"This curry dish has a very exotic aroma and taste, but I don't dislike it at all."
"In fact, the more I eat it, the more I want to eat it..."
'Nod'
Fortunately, the curry was well-received by everyone.
"...Mr. Kai"
"Yes?"
"Please, couldn't you work as a cook for our Familia? I'll pay you enough to satisfy you."
"...A cook?"
It was just that after the meal, Amid suddenly offered me a part-time job as a cook.
"Yes, lunch... no, even just dinner would be fine."
Unlike a moment ago when she was quietly savoring the taste, now she was serious and a bit talkative, which was quite different from how I'd seen her before, so it was a bit surprising.
"I appreciate the offer, but... with what I'm doing now, it's already a bit overwhelming."
'Did I put some truth serum in the curry or something?' I wondered, as she visibly became sullen.
"Is that so..."
At Amid's sullen expression, I remembered what happened earlier in the room, and the guilt I had temporarily forgotten came back.
"...Weekends might be possible."
"Really?!"
I once heard from an adventurer customer at the shop that sometimes people who receive Falna from a god start to resemble that god, and it seems I've somewhat inherited Miach-sama's soft-heartedness.
.
.
.
"Hmm~ It looks good."
"...Miach-sama, if I'm not mistaken, isn't the problem that you're trying to take our member without permission?"
"Ahaha, it just shows how delicious Kai's cooking is, right?"
"Well, that's true, but... ha... talking any more about this is tiring..."
.
.
.
By the way, whenever I had time, I conducted various investigations with the god about my madness.
"Based on the information gathered so far, let's draw a conclusion..."
And today, Miach-sama called me, as if he had reached some conclusion.
"...Draw a conclusion?"
"First of all, it's not confirmed, but with high probability, it might be something like a personality created by the protective instinct within you."
But that conclusion was too unexpected.
"Huh?... Protective instinct? This guy who enjoys slaughter?"
As I didn't understand, Miach-sama immediately started to add an explanation, as if he expected this reaction.
"Kai, do you remember saying before that you came back to life because of your ability?"
"Ah, yes..."
"From what I see, that death might have triggered it, and to protect itself, the body created a personality... that's the most plausible hypothesis I've come up with for now."
As soon as I heard the explanation, I remembered stories about multiple personality criminals I saw on YouTube and people suffering from war PTSD.
"Come to think of it, I think I've heard similar stories before..."
They were stories about how, due to abuse and people's indifference in childhood, a difficult youth led to another personality that committed murders while the original personality was asleep, and about a soldier who saw his comrades die from artillery shells during war.
"...But I think I'm quite different from those cases. Usually, such mental issues are created to escape fear or their causes, right?"
"Ordinary people don't have the opportunity to experience death and come back to life, so I think the difference likely stems from that part."
"Hmm... that does seem plausible."
"So, your case can be said to be unique. A living proof that even after experiencing death, the human mind can remain intact... you could say."
"...Is it that much?"
"It is that much."
The more I talked with the god, the more I realized how amazing my ability was and how absurd it was.
"Then, can we find a way to fix this now?"
I thought I had somewhat grasped a clue about my madness, though not completely.
"No, I probably can't fix it."
"...Huh?"
The god gave an unexpected answer again.
"Originally, this madness was created by your memory of being attacked by monsters, so with high probability, I think it won't harm people."
"Even so, there's always the possibility of 'what if'..."
"Probably, even in that 'what if' case you're thinking of, it will only happen if the other side attacks first."
"How can you be sure of that..."
"Haha, it's the intuition of a medical god."
"...Usually, that kind of intuition is wrong, isn't it?"
And so, my dungeon exploration began again.
.
.
.
The day after talking with the god about my madness, I headed to the dungeon.
"No, why is this for real..."
I was slightly dazed by the fact that the god's intuition was correct.
"...Well, at least I have an additional source of income again, so that's good, right?"
The light of the Familia had dimmed slightly, and I found out that this madness doesn't attack people first, so looking at the results, it was a very good situation.
"But why do I feel like I've lost something..."
And so, perhaps as a reaction to not being able to go into the dungeon for a while, I decided to increase the floors as much as possible today...
"Somehow... there aren't many monsters..."
For some reason, there were few monsters.
"Already the 5th floor... why haven't I had a chance to use this..."
Since it was my first time in the dungeon in a while, I prepared by making a push dagger myself, but I spent more time walking than fighting monsters, so I felt deflated.
"Come to think of it, I think I've seen a scene like this in a manga..."
'Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!'
'@#$!$@@!$'
"...Huh?"
As if for my deflated state, the dungeon gifted me a big slap in the face.
"Moooooo!!!!"
"Whaaaaaaaah!?"
Namely, the protagonist being chased by a Minotaur, the first scene of this manga.
"Heh, hehe hehehehe... what the fuck..."
No sooner said than done, even though the opponent was a much stronger Minotaur, since it was a monster, my mind began to blur.
"Yo, you there in front!! Run away quickly?!!"
"...Move aside"
"...Huh?"
"If you don't want to get hurt, move aside!!"
I snapped at the poor protagonist who unnecessarily worried about me.
'Tap! Tap! Tap!'
As I stepped forward, the protagonist Bell Cranel realized I was going to fight the Minotaur, passed by me, and immediately started trembling with his hand on his weapon, watching me.
"Moooooo!!!"
Based on yesterday's conversation with Miach-sama, my current state is like a situation you'd only see in manga, where my mind is awake but the body's control has been taken over by another personality.
"Ahahahahaha!!!"
'What are you, Bleach's Zanpakuto?! Please don't laugh like that!!'
It's truly an evil-sounding laugh, no matter when you hear it.
"Come at me, you third-grade beef bastard!!!"
"Moooooo!!!"
As if insulted by the weaker being facing him without fear, the Minotaur roared loudly and raised one arm.
'Boom!!!'
In an instant, it slammed down hard on the spot where I was standing, destroying the surroundings, but
"Moo?!"
I was no longer there.
"Boo!!"
"Moo?!!"
I had somehow grabbed the creature's horn and climbed onto its head.
"I'm here, you bastard!!!"
I plunged the push dagger into its crown, but
'Clang!!!'
The push dagger, made shoddily and not even properly forged, couldn't pierce its hard skin and shattered into mere iron fragments, and
"Ugh?!"
As if that wasn't enough, the shattered pieces embedded in my right hand, and blood started flowing.
"Moooooo!!!"
As if angered by the fact that it almost died, the Minotaur jumped towards the ceiling, and
"Gah?!!!"
I became one with the ceiling and, bleeding, my breath cut off.
"...Huh?"
And the protagonist Bell Cranel, who witnessed this scene with his own eyes,
"Moooooo!!!"
"Whaaaaaaah!!"
became the target of the angry Minotaur and faced death.
"Ugh... my neck..."
When I regained consciousness stuck in the ceiling, the Minotaur was already gone, and a golden-haired woman was approaching the protagonist.
"Hey... are you okay? Can you stand?"
"I'm...!"
Our protagonist
"Waaaaaaaaah!!"
briefly bowed his head and then ran away screaming.
"...To think that's the protagonist."
In the moment I wondered how I, in middle school, watched a manga with such a protagonist, someone appeared laughing loudly.
"Uhuhuhu! Uahahaha!! Ahahahahaha!!!"
'Ah... now I remember, the names of that golden-haired girl and wolf guy were definitely Ais and Bete, right?'
Due to the situation, their names didn't come to mind immediately.
"He ran away, Ais...!"
Perhaps the wolf didn't know I was stuck in the ceiling, as he held his stomach and laughed loudly, teasing Ais.
"That guy is something else...! He turned completely tomato-like!"
"..."
Ais, as if slightly annoyed by Bete's laughter, turned her head slightly and puffed out her cheeks.
'I want to come down now...'
Now that my forcibly turned neck was starting to hurt, I wanted to come down, so I somehow squeezed out a voice.
"Hey..."
"?!!"
As I made a sound, the two people noticeably startled and looked up.
"...Could you help me down?"