The door swung open and revealed a hallway full of brilliant light.

The hallway was lavishly decorated with banners, paintings encased in extravagant gold frames, sculptures and busts of people wearing crowns and other royal regalia were placed at even intervals, and a carpet dyed a deep crimson. However, what was more startling than the over-decorated hallway was those who were inside it.

A king. Honestly you would think it would be hard to tell if someone was royalty, especially someone who wasn't wearing a crown like this man, but he just radiated a royal aura. He was wearing high class clothes with intricate designs sewn into them, much like the designs on the door except more flowing. He had a magnificent straight beard with hair as red as the carpet he trod upon. On his hip sat a sword in a sheath with a handle carved in the shape of a dragon. He had a warm smile on his face that sat on top of his large, nearly six foot frame packed with muscle. However the king was not the most imposing, tall, or muscular there. Behind the king and to his right stood an absolute monster of a human being.

The man had legs the size of my torso, and arms to match. Standing a foot taller than the king himself, I think he was the largest person I had seen in my life. Wearing a breastplate of metal with his hands covered in gauntlets, he looked like a barbarian brought into a rich household. He had no weapon to be seen, but he was terrifying without one. Besides the size, his head was bald with many scars crisscrossing it. And unlike the king, he held a scowl upon his face, with sharp eyes that felt like they pierced through you.

The man to the king's left was much less intimidating, in fact he looked quite boring next to the two who radiated royalty and intimidation respectively. He wore a suit, a plain everyday suit. He looked exactly like any office worker you could pass by on the street. His only defining features were his large set of glasses and the rings he wore on each finger.

Besides these three there were two others who looked like my expectation of royal guards. They wore full plate armor without a helm which was dyed in crimson and gold with capes pinned to the pauldrons. They each help a spear and were standing stiffly behind the two flanking the king, completing a V formation of 5 persons.

The scene of this odd and overbearing group had stunned us into silence for a long moment. The first one to say anything was, unsurprisingly, Bobby.

"Are you the ones who kidnapped us? What's up with the cosplay shit?"

Unlike Bobby, I was finally starting to figure out what had happened to us. Honestly, I don't know how I didn't notice sooner.

I'm a nerd, through and through. While I don't flaunt it openly, I've read a massive amount of novels, including translated ones from out of the country. My watch time for anime could be measured in months instead of hours, I play DnD with some select friends, and I've played more games than I care to admit that involved fantasy worlds. That's exactly what this is, it's the secret dream of every otaku, I've been sent to another world.

I should probably be panicking that I might not be able to get back to my own world, but honestly I wasn't. I had only one family member left, and he was a prick. I had no plan for my life despite being fairly smart and I was only in college because I felt like I had to go. I might not be the only person who has already figured out what's going on, but I'm pretty sure I was the only one excited about what was to come.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Then someone grabbed my sleeve. May looked at me with terrified eyes. Men had just come into the room armed, and one of them looked like he could fight a bear with one arm tied behind his back. It should be perfectly normal to be scared in this situation.

Her look splashed cold water on my feeling of excitement. I can't believe I was getting hyped up and forgetting that I wasn't the only one here. Don't most fantasy protagonists want to go home? My excitement was not shared by my friends, and if nothing else, I needed to find a way home for them.

With a sobered attitude, I began paying attention to the situation up front.

"What is... cosplay?" The king asked, a smile still on his face. Oddly enough, he spoke in English, but the situation was moving too fast for me to think about this for more than a second.

"Oh, so you're gonna keep fucking with us then. Well, I'm not putting up with this shit anymore. So either you explain what you've done to us or I'm going to beat your fucking..."

As Bobby talked (or more accurately 'shouted') he moved forward menacingly. I'll give him points for courage, but what dumbass decides to tell his supposed captors that he's going to beat their ass while they have weapons in their hands?

When he got within 10 feet of the king, suddenly Bobby became suspended in the air. At the same time I felt a gust of wind and heard a quiet voice. It sounded like the personification of a mountain, deep and rumbling.

"You will not speak so crudely to the prince, and if you attempt to threaten him again."

The voice paused for a moment before continuing.

"Then those will be the last words you ever speak."

In front of Bobby stood the giant man who was behind the king (or I guess 'prince') a second ago. I didn't even see him move, and suddenly he went more than 10 feet, grabbed Bobby's collar, and hoisted him up with one arm. It was as if he just materialized there in space. That blast of wind must have been from his movement.

I gulped down some saliva in shock and tension. Everything was once again silent, and for the first time the king's warm smile slowly turned sour. The corners of his mouth curled downwards as he shouted. "Shanks! Put that young man down!"

Shanks, someone really called their child Shanks. Maybe he was terrifying since birth and his parents named him appropriately. Or maybe they wanted him to be a monster and just gave him the name to grow into. Such were my useless thoughts.

The giant man called Shanks grunted and then dropped Bobby, who promptly fell onto his ass with confused eyes and a pale face. If he had pissed himself I wouldn't've blamed him. At this point the man in the suit opened his mouth for the first time.

"Hmmm, that's strange, very strange."

He walked forward and scanned the crowd of students and faculty. his gaze landed on me in the back. He then pointed at me with one of his ringed fingers.

"You there, come forward."

I pointed at myself, trying to make sure it was me he wanted.

"Yes you. You're the calmest looking of the lot so I felt like asking you questions would go fastest."

I took a deep breath and attempted to step up. However, May, who was still grabbing onto my sleeve refused to let go and gave me a look telling me to not go towards our captors. I patted her and said "don't worry, it'll be fine" as I peeled her hand off of my shirt. Then I walked towards the man in the suit. The prince remained still with a slightly irritated and confused look on his face, and Shanks had returned to his side.

When I got close enough to the man, he signaled me to stop. He looked me up and down curiously and then settled on my face. I felt prepared and ready to answer whatever it was that the man was going to ask, I felt exceedingly calm right now. But I was definitely not ready for what came out of his mouth.

"Did you not receive the tutorial?"

"The.... what?"