"The practical exam is complete. Arnos Voldigod has passed. Please move on to the mirror room." The owl's 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 hurts...it hurts…..it hurts....kill….kill..."
"Oops. I forgot about you."
I turn around and return to zombie Zepes. He's pretty pitiable.
I use resurrection
"Good grief. You actually killed each other. You became a zombie and lost all reason. You're a troublesome pair."
Liorg and Zepes watch me like they want to say something but nothing comes out. I guess they don't have a valid argument.
"See you. Come again when you get stronger. I'll play with you anytime."
With that, I walk out of the arena.
"…..Never again...…monster...."
A voice reached my ears from behind.
As the owl instructed I move to the mirror room.
It's a room with a great number of full-length large mirrors installed in it.
There's already a number of mazoku in there. About a 100 I'd say. Presumably, all people who have passed the practical exam.
Aah, there's 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, what's happening now?"
I've got the vague feeling that this was explained but I wasn't interested so I didn't listen.
"If you pass the practical exam you are admitted. All that's left is magic power measurement and an aptitude test."
"Then all these people are our classmates?"
I look around but everyone's state is odd. Nobody will make eye contact with me.
The moment I meet their eyes they look away as if frightened.
"What's this? Why is everyone so shy?"
"....I don't think that's it...…."
"But nobody will look at me."
"They are frightened by your magic Arnos."
"What do you mean?"
"Decaying Death
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 don't get it. Why are they frightened of
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. It's 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...…."
"That's right. You get it."
"It's 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.
I've only just reincarnated so I don't understand the values of this age.
"…..Got it...."
I heave a sigh of relief that Misha has accepted it.
"Aren't you frightened Misha?"
"It wasn't scary."
That's a very very unexpected line.
Despite her appearance, she's obviously very courageous.
"Normal."
It's hard to imagine what exactly could scare Misha. Though she seems absentminded she's 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? I've 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 what's 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 Misha's turn.
"Do your best."
"...…..Same result....."
Doesn't 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. She's got even more talent for magic than I thought.
"That's 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 that's 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 don't seem to care.
"I know I'm 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.
"What's wrong?"
"....First time I've 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 it's not possible to use it to measure my power.
"It's 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?"
"I'm 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 won't understand this.
Also, all decisions have been left to these familiars, but they can only act as instructed. There's 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 it's still supposed to be almost impossible."
Yare yare. There's supposed to be talented people running this academy.
If I'm 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 she'd seen it. My breaking it may actually count for something.
Another thing I've 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?
I'm going to be looked down on here.
I'm probably being a bit childish getting obsessed over these numbers.
My magic power has not decreased at all.
"Oh well. It's fine because Misha knows."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Thank you."
After thinking in her usual deadpan expression Misha says.
"You're welcome."