After Being Banished, I Awakened [Skill Appraisal: Ultimate]

“Aerial, you are hereby banished from this family.”

Upon hearing my father, Count Wind, pronounce his judgment, I—Aerial Wind—could only resign myself to the inevitable. So, the day has finally come.

“You understand why you’re being banished, don’t you? I shouldn’t have to explain.”

“Because I’m incompetent, Father.”

I replied with a sigh.

The Wind family was a prestigious noble house whose members had served as influential retainers supporting the ancient Kingdom of Elmeda.

Every successive head of the family had supposedly possessed powerful skills and contributed greatly to Elmeda.

However, the skill I had been born with, despite being the eldest son, was—

That’s right. The lowest grade.

Even among commoners with weak skills, most possessed Lower-Grade or Intermediate-Grade skills.

Having a Lowest-Grade skill was extraordinarily rare, something that happened to perhaps one person in a hundred thousand.

There was no way someone as incompetent as me could inherit the Wind family.

My father must have thought the same, because I’d been openly mistreated ever since I was a child.

Being denied meals, abandoned in freezing rooms… Looking back, those days had been nothing short of abuse.

They had treated me almost as though they hated me.

Considering how lovingly they’d raised my younger brother Harry and my younger sister Flare, who were born after me, they must have felt nothing but disappointment toward me.

And now, just as I’d expected, I was being banished.

Once I was expelled from the family, the position of heir would pass from me to my younger brother Harry, the Wind family’s second son.

Unlike me, he possessed a High-Grade skill, so he would eventually succeed Father as head of the family and undoubtedly fulfill his duties admirably.

All I had to do was disappear from this household.

“Thank you for raising me all these years, Father.”

“Enough. Get out already. I have no use for a ‘failure’ like you. Shoo! Shoo!”

Father dismissed me contemptuously.

I’d hoped we could at least share a heartfelt moment before parting for good, but apparently even that was too much to ask.

“Please excuse me.”

And so, I left the family estate, my heart heavy with disappointment.

I trudged along the highway, my shoulders slumped.

“Why did my skill have to be the lowest grade…? Did none of the Wind family’s exceptional blood get passed down to me…? Sigh…”

Without giving it much thought, I activated my skill.

And the target was—myself.

As it happened, I could also appraise my own skill.

Not that it made any difference. The result displayed was still [Skill Appraisal: Lowest Grade].

“Lowest Grade… Yeah, of course it is. I already know that, but still…”

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

I let out an enormous sigh.

I’d lost count of how many times I’d fantasized about how wonderful it would be if my skill were Supreme Grade instead.

And then—

Ding-a-ling-a-liiiiiiiiiing♪

Suddenly, a bright, melodious chime rang out from nowhere.

Immediately afterward, light flooded the space before me.

Those lines of text appeared, floating in midair.

A text message—!

“What the heck is this…?”

Nothing like this had ever appeared when I activated my skill before.

Whoa, hold on a second—

Evolve skills…?

“Don’t tell me—”

My heart began pounding furiously.

In other words, this meant…

“You’re telling me I can evolve my own skill…!?”

I looked at the message again.

Then I organized my thoughts.

1. Using skill points allowed me to evolve the targeted skill.

2. Thanks to something called a first-time bonus, I currently possessed 10,000 points.

3. By spending all 10,000 points, I could evolve my skill all the way to a rank called “Ultimate.”

All right, that settled it.

“—WAIT, WHAT THE HEEEEEEEECK!?”

I couldn’t help shouting.

“A skill rank called ‘Ultimate’!? I’ve never even heard of anything like that—!”

Normally, skills were divided into five ranks: Lowest Grade, Lower Grade, Intermediate Grade, High Grade, and Supreme Grade.

Supreme-Grade skills were so rare that you could probably count the number of people who possessed them throughout the entire world.

And judging from that explanation, “Ultimate” was probably an even higher rank than Supreme Grade.

“So, I can only evolve a skill once, huh?”

If I could only use this ability once, I ought to think carefully before making my decision.

Even so, I couldn’t contain my curiosity.

Ah, to hell with it! I’m using it!

I’d always had a habit of jumping into things without thinking them through, ever since I was a child. True to form, I impulsively poured every last one of my skill points into evolving my own skill.

An even louder, more extravagant fanfare rang out than before.

Oh, another new message had appeared.

“C-could this possibly mean… Could it really be… THAT I’VE GOT MYSELF AN INCREDIBLE SKIIIIIIIIILL!?”

Yeah, it had to be!

I’d never heard of a skill that could evolve other people’s skills.

And I’d certainly never heard of a skill with the rank of “Ultimate.”

“…I’m going home.”

That would mean disobeying Father’s order of banishment, but I didn’t care.

Surely Father would be delighted if I returned now.

He’d praise me and tell me I was worthy of inheriting the Wind family.

That’s right! For the first time in my life—Father would finally praise me!

Breathless with excitement, I hurried back to the family estate.

The butler, servants, and maids all looked surprised to see me, but I didn’t have time to deal with them. I headed straight for the room where Father was.

Apparently, the entire family happened to be spending some time together in the lobby, so I made my way over to them.

“Father, Mother, I have—”

The moment I stepped before everyone, I froze.

Their gazes were ice-cold.

What was going on here—?

Not a single person looked happy to see me.

The chilly atmosphere left me unable to say another word.

It was painfully obvious… I wasn’t welcome.

“Tch. He’s not even my real son. Why couldn’t he just stay away?”

“As if I’d ever let a man like that become the head of this family.”

Father and Mother were whispering to each other.

It seemed my mother—Father’s former wife, that is—had conceived me with another man.

I… wasn’t Father’s biological son…!?

I was stunned.

But then, why had he allowed me to remain in this household all these years?

Most likely, to preserve his reputation.

To keep his former wife’s infidelity from becoming public knowledge, he’d kept me in the family until the right opportunity arose to banish me.

The fact that my skill was Lowest Grade had provided Father with the perfect excuse to get rid of me. From his perspective, it must have been a stroke of good fortune.

But I’d managed to evolve my skill.

Surely, with the power I possessed now, I could be considered worthy of becoming the head of the Wind family.

After all, my skill was now ranked “Ultimate.”

“…So this house was never a place where I belonged. Not from the very beginning.”

I sighed.

“What’s the matter? I banished you, Aerial. Have you forgotten?”

Father’s gaze remained cold.

I’d always assumed that was simply part of his personality, but now I finally understood.

The way Father looked at me wasn’t how a parent looked at his child.

It was exactly how someone looked at a stranger they couldn’t care less about.

“…Yes, I accidentally left something behind. But I’ve managed to retrieve it now. I’ll be leaving for good this time, Father.”

I bowed to him.

These people had never accepted me as a member of their family.

Nevertheless, I wouldn’t forget the debt of gratitude I owed them for raising me all these years.

A surge of powerful emotions swept through my chest.

Gratitude and loneliness.

“Thank you… for everything you’ve done for me…”

I bowed deeply once more, then left the family estate behind.