My name is Dechets, formerly known as Alfreddoydum in my previous world.
When I first opened my eyes, I found myself in a royal palace. Two servants stood before me,
and a well-dressed man was talking about me. I don’t know how, but I could understand what he
was saying, and I heard that he wasn’t saying anything good. This man was the king of this
kingdom—my father.
From infancy, I was not treated the same as my siblings, who were my age, because I was the
child of a prostitute, while they were the children of the queen, the king’s official wife.
Because of this, I usually ate after they had finished their meals, as I wasn’t allowed to sit with
them.
Despite the family’s immense wealth, the people lived in poverty, and I was treated as one of
them. For example, whatever the common people could eat, I was given the same—usually dry
bread and water of questionable cleanliness.
However, not everyone in the palace hated me—at least, not the majority.
There was a beautiful servant woman named Hasegawa, and whenever I was in need, she
would secretly help me.
I won’t even mention how she brought me half of her own meal every night.
If it weren’t for her, I might have been reduced to skin and bones or, like the common people,
slowly died from malnutrition or illness.
At least, the books I read explained the consequences of inadequate nutrition. Ah, thank
goodness for Hasegawa; it was thanks to her that I learned to read and write.
When I first opened my eyes, I could somehow understand spoken language, but writing was
different. I couldn’t comprehend the written words, so once I started speaking, I asked
Hasegawa to teach me how to read and write.
My rapid learning surprised Hasegawa, so she showed my progress to my father, but he didn’t
seem to care.My father was more interested in my sister Minase and my brother Joryo.
Despite learning faster and walking earlier than both of them, my father ignored me. Back then, I
was just a child and couldn’t understand why; it made me very sad. Often, when I cried in my
room, Hasegawa would come and tell me stories. But they weren’t just stories—she also shared
memories of the past and my birth.
She told me how the king had deceived my mother into being with him, only to act the next day
as if nothing had happened, as if he had forgotten the night. Later, when I was born, he declared
my mother a prostitute in front of the kingdom, but Hasegawa insisted that my mother was
innocent.
Until then, I had believed my mother was a prostitute because I was constantly verbally abused
by my siblings and the queen.
“Son of a whore.”
“Where’s your slut of a mother?”
“Who knows whose bed she’s in now?”
I heard countless phrases like these.
I was also excluded from magic training because I was weak in it, though I knew I would have
been excluded even if I were good. It was just their excuse.
In this world, there was a type of magic called Manas. Unlike the anime I watched in my
previous world, where people would ask, “How much magic power do you have?” here they
asked, “How much Manas power do you have?”
It was similar to the anime I had watched, but the feeling was very different. For example, I
could perform minor spells.
While my sister Minase could throw large stones one after another at the age of seven, I could
only create a small pebble, and I didn’t have enough Manas power to throw it. In fact, after
casting a spell once, I had to wait a while before I could do it again.
My brother Joryo, on the other hand, was much stronger than us at that age. He could do the
same as Minase, but the stones he threw were so fast they could pierce their target.Once, Joryo threw a stone at me at high speed. Although it only grazed my arm, it cut deeply
into my skin.
Then he said, “Oh, were you there? I thought you were a pig.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
For a while, I practiced Manas in secret, but when I saw no improvement, I turned my attention
to books.
“Even if you’re not strong, you can survive a battle with tactics.” There were many books that
taught this kind of knowledge, and I began to read them day and night.
At first, I didn’t encounter anyone in the library, but on other days, I started seeing Minase. I
didn’t know she loved books too, but even though she was my sister, I never approached her
because I was afraid she would mock me. So I didn’t disturb her; I stayed alone, completely
isolated. In truth, I didn’t need anyone. All I had to do was improve myself, and that’s what I did.
Day by day, I increased and refreshed my knowledge, mastering topics like how to incapacitate
a living being in the shortest way possible or how to govern a society. Of course, this didn’t
happen overnight; it was a long and arduous process.
However, my self-improvement meant little in the face of Manas power because the tactics in
the books were only effective at a certain level of Manas. I learned this the hard way.
One day, I couldn’t take Joryo’s harassment anymore and stood up to him. I had learned to
speak effectively, so I managed to anger him, and he eventually challenged me to a duel.
Even though I used the tactics I had read about, my attacks were too weak to even tickle him,
and when he attacked me, he showed no mercy. I was covered in blood, and if Minase hadn’t
intervened, I might have died.
I didn’t understand why she stepped in because it was clear she hated me too. There was
plenty of evidence, but the most telling was this:
On a hot day, I was making a list of the books I had read in the palace, and as I did so, I stacked
the unread books on the table. I don’t know why, but suddenly Joryo and Minase started treating
me well. They had a friend with them.
They shared their food with me, protected me from their mother’s harassment, and made me
feel special by saying they loved me.
On another hot day, they came running from outside and tried to convince me to go on a trip
with them. They said I shouldn’t stay in the library so much and that I should live my childhood.I thought about it; it was a good offer, and since they were treating me well now, there was no
reason not to hang out with them. I hated myself that day for being so naive.
At first, it was a pleasant trip, but how could I have known they were planning to humiliate me?
Joryo said, “Let’s go behind this mountain; we might find something fun.”
Minase replied, “Actually, we could have fun at the palace too.”
Yorata said, “Don’t be silly, Minase. That mountain will be much more fun. Right, Dechets?”
Alfreddo: “Uh, sure, you’re right...”
Yorata lightly patted my back and told me not to be so shy, saying we were friends.
As they said, we slowly made our way behind the mountain and finally arrived.
During our journey, the weather quickly turned cold, and massive rain clouds gathered.
Since it was hot and sunny, I hadn’t brought anything with me, but Joryo, Minase, and Yorata
seemed to know this, as they had brought bags.
Suddenly, rain and a downpour...
The wind began to blow fiercely, and the rain was heavy and fast.
Someone suggested we take shelter in a nearby structure, and we started searching. After a
while, Joryo found an underground place and called us over.
Alfreddo: “What’s that symbol on the door?”
Joryo: “Does it matter? Just go in!”
They rushed me inside, but the sight that greeted me was unpleasant.
Stone walls and floor...
Statues of a woman with the most seductive body possible and a man with the most seductive
body possible...
Statues of couples engaged in forced intercourse and rape...When I entered, they started hitting me. I tried to resist, but I wasn’t strong enough.
Yorata, watching me get beaten from behind, mocked me.
Yorata: “Your mothers are around. Look, you’re in a house of whores, just like your mother’s
house once was.”
Yorata: “But even a whore didn’t love you. You’re alone, a loser.”
The insults he hurled were truly top-tier, and he cursed me in ways I had never heard before.
I wasn’t in a position to respond because Joryo’s relentless punches had shattered my face, and
I was on the verge of losing consciousness.
When he finished beating me, he didn’t hold back on the insults and humiliation.
As the three of them were leaving, they suddenly turned back and committed an act of cruelty.
They tore my clothes, leaving me completely naked so I would suffer hypothermia in the cold,
rainy, and windy weather.
Normally, if I had tried to walk outside in this state, I wouldn’t be alive today, but fortunately,
Minase had forgotten her bag when she left. Inside her bag were warm food (enchanted with a
heating spell), warm and thick clothes, an umbrella, and painkillers. By some stroke of luck, they
were exactly what I needed.
When I returned to the palace, a few knights and servants were at the gate. When they saw the
clothes I was wearing, they knocked me down and arrested me. According to them, these were
sacred treasures—clothes that could protect a person from extreme cold and even fatal
wounds, with healing properties.
In the detention cell, a knight with a higher rank than the others arrived and ordered me to be
bound and taken to the courtroom. There were many people around. The judge entered and sat
down, while my father watched from a distance.
Judge: “The trial of the boy named Dechets has begun...”
After a long debate, my sentence was decided: I was to be executed.I never thought my life would end like this, though what I had lived through could hardly be
called a life.
Still, considering my previous life, didn’t I deserve a better life?
What difference was there between this life and my previous one?
Was it God’s—or the being who spoke to me—intention to torture me?
I hate this world, just like the last one...
The next day, I was taken to a vast, open area for my execution. People hurled insults at me,
throwing stones and fruits to show their anger.
The sky evoked a sense of destruction and doom. The overcast gray clouds made it seem as if
God was watching this moment.
My soul, trapped on the guillotine’s plank, was about to be extinguished by this cruel world.
The countdown began.
5
4
3
2
1
And then a voice rang out from behind...
“Stop!”
This cry marked the beginning of a story in this decaying world.
Before my head could be taken, Hasegawa arrived, but what she did wasn’t to save me.
Yes, she saved me.
By sacrificing herself, she saved me.
Hasegawa: “I stole the treasures. To avoid being caught, I used Dechets, who is hated by
everyone. Since everyone in his family hates him, I thought it would be easier to make them
believe Dechets was the thief. But after everything, I regretted it.I’m sorry, Dechets...”
Alfreddo: “No, why are you saying this?! Don’t believe her; Hasegawa is lying.”
After a long debate, my father stood up. As soon as he did, everyone fell silent and focused on
his words.
King: “If that’s the case, I hereby cancel Dechets’ execution. Instead, Hasegawa will be
executed, but Dechets will be exiled for indirectly concealing the criminal.”
The verdict was delivered.
Hasegawa’s neck was placed between life and death, and the countdown was about to begin.
For one last conversation, I broke free from the guards holding me and ran to Hasegawa.
Just as I was about to speak, she interrupted me and whispered a few sentences into my ear.
“Your name...”
“Your name is Kasou...”
“Your mother, Katya, always called you that. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you more...”
Before she could finish, her head fell before me. I stared at the corpse in shock, knelt down, and
screamed, but there was no solution.
Just one day after her death, before I could even grieve, they bound my hands and threw me
into the depths of an unknown forest. After struggling for a while, I managed to break the chains,
but the real challenge was just beginning.
The air was cold and windy, rain poured down, and death crows circled above me.
“I’m cold.”
The forest was dense, and everything looked the same.
“Is anyone there!?”
But this was my reward, my chance at death, a way to finally escape this life.Even if I heard that voice again, I wouldn’t ask for another chance...
I walked and walked until I was on the verge of death...
After a while, I collapsed from exhaustion; it must have been night.
‘What a beautiful night to die,’ I thought. As I lifted my head to look at the stars, I saw a black
sword with red stripes, reflecting the moonlight, sharp and planted in the ground as if calling to
me, “Come.”
With my last strength, I took steps toward it.
Would my steps reach the sword before I died, or would I die before I could grasp it?
Memories flashed before my eyes like a film reel—my previous world and my current one...
The fate written by God saved me once again.
I grasped the sword.