos?"
"He is doing great," Verona assured her as she got to her feet, "And your timing is perfect, I was just about to call you, it's a little too late to call all the General's so I'll wait till tomorrow to tell them the news, but I have decided Two was right about us needing someone to watch over the bottom floor," Eight looked like she was about to be indignite before sharply turning her gaze to Nine, having taken a second to piece together what Verona was saying.
"Did you already agree?" She demanded of him with an angry huff, he waved back at her ecstatically.
"I'm General Nine, how are you," He was beyond delighted to have a name to introduce himself by, and Eight turned a hostile gaze to Verona, who held her hands up playfully in surender.
"I know," She chuckled, "I should have asked everyone first, but I just had to keep him, and before you get all huffy and puffy-,"
"I am not the big bad wolf," Eight snapped back, "I don't huff and puff,"
"-Before you get mad," Verona corrected, "He already has loyalists due to his mass slave break, already a little over fourty Imps and his five Ratricks," Eight looked to Nine, and then back to Verona.
"I want permission," She demanded flatly, Verona didn't have to so much as guess what for.
"If you catch anyone, of any gender, in the act of forcing themself onto Nine against his will, you may kill them without hesitation," Verona promised her.
Eight made a sound that sounded suspiciously like a huff as she turned and walked over to Nine, "Do you know about the divides?" She asked him, earning a happy smiled back from him, telling her he had no idea what she was talking about, "In Between each floor of the Tower is a secret floor," She spoke in an almost formal tone as she told Nine about the divides, "Each Divide is used for different reasons, the floor between the bottom and second floor is a combined sleeping area and common area for eating and bathing used by all residents who work on the two floors, the divide between the second and third acted as my personal area, now that you'll be there we'll be sharing the space, but there's plenty of rooms, and common space that we could easily spend all day there and not see each other, I'm told us living on the same floor helps inspire troops of two different floors to get along and work together better,"
Lola offered Nine her hand and she used it to guide him to his feet and with a polite good night that Nine mimicked Lola and Eight led him out of the Demon Lords private dining room.
"All of the Generals are in sets, but due to Verona technically counting as number Zero it means I am…" Eight stopped talking for a moment as she looked over at Nine, "...I was the odd one at bottom of the ladder, I suppose I'll have to gauge your power, see just how strong or weak you are,"
As they walked through what Nine figured was probably the Demon Lord and General one's private common area, Eight looked back at Lola with interest, "Did you get demoted?" She questioned.
"Lady Verona asked I watch over Nine until she is able to assign him a workforce," Lola replied curtly, "I alone am more than capable of doing the job of ten maids, so long as it's for no more than a few days, two weeks at the most,"
"So did she give you a title?" Eight asked, doing her best to get to know her new coworker.
"I'm General Nine," he replied excitedly, Eight looked back at him, then to Lola.
"According to Lady Verona upon looking into his eyes all she could see was the word Forgotten,"
"General Nine: The Forgotten," Eight said dramatically, "Has a better ring than General Eight: The Big Bad Wolf,"
"That is what Lady Verona saw in your soul," Lola replied with a snicker, "Or are you forgetting how 'Bad to the Bone' you where when you first received the title of Eight,"
"I was a stupid kid looking for acceptance while also trying to stand out," Eight snapped, "I'm just saying I shouldn't still be getting flack for my stupid teenage angst, It was nearly forty years ago,"
"Thirty Six," Lola informed her, "Give or take a month or two,"
"I was rounding up," Eight waved her off as they reached the end of the hall, instead of a stairway it was a massive mirror, "General's Divide: Eight," the mirror's reflection shifted and Nine could no longer see any of the three of them's reflection as Eight walked up to the Mirror and through it. Lola led him through the Teleportal and he looked around the somewhat messy hall, nearly an exact copy of the previous hall, Eight seemed less than pleased.
"Fuckers trashed my place again," She said angrily, "Good luck with the first floor Nine," She said angrily, "They have a lot to prove an no way to prove it outside of being a nuisance,let's just hope by some miracle your Maids actually do their fucking jobs!" Eight raised her voice near the end and some shuffling could be heard a fair distance away. "I'd replace them all if I could," Eight muttered angrily, "but as history has proven when I do that the replacement maids act just as lazy in the hopes of being resigned to a high-ranked General," Eight muttered angrily as she waved goodbye, "Good luck picking a room, I doubt any of them are usable, I gotta go make sure no one did anything on my bed," Eight grumbled away down the hall and Lola turned back to the Teleportal Mirror.
"You will be sleeping in the first and second floors divide," she informed him, "hopefully by tomorrow night I'll have cleaned a room up enough for you to actually use it," Lola opened the way and Nine was greeted with a large group already waiting for him, a horde of excited imps, and five Ratricks, Nine hoped through excitedly and was greeted with gusto by the Imps, and an with the Ratricks encircling him and doing what he assumed was their glad to see him again dance.
"Hello my friends," He waved, tingling at being able to use the word friend without imaginary being in front of it, "It's so good to see you all again,"