The boy quickly shakes his head in an attempt to brush off the outlandish idea. Transferred to the cringeworthy story he spent years working on? Impossible.
'No... there's no way to confirm that and there's no way that that's realistic. I've read dozens of isekai stories, and none of the protagonists got teleported to a story they wrote; it's always one that they read... but that's assuming that I AM the protagonist of this world.... just because I was transferred to this world doesn't automatically make me the protagonist.'
He paces around the room, rubbing his hands in his hair out of frustration as he lets out a tired and annoyed groan. The windows are drawn closed, and the door to the bedroom is locked.
A bug scurries out from under the desk and leaves through the crack between the door and the floor, but the boy couldn't care less about that at the moment. He works to think of other things to figure everything out.
'...alright. Assuming that I AM in a story I read or MAYBE in the story I wrote... I have to keep an eye out for the main protagonist of the story. They tend to be hard to miss, so it shouldn't be too difficult. Once I figure out who the protagonist is, I'll know what story I'm in! Then I can figure out a way to get out, maybe even with the help of the protagonist… depending on who it is.'
The boy tiredly falls back onto the comfortable and large bed in Elias's bedroom, closing his eyes as he lets out a rather dramatic sigh.
He falls asleep surprisingly quickly, mainly due to the stressful first day in this new world. He wasn't even able to get under the covers, instead just sprawled out against the bedspread as he snores quietly, his breathing slow and calm.
It's probably the most relaxed he's been the whole day.
…
The figure of a woman enters the room without a sound. She stares down at the boy lying in the bed messily, a sigh escapes past her small lips.
Hidden by the darkness from the curtains blocking the moonlight, she approaches the bed.
Quietly and swiftly, she moves him in a movement to not disturb him, pulling the covers over him in an impressive way.
The boy unconsciously smiles gently, snuggling into the newfound warmth, not bothered at all by the sudden movement.
He hadn't even noticed. This causes the woman to frown, quickly turning to leave the bedroom as silently as she had entered it. She leaves through the door, and the dim lights caused by the torches lit in the hallways of the manor reveal her face.
It's the young grey-haired maid who had seen him at the time of his "return".
With one final look, a look with narrowed eyes and a frown on her face, she turns and leaves, shutting the door without a sound, leaving the boy to sleep comfortably as he dreams of home, his real home.
He frowns.
...
Light cascades into the bedroom through the drawn curtains, the warmth of the sun and the smell of baked goods fills the room in a comfortable and cozy way.
The boy blinks awake, sitting up with a yawn as he stretches his arms. He instinctively reaches for his bedside table to grab his phone and check the time, only to be reminded of his situation.
Instantly, the warmth and comfort of the morning leave him, with a feeling of dread and heavy tiredness being all that is left.
'Right... I'm not home. I'm here.' He sighs loudly as he rubs the crusts in his eyes; they burn.
There's a threat of tears that won't go through. It never does. He doesn't cry, instead, he looks around to see where the smell of bread is coming from.
On the nightstand next to the bed is a tray with a glazed roll and a cup of what seems to be steaming hot tea.
The feeling of comfort nearly returns, but he pushes it deep down.
He can't allow himself to get comfortable here. He has to leave. He has to return home to his parents... 'I wonder if they've noticed that I'm gone.'
The upsetting thought dwells in his mind as he grabs the tray and begins to eat, staring out of the bright window.
The room he's staying in is positioned at the front of the estate, so he can look past the gates and look at the village just down the hill.
People bustle around, horse-drawn carriages take people to their destinations, as others walk, children laugh and play while dogs and cats run through the alleys and streets happily.
A solemn look oozes onto the boy's face, his smile fading as his gaze darkens and his eyes grow sad.
'...I clearly don't belong here. They're all too happy and carefree. It's just unrealistic. Whatever story this is is just childish…'
With a sigh, he finishes the last bite of his food, washing it down with a large gulp of the hot tea. He cringes as the bitter taste fills his mouth, smacking his lips in distaste.
He always wished that he liked tea, his mom loves tea. It was one thing he'd force himself to drink around her so they'd have something to bond over.
It was obvious that he didn't like it; he was bad at hiding it, but she never said anything to him. She'd just spare him a glance before returning to her phone.
Remembering this, his frown only grows. What a horrible way to start his first morning in this new world...
Deciding that there's no more time to waste, he gets out of bed and makes his way to the desk in Elias's room.
There's an old-looking clock placed on it, which he tries to read, but it's written differently than the clocks back in his world.
With a frustrated huff, he decides that it's probably a few hours before noon and sits down at the desk, grabbing a piece of paper and a quill.
He's never used a quill before... he dips it in ink and begins to write, just as he's seen in the movies.
Unfortunately, the people in movies have fancier handwriting than he does, meaning that his writing is just barely legible.
The boy figures that it doesn't matter as long as he can read it, since he doesn't want anyone else to be able to.
After some quick practice writing, he begins to start on what he wanted to do in the first place: write up a rough draft of a plan to return home.
The paper reads, in what would barely be considered words with how poor and utterly embarrassing the handwriting is,
"-try to find the protagonist
-become one of their allies/friends
-follow them to (hopefully) find leads on where the real Elias is and how to get back home
-figure out how to get home without exposing who I am (or am not, technically)
-get Elias home and get back to my world
-hope I'm not missing in my world
-go home to parents"
He smiles and nods, figuring that this plan will be good enough until he gathers more details. He's still unsure of how exactly he'll get home, but he's sure that he'll figure it out once he joins the protagonist.
He thinks to himself, 'The protagonist always has plot armor, so it should all work out. Plus, since I was isekai'd here, I must be relevant to the plot! Which means that I'm probably one of the protagonist's allies, so I'll be joining him anyway.'
A proud and cocky grin crosses the boy's face as he chuckles to himself over how smart he is for thinking up all of this on the spot despite his situation.
He stands up and stretches his arms out, interlocking his fingers to pop them in the cool main character way, only to have just two of them pop just barely.
With a frown, he hurriedly pops the rest of them by pushing his knuckles, disappointed that his moment was ruined.
He then walks over to the closet in the room, peeking in to check out Elias's clothes. He feels bad for stealing another guy's clothes, especially since the guy is missing, but since he's pretending to be him, he kinda has to. '
'Sorry, Elias!!'
Inside the closet, there's already an outfit laid out for him. With a satisfied smile, he gets dressed at a comfortable pace, struggling a bit with the different styling of clothes but figuring it out in the end- other than the tie he gave up on wearing and the few top buttons he couldn't bother to do up.
He could've asked his maid for help, but he was unsure if that would arouse suspicion or not.
In the end, the boy can deal with looking a bit messy with his attire, it's not like he wants to stand out at all anyway.
After getting dressed, he peeks his head out of the bedroom doorway, narrowing his eyes as he cautiously looks left to right, checking for anyone.
Confirming that the hallways are empty, he quietly sneaks through them. Whenever he hears the sound of footsteps, he quickly hides in the nearest room before continuing his stealth mission.
Eventually, he makes it to the front door. After peeking out and making sure that there are no guards or servants, he grins and quickly runs out, climbing over the gate in a... not-so-graceful way.
He falls off the top of it and lands in a bush on the other side, quickly scurrying out and just running, embarrassed and praying that no one had seen that.
When he reaches the bottom of the hill, he enters the village. The boy wonders if he should've worn a cloak to hide himself since he's technically known as a noble right now, but people just smile and wave, so he figures he shouldn't fuss over it too much.
Children run past him happily as older couples talk at stalls over what fruits to get. A dog plays excitedly with a cat that isn't as excited as the dog, but it also isn't annoyed with the dog all that much.
He walks past a man flirting with a woman, who is heavily flirting back, and he walks past an old lady looking for a lace parasol to buy.
'Wow... this just reminds me how fake this world is. Now, if I were a protagonist, where would I be~?'
He continues to look around, hands in his pockets, as he peeks through the crowd. An alley catches his eye.
For some reason, he can feel some sort of... presence there..? He can't quite explain it, but he's drawn to the alley.
He weaves in between the busy townsfolk, used to having to do this at his high school, and ends up making it to the alley in just two minutes.
Inside the alley, it's dark. Colored cloths attached to the tops of the buildings block out the sun; only slivers of sunlight peek through the gaps in between each cloth sheet draped across the roofs.
Walking down the alley, the boy takes his hands out of his pockets just in case someone, or something, jumps out to attack him.
He's in a fantasy world. Just because the town is nice and happy doesn't mean there aren't bad guys or monsters.
Hell, he saw a DRAGON on his first day!! That is not normal! Or safe!!!
He walks down the dark alley with a great amount of caution, flinching at the slightest sound.
Then, that feeling returns. His head perks up as he looks around quickly, his pupils dilated and his eyes wide.
This presence... he begins to run towards the weirdly familiar yet unfamiliar aura that's drawing him in. As he draws a corner, he immediately forces himself to stop, the bottoms of his, or Elias's, shoes scraping against the stone ground of the alleyway.
A figure is leaning against the wall of the alley, slumped to the ground, shallow breaths leaving their mouth weakly.
They're injured.
The boy's eyes quickly light up as he grins. This is it! This is such a good way to meet a protagonist and become allies with them!
A side character helps the protagonist and gains their trust quickly, and then they become allies and travel together!! This is exactly what the boy was looking for.
He quickly runs over, the grin still plastered on his face, as he slows down and begins to approach more slowly so as not to startle the possible protagonist.
The boy peeks at the person's face as he crouches down next to them. It's a man, he looks to be around his late teens. 18? 19? However old he is, he looks handsome. Definitely not the looks of some NPC.
There's a large scar on his right cheek and a small scar on the left side of his nose. His face is a bit pale, and there are large bags under his eyes. His hair is black and messy. He looks sick, especially with his irregular breathing.
Unfortunately, it's too dark to properly make out any distinguishable features other than the more noticeable, and slightly intimidating, ones.
However, the boy couldn't help but have a feeling of unease rile up deep in his stomach.
There was something scarily familiar about this sickly young man. Ignoring his feelings, he decides to develop a plan.
"...how am I supposed to carry him back to the estate..?" he can't help but mumble to himself, worriedly.
If he dragged an injured and unconscious man to his estate as a noble, it'll probably be bad for "his" reputation... he'd feel extremely guilty if he were to completely destroy Elias's good reputation while filling in for him.
Suddenly, the boy felt someone behind him. He quickly stands and turns around, throwing a really pathetic punch in a panic.
The person who was behind him just grabs his hand and raises an eyebrow at him. It's his maid... or, rather, Elias's maid.
She stares at him for a moment before letting go of his fist and giving him a respectful curtsy, standing straight afterward and speaking in a neutral tone with a neutral expression.
"I apologize for startling you, young master. I noticed that you had left without notifying anyone in the estate and was worried that you'd go missing again, so I took it upon myself to follow you. If you wish to punish me for acting out of line, I will understand."
Despite her saying such words, the look in her eyes shows that she isn't worried about "Elias" punishing her in the slightest.... and she would be correct.
The boy sighed, rubbing his hair irritatedly. 'I really can't get mad at her for worrying over her master... and she totally knows that. What a smart maid....'
That eerie feeling of familiarity creeps up on him once again, but, like the previous times, he just pushes that feeling aside and focuses on the situation at hand.
"...It's fine, I get it," he then smiles as he comes up with an idea. If this servant is smart enough to manipulate what he can and can't say and is stealthy enough to follow him without being noticed, then surely she's strong as well! She seems to be good at most things.
A condescending grin crosses his face as he looks at her greedily, "...since you work under me, would you mind helping me get this man to our estate? He seems sickly and I wish to treat him."
The maid only gives him a confused and slightly taken-aback look, which is a weird look on her usually stoic face.
After a few seconds of staring at the boy and the injured boy on the ground of the alley, she sighs, defeated, and nods. "Of course, young master. Whatever you command."
She approaches the unconscious boy and lifts him with ease, carrying him bridal style.
'Huh... I figured she'd just throw him over her shoulder, but I guess that'd be too cruel. I sure hope he doesn't wake up like that, it'd probably hurt his ego and we might get off on a bad start.'
The boy gets lost in thought as he begins to walk back the way they came, his maid following.
'...I just realized that I don't know her name. Would it be rude of me to ask? I don't want to hurt her feelings, but...'
He just lets out a tired and frustrated sigh, causing "his" maid to give him an odd look but continue to stay silent.
The boy allows his mind to wander, leading the way back to the manor. His maid and the unconscious person in tow.