Chapter 8

08 . Magic power measurement

The practical exam is complete . Arnos Voldigod has passed . Please move on to the mirror room . The owls voice calls down from the sky .

After confirming that the barrier has gone I retrace my steps to the entrance where I came in .

Aaaaaah . waiiiiiiit . . it hurtsit hurts . . it hurts . kill . kill

Oops . I forgot about you .

I turn around and return to zombie Zepes . Hes pretty pitiable .

I use resurrection <Ingaru> to undo his zombie state and bring Liorg back as well .

Good grief . You actually killed each other . You became a zombie and lost all reason . Youre a troublesome pair .

Liorg and Zepes watch me like they want to say something but nothing comes out . I guess they dont have a valid argument .

See you . Come again when you get stronger . Ill play with you anytime .

With that, I walk out of the arena .

. . Never againmonster .

A voice reached my ears from behind .

As the owl instructed I move to the mirror room .

Its a room with a great number of full-length large mirrors installed in it .

Theres already a number of mazoku in there . About a 100 Id say . Presumably, all people who have passed the practical exam .

Aah, theres a familiar face .

Yo Misha .

The girl turns around with her long platinum blonde hair shaking gently .

Although you said you were not good at fighting you seem to have broken through the practical test .

. . By chance

So Misha says but it would be impossible to beat 5 people by chance . Unexpectedly, she might be more powerful than Zepes and Liorg .

By the way, whats happening now?

Ive got the vague feeling that this was explained but I wasnt interested so I didnt listen .

If you pass the practical exam you are admitted . All thats left is magic power measurement and an aptitude test .

Then all these people are our classmates?

I look around but everyones state is odd . Nobody will make eye contact with me .

The moment I meet their eyes they look away as if frightened .

Whats this? Why is everyone so shy?

. I dont think thats it .

But nobody will look at me .

They are frightened by your magic Arnos .

What do you mean?

Decaying Death <Iglum>

I see .

If you know that were you in the audience seats Misha?

With her usual expressionless look, Misha shook her head from side to side .

Successful applicants can watch the exams of other applicants .

Misha points to a large mirror in front of us .

Aah, I see . Got it .

All the mirrors in this room project images from all around Deruzogedo so Misha watched my match from here .

I dont get it . Why are they frightened of <Iglum>? Its not much of a spell really .

Misha stares at me expressionlessly .

. . Is it bad?

*Kokuri* Misha nods .

How bad is it?

Misha thinks about it without changing her expression .

. . Something a brutal demon would use . .

Haha . No . Its ultimately a good magic to restore a body .

I let out a refreshing voice .

Misha thinks carefully and lets out a small voice .

. I take it back .

Thats right . You get it .

Its not the magic at fault . Arnos is a brutal demon .

Surely you jest .

I need to correct this to avoid being labelled as a brutal demon . Some lies will be unavoidable .

Ive only just reincarnated so I dont understand the values of this age .

. . Got it .

I heave a sigh of relief that Misha has accepted it .

Arent you frightened Misha?

It wasnt scary .

Thats a very very unexpected line .

Despite her appearance, shes obviously very courageous .

Normal .

Its hard to imagine what exactly could scare Misha . Though she seems absentminded shes not timid .

An owl flew in while I was thinking this .

We will now be performing the magic power measurement . Please line up before the magic crystals . After you are done please move to the next room for the aptitude test .

Magic crystal? Ive never heard of this magic tool .

In the age of myths, there was no way to measure magic power . It seems like not everything has degraded . Some things have moved forward .

And? Where is this magic crystal?

Here .

Misha starts to walk off so I follow her .

The other examinees seem to know the place as well . Several lines begin to form .

Apparently, there are several of these magic crystals .

I try to see whats going on .

The magic crystal is a huge purple crystal paired up with a large mirror .

When you touch the crystal it reads your magic and displays the number on the mirror .

[126]

[218]

[98]

[145]

The owl sits in front of the mirror and reads out the numbers .

To be able to turn into numbers something that I could only tell through my senses before . This is truly a convenient age .

It only takes several seconds to get a reading . Soon enough it was Mishas turn .

Do your best .

. . Same result . .

Doesnt magic power increases or decrease through effort?

Well, good luck anyway .

The everpresent deadpan expression looks at me .

. . Nn .

Touching the crystal her power is displayed after several seconds .

[100246]

Instinctively I was impressed . It was only 3 digit figures until now but Misha is in the hundred thousands . Shes got even more talent for magic than I thought .

Thats great Misha .

After praising her a little she became a bit shy and looked down .

. . Arnos . . more amazing . . ?

Aah .

I touched the magic crystal . This is my first experience of having my magic power measured . I wonder what it will be?

Perhaps it will exceed a hundred million? If thats the case then the people of this age have severely dulled .

With this, they should understand that I am the founder .

[0]

As the owl speaks a noise rings out and the crystal breaks into pieces .

The measurements have finished . Please proceed to the aptitude tests .

Hmm . The crystal broke but they dont seem to care .

I know Im the one saying it but I think 0 is impossible

That would mean that I would be unable to use magic at all . That should be easy to understand but the owl said .

The measurements have finished . Please proceed to the aptitude test .

*tsk* This useless familiar .

The familiar is just obeying orders .

Misha says to me .

Well, I guess so .

Misha stares at my face .

Whats wrong?

. First time Ive seen it . .

What?

Where the magic power is so strong the crystal broke .

Oh, I see .

I use my demon eyes on the broken crystal fragments . After analysing its structure it seems that it enlarges in response to the power of the person touching it . The volume that it has enlarged by is then measured and converted into a numerical value .

I exceeded its limit causing an intense magic reaction which led to it shattering . Though it is a convenient thing its not possible to use it to measure my power .

Its not 0 . The decision should have been immeasurable .

Impossible .

Why?

The magic crystal does not break .

It broke .

Misha responded in an indifferent tone of voice .

Arnos is out of the norm .

Why do you know this Misha?

Im proud of my demon eyes . It is impossible for other people to do it .

My magic power was too strong causing the crystal to break but other people wont understand this .

Also, all decisions have been left to these familiars, but they can only act as instructed . Theres no way the familiar would know what to do when it broke .

At best and if I was lucky it might have prepared a new one .

The fact that it broke and that an impossible reading of 0 was given was irrelevant .

Some people will understand what it means but even so its still supposed to be almost impossible .

Yare yare . Theres supposed to be talented people running this academy .

If Im being fair, I suppose they would never have guessed that someone with enough power to break the crystal would turn up for the entrance exam .

On the other hand the story of the founder demon king reincarnating has been passed down . Also, Misha said it was the first time shed seen it . My breaking it may actually count for something .

Another thing Ive found out is that the demon eyes of the current mazoku are also weak .

If they had even a bit of talent anyone looking at the crystal using their demon eyes could have seen what happened .

Has the thought not occurred to anyone that the demon king Arnos would be outside of the standards of magic power?

Im going to be looked down on here .

Im probably being a bit childish getting obsessed over these numbers .

My magic power has not decreased at all .

Oh well . Its fine because Misha knows .

Really?

Yeah . Thank you .

After thinking in her usual deadpan expression Misha says .

Youre welcome .