The moment he stepped through, an unfamiliar darkness took over his body, causing all of his senses, including sight, smell, and touch, to cut off as he traveled through the void, the boundary between worlds. And then, all of a sudden, it all came crashing back, along with the sensation of being thrown headfirst into a wall.
Rian slowly opened his eyes only to find his body lodged in an awkward position inside what could only be described as a very dark place.
Trying to break free, Rian pushed forward before the wall in front of him opened outward, causing him to fall out of what seemed like a cupboard.
"Urgh." Rian groaned as he slowly stood up, trying to adjust his eyes to the glow of the chandelier light above.
"What the?" he grumbled as, one by one, all of his senses began to return. After sight came smell, as he noticed a faint scent of rose oil lingering in the air. After that came sound, the muffled rush of running water from behind what he was pretty sure was the bathroom door.
This place seemed like a bedroom. And a pretty lavish one at that.
Red velvet curtains draped across tall windows, and a massive bed lay in the center, its sheets looking like clouds with an equally expensive-looking coat lying across it. In front of the window stood an intricately carved wooden table surrounded by several couches. Damn, this place practically reeked of wealth.
Rian's gaze swept the room, trying his best to figure out whose bedroom this was, when he spotted a stack of papers and a seal sitting neatly on the table.
He walked closer as the universal translator inside his commlink flickered faintly, scanning the top page, trying to decipher the meaning of the written text.
"These are just some tax collection documents," Rian mumbled, until finally his gaze fell upon the stamped seal at the bottom of the document.
"No." Rian let out a short whimper as his translator deciphered the text on the seal.
'Margrave of Beuclair.'
Rian's blood ran cold as the image of a seven-foot-tall man crushing beast skulls while wielding an eight-foot-tall earthen axe surfaced in his mind.
No, no, no. How could he be this unlucky? Darian Veythar was the one person he wanted, no, needed, to stay far, far away from during his first week in Beuclair, and somehow his rotten luck had teleported him straight inside the man's bedroom.
Just as Rian was busy cursing his luck, a loud shout from inside the bathroom caused him to freeze in fear.
"Are you there? I'll be out in a moment, darling. Just tell the maids to leave my clothes on the bed!" A gruff voice called.
He was still here. Darian Veythar was still inside the bathroom, just on the other side of that door.
"This… is bad," Rian whispered under his breath, fighting the urge to panic.
He needed to get out of here before the Margrave stepped out of the shower, or before this supposed "darling" stepped into the room. But how? Even if he dressed himself in one of the tailored suits, he couldn't just waltz right out the door and stroll out of this mansion. This place was crawling with soldiers. He had spawned right in the middle of an enemy fortress; if someone spotted him, they would immediately flag him as suspicious and toss him in a dungeon. Or worse, present him to the Margrave.
Then what could he even do? Whatever it was, he needed to decide quickly. The Margrave could step out of the shower at any moment, and Rian very much doubted he would be willing to talk to a suspicious man standing in the middle of his room.
While he was busy trying to think of a way to get out of this place, Rian's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by an announcement blaring from his window.
"ANNOUNCING THE ARRIVAL OF DUKE IRIOS ZEVRIN, LORD OF HOUSE ZEVRIN!"
What was that? Still scrambling for an escape plan, Rian slowly sneaked toward one of the windows and peered outside, only to see a crowd of people in expensive dresses and gowns stepping out of horse-drawn carriages and entering through the mansion's front door, all of them gathering while some were already dancing in the garden below.
Wait. Don't tell me…
Rian took a closer look. In the center of the garden, amidst the dancing people, stood the statue of an angelic blind woman dressed in golden armor, the head of a three-horned demon lying at her feet.
He recognized what this was. The Niviel Kingdom, the place he was in, celebrated a festival called the Festival of Veils, a seven-day celebration of the goddess Elowen, who had once fought against the demonic army all by herself for seven nights straight.
During this time, nobles and commoners would gather in towns to mingle, dance, and celebrate the Goddess Elowen's victory over the demonic forces.
This would also explain the showering Margrave and those fancy clothes lying on the bed; he must have been getting ready for the celebration, meaning the security was going to be especially strict tonight.
But at the same time, with all these foreign faces in the mansion… Rian took in a deep breath as an idea began forming in his mind.
Maybe, just maybe, there was a way he could blend in with those nobles and slip out of the mansion unnoticed. The guards shouldn't bother him as long as he acted like a pompous noble who didn't want to be bothered. Plus, with all his previous experiences attending noble gatherings back home, he didn't even have to worry about his act not being convincing.
But there was one problem. He didn't have clothes fancy enough to blend in with those noble guests; even the ones he had commissioned by the tailor were simple commoner robes and couldn't even compare to what he was seeing down there.
He sharply turned to his side only to have his eyes fall on the Margrave's fancy coat lying on the bed.
No. No, this was a bad idea. Then again, it was the only idea he had.
Without further hesitation, Rian stripped down to his underwear and threw all his clothes inside his rented storage ring. He then rushed to the bed and immediately slipped into the Margrave's clothes, all the while being extremely careful not to make any sound that might alert the showering Margrave.
Unfortunately for him, the clothes were made for a seven-foot giant and were a little too big for him, but he somehow made it work by covering his figure with the outer robes.
Once dressed, he hurried out of the room, all the while carefully checking for any guards in the hallway.
After confirming that no one had seen him step out of the room, he proceeded to adopt a displeased frown and began striding through the lavish, medieval-styled hallway that seemed to have appeared out of one of those historical fantasy books.
Inside, though, he couldn't help but marvel at the sheer beauty of the mansion. Although the architectural style was different, it still bore some resemblance to that of his own world.
While walking through the hallways, he even tried to spot something valuable to steal and throw into his storage ring, but there wasn't a single artifact infused with mana, only simple metals like gold and silver, mostly worked into frames around paintings.
Still, Rian kept looking around, not even noticing as he almost walked straight into a guard stationed at the end of the hall.