"Self-destructive manner..? What do you mean?" Eiro asked with a light frown. He had a rough idea what Merlin meant, but he wanted to make sure beforehand, "Of course I mean to teach your child to injure herself to heal others, you baffoon!"
"...So you were one of the guys Solomon told about their skills?" Eiro sighed out deeply, before Merlin glared back, "Speak of his Maj-"
"Listen, I'm close friends with Solomon, he doesn't mind when I speak to him like this personally, so I'm not going to refer to him like that when he's not even here. Now, as for Clemenetine's skill. How much do you know about it?" Eiro asked. Merlin grumbled to himself, but slowly nodded his head.
"That she has the ability to put wounds of others onto herself to heal them. It is a dangerous ability, and the fact that you force her to use it daily is disgusting!" The Mage exclaimed, and Eiro rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"I'm not the one forcing her to do it, the skill itself is. She doesn't just take wounds onto herself, she 'eats' them. It's like a hunger for her. If she doesn't regularly do this, she will go insane or starve. So, I have her eat small wounds, like cuts or such, that she can heal on herself within just a few moments. She sates her 'hunger' like that." Eiro explained. Merlin looked Eiro deep into his eyes, "Then... Then how about that other child who you force to be injured so she can 'eat' his wounds?"
"Arc? I guess since Solomon trusts you to keep Clementine's secret, I can tell you Arc's. He also has a special skill. It makes him resistant to pain. He literally doesn't feel the cuts. Of course, if I didn't know that Clementine was there to heal him immediately, I would never make him do something like that."
Merlin was unsure if what Eiro was telling him was the truth. But this man seemed to be genuine, from what he could tell at least. But before he was able to come to a full conclusion, Eiro locked eyes with the mage, "And just to make it clear. I would never, ever, ever put my children in danger. All I do is to make sure they're going to be safe in the end, and that they can live whatever life they wish to even if I'm gone in the future."
The old man closed his eyes and lowered his head, "I apologize. It seems like I happened to misjudge you."
"Don't worry. You acted like it because you were worried about them. There's no way I could be mad about that. However, as a mage, you should know that knowing the full situation is rather important." With a wink, Eiro continued walking, and Merlin slowly nodded his head. The two of them entered the lecturing hall together. It was shaped in the same way as the one earlier, just that this place was more set up to be useful for magic practice.
There were different gemstones set up everywhere, and there was a single large spherical orb in the very center. It was set up so that it could easily be removed, though, so it was most likely just here for this session. It was taller than Eiro was, however.
The students had already gathered in here, just waiting for the teachers to arrive.
"Please settle down, we're starting." Merlin said, his voice echoing through this large hall, "Today, we're going to speak about some organizatory issues, and then we will test the strength and progress of everyone's magic capabilities. The first-years will have their affinities be officially measured as well."
Eiro raised his brow and looked at the large orb beside him. That was most likely the device used for measuring that, then. It was very different to the process that Eiro knew of.
The first part of the lecture was simple. Basically, the same things as Eiro already heard earlier were said, so he wasn't particularly paying attention. Instead, Eiro took a closer look at the students to remember their faces.
About half an hour later, Merlin walked in front of the large Orb and clapped his hands together just once, "Now, our student representatives will come down here and show us what exactly is about to happen."
The two students, once again one young man and one young woman, walked down the steps and stood in front of the Orb. To Eiro, it seemed like they were rather studious, and open people. A nice contrast to those brats from earlier.
"First, all the first-year students will be tested for their affinity. There were already some rough tests of this before you entered, but since we would like to know more details, we are going to use this special device. You place your palm onto its surface and let your mana flow into it. The complex arrays created by an expert Artificer will then automatically analyze everything and turn your affinities into observable images right above it. Here, let me show you." The young man explained the process, and then did just what he explained.
His mana flowed into the Orb and twirled around within the soft white mist inside of it. Just a few moments later, the mist retracted and turned into a fist-sized rock. Then, that rock faded away and a small tornado formed inside of it. It was really tiny, though. Just the size of a finger.
"As you can see, I have two affinities. Earth, and Air. The size of the image shows just how strong the affinity is. Our dear Teacher Merlin will then interpret that image using another small device created by an Artificer. Now, we will call the first-year students forward in alphabetical order of their family name."
Eiro was sitting on his chair and crossed his legs, watching as the first students came forward. Considering that the first student's family name was 'Abeth', the ones without a family name would most likely be called forward last.
And just like Eiro thought, there was just one students left at the end. The one commoner without a last name. There were other commoners of course, but just because you were a commoner didn't mean you don't have a last name. Many rich and influential people that may be commoners still had a family name to make things easier.
Clementine came forward, with some of the noble children whispering and giggling amongst themselves. But Eiro couldn't help himself but grin because of what was about to happen. He knew for a fact that Clementine's Water and Light affinity were the largest they had seen here. Maybe even larger than any other student or teacher here at the school.
She nervously looked over at Eiro, who just nodded his head with a smile to encourage her. She took a deep breath and placed her palm onto the Orb. Her mana slowly flowed into the Orb. Slowly, the image of water was created in the center of the Orb. It flowed out of there and and turned into a large sphere. One taking up more than half the whole Orb. The room turned silent, as the water disappeared just to be replaced by a smooth sphere of white light that was a slight bit smaller than the water sphere.
Nervously, Clementine took a step back and looked at the other students, who were looking at her in shock.
"Is... Is that thing broken..?" One student muttered confused, "There's no way she could have such..."
"Wait, but isn't she the girl from the festival?"
"You're right, the one that created that huge Sea Serpent!"
Slowly, the older students started realizing who this girl was. The first-years already knew that she was capable, they had already spent two weeks together, after all. With pink cheeks, Clementine climbed back up the steps and sat down next to some other girls she seemed to have befriended.
But then, a student raised their hand. Merlin called on him, and the student asked his question, "Would it be possible for us to know what your affinities look like?"
Merlin thought about it for a moment, slowly approaching the Orb, "Of course, gladly."
The old man placed his palm onto the crystal surface, as all the students curiously focused on what they were seeing. And even Eiro was pretty curious.
But what they all saw wasn't a regular element, but something different. From the center of the orb, glowing letters started floating around, forming a sphere that covered around a quarter of the Orb.
"My only element I have an affinity with can not truly be called an element. It's more of a principle, rather than something tangible like the ground underneath our feet, or the air that we breathe. It is called 'Arcana'. My capabilities of practical spellcasting may be limited, but I have the chance to learn about magic in-depth. We will explore this topic in one of my classes, however."
Eiro stared at the letters. Runes. They were runes. And not just any, they were ancient runes, of a language that nobody was capable of learning. His heart started to beat loudly. Truly, Eiro had to have a word with Solomon sometime. The fact that he hid this sort of person from him was nearly infuriating, but right now, Eiro was just excited.
"Now, my new colleague... Will you show us your affinities as well? You certainly seem to have a few of them to speak of, don't you?" Merlin pointed out, reminding everyone that watched what happened in the festival of what exactly Eiro showed them then.
The Demon slowly stood up and approached the Orb, "Sure, let's hope that this thing can handle it." Eiro laughed slightly. He didn't really mind showing this sort of thing. It wouldn't change anything anyway, and Eiro was prepared to show off his affinities already anyway.
Eiro pushed his mana through the crystal sphere, and then took a step back. The first thing that showed itself was water. It slowly filled the Orb up, easily exceeding Clementine's affinity, until the Orb was fully filled up, without even a single spot of open space left. The water then froze for the Ice Element.
Then, the ice fully disappeared, just to be replaced by a raging tornado. One that also filled the whole Orb. After that came what was basically a boulder, also once more filling the object out wholly. The same could be said for the flames that came to be afterward. The bright flames then made way for shadows, the first element that didn't fully cover everything. Then came Nature, showing itself in the form of roots growing around each other to form a sphere covering half of the orb anyway.
A purple-pink energy then filled out a quarter of the Orb, representing Gravity magic. And then came a black-purple, sinister mist around the same size of the gravity-orb. This was most likely supposed to be Unholy Energy.
And at last, there was a small white-yellow, fist-sized sphere floating there. Nobody else beside Eiro and Merlin knew what it was, though. This was Death Magic, shown through an orb of bones.
But just as Eiro turned away, what was shown in the center was a tiny, tiny, white-golden orb of light. It was the size of Eiro's pinky's nail.
An small sphere representing an affinity for Holy Energy within this Demon.
