Meeting

"Why are you hesitating?"

A woman clad in battered metal armor shouted. She was covered in blood from head to toe, with a few chunks of her flesh missing, yet somehow this did not detract from her graceful figure. Her eyes conveyed more of the pain of betrayal than of her physical wounds. Her golden hair fluttered in the wind like the numerous broken golden-colored flags that symbolized royalty fluttering on the battlefield.

That was the first time Rio ever saw her making that face, and it also would be the last time he would see her again.

*Gasp*

Rio suddenly woke up covered in sweat, staring emptily into a luxurious but unfamiliar room. Seemingly still not fully awake, he sat there for a moment before taking a deep breath.

"You're finally awake."

Startled by the sound, Rio jerked his head to the side and saw the princess's attendant, Cyan, sitting beside his bed without making a sound. She was still wearing her fitted business suit with the katana-like blade at her side.

Before Rio was able to ask any questions, Cyan quickly added, "Apologies for bringing you here in such a violent manner, but we have to keep the visit confidential, and we can't risk you reaching out to your comrades without our knowledge."

"We are currently flying over Western Cymara to reach the emperor's palace. We'll be there in approximately 20 minutes. Dress up in the clothes I've provided on the table next to you. Don't take too long; we'll answer your questions when we meet again."

Right after she finished speaking, she immediately stood up and left before Rio was able to ask anything again.

'What is wrong with these people?'

'Forget that, where the hell am I? I don't think I've heard of a place called Cymara before in my life.'

Rio quickly got off the bed and looked out the window on the side of his room.

Outside the window was a vast city with various bright neon lights lighting up the street. The city had numerous high-rise buildings at close proximities to each other. There were also colorful hologram advertisements projected on the sides of the tall buildings. The rest of the urban sprawl was messy and full of power lines that seemed impossible to untangle.

'Huh, a city I don't recognize.'

As a world-renowned hero, basic understanding of the world's major cities was a given. So not recognizing a city as big as this was certainly an anomaly.

'Speaking of which, I don't recognize the language the princess or her attendant were speaking in. Or hell, even the language that I'm thinking in is different.'

'Could I be in another world?'

After staying silent for a moment, Rio decided to dress up first before going outside the room to confirm his current situation.

Looking at the clothes provided on the nightstand, Rio sighed.

'Noble clothing with an unknown insignia. Sigh... looks like I can't get out of politics wherever I go.'

A golden-haired woman in battered armor suddenly flashed across his mind before he shook his head and put on the clothes.

As a former duke, Rio was familiar with how to dress properly and did not require any help in putting everything on correctly.

'A street rat like me should not be able to do this.'

'Well, since they know mind magic, and I currently don't have any defense against it at the moment, honesty is the best policy. It would certainly be awkward if I were to blurt out I only pretended not to know about how to dress.'

'Plus, according to the attendant, we don't have much time anyway, and I need answers.'

'Hmmm, does magic work the same way as it did where I was from?'

'I can't seem to feel any mana circulating; is it because this body is lacking?'

Putting the questions aside, he opened the door and walked out of his room.

Immediately upon exiting, he saw a comically large red cardboard arrow pointing to the end of the hallway.

'...'

'Let's follow that for now.'

After following the comically large red arrow that seemed to be everywhere and exiting, presumably, the servant living quarters, he reached a spacious circular lobby with no one in it.

'Isn't this ship a little too big for a covert meeting?' Rio lampooned silently.

The spacious lobby was unlike anything he had seen before. The lobby itself didn't seem to have any sources of light, but just illuminated passively, bright enough for visitors to see everything in an ethereal shade. On the black and white checkered floor tiles, there were six three-story-high sculptures of men and women in robed clothing surrounding the middle platform, each pointing at a single point high above the domed ceiling with their scepters. Each titanic figure was carved out of a single block of white marble and held a neutral expression on their face. Behind the surrounding statues were numerous thick fluted columns with sturdy bases that seemed to be untouched for centuries. In the middle of the lobby, there was a circular stand with a complicated pattern engraved on it.

The only thing that didn't match the solemn atmosphere of the lobby was the comically large red arrow hanging from one of the scepters, pointing to the stand in the middle.

Rio lampooned at the sight of this beautiful scene being ruined by the arrow but followed the direction nonetheless.

While standing on the circular stand, Rio inspected the pattern on it.

'Seems vaguely familiar. This should be a short-range tele...'

"Welcome to Light Palace."

"I will grant you three minutes to ask three questions, and I will answer them to the best of my ability."

The melodious voice of the princess rang out before he was able to finish the thought. In a blink of an eye, he was already at his supposed destination.

'This... shouldn't be possible. A teleportation execution efficiency close to the theoretical limit.'

'With the magic engraving on the circle, it should've taken at least 20 seconds.'

'Could the magical system here have similar fundamentals but ultimately different in execution?'

"Oh, to not waste your time, I should get the basics out of the way," the princess said in a calm manner.

"Yes, Rio, it's exactly what you're thinking. You are in a different world, at least from what I've seen in your memories."

"You should be grateful that I only browsed through your childhood memories. I was only expected to inspect the first eight years of your memory since you're just eight years old according to the DNA database. Upon realizing you're from a different world, I decided not to read past your eighth birthday. I can only wish that you would reciprocate my generosity in the upcoming series of events."

The princess, still wearing the same court dress she had worn the day she met Rio, silently sat down on a leather chair and crossed her legs while looking at Rio intriguingly with a slight smile.

"Now... ask while we still have the time."

Rio fell silent.