Yorma, startled, stopped himself mid-sentence, “Why are you…,”

Ryuujin, picking up where he left off, said, “Why are you alive? You cut off my leg and left me in the dungeon…didn’t you?”

Yorma looked away.

“You left me as a sacrifice so you could escape, didn’t you? That’s what you did, bringing me along just to do that?”

“W-what are you saying? That’s not true!”

Yorma, caught off guard by Ryuujin’s unexpected return from the dead, stammered and tried to deflect, his voice rising.

— — — — — — — — — —

Ryuujin, having miraculously survived, reported the truth about his deliberate abandonment to the Guild Master.

Yorma and his party had severed the boy’s leg, rendering him unable to walk, and left him before the dragon, all to buy themselves time to escape.

This was clear-cut murder, unforgivable.

But Guild Master Daniel’s reaction was lukewarm.

-----------

Daniel, “Your testimony alone isn’t enough. No proof either, you see?”

He prioritized veteran adventurers, dismissing the claims of a G-rank adventurer as inconsequential.

Yorma, “It wasn’t intentional, it was an accident. We had no choice. The magic cannon broke…”

Ryuujin, “Don’t lie, you gave me a ‘self-destruct stone’ disguised as a ‘barrier stone’…”

Yorma, “The barrier stone was real. Anyway, if it was a self-destruct stone, why are you still alive?”

Ryuujin, “Because I didn’t use it. I have zero magic, so I can’t even activate magical tools.”

Yorma, “….Right, I forgot.”

Ryuujin, “If it were a type of magic tool that could be activated even without magic, you could have fooled me, but to think, you actually forgot.”

Yorma, “I wouldn’t be remembering every little detail about a bubble adventurer like you.”

Daniel, “….Look, I can’t believe your story about being left behind based solely on your word, a G-rank adventurer. If you have a testimony from a higher-ranked adventurer, that’s a different matter.”

Ryuujin surveyed the surrounding adventurers, “….With all these witnesses here, not a single one is willing to testify. In other words, everyone is complicit. Everyone is guilty.”

Adventurer (Bill), “You! You’re calling a senior, high-ranking adventurer a liar and a criminal? You’ve got some nerve!”

Adventurer (Ban), “No one’s going to believe what a G-rank like you has to say!”

Adventurer (Arthur), “If Yorma says it’s not true, then it’s not true. We were just following Yorma’s orders. ….Well, I don’t know what he was thinking, but…”

Yorma, “Hey.”

Ryuujin, “….Then what about this?”

Ryuujin pulled a stone from his pocket.

Ryuujin, “If you’re saying this isn’t a self-destruct stone, but a real barrier stone, then we can clear this up right now by activating it.”

Yorma, “Wait! Stop!”

Yorma, panicked, tried to stop Ryuujin, who was pretending to channel magic into the stone.

Yorma recognized it. It was indeed the self-destruct stone he had given Ryuujin, hidden under the barrier stone. Somehow, Ryuujin had removed it and kept it.

Ryuujin grinned.

Ryuujin, “Like I said, I can’t activate it because I have zero magic. Could you activate it for me?”

He held out the stone to Yorma.

Ryuujin, “What’s wrong? Can’t you do it?”

Daniel, “E-even if! Even if it’s a self-destruct stone, there’s no proof that Yorma gave it to you!”

Yorma, “….Hmph, enough, Daniel. I’ll show this brat the truth.”

Yorma laughed darkly.

Yorma, “Ryuujin, in the dungeon, if you encounter an unbeatable enemy, and the party will be wiped out unless someone sacrifices themselves, what would you do?”

Ryuujin, “What…?”

Yorma, “The high-ranking adventurer buys time, letting the newbies and the weak escape, right?

And if the high-ranking adventurer sacrifices themselves, and the newbies and weak adventurers escape, they won’t be able to get out of the dungeon with just newbies, and they’ll end up getting wiped out anyway.

Even if they manage to escape the dungeon, if only newbies and low-rank adventurers are left after the high-ranking adventurer dies, the townsfolk will be in trouble. Who’s going to take down the monstrous creatures?"

Ryuujin, “….”

Yorma, “If someone has to be sacrificed to prevent the entire party from being wiped out, it’s better to sacrifice the “incompetent” and let the “capable” survive, right? That’s the right decision!”

Arthur, “If you don’t want to be used as a disposable pawn, level up quickly! A perpetual G-rank should be content with being a sacrificial lamb!”

Ryuujin, “So, you admit you deliberately left me behind?”

Yorma, “No, I don’t admit anything. It was an accident. An unavoidable 'emergency measure'.”

Yorma stubbornly insisted on the pretense of “non-intentional”. If he confessed, he would be charged with murder.

Yorma, “You never know what will happen in a dungeon. Adventurers not returning from the dungeon, that’s a common occurrence. You’re responsible for your own safety, that’s what it means to be an adventurer, right? Whether the opponent is a monster or a human.”

Daniel, “Well, when you registered, you were told that adventuring is a dangerous profession, right? It’s your own responsibility if you lose your life in the dungeon. If you can’t accept that, then you should quit being an adventurer.”

Bill, “You’ve been an adventurer for three years, and you’re still level 1? What’s the deal with that? Even newbies who registered last month are already around level 5.”

Daniel, “….Ryuujin, I know you’ve been trying your best, but your level still hasn’t gone up. It’s for the best, you should just give up on being an adventurer.”

------------

Yorma, “….Wait a minute!”

But Yorma suddenly shouted, as if he had realized something.

“If it didn’t self-destruct, what about the dragon?!”

Though he had just confessed about the self-destruct stone, that was no longer the main concern.

If the self-destruct stone hadn’t detonated, there was a high chance the dragon would come out.

Dungeons are typically divided into layers, each with its own ecosystem. The types of monsters that appear are fixed for each layer, and those monsters cannot move to other layers.

However, if the number of monsters in a layer exceeds a certain limit, the dungeon’s safety mechanism activates, and the inter-layer movement restrictions are lifted. These monsters that have moved to a different layer then head towards the surface.

Monsters would swarm out of the dungeon in massive numbers. That phenomenon is called a “stampede”. At that time, the dungeon was clearly showing signs of a stampede. The dragon had moved across layers.

But Ryuujin replied, “Don’t worry, I took care of all the dragons.”

“““““What?!”””””

Arthur, “Cut it out, you! There’s no way a level 1 G-rank like you could defeat a dragon!”

Ryuujin, “….Rank is just something the guild assigns, it doesn’t necessarily reflect your strength.”

Daniel, “That might be true, but you haven’t grown at all, you’re still level 1.

Not only that, you have no skills, no class (profession), no blessing. There’s no way I can believe you single-handedly defeated a dragon with nothing.”

Ryuujin, “I’m not the same person I was before.”

Hearing those words, Daniel hurriedly used “Appraisal” on Ryuujin. (Daniel has the “Appraisal” skill.)

It’s true that adventurers occasionally experience sudden growth due to some trigger. It was possible that Ryuujin, who had been putting in effort for three years, had suddenly blossomed.

But the result was...

— — — — — — — — — —

Ryuujin Lv: 1

Age: 16

Gender: Male

Class: None

Skills: None

Blessings: None

— — — — — — — — — —

His level remained at 1, unchanged.

Daniel, “Nothing’s changed, your level is still 1!”

Ryuujin, “So ‘level’ is useless too, huh? At least, I’m stronger now than anyone here. If you don’t believe me, want to try it out? Killing me here would erase any evidence, wouldn’t it? If you can, that is!”

As he spoke, a powerful killing intent suddenly emanated from Ryuujin.

Everyone present was stunned, falling silent. Ryuujin, who had only ever shown a timid and apprehensive demeanor, suddenly unleashed a killing intent so strong it felt like a physical pressure.

…However, they couldn’t afford to be dismissive of this opponent, whom they had dismissed as bottom-of-the-barrel, just because they’d received a bit of killing intent.

Arthur immediately retorted, “Oh yeah?! That’s pretty funny! You punk! I’ll take you on!”

Arthur lunged to grab Ryuujin by the collar, but Ryuujin caught his wrist. He gripped it so tightly it felt like bones were going to break, and Arthur let out a scream, unable to move.

Ryuujin, holding Arthur’s wrist, addressed the Guild Master.

Ryuujin, “Right, I’m going to apply for a rank-up test. All the adventurers here can be the examiners. Since you guys are so obsessed with rank, I’ll shut you up if I level up, right?”

Everyone was taken aback by Ryuujin’s assertive attitude. His way of speaking had changed; he was a completely different person from the meek Ryuujin before the dungeon.

Yorma, “….Hmph, I don’t know how you survived, but you’ve gotten pretty mouthy, haven’t you?”

Ryuujin, “The test is a mock battle against the examiners, right? The passing condition is that I win against the examiners. Let’s do it now?”

Yorma, “….Fine, I’ll be the examiner and face you.”

Daniel, “No, wait! Okay, fine, we’ll do the test. But Yorma and the others just came back from the dungeon, they’re tired. We’ll do the test tomorrow. Is that alright, Ryuujin?”

Ryuujin, “Whatever. What about the dragon? Well, I can show you proof, you see.”

Ryuujin raised his hand, and a dragon’s head suddenly appeared on the floor. The adventurers were astounded.

Yorma, “This is…!!”

Daniel, “….Storage magic?!”

One of the adventurers stumbled towards the dragon’s corpse to confirm it.

“No mistake, it’s a Crawler Dragon, a Crow Dragon.”

Daniel also approached the monster’s corpse and used “Appraisal”. The result was indeed a Mimuld Great Lizard, Mimuld Dragon (*).

(*Though it has “dragon” in its name, it’s actually closer to a lizard than a dragon. However, it’s a dangerous monster with a threat level ranking of A, comparable to a lower-level dragon, commonly called a “Crawler Dragon.”)

Ryuujin, “There are a lot more, but I can’t bring them all out here.”

The adventurer’s guild lobby was already overflowing with just the dragon’s head. Ryuujin raised his hand again, and the dragon’s remains disappeared.

Daniel, “Storage magic… no, did you get a “Magic Bag” in the dungeon?”

Ryuujin, “It’s a trade secret.”

Ryuujin smiled slyly.

Ryuujin, “So are you convinced that I took care of the dragon? Well, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s test. I wonder how much those guys who ran away after seeing a dragon can handle?”

— — — — — — — — — —

How did Ryuujin survive, left behind with a severed leg in the depths of the dungeon, facing the dragon?

Ryuujin tried to activate the barrier stone he was given, but he couldn’t.

Some magical tools are designed to be usable even without magic, by incorporating a magic stone infused with magic, but this barrier stone required the user’s magic to activate. Therefore, Ryuujin, with his zero magic, couldn’t even activate it.

His leg was cut off, he couldn’t even stand up.

He was in a situation where all that was left was to wait for the approaching dragon to kill him.

The approaching dragon…

But,

At that moment,

Time stopped.

And the memories of his past life as a reincarnated person were restored.

His memories of the previous life.

Memories of his encounter with the goddess’ messenger during his reincarnation.

His promise to the goddess.

The power he received.

Ryuujin, having recovered all his sealed memories, defeated the dragon and returned from the dungeon.

He understood that Yorma and the others had no “secret weapon”, they simply used him as a sacrificial lamb to escape.

If Ryuujin had remained the timid person he used to be, he might have accepted this and simply swallowed his pride. But now that his memories of his past life had returned, Ryuujin had no intention of forgiving those who tried to kill him.

The adventurers in this city likely repeatedly used newbies and low-rank adventurers as sacrificial lambs. (Ryuujin had heard rumors of this, but he hadn’t taken it too seriously because he thought he wouldn’t be going into dungeons.)

The high-rank adventurers in this city had a sense of privilege, they believed that they could treat the weak like insects.

But those who kill must be prepared to be killed.

He needed to make them understand that.

This was the beginning of his revenge.

— — — — — — — — — —

The next morning, Ryuujin stood in the training ground behind the Adventurer’s Guild.

Daniel declared,

“The rank-up test will now commence!”