1 Crossing over

-This is bad.

John felt the world spinning around him and his vision turning blurry. At that moment his body also swayed as he was losing his balance, feeling light-headed.

"Hey, are you okay?" a voice at the side asked.

'I need to… Sit down or I'll pass out,' John thought and put his hands on his knees for a moment in order to regain balance, bending over and letting some more blood to flow into his head.

Hot. It was really damn hot.

Being previously warned by his online weeb friends, John had come to the anime convention to join the entrance queue early in the morning, but it seemed that he still didn't come early enough. For a few hours now, he still stood in an incredibly long queue, being scorched by the rays of summer sun, while being surrounded by other sweaty weebs who were experiencing similar discomfort.

Usually John isn't affected by the sun much. In fact, when most people around him constantly complain and whine about the hot weather, he often doesn't mind it, and in fact he quite likes it. As long as the change in temperature isn't too rapid, he adapts pretty well.

However, there was no denying it - at this moment he was about to faint, probably suffering a heat syncope.

-Maybe it was because of the wig?

A brief thought ran through John's head.

He wore quite revealing and thin clothing, wearing a white slimfit T-shirt and short denim shorts, so he felt quite comfortable. He also frequently took sips of water in the queue; a long ingrained habit of his. These were not the problem. However, with the wig that he had on his head all this time, he sort of felt as if he wore a thick woolen winter hat and his sweat seemed to be stacking up on his scalp and making him feel as if his brain was being slowly cooked.

John dropped to his knees as he was unable to keep his balance anymore.

A few people around John were alarmed and hurried to him; they kneeled in front of him and asked him questions, but all of it wasn't able to register in John's head.

-It was probably the damn wig.

John's palms dropped to the ground stretched out as he barely supported himself, with his right palm still pressing against the handle of the plastic sword he bought; he was ready to faint at any moment.

Today was actually the first day that he ever came to an anime convention. For this occasion John prepared a simple but pretty cool-looking outfit of the casual Mordred Pendragon Saber Servant from Fate/Apocrypha, except that a male version of course.

John chose this cosplay not only because it was easy to pull off, but also because Mordred was his favorite character of the Fate universe. Although she had her problems, he thought that Mordred was simply the coolest character in Fate; he loved her unrestrained nature, determination and her carefree attitude.

When John was actually younger Mordred was one of the characters that had motivated him to workout and train hard at the gym. For a long time John wanted to build a muscular, lean and aesthetic physique, and then he also wanted to one day make a cosplay of Mordred in her usual casual outfit, looking jacked and badass.

Years later, he finally accomplished his goal. His current cosplay was the testament to his efforts, and he indeed looked pretty damn cool.

However, ironically John was now about to faint before he even managed to enter the anime convention that he imagined participating in for a long time.

Well, no big deal, but…

<Timeline:One>

All of a sudden John felt regaining the full control of his body, the light-headedness washing away cleanly and vanishing in an instant.

In fact, John felt better than ever before. He could even say - he felt as if he was reborn.

Loud voices and sounds of bustling also filled his ears all of a sudden. 'Is there some kind of commotion? Is it because of me?'

Pushing away from the floor with his hands, John gradually raised his head to look around while on his knees, but unexpectedly he was met with a miraculous scene.

He was shocked.

He was no not longer kneeling on a pavement next to a modern street that led to the entrance of the anime convention, in a queue, but was on a street paved with cobblestones in what seemed like a medieval city. But this was not important, because what truly shocked him and got his attention were the people all around him - walking to and fro, ignoring him and minding their own business.

'I was just at an anime convention, but this is way too realistic,' John couldn't help but think.

All kinds of demihuman looking people were mixed into the crowd - with cat ears, dog ears or with literal full lizard heads, dog heads, cat heads and others. They were not only walking, but also talking and their 'masks' looked incredibly realistic as they did so, making all kinds of intricate movements and expressions.

There were also lizards. They were also bipedal, but not humanoid. They looked like two-legged dinosaurs; whether it was their length or height it was comparable to a car. They were also completely tame and were used to pull carriages across the street.

As for other humans - none of them had modern clothing.

Demihumans, dinosaurs and a medieval city… Intricate medieval clothing and clothes especially tailored for demihumans…

John's eyesight seemed to be incredibly sharp and he observed all of this in perfect detail with a shocked expression on his face, his eyes wide open. The sight in front of him was simply mind blowing.

"Hey, are you okay?" John suddenly heard a voice nearby, waking him up from his temporary trance.

As John looked over he saw… a furry dog-faced humanoid looking down at him with what seemed as concern in his puppy eyes; his fur was light-brown and he had a pretty innocent looking 'mug'.

Upon being suddenly approached by such a strange creature, John couldn't help but take a step back, crawling back in surprise. However, his eyebrows immediately wrinkled as he looked at the furry in front of him with slight suspicion in his heart, ready to take action and protect himself.

'Damn. There's no way these are all cosplays. I really just transmigrated!' John shouted in his heart in shock and realization.

He suddenly thought that perhaps he was lucid dreaming. He hurriedly looked at his wrist, imagining himself to have a watch and checking the time. He glanced at his empty wrist a few times in order to check if he was dreaming, but the result was that… he didn't have a watch no matter how hard he stared at his wrist.

'If I was dreaming then a watch would appear on my wrist just from me wishing for it, and then all kinds of bizarre information would be displayed on it. No way this is a dream as I thought,' John thought, his heart beating wildly.

After turning to look at the humanoid dog for a moment, John slowly got up from his knees, his expression going slightly more normal.

"I'm fine," John answered the furry dog as he brushed off his clothes, but the truth is that he did not feel fine at all; at least not yet. After a moment, he added, "Thanks for your concern."

"No problem. You left your sword on the ground, sir," the Furry Dog said.

"Ah?" John voiced out. My sword? John looked down only to see his 'Clarent' that he ordered from AliExpress laying on the ground. He lightly smiled and bent over to pick it up.

The sword was light, it was definitely light similar to before, but the feeling that the handle and this entire toy sword itself was giving John at this moment was completely different.

John could tell instantly - it became a real sword!

With eyes wide open once again, John picked up the sword and then gave it a few casual swings, but the effect was not what he expected - as he swung, the sword moved at an incredible speed giving John a feeling as if he was literally cutting the air with each swing, with his blade produced what seemed like air pressure where it traveled.

Upon seeing it the Furry Dog faintly smiled at the side, giving John a knowing look. 'My intuition was right. He's a high-level knight. A dazzling appearance and intricate hairstyle like a noble. Wearing such strange yet clean and expensive looking clothing, and this neatly sewn leather backpack - he's very likely an important tourist. And also the sword - it itself is also a clear testament that this youth is definitely not ordinary. Tourists are rare in Lugnica, he's definitely loaded!'

When John made eye contact with him, the Furry Dog raised the sides of his lips and asked, "Sir, are you new around here?"

With everything that John already saw, he already guessed that he had very likely crossed over to the Re:zero world or something similar. He had mostly collected himself by now; for some reason he inwardly felt being now a part of this world .

After a moment's lag, John said, "Yeah. What can you tell me about this place, sir?"

Hearing John call him 'sir', put a wider smile on the Furry Dog's muzzle. He said, "Well, the capital of Lugnica is…"

John started walking along the street following the Furry Dog's lead, holding Clarent flung back his shoulder, while the Furry was telling John a few facts about the place that he was now in - the royal capital city of Lugnica, confirming John's earlier thoughts that he had crossed over to the Re:Zero universe.

John was honestly surprised by the demihuman's warm reception. Although the Furry's presence still made him uncomfortable, he enjoyed listening to the Furry's introduction to this fantastical city.

At the same time, John's heart thought, 'Not only did my sword become real, but my speed and strength also seemed to have increased. My eyesight and various senses also became ridiculously sharp. I can now even clearly feel that my plastic wig is no longer a wig - I have real long hair bound at the back! Not only that, but my legs and arms have also changed, becoming more slender and perfectly smooth… My body changed!'

John's heart was buzzing with amazement, excitement, shock and various other emotions. He touched his face and felt a very smooth texture, different from before. He wanted to test all kinds of things all at once, but the majority of his attention at this moment was being absorbed by the talking dog next to him.

Just as John was trying to feel out his body, he suddenly heard a man loudly yell: "Hey, watch out!"

Looking toward the left, a carriage was just about to run over and trample a kid.

Instinctively, John took a step toward the kid's direction. As he did that, he felt extremely light.

Looking over, John recalled this scene from the anime - a knight in full plate armor would very likely save this kid, but looking around, there actually was no one who planned to save the kid and everyone only watched shell-shocked.

Where is that knight who saved the kid? John couldn't see him! There was only one strange looking asian kid that attracted Mordred's attention - he wore modern clothing and was waving his arms like a clown in a performance.

John then did two more steps. Step by step, panic and anxiety filled his heart, because the kid was closer and closer to his inevitable demise; at the same time, John felt more and more power in his legs.

He definitely didn't want to risk his life for a stranger, but if he had enough strength, then why not save the kid? However, John wasn't sure if he would be able to do it or if he would simply end up being trampled to death right after his transmigration, hesitating in his heart.

The distance that he needed to cross was quite long.

Just as John was thinking about how strong he was, suddenly a wave of information washed over him. If one were to summarize it and write it down, then it would look similar to:

Strength: B+

Endurance/Health: A

Agility/Speed: B

With this new information, John felt shocked for a brief moment. Strength B+? He felt that with his level of strength he could throw cars around. As for Agility and his speed?

'I can do it!'

Not hesitating any longer, John suddenly let go of the bulky broadsword from his hand on impulse and broke into a sprint, no longer hesitating that he didn't have enough ability.

Crash!

The ground cracked beneath John's feet as he kicked off and started to dash at a superhuman speed, like a shot out bullet. With each step his feet would leave cracks and small indents in the stone pavement as he put all of his physical strength into running as fast as possible to save the kid.

In a blink of an eye, John arrived near the tripped kid that was about to be trampled. He slowed down his speed slightly as he approached, bent down, grabbed the kid into his arms and then rolled over to get away from the carriage's way.

Brrrrr…

The carriage ran through the street past the two of them.

Seeing that the kid, and most importantly he himself, was safe, John let out a heavy breath of relief. He gradually stood up and immediately looked in the direction where he dropped his sword, still maintaining his reasoning - like hell he could lose this thing!

Looking over, John saw the Furry Dog bend over to pick up his sword and look toward him with a smile on his muzzle, beginning to walk toward him.

The Furry Dog thought as he approached, 'This sword must be priceless! But! What a joke. This guy is a monster. No way I'm going to provoke someone like him. The best I can do is to make a connection with him and try to scam some money out of him.'

Meanwhile people on the street started loudly cheering for John, looking at him with admiration.

But John's attention was not on the people on the street that clapped for him or the kid in next to him, but on someone that looked extremely out of place - the japanese looking teenage boy with modern clothing; the boy was frozen in a kneeling posture with his hands pushed out toward the street where the kid was laying just a minute ago, having a stiff expression on his face, while holding a plastic bag of groceries in his hand.

'Damn. This is Natsuki Subaru no doubt!' John instantly thought.

Natsuki Subaru clicked his tongue. It didn't seem like he unlocked his magical powers yet. However, a smile appeared on his face as he glanced at John. 'So there are people with superhuman strength here, just as expected! That guy was creating cracks in the stone floor just by running, how cool. Maybe I have a knight class too?'

Thinking about it, Subaru stood up and made a pose to attempt testing his superhuman strength.

"Hiyaa!" With a shout, Subaru sent out a punch into the air.

However, nothing special happened.

Subaru dropped down his shoulders in disappointment, 'It doesn't seem like I have a knight class yet.'

He then looked at John again who was also looking at him. Subaru wrinkled his eyebrows. 'This person looks familiar…'

Suddenly Subaru's expression filled with realization as he slapped his forehead. 'I remember! He is Mordred from the Destiny series! The sword and outfit match the anime too!'

Unable to hold his emotions anymore, Subaru yelled out loud as he looked around, "Am I in the world of King Arthur and the Knights of the Circular Table?! Is this Camelot?!"

Not faraway, John speechlessly stared at Subaru who was screaming out in public like a crazy person. Subaru thought that this was Camelot? What? Why?

Subaru then looked back at John. 'This is Mordred, one of the main characters. Should I approach him? What should I do? Wait, he's looking at me! Maybe he's the quest-giver starting the main storyline!!! I get it! This is the first event and the introduction to a crucial character in the story that will lead me to the cute girl that summoned me, easy!'

With this thought, a bright grin appeared on Subaru's face as he started hurrying up to approach John. He had just transmigrated a minute ago; it was a natural conclusion!

"Nice job-u!" Subaru called out as he sent out a thumbs-up toward John with a grin.

******

(AN: Huge thanks to Echii_sama for proof-reading my story and his consultations regarding Re:zero stuff. I don't know the world of Re:zero perfectly, so it's in a big portion thanks to him that I was able to come up with the ideas for this fic, making it logical and believable.)

(If you're a Re:zero lore master and you're interested in providing or brainstorming ideas for this fic, then let me know! I'll add you on discord and let you proof-read the next couple chapters in advance, and we can discuss stuff in the free time.)