Mastermind

We entered the library where I tapped my staff on the ground making my presence known as the faires all flew down in front of me and Bryla flew down in front of them 

"Hello, lord Arzo!" all of the faires said 

"Hello once again my faires, I was hoping you have some information for me about a certain human." I said 

"What is the name of the human, lord?" Bryla asked 

"His name is Marcelo, he is a slaver who also collects special stones." I said 

Bryla nodded then she turned back to the faires "I want the book located in area ten, shelf four, row eight, it's the brown book." she said and the faires nodded then flew off and returned after only a few seconds with a brown book which they handed to Bryla then she turned back to me with the book "Here you are my lord." she said 

I took the book and opened it 'hm, it seems that faires have noted that people mostly go missing in a small village that's not too far from the woods, the name of the village is Wildemoor, looks like this is where Rinako will be staying as bait, I just hope nothing too bad happens to her.' I thought then I looked back up at my faires "Do you have anything else that might lead to Marcelo?" I asked 

Bryla thought for a moment "Oh yes, I remember something my faires have picked up while exploring." she said then she turned back to the faires "Get the special item you found for lord Arzo." she said then two fairies flew off and returned with a gold medallion which they gave to Bryla then she turned back to me "They found this item on an abandoned cart pretty far from the castle, they told me it was a transporting cart and from where it was, it was heading in the direction of the mountains." she said then she gave me the medallion 

I looked at the medallion and noticed it had the same green snake symbol "The Jade serpents, that cart most likely belonged to this Marcelo person, and you said it was heading to the mountains?" I asked and Bryla along with the other fairies nodded "Good, that means we know which direction to look in, you have done well faires, I'll be sure to reward you for working so hard." I said 

Bryla along with the other fairies smiled "Thank you, lord Arzo, your praise alone is rewarding enough for us." she said 

I smiled "Well then, keep up the good work." I said then I turned to leave along with Rinako 

"Goodbye lord Arzo!" all of the faires said as we walked through the doors 

We appeared back in the throne room where my three maidens were waiting "Zoe, I want you to get Rinako dressed in clothes that will make her look poor and uninteresting." I said 

Zoe bowed "With all due respect lord, I am not fit for such a job." she said 

I raised an eyebrow "Then, who is more suited to the task?" I asked 

"I believe Ko, the beastgirl, is more suited for such a task." Zoe said 

I nodded "Then I want Ko to be brought here." I said 

"Very well, my lord." Zoe said then she walked to the doors and left 

"Excuse me, lord Arzo." Rinako said making me turn to her "Why can't I go in my regular clothes?" she asked 

"It is simple Rinako, if you go in your regular clothes then you'll only look more suspicious, you need to look poor and uninteresting, by going with this look then others will think you're nothing but a poor girl that no one will care about if you go missing." I explained 

Rinako nodded "I see, this will make the human want me even more since I will be an easy catch." she said then she bowed to me "What a perfect and foolproof plan you thought of lord Arzo." she said 

Scarlet chuckled a bit "Of course, only lord Arzo would be able to think of such a perfect plan." she said 

Celia nodded "Lord Arzo truly is the greatest, no one would be able to match his intellect." she said 

I smirked 'Heh, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't appreciate the praise but the only reason I thought of the whole clothes idea was because of my book about another slaver taking people from their homes and the main character going after him dressed as a poor man to draw him out, of course, that book was shot down by my boss just like all my other ones.' I thought then I sighed out loud 

Rinako turned to me "Is something the matter lord Arzo?" she asked 

I quickly picked myself back up "No, I was just thinking of something else, nothing to concern yourselves about." I said and all of them simply nodded then Zoe came back through the doors and behind her was a woman wearing an orange dress where one sleeve was longer than the other, she also had cat ears and a tail, and her hair was straight and reached past her back

Zoe bowed before me "My lord, I have brought Ko." she said as Ko stepped forward and once she did a bunch of memories came to me of her 

I shook my head a bit then turned to her "Ko, I need you to make clothes for Rinako." I said 

Ko bowed "Of course lord Arzo, making clothes is my specialty, what kind of clothes would you have made for Rinako?" she said 

"I want you to make her look poor and uninteresting." I said 

Ko gasped "Surely you jest my lord, I am supposed to make people sparkle with my fabulous clothes, making people uninteresting clothes is just impossible for me." she said 

"Then make it possible, you are the best at making clothes, right?" I said 

"Of course I am, my lord, but making uninteresting clothes is something I haven't done before." Ko said 

"Then this will be a good chance for you to practice." I said 

Ko took a step forward "But I-."

"This is an order Ko, don't make me repeat myself." I said 

Ko bowed "As you wish, lord Arzo." she said then she turned to Rinako "Come along darling, I'll make this work one way or another." she said then Rinako followed her out of the throne room 

Celia and the other maidens bowed to me "Is there anything else you wish for us to do lord?" she asked 

I shook my head "Not at the moment, for now, I will be in the library, I need to read up on something, tell anyone who looks for me that they will find me there." I said and they all nodded then I left the throne room and went to the library where I tapped my staff on the ground getting the attention of the faires again 

"Hello once again, lord Arzo!" all the faires said 

"Greetings, for now, I wish not to be disturbed so please go about your business as if I'm not here." I said and the all nodded then they flew away while I walked through the library 'this really is a huge library, I'm lucky that I don't have to keep track of it myself and that the faires do it for me, now to look for the book about my servants, if I'm gonna be a convincing demon lord then I need to at least know about my servants so I don't look stupid or suspicious in front of the others.' I thought then a memory of the book about the people in this castle came to me 'this memory thing really does make it easy for me to know things, I don't know where I would be without it.' I thought then I headed in the direction where the book was and took it off the shelf 

I opened the book 'looks like I'll be reading for a while...wait a minute, isn't there a spell that will make this go faster?' I thought then I thought back to the other memory about my spells and there was one "Looks like I can make this go faster." I said then I closed the book "Enhancement magic: sightseeing." I said making my eyes glow for a bit then I reopened the book and made the pages fly by 'sightseeing is a magical spell that allows the target's eyes to become equal to that of a monster's, they can see very well and can even see things that aren't moving too fast but just fast enough, it's a perfect spell for reading or those with bad eyesight.' I thought as I read the book even though the pages were moving fast and after I was done I closed the book and place it back on the shelf 

"that's it for that book, time for the next." I said then I picked up the next book and began speed-reading it as well 

-Ko-

Ko brought Rinako to the room of the beastmen, people with animal-like traits and abilities, from minotaurs to lizardmen, they live in a room with an artificial roof with changes according to the time outside of the castle so they will never have to leave unless they are hunting or lord Arzo orders them to, Ko brought Rinako to her home which had dresses and clothes hung up everywhere for others to see

Ko closed the door behind them "So, looks like I need to make you some clothes, should we add some flair to them just for fun?" she said 

"I believe you should follow lord Arzo's orders." Rinako said 

Ko chuckled "I was joking Rinako, I know I have to follow lord Arzo's orders, you need to lighten up a bit and stop being so serious all the time." she said 

"Seriousness is how I am able to accomplish my task's so perfectly, it's how lord Arzo likes me." Rinako said 

Ko raised an eyebrow "So you're only like this to please lord Arzo?" she asked 

Rinako nodded "Of course, I must stay professional so I can continue being useful for him." she said 

"You know, you could just tell me the truth." Ko said making Rinako look at her confused 

"What are you talking about?" Rinako asked 

"The only reason you act so serious is that you want to please lord Arzo, in other words." Ko said then she moved closer to Rinako "You want to get under the sheets with him." she said

Rinako was unfazed "Do not joke like that, I have no desire for such a thing, lord Arzo is my master and I shall do what he says, there is nothing else to it." she said then she pushed Ko back "Now, hurry and get to work before lord Arzo finds out you haven't done a single thing." she said 

Ko rolled her eyes as she walked away "You may say that but you can't fool me." she said then she waked to her box and brought out her clothing materials "Now then, let's make this look good." she said as she placed her materials on a table and grabbed a body measurer "First, I need your measurements, then we can get started on the clothes." she said as she walked back to Rinako

"How long will this take?" Rinako asked 

"Usually it would take a few hours but since it's some simple poor clothes, then it shouldn't take too long." Ko said as she took Rinako's measurements 

-1 hour later-

"It's finally done!" Ko shouted as she held up Rinako's new clothes then she turned to Rinako who was sitting in a chair with her eyes closed "Rinako, are you sleeping?" she asked 

"No, I was meditating." Rinako said

Ko chuckled "See, you can make a joke." she said 

Rinako opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow "What joke?" she asked 

"Nevermind, just try this on so I know how it fits." Ko said handing her the clothes 

Rinako took the clothes and went in the back where she changed into them and when she came out she had tattered clothes where the left sleeve looked like it had been ripped off and the pants had fake dark spots on them but you wouldn't notice unless you were close enough 

Ko clapped her hands "They look perfect on you." she said 

Rinako looked herself over and sighed "I don't like this look." she said 

"Chin up Rinako, you won't have to look like this for long." Ko said "You can take it off now, I was told the mission will commence tomorrow which means if I need to make any last-second changes then I need to do it now." she said so Rinako went back in and changed back to her own clothes and once she came back out she handed the clothes back to Ko

"Since we're done here, I must return to lord Arzo's side." Rinako said walking past Ko as she waved her off 

-Arzo-

I had finally finished the thirtieth book on the shelf and after I put it back I couldn't help but yawn out loud as I made my way back to the doors and returned to my throne room where Rinako was standing next to my throne 

"Ah Rinako, I hope you weren't waiting for too long." I said

Rinako bowed "It is alright my lord." she said 

"Is Ko finished with the clothes?" I asked 

Rinako nodded "Yes she is, they are still with her." she said 

"Good, now all that's left to do is lure out Marcelo." I said then I turned back around to my doors "I shall retire to my room for the rest of the day, if anything happens tell me immediately." I said

"Yes my lord." Rinako said as I walked to the doors and returned to my room

I made my staff disappear and also took off my cape and hung it up but as soon as I laid down in my bed I felt something and I wasn't sure what it was but it felt close, really close 

I sat up and looked around "Who goes there?" I said then I heard laughing 

"Of course, leave it to the demon lord Arzo to feel my presence even though I had cast a spell to conceal it, and it's a pretty powerful spell to,  anything less than yourself would never know I was here." the voice said 

I quickly summoned my staff "Show yourself!" I ordered 

"But, I think I'm giving you too much credit, especially considering the fact that you're not even the real demon lord Arzo." the voice said but I didn't let my shock show "Isn't that right? Steven?" it said and that's when my eyes went wide