Speaking to the citizens.

I started to talk with my citizens as I moved my way towards the training ground. To fool someone, I needed to know my victims as much as possible.

I walk up to a lower demon with yellow hair.

"What is your name, young one?" He looks around 14, the youngest of my batch, I believe.

"My name is Drezelu, or just Drez. Whatever you prefer, my lord." He bowed. How annoying.

"Don't bow and act like I'm a lower demon like yourself." I begged with an innocent smile on my face.

"Okay, Lor. Sorry, um, actually, what is your name, Lor? "Lower Demon." He attempts.

Have I not told them my name yet? Guess not.

"My name is Alex. Good to meet you, Drez."

"And you, sir, I mean Alex."

Wow, this is really entertaining. No, I need to know more about my citizens. Focus Alex.

"So, tell me more about yourself, Drez."

He looks baffled that I would even ask a Lower Demon like him that question, but he answers it with sincerity.

"I was born in lower district 32. I worked in a mine for the last 6 years of my life. My parents were a regular demon and a lower demon, but they abandoned me when I came out as a lower. "

Ah, I'm also 14 this year. " He adds, after finishing.

Wow, what a garbage life. The complete opposite, apart from the parents' leaving thing. Though mine did die, I hold no hatred towards them now.

That district he mentioned sounds interesting.

"What's a district?"

"A district is a place where people gather to make homes. They are usually made of wood."

So, slums, essentially.

Okay, enough of depressing Drez for one day. Let's move on to another lower.

I make my way to a decently sized female demon.

We had exactly the same conversation. This time, though, it was district 12.

It seems most lowers are also failed births between either a lower and a regular or even a regular and a regular. Hatera stated that regular and regular can make a lower due to a defect. (The female demon that has just spoken to me is Hatera.)

Lowers seem to all be failed births, and all then work until they die. They have little personalities who don't hold much ambition, but luckily most hold anger towards life itself, and this can be converted into ambition. Sadly, I imagine some have given up completely. Luckily, I have none of them. Most of my batch are still young. I think the oldest is a lower demon.

I then spoke to him and, apart from a lower self-esteem, he seemed fine as far as lower demons go.

Next, I spoke to Asylum, who had gone on that expedition to the dungeon before.

Being the silent type did not help, but she told me she lived in a house where her parents worked, and she went to a school.

Regular demons, it appears, lead fairly normal lives. As long as both parents worked, they would be fine.

I then spoke to Oliver, who hesitantly told me a bit about his life.

He lived as a slave of a count ranked demoness. He was called the name that must not be spoken aloud by her and such, and after he came here, he renounced it.

I felt he would make a great earth user. He was both calm and full of hate and destruction, like the earth.

That was for later. I now need Dante's backstory.

"No, I'm not telling you."

Huh, this isn't how this is meant to go.

I can't say please because I need to create a powerful demon image.

"Okay, but know there will be consequences."

Perfect, I think, as I say the words aloud.

As I turn and walk away, gangster style, he says, "Wait, I'll tell you."

Gotcha. "But I'm not telling you all of it."

Okay, I can deal with that; after all, a man needs some secrets.

"I was an executioner at a jail for lower demons. I was born into my role and could only do my role. A marquee-rank demon controlled the prison, and my family were its executioners for generations."

But I did not like it there. I hated their screams of terror. My colleagues seemed to enjoy them, and sometimes when my axe was blunt enough, they would endure my first chop and I would hear mixed gurgling."

"I was sometimes cursed and sometimes attacked. I was born to play my role and, as such, I put up with it. Here I wanted to be free, but it seems it was not meant to be. "

Dam

Okay, Dante is coming in with a S.A.D. story. How do I even respond? I need his service, but my inner human wants to free the guy.

Okay, it seems I need to compromise a bit, so my emotions calm a bit.

"Have you preferred your time here?"

"Of course."

"Do you hate being here?"

"No, not particularly."

"Do you dislike me?"

"No, as a superior, you are one of the best a demon could ask for."

That's enough for my emotions.

"Do you want to serve me?" I ask

"I don't know. Inside, I want to be free, to explore. Yet, I also want stability I also enjoy Demon's company. Though it would be nice if I had someone to talk to who did not bow and say Sir all the time."

Damn me and Dante had suffered together, I laughed. Who knew?

Okay, for now, keep up what you're doing. You have some free time after lunch and dinner, so use it if you want to catch up with me. If you ever make up your mind, you can come to me anytime.

"Okay, sir." He then bows in respect.

I laughed as I walked away. Who knew Dante had a sense of humour?

From this, I learned that many demons had depressing lives. Most were slaves of some kind, and many had little to no freedom.

They had low self-esteem and were depressed.

They had mostly enjoyed their time here and some were calling it paradise. They loved what they were doing, and I did not make them work all that hard.

I felt bad if I was honest. These were the people I was going to trick, but did they even need tricking? Most seemed like nice individuals. I wanted to trust them.

But I was selfish. I wanted that security. I did not want to die again.

Anyway, it was the hunting parties hunting time, and I still had some more people to question.