Mark of the Multiversal Pretender

'I need a map! There's no way I found myself in some random medieval world, right Genesis?' Leo said to himself while asking Genesis.

[This is indeed a fictional world, Leo. Just don't focus on the Kingdom of Zaria, instead explore more of the world so you'll know where you are.]

Hearing Genesis's advice, Leo's goal of finding a map just cemented itself on his mind.

'Let's see. A Hotel, A barracks, some weird business buildings and ah! A Tavern!' Leo started walking around and identifying each establishment he sees, trying to find a good place where he can find or borrow a map.

What else is a good place but the tavern that is brimming with different and random people.

***

*Noise*

*Chatter*

Inside the tavern, countless different people in different outfits can be seen either drinking among themselves or chatting with one another.

Everything was going on as usual, minding their own businesses. That is until the front door for the tavern was pushed open very loudly.

*Thud!*

'Fuck! I pushed the door too much!' Leo's face scrunched up. His embarrassment quickly got a hold of him after seeing several eyes on him.

"Who's he?"

"Must be a newbie, 'tis my fers' time seein' 'im."

"He must be some kind of thug for pushing that door in such a manner."

'Oh God, please quiet down your whispers! You're all making me more embarrassed.' At this moment, Leo wanted to get out of here and dig a hole to bury himself on the ground.

Unfortunately, such a thing is impossible, so he could only endure it for now.

Gathering a map is the first and most important thing he must do today!

Embarrassment won't bring him anywhere!

Keeping a poker face, Leo started to walk towards the receptionist or bartender with confidence in his steps.

Under the watchful eyes of the customers, some were fierce looking while some had amusement in their eyes, Leo reached the countertop and spoke.

"You guys sell any maps here I can borrow for a look?" Leo leaned in on the counter and gave the bartender a raise of an eyebrow as a greeting.

"A map? You don't have any maps, kid?" The bartender raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"I just arrived in this kingdom. I heard it's wonderful here." Leo said, sugarcoating his words, praising the kingdom where the bartender lives, guessing that praising his beloved kingdom would increase his chances of getting a map to borrow.

"Well, looks like great news that has reached you, kid. The Kingdom of Zaria is the greatest kingdom there is in existence! Even surpassing the famous Arendelle."

"I'm sorry, what was that? Arendelle?" Leo's eyes widened in surprise when he heard a familiar word.

"Of course you know Arendelle. It's one of the most if not the prestigious kingdom in the world, many dreamed of becoming a citizen there, however after the King shifted the entire kingdom in a state of lockdown, I heard the kingdom started degrading since. It's been 10 years since then." Hearing the explanation, Leo started to recognize the Arendelle.

"Can you tell me if the King has a daughter? Or daughters?"

"Yes, yes he has. But that's all I know about them. If you want to know more, you might as well travel there and see for yourself. Here, take this map, you can have it." The bartender then surprisingly grabbed a map from under the countertop before handing it to Leo, who was stunned.

"Stop staring, dude. I don't swing that way." Hearing the bartender, Leo quickly looked away and thanked him for the map.

"Thank you, you have my favor." With that being said, Leo walked out of the tavern.

"It's not like your favor is worth something but oh well, who am I to judge?" Back in the tavern, upon hearing that Leo gave him a favor just for a map and a little public information, he shook his head and resumed cleaning the bottles and mugs.

***

Once Leo got out and walked to a secluded place, Leo finally opened the map.

'Let's see, Arendelle, Dark Sea, Ahtohallan? What's Ahtohallan? It must be a place not included in the movie' Reading the contents of the map, Leo saw several unknown places, especially the Ahtohallan which for some unknown reason is marked with an X marker with the word 'Danger' beside it.

Aside from that, Leo finally saw where he was or where the Kingdom of Zaria is.

He's one fucking continent away from Arendelle!

One week is not enough if he wants to travel to Arendelle!

'I need to find a quick way to travel there.' Leo pondered, seeing how far Arendelle was, he's gonna need to ship as travelling through waters would be much faster, considering that there's no way to travel to Arendelle without going on a ship.

'But is there a ship here that travels to Arendelle?' Leo wondered and decided to take a stroll around the port to see if there were ships whose destination is Arendelle.

Although the chances of finding one is small considering how far Arendelle is from the Kingdom of Zaria, it's not impossible.

***

In the port, an enigmatic person can be seen trekking around the huge port for a few hours, even asking several helmsman questions.

Many people around were curious about this guy who looks and moves very suspiciously, unknown to them, the main character in question is cursing to himself.

'Dammit. Is there really no ship that is scheduled towards Arendelle?' Leo cursed loudly inside his mind. He's the enigmatic person that has been circling around the port and asking questions.

Some ship captains even offered to take him to Arendelle in exchange for a few gold coins.

However, Leo doesn't have any currency in him. Unless he steals one, which was supposed to be his idea in the first place before discarding it.

Sure he could go back to being a con-man and start scamming people in the kingdom. However, he's in an unknown world, so he lacks information about this world, unless he has a partner that he could cooperate with to scam.

But does con-man even exist in this current era?

Even if there is, it would be very hard to find one.

"Look! It's the flag of the Arendelle! Been a long time since I've seen one!" Suddenly, while Leo was deep in his thoughts, a shout was suddenly heard by everyone in the port, quickly gathering their attention.

Noticing the sudden movements of so many people, Leo was snapped out of his thoughts and turned his attention to the increasing commotion.

Skipping through the crowd using his reflex skills, Leo finally found the reason for the commotion and thought that he himself would even be hooked by the sight of the Arendelle ship.

'It's like God just heard my prayers!' Leo beamed up and said to himself with excitement.

After the Arendelle ship parked in the port, everyone gathered around and waited for the occupants of the ship to appear.

Not disappointing the spectators and also our protagonist, Leo. Two figures showed up on the deck, wearing very expensive clothes that only royalties of this era wear.

"Are those the King and Queen! It's very rare that they show themselves to the public after their kingdom's lockdown." One of the spectators among the crowd remarked.

"We're just here to gather supplies, please don't mind us." The male in royal clothes who Leo guessed is the King, spoke with a calm but loud voice.

'So this is Elsa's father. He's still alive huh?' As Leo said those words in his mind, the gathered spectators grew bored after hearing the words before dispersing from the scene.

However, only Leo stayed as he knew that this is his chance to get to Arendelle.

'I gotta find a way to sneak in.' Leo then started making a plan.

While Leo was making a plan to sneak in, King Agnarr and Queen Iduna ordered their servants to start buying supplies in the market.

In the meanwhile, they stayed inside and started a chat.

***

"Why am I even making a plan when I can just use these dudes right here to sneak inside." Leo grinned while staring at two claws that he got in his hand.

He luckily found someone selling them in the market. As a black panther, he has natural instincts to use them.

And all he had to do is to climb behind the ship or on its sides, considering how large they are and how it is almost night time now, so not only it is dark but there are less people on the port since Leo has spent a few hours searching around the port earlier.

Walking to the edge of the port, Leo looked around first and after seeing that there was no one looking at him, Leo didn't hesitate to quietly jump in, trying his best to not make a loud splashing sound as to not alert anyone.

Once he got in the water, Leo soon started swimming towards the Arendelle ship. Thankfully, there were no light houses in this current era yet, so Leo is safe from being found.

Once he got to the Keel of the ship, Leo looked up and saw how high up he had to climb.

"I'm not worried about getting exhausted, I'm worried if these claws could endure my weight." 

However, there's no turning back now, so Leo could only move forward or climb upward before the ship finishes its gathering of supply and disembark.

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[Next Chapter: Ch. 21 - The Great Pretender's training arc! (Final)]