The next day, I came to the half-fish village where Domorte was staying.

　Domorte had been working underwater for a long time, but I asked him to come back to the sea.

"Domorte, how's the analysis going?"

"Well. The analysis itself was surprisingly easy, but the magic used in ...... this seems to be close to the magic of the non-human." "Non-human magic?



"Extraterrestrial magic?"

"Ah... a long time ago a demon who was supposed to be sealed away was using this kind of magic. But they shouldn't be able to get out so easily. ......"

"Does that mean ...... that ...... it might be possible for us to take a look at its magical power?"



　Domorte puts magic into a reddish-black ball.

"This part here."

　Domorte takes my hand and puts it on the ball, and the magic of the ball flows into my body.

　I knew ...... that this magic was the same as the magic that had been inside Shannon.



"Thank you. I'm okay now. This is the power of the founder's magic.

It's called the Ancestor Fiend now. I thought we sealed that one. ......



　I'll explain the curse on Shannon.

　I explain that Shannon had it, and that similar symptoms had appeared in other places.



"You're going to break this spell on your first try? I knew Locke was out of his league."

"No, he's not. No, it's because Lucky was there. So what are you going to do now?



"I've already analyzed this sphere. It's not for human use, so we need to go to the guy who made it and get rid of his research materials."



"Is that so?"

"Yeah, like the curse on Shannon, this is a preparation for bringing the demon back to life. If that thing comes back to life, this world's in trouble. Whoever made this is in that town, right?"



"Yes, there is a woman in the city who has been studying this. We can't go on a rampage in the city, can we?"



"Right. By the way, what happened to the mermaid?

The mermaids will be at the slave market the day after tomorrow. I think I'll be able to buy them back there.



Then after that would be better. Locke's going to call you, isn't he?　It's better than having a problem and having to worry about it.



"That's true. Then we'll rescue the mermaid first. And I think Chad the slaver has a plan to attack the city. Does that sphere have some kind of communication device on it?"



"No, it's not a comms device, it's just a one-way communication device."

"Even so, you must be quite a genius to put that much magic into that little sphere.



"Yeah, it's because it's received by the brainwashing of those around it. That's because he's using the magic power of the demon.

By the way, what's the difference between the magical power of a demon and ordinary magical power?



"The magic of a demon is ...... well, ...... quite simply, it is a more concentrated version of normal magic. The demon people were very good at dealing with magic. Because it is more condensed than normal magic, even a small sphere like this can contain a strong magic power. But it takes a lot of sense to channel that magic power into a formula and use it. She seems to have a lot of sense. Maybe she'll be a great sage to succeed me."



"By the way, you said you were Lydia's disciple."

"I see, so it's similar to my magical ...... power and the magical power of ...... demons. I guess I'll have to stop him after all.



What do you mean?

"I told you that Lydia stole the research I used to seal the demons before, didn't I?　Among the materials she stole at that time was the research on the magical power of demons."



　Come to think of it, that woman was also talking about stealing research results from Lydia.

　I didn't expect to find the culprit here.



"I never thought that my being stolen would end up like this. I really don't know how it happened."

"What's done is done. Let's talk about the future.



　I have a favor to ask of Domorte.

　I don't know what kind of orders they'll give us, but hopefully we'll be able to frame the slaver.



"I've done all the analysis, so we'll do the rest inside the box. There doesn't seem to be any danger of an explosion or anything."

"Okay. And I found this in the warehouse.



　I hand him the magic circle on the carpet I found in the warehouse.

"Is this ....... Is it synthetic magic or ......?　No, I don't ...... think so.

"What's going on?"



"Oh ...... it seems to be a copy of a magic circle I made a long time ago to synthesize demons with demons. I thought I told Lydia to destroy it because it was dangerous. ......"



　Apparently, Lydia kept it instead of discarding it.

　It seems that her apprentice eventually made off with it, too.



"This whole thing started with Domorte's ......"

"Don't say it, Rock. ...... I was aware of it. I had no idea that my naivete would have such an impact on the future. I'll take care of everything."



"Don't worry. You don't have to do this alone. I'll help you, and you'll help me."

"Oh, ...... how ironic that I was supposed to be doing research to make the world a better place."

"No, it's not ironic. You can use tools and knowledge in any way you want.



　Domorte looks a little sad and rolls the ball in her hand.

　She probably never dreamed that the things she had worked so hard on before her death would lead to such a result.



　Domorte went back into the box garden, and I decided to gather information in the city, which I couldn't do yesterday.