2. Awakening

Reet left the Welzley family residence alone, with no clear destination in mind. Still, he knew that walking straight ahead would eventually lead him to a neighboring town.

He wandered aimlessly, each step heavy with dread. The familiar streets blurred around him as he passed through, but the eyes of those around him pierced like daggers.

Reet, the lord’s son—or rather, the “former” son—was naturally famous in town. The news of his becoming “Classless” had spread with astonishing speed.

“There he is…! The Classless one!”

“I was wondering what kind of Class the Holy Knight’s son would get, but never expected Classless…”

“Could it be he’s not actually the Holy Knight’s son?”

People along the road whispered such things behind his back. Reet felt the urge to cover his ears, but he simply continued walking in silence, stoically moving forward.

For a moment, he considered explaining things to his childhood friend Sara, but in the end, he walked past her home without stopping. She was now a “Holy Knight,” destined to carve her name into history as a hero. He couldn’t possibly report to her that he had been cast out of his home.

He passed through the town and continued down the road to the neighboring settlement. For now, he would head to the next town. He had to leave Welzley Duchy—his father’s territory—and find work in new lands.

In truth, would any employer even take on an eighteen-year-old Classless person? Reet’s mind churned with nothing but anxiety.

Reet’s search for work in the neighboring town quickly confronted him with harsh reality.

“No Class? A brat with no Skills? The only thing a guy like you can do is carry baggage.”

Because Reet possessed no Class, he had no Skills, and there were almost no jobs available to him. After a full day of searching, the only work he managed to find was carrying baggage for a traveling merchant—and even that was merely a one-day job.

“My name is Reet. I appreciate your trust,” he said, accepting the baggage-carrying position. One day was enough. He would take any lowly work. Above all, he urgently needed to earn money to survive the next few days.

Fortunately, his body was well-trained. He had spent years preparing it for swordplay rather than carrying luggage, but he had no choice. For Reet now, his trained body was the only decent “Skill” he possessed.

I just need to work as hard as I can.

That was his resolve.

But reality was cruel.

“Reet…? I’ve heard that name somewhere…”

“Hey, wait… isn’t this guy the son of Welzley the Duke?”

The moment the merchants heard his name, they recognized him. He had thought his bad reputation would disappear once he left his territory, but reality was not so kind. Holy Knights were rare treasures that could be counted on one hand in the kingdom. Because of this, Reet’s father, Duke Welzley, was incredibly famous, and despite being a “Classless” son, Reet too had become equally notorious.

“That’s him. ‘NEET Reet,’ isn’t it?”

The merchants laughed loudly. Reet had no choice but to accept such reactions from those around him in silence.

“Well then, Lord Reet. Let’s head to the next town right away.”

Reet joined the merchant caravan as a baggage carrier. At the head of the group were sword-wielding men.

They’re Swordsmen.

They worked as guards for the caravan. Here he was, having swung a sword every day in hopes of becoming a Holy Knight, now watching them with complicated feelings. The sight of them holding swords instead of baggage made him feel utterly pathetic.

But reality wouldn’t change. Reet walked on quietly.

†

After walking for several hours, the caravan reached the midpoint of their journey. The path pressed forward through a forest; if they could pass through, they would reach their destination.

“Bandits!!”

Three masked men appeared, each wielding a sword. At their sight, the caravan’s guards drew their own blades in response.

“Get them!”

Guards and bandits clashed, the numbers evenly matched. But the bandits’ skill far surpassed the guards’. The guards fought a desperate defense, and after only a brief exchange of blows, one fell in an instant.

“They’re strong—!!”

Another guard fell immediately after. The last remaining guard was cornered by the three bandits, gradually backing away. And in the next moment, that hesitant final guard too was cut down with ease.

The merchants around them turned deathly pale with terror. All members of the caravan besides the guards were non-combatants. Now that the guards were all defeated, the helpless merchants had no options left.

There was nothing to do but sit and await death.

Except—

“Damn it!”

Reet kicked the ground with all his might and rushed toward a fallen guard’s body. He picked up the sword lying on the ground and turned to face the bandits. It was reckless. He had certainly trained relentlessly with the sword, but if even a guard bearing the Swordsman Class couldn’t defeat these opponents, there was no way a Classless person like him could win.

Ten years of sword training meant nothing without the power-enhancing Skills that Classes granted. Against a bandit wielding Skills, his training was worthless garbage.

But he took up the sword anyway because he thought it was better to struggle, however futilely, than to stand by and do nothing.

“What’s this? A baggage carrier picking up a sword? What do you think you’re doing?”

The bandits let out crude, loud laughter. But perhaps because Reet’s stance was reasonably good, they gripped their swords again and pointed their blades at him.

“Here goes—I’ll kill you in one shot!”

One of the bandits swung his sword down in an overhead strike, crude in technique but swift and powerful thanks to the Swordsman Class’s Physical Enhancement Skill. Reet met the strike with a clean parry, but the difference in power between one with Skills and one without was painfully obvious. The weight of that single swing struck Reet’s entire body through his sword like a club, reverberating through his entire being.

“—!!”

His body froze at the unbearable impact. He barely managed to block the strike, unable to counter. The next instant, Reet was sent flying, sword and all.

The difference in arm strength was clear—not the result of physical training alone, but the power of the Swordsman Class’s Skill. There was no way a Classless Reet with no Skills could overcome a Swordsman.

“Damn…!!”

He had no chance of winning. Yet Reet still stood up.

“What’s wrong? If you have that much energy, you should just run away. You’re an idiot.”

The bandit laughed again. Spotting the opening, Reet lunged forward once more in a full-force charge—a perfect exploit of an opening that would have ended the fight if both were equally skilled. But sadly, his opponent was a Swordsman Class user with the “Physical Enhancement” Skill, while Reet was Classless and had nothing whatsoever.

The gap was too vast. No mere difference in swordsmanship or slight delay in reaction could overcome it.

“You’re annoying!”

The irritated strike shattered Reet’s dull blade. He was sent flying, spinning through the air. The sword slipped from his grasp, and the next moment his back slammed into the earth with a bone-jarring impact.

An inarticulate moan escaped his lips.

“Give up already! A Classless brat can’t win!”

One of the merchants said this. Reet’s hopeless struggle was simply too pitiful to watch. But Reet still managed to rise.

“What? Still going? You’re really annoying.”

Even the bandit, who until now had worn a base smile, was growing irritated at Reet’s persistence.

“Here!”

A merciless overhead strike. Reet desperately blocked the blow, but couldn’t absorb the momentum, and the sword flew from his hands with force. Overcome by the impact, Reet dropped to one knee.

“Man, I thought you were incredibly weak, but you’re not even a Swordsman, are you?”

The bandit looked down at Reet. Having lost his weapon and yet still refusing to yield, Reet drove his clenched fist into the man’s stomach.

“Ow!”

But against a body strengthened by Skill, the punch of an untrained man accomplished nothing. The bandit felt barely a twinge of pain. He reflexively swatted at Reet like one might a mosquito, landing a kick.

It was a kick without much force behind it, but to Reet’s human body, it was a fatal blow. Even Reet couldn’t get back up after this.

Is this really the end…?

Reet’s eyes began to blur with tears of regret. The bandit’s expression as he looked down at Reet held no more laughter.

“Small fry like you should just die!”

The bandit raised his sword once more. Death was closing in, and Reet’s world shifted to slow motion. Regret consumed him—regret that his life had been for nothing.

But at that moment.

[—You have obtained the Skill “Physical Enhancement”]

Suddenly, such a voice echoed in his mind. A woman’s voice. Not a hallucination. Absolutely not. He heard it clearly, unmistakably.

[—You have obtained the Skill “Sword Art Enhancement”]

Another one followed immediately after. That sound was the voice a goddess makes when granting Skills. Reet didn’t understand what was happening, but his body suddenly felt lighter.

The bandit’s attack closed in. But in the next instant, Reet moved backward at an impossible speed.

“What—!?”

Even as he retreated, he picked up the sword that had fallen to the ground and, with the momentum of his evasion, unleashed a straight-line slash at the bandit. The bandit tried to block Reet’s attack out of reflex but couldn’t. In an instant, the bandit fell.

Reet’s counterattack was reflexive. His body had moved on its own, which is why he was surprised himself.

The moment I hit that guy, strength flooded into me.

It was a sensation he had never felt in his entire life. His muscles suddenly doubled in mass, and energy surged forth as if his stamina were limitless. Yet the sensory information he received was abundant and precise.

“What the—!?”

The remaining two bandits watching from the sidelines displayed shocked expressions. Reet himself didn’t understand what was happening, but his instincts—honed through years of training as a swordsman—compelled his body forward, straight toward the next bandit.

Reet’s sharp strike easily shattered the bandit’s sword.

“Th-That’s impossible—!?”

Faced with the reality of his weapon being broken, the bandit’s courage evaporated in an instant.

“A-A monster—!!”

The disarmed bandit turned and fled at full speed. Seeing this, the other bandit too bolted from the scene in panic.

Classless Reet had defeated three Swordsman-Class bandits.

“Th-Thank you…”

“You saved our lives.”

“Yes, you’re our savior.”

The members of the caravan offered their gratitude to Reet in succession.

“Say, are you actually a combat-Class user?”

One of the merchants asked.

“Ah, no… that’s not quite right.”

Reet himself didn’t understand how he had managed to defeat the bandits. But there was one thing he knew for certain: when he had punched that man, he had felt the sensation of obtaining a Skill. In fact, he had heard the “goddess’s voice” announcing the Skill acquisition at that very moment.

He didn’t know what was happening, but—

One thing was certain.

Now that he had obtained the Skills of a Swordsman Class, Reet could chase the dream he had almost given up on once more.