Olivia-sama had used magic power capacity as her example, but since the Authority was an ability that affected various attributes within the Friendly City, I gathered that more than just her magic power was being bolstered. It wouldn't have been surprising if every single one of her abilities had been multiplied by fifty.
"It shouldn't cause much of an impact," Olivia-sama said.
"No, no, that’s completely ridiculous! I mean, fifty times! Fifty! That means I’ve gained incredible combat power, even if it is Friendly City-limited..."
"There are almost no opportunities to engage in combat within the Friendly City," Olivia-sama noted. "Wouldn’t that make the impact negligible?"
"Ugh... Well... You... You’re not wrong..."
It was a devastatingly sound argument. Even if her combat strength had increased fifty-fold, there were essentially no chances to fight inside the Friendly City anyway. And if an opponent appeared who was so powerful that Kaori-san couldn't handle them without that boost, Olivia-sama would likely just take care of it herself.
Looking at it that way, she really didn't have much opportunity to put that combat power to use. Of course, the blessing wasn't strictly about combat...
As she listened to Olivia-sama, Kaori-san took a moment to reflect. Being someone who adapted quickly, she was likely organizing her thoughts and moving past it. Once she’d seemingly finished her mental reset, she turned toward me with a smirk.
"...Hehehe, look, Kaito-kun. Even if it’s an accident and limited to this one place, it's a massive power-up. I can feel the strength welling up inside me... This is it! The overwhelming magic power of fifty!"
"Actually, since it is manually adjustable, I believe Kaori Mizuhara’s magic power remains unchanged for the moment?" Olivia-sama interjected.
"..."
"Physical ability and other traits are affected as well, and since rapid changes can cause confusion when gauging your own strength, I have made it so the transition is controlled by Kaori Mizuhara’s Will. You will need practice, but you will be able to fine-tune the multiplier and even focus the increase on specific abilities. I can instruct you on the process if necessary, or you can simply grow accustomed to it through natural use."
".................."
Olivia-sama was a fundamentally calm and logical individual, so she had clearly taken the necessary steps to account for the impact of a sudden power spike.
I thought it was a wonderful arrangement. Being able to keep the effect deactivated meant she wouldn't have to worry about accidentally crushing things with her newfound physical strength.
...However, if I had to name one problem... it was that Kaori-san, who had been joking about her "overwhelming power" just to lighten her own mood, was now crouching on the ground with her face in her hands, practically dying of embarrassment.
Given that her joke had been met with Olivia-sama’s calm, blunt rebuttal, the shame must have been agonizing.
"...U-Um, Kaori-san? Are you okay?"
"I want to die... I’m going to die of shame... Now that she mentions it, I was thinking I didn't feel that much stronger for being fifty times more powerful... but that's because it hadn't kicked in yet... This is so embarrassing..."
Olivia-sama didn't mean any harm, but I felt like Kaori-san was having a particularly rough time today when it came to her dignity.
Still, after writhing in place with a bright red face for a while, Kaori-san managed to pull herself together and stand up.
"...Um, Olivia-sama. May I try it out?"
"Yes. Simply focusing on the thought should trigger the increase. While fine-tuning will take time to master, you need no adjustments to reach the maximum state."
"I-I see. I'll give it a try... Hng... Oh...!"
Kaori-san clenched her fists and psyched herself up, and I could tell immediately that her magic power was growing larger and larger.
"S-So this is the magic power amount of fifty... Kaito-kun, how is it? Pretty amazing, right?"
"It's certainly a massive amount of magic power..."
"...Ah. That’s the face of someone who knows too many extraordinary people and is thinking my magic power isn't actually that big compared to them."
Kaori-san’s magic power, multiplied by fifty... based on the sensation, it felt comparable to Eta and Theta. I wasn't particularly good at measuring magic power, so I only had a rough sense of scale, but compared to Lilia-san or Anima, it still felt relatively small.
Of course, compared to me, it was orders of magnitude larger. Incidentally, the magic power belonging to people like Isis-san or Megiddo was so vast that I couldn't measure it at all. It was like staring at the horizon across the sea; I knew it was incredibly far away and massive, but I had no way of knowing exactly where it ended.
Then again, many powerful individuals suppressed their magic power normally, so it was only natural for it to be difficult to judge.
Once you got to the level of Kuro, Shiro-san, or Canaris-san, I couldn't comprehend it in the slightest. It was like looking up at the stars from the ground; you could see them, but you couldn't begin to grasp the true scale of the universe.
"No, compared to me, it's an incredible amount... and, um, since you weren't on the cooking team, you might not have spoken to them much, but there are two red-haired girls named Eta and Theta among the maids at my house..."
"Oh, the two who look like twins? I introduced myself to them briefly at the shipboard party."
"Right. Those two are Baron-class high-ranking demons, and your magic power feels roughly in the same ballpark as theirs."
"I see. So from Kaito-kun’s perspective, it’s no big... Wait, yes it is! That means my current magic power is at the Peerage-class level, isn't it?!"
...Now that she mentioned it, she was right. Lilia-san and Anima were Count-class, so a difference was to be expected. But considering that Peerage-class high-ranking demons were the elite of the world—numbering fewer than fifty thousand in total—reaching that level was an astounding feat.
Yeah, it was just my sense of scale that was broken.
Serious-senpai: "Well, you've started making friends with the Gods of an Otherworld recently. Your social circle has expanded even further beyond the top-tier powerhouses you were already hanging out with, so it's only natural that your senses are paralyzed."