"End three-fourths of the world's population…," Sukuna frowned.
He remembered Great Demon Tot appearing in the manga for only a single page in a chapter, saying she would cover the whole world with her curse magic.
"Hmm, it says 'Great Mage' Fern will kill her… and 'Warrior' Stark will die in the process…"
Great Mage and Warrior were not ordinary titles.
53 years after Hero Himmel's death meant both of them should be in their forties…
As a follower of the anime and manga, Sukuna couldn't help but think,
"I wonder if they got laid…"
Hopefully, Stark's game wasn't as bad as Himmel's.
Still, that wasn't the main issue.
Sukuna engraved the entire content of the letter into his memory before burning it away.
"These Great Demons are really problematic. Leave one alone, and she ends up causing such a big problem."
He held his chin and muttered to himself,
"Unfortunately… I have no idea about her whereabouts… and Schlacht only mentioned the date and time of the destructive incident, which is 53 years after Himmel's death…"
Finding a Great Demon like Tot, who was deliberately hiding herself, would be a monumentally difficult task.
But that didn't mean he was going to let such an unstable factor go.
Sukuna called the guards and told them to fetch Demon Solitar and Qual.
"I am here, Sukuna," Solitar greeted him with her usual smile.
"You called for me?" Qual asked, holding a magic book in his hand.
"Yes. Tell me everything both of you know about Great Demon Tot—what's her magic? Where does she usually reside? Everything you know."
"Great Demon Tot?…" Solitar blinked and thought for a moment before shaking her head.
"I have only met her a few times. I do not know much about her."
"What about you, Qual?" Sukuna turned to the Elder Sage.
Qual started stroking his long beard and said,
"I do have some understanding of her magic…"
"She specializes in curse magic, similar to Macht. Of course, she is obviously a lot weaker than him in combat…"
"Do you know where she lives? Or is there a way to contact her?" Sukuna asked.
"I do not know. Only Schlacht had ways of contacting other Great Demons using his future sight."
Well, that explained why Great Demons didn't simply leave the Demon King's army, considering that every demon is a solitary creature.
It was because Schlacht would simply fetch them no matter where they went or how well they hid.
The information provided by Solitar and Qual wasn't of much help.
So Sukuna took a piece of paper and started drawing a sketch based on his memory, using painting skills he hadn't used since the Heian era.
Demon Solitar and Qual added some details, allowing him to create an almost perfect sketch of Great Demon Tot.
Sukuna called Erde and handed her the drawing.
"Mage Erde, take this painting and issue a wanted order of the highest degree. Her name is Tot, a Great Demon specializing in curse magic."
"A wanted order of the highest degree?" Erde's eyes widened as she stared at the demon in the painting with confusion.
This was the first time she had heard her lord speak in such a solemn tone.
"Share the news with every adventurer who visits our city. Inform the human capitals as well. Even those who can tell us her location will receive a high reward…" Sukuna said calmly.
Great Demon Tot.
Since you like to hide, let's see how long you can hide from the eyes of the whole world.
Still, a Great Demon should never be underestimated.
"We need to create a device to track Demon Tot's location. Any ideas?" Sukuna asked Qual, Solitar, and Erde.
The three of them were the top magic masters in his city.
"A way to track Tot's location? Hm…" Demon Qual fell into thought.
Solitar also started thinking.
Erde furrowed her brows.
How to locate a single demon in the entire wide world?
It was a monumental task.
Sukuna waited for some time. Then, after seeing that none of them could come up with a solution, he stated his own thoughts.
"For now, I can think of two ways of dealing with the issue…"
The three of them looked at him.
"First is to improve the effects of this magic spell used to catch rats, which I found in the dungeon."
The rat-catching magic spell was one of the first he acquired after coming to this world.
Perhaps they could take its base principles and apply them in a different sense…
Such as being able to sense the location of those with higher magic signatures, like a Great Demon.
Unfortunately, the range of this method was the problem. Even if they made the spell work, the range would always be limited by the magic of the user.
Sukuna himself could, at most, cover an area slightly larger than Dawn City, which was honestly nothing compared to the vast size of the world.
Which was why he didn't hold much hope for this approach.
As for the second method…
Well, it was even more far-fetched.
"Secondly, we can try launching a satellite…"
Sukuna said while turning his eyes toward the sky.
Just based on this world's current level of technological development, making and launching something like a satellite would take decades at the very least.
But.
This was not Earth.
Here, there was a supernatural force called magic.
Magic was something that could completely replace the need for fuels.
Vehicle fuel, electricity, communication, video devices… all of these tasks could currently be accomplished with magic.
And magic was everywhere—an inexhaustible resource.
Meaning, they could create a magic satellite and have it fly around this planet, capturing images and the magic signatures of strong beings.
Demon Qual, Solitar, and Erde heard Sukuna's idea and fell silent.
It was really an approach they had never thought of…
Launching an artifact into the sky and watching the entire world with its help…
It was truly an eye-opening approach.
"I like this idea…," Solitar's eyes glowed with an eerie light as her mind already started thinking about ways of making a magic satellite.
"I would like to work on it."
Listening to her eager tone, Sukuna paused, then asked Demon Qual,
"What about you?"
"My work on the battleship is almost complete. I prefer to finish it first before beginning new research."
"Alright, you continue with that task. All magic professors will act as your assistants to complete it as soon as possible…"
The battleship was finally at its completion stage.
It would have been completed a few months faster if Sukuna, Qual, and Solitar hadn't kept coming up with better ideas one after another.
They would add a part to the ship, then suddenly have an enlightenment a week later, leading to recreating the entire section of the construct.
Their magic genius was working against them, leading to several delays in the work's completion.
Finally, after getting several complaints from the magic professors, the three of them decided to no longer improve the existing one. Instead, they could make another in the future with better specifications if they wanted.
Sukuna turned to Solitar and said,
"Start the research on the magic satellite. I'll help you out."
With his help, and the ideas from the modern era, the project would be completed faster.
"And Erde, go and issue the warrant."
After assigning everyone their tasks, Sukuna quietly watched them all leave.
Walking up to the window, he looked at the prospering city outside, full of vigor.
Letting out a sigh of satisfaction, he smiled lightly and was about to turn away when his gaze landed on a group of people wearing extremely obnoxious outfits and hairstyles.
Balloon jeans, electrified hair—even a walking shark… was that a cosplay?
The corners of Sukuna's mouth couldn't help but twitch.
After he introduced fashion to his city, a lot of weird trends had started popping up.
It seemed his city was being corrupted by a far bigger problem than some world-ending curse.
Terrible dressing sense.
Though… they were kind of fun to look at.
Shaking his head, Sukuna turned away and started doing his daily mana practice.
----
Exiting Lord Sukuna's room, Erde quickly drafted the contents for Great Demon Tot's warrant and stamped it with the city's seal.
Then she called the managers of the Merchant and Thieves' Guilds.
"Great Demon Tot?"
"Such a high reward!…"
The Thieves' Guild manager said in a sharp tone, while the Merchant Guild's manager exclaimed at the sky-high price.
300 Gold Strahl.
This bounty…
The Merchant Guild manager's hands started shaking.
But he quickly calmed himself and fell into thought.
'This must be a direct order from the Lord of Dawn.'
They had worked with Mage Erde, advisor to the Lord, for months and understood her very well.
There was no way she would issue such a wanted order without the Lord's command.
Suppressing their doubts, the two of them bid farewell to Mage Erde and left.
Afterward, Erde went to the Embassy of Strahl and the Royal Capital, where the foreign diplomats stayed.
"Advisor Erde, please have a seat."
The diplomats greeted her warmly, to which Erde nodded and clearly explained the orders of Lord Sukuna.
"A warrant for a Great Demon?"
The diplomats' eyes widened in surprise.
Why had the Lord of Dawn, Sukuna—a Demon Sage—suddenly issued a wanted order for a Great Demon?
Seeing their questioning looks, Erde shook her head.
"This is the Lord's order. Please inform the kingdoms as soon as possible."
"Understood."
"Do not worry, we will declare this Great Demon as one of the highest wanted enemies of the Kingdom…"
----
A week passed.
On a rocky mountain.
At a certain place, the magic suddenly converged at a single point.
An illusory figure formed, becoming more and more material.
It didn't take long.
In less than an hour, a woman with dark green skin and spider-like legs sprouting from her back was birthed by the mana of the world.
Her origin was all too obvious.
She was a demon.
A spider-like demon with four eyes, hard dark green skin akin to natural armor, and a set of sharp, monster-like teeth.
As the memories of her demon lineage filled her mind, the Spider Demon opened her red, gem-like eyes and stared at the person standing before her.
She silently stared at the horns on his head, then instinctively tried sensing his mana.
But she felt nothing.
She felt no mana from him.
Just as she had labeled him 'weak' in her mind, his figure suddenly blurred.
And in the next moment—
A hand grabbed her neck and casually lifted her off the ground.
Seeing the confused look on her face, Sukuna greeted her with a friendly smile,
"Hello, new underling."