Chapter-01 · EP-019

Episode 19: Summoned to the Staff Meeting

Summoned to the staff meeting, I was led by Majima into the conference room.

I had assumed staff meetings were held in the staff room, but apparently this academy had a separate conference room. Compared to my memories of my past life, or even my current life, this academy's buildings were excessively large. There were probably many other rooms that weren't strictly necessary but convenient to have, like club rooms.

"I've brought Ichinose."

Introduced by Majima, I was guided to the front of the conference room, and the attention of everyone inside focused on me.

I didn't know why I was called, and I didn't think I'd done anything wrong, but I started feeling nervous.

"Sorry for calling you out of the blue, Ichinose-kun."

The principal was the one who spoke.

I had seen him at the entrance ceremony, but I never thought I'd have a chance to speak with him directly.

"Actually, regarding the accident during yesterday's dungeon class, there are a few things I'd like to confirm with you."

"About yesterday's class?"

About how I was pushed off the cliff by Murasakimura, who panicked over a slime falling on him during my first dungeon exploration class yesterday. It was painful to get injured, but thanks to defeating the Acid Slime, I reached level 2 and regained my past life memories. For me, it wasn't a negative experience.

"First of all, I apologize for you being seriously injured during class. I offer my apologies on behalf of the academy. I'm truly sorry."

The principal said this and bowed deeply. Seeing him, I panicked.

"Principal, please raise your head! As you can see, I'm fine."

"In the end, your injuries seem to have healed completely, but there was a possibility you could have died. As the head of this academy, I feel responsible. I'm truly sorry."

"Understood. I accept your apology, Principal, so please raise your head."

That was an unfortunate accident, so I didn't think the principal needed to feel responsible, but the academy probably considered that, since they operated to help students level up safely, accidents like this shouldn't happen. I didn't think safe dungeon exploration existed, and I didn't think it was something the principal needed to apologize for. If anything, I thought Majima, the homeroom teacher who was leading the class, bore more responsibility, but he hadn't apologized yet.

"Thank you, Ichinose-kun. We reviewed the report we heard from your classmates and the footage from your dungeon recorder. First, regarding the cause of the fall, it was clearly Murasakimura-kun's fault. If you wish, you could file a claim against him for negligent injury. The academy would prefer to settle this amicably if possible, but I wanted to confirm your intention."

"Negligent injury? No, I fell because I was trying to help him. It wasn't his fault I fell!"

"Then, am I correct in understanding that you have no intention of filing a claim against Murasakimura-kun?"

"Of course not. I'm not going to sue a classmate over something like this."

"Thank you. If that's the case, it seems this incident won't escalate."

Even though it was inside a dungeon, it wasn't a lawless zone. The country's laws applied. If you committed a crime inside the dungeon, you would be judged by the law, and if you injured someone, it would be considered assault.

Dungeon recorders were meant to preserve evidence for such cases, but filing a claim against Murasakimura in this situation was out of the question.

However, there were probably people who would file a claim in a case like this. I still thought forming a party with others was troublesome. Basically, I wanted to go solo.

"Now, about the next matter…"

"There's more?"

"Yes, sorry for taking up your time. It's about what happened after you fell off the cliff. The Acid Slime that attacked you is a monster that normally appears on lower floors. However, it has been confirmed that Acid Slimes and Poison Slimes have appeared on the first floor before."

"So-called unique monsters, right?"

"Yes. A single special individual. The Poison Slime had already been defeated, but regarding the Acid Slime, there had been several attempts to defeat it in the past. However, that individual was cowardly and rarely appeared in front of people, and even when found, it would quickly run away."

"Cowardly? It was super aggressive, though."

"Hmm. It's puzzling that it attacked you so persistently, but perhaps it saw you as weak because you were seriously injured. In that sense, it was a case of unfortunate circumstances compounding. Going forward, we plan to provide instruction based on the possibility that such incidents can occur."

"…"

"Next, regarding Professor Majima here."

Majima, suddenly put on the spot, turned to the principal with a surprised look.

"It seems that while your class was exploring the dungeon, Majima-kun abandoned his supervision duties, left the dungeon, and took a break in the cafeteria to drink coffee. So when you fell off the cliff and Murasakimura-kun and the others went to call for help, Majima-kun was apparently not there, and it took time to find him."

"Well… I never imagined someone would get seriously injured on the first floor…"

Majima made a quick excuse.

That might be true, but that didn't mean it was okay to abandon his duties.

"Shouldn't the academy decide on punishment for that, not me?"

"Ah, yes, about that. Then, regarding the fact that when he heard you had fallen off the cliff, he prepared a rope ladder and went to help, which was good, but he should have anticipated you were injured and went without bringing a potion."

"That was because I had to hurry to help…"

Ignoring Majima, who was desperately making excuses, the principal continued.

"And to top it off, he urged you to use the Rank 4 potion without telling you it could be sold for ten million yen. You had the option to endure the pain without using the Rank 4 potion, be rescued by Majima-kun, and receive treatment in the nurse's office. If you had chosen that, you would have ten million yen in cash right now."

"Well, I do regret that a little, but…"

"We consider Majima-kun's responsibility to be significant, and there are opinions that he should compensate you to some extent."

"That's unfair! It was Ichinose's own decision to use it! I had nothing to do with it!"

"You neglected your duty to explain to a student who had never even seen a potion before. How can you blame the student for failing to fulfill your obligations as a teacher?"

Scolded by the principal, Majima shrank back.

This guy seemed like a pretty incompetent teacher.

I guess since it was D-Class, they assigned an incompetent teacher like this as the homeroom teacher?

I was exasperated by Majima's reaction.

But I thought the principal's suggestion that Majima compensate me for the Rank 4 potion was going too far.

Actually, using the Rank 4 potion not only healed my injuries but also restored my memories. As a result, I was able to recall Skill Camouflage. Even though it was a useless skill, considering that if I hadn't used the Rank 4 potion, I might have forgotten it forever, I thought using it was a good thing. So…

"Well, you don't have to compensate me."

"Is that true, Ichinose!"

Majima said this happily. His happiness was annoying.

"Are you sure, Ichinose-kun?"

"Well, I'll work hard in the future and earn more."

The higher a dungeon explorer's level, the more they earned. Just defeating slimes on the first floor only earned a few hundred yen, but if I worked hard, I'd probably be able to earn ten million yen in the not-too-distant future. So I decided not to regret missing out on that ten million yen this time.