Chapter 454. **Memory**
—
—Found him! The Pirate Queen’s child!
—Hahaha! We’ve got a big catch, a big one!
—That damned Pirate Queen bitch looked down on our crew!
—Should we kill him?
—Idiot! We need the ransom!
If someone were to ask Dietrich what the most painful memory of his life was, he could answer without hesitation—
That day.
The day he was kidnapped by pirates.
Blindfolded, his hands and feet bound, the young Dietrich was dragged to some unknown point in a stretch of open sea.
He was imprisoned for over a month.
And during all that time, no response came from his mother—the Pirate Queen.
—Still no answer from the Pirate Queen?
—Cold-blooded woman through and through. Doesn’t even blink when her kid gets kidnapped.
—Did we grab the wrong one?
—It’s already been over a month! Let’s just kill him!
Despite the pirates’ demands for ransom, his mother never responded.
At first, Dietrich couldn’t believe it.
*There’s no way Mother would abandon me*, he reassured himself, turning away from the thought.
Maybe the news hadn’t reached her yet. Maybe something had gone wrong along the way!
But that wasn’t it.
When more than thirty days passed—when it reached sixty—
Dietrich learned the truth.
—The Queen has officially declared she won’t be paying the ransom.
—Looks like he’s been abandoned.
—Poor kid. Who would’ve thought she’d throw away her only child like this?
—That queen’s not even human.
Dietrich had been abandoned.
At first, he denied it.
But he no longer had the strength to do even that.
What had allowed him to endure—eating food worse than dog scraps, surviving in a sea region with brutal day–night temperature swings—was the hope that his mother would never abandon him.
That hope was gone.
In truth, he had always known.
The Pirate Queen never bowed to anyone.
Especially not to other pirates—she never negotiated with them.
*Am I going to die?*
Emaciated to the bone, Dietrich looked up at the night sky and smiled bitterly.
*Was I abandoned?*
He had overheard the pirates’ conversations.
The Pirate Queen would not come to save him.
Since he was now useless—just another mouth to feed—Dietrich would be publicly executed tomorrow.
Or sold off as a slave to some distant land.
*I’d rather be executed.*
Better to die than live as someone’s slave.
But the pirates would likely sell him to recoup at least some of the money they’d spent feeding him.
So Dietrich made up his mind.
*I’ll die here.*
By biting his tongue.
If not, then by smashing his head.
What meaning did this life even have?
「Do you want to live?」
That was when it happened.
A blue bird flew down and asked him that question.
Dietrich thought he was hallucinating.
He had never seen such a small blue bird in these waters.
Given his condition, it had to be a delusion.
So he answered weakly.
“I… want to die.”
He didn’t want to live.
Dying here didn’t seem so bad.
It was all just an illusion anyway.
Begging to be saved wouldn’t change anything.
「Don’t you want to live and ask her? Why she abandoned you?」
“……I don’t want to know.”
What was the point of knowing such a reason?
Even if there were unavoidable circumstances, sixty days had already passed.
Not even a single letter in all that time—there was no excuse.
「It would be a waste for you to die like this. Your talent is quite appealing. But in this situation, there’s only one ‘Gamer’ who might be able to save you…」
What was it talking about?
None of it made sense.
Was this really just a hallucination?
「So I’ll ask again. Aren’t you curious who sent these pirates to kidnap you? Aren’t you really curious why the Queen gave you up?」
Abandoning one’s family.
For Dietrich, it was unthinkable.
If someone was precious to you, no matter the reason, you should never let go of their hand.
This must have been a hallucination born from desperation—
A blue bird manifesting from his deep-seated wish that his mother hadn’t truly abandoned him.
“…I can’t survive anyway.”
「The chances are slim, but *that person* could save you. To be honest, I’m curious too—how he’d manage to pull you out of this.」
「If you form a contract, you’ll forget everything anyway. So I’ll tell you just one thing. The one who sent these pirates was your father.」
“Father…? Did I even have a father?”
「King Cernil. He fathered you during a reckless affair with the Queen. The Queen learned the truth and has given up on everything. If you die here, the Queen will die as well.」
“Mother…”
He couldn’t understand.
King Cernil was his father—and that father had ordered pirates to kidnap him?
There was no greater farce than this.
And his mother, having realized the truth, had abandoned everything.
His mother—the Iron-Blooded Queen.
The woman who didn’t blink even when her closest aides died.
Did that mean she had truly loved King Cernil?
It made no sense.
This had to be a hallucination.
And yet—
Dietrich was curious.
“…How can I survive?”
So he asked.
No matter how he thought about it—hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of times—there was no way out of this situation.
So then—
Why not try once?
In that instant, the contract was formed.
On the most horrific day.
From the most horrific memory.
In a place where his survival odds were nonexistent—
Dietrich survived.
Phantom.
He was the one who saved him.
It was a miracle.
As the lost memories resurfaced, Dietrich recalled everything—how Phantom escaped that situation *because of him*.
The process itself defied belief.
With a body on the brink of death, he lured the pirates and killed them one by one.
After awakening and learning the full truth, Dietrich headed to the Kingdom of Cernil.
To ask the king why he had him kidnapped through other pirates—and why he abandoned his mother.
After going through something so harrowing, Dietrich had nothing left to fear.
He was certain nothing could ever be worse.
But—
He was wrong.
*…This place is worse than that cage.*
Worse than where he’d been trapped for over sixty days.
This place was hell itself.
Every day, someone was eaten.
Every day, someone else was dragged out as a corpse.
He never knew when it would be his turn.
And that wasn’t all.
“Aah… AAAAAH!”
At some point, Apsel began screaming.
Dietrich knew why.
Sometimes, when Apsel opened his eyes and looked at him—
That gaze resembled the knights who devoured prisoners in the cages every day.
Apsel wanted to eat Dietrich.
He screamed to suppress that impulse.
It was terrifying.
Horrifying.
In a place like this, Dietrich couldn’t even sleep with his eyes closed.
There was no blue bird here.
Phantom…
He wouldn’t come to save him either.
There was no contract.
And Dietrich wasn’t even someone precious to him.
*…How long are you going to keep waiting for someone else to save you, Dietrich?*
That was the moment it struck him.
That day, the Queen hadn’t come to save him either.
He couldn’t keep foolishly waiting for help again.
*I am the king of the Kingdom of Cernil.*
Dietrich was a king.
He had drawn the Guardian Holy Sword and proven himself.
Even if not everyone acknowledged him.
That was fine.
He would prove it until they did.
He would stand on his own.
“…Only I am your master, Guardian Holy Sword.”
Sssss—
At the same time, the Guardian Holy Sword appeared in Dietrich’s hand.
The sword that had been taken from him was summoned back.
He was recognized as the true master of the complete Guardian Holy Sword.
Only one thing remained.
*Escape.*
He remembered Phantom—the one who had made the impossible possible.
…He could do this.
Dietrich hid the Guardian Holy Sword.
He waited for the moment between guard rotations—when a single guard was left alone.
And when the time came, he spoke to the guard holding the keys.
“Hey.”
“…?”
“Don’t you want to eat my body?”
“What’s this little runt babbling about?”
The large guard tilted his head.
Dietrich continued.
“Whenever the other knights come down to eat, you’re practically drooling. How long are you just going to watch?”
“That is a blessing bestowed by King Rundmal.”
“Bring me a cup of water. I’ll let you eat my arm.”
“…We were told not to touch you.”
“If you give me water, I won’t say anything. If I don’t speak, who’ll know?”
“They’ll interrogate me…”
“If this keeps up, I’ll get eaten by Apsel anyway. This guy isn’t a dwarf. He’s a knight who evolved into a dwarf’s form.”
“……”
“Drinking a cup of cold water is my last wish.”
Gulp.
The guard swallowed.
“You really won’t say anything?”
“Yeah. I swear on everything I have.”
“…Alright. Wait.”
The guard returned, saliva practically dripping, carrying water.
“Drink.”
“I… can’t move… Please bring it closer.”
“Tch. You’re not planning anything stupid, are you?”
“Look at us. Do you really think we can do anything? All our weapons were taken.”
“…Hmm. That’s true.”
The guard looked into the cell.
They were clearly so emaciated they could barely move.
What could such tiny creatures possibly do?
A dwarf without a weapon was weaker than a bug.
In the end, the guard opened the bars and stepped inside.
“Drink.”
“Closer… Sorry, but could you pour it into my mouth? I really don’t have the strength to move a finger.”
“You’re troublesome. Keep your promise.”
“Don’t worry.”
The guard approached Dietrich with the bowl.
And the moment he bent down—
*Now!*
Slash!
Dietrich drew the hidden holy sword and severed the guard’s neck.
Thud!
The headless body collapsed to the floor.
Then Dietrich turned to Apsel, his expression cold.
“Eat. Apsel. This is your food.”
*
*
KWA—AAANG!
The tower shook.
Cracks that began underground spread rapidly throughout the structure.
“A-A monster!”
“A monster has appeared in the underground prison!”
“It’s eating all the knights…!”
Something ominous had emerged and begun devouring them.
The more it ate, the stronger it became—
Its form growing ever more ferocious.
Like something that had starved its entire life.
It greedily sought out runes.
That terrifying magic was felt even by King Rundmal at the top of the tower.
Yet something was strange.
He was certain he had felt this magic before.
Not long ago.
Realization dawned, and King Rundmal smiled.
“…Apsellon. So you were alive?”
