As I am slowly regaining my conscience, I can feel a slightly freezing current of air. A foul smell attacks my noise immediately afterward. I try to stand up as soon as I open my eyes, but my body is so weak that I fall back.

My eyes wander around the quiet room that I am laying in. I can see a few bundles of straw spilled all over the ground. Trying to see if there is something else here, I look up at the walls. There are 3 stone walls, of which one has a small window, near the ceiling.

It seems to be morning, as I see a few rays of sun gradually brightening this space. The last wall is made of bars. There is not much that I can see on the other side except a long corridor covered in darkness.

After taking a good look around, I realize where I am: a prison. Memories of yesterday's events come flooding my mind. I slowly move my aching arm to cover my eyes as I start crying. I know that me being here meant that rescue hasn't arrived yet.

Fuu. I manage to calm down after crying for a while. While I didn't know that there are people crazy enough to kidnap and force people to fight, me being alive meant that I might still be useful to them.

It's not like you can commit so many crimes and not expect to be caught. The police might ignore it if there are one or two missing people, but they will surely intervene when the disappearances are on the rise. I need to survive here for a few more days until the rescue arrives. I am not holding any important position in society, so I know that the search might prolong.

I try to stand up again while comforting myself. I stumble a little and I have to put one hand on one of the stone walls. Cold. The walls are so cold that I start trembling. Taking back my hand, I look at the ground while rubbing my hands to get just a bit more warmth.

If I am not wrong, the smell is coming from the straw that is all over the place. While I understand that they have left the straw here to protect me from the cold during the nights, they could have just put something cleaner. It's not like straw is more expensive than a bed. Actually, for this much, you can pay a few bucks and have some nice, fresh ones.

While I bend over and try to make a bed from the cleaner parts, I find a wooden bowl full of water. My throat starts immediately to beg for the water. As I try to get it from the ground, I see that the water is murky and there is something black on the bottom of the bowl. It seems like they didn't even leave me clean water. Thankfully, after so many hours, the sediments have mostly sunken.

My hands are trembling as I am slowly taking the bowl to my lips after taking a seat on the floor in front of the bowl. While the taste is not good, I still continue drinking. The bowl is quite big as I don't manage to finish drinking it all. Moreover, all that movement is making the water cloudier, so I have to wait again until it becomes cleaner.

I put the bowl down and crawl back to the half-made bed that I have built earlier. I threw myself on it while facing the ceiling. It isn't that comfortable, as some straws are poking me in the back, reminding me of the cuts I have received.

Now that I have satisfied my thirst, ignoring the hunger that is making my stomach grumble, I have some time to think over what happened yesterday. I also need to make some plans for the future.

What I cannot understand is how was I kidnapped? It's true that I was drunk at home, but… does that mean that they broke into my apartment to take me? Then why me? I am not even training, so my body should be in poor physical condition. If so, why did they make me fight?

That boy. While he seemed like a little cute boy, I still can't understand why is he taking part in this kind of show. Moreover, one with a medieval theme. Was that some kind of special event? Swords, armor, soldiers… he even had some of those ears used for cosplay. Did they try to recreate some kind of fantasy duel? If I recall it correctly, my role was that of a prince, probably the evil one, that will duel with the boy, who has the hero's role. The hero, as always, wins and brings the villainous prince to his knees and then frees the tormented people.

Haa. What a moving story. I still can't believe that I took part in such a melodramatic and overused story. Were those rich people starved for entertainment? If so, they could just go and watch a movie. Why make me do something like that?

As I am cursing them in my mind, the few rays of sun that are entering through the window disappear, leaving the cell in the penumbra. Scared, I jump up and look towards the small window. It is a bit too high up for me to look through it. But if I stack the straw on the ground, I think I might be able to see something.

I soon start working. Unfortunately, I have to stop again, as my hands are bothering me too much. While my hands were not fat, they were still much thicker than now. Besides my hands being almost bony, they are full of small, faded scars. It looks as if I had been on drugs for years. I slowly start touching my body. I also take off the rags that I have on me.

All I can say is that I have the body of a dying man. No, it's a miracle that I haven't died yet. Some fresh cuts can be found in the middle of a myriad of other cuts. Some are still oozing with blood. Even the nails are cracked to the point that I see small pieces falling from them from time to time. But the most shocking thing is the state of my body. Even if I say malnourished, it is too light of a term. My body is so thin that if I lose a few more pounds, I can even pass through the gap between the bars of the prison.

I freeze as soon as my hands reach my head. Specifically, my ears. The reason is simple. I have pointy ears. I don't understand. How could I have pointy ears? Thinking that there might be something attached to my ears, I pull off the tips until a sharp pain attacks my head.

Impossible! I try again, but the pain isn't going away. Neither the ears come off. How is this possible?? Did somebody sew them on me? Why would they do something like that? I really can't understand the reason behind all of it.

Alarmed, I snap out of my thoughts as soon as I realize that the room is mostly dark now. I put the clothes back on me and resume building. I collect all the straws in the cell and make something similar to a  ladder. I try to step on it. Probably thanks to my reduced weight, my feet don't sink that much. I manage to climb and take a peek through the window.

What I am seeing right now is more shocking than anything that happened until now. I am in another world!