The hero they threw away.

The grand chamber of the Holy Sanctuary pulsed with quiet tension.

Behind closed gilded doors, the High Priestess paced furiously across the velvet-carpeted floor, her golden robes trailing behind her like smoke. Her usual composure—calm, divine, untouchable—was gone. Her hands trembled slightly as she re-read the parchment spread across her desk.

"A-Rank…?"

She couldn't believe it. The identification crystal had confirmed the truth just moments ago. The boy she had sent to the Disposal Zone—no, discarded—was not the lowly E-rank healer the records claimed. He was a knight. Not just any knight, but one marked by the ancient system as "Potential Combat Class – Rank A."

Worse, there had been a strange interference when his class was being analyzed. The divination scrolls had unraveled themselves. The orb used for rank evaluation had dimmed. And she, acting on what she thought was a safe purge, had cast him into the most dangerous territory known to the Order.

Now, she paced in panic.

"How could this happen?" she hissed, throwing the scroll aside. "Who corrupted the records? Was it the system? Or… was it the will of the gods?"

A knock echoed at the door.

She stiffened. "Enter."

Leah, the class representative, stepped in. Her robes were freshly pressed, her face calm—but her eyes showed curiosity. And something else. Worry.

"You summoned me, High Priestess?"

"Yes." The priestess composed herself quickly. "I have received troubling news from the Divination Hall. A knight of considerable rank was wrongly exiled into the Banished Forest—classified under false rank by mistake."

Leah blinked. "And... who was it?"

The priestess folded her hands. "Andrew. The boy who vanished during the summoning ritual. We thought his class was defective. He was marked as a healer—E-rank. But the truth... is far from that."

Leah's mouth tightened slightly.

"Which is why," the priestess continued, "I am assigning your entire class to a new expedition. You are to enter the outskirts of the Disposal Zone and retrieve him—if he lives."

Leah's breath caught.

"That forest is full of corrupted magic and revenants. We were told—"

"Yes," the priestess interrupted. "And I am aware that I ask much. But your group contains Mario, Harry, and two elite scouts. That should suffice."

Leah bowed slightly, though her face looked strained. "As you command."

As she turned to leave, the priestess's voice followed her.

"Leah, he may be powerful now. But if he's fallen into corruption… you know what must be done."

Leah paused at the door.

"Yes, High Priestess."

Outside the chamber, Leah's calm façade wavered.

---

That evening, Mario trained with his blade, sweat gleaming across his brow. Around him, the others were preparing weapons and testing gear. The mission had been received with a mixture of excitement and unease.

"So, we're chasing ghosts now?" Mario scoffed. "If Andrew is alive, good for him. If not, well... one less deadweight."

Harry frowned but stayed silent. The memory of his duel still burned behind his eyes. But deeper than that—was guilt. Regret.

He remembered Andrew's calm words. His small smiles. The way he was ignored. Forgotten.

And now he was being hunted like a wild beast.

"Let's find him," Harry said quietly to himself. "Before they do something worse."

---

Far from the citadel, deep within the forest, Andrew's instincts screamed.

He halted in the shadows of a ruined statue. Something—no, someone—was approaching. Trained footsteps. Light armor. Magic sensors flickering in the air like whispers.

"Someone's coming," he muttered, already moving into cover. "And they aren't alone."