This fanfiction was inspired by 'Re:Zero, Why Me?' by 'Writer with Bad Grammar T-T'. If you have not already read that fanfiction, i highly recommend you do so as it is one of my favorite fanfictions, and the fanfiction that inspired this fanfiction.
I do not own Re:Zero nor Fate/Stay Night, all rights belong to their respective owners.
"Ah, finally, the exit." A small sigh of relief escaped my lips as I laid eyes on the metal fire escape door leading toward the outside world, as right now, I was in desperate need for some fresh air.
My younger sister said going to an anime convention would be a good idea, and on paper, she was right. Initially, going to an anime convention really didn't seem like a bad idea.
Not only could you procure a large amount of rare merchandise that was usually quite hard to find, but there was also the chance of meeting some cool individuals and making some friends. Just seeing all the cosplay was enough of a reason to go.
The issue was my younger sister herself. Through some form of trickery or magic spell, she managed to convince me to attend the convention in cosplay. Although I knew a few people who cosplayed, I had never partaken in the exercise myself, thus it was understandably nerve wracking.
She herself wanted to attend as Artoria Pendragon from the popular visual novel and anime series Fate/Stay Night, but didn't want to cosplay alone. And thus, since my name is coincidentally Arthur, and I was also a fan of the series, she somehow beguiled me into joining her, cosplaying as Arthur Pendragon from Fate/Prototype and Fate Grand Order.
Perhaps this didn't sound too bad to you, but you had to realize I'm a rather self-conscious individual, used to the rural life, not used to such huge crowds. Despite the fact everyone else was in cosplay, walking around as Arthur with so many people looking at me was almost enough to make me break down.
Not only that, but there was also the issue of the fake sword I was carrying around. Just ten minutes ago I had embarrassed myself greatly by knocking over a figurine with the thing, having to pay my hard-earned money for the broken figurine. That was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Quite frankly, I was hot, and incredibly bothered, and if it wasn't for the hood his Ascension 1 outfit provided, I probably would've had a full-blown panic attack. Thankfully, one of the kind security guards pointed me in the direction of a fire escape located nearby a vending machine so I'd be able to catch my breath and recharge my batteries. Once I had rehydrated, I could go back inside for round two.
Approaching the door, I reached out my gloved hand and pushed it open, and I was immediately blinded by the dazzling daylight, causing me to raise my hand in an effort to defend my eyes from the sheer brightness of it all.
Standing there, eyes closed, my attention was immediately drawn to the abundant chatter. Somehow, this desolate alleyway had even more commotion than inside the busy anime convention, and no matter how I thought about it, it wasn't right.
After a few seconds, my eyes finally adapted, and I could see why things were so busy around me. I was immediately dumbfounded- stupefied, absolutely flabbergasted.
I found myself standing atop a cleanly cobblestone street, with winding, serpentine pathways slithering outwards, snaking between the towering, colorful stone buildings.
Flags hung from rooftop to rooftop, as if celebrating some festival, and market stalls lined the streets, overflowing with fragrant, fresh goods.
The streets were absolutely jampacked with a mixture of lizard? drawn carriages and bustling civilians, creating a hectic scene of chaos.
What immediately drew my attention was the appearance of the people here. Having just come from a cosplay convention, I was more than used to seeing people in medieval garb, however, the anthropomorphic creatures walking around on two legs were thoroughly new to me.
Once again, I had just been at an anime convention, I was more than used to seeing people with cat ears or tails, but there was quite literally a walking, talking frilled lizard selling apples right across from me.
These were not masks, but the genuine article. Not to mention the gigantic lizards pulling the carriages that completely dwarfed any horse that I was familiar with. Clearly, this was not Planet Earth, and clearly, something had gone terribly wrong.
It wasn't just the world around me that had become thoroughly strange, but also myself. For example, I wasn't wearing my glasses today, but colored contact lenses, and despite that fact, I could see like a hawk. Even the writing several hundreds of meters away from me was as clear as daylight, and despite the fact it was written in some language utterly alien to me, I could read it perfectly.
Then there was my body itself. Though I wasn't unhealthy in physique, it wasn't like I was a paragon of fitness either, but this body… I could confidently say that I had never been in such good shape in my life.
Then, what was this, exactly? I had just opened a door, and not only had the world around me changed, but I had also changed.
Despite how utterly bizarre these circumstances were, I was not at all panicked or flustered. That was the scariest thing to me. As someone with bad anxiety, I should be experiencing a full-blown panic attack right now, but my heart was as calm as a still, tranquil lake, and I found myself assessing everything around me with a kingly mindset, as if I had truly become the legendary King Arthur.
The sound of trickling water reached my ears, and I noticed the stone water fountain behind me, and I decided to sit down, to assess the situation and take a breather. However, as I sat down, I noticed the rather sharp sound of metal clashing against stone, and my gaze was drawn to the sword at my side.
This was no longer a prop – but the real, genuine article.
But how genuine is it? I couldn't help but question inwardly, Is it just a metal sword that looks like Excalibur? Is it a sword made from mythical materials? Or is it the legendary Divine Construct that slew the White Titan who brought about a premature end to the Age of Gods? If it really is that Excalibur, then it would be a little too ridiculous. I was just a teenager with an addiction to anime and gacha games, was I really worthy of wielding such a thing?
I turned my attention back from the sword to the world around me. It was clearly a Kingdom that bore resemblance to medieval Europe. Knights, and I assume mages were common here. But most importantly, public order was high, and judging by the smiles adorning the faces of the citizens, the Kingdom seemed to be at peace currently.
Either that or the people here are incredibly good at masking their anxieties. Feeling the calm, placid smile on my face, I felt I was not one to talk. Clearly, my mind had undergone some alien mutation.
Nonetheless, despite my concerns, I knew it was impossible for me to just sit down at this stone fountain all day and wait for answers. Answers weren't going to come to me, I had to go and find the answers myself.
Gathering information was a key starting point to working out just what on earth was going on here. A tavern, or even a restaurant would work perfectly to that end.
The issue was that the street around me was just filled with street stalls.
I felt like if I were to get any information out of these busy merchants, I would have to pay, and unfortunately, my funds were rather limited at the moment, unless I wanted to trade away Excalibur for information or steal from the hard-working civilians.
Yeah, like either of those situations would ever happen.
I roughly assessed the architecture with my newly acquired sharp gaze and noted that the streets were all incredibly long, and unless I wanted to walk down to the bottom of the road, I would have to use the alleyways to cut through to the other streets, and hopefully find a tavern along the way.
Although the city appeared very lawful, my experience as a seasoned anime connoisseur still led me to be quite cautious towards venturing through alleyways in a medieval city, but at the same time, looking at my get-up and the sheathed sword at my side, I felt you would have to be out of your mind to pick a fight with me.
It was precisely because of this fact that I ventured towards the nearby alleyways with my head held high, heart free of anxieties, confidence in my steps. I needed to work out my situation as quickly as possible.
As far as returning home went, I wasn't exactly in a hurry. Though I wouldn't describe myself as a greedy individual, I was indeed a coward, and my greatest fear was death. It was precisely because of this fact my newfound physiology as a servant made me considerably reluctant to return to normal, ordinary life.
I was now a superhuman being with the potential to live my life indefinitely. How could I not be allured by such a notion?
…
"Mm. It seems my luck is quite bad today." A second soft sigh escaped my lips as I looked at the stone wall in front of me, "Out of all the alleyways I could've picked, I had to pick a dead end." I mumbled to myself, noticing that my voice had changed significantly.
Indeed, I had truly become Arthur Pendragon. It was absolutely mind boggling to think about, but I didn't think I was dreaming.
At that moment, as I was assessing whether or not it was worth it to just directly jump over the nearby buildings, the sound of footsteps echoing out through the alleyway caught my attention.
Naturally, they could've been fellow foreigners who got lost in the city, but somehow, I highly doubted that.
"Oh, what do we have here? A pretend knight?" a rather venomous, sarcastic voice echoed out, followed by two other voices.
"If you know what's good for you, hand over that flashy sword of yours."
"Unless you want to die, that is."
My eyes narrowed, and I turned around to lay eyes on the three thugs that had 'cornered' me against the dead end of this alleyway.
Tom, Dick and Harry. One big, one medium, and one small. Though I didn't like to judge by appearances, it was clear with a glance that this trio was not here with good intentions, not to mention, I could see clearly that one of them was carrying a pair of knives with him, whilst another had a butcher's knife strapped into his belt. You could not convince me that they had come here for jolly chatter.
The worst thing was that I found this whole scene particularly familiar, as if I had seen it somewhere else in the past. Looking at them, I was sure I had never met them before, yet I couldn't deny this sense of familiarity… but where did it come from?
"Hey – are you deaf?!" the middle of the three got up in my face. His grey hair, dyed pink at the tips, as well as his sharp eyes were all familiar to me, and even the metal collar around his neck was familiar to me. It was only after I saw his snake-like tongue that I finally realized where I knew these three stooges from.
"You three…" I looked at them rather strangely, cupping my chin inquisitively, "You wouldn't happen to be Gaston, Rachins and Camberly by any chance, right?"
"W-What the hell…" the leader of the three stooges, Rachins took a step back, surprise clearly evident on his face, "Y-You know us?"
"That confirms it." I muttered as waves crashed around in my heart. No wonder the design of this city seemed so familiar to me. These three thugs were the same three thugs that accosted Subaru in a similar alleyway during the first, second and third episodes of the popular anime and light novel series, Re:Zero. Though they appeared more threatening than dangerous, they accidentally killed Subaru in one route, leading to his gruesome third death in this world.
In short, they were indeed dangerous.
"But how can that be possible?" I admit the universe was full of unexplainable phenomena, but transmigrating into a fictional world, in the body of a fictional character no less, no matter how I looked at it, it felt incredibly unrealistic.
It was more like a fanfiction than real life.
And yet, somehow, I was capable of wrapping my head around it, and a pair of words appeared in my mind, "Counter Force."
"But is that really possible? I am indeed from Earth, but the Nasuverse is a work of fiction…" this new revelation left me with an incredible mix of emotions.
On one hand, being King Arthur in the world of Re:Zero was honestly thrilling to think about, and the thought of unleashing Excalibur made my heart flutter, but on the other hand, this was a very dangerous world, and existences such as Regulus and Pandora were incredibly dangerous even as King Arthur.
If I had Avalon at my side, I could dance through the fields without a care in the world, very similar to the aforementioned Regulus, but unfortunately, the Sacred Sheathe seemed to be in the hands of one Sajyou Manaka.
Despite that, I was still abysmally powerful compared to Subaru, and as long as I was cautious, I would not face the same level of terror and horror that Subaru experienced.
In short, the pros far outweighed the cons. Compared to my dull existence on planet earth, this was sure to be a thrilling and rewarding adventure.
As for my goal in this world… it should be to protect Emilia, right? Though it seemed a little unrealistic, the fate of the world quite literally rested on her shoulders. If she died, the world would be thrown into complete and utter chaos, with Puck intending to destroy a world without her. Even as King Arthur, there would be no fun to be had in such a world.
Beyond that, she was a genuinely nice person, and whether it was her, Rem, Ram, or the other characters I had grown to love through the eyes of Subaru, it didn't make sense to leave them for dead now that I had seemingly replaced their hero.
And speaking of which, what was Satella's thoughts on all of this? Does she hate me for replacing Subaru, or have I become her Subaru? I don't imagine her authority would work on me if I really was sent here by the Counter Force, but an extra fail safe would be quite reassuring in the case that I was caught off guard and killed.
"What the hell – quit ignoring us! I don't care if you know us, or if you're deaf, if you don't hand over your sword, you're going to die here today!" Rachins threatened, pulling out his pair of cold steel knives that glowed ominously beneath the cascading sunlight.
In face of their threats, I merely released a small amount of the endless tides of magical energy constantly erupting within me, creating a vortex of pressure that swept through the alleyway.
The results were immediately obvious. First, their knees started to shake. Secondly, sweat appeared visibly on their bodies. And thirdly, they fell to the ground, vomiting their guts out uncontrollably.
'The power emanating from it transcended that of any human' 'a fearsome power that seemed as if it would vaporize anything it touches'.
This was the existence of a Heroic Spirit. A crystallization of a legend. An unfathomable power that surpassed the understanding of human beings.
"A-Ah… m-monster…!" Camberly cried out as he scrambled to his feet, leaving a puddle of moisture in his wake.
"D-Dammit, screw this! This guy ain't human!" Rachins didn't waste any time in helping Gaston up from the floor, making a quick escape towards the exit of the alleyway.
The three of them ran like bats out of hell, as if they had come face to face with some terrifying demon. They quite literally could not leave any quicker, and I was left standing there somewhat awkwardly, scratching my cheek sheepishly.
A brief silence dawned upon the alleyway, soon to be broken by the soft sound of clapping that echoed outward. Finally, he had arrived.
Well, that was Chapter One. I've been writing fanfiction for quite a few years now, but this is the first time I've ever posted online, or anyone has actually read my fanfiction for that matter, so I really hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Once again, this fanfiction was inspired by 'Re:Zero, Why Me?' by 'Writer with bad Grammar T-T', so a massive thank you to the author for giving me the inspiration to write this fanfiction.
I'm currently in the process of writing several other fanfictions, Haku(Naruto) in RWBY, an OC as Ryougi Kaname before the Fourth Holy Grail War, as well as another Arthur OC in Fate/Zero. If you would like to see these fanfiction, or if you have any other different characters you want to see in different anime worlds, please let me know in the reviews.
Many thanks!