Lisa, Nozomu and Ken were childhood friends. Then Ken got jealous of Nozomu and Lisa's relationship. Since he has a shape shifting skill, he started a rumor that Nozomu cheated. Then, being shunned by everyone including his former friends, he runs away to the forest where he meets Shino (I am not sure about the name since I only saw the google translate) who became his master. At this time, Shino became someone who is very important to Nozomu, being the only one who cares for him at this point. Then, it is revealed that she has a sickness and dies in front of Nozomu. Her backstory is kinda sad and long but it is very tragic. Then, after learning sword skills from her, he comes back to school after weeks of not attending classes. He participated in a mock battle against Mars in which he won and shocked everyone since Mars has B-rank ability and Nozomu is the bottom in the school. After that, Mars tried to find the secret to Nozomu's strength and he knows Nozomu has been going to the forest secretly and actually, they became friends. He also has another friend called Sommia who is actually the younger sister of Iris (who is the black hair girl in the cover). They became friend after saving Sommia's life from a demon that tried to eat her due to the contracts between their families. Nozomu revealed his newfound power here and they are the only ones who knew about his strength. Fast forward, Nozomu is getting bullied by students because of the bad reputation caused by the rumors, Sheena (I think she is the green haired girl in the cover but mtl says she has blue hair so idk) helped him but still has a bad impression of him because he is know as a cheater. Then, while Sheena and her friends are hunting in the forest struggling, Nozomu saves them and brings them to his Master's hut. He treats them and sort of became friends after that. Fast forward again, he decided to tell his friends about his power. Turns out, his skill which is some sort of ability that can seal the strength of others. He is unintentionally using it on himself since if not, he will be eaten by the soul of the Dragon King inside (which is the black dragon on the cover). He is basically playing hard mode with all his stats nerfed and this is the reason why he is weak. Forward again, he decides to confront Lisa and talk to her. He didn't reveal that the rumor was actually false as he thinks that Ken is better for Lisa to achieve her dream. Carmilla who is another friend of Lisa, actually came to know about the truth behind the rumors. It is because Ken went crazy, someone visited him and probably cursed him or manipulated him. The staff of the school and the gang worked together to imprison Ken because of the shape shifting and lies and Lisa saw Ken during his shape shifting and broke down. She felt regrets about being manipulated and the hate she threw to Nozomu is acutally the product of false rumors. She just fell down on her knees while watching Nozomu and Ken fight. Ken loses and becomes a demon due to the curse previously mentioned. He is actually a yandere lol. To be honest, I felt sad for Lisa being manipulated since she actually saw the fake Nozomu cheating. I'll skip some details but he defeats Ken and saves Lisa. Ken is detained and Nozomue and Lisa is hospitalized. After Nozomu is discharged, they had a party. Then Lisa and Nozomu talked and apologized to each other. Lisa kind of gave up on becoming an adventurer and go home. She asked if Nozomu could go with her back to the village. But Nozomu rejected and said he still have some things to do. Then they parted ways with each other, Lisa leaving a with a tear in her eye. Idk if we will get to see her again. Actually we might lol. Since she said that she will get stronger to stand next to him again.