I woke up to the flickering light of a torch inside a prison cell, the light that’s shining through a barred window showing a glimpse of the outside world, and a humid atmosphere that surrounds my being. The fact that I’m still alive is certainly reliving, but living the rest of my life inside an underground prison as a ‘mad man’ is not the way I want to waste my second life. Though I say that, there’s really no other option for me except to wait here and hope for the best.

“You’ve woken up have you, lad?” Said a man with a rough voice sitting on a stool across from my prison cell. “Well, I’ve got to inform the emperor. So, you stay put!” The man then stood up and left with the clinking noise of keys that are attached to his pants. 

Now that he’s gone to fetch the emperor, I must think of an escape plan. Literally escaping is impossible, the key is attached to his pants and I’m pretty sure this is not a cartoon of a cat and mouse that magically erases all sounds when they try to get the key. So, let's escape figuratively, by persuading the queen to not kill me. How? Using information of course.

The door slams open and the guard from before comes marching in with a robed lady. I was expecting the emperor, but I guess this makes more sense; why would the emperor herself go to a prison chamber? Even if it was her late sister’s son, there’s no point in it. She could just send her people to bring the answer out of me, with whatever means possible, which is what she’s doing right now.

“Arthur,” said the robed lady with a familiar voice. “We’re good on our own, you can leave.”

“Are you sure? Didn’t they say he has black magic?”

“Yes. Please leave.”

“...Alright, if you say so. I’ll be outside if you need anything.”

After the guard had left, the robed lady squatted down to my eye level. I can see the smirk plastered on her face as she pulled up her hood that was covering her. Lo and behold, it’s the emperor herself, dressed up in a robe, and is here in front of me for god knows what, while probably neglecting her duties as an emperor.

“So, tell me otherworlder, what is your worth?”

“Otherworlder… Could it be that you’re familiar with our kind, emperor?”

“Does that matter? I’m asking you what’s your worth and you dare ask me back?”

“I’m sorry your majesty, I have overstepped my boundaries.”

I prostrated myself and began to explain my ‘self-worth’. There are a whole lot of things that I have learned from my past life, most of it will be useful in an isekai world. This is due to the fact that most of the things I’ve learned are from the isekai cult’s classes; there, they would teach you all sorts of stuff that could be useful in an isekai such as agriculture, simple statistics, data organization, and even programming. Though it was a forest filled with mostly middle-aged guys fantasizing about having a harem and all that isekai crap, most of them are smart and well off. I guess they just needed an escape.

“Too much terminology, just get straight to it. What can you do for me?”

“Though there’s no magic in my past life, I would like to research more in-depth about magical tools so that I could recreate the technology from my past life.”

“What kind of technology would be beneficial for the empire?”

“Guns, bombs, mines, and many others are — without a doubt — beneficial for the empire. Why? They’re weapons of mass destruction.”

“And why would the empire need that in this time of peace?”

“An empire made from blood will never stop spilling more blood, not until all the wounds are closed.”

Judging from the smirk on her face, she’s quite pleased with my answer. I guess reading up on some political isekai stories is useful after all.

She got up from her squat and positioned herself in front of the cell door. Then, with a swift kick, the iron bar door is destroyed, dust flies everywhere, and a loud sound can be heard. Despite the very poor state of that hard metal door, its destroyer was completely fine and without a tinge of sweat. I’d say this is the most proper time to make a mental note not to mess with her if I don’t want to, figuratively and literally, shit my pants.

“What was that?!” asked the guard from before after barging in.

“It’s fine Arthur, I’m just doing business.”

“Wha- No! It’s not fine! Don’t do your routine on 10 year old boy”

“Shut up, Arthur! This is not the routine. So, get out! This is an order!”

Again, the guard left without saying a word, and the emperor’s focus is back on me. Frankly, I’m scared; I don’t have anything to guard myself with and the sinister look on her face right now sends chills down my bones. She then reached inside my clothes and pressed down on my chest.

I guess this is another thing that is needed to be taught here in the middle ages, cause I’m pretty sure I haven’t consented to being groped by her. But I will stay silent for now, because if I don’t… I’m pretty sure I’ll be as much of a wreck as that door she kicked.

Her hand started to feel warmer and warmer with each passing second. There’s also this stinging pain like a small needle is stitching something on my chest. But after a minute went by, she finally pulled her hand out of my clothing.

“What did you do to me?”

“Why don’t you take a look?” I did as she asked and pulled my shirt up to find a red lock made out of light, just like the muffle from before, dangling on my chest. “You have the lock, and I have the key. To put it more directly, you are my slave for an indefinite amount of time.”

“S- s- slave!?!”
“Yes. Do you think I’m just going to let anyone make a ‘weapon of mass destruction without a failsafe? Don’t worry about it too much, as long as you follow my commands, your heart won't explode.”

“Y- yes your majesty, I will follow your every command.”

“It's good that you know a bit about proper manners. Anyway, you said you needed mana stones?”

“Yes, your majesty. If I go by my knowledge from my previous world, It’s supposed to be a rock or crystal that is glowing.”

“Hmmm… I think I have an idea of what that might be. I’ll send it here tomorrow.”

“Yes, thank you very much your majesty for giving me a chance.”

After I said my thanks, she stormed out of the room without looking back or saying goodbye. A bit cold, but since she's the queen I guess she can do whatever the hell she wants to do.

It’s been a long couple of hours, or maybe days if you count how long I’ve been passed out. I’m tired and ready to sleep, but the excitement of having to research magic tomorrow is not letting me close my eyes.

This is it! This is where my journey starts! The day an ordinary man becomes a protagonist!

+++++

This is not it! ‘Becoming a protagonist’ my ass! I’ve been sitting in this prison cell for a week and I haven’t made any progress on my research. That is if you could call playing around with glow in the dark stones ‘research’. Because the ‘mana stones’ that I’ve got from the emperor are way off from what I imagined them to be.

Mana stones on isekai stories are bright crystals or stones with cool engravings, but what I got are some slightly glowing stones when put in the dark. Just when I thought I'd hit the jackpot, all I got was jackshit! See what I did there? That's right, nothing! Just like what I did for the past week. Well, there’s one thing I gained from all this.

“Don’t beat yourself up too much kid,” said Arthur, the guard that has been kind to me for the past week.

“I need to do it… My neck is on the line.”

“She’s not gonna kill you. Though she may look rough and do questionable stuff, she’s a softie inside. Trust me, I know.”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s what you’ve been saying to me for the past week.”

Arthur Ray is what he said to be his full name. I don’t know the circumstances between him and the emperor, but he seems rather close with the emperor. Oftentimes he reminisces about the past and when the current emperor was still a kid. Of course, I’d listen to the old man’s rambling, because he’s the biggest isekai trope of all: the crouching tiger; someone who is not noticed, but is actually really strong and will help the protagonist along the way. This is an investment that I’m more than willing to take, especially since there’s no harm done if he’s just an old coot.

“These things, ‘mana stones’ was it?” Arthur picked up one of the stones and looked at me before continuing, “we’ve used this to light up the mines. It’s not even that useful since the light coming out of it is not that bright. Is there really another use for these rocks?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” I said as I snatched the stone out of his hand. “But right now, this is more useful to be thrown at people.” I threw the rock towards the wall and it broke.

Huh? I didn’t know they were so brittle. Now it’s not even useful to be used as a throwing stone-

“Holy shit!”

“Language, young man! I don’t know where you learn these curse words from but-”

“Shush, Arthur! This is my eureka moment!” I bellowed as I ran towards the broken-up stone. “This isn’t a normal stone; this is a geode! With this, I can finally-”

Unfortunately, my excitement was cut short, because apparently, the geode exploded.