"I Was Reincarnated Into Another World So I Want to Teach Them a Lesson in the Dungeon." ~I May Have Been Expelled as a C-Rank Sorcerer, but Since It Seems Everyone Wants My Cheat Skill, I Think I'll Teach Them a Lesson~ - Chapter 12

In the morning, I hurried to the clinic where Miria was staying.

Sitting up in bed, Miria stretched her gaze to every corner of the room, as if to ensure her safety, slowly turning her head around.

Her memory was cut off at the moment of being defeated by the orc summoned by Mule, an orc reinforced with magical toughness.

Therefore, she must have brought back with her that feeling of despair I experienced yesterday, stored in her brain right up to the point where she exited the dungeon.

Miria was in the state that the nun had feared.

Would I, not a therapist, be capable of providing her the aftercare she needed?

“Good morning, Miria.”

Perhaps a safe greeting was appropriate to start with.

Miria responded to my words of concern, but her voice was very weak, likely due to her recovery.

I had to convey the harsh reality to her, the state her father’s keepsake bow was in.

Was it really okay to do so?

I doubted whether Miria had the capacity to endure the pain in her current state.

“Soma-kun, you saved me,” she said.

“It was primarily Strega who… Oh, let me introduce you.”

Strega straightened her posture elegantly before bowing deeply. Coughing in her usual exaggerated manner,

“I did only the bare minimum to help. It was Soma who defeated the orc. He wanted to save you with all his heart.”

Hearing Strega’s explanation, Miria gave me a gentle smile of gratitude, her expression fragile and tender.

I explained to Miria everything that happened after her memory cut off, including the destruction of her father’s keepsake bow during the battle with the orc. As expected, her smile crumbled, and she began to cry, gasping for breath. During this, I also informed her of Ryner and Caroline’s fate and the failure to defeat the area boss.

The bow was a keepsake from her father.

A bow that was like an extension of her father.

Miria was always with her father.

Her father’s presence was the only way she could overcome her fears, and the reason she ventured into the Necronomicon—to seek revenge on the demons and the Necronomicon itself, which had taken her father and happiness from her.

But Miria was still weak.

Not in terms of combat strength, but the strength of her heart.

We cannot predict where the Necronomicon will lead and what will happen until we step inside.

We can only prepare minimally.

Until we first set foot in the Necronomicon, we have no way to verify its details.

“I guess I’m just a coward after all…”

“Do you think so…? Miria, you fought the orc before I did. You’re not a coward at all. You kept your promise to me—

To return alive.”

“Thank you… I think I was able to overcome my fear because Soma-kun was there.”

Her trembling hand gently grasped mine.

Gradually, the strength in her hand faded, signaling her relief.

“Soma-kun, will you continue with the investigation team?”

“I’m planning to continue.”

“That’s great. You’re strong, Soma-kun—

But unlike you, I don’t think I can challenge the dungeon again…”

It’s impossible.

With her bravest smile soaked in tears, Miria confessed.

I felt the same as Strega.

I had no intention of rejecting Miria’s decision any further.

Her feelings should be respected.

“I understand.”

Miria’s sobs drifted through the clinic.

I had no intention of silencing them.

◆ ◆ ◆

Once again, I stood before the Dungeon Necronomicon.

Miria’s crying face was still clinging to my mind.

I wanted to find traces of myself within the Necronomicon, not the corpses it had consumed. There must be some evidence of me somewhere, as the cover of the Necronomicon, like a demon’s skin, seemed to glance at me with a smirk.

“I wonder how the magic analysis is going, Lord Caron?”

Strega asked the old man from the Magic Analysis Division, Caron, as we walked together.

“Interesting developments, indeed. I’ve been observing and analyzing for a long time, and it seems that—

The Necronomicon may bear traces of magic that were added post-creation.”

Strega, intrigued, prompted Caron to explain further.

“It seems that those traces suggest something external, perhaps bestowing concepts like the Unique Skills and resets.”

“Yes, yes… Indeed, such systems hold no merit for demons.”

Strega’s tone and emphasis made me doubt her image of demons. With an exaggerated flourish, she performed as if saying, “Humans, come and kill us!” like an over-the-top actor.

“—It’s quite the contradiction.”

A demon’s pastime. Such a playful interpretation isn’t out of the question, but even so, the benefits seem too meager.

Cases like mine, where one is endowed with cheat-like Unique Skills, exist.

This casts doubt on the very purpose of the Necronomicon.

Therefore, the first thing we should suspect is,

“Could it be that someone from the Magic Association is responsible?”

At my hypothesis, both Strega and Caron tilted their heads.

“Even so, I can’t imagine taking away Unique Skills as a disadvantage if it was their doing. If it were me, I wouldn’t bother with such tedious things.”

Caron’s opinion was certainly valid.

The reset system could be seen as a way to forcibly provide a safe route for investigation teams, but stripping away Unique Skills would be a misstep.

If someone external had intervened, there would be no need to prepare dud skills like [Invincible] or [Status Maxed]. The mystery only deepened.

Because it involved my Unique Skill,

“Stop, Strega!”

“What!? Don’t scare me like that.”

“There’s a trap set there—

Huh—?”

Inside the Necronomicon, the area was the same as before, a portion of the natural world replicated.

And I had detected a trap originating from the dungeon.

“Why can I… detect traps?”

“Cough. This is interesting. It seems that Soma can ‘inherit Unique Skills.'”

The revelation of my ability to inherit Unique Skills caught both Strega and me off guard.