Writing

Joshua spent half an hour writing a Mini Program capable of outputting "hello." This string of English letters proved that his idea was correct.

As Joshua tapped the pale white glow before him with his fingertips, he was reminded of when he had first encountered computers, back in the era when machines were booted up using DOS commands.

When he entered '1' into the Mini Program Joshua had written, the pale white Runes quickly returned a string of characters representing the meaning of "hello."

A true greeting to the birth of a New World.

If this continued, Joshua was confident that given a few months, he could use these Runes to create a simple operating system.

The brain could serve as the host machine, compatible with the functions of a CPU, hard drive, and memory. The eyes would handle the display, while the hands would replace the mouse and keyboard.

It could work!

Implanting a computer into the brain and using programs to replace the calculations of the human mind—something that might take a century to accomplish on Earth—Joshua found was... within reach in this world through the power of magic.

But to truly make it happen, Joshua's limited knowledge was not enough. His understanding of these Runes was still far too shallow.

Although the knowledge Joshua possessed had caused all these Runes to appear before him, he had been a "mage" for less than half a day.

Even so, Joshua had no trouble using his newly acquired magic to merge the images from Source Crystal Stones together. One Source Crystal Stone could record one shot, after which all the crystals could be transferred into a single Source Crystal Stone.

Though this method was somewhat troublesome, in an age that did not even have electric light bulbs, the Third Prince's invention was already several centuries ahead of its time.

"Miss Ciri, I suggest you don't stray too far from me. If that thing around your neck gets more than twenty meters away from me, it'll automatically explode."

Having finished his Rune research, Joshua picked up a pen and White Paper, preparing to continue writing the script for "Beauty and the Demon."

Before writing, however, Joshua felt it necessary to teach the Female Mage a lesson: she should not wander around someone else's room.

"...I... I wasn't."

Ciri withdrew the hand she had placed on the doorknob and looked at the demon seated at the desk.

After Joshua learned the Runes of the God of Order, he had sat directly at the desk and immersed himself in research, paying no attention to her at all.

That gave Ciri the illusion that perhaps she could use this opportunity to escape.

So Ciri spent a long time creeping toward the door as quietly as a cat. Before she could open it, Joshua's words forced her to obediently return to where she had originally been standing.

Ciri did not want to die such a miserable death as having her head blown apart. No... if the crystal around her neck exploded, her death would surely be even more horrific than having her head cut off.

"..."

Ciri stood there and waited for another ten-odd minutes, but Joshua gave no further instructions.

Bored out of her mind, she stared at Joshua's back. In the end, unable to suppress her curiosity, she took several steps forward and came to his desk.

Human fear of demons generally stemmed from their ferocious appearances. Once Ciri had calmed down, she realized that Joshua looked no different from a human.

That slightly eased Ciri's unease at being here. Then, her attention was drawn to the script Joshua was writing.

When the story reached the point where the heroine Belle was imprisoned by the demon in order to save her father, Ciri suddenly realized that her own circumstances were remarkably similar to those of the script's protagonist—except that she had been captured and brought here.

Ciri could already imagine the cruel and inhuman treatment Belle would suffer at the hands of that demon, just as she could imagine her own fate.

But what followed was far beyond Ciri's expectations. The story changed from the moment the demon saved Belle from a pack of vicious wolves. Belle and the demon's first dinner, the ballroom dance in the castle meant only for the two of them... every scene, as described by Joshua's pen, was enough to awaken any woman's longing for the beautiful emotion known as romance.

"This is only a story, right?"

Looking at the words Joshua had written, Ciri's curiosity once again overcame her fear, and she finally took the initiative to ask him.

"Of course. Stories and reality are still very different. For instance, Belle, the heroine, has a far better figure than you do, Miss Ciri."

Joshua naturally knew what the Female Mage was thinking. Her situation really was very similar to Belle's in the script.

If not for the fact that she would likely faint at the sight of a demon on Zennas's level, Joshua might have let her try being the lead.

Ciri immediately understood what Joshua meant. She covered her chest and took several steps back, her face flushing crimson. Before she could organize a retort, a knock at the door made her swallow the words she wanted to say.

"Find somewhere to hide."

Joshua pointed at the only bookshelf in his room, where a person could barely squeeze in.

The other demons in the Demon Realm all held more or less some prejudice against humans. It would be one thing if she were his servant, but the person waiting outside was not Joshua's servant.

When it concerned her own life, Ciri obediently ran behind the bookshelf and hid.

Joshua also strode quickly to the door and pulled it open.

"I don't recall conducting any experiments lately that would warrant your supervision, Elder Sister."

The one standing outside Joshua's door was none other than Second Princess Cecily Anoroth.

Unlike their eldest brother, who lived at the border year-round, Joshua's Elder Sister Cecily served as an Overseer in the capital of the Demon Realm, maintaining order throughout the city.

In the Third Prince's memories, this second elder sister of his was so upright that she hardly seemed like a demon. Having become an Overseer at the age of fifteen, she had handled cases large and small throughout the capital with swift and decisive methods. She was the very image of a commendable people's police officer.

"Just now, I sensed fluctuations of human magic coming from your room."

Unlike Joshua's crimson hair and eyes, Cecily's hair and pupils were the color of flames. Under the gaze of those eyes, anyone attempting to lie before her would feel a tremor rising from the depths of their heart.

It was a silent pressure.

"I was conducting a few small experiments using human magic."

Runes formed from pale white light appeared in Joshua's hand. They lasted for only a second or two before vanishing, gradually corroded by Joshua's gray *** magic power of chaos. Then Joshua turned his gaze toward Cecily.

"But Elder Sister, you didn't come all this way over such a trivial matter, did you?"