After a couple of seconds in complete darkness, Josh was thrown to the ground by a force that teleported him to his new home. As he stood up, he shivered from the cold, strong wind blowing onto him.

He ended up in some kind of garden with a small manor house just ahead of him. The garden itself was way larger than the manor. It seemed to stretch beyond his eyesight.

Suddenly, the manor doors opened, and an old man with white hair and a rigid posture stepped out to greet Josh.

Definitely some kind of butler or steward.

Josh waited for the old man to come and greet him. His twitching face and restless fidgeting would tell anyone how worried he was.

“Milord,” The butler said while bowing. “Welcome to your new home.”

I didn’t want any of this.

Josh stepped towards the butler and pulled him by the collar of his shirt. Shouted at the butler, “I’m no lord of yours! I don’t want any of this!” with one fist on the collar of the butler’s shirt and the other clenched in a fist, he asked the butler, “Can you just return me? “

The Butler sighed “Forgive me, Milord. It’s not within my powers to be able to do that. Or anyone else that I know of, Milord.” Josh unclenched his fist and let Butler’s shirt go as he stepped away, resigning to his new fate.

“My name is Leonitas, you can call me short for Leo, Milord.”

Fuck.

This.

Shit.

Josh stomped at the ground, mad at everything and everyone he lashed out at the butler.

“Lord? Lord, okay?” he took a deep breath to steady himself. “What, I’m even supposed to lord over you?” He took a small step forward and pointed towards Leo. “The Manor?!” He stretched his arms around to point at the barren garden, with nothing but a small manor behind the butler.

Leo interrupted his rage. “Milord, could you please calm down? I’m only here to help. I swear that I wish no harm upon you, Milord.”

Calm down? How the fuck I’m supposed to calm down.

“You want me to calm down?” Josh pointed his finger towards the butler, evidently angry. “In an unknown world, an unknown old man,” Josh smirked. “WANTS ME TO CALM DOWN!” He strutted towards the elder.

“CAN YOU PLEASE!!!” he shouted at Butler, his voice finally cracking down. “Please just explain to me,” he pleaded, tears rolling down his face. “How does any of this make sense?” he whispered barely audible as he fell on his knees.

In a calm voice, Leo replied, “Forgive me, Milord. I don’t know.” He sighed, lowering himself on one knee to pat Josh’s back.

“Milord, it might not make any sense now.” Leo slowly spoke as he was patting Josh’s back.

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“But it will one day, for sure. You just have to keep going on, Milord.” Leo said as he pulled Josh up by his chin. “You can’t be weak, not for me or this land, but for yourself.” With a sudden change of tone, Leo shouted at Josh, “You can’t be this weak, Milord!” He pulled Josh back up to his feet. His strong grip betrayed his old age.

Josh was utterly flabbergasted, with his eyes as red as humanly possible. “Can you at least tell me why me?” Josh spoke while wiping down his face from tears that had fallen just moments ago. “Why not you?” he quickly spat out, looking for an excuse.

“You know this land way better than I do.” With calmed breaths and no resemblance to his tantrum from just a few seconds ago, he said, “I can’t find a way I could or would be. A better Lord in a land whose name I don’t even know.” He uttered.

“It’s okay, Milord. Everything will become more clear to you with more time.” He gestured for Josh to move along the dirt-trodden path towards Manor. “Now, could we please come inside? There’s going to be a guide coming for you in no more than three days. It will make everything much clearer for you, that much I can promise you, Milord.” Leo calmly said while urging him to move.

“But why can’t you explain to me now? “Josh asked Leo.

“I’m just a steward, Milord,” Leo replied.

Milord this, Milord that, can’t he call me Josh?

“Can you please stop calling me Milord?“ Josh asked, not feeling comfortable after growing up in a modern society and being called a Lord by a man at least thrice his age.

“Preposterous, Milord. That would be going against all customs and everything I know. Milord, surely you can’t treat your servant like that.” Leo responded to Josh’s request with apparent displeasure at the thought of calling Josh by his name.

Caught off guard, Josh just stuttered, “Okay.” Nothing at all is clear to him, but his mind seems to have calmed down, thinking that he will try to change how Butler addresses him in the future as he is no Lord.

Ahh, shit, I didn’t introduce myself yet.

“By the way, my name is Josh.” he quickly said while walking towards the manor. ”It’s Josh Brooke,” he finished.

“Nice to meet you, Josh. Now, could we get inside? You should get some rest. You had a tiring journey, Milord. “Leo opened the left door from the manor double doors and gestured for Josh to walk in first. “Please come in, Milord.”

While walking in, Josh noticed that even though the garden outside was barren and in no way good condition. The inside looked well-cleaned, with everything in its righteous place.

You must need at least three people to clean this place.

“Is there anyone else living inside this house that I must be aware of? “Josh asked, expecting that he would need to greet plenty of new roommates.

“Milord, including me, three other people are living inside the manor, and a couple of guards are living in the guardhouse by the gates, Milord.”

“Great! When can I meet them?” With an exaggerated smile and sarcastic tone, Josh asked the butler.

“You will meet them all in your due time, Milord.” Leo gave another empty answer.

That makes it the third or fourth Question he dodged.

“Alrighty then, where can I find my ‘well-deserved’ rest?” Josh smirked and asked the Butler.

“Follow me along, Milord. I will lead you to your own personal quarters,” Leo replied while walking up the stairs unhurriedly.

Not long after that, the butler led him into a large room. His eyes darted across the room to notice a king-sized bed, a dark wood drawer with copper handles, and a closed window as the makeup of the room.

Josh walked towards the window. He opened it to see a breathtaking view of his new home. He saw the garden sprawling across the manor. At his far sight, he could see palisade walls with a small guardhouse.

“Beautiful,” he whispered as he took in the view.

“Anyways, Leo, what is this place called?”

He was caught off guard that his Lord wanted to converse after everything that happened before Leo replied.

“The manor itself is called Daim Manor, Milord,” he said with a longing voice.

“Though we will have to rename it to Brooke’s manor now that you are the new lord Milord.”

Being called Milord is definitely getting on my nerves.

“No need for that. I don’t want to intrude into your history,” Josh replied.

“Milord, I will take my leave now. There’s a handbell on top of the drawer that you can use to summon me if you need any assistance, Milord.” Leo said before bowing and leaving his Lord alone.

Josh let out a deep sigh, barely registering what Leo said to him, with a distant gaze still looking through the window.

“Leo, he probably means well, but what am I even supposed to do now?” Josh silently uttered to himself before lying down for some rest.