In the mansion of the Saihaden Count’s House in the Royal Capital, my fate was about to be decided.

“……L, Lord Rion’s skill is……【Recycle Shop】.”

The old priest invited from the church announced it in a completely confused voice.
At that moment, the grand hall, lit by a shining chandelier, fell into a frozen silence.

In this kingdom, there is a “ritual” that everyone who is born must undergo.
It is the 【Baptism Ceremony】 held on the day one turns eight.
Every person born into this world receives a unique skill from the God of Creation.

If you are granted a swordsmanship skill, you become a master swordsman overnight.
If it is a magic skill, you can control magic freely.

Once a skill is given, it can never be changed for life. That is why the skill you receive decides your future path.

“……What is that? Recycle……you say?”

My father, Count 【Kuzuchichi Saihaden】, who was sunk into a throne-like chair, growled in a low voice.

No wonder. In this world, the word “recycle shop” does not even exist.
But I, who am a “reincarnated person” with memories of a past life, understood its meaning painfully well.

(“Recycle shop”……so it means a place that buys and sells unwanted things? In a world of swords and magic?)

Wiping cold sweat from his brow, the priest read out the details floating in the crystal.

“U-um, the effect is…… ‘The ability to pick up trash and buy and sell like a merchant’……it seems.”

Those words were the trigger.

Father Kuzuchichi’s face turned red with such anger it looked ready to steam.

“Trash-picking, you sayyyyyy!?”

His roar made the very air in the hall tremble.
The Saihaden family is a famed military noble house that has served the nation for generations with “sword” and “magic.” We have produced many Knight Commanders and Court Magicians.

And yet, in this world where even merchants are looked down on, for someone in a noble house like ours to be born with a skill called “trash-picking,” something so unclear and shameful, was unheard of.

“Gya-ha-ha-ha-ha! Did you hear that, big bro? He’s got trash-picking!”
“What a masterpiece, Rion! They used to praise you as a ‘prodigy’ and a ‘genius’ when you were little, but your true face has finally been exposed!”

Behind me, my twin older brothers……【Gokka】 and 【Miss】, clutched their stomachs and laughed in a crude, tasteless way.

When I was small, I used knowledge from my past life and spoke a bit too maturely, so the people around me had placed their hopes on me without my asking.
It seems Gokka and Miss did not like that, and now they were satisfied, watching me fall.

(Good grief…… Being treated like a prodigy was annoying, but this is noisy in its own way.)

Inside, I let out a deep sigh.

From the start, I have always hated conflict and troublesome fights for status.
Even in my past life, I loved a quiet, plain kind of happiness: on my days off, I would wander through recycle shops, buy junk items, sometimes fix them, and grin to myself.

That is why the stiff air of this family home had always made me feel like I could not breathe.

“Rion! You shameful disgrace. There is no place in this mansion for trash like you and your ‘trash-picking’!”

Father Kuzuchichi looked down at me as if I were filth, and spoke coldly.

“Rion, as of today, I disinherit you! Pack your things before the day ends, and head to our border city, ‘Dead End.’”

“Dead End……that barren land that touches two demon regions?”

The abandoned city at the far eastern edge of this kingdom……Dead End.
It is the very end of the world, trapped between the raging ‘Sea of Extinction’ and the ‘White Bone Tree Sea,’ bleached white by salt damage.

“That’s right. That place is like a ‘dumping ground’ in my territory. It suits your skill, doesn’t it?”

Gokka and Miss jeered, shouting, “Serves you right!”
In other words, they were throwing me away. A sentence for an eight-year-old: crawl through trash at the edge of the world until you die.

For an ordinary child, this would be the moment to despair and break down in tears.

But I was biting down hard to keep my laughter from bursting out.

(I did it……! I did ittt! I’m finally free from annoying noble duties! And besides……the skill I got……it’s actually pretty good, you know?)

Pick up trash, fix it, and make use of it.
That was exactly the hobby I had loved more than anything in my past life.

And the place I was being exiled to, “Dead End,” was said to be a barren land where shipwrecks swallowed by wild seas and monster corpses lay scattered.

Meaning, for me, it was a ‘mountain of treasure.’

“I understand. Father, and my brothers as well, thank you for everything you have done for me until now.”

I bowed politely, acting obedient, while making a triumphant fist pump in my heart.

Escape complete, from the cage called “home.”
From here on, no one will get in my way. This is the start of my fun, peaceful recycle life.