Our story begins with our “totally useless” protagonist, a young man named Noor, hard at work… cleaning a canal for an old lady. (Hey, everyone’s gotta start somewhere.) Once he finished, the granny beamed with joy, signed his receipt, and sent him off.
Next, we spot Noor lugging heavy packs at a construction site. His boss praised him, saying thanks to his effort, the project would stay on schedule. Just as things were looking up, Noor heard a woman’s desperate cries from a nearby cave. Without hesitation, he dashed inside—only to find a group of knights battling a hulking Minotaur.
Flashback time! As a child, Noor cared for his sick mother, fed the goats, and managed the farm while his father was “out buying milk” (and, well, never came back). His mother, feeling guilty, called herself useless and told him to live the life he wanted. That same night, she passed away. Noor buried her, tended the farm alone, and one day discovered an adventure book.
The book told legendary tales: heroes slaying dragons, learning magic from ancient sorcerers, breaking curses, and even obtaining miracle elixirs. Inspired by these stories—and his mother’s words—Noor decided to become an adventurer.
He bid farewell at his parents’ graves and set out for the royal capital. Awestruck by the size of the city, he eventually found the Adventurers’ Guild. Unfortunately, the clerk at the desk shooed him away: “This isn’t daycare, kid.” Noor calmly replied that his parents were long gone. That sobering truth softened the man’s tone, and at last, he asked for Noor’s name.
The guild clerk finally told Noor he should attend the Royal Training School. After all, they’d never seen a kid his age wanting to join, and every adventurer needed at least one job skill—swordplay, magic, anything. Excited, Noor agreed, imagining himself as a swordsman cleaving dragons the size of mountains with a single swing.
Soon, Noor joined the swordsman class and trained diligently. One classmate lit up the yard by activating a fire skill, and within months other students were unlocking flashy techniques too. Meanwhile, Noor’s only talent… was parrying. Lots and lots of parrying. His instructor finally told him to quit—it was pointless. Noor begged for more time, but the instructor shut him down, suggesting he try another path.
Disappointed but not broken, Noor switched to warrior training. Warriors were supposed to be tough, fearless, and wield any weapon imaginable. After weeks of grueling practice, the instructor admitted Noor had slightly improved physically… but warned that if he kept forcing himself, he’d probably die. Not exactly the progress he wanted.
Next up: hunter school. Fail. His instructor (a very patient woman) informed him he had zero sense for handling delicate weapons. Then thief school. Another disaster—he couldn’t disarm traps or even sense an enemy sneaking up on him.
Then came magic class. Surprisingly, Noor managed to create a flame! …a flame so tiny it could barely light a candle. His teacher was almost impressed—not because it was good, but because she’d never seen anyone that bad at magic before.
Lastly, Noor tried cleric training. To everyone’s shock, he actually healed minor scratches. Not much, but for someone with no natural blessing, it was impressive.
And so, after three exhausting months of trying every class, Noor’s grand record stood at:
- Parrying Champion in swordsman school
- Mediocre muscles in warrior school
- Hopeless case in hunter and thief school
- Tiny firelighter in magic class
- Scratch healer in cleric training
Not the most glorious résumé, but hey, at least he didn’t give up.
After failing every training school, Noor returned to the Adventurers’ Guild hoping to register. Sadly, the man in charge shook his head—without even one decent skill, Noor wasn’t cut out to be an adventurer.
Crushed, Noor went home and confessed to his parents’ graves that he truly had no talent. Still, he refused to give up. He remembered his swordsman instructor’s advice: master one skill by repeating it endlessly. So Noor built a training ground at home and dedicated himself to perfecting his parry.
- 1 year later: He could dodge 10 swords in a single breath. No new skills.
- 3 years later: 100 swords. Still no new skills.
- 10 years later: He could juggle a thousand wooden swords while parrying like a machine… yet not a single new skill unlocked.
- 14 years later: Yep, still just parry. At this point, even the goats probably thought he was crazy.
Determined to give it one last shot, Noor returned to the guild as a grown man. The old clerk was gone, replaced by a young woman who awkwardly checked his papers. She advised him to try the Royal Training School again, but Noor explained he had already exhausted every class—and their patience.
Just as he was about to be rejected again, the old guild clerk finally showed up and recognized him. Noor explained his 14 years of relentless parrying, shocking the man. The clerk then revealed how adventurer ranks worked: S-rank at the top, E-rank at the bottom… except there was something even lower.
That’s right: F-rank. A rank so obscure, most adventurers didn’t even know it existed. It came with brutal restrictions: no monster hunts, no gathering materials outside the city—just odd jobs like canal cleaning and carrying luggage.
Still, for Noor, this was a victory. After 14 years of parrying sticks, he was finally—officially—an adventurer. The world’s lowest-ranked one, but an adventurer nonetheless.
Almost no one ever chose F-rank—because really, who signs up to be an adventurer just to run errands? Well, the guild clerk had just met the one guy dumb (or stubborn) enough: Noor. Without hesitation, he accepted the restrictions. The man sighed, gave in, and handed him an official F-rank adventurer’s license.
Overjoyed, Noor immediately got to work. He ran errands across the city—hauling goods, fixing things, even cleaning canals again—all while keeping up his endless parry training. Ironically, those “useless” lessons from every failed training school made him incredibly efficient at odd jobs. His dream had come true: he was finally an adventurer, helping people in his own way. Anything more would be asking too much… or so he thought.
Flashback over—we return to the cave. Noor stands frozen before a real, living Minotaur. He had only read about them in books, and in person, the beast was massive. It rampaged through the knights protecting a young woman bound by magic chains, slaughtering them one by one. When only she remained, the Minotaur raised its axe to strike her down.
At the last second, Noor drew a fallen knight’s sword and stepped in. He parried every swing of the beast’s giant weapon—but with no way to counterattack, and his blade about to snap. Just as the Minotaur turned back to finish the girl, Noor remembered his father’s words: give it your all to protect others.
He did. His sword shattered, yet he blocked with the hilt. The recoil was so absurdly strong, the Minotaur managed to behead itself with its own axe. Talk about killing yourself with bad luck.
The magic chains binding the girl shattered. She thanked Noor for saving her, but he humbly refused to share his name—“I’m no one important.” He slipped away, reflecting that if even a runaway cow (okay, giant man-eating cow) was this dangerous, then he still had more training to do.
Meanwhile, the rescued woman, Lady Lindberg—a silver-haired noble—mourned the knights who had given their lives for her. A blonde knight rushed to her side, asking if she was hurt. Upon hearing she was safe, the knight dropped to one knee, apologizing for not having gone with her in the first place.
However, Lady Lindberg calmly replied that there was no point in having an escort during the trials for the fight for the throne. After all, she had been the one insisting on it, which meant the blonde knight, Ann, was not at fault.
At that moment, another knight, Lord Darkin, appeared and urged Lady Lindberg to return to the castle since Lord Rain wished to speak with her later. A silver-haired young man then spoke up, saying he had talked with Lynn and wondered if a Minotaur had really been summoned to the city. That creature, after all, was a demon from the deepest layers of the Abyss.
Darkin confirmed it, and the young man concluded the incident had to be someone’s doing. Darkin added that the source appeared to be a ring found on a merchant’s corpse at the scene. Furthermore, when Oaken researched it, he discovered the magic stone in the ring was unusually pure—something you’d never see on the open market.
Darkin then showed the ring to the silver-haired young man, who pointed out that a Minotaur was a Threat Level A demon. In other words, no ordinary rich guy could just go shopping for a trinket that could trap something like that. Darkin added that Oaken had identified the crest on the stone as belonging to the Magic Empire of Duras. Both men knew Duras was always stirring trouble, but this time they had gone further—they had attacked the princess directly by binding her with a barrier.
From then on, they agreed they needed to be more careful, especially since Duras wasn’t even trying to hide the evidence. To the young man, it looked like Duras was just waiting for their kingdom to make the first move in a war. What they wanted, of course, were the resources: the relics hidden in the Dungeon of the Lost.
Their conversation shifted to the mysterious man who had saved the princess. He had defeated the Minotaur in seconds with a single broadsword, and somehow even managed to lose the secret operatives tailing him. Honestly, the guy running the Adventurer’s Guild should probably retire—he clearly missed a gem when scouting!
Meanwhile, speaking of gems, the guild master himself was sipping a drink at the Adventurer’s Guild when Noor arrived. He told Noor that a demon had appeared near the dungeon entrance the previous night. Since Noor had been in the area, the man said he was worried.
Our protagonist recalled being followed around by a shady group of people that night but decided not to mention it. Instead, he claimed he’d gone home early because he was tired. The guild master warned him that he was lucky—because even an A-rank adventurer would’ve been killed by that thing. He added that some mystery man had apparently killed the demon, making Noor think there really were some incredible people out there.
Finally, as the guild master once again tried convincing Noor to quit being an F-rank adventurer and find a proper job, Lynn appeared.
This revelation shocked everyone present—but the Sacred Book of Tropes clearly stated that nothing should be revealed at this point. After a carefully scripted conversation, Noor reluctantly agreed to go out with her, with the Guild Master still oblivious that he had saved her the previous night. Thanks to Lynn’s concealment and soundproofing skills, they managed to wander the city unnoticed.
Once in a more discreet spot, Lynn apologized for showing up so abruptly and asking him to step out while he was talking to the Guild Master. She thanked Noor again for saving her life, emphasizing that his actions had protected countless others in the kingdom. Naturally, Noor downplayed it—dense as ever—while Lynn struggled to get through to him. Seriously, she had to say: he killed a powerful demon and saved the princess, but somehow it didn’t sink in.
Lynn then insisted on properly thanking him. First, she offered to introduce him to her father—he refused. Next, she tried to give him a gift for saving her life—again, he refused. After some persistence, Noor finally yielded, agreeing to meet her father, though he made it clear he didn’t want anything extravagant.
Using his skills once more, Lynn led Noor to her manor. There, she asked for his name, and he revealed it was Noor. Embarrassed, she apologized for forgetting to introduce herself and said her full name was Lindberg Clay, but asked him to call her Lynn. Of course, she didn’t immediately tell him she was a princess.
Later, they met Ann, the blonde knight, and Lynn told her she wanted to see her father. Ann warned that he was currently in the Audience Chambers with Lord Rain. When the princess revealed that Noor was the man who had risked his life to save her, Ann offered to guide them, though she admitted being wary of him. She secretly hoped Noor would join them as extra protection—after all, the more the merrier.
Meanwhile, King Rain was telling Lord Rain that Duras didn’t care about the non-aggression treaty, having already demanded all rights to the dungeon. When Lynn’s group arrived, King Rain scolded her for leaving the castle. She explained that she needed to find the man who had saved her life, no matter what. The king asked if Noor was the one, and she confirmed it.
Noor apologized for his casual attire and lack of etiquette, since he hadn’t expected to come to the castle that day. The king laughed at his words and formally thanked him, clearly amused by this dense but heroic adventurer.
The king tried to reward Noor, but he refused, leaving the monarch in an awkward spot. After a moment’s thought, the king grabbed a giant sword hanging on the wall and offered it to him. King Rain was astonished, but the king waved him off, saying the sword had long been nothing more than a decoration.
Noor finally accepted it and was surprised by its weight. He tried one last time to refuse, but the king insisted. Then, Lynn’s father asked him to give it a swing. Using his physical enhancement, Noor swung the sword one-handed—impressing everyone in the hall. Nonchalantly, he commented that the sword “wasn’t that heavy,” prompting whispers that it might be a legendary weapon.
Afterward, the king asked Noor to help train Lynn, worried about the dangers she might face. Noor politely refused, insisting parents shouldn’t interfere too much with their daughters—almost making Ann explode with anger. Luckily, the king laughed it off, showing he wasn’t offended.
Noor then bid farewell and left the hall, still unaware that he had slain a demon and saved the princess. Before he could leave entirely, Ann stopped him. The blonde knight knelt and apologized for her earlier rudeness, explaining that her top priority was protecting the Clay family and that her behavior toward guests sometimes suffered as a result.
She introduced herself as Ann Harness, vice-captain of the Clay Family’s Warrior Corps, also known as the Divine Shield. She promised to help Noor whenever possible, since by saving Lynn, he had also saved her.
Ann added a stern warning: his behavior and speech during the audience with the king had been unpardonable. If he acted that way again, she wouldn’t overlook it. Noor thanked her for the warning but seemed mostly unfazed.
Finally, she asked for his name. When he said he was Noor, she reacted oddly, then left. Before he could move, Gilbert appeared and challenged him to a sparring match.
