Sitting up on his bed, Nicholas sat confused as he stared at his surroundings. He was sure that he hadn't drunk or taken anything too excessive last night, however the room he was looking at didn't belong to him and even worse, it looked like it belonged to some form of nobility.
The gold plated columns, the absurdly soft bed and the sheets that he had only seen in the presidential suite of a hotel he had once worked at. Nothing here, from the clothes to the environment was one that he knew but somehow there was a compelling feeling to just sit still.
He had no idea what was going on but he also understood that if he had encroached in some rich person's house then he might as well enjoy the luxury before he is eventually thrown into prison.
"Is this really how the rich even live?" Nicholas questioned himself as he looked around
There was a common saying that the world's wealth was in the hands of the top 1% but from what he was seeing, this looked like it was the top 1% of that 1%. No matter how he racked his memories, he couldn't come up with even the slightest idea as to how and why he was here.
"Wait, is this a kidnapping?" Nicholas suddenly asked aloud as he jumped out of the bed.
Rushing to the nearest window, far and near was covered in snow, but apart from the snow, he could also see a set of people dressed in uniforms.. Many were cleaning the ground of snow while many were standing near ramrod straight with what looked like muskets in hand.
"Does this guy think he's in the 1800s or what?..." He said before trailing off
Something was odd, the view from the room he was currently in allowed him a good view of what seemed to be a large river and just on the other side of it was a large city
The sun wasn't yet fully up and something but unlike what he was used to, most of the city was dark, he had never seen a skyline where 90% of the city was dark even if it was the early hours of the morning.
"Where am I?" He suddenly thought to himself as a deep fear began to rise even more
If it was a kidnapping, they wouldn't dress him in such fine clothes and put him in such a room but at the same time, he also couldn't remove that option from the list of plausibilities given that some rich people were into some very weird things.
Turning to the left, a door much grander than anything he had seen so far could be seen. Light crept in from underneath the door and the small spaces in the door's huge frame.
Looking at the door, he had a feeling that if he called out even slightly, someone would immediately come to check on him. He didn't know why but that feeling remained and increased the more he stared at the door.
Turning around, there were two doors, Nicholas immediately ran for one of them as he was getting pressed. Without hesitation he opened one of them and thankfully it was as he had expected, it was a toilet.
"At least the toilets not gold plated" He mumbled as he relieved himself
"What the…?!" He exclaimed in shock when he turned around, only to see another man in the toilet with him
"Wait, is that me?" he asked when he realized he was the only one in the bathroom and even in the mirror, he could only see the man and not himself.
The man he saw in the mirror had roughly the same facial structure as him but was too white to be him. He didn't have a cleanly shaven beard but it was low enough that what was on his face couldn't be normal.
From black hair, to almost blond and he was a typical Afro-russian but now the 'afro' part of that had gone on vacation. This was not him.
His knees buckled under his weight as he fell to the ground, his eyes blank and his mind racing to sort of make sense of his situation.
He thought of the Neurolink but then again, that was barely able to even move a cursor across a screen, he thought of surgery but then again, that was next to impossible, he was fully white.
"Is this a transmigration?" Nicholas thought as he managed to stand up
It was the only logical or even illogical answer to all this, he woke up in a fancy bed in what seemed like a castle. Now that he thought about it he saw some of the workers bow towards his direction when he stared out the window but had ignored it
His face was different, even as he thought of it, he could feel all the differences now. His back didn't ache him despite all the activity this morning, his posture seemed a lot better than his original self.
He felt a bit taller though at the same time, he also felt incredibly light as though his former self didn't eat at all. It really was a transmigration.
"Your Majesty?!!" A voice suddenly called out as his racing thought immediately came to a halt
"Forgive me, your majesty, however her majesty ordered that I inform you to ensure you eat before you begin your day" the voice said in a calm voice
However inside the bathroom, Nicholas's mind got into a new lap of the race of thoughts, it really was a transmigration. Peeping through the bathroom door, he could see an elderly man dressed in clothes that easily identified him as some sort of butler
He spoke with his head in a bow, it was a slight bow but he remained in that same posture, behind him were another set of servants as well, each bowing deeply. It seemed he was now the 'majesty' of some nation.
"Uh… I'll be out soon" Nicholas replied
He didn't know what to say or even what to do. Was he now really the ruler to some nation, the environment he saw when he looked out the window didn't seem like mediaeval times.
The toilet he was staring at now was a water closet which was a sign of modernity, though he had ignored it initially, there was electricity in this palace that was why everything was bright even though it was barely morning.
After a few minutes of moping at himself in the mirror, Nicholas finally got his mind ready to face the events to come.
"Is this really an Isekai situation?" he asked himself even when he knew there would be no answer to it.
In just one night he had gone from author to ruler of some country, it was a dream come true considering he was a fantasy author who had written and fantasised about such a time for a long time but reality was often more frightening than one expected.
Gathering his courage and adjusting himself to look a bit more dignified in the mirror, he finally came out of the toilet to face the group of servants
"Is all well, your majesty?" the man asked as he frowned a bit
"It's nothing of consequence, may I ask what you came for?" Nicholas said in the most dignified tone he could muster while also doing his best to be as confident as possible
"Her Majesty requests your presence for breakfast this money, she said and I quote, 'you have been coupled up in that building for the past two days, it's time you come back home'" the man said with a slight smile
Seeing his behaviour and hearing the message, a slight sigh of relief was released. It would seem that his former self was an easy going person but may have been a workaholic or something. He wasn't sure exactly but he knew that such a statement was only used for people who overworked themselves.
That also meant that the compound he was currently in was a workplace. Nicholas didn't even know what to make of that at all but beyond that, a new worry emerged as well.
There was a reason why Isekai stories preferred to reincarnate their characters into tyrants. If his former self was easygoing then it meant that passing off as him would be incredibly difficult, every eye would be on him and anything he did that deviated from the standard would be flagged immediately.
At least for a tyrant, it could be easily explained away because people would be too afraid of him to even attempt to understand him.
"I see then please get the carriage ready and we'll leave soon" Nicholas replied as giving it some thought
He didn't exactly know what era he was in but thankfully he saw a carriage entering the palace he was in when he was staring out the window but he also didn't know how to dress himself here… Well he could dress himself but he didn't know what the custom was.