Eight led the way through the Teleportal, and Nine took note that he had no idea where they were. The Demon Lords Divide had been quite a lovely place, but even though he could still see the walls behind him and the ceiling high above, it didn't change the fact that they were, for some reason, in a forest.
"Welcome to the forest floor," Eight said as she motioned with her arms in no specific direction, "This belongs to General Four: The Garden. She's a wood nymph, so it only made sense for her floor to be themed around the forest."
"Neat," Nine noted, Debbie having repositioned herself so she was now hanging on his back as though she was a sentient cape. "What are we doing exactly? I'll be honest, I was paying attention."
"To avoid having our conferences interrupted by low ranked demons hoping to garnish attention or favor the conference room used by us Generals and Lord Verona can only be assessed through special Teleportals on the upper levels, I use Four's floor cause Three's is to wet, Two's is always on fire, and technically the room is hidden away on One's floor so there is a way to enter it from there, but no one but her and Lord Verona may enter that way,"
"What makes them so special?" Nine asked curiously, "Are they really sparkly or something?"
"They're not actually special," Eight admitted as she and Nine walked through an arch cut into the trunk of a massive tree, "They only connect to the Teleportal in the conference room, whereas that one connects to all of them, making them one way, but the conference room one can go multiple ways."
Eight looked back to make sure Nine was still listening, but his Ruby eyes made it hard to glean just how much he was actually getting out of the conversation. "The ones that connect the Divides to the main floors can only be accessed by Demons under contract, while all the main floors can be accessed if you have the right blessing, the same blessing that allows adventurers to use the Revival blessing. It's how we keep them out of the personal areas of the Tower,"
"Maybe you should do the same to our divide, it kind of seems like the other demons like to make a mess out of it."
"That's really only a problem we have to deal with," Eight noted, "And Maid is a job, not a title, so there's no real way to block subordinates and let Maids pass, besides your little imps would be locked out if we did that,"
"Oh yeah," Nine muttered, "I didn't think of that." Eight came to a stop and had to hold out a hand to get Nine's attention so he'd stop too. Before them was a large clearing with a mossy stone platform, a massive expanse of flora and fauna that didn't match the surrounding forest, coating the mossy platform, growing out from the large crack that etched out across it.
In the center of the platform were two creatures whom Nine actually recognized, the short androgynous Five and Four, the wood nymph who had turned an army into a garden, making her title of The Garden seem very fitting.
"Hey," Five cheered upon seeing the duo approaching them, "I see the Chaos Bringer is doing better, Five rushed over, excited as they began inspecting Nine, "You gotta yourself an Imp, that's cute. Say you sound like a guy, but you look like a lady, which are ya?"
"Which are you?" Nine replied without hesitation.
"Well, that's a damn fine point," Five noted as they dodged the question and continued examining Nine from different angles.
"So did you call dibs?" Four asked as she motioned her head towards Nine, with the news of his General status not yet announced, Eight easily followed Four's train of thought.
"No, he's not my newest subordinate," Eight told her, knowing Verona would pout if she spoiled the surprise.
"Hmm, wonder where he'll end up," Four sighed, "Poor thing's strong, but he's not quite upper levels strong, and I suspect where ever he ends up a lot of the freed slaves will see his selection as him picking a General to be loyal to, so who ends up with him is bound to get a mountain of new followers not to long after,"
Eight saw through Four's ploy before she could even fully set it up, "I'm not calling dibs, Verona already has a plan for him, you'll see,"
"I take it from your confidence that she asked you to bring him along?" Five asked as he finished his examination of Nine.
"He is the primary reason for the conference being called," Eight agreed, "Now could you open the way, I don't wanna go digging for it again."
"I would rather you not do that either," Four agreed as she held up her hands. A tree that had otherwise been inconspicuous up to that moment began growing, and after a moment, the Teleportal to the conference room surfaced.
"Say," Nine muttered, "If someone broke all these mirrors while everyone was in a conference, would everyone be trapped?"
"Demon Lord Verona's magic substance this tower," Four told Nine as they entered the conference room, "as such she can just make a hole in the floor, or open up one of the walls, I suppose, if she were away and someone did that, it would theoretically work. But I doubt anyone could find and destroy all four mirrors fast enough for that plan to work, especially since only Lord Verona knows where One Hides hers."
The Conference room was about the same size as the mosey stone platform. At the center of the room was a large circular table. On the side of the table, exactly opposite the Teleportal Mirror, was a very lavish-looking chair, even being himself, Nine instantly figured the Chair belonged to the Demon Lord.
"You can just stand next to me," Eight told Nine as she took a seat, "One's Maids should be heading our way now that we're here, they'll probably provide you a seat."
Four and Five took their seats on the opposite side of the table from Eight, and Nine was left standing as they waited for the rest to arrive.