Chapter 12
It was only natural that ogres couldn't speak the human language.
However, the Ancient Ogre Kingram was a special case.
Even amongst the myriad of ogre tribes, as the chieftain of the Sky Phoenix, the oldest ogre tribe, no one knew how, but Kingram could command the human language and perform ancient magics from the first times he showed himself on the continent.
Similarly to nowadays, monsters did appear, but they were much more commonly sighted back then.
Possessing a gifted bodily constitution paired with outstanding intelligence, the ogre Kingram's existence was quite a threat to humanity.
In the end, the Archmage Frolian Ignit personally went to suppress the ogre.
That's how Kingram got to stand here as an immortal entity through becoming an artifact.
This was his 500-year history.
And I,
"Hello."
[Hm…?]
The piece of living history that had witnessed the ages more than any other living being.
And I stood in front of this Kingram.
"Haha… I'm shaking a bit from nervousness. This is my first time seeing you. My name is 'Ruin Ardell'."
A huge statue that was at least two times bigger than the average ogre.
Towards that statue, I greeted it politely.
At that moment, the eyes of the statue flared open.
It meant Kingram was looking at me.
[You… I haven't seen your face before.]
I shrugged my shoulders as a response.
"I had some circumstances. It's a bit long, but would you like to hear it?"
[…I'll refuse.]
Not amused, Kingram activated his Target Magic with a neutral expression.
A door opened up in thin air and a huge money bag appeared.
This was the target that the students hit with their magic, and through this bag, Kingram absorbed the magic and fed himself.
It was a sign to shut up and quickly take the test.
"I understand. You want me to get it over with?"
As I looked directly at the indifferent Kingram, I clenched my fists
At the same time, as my Force Circle twitched a bit, 'Strength' began pouring into all the muscles in my body.
I opened my clenched fist.
My palm now held the most dangerous magic I could cast.
"That's 'Mana Burn Explosion!"
"Woah! Isn't that a 4th-class Master magic?"
Mana Burn Explosion.
It was a 4th-class Master magic that used a magician's 'key' as a catalyst to rapidly ignite the mana dispersed in the air in a fiery explosion.
The small key that was fired at the target acted as a sort of trigger to instantly kill them in an explosion.
I'd known how to cast this spell for quite a long time.
I just couldn't use it.
Well, I had recently found a way.
[…Hm?]
Kingram's eyes opened again when I crouched down and went into a charging stance.
[What's that posture?]
It was a gaze of interest.
Of course, I planned to satisfy that interest.
"I'll be starting."
As I finished talking, I recklessly rushed towards Kingram.
I moved the 'key' from my palm down to the tip of my foot, and just as I reached the target, I leapt and spun my hips 180 degrees.
With a fast spin of my body, I kicked with all my might against the target.
Pang!
The tip of my foot had directly hit the target.
It was the influence of the 'Body Arts' skill.
With the heavy sound of me hitting the target, the 'key' simultaneously exploded and started indiscriminately burning the mana around me.
Fwhoosh!
As the mana started burning, the spell acted as the catalyst to cause a huge explosion.
B-B-B-BOOM!
The funny thing was, because of
"Woah!"
"That's insane…"
The students couldn't hold in their excitement from seeing my performance.
The 'Mana Burn Explosion' would look like a new stage of magic to my peers.
As soon as one became a 5th-class magician, they had the option to become a court magician, or even just a powerful magician that any territory lord would give respect to.
And this 'Mana Burn Explosion' didn't use the collected and processed mana inside one's body, but used the mana dispersed in the air, a high-level magic that required one to be able to control the supply of mana for the spell.
As a 4th-class spell at the cusp of 5th-level, using this spell was like announcing my current level in magic.
"R-Ruin is a 4th-class master?"
"No! He's 5th-class!"
A thick smell of sulphur filled the testing rounds.
After I landed, I took a deep breath and looked up at the statue.
The bright eyes of 'Kingram' could barely be seen through the dense smoke.
'Maybe…'
I was curious what Kingram's assessment of my magic would be.
But then,
'Eh?'
Kingram's reaction was a bit odd.
His bright eyes blinked a few times, and then blinked a few more times.
Like he was taken aback.
This was the truth.
And then after blinking, Kingram asked in a shaky voice I had never heard before,
[You… Who are you?]
"Eh? Ah. I am called Ruin Ardell…"
[Are you Draka?]
"…Eh?"
What did he say?
I wasn't the only one who was surprised.
[I was waiting.]
* * *
"Draka? Who's that?"
"Dunno. Didn't he just get his name wrong?"
"Quiet!"
At the unexpected reaction of Kingram, the students started discussing amongst themselves while the instructors called for attention.
But I wasn't listening to any of that.
Because of that one phrase Kingram said, the name I was looking for so long, the name I searched for for the last two months as if I were insane.
'Destroyer of Worlds, Draka.'
The original owner of my power.
I didn't even think of the possibility of hearing that name from Kingram's mouth.
I cautiously asked him,
"Is he… someone you know?"
Kingram snorted at my question.
[Hm! Of course.]
"..."
As I looked at him with a dazed expression, Kingram laughed loudly at my expression.
[This is very interesting. Haha! For me to meet his incarnation! What did you say your name was?]
"Ruin… Ruin Ardell."
[Sure. It seems I'll have to talk with you later since there're too many ears here.]
The assessment had ended.
Kingram lifted his gaze away from me and shouted to the instructors who were helping with the procedures,
[This isn't magic I can judge.]
The instructors became flustered.
"Eh, what?"
The impact of his statement was immense.
* * *
* * *
Denial of evaluation.
The first time this happened.
A situation happened where Kingram, who would lay insults upon insults against the students, had refused to give a mark.
"S-sir Kingram. But all the assessment privileges are with you."
"That's right. By the rules, sir Kingram must give a fair assessment to each student in the academy. After the passing of the Archmage Frolian Ignit…"
Then, a roaring voice was heard unexpectedly.
[That's enough! Are you going to talk to me about the rules? To me, who hasn't been able to assess any real magicians for the last 500 years?]
"I… we apologize."
As the instructors lowered their heads, Kingram complained with an annoyed voice,
[Hmm… these damned Ignit fools. Sure… You're correct. The assessment needs to be finalised. Since I promised that guy.]
After thinking for a while, Kingram opened his mouth.
[If I had to give a mark… 0 points.]
"..."
[Or perhaps, 100 points.]
Kingram's burning red eyes flashed open.
Those eyes gazed directly at me.
[Which one do you desire, oh small destroyer.]
It was like the temptation of the devil.
But, even if this was the real devil, my answer was already set.
What a redundant question.
"100 points."
Obviously, I chose the second option.
At my reply, Kingram laughed, as if satisfied.
[Sure. I will grant you 100 points.]
* * *
"T-that's…"
"Did I hear that wrong? 100 points…"
"No… you heard it right. I heard it as well…"
"Maybe we all went insane. Is there Hallucination Magic?"
Because of Kingram's one phrase, the training grounds became filled with commotion.
All their eyes were locked on me with shock.
"100 points…"
The ability for Kingram to peer through the destiny of a magician was genuine.
Every magician that received 50 points or more from Kingram went on to become the greatest magicians.
However, there was no one who could get more than 70 points.
Because Kingram's standards were too high to begin with.
But, 100 points.
A student who had received full marks had never existed before, and would probably never appear again.
"Haaaa…"
I only gave a hollow laugh.
100 points?
I was like 'Would he really…?'
What was this?
Was this allowed?
My arms and legs were losing strength just from hearing it.
Kingram spoke to me again.
[That 'long story' you were talking about before. I am now intrigued. I'll have to hear it from you.]
"Ah… yes…"
[When the tests are done, come straight to the Basement.]
The Basement.
A sort of treasure safe that housed all the artifacts of the academy.
From what the rumours say, it had more artifacts than the royal treasury.
It was only natural that student access was forbidden.
"I'm not allowed there."
Kingram told me in a tone that said it wasn't a big deal,
[I'll tell that little Ignit kid.]
The little Ignit he talked about, was it Director Tiron?
To call the strongest magician in the kingdom 'kid'.
Ah, I guess to someone who had lived for a thousand years, everyone looked like a kid.
"Yes. I understand."
With that answer, my assessment had ended.
Kingram's 'eccentric behavior' had also ended.
[I don't know what you learned in the past 6 years. Seems you have enough time and money to waste.]
After my assessment, Kingram returned to insulting the students without hesitation.
[I won't even feel from eating this magic. Begone.]
[This won't do. It seems only trash has gathered here. Do you want to become a magician with that level of skill? I can only laugh at your arrogance.]
"..."
10 points, 3 points, 5 points, 1 point.
Only marks that were barely above 0 were given out.
At this, some of the students started looking at me with resentment.
"Ruin… you're too much…"
"..."
Instantly, I became the jerk who had raised the grade average significantly.
I only responded back with a shrug.
I'm sorry.
Even I didn't know that I would get 100 points.
* * *
"A… hundred points?"
The director of the academy.
Tirion Ignit had received an unexpected report.
The report had said a mark of 100 points that had never been given before had been given to a student, and that Kingram requested to have a one-on-one talk with that student.
And this student was,
"Ruin..."
It was Ruin Ardell.
Due to his surprise, he started stroking his white beard.
"Haha… to get 100 points… That lad is an odd one."
Ruin Ardell.
He had thought of him as a failed talent.
But during the last few days, he appeared with magic that completely flipped that notion on its head.
And now, he had used that magic to completely collapse the wall known as Kingram.
This was a situation that you couldn't not be surprised about.
'Hu hu."
Even if Tirion was confident now, about 50 years ago, when he was attending the academy as a student, how many points did he get from Kingram?
He had always remembered clearly.
Tiron Ignit, you say? So you have the blood of that Frolian Ignit that trapped me here. Sure, I'll recognise you. You are better than the other magician wannabes before you. But… compared to your ancestors, you're far too weak, little one.
A mark he received while being told he was too weak compared to his ancestors.
'He gave me 58 points. Khm…'
58 points.
Of course, be it now or back then, you couldn't deny it was a high score.
Tirion Ignit was currently one of the greatest magicians, and also the last pride of the small Radian Kingdom.
However, the mark he received wasn't up to the standard of a descendent of an archmage, and even that mark had been absolutely destroyed today.
How could you compete with 100 points?
'100 points… What part of Ruin did Kingram like that much…?'
Tirion knew this.
That no one gets 100 points just because their talent in magic was extraordinary.
One had to match Kingram's personality to receive 100 points.
In that sense, Ruin's unique magic could be theorised to have played a role in this.
'And to get a one-on-one talk with Kingram… He's quite the interesting student.'
Tirion nodded his head in satisfaction.
"I'll allow student Ruin Ardell to enter the artifact room under the supervision of Professor Hydel."
——