Chapter 240: Orc Lord’s Invasion

Luke sat inside Doug’s tavern, sharing a table with his lumberjack partner, Jack. A plate of fried potatoes had just been dropped in front of them.

“This place is crawling with Bastion soldiers,” Jack remarked.

“I know…”

Luke’s gaze drifted around the room. If even one of them recognized him as Luke, things could turn ugly fast. The blond hair and eyepatch disguise helped, but now that his new wanted poster, with an actual decent likeness, was making the rounds, he couldn’t afford to be careless. The door creaked open. Another group of Bastion soldiers strode in. And among them… Eleanor.

Luke nearly choked on his water.

“You good?” Jack asked.

“Perfectly fine,” Luke managed, forcing composure. “Think we’ve got time to, uh, head somewhere else?”

Jack chuckled, assuming it was a joke.

“There’s a woman I… know, here,” Luke murmured.

Jack’s grin faded. “Wait. Don’t tell me you… mess around with married women?”

“What? No!” Luke blurted. “I don’t mess around with anyone.”

“Really? Funny, I’ve seen you chatting up plenty of women.”

“I only ever get that far…”

Jack squinted. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

‘Because the spy movies you studied jumped straight from flirting to the bedroom, and now you don’t know how to handle the middle part?’ Artemis teased inside his head.

Something like that, Luke thought back.

‘Or maybe it’s because you’re still a painfully shy virgin. I lean toward that theory.’

Okay. Let’s stick with the first one…

‘Both are true.’ said Artemis.

Thanks for rubbing it in.

Suddenly, a knife clattered onto the table in front of him. Instinct kicked in, his hand went straight to his holster, ready for a fight, until a familiar voice cut through.

“So, you came back to finish our match?” Eleanor asked, stepping closer with the faintest smile tugging at her lips.

Luke exhaled sharply, relieved but still uneasy under her gaze.

“A… friend dragged me here,” he said.

She glanced sideways. “Oh, Jack Bean? Haven’t seen you in ages. Still hanging around Bastion?”

“No. Quit that job,” Jack replied flatly.

“You two know each other?” Luke asked.

“Everyone in Bastion knows Jack Bean,” Eleanor said, sliding into a chair at their table. “We always figured he’d smash something, curse us out, or pull some wild stunt. But he turned out… surprisingly normal.”

“Internet blew things out of proportion,” Jack muttered.

Then he turned back toward Luke. “And you two?”

Luke rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah… we know each other,” he admitted with an awkward laugh.

“Nice necklace,” Jack said, eyeing the chain around Eleanor’s throat.

“Thanks,” she replied.

“Hey, James, looks a lot like the ones you give other wom—”

His words cut off with a sharp grunt as Luke’s boot connected with his shin under the table. Luke cleared his throat with a forced cough.

“So, how are things around here? Any new challengers for knife throwing?” Luke asked quickly, trying to steer the conversation.

“No,” Eleanor said. “No one else can hit six in a row.”

Jack raised his hand toward the counter. “Doug! Drinks for the table. This is gonna be a long conversation.”

When the drinks arrived, Luke’s attention drifted toward the notice board. A soldier was tacking something up. As soon as the man stepped aside, Luke’s stomach clenched, his new wanted poster stared back at him from the wooden frame. He choked on his drink, covering it with a cough. His eyes swept the tavern. Soldiers everywhere. Too many.

“What’s on your mind?” Jack asked, catching the faraway look in his eyes.

Luke forced a smile. “What do you miss most from Earth?”

Eleanor tilted her head, considering. “The movies, definitely. And, of course, my phone. Shampoo, makeup… Honestly, the list is longer than I’d like to admit.”

“I miss… a person,” Jack said after a pause.

“A lover?” Eleanor teased, nudging him lightly with her elbow.

“Yeah.” He took a long pull from his mug. “She’s the reason I changed. The reason I became a better man.”

Their eyes shifted to Luke. He was the one who’d asked the question, but now he was trapped in it. Should he answer as James, or as Luke?

“I… miss my little sister,” he said finally. “The whole family, of course, but especially her. I think I hurt her before I came here. She probably thinks I’m dead.”

Silence settled over the table as they drank. The weight of it hung in the air, and Luke realized some memories weren’t meant to be spilled in the middle of a tavern.

“How old is she?” Eleanor asked gently.

“Six.”

Jack reached across and set a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll see her again someday, partner. I swear it on the Goddess of Kindness.” His voice trembled with emotion.

Luke blinked. Was this guy seriously tearing up? What the hell did Doug put in his drink?

“One day, maybe,” Luke muttered. “If Eleanor and the others find the mechanism, she could pull me out of this place.”

Eleanor sipped from her mug, a small smile on her lips. “My job’s to guard the Safe Zone and patrol against invasions. Mechanisms aren’t really my department.”

“Well, the only reason explorers have a Safe Zone to return to is because you’re guarding it,” Luke countered. “Sounds like everyone’s doing their part.”

“That’s… a good way to look at it, James,” Eleanor said.

***

The conversation dragged on for another hour. Luke had been tense at first, but the more the drinks flowed, the easier it became. For once, he silently thanked whoever invented alcohol. In a tavern like this, no one wasted time staring at the notice board.

Luke, I think the real secret is the eyepatch.

‘It hides some of that dumb look on your face.’

He stopped glancing at the wall and leaned back into the game.

“I’ve never… been arrested,” Eleanor said.

“Alright, you got me there.” Jack tipped his mug back and drank.

They were playing Never Have I Ever.

Jack scratched his chin, thinking. “I’ve never… walked in on my parents doing that.” He froze mid-thought. “Wait. Actually, I think I did. Damn, that just unlocked a few memories.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Eleanor grimaced and drank. “Thanks for reminding me of my trauma.”

Both of them turned toward Luke.

“Looks like James never went through that rite of childhood,” Eleanor said. “That moment you realize the world isn’t all black and white.”

“Hold on,” Luke asked, frowning. “You two actually saw your parents…?”

“I came home early from school once,” she replied. “Learned the hard way never to break routine again.”

“One of the reasons my parents got divorced,” Jack muttered, eyes going distant, “was because I caught my dad… but the woman wasn’t my mom.”

Luke and Eleanor exchanged an awkward glance, turning away from him.

This guy’s got a lot of skeletons in the closet.

“For me, parents don’t… do that,” Luke said. “They’re supposed to be sacred figures.”

“And how do you think your little sister exists?” Eleanor teased.

“Storks?” he shot back. “Or maybe when two people love each other, the woman’s belly just magically grows and a baby appears. I prefer to think of it that way.”

She laughed out loud.

“Come on, we live in a world with gods, multiverses, and powers. My theory should be possible somewhere out there.”

“In some corner of reality, sure,” Jack admitted.