D.S. Newman
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Isekai Mansion Arc 1 Part 1-3
🕑 Added 2023-07-30 13:18:50 +0000 UTCLife at sea wasn’t so bad. Beautiful views, every day we ate fish and lemons…and Moreau taught me…everything.
“Monsieur Noble, if you are taking on a foe such as the American Imperial Army, it would be best for me to teach you the art of Swashbuckling. You have roughly twenty-four days on this ship before we arrive in New York. We should use about eight to ten hours of most days for training. You can rest one full day a week. But for now, en garde!”
He tossed me a training sword and began the arduous task of teaching a couch potato physical fitness. I learned sword play, knife fighting, a French style of fighting known as Savate.
We fired flintlocks off the side of the ship. He even let me fire a cannon!
All told, it was an uphill battle trying to learn all this from nothing. But on the ship, I was confined and was able to make the most of the three weeks I was there. I even started to get pretty good. Moreau’s man had finished my outfit too. It was a white tunic with a matching overcoat. Black boots and a matching black tricorn hat. Much better than the dark gray t-shirt, blue jeans, and tennis shoes I’d arrived in. I had Moreau store them in his quarters for safekeeping.
One evening, during dinner, I asked, “Moreau, do you really think I’ll be able to make a difference in this fight?”
“But of course,” he replied, “you are the son of Noble after all. And you have been learning from the best. Captain Moreau!”
“What I mean is…if this King is really a devil incarnate, do I really stand a chance against him?”
Moreau stroked his goatee and answered, “Despite the great many things I have seen in my time around Noble, I am still not so sure I believe in a living devil. So, to that effect, I cannot say that I have adequately prepared you for such a feat. And if I’m being totally honest with you…”
He paused but I egged him on to finish.
“...What I have taught you is merely enough to keep you alive. Fighting an army and slaying a devil single handedly are entirely different things.”
I didn’t like the odds being presented to me like that, but I respected his honesty.
The last few days of the trip he told me to rest. He used that time to teach me some information about America, The Order, and some basic etiquette to help me blend as much as possible. Apparently, there was already rumor of a new rebellion. Since in this timeline the revolution didn’t reap the victory, my world did, the people were still hungry for freedom rather than imperialist ambition. I would need to play into that.
When we came into the bay, I looked out over the horizon with Moreau at the sight of early 19th century New York. He said, “I will go on shore first and speak with some trusted allies. You stay on the ship in my cabin until I return from making arrangements for you. I want your journey to the Capital to be as quick and as easy as possible. From there, it will be up to you to figure out what to do. Monsieur, I’m not sure what your plan is, but since you are as driven as your father was, I have no doubt you will succeed in your goal.”
Oh geez, that's just it, I didn't really have a plan. What was I going to do, just walk right up and kill the king? And driven? That’s the last adjective I’d use for myself! But nonetheless, I had to try something. I could use The Order’s network to get close to the King and then figure something out. At least now I had some new skills.
We docked in the harbor, and I did just as Moreau said and waited inside until he returned. He was only gone about an hour when he came back and said, “Good news, Monsieur Noble, I’ve made arrangements for you to have a guide to the Capital. You are to meet a contact from The Order in a tavern called The Red Dragon Inn on the far side of the city from here. I’ll draw you a map. The contact goes by the codename A.T. Just walk in, order a drink and tell the barmaid you wish to meet with A.T. I would go with you but for now I need to remain with my ship. I just spoke with the Bosun, and he says that since we made landfall a member of my crew has disappeared. I fear that he may have been a spy and has hastily reported your presence.
I’m sorry.”
“Oh wow, Benjamin and Thomas weren’t kidding about how quick the spy network would move to expose me. At least it's congruent with my arrival, so I may still be able to get the jump.“
“Be careful, Monsieur. The spy knows what you are here for and knows that you have been training. He also will be able to tell his superiors the fact that you are new to this world and are at a disadvantage.”
“Thanks for everything, Moreau.”
We shook hands whilst he smiled and said, “Don’t mention it. Anything for the son of Noble. I’ll be leaving rather quickly in case I become a target for helping you but I’ll stay on the coast to do some minor shipping jobs. I’ll return in a few weeks to this port if you end up needing any more assistance from someone trusted.”
And with that I departed the vessel and made my way towards the Red Dragon Inn. Funny, I got the reference. The Green Dragon Inn was a place that the colonists met in Boston to plan the Revolution. Guess it makes sense for there to be other Dragon Inns. But right now, I was just happy to be able to blend in. As long as I didn’t speak too much, I looked the part. In fact, if I managed to pull this off, I could go back to my world in these cool duds and impress Stephanie when she came to visit. Can’t exactly view me as a slacker when I’m gallivanting through other worlds slaying Devil Kings.
* * *
I meandered through the streets of old New York, following Moreau’s simple map. Crazy that this place would eventually become one of the biggest metropolises in the world. It was big right now, but nothing by comparison. There couldn’t have been more than a hundred thousand people here now. After thirty or forty minutes of walking I came upon a Tavern sign that read, ‘Red Dragon Inn’ with a little painted illustration of a red dragon. Moreau had given me a small pouch of spending money so I could order a drink. So, without wasting time, I walked right in.
Inside it was rather smaller than I expected. But it was quite a nice establishment. There were eight round wooden tables and a bar at the far side adjacent from the door. Must have only been about ten or twelve patrons at the time I came in but none of them paid me any mind. I walked over to a table and seated myself. After a minute or so a blonde bar maiden, presumably only a few years younger than me approached and asked what I’d like.
“I’ll have a tankard of ale, lass,” I said, deciding to play it up a bit.
She gave me a bit of an odd look but then turned to go get my order. She came back rather quickly so I went ahead and asked for the contact as Moreau had instructed.
“Excuse me miss, but might I be able to speak with A.T.?”
Her eyes got big, and she replied, “you’re here to meet with A.T.?”
“That’s correct.”
“So, you’re the one? I thought you seemed different when you came in,” she said as she extended her hand to shake and asked, “Do you prefer wheat or rye?”
I shook her delicate hand and said, “Barely is best.”
Her eyes widened again, and she sat down across the table from me. I didn’t mind seeing as she was quite the looker. She wore a white colonial dress with blue accents. Her cleavage pressed outward from the exposed chest space. Her shoulder length blonde hair flowed beneath her small white bonnet, and she had light blue eyes.
I just sat there smiling at her in silence as she looked intently back at me. After an awkward moment I asked, “Sooo…are you gonna go get him for me?”
“Get who?” she replied.
“A.T. Remember, I'm here to meet him? He’s my contact for passage to the Capital.”
Her face went from smiling amazement to angry bewilderment, and she said, “He?! I’m
A.T. My name is Anabel Townsend. A.T. are my initials. We use them as codenames in The Order.”
I sat aghast for a moment in embarrassment and then replied, “...Ohhh! Oh I see…yes, yes, you are the contact. Ha Ha Ha, Moreau didn’t tell me anything about you. He just said I was meeting A.T. My apologies.”
Her face was still red with anger and she frowned sitting with her arms crossed before saying, “Right. Well, I guess I can understand the confusion.”
We sat a moment longer in awkward silence before she perked up a little and asked,
“So. Are you really the son of Noble the world walker?”
“Huh? Well, yes, I am. Though I didn’t really know him. I’m actually kind of here by mistake.”
“Mistake?” she questioned with a sad look on her face, “you mean, you’re not here to right the wrongs of the tyrannical king?”
“No no, that’s not what I meant. I mean, yes, I’m gonna do my best to do that. Just, understand, I’m pretty new at this. If I’m being totally honest with you, I’m not exactly sure if I can even pull it off,” I stated as I slouched in despair.
Anabel gave a slight smile and said, “don’t worry about it. I’m sure your father didn’t have everything figured out either and look at what he accomplished. He destroyed the Concert of Europe in its infancy and gave hope to everyone in the former colonies. Because of him, Bristol is still intact and can fight another day.”
Her little speech was at least a bit encouraging. My dad really meant something to these people, I guess.
“Okay,” I said, “so when do we get started? If I can at least get to the Capital, then I can try and figure something out from there.”
“Right!” she shouted as she punched her fist into the palm of her other hand and stood up, “we leave tonight! Meet me behind the Tavern around 9 o'clock and I’ll have a wagon and horses waiting for you. The journey will take about six days so I will be gathering supplies until then.”
“Six days! Geez, everything takes so long in this era.”
* * *
I had a good meal at the tavern and then took my time strolling around town until the designated meeting time. I wasn’t sure to the extent that Anabel could help me but at least I wouldn’t get lost trying to make it to the Capital on my own. I’d have to rely on the skills Moreau taught me. Just before the sun set, I was waiting behind the tavern when Anabel arrived with two horses pulling a small wagon.
She was dressed down slightly from earlier. She still wore a white petticoat dress but this one was more suitable for travel rather than that of a barmaid. She also had a jacket and riding boots on. Her hair was tightly pulled back and under a small bonnet as before.
“I know it's not much, but it's lightweight so we can travel fast. Normally one horse would be enough for a wagon this size but the extra horsepower should help. Might save half a day or so. We need to get you there as soon as possible so we can try and get ahead of messengers notifying the Capital guard of your arrival.”
I awkwardly climbed aboard the coverless wagon and sat next to Anabel. It was very obvious I wasn’t from around here.
As we rode, I tried making some small talk with her about how long she had been in The Order but her answers were rather short with me since she was so focused on getting us down the road. All she told me was, “Since I was a teenager. I may not be tough, but I’m passionate about the cause. I’m not really a fighter, though I do keep this on me just in case.”
She flashed me a smaller flintlock pistol from underneath her petticoat jacket.
We traveled by night so we would have as few encounters as possible and use the cover of darkness to hide around known patrols and checkpoint areas. The first night on the road went well and we covered a lot of ground. We were dead tired by morning since we both had been up all day the day before, so we made a little camp off the beaten path, had some food, and slept most of the day under the shade of a row of trees.
That evening, we gathered the camp up after eating and started down the path again.
We made it until about 2 o'clock in the morning when suddenly.
*Crack*
She abruptly slowed the horses and stopped the wagon.
“Dammit!” she shouted, “The bump in the road broke one of the wheels. Come on.”
She signaled for me to get out and hold a lantern for her as we examined the damage.
“It’s pretty bad and it's too dark for me to fix it right now. We’re gonna have to wait until morning. Let’s try and get a nap in. We can make up time by traveling during the day a bit.”
Our wagon was stopped right on the side of a dirt road next to some brush and a couple of trees. We laid out our bedrolls and got a few hours shut eye before the morning light woke us up.
* * *
After putting away our camp, Anabel confessed, “look, I’m not strong enough to fix this by myself and from what I gathered by your reaction last night, you don’t have the faintest clue as to how to fix a wagon wheel. So, we’re going to have to ditch the wagon and go by horseback from here. We really needed these supplies to finish the journey, but we can take what the horses can carry and figure things out later.”
“Horseback! I’ve never ridden a horse in my life!”
“Seriously?” she questioned, “how do your people get around in your world?”
“Well, that’s kinda a long story but…”
“It’s alright,” she interrupted, “I’ve started to expect as much. Your ways are very different from ours, but you must have something to offer in defeating the Devil King.”
I didn’t like that tonal shift and I was about to give her a piece of my mind when she said, “Wait…shh…hear that?”
She grabbed my wrist and pulled me alongside the wagon as cover while looking ahead.
Down the road were two horses coming around the corner carrying men in blue uniforms.
“It’s a patrol. Quick, hide down in the brush. I’ll try to get them to help me fix the wagon. We can’t let them know you’re here at all because it will endanger the mission. No matter what happens, stay down until they leave.”
I followed her instructions, and laid flat on my stomach behind some tall brush and crawled about twenty feet from the wagon.
