Minus Skill: The Story of Four Nuisances… - Chapter 27

Shortly thereafter, we reached the 40th layer’s safe area.

It will probably be the last place we’d get to rest in this dungeon. After having a simple meal, everyone rested up as they pleased.

“By the way… this doesn’t really matter much, but…” All of a sudden, Kokoru, who was sitting on the ground, spoke up.

“What does the ‘Mummy’ in Mummy Graverobber refer to, Tet-san?”

“Eh?”

Kokoru continued to ask Tet, who was lying down on her back, slowly fluttering her eyelashes.

“I haven’t heard of anything like this before. What does it mean?”

“Ah… I don’t know either.”

“Eh?! Why don’t you know? I mean, it’s your skill!”

“I’ve never thought about the meaning behind a skill name. It’s enough to know its effects.”

“I think it refers to Mummy type of monsters.”

I couldn’t help but interject.

“Some of the original descriptions of tomb dungeons had such a reference to Mummies.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Mummies are bandaged undead bodies, no…? What do you do by robbing those kinds of beings, Tet-san?”

“Don’t ask me!”

“But did you understand the meaning of the skill name?”

Melina, who was organizing the items she had, pitched in from the side.

“Mummy will shoot a ‘curse’ type of debuff, usually. If you try to steal them, it is natural to receive a debuff. The skill name probably means that you would be the one to get all of the Mummy’s hate. That’s it. ”

“I don’t really get it.”

“Oh! The reward rate is based on the number of mummies you can steal!”

“So that’s what it means to steal mummies!”

Tet leaped up and shouted.

Certainly, they seem to have understood the meaning, but I don’t understand.

“I mean, if it’s a skill name, I don’t really understand Kokoru’s skill name either.”

“Well, is that so?”

“What do the Severed Heads in “Usurper of Severed heads” mean? What exactly are you usurping?”

“I know this!”

Kokoru looked proud.

“A long time ago, when humans were fighting each other, soldiers cut off the neck of the corpses and brought it back to their own side to prove that they had defeated the enemy in the war. It also means that they would get credit. ”

“Wow… cutting necks? Kokoru’s skill name had such a bloody meaning …”

“But the skill name is effective.”

“Is that really the case? Did that actually happen?”

“Of course… or so I would like to say, but I don’t know if it really happened because the scriptures only mention it vaguely.”

Kokoru smiles bitterly.

As an adventurer priest, Kokoru didn’t seem to be such a devout believer.

“Speaking of scriptures, my skill name is also strange.”

“Why so, Melina-san?”

“In the church, they teach that the god is only one supreme god. Then why do we have different gods in skills? Gods such as fertility gods, charity gods, war gods, and more are present in skill names. There are a lot of them, but who are they, if we only have one supreme god?”

“Well … theologically, they’re not considered as true gods. They’re either alter egos created by the Supreme God by dividing a part of his power, or just there in the skill name.”

“Hmm… I think there are no temples dedicated to these gods.”

“I don’t think it can be helped, so no need to think so hard. The skill name was just given by the person who made it.”

“I don’t think it’s really suitable…”

However, it’s true that there is no point in thinking so much.

Tomorrow, the enemy would be in front of you. Adventurers have a lot of other things to think about, compared to meaningless stuff.

“I was just wondering….” Tet turned to Kokoru and asked, “Could it be that you’re from the seminary?”

“Tet, that’s…”

I was a little upset even though I wasn’t the one who got asked.

Many adventurers do not want to talk about their origins. There may be various reasons, but it’s easy to understand that not all of them like to do such a job out of their own choice.

Therefore, it was an adventurer’s implicit rule not to step inside their partner’s personal background. Especially if they want to stay in a relationship for a long time.

If you aren’t careful with it, the party could collapse with just one question, so I was worried, but… Kokoru answered so normally, that it was unbelievable.

“Yes. Seminary in the eastern city. But I dropped out.”

“Ah… I see. Dropped out, huh?”

“Nothing that bad. It’s just that my parents’ business took a turn for the worse and they couldn’t pay my tuition anymore. I could become a priest, but I had a lot of skills. So I thought of becoming an adventurer. Actually, ever since I was in school, I had admired adventurer priests. ”

“That’s a bit like me.” Melina says.

“I was from a Magic Academy”

“Woah, that’s amazing!”

“But I also dropped out. My parents were low-ranking aristocrats. I was the fourth daughter, and my parents had trouble finding me a suitable partner, so they wanted me to find one at the school. But somehow, I didn’t like it… So, I dropped out. I had a lot of skills and a longing for a free life, which became my motivation.”

“Both of you are amazing. I thought you would have grown up in a good environment.”

Tet shook her head.

“I’m an orphan. I wasn’t in trouble because of the church, but the orphanage was just poor. I became an adventurer just for money. The amount of skills I had may have something to do with it. ”

“You’re strangely strong, just like I thought.”

“A poor orphanage is something hard to put up with…”

“Well, I’m grateful to the director. I still go to see him once in a while and give out sweets to the kids there.”

Then Tet turned around.

“What about Alvin? Why did you become an adventurer?”

“I…”

My voice was slightly muffled.

If you think about it, it might be my first time telling another adventurer about this.

“Well… it’s a common story. I was born in a farmer family, but I couldn’t take over the farm because of my older brother. I had the strongest power and skills in my generation, so I decided to become an adventurer. An old man in the neighborhood, who was an adventurer, taught me how to use the sword. ”

The three people who heard it, say,

“‘That’s normal.”

“Normal.”

“How normal.”

“That’s why I said it’s a common story.”

I chuckled.

“But I didn’t think it would be so hard because of my negative skills. I wish someone had told me beforehand.”

“So true! I didn’t think it was a minus!”

“In case it’s a rare skill, you can’t tell even if you wanted to ask someone.”

“That’s right. But well, it’s fine.”

Tet says cheerfully.

“Soon, we will be rewarded.”

In Tet’s words… I instinctively turned to the dungeon that spreads beyond the safe area.

The forty layers here are the lowest layers of the setting sun cave.

The boss room was already just a stone’s throw away.