Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/1177354054922300995/episodes/1177354054922301711
Jorma [You, why are you…..]
Jorma was so surprised that he swallowed the words that came out unintentionally in mid-sentence. However, Ryuujin took over the latter words.
Ryu [How am I alive? Did you cut off my leg and leave me in the dungeon……huh?]
Jorma looks away.
Ryu [So you took me as a sacrificial stone, to escape yourselves, that’s what you took me for in the first place?!]
Jorma [W-what are you talking about? Of course not]
Jorma’s voice rises in panic as he tries to cover up the fact that Ryu, who was supposed to be dead, has returned.
― ― ― ― ― ― ―
After returning alive, Ryuujin complained to the guildmaster about the fact that he had been intentionally left behind.
Jorma and his men had slashed the boy’s legs so that he could not walk and left him in front of the dragon in order to buy themselves time to escape.
This was a clear case of murder, and it was unforgivable.
But Guildmaster Daniel was slow to react.
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Daniel -Your testimony is not enough. There’s no proof, is there?]
He is a man who places importance on old adventurers and does not trust what G-rank adventurers have to say.
Jorma [It was not intentional, it was an accident. It couldn’t be helped. The magic cannon was broken……]
Ryu [Don’t lie to me, you even gave me a ‘self-destruct stone’ that you claimed was a warding stone…]
Jorma [The warding stone is real. If it was a self-destruct rock, why are you still alive?]
Ryu [Because I didn’t use it. I have zero magic power, so I can’t activate the magic tools in the first place.]
Jorma: […… Oh, right, I forgot.]
Ryu [If it had been the type of magical tool that could be activated without magic power, you would have been able to fool me, but I didn’t think you had forgotten about it.]
Jorma [I don’t remember every single thing about a bubble adventurer like you.]
Daniel [….My apologies, but I don’t trust the claims of a G-rank adventurer like yourself about being left behind. Unless you have the testimony of another high-ranked adventurer.]
Ryuujin looked around at the adventurers around him and said,
[…..There are this many witnesses, and no one is willing to testify. So it’s a consensus, everyone is equally guilty.]
Adventurer (Bill) [Bastard ! You have the nerve to call a senior high-ranked adventurer a liar and a criminal !]
Adventurer (Bam) [No one will trust anything you say, you’re a G-ranked adventurer !]
Adventurer (Arthur) [If Jorma says it’s an accident then it’s an accident. We were just following Jorma’s instructions. …..Well, I don’t know what Jorma was thinking.]
Jorma [Oi.]
Ryu [……Then how about this?]
Ryuujin took a stone out of his pocket.
Lügeen [If you say this was really a warding stone and not a self-destruct stone, it will be clearer when I activate it here.]
Jorma [Wait ! Stop !]
Jorma hurriedly stops Ryuujin from pretending to put magic power into the stone.
Jorma recognized it. It was indeed the self-destruct stone that Jorma had given him, which was placed under the warding stone. Somehow, Ryuujin had removed it and brought it with him.
Ryuujin smirked.
Ryu [I told you, I can’t activate it because I have zero magic power. Why don’t you try activating it instead?]
Ryuujin holds out the stone toward Jorma.
Ryu [What’s wrong? You can’t?]
Daniel [E-even if ! If it was a self-destruct rock, there would be no proof that it was the one Jorma gave you !]
Jorma [……Hmph, enough, Daniel. Let’s tell the kid the truth, shall we?]
Jorma said with a blackened smile.
Jorma [Ryu, if you were in a dungeon and you met a powerful enemy that you could never beat and someone had to be sacrificed or your party would be wiped out, what would you do?]
Ryu [What…..?]
Jorma [Should the high-ranked adventurers buy time and let the newcomers and weak ones escape?
If the high-ranked adventurers sacrificed themselves to let the newcomers and weak adventurers escape, wouldn’t all the newcomers be unable to get out of the dungeon and would eventually be wiped out?
Even if we are lucky enough to escape from the dungeon, if the high-ranked adventurers die and there are only newcomers and low-ranked adventurers left, the residents of the town will be in trouble. Who’s going to exterminate the evil monsters?]
Ryu [……]
Jorma [If someone has to be sacrificed to prevent total destruction, it is better to sacrifice the “incompetent” and let the competent survive, that is the right decision !]
Arthur [If you don’t want to be used and discarded, then quickly raise your rank ! G-rank for a long time to become a sacrificial stone !]
Ryu [So you admit that you intentionally left me behind?]
Jorma [No, I don’t admit it. That was just an accident. It was an unavoidable ’emergency evacuation’.]
Jorma maintains that it was unintentional. Otherwise, he would have been charged with murder.
Jorma [You never know what will happen in a dungeon. It is a common thing that adventurers do not return from dungeons. You have to protect yourself, that’s what adventurers do, right? Whether you’re dealing with demons or humans.]
Daniel [In the first place, when you registered, I told you that being an adventurer is a dangerous job, didn’t I? If you lose your life in the dungeon, it is your own responsibility. If you don’t agree with that, then you should quit being an adventurer.]
Bill [What do you mean, you’ve been an adventurer for three years and you’re still at level 1? Even the newbie who signed up last month is already at level 5.]
Daniel [……Ryu, I know you’ve been working hard in your own way, but you still couldn’t raise your level. You survived, no offense, but you should give up being an adventurer now.]
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Jorma […..Wait a minute !]
But as if realizing something, Jorma suddenly raised his voice.
[If it didn’t self-destruct, then what happened to the dragon?!]
He has confessed about the self-destructing stone, but that doesn’t seem to be the point.
Not blowing up the passage would increase the possibility of the dragon coming to the surface.
A dungeon originally has a determined ecosystem for each floor. The types of monsters that appear are fixed for each floor. And those monsters cannot move to another floor.
However, if the number of monsters increases too much, the dungeon’s safeguard is activated and the restriction on movement between levels is lifted. The monsters that have moved from one level to another begin to move toward the ground.
The monsters flood out of the dungeon in large numbers. The phenomenon is called stun beads. At that time, the dungeon was clearly showing signs that a stampede was about to occur. The dragons were moving across the hierarchy.
But Ryu said.
[Rest assured, all the dragons have been defeated.]
[ [ [ [ [Huh?] ] ] ] ]
Arthur [Oh, come on, dude? There’s no way you, who’s been ranked G for all these years, can slay a dragon !]
Ryu [……Ranks are self-approved by the guild, they don’t necessarily represent strength.]
Daniel: [That may be true, but you’ve been at level 1 for a long time and haven’t grown.
Not only that, you have no skills, no class, and no blessings. How can we believe that you have slain a dragon all by yourself?]
Ryu [I’m not the same as I was before.]
Hearing these words, Daniel hurried to “appraise” Ryu. (Daniel has ‘appraisal’ skills.)
It is true that some adventurers grow up quickly after a certain point, and it is certainly possible that Ryu, who had worked hard for three years, had suddenly blossomed.
But the result is….
―――――――――――
Ryuujin Lv: 1
Age: 16
Gender：Male
Class：None
Skill：None
Blessings: None
―――――――――――
Level 1 remained the same, nothing had changed.
Daniel [Nothing has changed, you’re still at level 1 !]
Ryu [I guess that means you can’t count on “level” either. At least I’m stronger than these guys here now. If you don’t believe me, why don’t we give it a try? If you kill me here, the cover-up is complete, right? If you can kill me, that is !]
As he said this, a strong killing spirit suddenly radiated from Ryuujin.
Ryuujin, who had never shown anything but a timid and frightened demeanor, suddenly emitted a strong killing intent that could have been perceived as physical pressure, and everyone present was startled into silence.
…However, they could not continue his adventuring business if he was underestimated by someone they had identified as the bottom of the barrel, even if they were a little exposed to killing.
Arthur immediately yells back.
[Ah?! That’s interesting ! You’re a lunkhead ! I’ll be your opponent !]
Arthur tried to grab Ryu by the chest, but Ryuujin grabbed his wrist. The grip was so strong that it seemed to break his bones, and Arthur screamed and was unable to move.
Ryu said to Guildmaster, still holding Arthur’s wrist.
Ryu [Right, let’s apply for the rank-up exam anyway. The examiners can be all the adventurers here. If you talk so much about this rank that rank, then I suppose you won’t complain if I raise my rank, will you?]
Jorma [……Hmm, I don’t know how you made it back alive, but you’ve suddenly got a cocky mouth.]
Ryu [The test was a mock battle with the examiner, right? The condition for passing the test is if I beat the examiner. Do you want to do it now?]
Everyone was perplexed by Ryuujin’s strong attitude. His manner of speaking had changed, and he seemed to be a different person from the quiet Ryuujin before he went to the dungeon.
Jorma […..Fine, I’ll take you on as an examiner.]
Daniel [No, wait ! All right, fine, I’ll give you an exam. But Jorma and the others have just returned from the dungeon and are tired. We’ll do the exam tomorrow. Is that all right, Ryu?]
Ryu [I don’t mind. Are you sure about the dragons? Well, I can give you proof.]
Liu held out his hand, and suddenly the dragon’s head appeared on the floor. The adventurers are surprised.
Jorma [This is…..!]
Daniel [….Is this storage magic?!]
One of the adventurers staggers closer to the dragon’s corpse to check it out.
Jorma [No doubt, it’s the Craw Dragon.]
Daniel also approached the corpse of the demon and [appraised] it. The result was indeed Mimurd the Great Lizard, Mimurd Dragon*.
*Although it has the word “dragon” in its name, it is technically a species similar to the lizard and not a dragon. However, it is a dangerous demon with a danger level of rank A, commonly known as a [Craw Dragon] with strength comparable to the lower class species of dragons.
Ryu [There’s a lot more, but I can’t possibly give it all away here.]
The lobby of the Adventurers’ Guild is already full with only one dragon’s head. Ryu held out his hand once more, and the dragon’s body disappeared.
Daniel [Storage magic…..no, did you get a ‘magic bag’ in the dungeon?]
Ryu [It’s a trade secret.]
Ryu smirks.
Ryu [Are you satisfied now that I have slain the dragon? Well, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s exam. I wonder how well you guys who looked at the dragon and ran away with your tails between your legs will do?]
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― ― ― ― ― ― ―
How did Ryuujin survive being cut off his leg and left in front of the dragon in the depths of the dungeon?
Ryu tried to activate the warding stone he was given, but was unable to do so.
Some magical tools are set with a magic stone that contains magic power so that they can be used even by those without magic power, but this warding stone was a type that used the user’s magic power. Therefore, Ryu, who had no magic power, could not even activate it.
His legs were cut off, and he was unable to stand up.
All that remained was to wait to be killed by the dragon that loomed before him.
The approaching dragon……
But then,
At that moment,
Time stopped.
And the sealed memories of his reincarnation came back to him.
The memory of his previous life.
Memories of his encounter with the messenger of the goddess at the time of his reincarnation.
The promise to the goddess.
The ability given to him.
Ryuujin remembered all the memories that had been sealed away and returned from the dungeon after slaying the dragon.
He understood that Jorma and the others had no secret plan and that he had simply been used as rocks to escape from the dungeon.
The weak-minded Ryuujin of the past might have cried himself to sleep, but now that his memories of his former life had returned, he had no intention of forgiving those who had tried to kill him.
Perhaps the adventurers in this town had repeatedly turned newcomers and low-ranked adventurers into cast-offs. (Ryuujin had heard rumors of this, but he didn’t pay much attention to them because he didn’t think he would ever dive in a dungeon.)
High-ranked adventurers in this city have a sense of privilege and think they can treat the weak as if they were insects.
But those who kill must also be prepared to be killed.
They need to be reminded of this.
The revenge has begun…
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― ― ― ― ― ― ―
The next morning, Ryuujin was at the training grounds behind the Adventurers’ Guild.
Daniel declares.
[We will now begin the rank-up examinations !]
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