Vol. 1 Chapter 3 – Domination and Reincarnation

Three days later, on the morning of the duel, at six a.m., Ichinose Junpei had come to a park a little distance away from the student dormitory.

The park was fairly spacious, with a dirt field and a tennis court each, and also had horizontal bars and other equipment installed, making it suitable for some light exercise. Junpei didn’t particularly practice martial arts or sports but he felt that if he didn’t at least train his body a little, it would be pathetic as a man, so it had become his habit to stop by this park during his jog and move his body lightly.

However, today’s Junpei had come not to the field or the exercise equipment, but to a modest outdoor stage. It was the kind of stage perfect for neighborhood events, one that looked like it could host a small concert.

Perhaps because it was so early, there was no one on the stage. Junpei briskly passed through the seating area, then jumped up onto the concrete stage and sat down.

“…So it’s finally today, huh.”

At one p.m. today was his duel with Sonia. He would probably be beaten one-sidedly but he at least wanted to land a single blow.

“If I can prove that I’m not a failure… but what kind of magic can I even control? Damn it.”

“That’s why you’re an ero mage, remember?”

Suddenly, a voice so sweet it felt like his ears might melt drifted down, and Junpei flinched, snapping his head up toward behind him. There stood Meryl, dressed in miko attire. Her crimson hakama-like skirt looked lovely, but Junpei didn’t have the leeway to be captivated by it right now.

“Y-you… Meryl!”

“Yahoo. How’ve you been, Junpei? Long time no see.”

“D-don’t give me that『long time no see』!”

Junpei pushed his hands against the stage floor and stood up, putting a bit of distance between himself and Meryl.

“Do you even understand the position you’re in!? You’re being treated as an attempted murder suspect!”

“Yeah, well… more or less?”

“What do you mean『more or less』… and more importantly, what’s with that outfit?”

The first time he met Meryl, she had been dressed like a princess in an elegant gown. When she fought Sonia, she had changed into a china dress, during the recent broadcast hijacking she wore a bunny suit and today she was in Shinto miko attire. Meryl lightly pinched the collar of her miko outfit, pulling it slightly to show her chest, and answered as if it were nothing.

“Well, you see, I’m the kind of mage whose usable magic system changes depending on what I wear. I can do anything but I need to change outfits. Convenient yet inconvenient, but fun!”

“Y-your magic system changes depending on your outfit?”

“Yep, that’s right! By the way, with this outfit, I can use barrier-type magic.”

“A barrier…?”

After repeating that, Junpei suddenly looked around. At a glance, nothing seemed different. It was early August morning, beneath a sky that was gradually brightening. It was still a cool time of day, yet it was strange that there wasn’t even a single elderly person out for a walk. Seeing Junpei’s reaction, Meryl smiled happily.

“You’re pretty sharp. I didn’t want to be interrupted, so I put up a barrier here. There was something I wanted to talk to you about alone. And I also have a favor to ask.”

“A favor… from me?”

Junpei was surprised. Someone as incredibly skilled as Meryl, what could she possibly want from a failure like him? But more than that, there was something he had absolutely intended to ask her if they ever met. Taking a deep breath, Junpei spoke with a tense expression.

“Before that, let me ask you one thing.”

“About ero magic?”

At that reply, Junpei, who had been trying to have a serious conversation, nearly collapsed to his knees.

“T-that’s definitely something I’m curious about too. Actually, I’ve started to have some ideas about it, and I’m seriously troubled. But that can wait. What I want to ask is about Kondo-sensei! Right now, in the public eye, you’re being treated as a heinous criminal who seriously injured Kondo-sensei in an attempted murder.”

Several days had passed since the incident where Kondo-sensei was severely injured and carried off to the hospital. Although public interest had already shifted to something else, Junpei had not forgotten about it for even a single day.

Junpei fixed his gaze on Meryl, overcame a small amount of fear, and asked.

“Was it you who attacked Kondo-sensei?”

“No way. That was a trap set to frame Meryl. Pretty horrible, right?”

Hearing that, Junpei felt so relieved he nearly sank down to the ground.

From the very moment he met Meryl, he had a gut feeling that she wasn’t a bad person.

—Yeah. Just as I thought. She’s not the kind of person who would hurt others for no reason.

But if Meryl was innocent, then a chilling truth emerged instead.

“A trap…? If it’s a trap, then that means someone dragged an unrelated person into it and inflicted injuries bad enough to kill, just to pin the blame on you, right?”

“That’s right. And it worked perfectly! Now no matter what Meryl says, no one will believe her anymore. I never thought they’d go this far, so they totally got me.”

“S-seriously…? Someone like that actually exists…?”

Hurting an innocent person just to frame another innocent person.

“—That’s twisted.”

It was a shocking realization, but he couldn’t stay shaken forever.

“But I still don’t understand. I don’t know anything about you and what exactly are you and the one who framed you fighting over? What’s this ring? And are you even telling the truth in the first place? I can’t see the full picture at all.”

“Hmm…”

Meryl groaned, unsure whether she should talk, and Junpei spoke to her in a firm tone.

“I heard you have a request for me. Then start talking first. From one to ten, everything. Otherwise, I won’t cooperate with you.”

“Umm… okay. Meryl will tell you. But what Meryl is about to talk about, the ring and Junpei’s magic and everything, it’ll all connect in the end but it’s going to be a bit of a long story, okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

As Junpei nodded like that, Meryl smiled brightly, then made a slightly thoughtful expression.

“Now then, where should I start… umm, you know, there’s this old classical argument that magicians are the superior species of humanity and therefore should guide the world. Junpei, do you believe that?”

“No, not really. If magicians were truly the superior species, they would’ve conquered the world long ago.”

“Right. In a one-on-one fight, it’s almost impossible for a magician to lose to a non-magician, but humans possess collective intelligence as social beings, so when it comes to fighting that, the minority magicians end up losing to the majority of non-magicians.”

For example, even in this Japan, the Heike, who arrogantly believed that those who were not spellcasters were not even human, were destroyed by Yoshitsune, who could not use magic. Nobunaga was also incapable of magic, yet he became a ruler of the land. During the Pacific War, the onmyoji caused the U.S. forces considerable trouble, but in the end, atomic bombs were dropped and they were defeated. Heike¹

Magic is power, but it is by no means invincible nor omnipotent.

“So rather, magicians have more often been oppressed or persecuted, but still, because they are magicians, depending on the era and region, there were times when they reigned as the ruling class too.”

“Yeah. Do something, get done to, and get payback… going back and forth between victim and perpetrator. In any country, the history between magicians and non-magicians is pretty much like that.”

“Mm. And then, about a thousand years ago, magicians in England were using a rather dangerous kind of magic. It’s called domination magic.”

“Domination… magic?”

“To put it simply, it’s slave magic. A magic composed of rings of domination and engravings, you see. If someone has a slave mark engraved somewhere on their body that will never disappear for life, they must absolutely obey the person who holds the ring of domination! They cannot defy any order, they are a slave for life, that’s what it means, Meryl.”

At that point, the gears of Junpei’s thoughts stopped for a moment. He was as shocked as if he had been in a traffic accident.

“…Huh? A magic that terrible actually exists?”

“It does. This is a genuine forbidden spell, so even its very existence is being concealed. It’s normal not to know about it.”

“Then what are you, knowing about something like that?”

“A great magician, Meryl, born in the fourteenth century.”

Saying that, Meryl gave a wink and then continued as if nothing had happened.

“So, I want you to notice something at the part about the Ring of Domination.”

“The ring…”

Meryl had been searching for rings. Rings had ranks, and higher-ranking rings could even act as a radar to detect lower-ranking ones. Meryl possessed a gold ring, and with it, she would find silver and bronze rings and then destroy them.

“Hey, hey, hey… wait a second. This『ring』you’re talking about…”

“This one.”

Meryl held out her right hand and showed Junpei the gold ring fitted on her middle finger.

“This is one of the Rings of Domination. The Rings of Domination are ranked from the top as orichalcum, mithril, platinum, gold, silver, and bronze, and their strength differs depending on the ring. Any ring can issue orders to those with a slave mark, but for example, a bronze ring can command only one person at a time, and a silver ring can command up to three people at once. Higher-ranking rings can nullify commands from lower-ranking ones. They can overwrite commands, and even if someone has a slave mark, by wearing a higher-ranking ring, they can cancel commands from lower-ranking rings. Rings of the same rank cancel each other’s commands out. Higher-ranking rings can locate lower-ranking ones. The rings follow a pyramid structure in both performance and quantity, with higher-ranking rings being rarer and lower-ranking ones being more numerous. And there’s apparently just one ring that stands above even the orichalcum ring, called the『True King’s Ring』but even Meryl has never seen it, Meryl.”

There, Meryl cut off her words, took a breath, and smiled.

“So? I just flooded you with a torrent of words, but did you get it?”

“I kinda get it… basically, if you have a higher-ranking ring, lower-ranking rings are meaningless, right?”

“That’s right. So then, about the magician who was turning people into slaves using that combination of the mark and the ring… after various things happened, they were defeated. And the domination magic was lost as well, but there was someone ten years ago who brought it back. Their name was Master Trixie.”

“Is that the scheme you said you crushed ten years ago?”

“Yep, that’s the one. Trixie was a magician from Europe, but after causing trouble over there, they moved their base to Japan and carried out their plan there. At first, they worked in secret but gradually expanded their organization, and it seems they even built connections with government officials in various countries. The goal was cliché, but…world domination.”

“World domination…?”

That sounded just like a villain from a children’s show. Junpei let out a half-laugh, but Meryl did not smile.

“They were seriously trying to do it. Trixie was cunning, you see. In the end, they planned to engrave slave marks onto every human except themselves, but first, they aimed to mark the reasonable magicians who wouldn’t obey them. And for that, they started by exploiting the latent fear and distrust that non-magicians have toward magicians, Meryl.”

“How?”

“Well, you see, what’s interesting about domination magic… slave magic… is that only magicians can engrave the slave mark or create the Rings of Domination, but anyone can use a ring to issue orders to someone who has been marked. Trixie noticed that. They revived domination magic, engraved slave marks onto magicians all over the world, and then said,『We’ll gift everyone rings. That way, you can permanently and completely control magicians!』They sold that dream, and brought politicians and wealthy people, who were secretly afraid of magicians, over to their side.”

“Ugh…”

“And then, and then, while expanding their organization, Trixie first succeeded in mass-producing rings. They produced many rings below the level of mithril and scattered them everywhere, while keeping the orichalcum ring for themselves.”

“I see. As long as they had the orichalcum ring, it wouldn’t matter how many mithril or lower rings were out there.”

“Exactly, Meryl. And ten years ago, when Trixie finally began working on the slave marks, they mobilized all the connections of their collaborators and started a large-scale experiment staking everything on reviving slave magic, Meryl. By the way, that was also when Meryl learned about the whole plan. Trixie expanded things too much, so it ended up getting caught by Meryl’s radar.”

“So you went to crush it, huh?”

“Of course I did. I’m gonna crush something like that. Well, putting that aside, Trixie’s collaborators from all over the world provided test subjects for this experiment, Meryl. Among magicians, girls who had inherited particularly exceptional magical talent, all under ten years old at the time, ten of them in total! Every one of them had circumstances, they were gathered after being kidnapped or even handed over by their own parents. They engraved slave marks onto those ten, and if it succeeded, they were going to test the effects of the Rings of Domination too.”

“But you stopped it, right?”

According to what had been said during the recent broadcast hijack, the plan from ten years ago had been crushed by Meryl. In other words, those unfortunate girls should have been rescued by her.

Thinking that, Junpei smiled brightly but Meryl slightly averted her gaze and made an awkward expression. Junpei instantly froze.

“…Huh? Hey, Meryl?”

“Yeah, um… Meryl did go to save them, you know. I found Trixie’s secret base in Japan where the experiment was being carried out and barged in, but… actually, I didn’t make it in time. Tehe.”

Meryl stuck out her tongue and lightly tapped her own head in a cute gesture but Junpei’s expression changed completely.

“What do you mean you didn’t make it in time?!”

“O-of course I crushed it in the end! I defeated Trixie too! But by the time Meryl rushed in, it was just barely too late, the magic had already succeeded, and the ten test subjects had already had the slave marks engraved on them.”

Junpei’s thoughts shut down from the sheer shock, but he couldn’t let the conversation stop here.

“What happened after that?”

“Of course Meryl took the ten of them into protection, and destroyed most of the facilities, the research results, and the Rings of Domination. I even bent the people involved’s elbows the opposite way and all that. But failing to steal the orichalcum ring that Trixie had was Meryl’s mistake.”

“Because it acts as a radar?”

“Yeah. Trixie had already succeeded in mass-producing the rings before starting the engraving experiments, so quite a number of Rings of Domination ended up being scattered all over the place. That’s why even now, ten years later, Meryl is still continuing the search…but when Trixie was cornered, they destroyed the orichalcum ring, so the best radar was lost. However, after the battle, a gold ring that hadn’t been destroyed was found, so Meryl took that and set out on a journey to track down the remaining rings. And now, coming back to Japan after ten years is where we are. That’s the end of what happened ten years ago.”

As Meryl concluded her story like that, Junpei dropped to both knees on the spot and hung his head in dejection.

—Seriously? Something that huge happened ten years ago, and it was already resolved? Well, I guess with the rings still remaining, it’s not really over in the true sense, though.

“What’s wrong, Junpei?”

At Meryl’s curious voice, Junpei lifted his head and spoke with tired eyes.

“I have two questions.”

“Go ahead.”

“First, what happened to those ten test subjects afterward? Did the marks disappear?”

“Nope. Apparently, once a slave mark is engraved, it never disappears for life. So they stayed as they were. That’s also one of the reasons why Meryl is going around destroying the Rings of Domination.”

Junpei was left speechless. Regardless of whether there was someone holding the chain or not, those girls had been forced to wear slave collars that would never come off for the rest of their lives.

“Then… where are they now, and what are they doing?”

“Meryl doesn’t know.”

“Huh?”

“I mean, raising ten kids is impossible for Meryl. So I left their future and how they would live to a collaborator from back then. Her name is Y-chan.”

“Y-chan?”

“Yeah. Ten years ago, there were people who sided with Trixie, but on the other hand, there were also people who cooperated with Meryl. As for the children, I left everything to my friend and collaborator, Y-chan. I think those kids must’ve had a hard time too, but that’s their lives, so they have to fight for themselves. In return, Meryl will find and destroy the Rings of Domination, that’s the deal. So because of that, I’ve never met them again even once, and Meryl didn’t particularly try to find out what happened to them afterward, so I don’t even remember their faces or names anymore. Well, I might remember if I see them, though.”

“I see…”

It sounded a little cold but it was true that it would be impossible for Meryl alone to take care of ten children. She wanted to believe that this person called Y-chan had listened to each of the children’s wishes and arranged things so they could return to a proper life.

“Then my other question. Why not make this public? Wouldn’t it be better to tell the truth and get society on your side?”

“Bzzzt. That’s incorrect. As long as we don’t know how many rings are still out there, and as long as there are those ten with slave marks engraved on them, it’s better that as few people as possible know about domination magic.”

“But right now, you’re being treated like a criminal, you know? Don’t you want to prove your innocence?”

“Hmm, I don’t really care about that. There’s no one who can catch Meryl anyway.”

Saying that, Meryl laughed and Junpei stared at her in astonishment. Whether she was confident or simply indifferent to what others thought of her, either way, she carried herself with a kind of detached composure.

Then, Meryl pointed a finger at Junpei and said:

“Looks like we’re done with questions about what happened ten years ago, so now let’s shift the timeline to the present. I’ll tell you what Meryl found out in Japan.”

—Right. I understand what happened ten years ago. But what about now? Meryl came to Japan searching for the rings. So why did things turn into that broadcast hijacking, Kondo-sensei being sent to the hospital, and talk of people connected to the plan from ten years ago falling unconscious?

In other words, something unexpected must have happened to even Meryl. Junpei stood up and said.

“Tell me.”

“Sure. So, it started at the end of June. Meryl had been traveling all over the world using this gold ring as a detector, when I got contacted by Y-chan, the friend and collaborator I mentioned earlier, saying,『Something involving the rings might happen again in Japan』. So then, we decided we’d meet in person to talk about the details, but…”

At that point, Meryl suddenly fell silent, and Junpei swallowed hard.

“Hey… don’t tell me…”

“By the time Meryl arrived in Japan, Y-chan was already in the hospital, unconscious, Meryl.”

Junpei felt a slight dizziness wash over him.

“…So that means someone used magic to take away her consciousness, right?”

“Probably. So since there was no helping it, Meryl first suspected that there were still remaining rings, and relying on this low-sensitivity gold ring, I detected a reaction from around the magic academy. So I snuck in, but you found me, Junpei, and it turned into a commotion, right?”

“Yeah.”

“After that, Meryl tried thinking from a different angle. Ten years ago, the people who cooperated with Trixie, and the people who cooperated with Meryl… I wondered what they were all doing now, and thought maybe they might know something about the rings. So I looked into it, but…”

Meryl cut off her words there, but Junpei could already predict what came next.

That was because Meryl had touched on this during the broadcast hijacking the other day.

Sure enough, Meryl kept her smiling expression, but her face subtly darkened as she said.

“The people I was able to confirm… they were all made unconscious. The people who knew about the slave magic, regardless of whether they were allies or enemies, were all in comas. Some of them have been asleep for as long as five years already, Meryl. Y-chan probably realized, albeit late, that the people involved from ten years ago were being put into comas one after another and contacting Meryl might have been the last thing she managed to do…”

He thought he had been prepared, but hearing it said out loud again made his heart start pounding rapidly. The enemy was taking human life far too lightly.

“Are there still people you haven’t been able to confirm?”

“Yeah, it’s been ten years, after all. There are naturally people whose whereabouts can’t be tracked. Meryl thinks that one of them might be the culprit. But if Meryl can’t find them, then they’ve either left this country or changed their face and name.”

“…What about Master Trixie? Are they in a coma too? Actually, I never asked, but they were the mastermind behind the incident ten years ago, right? What happened to them after that?”

“Umm, you see, back then Trixie attacked Meryl with ice magic, intending to take me down with them. But Meryl reflected it with a magic item mirror, so Trixie ended up sealing themselves inside an ice coffin with their own magic. Right now, that coffin is being imprisoned in a prison where magical criminals are sent.”

At Trixie’s unexpected fate, Junpei’s lips twitched slightly.

“S-so… does that mean they’re dead?”

“Nope, they’re alive. It’s magical ice, after all. So maybe they might wake up someday, but I think it’s unrelated to what’s happening now.”

“I see…”

The ten girls who had become test subjects in the experiment ten years ago had been branded with slave marks that would never disappear for the rest of their lives, and many of the people involved had fallen unconscious and remained asleep. Since Trixie was the root cause of all of it, perhaps it was only natural retribution, but even so, their fate felt a little pitiful.

—Alone, inside the ice.

Junpei found himself feeling a bit somber but Meryl spoke briskly in a bright tone.

“So then, whether the plan from ten years ago, the string of coma incidents that have been happening since five years ago, and the ring reaction sensed from the magic school in Tokyo are all connected or not, Meryl doesn’t know. Meryl couldn’t grasp the true nature of the enemy at all. Whether it’s an individual or an organization is completely unknown. So for now, I decided to use it as a sort of test to flush out whoever has a ring somewhere.”

“That was the broadcast hijacking?”

“Exactly. If they hand over the ring quietly, then they’re unrelated to the incidents. If they refuse, then they’re involved and I’ll deal with them accordingly, Meryl.”

After hearing that much, Junpei let out a sigh and held his head with one hand.

“I thought this during that broadcast too, but… your plan is way too sloppy.”

“I thought that if the ring holder was unrelated, they’d just quietly hand over the ring rather than be treated like a criminal. But the result was a total failure. I was watching the park, but only onlookers and the police showed up, and somehow, without Meryl even knowing, someone got sent to the hospital and it ended up being blamed on Meryl… but I don’t think it was a mistake to do it, Meryl.”

Junpei’s expression instantly turned sharp.

“Hey! Kondo-sensei was almost killed, you know?!”

“That’s true, but if the enemy is a large organization, holding multiple rings, and those rings are mithril or platinum, which Meryl’s gold ring can’t detect, then I had no choice but to act. And besides, there were results.”

“Results?”

“On that day, there was a ring reaction coming from that park, Meryl.”

Junpei’s back straightened instantly.

“That means…”

“Right. When the teacher at your school was attacked, the ring holder was there. Meryl told you I was watching that park, right? It was probably a ring of the same rank, gold, so the reaction was faint and I couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, but they were definitely there.”

“So that means…”

“The ring holder really isn’t unrelated to the series of incidents after all. There’s a high probability they were involved in the plan ten years ago, they’re secretly holding onto a ring, and they’re the kind of villain who can hurt people without hesitation!”

“Hmm…” 

Junpei groaned. You couldn’t jump to conclusions based on the situation alone, but the very fact that someone possessed a ring that could enslave people was already suspicious. If they were innocent, they could’ve just complied with Meryl’s demand and left the ring there.

“But the park was sealed off by the police, right?”

“Yeah. The Magic Mobile Unit had taken position in the park, and the police officers along with people from your school were surrounding it. There’s also the possibility that some onlookers slipped past the police lines and entered the park, but… the suspicious ones are the people from your school. Because in the first place, the ring reaction came from the magic academy.”

“Wha—?!”

The suspicion suddenly falling onto his own group made Junpei recoil. He was a dropout and didn’t get along well with those around him, and Kaede was about the only one who had been kind to him, but even so, he still had a sense of camaraderie with the others who attended the same school. That sense of camaraderie began resisting Meryl’s speculation.

“No, that can’t be right. They’re all students, you know? Kondo-sensei, who leads them, is a victim, and Okumura-sensei isn’t even a magician. The people involved from ten years ago were put into comas by magic, right? Besides, the fact that you’re being treated as the culprit means the police judged everyone who was there as innocent, doesn’t it? They’d at least do that much.”

“Yeah, that’s true. That’s why Meryl’s in a bind, so I’m going back to basics and planning to search for the ring holder somewhere inside the magic academy. I’ll identify the ring holder, and from there figure out whether the enemy is an individual or has allies, and uncover the whole picture, Meryl.”

At that moment, like a shooting star flickering, realization struck Junpei.

“Hey… could it be that the favor you want from me is that?”

“You catch on quick. That’s right. Junpei is a student at the magic academy, after all. So Meryl will entrust you with the ring I have, and I want you to identify the ring holder in my place.”

“Guh…”

Junpei instinctively covered his face with one hand. This was something he had to cooperate with. The identity and motives of the enemy were unknown, but there was someone who possessed a slave magic ring, someone who caused the string of coma incidents, and someone who attacked Kondo-sensei. Whether these three shadows belonged to the same person or not, they were far too dangerous to ignore. They had to be found and made to answer for their crimes. The only problem was—slightly pale, Junpei looked at Meryl.

“If the enemy finds out I’m cooperating with you, what do you think will happen?”

“At the very least, you’ll be sent to the hospital. At worst… they’ll kill you.”

Being told so bluntly, Junpei nearly collapsed.

Seeing that, Meryl let out a soft kukusu laugh and continued.

“For now, that’s the first thing I want to ask of Junpei.”

“The first?”

“Yeah, there are two things I want from you, Junpei. The second is about your magic. Meryl really wants you to be able to properly use your own magic.”

“My… magic?”

The topic suddenly seemed to jump somewhere else, and Junpei frowned, but it was something he had absolutely intended to ask Meryl about when they met.

Taking a deep breath, Junpei steeled himself and asked her directly.

“You called me an ero magician. Why do you think that?”

“Yeah, so, you know, when you become a great magician like Meryl, just by seeing someone use magic, you can tell what kind of lineage they belong to.”

“Lineage…?”

“You know that magic is hereditary, right? That means the nature of one’s mana and the tendencies of the magic they’re good at are also, to some extent, determined by bloodline. If you look at it from a broader perspective, you can start to see magical lineages on the level of entire peoples. Like nations that excel in fire magic or tribes that are skilled in healing magic.”

“I know that much. I am a student at a magic academy, after all…”

However, Junpei had no aptitude for the types of magic commonly associated with Japanese people or for any of the major magical lineages in the world. Even after ten years, he still didn’t know the nature of the magic he had been born with as a mutation from his non-magician parents.

In that situation, the one and only person who had declared him to be an ero magician, Meryl, said.

“So, from what Meryl can see, you’re not a magician belonging to an Eastern lineage. In fact, you don’t belong to any magical lineage at all, Meryl. That’s strange, right? So let me ask… what kind of magicians are your parents?”

Being questioned so sharply, as if cut open, Junpei felt all the blood in his body surge backward at once.

“My parents aren’t magicians!”

He hadn’t meant to, but his voice came out loud. Even though he usually acted like he was fine, he really wasn’t. His eyes betrayed his heart as tears spilled out.

“I’m…I’m a mutation! My parents aren’t magicians! There isn’t a single magician in my family! And yet, for some reason, I’m a magician, with no aptitude for any of the magic Japanese people are good at. Even after ten years, I still don’t understand my own magic… I’m a failure…”

After saying that, Junpei hurriedly wiped his eyes. He was embarrassed for others to see him cry.

Looking up at him, Meryl smiled brightly.

“Ah, good. Just as I thought, you’re a reincarnated vessel.”

“Huh?”

Junpei’s eyes widened. He couldn’t understand what Meryl was suddenly talking about. But if he were to put it into an analogy, there had been a door that no one could open no matter what they did. Everyone had given up on that door, thrown in the towel, and walked away. But Junpei alone couldn’t run away from it. Because it was his door. And while he stood there, at a loss before that unopenable door, complaining and lamenting, Meryl suddenly came up from behind and effortlessly opened it.

That was what was happening now.

“A reincarnated… vessel?”

In front of Junpei, who repeated the words in a daze, Meryl nodded and began to explain.

“You’ve heard of reincarnation or being reborn, right? Using a special kind of magic called the secret art of reincarnation, it’s possible to do that deliberately.”

“The secret art… of reincarnation?”

“Exactly. In preparation for one’s death, you set things up so that your magic, memories, and even personality can be carried over into your next life. It’s a kind of magic that tries to obtain a pseudo-eternity.”

“What are you talking about? I don’t have any memories of a past life.”

“Yeah. That’s because this magic is extremely difficult. Even if the magic succeeds, it’s said to be impossible to be reborn with everything completely intact. But apparently, it’s possible to inherit fragments of memories or magical talent. This is the first time Meryl has seen a real example too. Huh… so this is what it looks like.”

Meryl suddenly looked like she had discovered a rare animal, shifting her position and observing Junpei from various angles. Watching her, Junpei said.

“Hey, I’ve never even heard of a magic like that.”

“That’s only natural. Because even back then it was considered legendary magic, it’s difficult, the success rate is low, and even though it’s a forbidden spell, there are other magics, like the one Meryl uses, that can extend lifespan while keeping youth… so it’s already a phantom magic that’s long been lost among ordinary magicians.”

“And yet you know about it…”

“A special ultra great magician born in the fourteenth century, now six hundred sixty-six years old this year!”

Meryl puffed her chest proudly, spread both arms, and laughed in a Y-shaped pose. Junpei no longer even had the energy to yell at her to stop lying.

“So you really are… a super old hag…”

“I’m not a hag!”

Meryl snapped back angrily, and since she actually seemed upset, it amused Junpei, and he ended up laughing. Then, he suddenly returned to a serious expression.

“If what you’re saying is true, then I can use magic because I’m the reincarnation of a magician? Not because of bloodline, but because I inherited magic through my soul from my past life?”

“Yeah, that’s right. But just as expected, the secret art of reincarnation is incomplete. The transfer of memories failed, and the magic is also incomplete. Still, magic, mind, and soul are inseparable, so if there’s some kind of trigger, it should awaken. But right now, Junpei can’t use magic properly, right?”

“That’s right, I can’t use it. But that’s because I don’t know the true nature of my magic, so I can’t properly form an image of it. But Meryl, you said I’m a reincarnated vessel and an ero magician. What does that mean? Why does being a reincarnated vessel make me an ero magician? And more importantly, does this have anything to do with the ring situation at all?”

“There is. Ten years ago, there were those ten girls who became test subjects, right?”

“Yeah.”

“They were all cute.”

“Uh-huh…”

“By the way, why do you think they were all girls?”

“…Huh?”

The conversation was drifting in a strange direction, and Junpei tilted his head, but Meryl continued seriously.

“The children gathered by Master Trixie as the first test subjects were all outliers even among magicians, children with extraordinary, abnormal power. And every single one of them was a girl. Why? If the goal was simply to enslave powerful magicians, wouldn’t it be fine to include boys too? So why only girls?”

“I mean, even if you ask me that…”

The only things that came to Junpei’s mind were useless, crude thoughts. But with Meryl pressing him for an answer with her gaze, he reluctantly spoke.

“…If they enslaved girls, then maybe… they wanted to do something perverted?”

“Hmm, not exactly right, but not entirely wrong either.”

“…No, but Trixie sounds like a nickname for Beatrix, right? That would make them a woman. A lesbian? Even if that were the case, they wouldn’t go through all that trouble just for something like that.”

“That’s true. So, to give you the answer, Trixie didn’t just restore the original domination magic as it was. They made a slight modification to it.”

“A modification…?”

“You see, Trixie added a property where the slave mark is inherited. They created a system where any children born, and even their descendants after that, would be born with the slave mark already engraved.”

It took time for the meaning to fully sink in. The gears of his thoughts turned slowly, and only after finally understanding it did Junpei let out a long breath and lace his hands behind his head.

“…That’s insane. Trixie really came up with something unbelievable. There can’t be many people in human history who’ve thought of something that evil.”

“Yeah. It seems the plan was that if the experiment succeeded, they would go around engraving slave marks on women all over the world, and after that, just wait a few generations and world domination would be complete automatically. Dangerous, dangerous.”

Junpei and Meryl looked at each other and both let out a sigh. He didn’t want to hear what came next, but he had to.

“And then?”

“Yeah, so… since there’s no way to remove the mark, it would be a problem if they had children. So Meryl made it so that they wouldn’t be able to have children in the future.”

“How?”

“With magic. A magic that preserves chastity. While a man is touching those girls, that thing becomes unusable. It doesn’t work. It won’t stand, Meryl. On top of that, it physically blocks the intrusion of any foreign object. Otherwise, artificial insemination would make it meaningless.”

“Ahh, I don’t want to hear this, I don’t want to hear this! I don’t want to hear something that vivid!”

As if rejecting it, Junpei shook his head vigorously, and Meryl fell silent.

—How did we go from ero magic to slave magic again?

Ah, but a magic that preserves chastity… that kind of sounds like ero magic?

Thinking that, Junpei averted his gaze, then composed himself and spoke.

“But still… it’s surprising that such a convenient magic even exists.”

“It was originally a magic to prevent cheating. A spell born from pure possessiveness, like『you can’t do lewd things with anyone but me』, that I adapted. So as the one exception, this magic doesn’t apply to the original user of the spell. And by the way, that original user… isn’t Meryl.”

“Huh? But wasn’t that a magic you used?”

“That’s true, but also not true, Meryl. This magic was something only a certain magician who died a thousand years ago could use. Meryl just activated it using a slightly irregular method. So it’s basically borrowed magic. That’s why, actually, even Meryl doesn’t know how to undo it.”

“Wait, then that means…”

In order to prevent children from being born with slave marks, and ultimately to protect humanity, those ten girls had been made to bear the sacrifice. It might have been the right thing to do, but it was still hard to accept.

Then Meryl pointed her index finger at Junpei and said.

“But the original user of that magic might know how to undo it, Meryl.”

“…Wait. That original user died a thousand years ago, right?”

“Yeah, they’re dead. Their name is Xenon. Xenon Eelsover. A great magician from England a thousand years ago. He couldn’t use typical magic like earth, water, fire, or wind. He only had aptitude for a single type of magic. The magic that preserves chastity is just one part of that.”

Hearing that, Junpei was struck by a certain realization.

“Hey… could it be that magic is…”

“Yeah, it’s ero magic.”

The moment he heard that, Junpei felt like his breath and heart both stopped.

—A thousand years ago, there was an ero magician who died and I can use magic because I’m a reincarnated vessel… wait, hold on. A thousand years ago… England?

“Hey, Meryl. The magician who used domination magic… slave magic… weren’t they also from England a thousand years ago?”

When Junpei asked in a trembling voice, Meryl gave a satisfied grin, like saying well done. Seeing that smile, Junpei felt a sudden urgency and pressed on.

“Hey, tell me more about this ero magic!”

“Yeah, sure. So, ero magic is a kind of magic that can do anything from trivial effects like peeking under a girl’s clothes or forcibly stripping them naked, to more extreme things like charming someone into falling in love with you, heightening all of a person’s senses, stopping a girl’s growth so she remains as she is, or freely changing the size of her breasts… it’s a terrifying magic that can manipulate both the human body and mind however it wants. By the way, in theory, it can also be used on men, you know? But since magic relies on imagination and passion, unless the caster is homosexual, ero magic used on men will fail completely. Though there are a few exceptions, like records saying Xenon used a gender-conversion spell to forcibly turn a man who opposed him into a woman or used castration magic to render someone sexually incapable. Pretty horrifying, Meryl.”

“S-someone like that… existed in England back then?”

“Yeah. And Xenon grew arrogant with that power, and eventually became an evil magician known as the Demon King, crossing a line he should never have crossed, Meryl. Ero magic is a magic that controls the human body and mind regardless of gender… and with that power, he created a magic to enslave people. That magic consists of rings and engravings…”

Junpei felt like he had sobered up all at once.

“Hey… that means…”

“Yeah. The domination magic that Master Trixie revived was one of Xenon’s ero magics. And the magic Meryl used to preserve chastity is also an ero magic that forbids cheating. Both were originally spells that only Xenon could use, but Trixie obtained a Demon King relic and Meryl stole that relic from Trixie and used it as the cost to activate them.”

“A Demon King relic?”

“It’s the remains of Demon King Xenon. By consuming it as a cost, it allowed others like Meryl to use ero magic that normally only Xenon could use. But those relics were completely used up after Meryl cast the chastity-preserving magic.”

After taking a breath, Meryl continued, gesturing as she spoke.

“Xenon was originally an ordinary young man who had a lover, Meryl. But after awakening to ero magic, he became intoxicated by its power, created slave magic, and started doing whatever he wanted… The one who couldn’t stand it anymore and rose up against him was his true lover, Arciela.”

“Arciela? That sounds familiar…”

Then, as if reciting from a textbook, Meryl said.

【I am a descendant of the Hero Arciela, one who has, over a long span of time, accepted the blood of many outstanding magicians… a bearer of blue blood…】

At that, Junpei sharply drew in a breath.

“Sonia’s… ancestor?!”

“That’s right, Meryl! She sounded a bit full of herself, but with that one line, Meryl got it perfectly. That girl is a descendant of Arciela, the one who defeated Demon King Xenon and came to be called a hero in later generations. And you see, even though Arciela tearfully defeated Xenon, she still loved him, so as he lay dying, she cast a certain magic on the Demon King.”

“What kind of magic?”

When Junpei asked, Meryl narrowed her eyes as if she had been waiting for that question, and said in a chilling voice:

“—Reincarnation magic.【Let’s meet again in the next life.】”

“…Ah.”

Junpei froze.

Reincarnation magic. Demon King Xenon. Ero magic. The magic that preserves chastity. Domination magic. Domination magic consists of rings and engravings. Master Trixie, who revived it. The ten test subjects. The marks that never disappear. The marks that are inherited. The ring said to be somewhere in the magic academy. Meryl, who came chasing it. The unknown ring holder. The string of coma incidents. And himself, a mutation.

All those scattered pieces suddenly connected at once, and Junpei was struck with shock.

Pointing at him, Meryl laughed.

“It’s completely coincidental, but Meryl found it. Junpei, the wavelength of the magic you used back then is the same as the wavelength of domination magic. And you were born as a mutation, not from a magician’s bloodline. That only leaves one answer. Junpei, you are the reincarnation of Demon King Xenon!”

“Don’t screw with me!”

Shouted at like that, Meryl seemed momentarily stunned. Junpei glared at her with burning eyes and spoke as if biting the words out.

“So what, then? My past life was Xenon, and since he was an ero magic specialist, you’re saying that I, as his reincarnation, can only use ero magic too?!”

“Yeah, that’s how it works.”

“What about wind or lightning?”

“Can’t use them.”

“Gwaaahhh!”

At that merciless declaration, Junpei cried out, clawing at his chest. Meryl, on the other hand, looked surprised and spoke to him with concern.

“W-what’s wrong?”

Junpei glared at her, like cornered prey.

“Listen, I… I wanted to be a cool magician! The kind who can freely fly through the sky and control flames and lightning! And what is this, ero magic?! You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“Ah…”

It seemed Meryl had finally understood how he felt. But she showed no sign of comforting him at all. Instead, she gave a light laugh and tried to calm him down.

“Now, now, calm down. Master Trixie said there was no way to remove the slave marks, but she wasn’t the original user of ero magic. She just unearthed knowledge from a thousand years ago. But if you awaken to your past life’s memories and power, you might be able to remove those girls’ slave marks, Meryl! Don’t you think that’s something wonderful?”

“Don’t just say whatever you want!”

At that moment, the way Junpei looked at Meryl was the way one looks at an enemy. Meryl, who had opened the door that wouldn’t open, had also forced him to face a reality he didn’t want to see. He could never become the kind of magician he had dreamed of as a child. Worse, he was the reincarnation of a detestable Demon King… an ero magician, of all things!

“…I’m not going to believe a story like that!”

“Eeeeh?!”

Glaring at Meryl as she brought the back of her hand to her chin, Junpei sharpened his voice and said.

“That’s right, you’re a liar. You have to be lying.”

“That’s mean, Junpei! Why won’t you believe me?”

“Because I don’t want to be some ero magician! It’s lame!”

“Just accept it, reality. What happened when you used magic until now? You couldn’t control it properly, right? But didn’t lewd things accidentally happen?”

“That’s…”

The other day, during practice, he splashed water on the girl he was paired with, and her bra showed through. That made her boyfriend angry and it turned into a fight. After that, during the fight with Meryl and Sonia, a banana peel suddenly appeared at Sonia’s feet, causing her to slip and fall, exposing her underwear. When Kaede told him to try using magic, her blouse tore. And when he got into a dispute with Sonia, a gust of wind arose, but that wind flipped up her skirt and led to a duel.

“I… I don’t want to believe it, but that’s true. Whenever I use magic, for some reason, only perverted things happen. Now that you mention it, it’s always been like that. And thinking about it… it was always girls who got caught up in my magic going out of control…”

“See, see?”

“But then, that wind too… you’re saying it wasn’t that the wind blew and the skirt flipped up, but that the wind happened in order to flip the skirt? So I don’t have any chance of being a wind user—?”

Looking at him with pleading eyes, Meryl gave him a dazzling smile.

“Yeah, I’m not totally sure, but it must be that. You’re an ero magician!”

Hearing Meryl declare it so cheerfully, Junpei glared at her as if she were his sworn enemy.

“…I won’t believe it!”

Even as Junpei stubbornly insisted, Meryl finally looked exasperated.

“Juunpeee…”

“Shut up, shut up, shut up! What Demon King?! What reincarnation?! What ero magic?! I’m not any of that!”

At that point, Junpei had completely broken with Meryl. Perhaps realizing that, Meryl looked a little dejected as she reached for the ring on the middle finger of her right hand and said.

“Okay, I understand. Then at least about the ring…”

“Shut up!”

“…Got it. Seems like anything I say right now would be useless, so Meryl will leave for now.”

With that, Meryl raised her right arm straight upward and pointed her finger toward the sky.

A ring of light appeared at her fingertip, and just like before, as she passed through it, her outfit changed from a red-and-white shrine maiden outfit into a jet-black ninja outfit. What would normally be used as a head covering was wrapped around her neck like a scarf, and when she lifted it to cover her mouth, she looked exactly like a kunoichi.

“Outfit change complete, barrier magic is finished!”

As Meryl clasped her hands in front of her chest, it felt as though the atmosphere around them subtly shifted. Come to think of it, Meryl was the type of magician whose usable magic changed depending on her outfit, and she had been maintaining a people-repelling barrier with her shrine maiden attire. The fact that she ended it meant that this long, complicated conversation had finally come to an end.

“Meryl, you…”

“Bye for today. But before that, let me ask just one thing. If everything Meryl said is true, will Junpei help Meryl?”

“…Yeah.”

The Rings of Domination had to be destroyed and if someone was causing dangerous incidents related to them, then their identity and connections had to be uncovered and stopped. If those ten test subjects still bore slave marks that could never disappear, then he wanted to remove them. That’s what he thought.

“…Recently, someone told me something. That if I live in a way that helps others, that makes people happy… then maybe I’ll be able to like myself.”

“Hearing that makes Meryl relieved. Then I’ll come back when Junpei has sorted out his feelings.”

“Come back…?”

“Today’s story is a secret just between Junpei and Meryl, okay? Well then, bye-bye, Meryl!”

In the next instant, Meryl leapt whoosh into the air. It was an astonishing jump that no human should be capable of, and she cleared the wall behind the stage and vanished. In the blink of an eye, Meryl was gone.

Left alone on the stage, Junpei stood there in a daze for a while, breathing in the morning air. But as the rising sun climbed higher and its light warmed his face, he suddenly remembered.

“…Right. I’ve got a duel with Sonia today.”

He would probably just get beaten one-sidedly. The reason for the duel was nothing more than a pretext, Sonia likely intended to vent her anger over having her skirt flipped up by Junpei’s magic.

—My one and only magic… and it’s ero magic? Don’t joke around. But… if I can use ero magic, could I at least make Sonia eat her words?

Should he test whether Meryl’s words were true through his duel with Sonia?