Vol. 9 Ch. 12: Something Worse Than Hurting Someone

──Monica liked being called "Norton the Accountant" by Cyril. It made her feel as though he recognized her as one of the student council officers.

"You would treat someone like this over nothing more than a different form of address?"

Monica cast a cold look at the man who looked remarkably like Cyril from the other side of the lightning cage.

"Please stop imitating Cyril-sama."

The man certainly looked a great deal like Cyril. His face in particular was an excellent likeness, enough to fool most people──but Monica was good at spotting differences.

Just as she could find a mistake in a ledger at a glance, Monica had immediately spotted the flaws in the man before her.

First of all, the proportions of his limbs relative to his torso were subtly different. Monica had a habit of remembering the human body in numbers, so she knew the lengths and proportions of the limbs of the people around her by heart. The man before her seemed to be concealing the difference with his clothes and shoes, but he could not fool Monica's eyes.

Second, because of his magic-absorbing constitution, the real Cyril Ashley constantly released magic outside his body through the magic-tool brooch he wore. Monica had definitely sensed that magic when she met Cyril in the ballroom earlier, but she could not sense it from the man before her. He was wearing a brooch with a similar design, but it was not a magic tool.

And third...

"Human ears are shaped differently for every person."...