The hero they threw away.

In the grand sanctuary of the Holy Kingdom, where marble pillars reached skyward and sunlight filtered through stained-glass windows, the priestess sat rigid behind her golden desk. Her usually serene expression had been replaced by something taut and strained.

Sweat beaded at her temple.

She reviewed the scroll again, heart sinking.

"A… A-rank knight?" she whispered. "He was an A-rank…?"

Her trembling fingers clenched the scroll. The appraisal records she had dismissed during the summoning were laid bare before her—written clearly in ink now blackened by regret. A students name. An E rank class. Dismissed. Rejected. Exiled.

And now, reclassified.

**Strategist (A)**

The highest-ranking knight class known to the divine codex.

Her breath hitched.

"I banished an A-rank knight… and kept an D-rank healer."

The door to her chamber creaked open as Leah stepped in. "You called for me, High Priestess?"

"Yes," the priestess said quickly, brushing aside the scroll. "I have a mission for your class. You and the others are to head to the outskirts—to the Banished Forest."

Leah's eyebrows rose. "That's where you sent the unclassified heroes , isn't it?"

The priestess flinched. "Correct. But it seems… I may have acted in error. You are to locate an individual described as the 'A-rank knight in exile.' Bring him back. Alive."

Leah hesitated. "And what if he doesn't wish to return?"

"You will not give him a choice."

Far away, deep within the gnarled shadows of the Banished Forest, Andrew walked the winding path with his hood drawn low. He had just finished mapping an area where he'd battled a corrupted beast the night before. The air here always smelled of ash and rot, the trees groaning as if they remembered every soul thrown into their roots.

He had no idea what the priestess now knew. Nor that his name was on her lips once again.

As he crossed a crumbling stone bridge, the wind shifted.

He froze.

A birdcall. Sharp. Patterned.

He dropped to a crouch, listening.

Footsteps.

More than one pair. Armed.

Andrew's gaze narrowed. He scaled the side of the bridge quickly, crouching in the trees, vanishing in the veil of leaves.

Moments later, they appeared—Leah and the rest of his former classmates.

Harry wasn't among them.

Mario, however, walked near the front, looking bored, twirling a dagger between his fingers. Leah wore her mage cloak, scanning the area with a practiced eye.

"This is it," she said. "This is where the last trail ends."

"He's probably dead," Mario muttered.

Leah shot him a look.

Mario shrugged. "Come on, we all saw how he was treated. What would he even eat out here? Dirt?"

Andrew watched, unmoving.

*So… they're not looking for me.*

He wasn't sure how to feel.

The class that let him fall. The priestess that discarded him. Now returning to save another but now him. Why?

His fingers curled into fists.

He couldn't approach them—not yet. Not without knowing their intent.

And so he waited.

Watched.

Planned.

The strategist in him already working out the next steps.

The forest may have swallowed him once.

But this time, he would guide its shadows.