"Sir Knight, are you all right there in the back?"
The voice of the carriage driver, a cheerful, middle-aged man, pulled him from his thoughts.
He had found the source of the noise, a simple merchant caravan, and getting a ride had been surprisingly easy.
The man had seen his white uniform, the sword at his hip, and his polite demeanor, and seemed to decide he wasn't a threat.
Now, he was sitting in the back of the cart, bumping along a dirt road, with a few apples the merchant had kindly offered him. They were heading to a place called the Kingdom of Blumund.
"Yes, I'm good, sir," Reinhard called back, taking a bite of a crisp apple. "And thank you again for taking me. I was lost in the forest… so this is a huge help for me."
"Hahaha, it's no problem!" the merchant laughed, his voice carrying over the rumble of the wheels. "Though I must say, I'm impressed! You look a bit young to be a knight."
Reinhard managed a small, polite laugh. "Ah, is that so, sir? Well, I was a knight." He had to correct him.
He couldn't go around pretending to be something he wasn't, or at least, something he wasn't sure he was anymore.
"Now I'm just on my way to become an…" The word just came to him, a sudden, clear idea in the fog of his mind. "…an adventurer."
"Hmm?" the merchant grunted, sounding confused. "I don't know why someone would abandon being a knight to become an adventurer. That's a step down for most."
Reinhard froze. He hadn't thought that far ahead. The questions were starting, the ones he had no real answers for. It was clear he'd need to come up with some kind of backstory, and fast.
He decided to keep it vague. "It had something to do with my family, so I really can't disclose the details. I'm sorry."
"Oh!" The merchant sounded embarrassed. "Oh, I'm sorry, boy. It's not my place to be asking about such personal matters. I'm sure you had your reasons." The man quickly changed the subject.
"About being an adventurer, though, there's a guild hall in the town we're heading to. You can register there easily enough."
Reinhard felt a wave of relief. The excuse had worked. "No problem, you were probably just being cautious. No harm taken," he said. "And thank you for the information. That's very helpful."
He leaned back against a sack of grain, finishing his apple. So, a big town, part of a kingdom called Blumund, with an adventurer's guild.
He finally had a real destination, and a solid first step. It was a small comfort, but right now, he'd take what he could get.
He leaned back, the rhythmic bump and sway of the cart a backdrop to the chaos in his mind.
So, I'm in another world. Definitely or most possibly the world of the Re:Zero. And if not which one is it? And do my powers even work here if this is not the world of Re:Zero? All those Divine Protections… are they just gone?
It was all so confusing. He closed his eyes.
Man, if I could just get some help, a hint, anything…
It was a throwaway thought, a desperate wish sent out into the void.
He never expected the void to answer.
«Request acknowledged.»
The voice was not a sound. It was a thought, planted directly in his head, flat, female, and utterly mechanical.
Reinhard's eyes shot open. He sat bolt upright, his head whipping from side to side. The merchant was still humming, the horses were still trotting. No one else had heard it. That voice was just for him.
What is this?! he thought, a cold feeling creeping up his spine.
«Searching for a solution…»
«Searching for a solution…»
«Solution found.»
Solution found? What solution? What's happening?
«Connecting to an entirely foreign skill root. Unique Skill ⟪Divine Blessing⟫ has been generated.»
Divine Blessing! Skill?! What the hell is happening? His mind was racing, trying to process the words. It sounded like something out of a game.
«Skill classification exceeds limit. Evolution initiated.»
«Ultimate Skill ⟪Divine Authority: Od Laguna⟫ has been bestowed.»
Wait, wait, wait, wait!
His thoughts came to a screeching halt. Ultimate Skill.
That phrase. That mechanical voice. That system of acquiring abilities. He knew this. He knew this world.
The idea that he was in the Re:Zero world shattered completely. This wasn't it at all. He was in the world of Tensura. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.
He couldn't forget the "Voice of the World," the system that grants skills to the inhabitants of this world.
And it had just taken the source of all his power and… converted it.
It had just shifted it into the rules of this new reality.
In Re:Zero, Od Laguna was the root of the world, the fundamental system that governed life, mana, and the Divine Protections themselves.
It wasn't a god you could pray to; it was more like the world's operating system.
And Reinhard, the Sword Saint, was the only person with a direct, open line to it.
And now… that entire system, the very will of his old world, was his personal Ultimate Skill.
He slumped back against the grain sack, a silent, slightly hysterical laugh stuck in his throat.
I don't know what to call this other than completely and utterly broken.
He now had the very source of all Divine Blessings as a skill he could potentially control. The protections would work, alright. They'd work perfectly.
A new, urgent thought cut through the shock. He knew where he was now. But the next, most important question was when.
Was he here at the start of the story?
Before Rimuru even left the cave?
Or had things already been done to a certain things?
It seemed he had his first real mission, even before he could sign up to be an adventurer. He had to figure out what time of the story he'd just landed on.
….
A/N: So for the sake of the story you could make two points in here, as reinhard just said, he got Od Laguna as an ultimate skill but you could also interpret that as that Od Laguna went and find Reinhard by essentially hacking into a another world system and then linking again to Reinhard.
So, Well You already know what timeline is this from the sypnosis so i just gonna say it. It is 1 month or to be more exact today is the day when rimuru will eat veldora in the cave and will exit the cave, a month later.
Any questions are welcome here:-