D.S. Newman
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Isekai Mansion Arc 1 Part 1-2
🕑 Added 2023-07-30 13:11:26 +0000 UTCSuddenly, my body felt weightless. The glow of the stone disappeared at the bottom of the well and next thing I knew I was having to tread water rather than stand upright. It was incredibly dark then too since I couldn’t see the stone glow anymore and we were in a dark basement.
“Hey Reggie, you mind turning on some lights?” I shouted up to him but with no response.
I tried reaching up to grab the rim of the well, but I couldn’t find it. Feeling around, I found a wooden rope ladder hanging against the wall.
“That’s funny, I don’t remember seeing this before?”
I grabbed a hold of it with both hands and started to climb up. That’s when I realized I was way deeper than I was before. Just a few rungs of the ladder should have been enough to get me out. But I kept climbing and climbing. I was free of the water at this point but no sign of the top yet and it was still really dark. Finally, after about ten rungs of the ladder, I reached the ledge.
“Ya know, Higgins, you almost had me there for a second,” I bitched as I was climbing my way out,” but then I realized you just lowered the floor somehow and it made it feel like the water level rose.”
But when I got to the top and hung over the mouth of the well, I noticed I wasn’t in the cellar anymore. I was outside, at night, and there were two guys dressed in late colonial garb with tricorn hats and carrying muskets on either side of the well. They were facing away from me as if they had been guarding it, but both turned to look down and back at me as I came out drenched in well water.
“What the? Whoa, who are you guys?!” I shouted.
The guards, still holding their muskets in one hand each, used their other arms to pull me out and onto the grass. They shook off the water I had carried over to their sleeves as I brought myself to my feet.
“Halt!” one of them commanded as he motioned his rifle my way but not directly aiming at me, “how did you get down there?”
His accent was thick, but I had just arrived in England the day before, so it wasn’t really a surprise.
“Umm, ya know. I’m not really…” I stopped for a second and then said, “...actually, what am I saying. Of course, I know what happened. The old man was telling the truth. I just planes walked!”
The two guards looked at each other and one asked, “could it be?” “Aye, perhaps today is the day,” said the other.
* * *
After allowing me to wring out my clothes a little bit they began to escort me away from the well. We were in a grass clearing in the middle of a forest with no other people or structures around except the well.
“Come along now, we’ll take you to Master Benjamin and Master Thomas. They’ll be able to help you out. Assuming you're…him.”
“Him?” I queried.
They said nothing more but simply led me through the forest by lantern light for about ten or fifteen minutes until we got to a large cabin. One guard went inside and the other stayed with me. We made no real small talk. After a while, the guard returned to the door with a heavyset man wearing pajamas and a robe. He had long gray hair pulled back into a ponytail.
“This is him?” the man asked, “come on inside. You, go wake Thomas up.”
The guard who had been standing outside with me nodded and headed off into another direction as I was hurried inside.
The other guard shut the door behind us and the older man asked him, “you checked him for the password right?”
The guard looked like he’d seen a ghost.
“You nincompoop! Never mind, I’ll do it now.”
The man reached out his hand to shake mine and asked, “Do you prefer wheat or rye?”
Not knowing what to do besides stand there awkwardly smiling, I stuck my hand out to shake his and replied, “That depends on if I’m having soup with it.”
The man yanked his hand away from mine and jumped back as the guard raised his rifle aimed directly at me and stepped back as well.
“Wait! Wait!” I pleaded as I shielded myself from the potential gunfire.
The pajama man started yelling incoherently about how I was a spy. Thankfully we were interrupted by the door opening and the second guard entering with another robed man. This one was a few years younger than the heavy one. He was tall and had a brown beard. He must have been Thomas.
“Everyone calm down!” the bearded man expressed.
“He’s a spy! He didn’t know the password!”
“Benjamin…Benjamin relax. You, rest your arms,” he signaled to the man with the rifle aimed at me. He abided and lowered the gun.
Everyone was tense but there was no more shouting.
“Now Benjamin. We outnumber him four to one. He’s not going anywhere so don’t worry.
If we cannot identify him, we will detain him.”
I gulped because I didn’t like the sound of that.
“But he didn’t know the password, Thomas!”
“Shhh, Benjamin, it’s alright. Remember, Noble said it’s possible they wouldn’t be made privy to our ways before arriving.”
“Noble?” I muttered under my breath.
All eyes were now on me as the heavier man calmed down. Thomas started towards me and reached out his hand to shake. I was timid this time because last time when I didn’t have the right answer everyone freaked out.
“Hello. My name is Thomas Ripple.” I waited a moment and then shook his hand. “Eric…Eric Noble,” I replied.
A collective gasp took the room. Thomas smiled and then turned to Benjamin and said,
“You see Benjamin. Doesn’t he resemble him?”
When the air had cleared, and everyone's nerves were calmed the guards went back outside. Benjamin introduced himself as Benjamin Fellow and I was taken into a small office.
The decor was rustic and dated. I clearly was not in Kansas anymore. I’d say I wasn’t in
England…but I guess I was. Benjamin sat behind his desk with two candles flanking him. Thomas lit a lantern across the room and sat down in a wooden chair beside me in front of the desk.
“So, you’re Noble's son Eric?” asked Thomas.
“Yes, though admittedly I didn’t really know him. I only discovered the well today.” “I see. Higgins showed you, did he?” Benjamin interjected.
“That’s right. My father passed away and I was just given his estate. But I’m at a bit of a loss. How do you two know him?”
The two men looked at each other and Benjamin asked, “Did your father not leave you any notes? He told us that he would.”
“Yeah, the journal. Unfortunately, I got careless and jumped in before reading it. Higgins tried to stop me.”
“Very well,” said Thomas, “It’s unfortunate but not something that cannot be rectified. We shall bring you up to speed on everything.”
Deep into the night, the two elders explained everything to me. The year was 1810. They told me of my father and Higgins' heroics from nearly a decade ago. They said that my father discovered their world to be a parallel timeline to our own, but in this world the British Empire collapsed from within during the Seven Years War and that the American Revolution was far more easily won. Britain had been reformed as a Democracy and renamed Bristol. The European powers tried to take advantage of the upheaval and take Bristol’s many territories. But thanks to a secret society known as The Order and help from my father and Higgins they were able to thwart them.
“Your father told us that his primary objective was to destroy one known as the Devil King. But during his time here he was never able to identify him,” Benjamin explained. “Many of the European and Near East rulers had characteristics of the one he was looking for, but none quite fit the bill,” Thomas added.
“I see, so that’s why the stone was glowing so bright red suddenly. The Devil King here must have acquired power fairly recently. Any idea who he may be now?”
The two gents looked at one another before Benjamin answered, “We believe he may be King George the Third.”
“George the Third? But I thought Britain…err, Bristol had already overthrown the monarchy?”
“Not George Frederick the Third, Eric,” Benjamin corrected, “King George Washington the Third.”
My mouth dropped. Once I gathered myself, I asked, “In my timeline, George
Washington was a great man who never had children.”
“Yes, but in this world, Washington seized power tyrannically at the end of the last century,” Thomas explained, “your father had thought maybe his son, George the Second was the Devil King but on his trip to the Americas, he found it to be too deeply entrenched in American imperialism to make an effort towards him. He helped establish The Order in the former colonies and then returned. He told us that if he didn’t come back to finish the job that one day his son might.”
This was the first time in my life that I felt maybe everything I had thought about my father had been wrong. He left me and my mom to keep us from this world of fighting Devils until the time was right.
Benjamin interrupted my thoughts by adding, “George the Second’s reign was not long and he succumbed to illness a few years ago. Our network of spies both in the Americas and around the world indicate that his son is planning to not only take the whole North American continent but all of Bristol’s territories. It would appear he is mounting an attack force to take our country all at once and cut the head off the snake. This would make taking the rest of the territories easy for them.”
“Do you know when this attack is expected to take place?” I asked.
“We’re not sure, but everything indicates it will be by the end of the year,” said Thomas.
“Not if I have anything to say about it!” I stated abruptly as I stood up from my chair, “if Washington really is the Devil King then I’m not just gonna stand by and let all my father’s work be undone.”
The two older men looked excited with glee. They stood up with me and Thomas said, “if you’re serious and wish to help, we can arrange travel for you to America immediately.”
“That's right, you’ll have to move fast,” Benjamin added, “there are spies everywhere and if you are discovered here in Bristol then word will travel back to King right away. Before George the Second’s death, he issued a decree that anyone matching the traits of the ones who walk world’s must be treated as an utmost threat to the highest magnitude. His son George the Third has taken that warning just as seriously. It’s best you leave tomorrow so that you can get ahead of any messengers. Even taking you to the docks is likely to signal something, oh ye that wears strange clothes.”
“Couldn’t I just borrow an outfit to try and blend in?”
“You could, but that might draw equal attention. You wouldn’t fill out either of our clothes very well and tailoring an outfit takes considerable time. It’s best you leave Bristol as soon as possible and have clothes tailored for you on the ship. Then you’d be ahead of any messengers and though you’d still draw attention in the Americas it is less likely a connection would be made to The Order there. Remember, they know that your father was based out of this region.”
“Alright, that makes sense. How long is the trip?”
“Approximately three weeks,” Thomas answered.
“Three weeks! You gotta be kidding me?!”
“Relax,” he urged, similarly to how he did with Benjamin earlier, “that will give you plenty of time to learn more about our world and have clothes hemmed for you.”
“We mustn't forget to teach him the passcode, Thomas. We wouldn’t want another
incident like earlier.”
No, we wouldn’t.
“Right,” Thomas agreed, “shake my hand. Now, you can identify those friendly to The Order by asking, ‘Do you prefer wheat or rye?’ and if the response is, ’Barley is best.’ then you know they are a friend.”
“Got it. I shall write it upon my heart.”
Doesn’t hurt to get into character a little bit.
* * *
Benjamin put me up for the night and the next day the three of us made our way across the country by carriage to the docks. They weren’t kidding. I stuck out like a sore thumb. Just the way I awkwardly got in and out of the carriage, even if I had been dressed appropriately, made it super obvious I wasn’t from around here.
We made it to the port of Bristol, the city of which the empire was renamed after the fall of the monarch. Benjamin and Thomas led me down through the docks hastily, hoping to avoid as much contact as possible. When we approached a certain ship, Benjamin struck up a conversation with the Bosun.
“Good day sir. Might our friend here be able to speak with Captain Moreau?”
The man turned to look at me. His eyes almost popped out of his head in shock at my attire. But he reached out his hand to shake and asked, “Do you prefer wheat or rye?” I answered in kind with, “Barley is best.”
The man looked back at Thomas and Benjamin and nodded for us to board.
Once aboard we went into the cabin of the ship and were greeted by an ornately dressed Frenchman.
“Bonjour! Monsieur Fellow and Monsieur Ripple. What brings you to my…”
Then he stopped dead in his tracks and addressed me, “You…you must be Noble’s son.
I knew him well.”
“That’s right…ha…it's me. Seems everybody knew him but me.”
“Hey, listen, whatever reason you are here for, I will fix you up,” he noted in a heavy french accent.
“Eric here needs transportation to America…fast,” Thomas explained, “we want to try to outrun any clues to the crown that a world walker is here. Many people have already taken note of him just today, so waiting until tomorrow is out of the question.”
World walker? I mean, I said, ‘planes walker’, myself, but that was fantasy speak. They didn’t mention to me that they had a name for people like my dad and Higgins.
“Thomas, I understand,” Moreau reciprocated as he put his hand on Thomas’ back, ”I only just returned from the Caribbean a few days ago but I can set sail in a matter of hours. I know how serious this must be if Noble’s son is here after all this time. What’s the mission anyway?”
“I’m going to kill Washington,” I interrupted, leaving them all silent momentarily.
Finally, Moreau started laughing loudly and said, “well he certainly has his father’s gall.
Like I said, we can leave tonight.”
“Excellent,” said Benjamin, “have some clothes made to fit him, and teach him…everything.”
I wondered what that meant, but there was no time to ask. I said my goodbyes and thanks to Thomas and Benjamin and they soon left the ship. Moreau gave me a brief tour and offered me quarters to rest after a long day in the carriage. It wasn’t so long ago that I had taken a long trip by plane and train in my world and then been given a tour of the estate. Everything was happening so fast. Just forty-eight hours ago I was leaving Mr. Ford’s law office after signing the possession of my inheritance. Now I was on my way back to America to kill George Washington’s grandson!
