How should I put it...
It's like you just bought a new car, and even before the license plate is in your hands, the insurance salespeople are already calling to hassle you.
To say these two things aren't related...
—who would believe that!
Now, look at my own plight.
Having traveled through a parallel world, then using the knowledge of Earth civilization to pass a test, and obtaining an artifact also from Earth, this in itself is an event worth pondering.
Not to mention that this "Ronald" had sensed something amiss around him even before acquiring this body...
I just felt that the test in the illusion had ended too abruptly, almost anti-climactically.
But now it seems, I might have to retract that assessment.
"Alright, I'll accept the identity."
"For now, I need to change my clothes again."
Muttering to himself, Yang Siming had become quite familiar with the wardrobe, and taking out the set of 'worn' clothes from the wardrobe according to his previous memory, everything was just like in the illusion.
After changing, he straightened the wrinkled collar.
Standing before the dressing mirror illuminated by the dim candlelight, Yang Siming nodded in satisfaction.
"Now..."
"I am Ronald Adler."
"That's right, also a knight."
To be honest, he didn't mind changing his name.
It wasn't just the pressure of surviving reality, but actually much earlier, during an assignment to collect documents from the Peacock Dynasty, he had traveled to Umrer in Maharashtra, India.
Back then, the Indian man in power, who spoke English with a heavy Indian accent and forcibly interpreted his Chinese name, made him accept everything.
Even later when he encountered an even stranger Scottish-accented English, he felt no problem...
Finally, after stretching his limbs and confirming there was nothing wrong with his body.
Ronald simply picked up the candelabra from the table, then pushed open the door and strode outside.
This house, besides himself, had at most two maids.
One was Vilarnika, whom he 'had seen' and would recognize if encountered; and if he met an unfamiliar one, it could only be the other maid named Marianne mentioned in the notes.
If he couldn't handle even this situation, he might as well bash his head dead right here in this room.
"Wait a minute..."
He was just about to leave the room.
But before his foot fell, Ronald stopped.
After a brief consideration, he turned back to tuck the notebook from the desk into his chest, then began his exploration of the house.
In the darkness of night, time was passing.
Carefully tiptoeing, Ronald's footsteps landed on the wooden floor without making a sound, like a ranger bearing a candlelight, cautiously wandering inside the mansion.
In less than an hour, the initial inspection had quietly concluded.
The whole house, just as he had verified in the illusion, was divided into three floors.
The ground floor was fully functional—there was a reception room, a parlor, a dining room, a kitchen, and areas for servants or guests to reside in; there were two locked rooms that looked like storerooms, but the keys he had did not fit, so he couldn't verify.
The second floor consisted of the bedrooms and a study of the master's family, and even a special music room, but since the Adler family had only Ronald left, it was essentially abandoned.
Besides, on the southeast corners of the first and second floors were similarly positioned washrooms, somewhat primitive pipework connected these facilities, forming a passable sewage system.
As for the very top third floor and the basement, there were only a clearly empty attic and a small cluttered storeroom, not places that could hide anything unsightly.
Nightfall truly wasn't suitable for investigation purposes, and the candlelight severely limited Ronald's search techniques.
However, even so, he had already acquired quite a bit of information.
This scale of mansion couldn't possibly be built with the current financial status of the original owner, and although the walls and furniture were properly maintained, it was easy to see their ancient history. His ancestors were wealthy, but now they were in ruins, which was further confirmed by the contents of the diary.
The bookshelves in the second-floor study were reasonably stocked, but mostly with old books. Whether it was the latest yearbook or the oldest dictionary, they adopted the same typeface as the diary Ronald had read. With the language comprehension ability brought by a string of mystical characters, he even briefly read the contents of some books.
—In fact, this was supposed to be a one-hour exploration activity.
Ronald spent most of his time in the study.
The contents recorded in the books dealt mostly with mythological biographies and local customs, having nothing at all to do with mysticism or magic, except perhaps for a nearly worn-out children's fairy tale book.
Ronald trusted his investigative skills immensely, as he had resolved many issues before using this skill.
But based on the results of this one-hour search, aside from himself who had traveled through time, there was nothing in the mansion related to mystical phenomena, and the maids, Veronica and Marian, who should have been resting, were nowhere to be found.
This...
It didn't make sense!
Even if downtrodden, maids who serve nobility shouldn't just disappear into the night, especially not on a rainy night.
The servants' quarters clearly showed signs of habitation.
Having just experienced a mysterious event, Ronald's spirit was extremely sensitive.
If it were a normal crossing, he might find a reason to explain, convincing himself that the maids might need to go out urgently due to some emergency.
But now...
He had to be cautious—
When reality becomes bizarre, it often indicates something peculiar behind it.
Given the clues he had collected, if he were to freely speculate, the possibilities that could lead to this situation were numerous.
And more ominously, none of these possibilities boded well.
His thoughts were still in disarray; the puzzle of clues insufficient to unveil the mystery.
Faced with this situation, Ronald made his decision in silence—leave the house!
Now was not the time to head back to his bedroom and sleep soundly, only to play psychological games with people the next day when the sun was up.
No matter what, he had to seize the time to gather more information, to maximize his chances of survival.
Thinking this, Ronald headed towards the mansion's main door.
The location of the porch had rain gear, which he had checked earlier.
Forsaking the metal-framed umbrella that was extremely risky in a thunderstorm, Ronald donned a plastic cloak and quietly pushed open the mansion's main door.
"Plastic products, it looks..."
Muttering to himself, Ronald wanted to praise the era that possessed plastic products.
After all, in such an economic and consumption structure, having a plastic cloak was an unlikely stroke of good luck.
However, the next moment, his words abruptly stopped.
The reason was very simple—
Just as he stepped out of the mansion's main door, he saw the lights of the distant town.
The town was brightly lit during the stormy night.
This corresponded to Ronald's tense gaze and the twitching corners of his mouth.
"This, is more than just a bit interesting—"
"Will any genius with outstanding computational skills tell me, how many primitive candles would it take to light up an entire town?"
"Especially on a damned rainy night!"