Rikuya sighed as he stepped forward. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, his posture relaxed, almost indifferent.
He stopped in front of the crystal.
"Place your hand on it, young hero. Don't keep us waiting," the king instructed.
Rikuya let out a quiet groan but did as he was told. His fingers barely brushed the surface when the crystal burst to life.
The air trembled.
Lines of golden text swirled in the air, forming words no one had ever seen before.
Name: Riku Takatsuki
Class: Auto Hero (FFF Rank)
Level: 1
Health: 500/500
Mana: 200/200 [Null Mana Ring]
Strength: 20
Agility: 15
Endurance: 30
Intelligence: 50
Skills (Slots 0/?):
The room fell silent.
Rikuya stared at the text. Then at the crystal. Then back at the text.
"...What?"
The nobles exchanged confused glances. Even the king furrowed his brow.
Haruka leaned in. "Uh… what does FFF-Class mean?"
Kenta scratched his head. "I dunno, but that sounds like the lowest rank possible."
Takashi frowned. "Yeah, isn't SSS supposed to be the best? FFF sounds… terrible."
Aya tilted her head. "Wait, but it says 'Auto Hero.' That has to mean something, right?"
The meaning sank in.
Kenta burst into laughter. "Dude, you're a hero on autopilot!"
Miko snorted. "Sounds like fate is dragging you around whether you like it or not."
The nobles suddenly began to comment.
"I've never seen such a weak class in my life!"
"Not a single skill? How is that even possible?"
"His base stats are pitiful. Can he even hold a sword with that strength?"
"A hero with less agility than a trainee knight? This is a joke."
"Even a healer has better endurance than this!"
"A peasant farmer would have higher stats just from working the fields!"
"This must be some kind of mistake. The crystal has to be broken."
"No, the crystal has never malfunctioned before… which means—"
A nobleman in the back shook his head grimly.
"Imagine if word spreads that one of the heroes sent to protect the people is even weaker than a regular unarmed commoner. It would make us look like fools."
The weight of those words settled over the room. A hero was meant to be a symbol of strength, hope, and protection. But this? This was unprecedented.
Rikuya's class was truly strange. Even in the most ordinary commoner families, the lowest rank a person could have was F. And yet, for the first time in history, an F had been stacked more than once—let alone three times.
From the corner of the room, a burst of laughter broke through the tension. Renji leaned against a pillar, arms crossed, a wide smirk on his face.
"Well, well. Looks like the stone saw through all your big talk earlier, huh, Rikuya?" He sneered. "It showed you for what you really are—trash."
He chuckled darkly before shaking his head. "No… even trash can be recycled. You? You're just straight-up useless."
Rikuya gritted his teeth but said nothing. He could feel the weight of the nobles' mockery pressing down on him, but he refused to give them the satisfaction of a reaction. Instead, he simply stood there, rubbing the back of his neck.
His classmates exchanged glances before murmuring among themselves.
"Damn, they're roasting him alive," Kenta muttered.
Haruka winced. "This is brutal."
"They're not even trying to hide it," Aya added.
"To be fair... it is weird," Takashi admitted, though even he looked uncomfortable.
The murmurs and quiet chuckles from the nobles were cut off as the king raised a hand.
"Enough," he said. The room fell into silence instantly.
The king turned to Rikuya. "Hero Rikuya, I must apologize for the harsh words of my vassals. Their concerns, though poorly expressed, stem from their duty to the kingdom."
Rikuya said nothing, rubbing the back of his neck.
The king exhaled. "However, I cannot ignore those concerns. For the sake of the kingdom and the other heroes, you will have to leave. I cannot allow you to slow the others down."
A tense silence followed his words.
Then, suddenly—
"That's too harsh!" Miss Tanaka stepped forward. "I can't allow this! Can't he train just like the others? Why must he be separated?"
The king turned his gaze to her, his expression remaining calm. He sighed before glancing toward Eldrin. "Explain it to her."
The royal mage stepped forward, his deep blue robes shifting as he stepped forward. He looked directly at Miss Tanaka.
"Your concerns are understandable, but keeping him here would not be in his best interest—or yours." He glanced at Rikuya before continuing. "Class ranks determine not just raw strength but also how efficiently a person grows." He glanced back at Miss Tanaka. "You, for example, are SS-Rank. That means every level you gain will make you significantly stronger than the rest. Even among the heroes, the lowest rank is B. Over time, the gaps in power will become impossible to ignore."
He pointed toward Rikuya. "But FFF-Rank… that is something unheard of. Even among commoners, the lowest possible class is F. The fact that his rank has been stacked not once, but three times, suggests something fundamentally flawed about his growth potential. At best, his progress will be agonizingly slow. At worst, he may never grow stronger at all."
Miss Tanaka clenched her fists. "Even so, can't he fulfill another role? A strategist, a scholar—anything?"
She turned to the king. "Your Majesty, you said you've given me a noble title. Can't I give Rikuya a job? Could he not serve as a butler or something?"
A sharp laugh echoed through the hall.
Renji smirked. "That sounds amazing. I could have Rikuya clean my sword for me. Maybe even polish my armor while he's at it."
Miss Tanaka shot him a glare. "Renji, shut up."
Renji clicked his tongue but said nothing.
"That was so not cool, man," Kenta muttered.
"Seriously, what's wrong with you?" Takashi asked.
"That was a low blow, even for you," Aya said with a frown.
Renji ignored them, his smug gaze locked onto Rikuya, as if daring him to react.
Eldrin finally responded.
He shook his head. "The summoning ritual was designed to bring forth warriors, not administrators or servants. The Hero's Oath binds all summoned heroes to combat. Those who do not grow stronger will eventually stagnate, and over time, they may even weaken. The kingdom cannot afford to dedicate resources to someone who, by all accounts, will never be able to fight alongside the others. Even if we found him a different role, he would remain a liability. And should word spread that one of our summoned heroes is weaker than an unarmed commoner, it would undermine the people's faith in the crown and the prophecy."
He turned fully to Rikuya. "You would not only struggle to keep up—you would be treated as dead weight. Even your fellow heroes would eventually surpass you to such an extent that protecting you would become a burden, and the pressure of being surrounded by them will slowly affect your mentality. The best path for you is to leave, forge your own way, and prove whether your class has any merit at all. If you remain, you will never be more than a footnote in the shadow of those around you."
Miss Tanaka clenched her fists, frustration clearly on her face. "But—"
Rikuya suddenly laughed, shaking his head. "Well, damn. The old wizard's got a point, sensi. I personally know for certain that seeing Renji's smug face every day would probably kill me out of sheer disgust, so I'll do myself—and all of you—a favor and get out of here." He shot a lopsided grin at Eldrin. "Alright, so when can I get going?"