Chapter 3：The Prettiest Ladies in the City

After leaving the Watcher's Chamber, Joshua returned to his messy-as-nine-hells room.

The cleaning could wait as Joshua walked toward a considerably tidy bookshelf and pulled out a book titled "History of the World".

The book had been written by humans, as it documented the progress of the human civilization in this world. It seemed like the demon prince was very interested in human civilization.

What surprised Joshua was that the book was written in English…

Joshua turned to a mirror beside the table, and the reflection of the Chaos Demon in it was how he looked like back on Earth. That made him think of the parallel universe theory. Perhaps the demon prince was him in another world... because they even shared the same name.

The fact that the "History of the World" was written in English helped Joshua a lot. He had wanted to know how the human civilization in this world had progressed and what their political situation was.

If this world was made out of ancient monarchies, then producing movies to a group of illiterate peasants would be pointless.

"The Council of Seven? May the resplendent light of magic shine over the whole of Norland?"

Joshua verbalized the recent history written in the book and heaved a sigh of relief.

The human society in this world was much more democratic than Joshua had anticipated. While it was not a modern democratic republic, it had a setup akin to a parliamentary republic.

Simply put, the humans of this world had realized the idea of "everyone is equal". Such equality was not realized through laws or revolutions, rather it was due to the magical nature of the world itself.

The magical elements of the Human Realm were in extreme abundance, and even farmers at the bottom of the social hierarchy knew how to cast a fireball spell. It was a veritable world of spellcasters.

So, status in this human society was determined by knowledge, and the more magical knowledge one accrued, the higher their social status. In such a society, illiterates would be few and far between.

However, that was only present in a few main countries within the Human Realm, and there were many more nobilities or divine right monarchies.

Just like Earth, this world was vast, and the number of countries in this world was far beyond a single digit. The closest country to the Demonic Realm was one of the most prosperous magical countries in the land, Norland.

Thus, Joshua decided that the screening of his movie would be focused on these magical countries.

Next would be the script. Joshua now bore the burden of ceasing the hatred humans had for demons, and to change the perception that demons were evil. Accomplishing that was not difficult in his opinion, and he just needed to get humans to worship demons.

The act of worship he had in mind definitely did not refer to the dark rituals of demonic summoning, or the cultivation of a heretical cult, rather… Joshua wanted to turn demons into idols.

To save their race from facing extinction, the demons chose to take the path of an idol or something like that…

In order to create a good demonic image, Joshua had two scripts he could think of. One was Beauty and the Beast, and the other, Léon: The Professional.

Beauty and the Beast, in Joshua's mind, did not need further introduction. It was a well-known fairy tale, and while some may feel that it was a little childish, almost everyone had heard of the story before. That once again proved that the wonderful tale had a following in human civilization, no different from Hans Christian Anderson or the Grimm brother's stories.

As for Léon: The Professional, it was one of Joshua's favorite movies. It was a story about a professional hitman and a little girl. The tale of a man taking a young girl under his wing was an evergreen topic, and that movie, without a doubt, raised both Natalie Portman and Jean Reno as Joshua's childhood idols.

The focal point of those two works was to get the audience to love the "Beast" and the "Hitman". By replacing the characters with demons, plus some editing, the plot would not look out of place.

Joshua still had no idea who he would cast as the actor for Léon, but he had someone in mind for the role of both Belle and the Beast.

Perhaps it was a little regrettable, but the movie that shaped Joshua's initial perception of beauty would need to wait, so he decided to go ahead with Beauty and the Beast first.

"Servant, please summon Zenarth for me," Joshua said to the water elemental servant standing by the door.

The elemental servant did not have a mind of her own and was simply a messenger, much like a homing pigeon. After she bowed to Joshua, she left to fulfill her orders, while Joshua started to pen the script.

Ever since he arrived in this world, Joshua noticed that his memories had become terrifyingly clear. Be it the memories of his time on Earth, or the demon prince's, everything was ready to be "pulled out" of his brain.

He could even clearly remember the patterns on the back of a seven-spot ladybird he had caught when he was ten.

Joshua had read the original English version of Beauty and the Beast followed by the animated movie by Disney. The latter was the most popular version of the story, thus he was able to remember every single detail of it.

He now just had to add in the details using that framework.

Joshua took out a sheet of paper. The papers were originally used by the demon prince to sketch out his odd blueprints, and the writing tool he used was a familiar charcoal pencil.

Just as he wrote the title of the script on the paper, the floor of his room rumbled slightly.

"Your Highness, what would you have me do?"

Zenarth came much faster than Joshua had anticipated. He stood by the door, not stepping into the room. With papers scattered all over the room, the coiling flames around Zenarth's body could light the room up.

"Zenarth, how are your acting skills?" Joshua looked at the Sin Demon as he asked.

"Acting?" Zenarth did not seem to understand what Joshua was saying.

"Simply put, do you know how to fool humans?"

Joshua spun it in a way that a demon could understand.

"Of course, Your Highness… That is a compulsory skill for a demon. While I may never be as good as the succubi or the satyrs, fooling those foolish humans is something I can accomplish."

Zenarth's guile did not seem to match his martial appearance, however.

Deceit was a compulsory skill for every demon? So, that meant every demon was an actor? For a race with deceit as their natural talent, not venturing into politics was a waste.

"Very well, stand still over there for a bit."

Joshua measured Zenarth's shape and height as he began to draw the concept art for the script.

As a Sin Demon, Zenarth's head looked like Leomon from Digimon. So long as he did not reveal his menacing expression and wiped out the flames in his mouth, he actually had the look of a big gentle cat.

Nonetheless, that did not take into account Zenarth's terrifying scales and the lava flowing between the gaps in his scales. Even the flames on his body alone would deter anyone from touching the big cat.

That itself was not a problem, though, and Joshua, who was originally a game designer, was quick with his sketch. He drew an image of the imposing Zenarth in a bespoke court dress.

"Zenarth, your clothes do not burn?" As he got to that part, he suddenly realized that the demon's clothes looked like some primordial beast skin, which only covered the important parts of his body.

To get Zenarth to wear the court dress he designed, he would need him to keep the flames hidden.

"It won't, Your Highness. I can control the temperature of my flames."

Now that was convenient. With no worries about the clothes catching fire, Joshua could go ham with the design. The next important thing was to cast the female lead, Belle.

It was not quite possible to use a human female, and any girl who was a little timid would probably just faint out of fear while she acted with Zenarth. Meanwhile, anyone a little braver would lob fireballs at him.

Joshua needed to ensure his actors' safety so he decided to choose from the female demons instead.

"Zenarth, I have a mission for you."

Joshua immediately pulled out a parchment and wrote a notice as he placed his personal seal on it.

"Your orders, Your Highness?" Zenarth bowed slightly as he awaited Joshua's orders.

"Find me the prettiest girls in the city," Joshua said.