1. Expulsion

“Finally… Class assignment,” Reet Welzley muttered under his breath.

Reet Welzley was a young man who had just turned eighteen years old.

Class assignment.

It was a major turning point in one’s life.

Of course, this wasn’t about choosing school classrooms. It was an event that completely transformed the rest of your life.

In this world, when you turn eighteen, you receive a “Class” from God. For example, you might become a Swordsman, Mage, Priest, Farmer, or Merchant, among other possibilities. This Class grants you various skills. If you become a Swordsman, you gain the divine ability to split rocks with a sword. If you become a Mage, you can wield all manner of magic.

There was no obligation to use the power of your assigned Class to work. But realistically, those who received Farmer or Merchant classes could never become adventurers. The power of combat-type classes like Swordsman or Mage was overwhelming, and it was impossible to overcome that gap through effort alone.

To be blunt, your Class determined almost your entire life.

In fact, Reet’s father, Ride Welzley, had risen to the rank of Duke in a single generation—but this was only because he had been granted the rare “Holy Knight” Class. If you received a rare Class, you could rise to Duke in an instant. Conversely, if you were assigned the Farmer class, a lifetime of mediocrity awaited you.

“I’m so nervous,” Reet’s childhood friend Sara said to him.

Sara shook her freshly trimmed silver hair, cut short in a bob style. Both Reet and Sara were eighteen this year. Today was the day of their Class assignment. Since both Reet and Sara’s parents held combat-type classes, they were expected to become either Swordsmen or Mages. They had trained their swordsmanship and studied magic together all this time.

But if, by some misfortune, they were assigned Farmer or Merchant classes, all that effort would have been wasted.

Though he tried not to show it on his face, Reet hadn’t slept at all last night. After all, his entire future hung in the balance.

“In any case, I won’t say Holy Knight—but I desperately want to become either a Swordsman or a Mage.”

That was Reet’s hope. Holy Knight was such a rare class—one in tens of millions—that even as the son of a Holy Knight, it wasn’t something you could casually obtain. But Swordsman and Mage, while uncommon, had a decent number of practitioners. They weren’t ultra-legendary classes, but becoming a first-rate person was absolutely possible with them.

I absolutely cannot become a Farmer or Merchant.

If that happened, the honor of the Welzley ducal house would be completely destroyed. He would never be able to bear the Welzley name again.

After that, with little more to say, Reet and Sara made their way to the temple. There, many people who had just turned eighteen were gathered. Their expressions varied, but everyone shared a mixture of anticipation and anxiety. Reet and Sara joined the waiting line.

Already, priests at the front of the temple were announcing Class assignments.

“—Your Class is—Swordsman!” the priest declared.

The boy who received this pronouncement showed open joy. The family watching over him was equally delighted.

“—Your Class is—Farmer!”

In stark contrast, the next boy was assigned the ordinary Farmer class. His expression showed clear disappointment. He would spend his entire life tilling fields, so his internal turmoil was easy to imagine.

Then, as Reet continued watching others’ Class assignments, his father entered the temple. Ride Welzley, a Holy Knight and the Duke who governed this land, received a formal greeting from the priests. Duke Ride took a seat in the front row with the best view of the platform. It was the perfect place to witness his son’s great moment.

Reet felt even more anxious. He was crushed under the weight of his father’s expectations.

Then, after a while, a name was called that Reet knew well, and he snapped his head toward the platform.

“Kait Welzley!”

Kait Welzley was Reet’s half-brother. Unlike Reet’s black hair, Kait’s golden hair stood out. He wore an ear piercing, a skull necklace on his chest, and ill-fitting clothes. He was a thoroughly wayward young man. His personality was terribly bad, and since he made no real effort at anything, Reet had grown to hate him.

Reet understood that his terrible personality was partly due to being raised with absolutely no expectations because he was the son of a mistress, but there was something fundamentally incompatible with him regardless. Reet and Kait were like cats and dogs.

Yet, he was still Reet’s half-brother, bound by blood. Reet watched his Class assignment with bated breath.

“—Your Class is… Holy Knight—!!”

The temple erupted in confusion. Most surprising of all, Kait himself seemed shocked by this divine revelation. Naturally, Reet was astonished too.

Kait becoming a Holy Knight—how was that even possible?

Glancing at his father, Duke Ride, who stood beside the platform, Reet saw his eyes wide with surprise. Duke Ride had held absolutely no expectations for Kait, being the son of his mistress. But the idea that Kait would be assigned the Holy Knight class—a class that practically guaranteed becoming a hero—was completely unthinkable.

“To think a Holy Knight would be born in this town!”

“It seems the Duke’s son truly is remarkable!”

Even a delinquent son who had misbehaved constantly would have people fawning over him once he became a Holy Knight. The townspeople were in an uproar about Kait.

“My boy, you did well,” Duke Ride said, patting his son’s—who had become a Holy Knight like himself—shoulder. Kait, who was usually sullen and apathetic, wore a broad, genuine smile at that moment.

Then, shortly after,

“—Sara Scott!”

His childhood friend’s name was called, and Reet straightened his back in response.

“You can do it,” Reet called out to her.

“Okay,” Sara replied.

Sara climbed onto the platform with a nervous expression.

“Sara Scott. Your Class is—,” the priest began.

Reet watched with bated breath for what came next.

“—Holy Knight!”

The temple erupted in even greater commotion. Holy Knight was an ultra-rare class with only a handful of practitioners in existence. For two to appear in the same day, in the same temple, was nearly miraculous.

“Congratulations!” Reet called to Sara when she returned to his side.

“Yeah, thank you. I never thought I’d be a Holy Knight…” Sara said, still in shock.

Reet was as happy as if this had happened to him.

“—Reet Welzley.”

And then, finally, it was Reet’s turn.

Reet walked toward the priest, trembling with tension. An elderly man gazed at Reet while peering into a crystal.

“Reet Welzley, your Class is—”

Reet held his breath, waiting for what came next. Too nervous to stand still, he shut his eyes.

—————

But the priest’s words didn’t come.

When he opened his eyes, the priest’s face showed nothing but confusion and distress.

“Um…?”

Reet couldn’t help but ask, and the priest finally spoke.

“—Your Class is… Classless.”

No one in the temple could understand what he was saying.

“—Classless?” Reet wondered if it was some kind of riddle, but that seemed impossible in this sacred place. The priest was simply stating a fact.

But the fact was so absurd that Reet couldn’t comprehend it.

“What do you mean by ‘Classless’?”

“I mean exactly what I said. You have no Class. Your assignment is… blank.”

The temple erupted in commotion. At eighteen, everyone receives a Class from God. It was a law of the world. Yet Reet had been given no Class at all.

If anything, the divine judgment handed down was—

So… I’m basically jobless?¹

Everyone was bewildered by this unprecedented situation. But no matter how confused people looked, the reality didn’t change. One way or another, Reet could not become a Holy Knight, a Swordsman, a Mage, a Merchant, or a Farmer.

On that day, he was simply told by God that he was—jobless.

Reet returned home in a daze. He had devoted himself to training in preparation to follow in his great father’s footsteps. Yet he hadn’t even been able to become a Farmer—he had received no Class at all. The priest was confused by this unprecedented turn of events, but there was no way to redo the Class assignment. Class assignment was divine mandate. God’s word was absolute.

I will die as nothing, without ever becoming anything.

Reet was plunged into despair by the fact God had announced.

“—Lord Reet.”

Just as Reet stood in a daze, contemplating what came next, a servant entered his room.

“The Duke is calling for you.”

“Father is?”

To be honest, Reet had no desire to face his father right now. But he couldn’t ignore a “command.”

Reet lifted his heavy body and left the room. When he entered his father’s room, Kait was there as well.

“What is it, Father?” Reet asked.

The Duke spoke with cold authority.

“I sever the parent-child bond between us.”

Reet was stunned by the sudden words.

“You’re severing… the parent-child bond?”

He didn’t understand what it meant.

“The fact that you were not given a Class by God means you must be carrying sin. You must have gone against God. There’s no other explanation.”

“But that can’t be. I’ve done nothing but train earnestly until now…”

Reet’s words fell on deaf ears—his father had already made his decision.

“Reet, from today onward, you are no longer a member of the Welzley family. You are not my son. My eldest son is now Kait.”

Reet and Kait’s eyes met. Kait had twisted his mouth into an evil grin.

“I’m giving you one hour. Leave this house, and leave this town.”

Reet couldn’t even clench his fists. It felt as though the ground beneath his feet had suddenly vanished. Reet knew well that his father was not a man who spoke frivolously or in the heat of the moment. When his father said banishment, it meant permanent banishment.

Reet left his father’s room without a word. He returned to his own room and closed the door.

First, he stuffed some clothes into his travel bag. But there was little else to pack. He had almost no money. He had some savings, but it would only last a few days. He had absolutely no idea what to do.

He glanced at his watch. Already forty minutes had passed. His father had said one hour. And if his father said one hour, it was exactly one hour. If he remained in this house any longer, he might as well accept death. That’s what kind of man his father was.

Shouldering his pathetic bag, Reet quietly left the mansion without saying anything to anyone.