Chapter 300: Last Refuge Before War

Lunch was served in the makeshift mess hall of the third fortress. The smell of hot food drifted through the cold air seeping from the stone walls. Luke set his tray down and paused to reflect. The system notification still burned in his mind, insistent. As he ladled food onto plates, his thoughts kept returning to the same point:“At least 51% of tutorial participants must be present in the third fortress for the event to start at midnight…”

“Fifty-one percent…” he muttered under his breath. Was that the same number Angelica had mentioned? The one Bartholomew feared?

He shook his head. If Bartholomew had known about the final challenge, he would have used it, either to rally people or to manipulate them. No, this had to be something else.

A soft sound cut through his focus. Eleanor pulled up a chair beside him.

“So you really can cook, huh?” she asked, eyeing the steaming lasagna.

“Cook is a stretch. I can handle the basics,” Luke replied without looking up.

They had their meals kept in storage items, already packed for travel, hot dishes frozen in time and ready to be summoned. The lasagna he was sharing now was the same dish he had made for Evangeline on the day he reunited with Allison.

Those bastards at the Haven chained me up before I could even finish that dinner, he thought.

“Want another slice?” he offered. The tray was nearly empty.

“I’ve eaten plenty,” Eleanor said with a faint smile. “Just surprised to see you cooking, that’s all.”

“It’s nothing special. Not much competition. Evangeline lives on canned food.”

Eleanor laughed softly. For a heartbeat, the tension eased. They traded quick glances at the other tables, noting what everyone else ate. Then Charlie appeared and settled into the seat between them, her armor catching the dim light.

“There’s more space over there, Charlie,” Luke said, gesturing to an empty chair.

She stared back, then glanced at Eleanor and shook her head. She didn’t move. Luke rubbed the back of his neck, puzzled.

“I think I’ll… go start breaking down the camp in the courtyard,” she murmured, rising.

“Fine,” Luke said, turning back to his plate.

Better tell her not to touch my bed, he thought, but he didn’t get the chance. Charlie’s gauntleted hand landed on his shoulder, pinning him to the seat.

He tried to rise, but her grip pressed him back down. She pointed at his plate, then at his own stomach. Eat.

Luke shook his head. The twin red glints inside her helm flared brighter, a silent warning. She repeated the gesture: food, then him. She was clearly annoyed. Then she lifted her left hand, showing the ring on her finger.

Luke frowned. What is she trying to say? Maybe she’s anxious to pick the new class… and I’m stalling. Could be that.

He exhaled and shoveled down the rest of the food while Charlie stayed close, silent and watchful as ever.

***

The inner courtyard of the third fortress lay quiet, broken only by the metallic clatter of armor being adjusted and gear stowed away. The afternoon chill felt heavier than usual, signaling the end of a chapter. They had decided to abandon the fortress once every last task was finished and every resource stripped from it.

“The fortress will still function even without the mechanism active,” Ronan said, tightening the belt of weapons slung across his hips as he walked with Mason.

“Yeah,” Mason replied with a curt nod.

The women were taking the last few minutes to wash up in one of the fortress’s side chambers.

“They’re actually getting cleaned up for the trip?” Jack asked, half amused.

Ronan gave a short laugh. “They’re women. My fiancée does the same thing, even when we’re heading out to hunt in the Wild Zone.”

Mason only shrugged, agreeing without comment.

They sat near the main gate, where the ramparts cast long shadows across the stone floor. Luke stayed quiet, adjusting the sheath of his kukri while the others exchanged glances.

“Now it all makes sense,” Ronan said after studying him for a moment. “Why the knight never leaves your side or takes off her armor. She’s a familiar.”

Luke lifted his eyes slowly.

“Charlie is my bodyguard,” he said flatly.

With that, the oddity of it all felt easier to accept. The fact that Luke could store the knight inside his soul and summon her at will no longer sounded so far-fetched. At the moment, though, Princess Charlie stood guard over the bathing area, making sure no one came near, especially Luke.

“You really snuck all the way here just so the angel statue wouldn’t trigger that thing?” Ronan asked, folding his arms. “Not sure I’d have managed it.”
Luke rolled a shoulder. “It was a pain, but it worked.”

Beside them loomed the massive warhorn. In the evenings Luke would share pieces of his journey through the capital, stories that sounded almost too wild to be true but had become a ritual before sleep.

“Be honest,” Jack said, turning to Mason. “You’ve got the most military experience. Do you actually think we can pull off the final mission?”

Mason took his time before answering. “With the right prep, it’s not impossible. But don’t fool yourselves. Just because I come from a noble family doesn’t make me invincible or some master strategist. Ronan’s better at this than I am. He’s been facing Marshall and his strategies for five year.”

“I wasn’t alone,” Ronan replied with a brief smile. “And when you showed up, it helped more than you think.”

While they spoke, Luke kept his eyes fixed ahead. The army of dormant statues filled the cityscape around the fortress, row after row of frozen sentinels. Wherever he looked, there were statues, some shattered, others draped in moss, figures monstrous and humanoid alike, locked in eternal stillness.

“My knowledge is more about the system,” Mason went on. “It’s personal. My family serves a more powerful house, the one with the hawk sigil. Those are the true strategists. I wouldn’t even dream of comparing myself to them.”

Luke listened quietly. Since the moment he’d met Mason, the nobleman had spoken of places and histories that seemed more like fantasy than memory. Even now, inside the tutorial, it still felt unreal.

“You lived on an island, right?” Luke asked at last.

“An archipelago of islands… or more like floating mountains off the main continent of the New World,” Mason said, nostalgia flickering in his eyes. “If we make it out of here alive and back to our world, maybe I’ll invite you to visit.”

Luke hesitated but couldn’t hold back his curiosity. “And the Rhiannon family? How did you even meet Allison?”

Mason gave a faint smile. “Who in the New World hasn’t heard of her family? They’re practically stars.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Jack nodded. “Even though I grew up in modern society, when I joined my Divine Order I learned about the World Government families.”

“They never talked much about that in school…” Luke murmured.

“Information was always restricted,” Ronan replied. “The two societies stay separate for a reason.”

Mason stretched his arms above his head as he stood. “It’s part of the agreement. No Divine Order outranks another, and the government keeps its distance. Publicly they only say ‘World Government’ or ‘the Nobility,’ never naming individual houses. It keeps any one family from gaining too much attention or being accused of favoritism. Rules of the game. So don’t feel ignorant. You were raised as part of the common society.”

A gust of wind swept through the courtyard then, scattering dust across the stones, a sharp reminder to everyone that it was time to move.

***

The river stretched like a dark ribbon between the dead trees, mirroring the gray sky above. Its current whispered in a low, steady growl while the group readied their boats. Damp air carried the smell of moss and rust. No birds, no wind, just the prickling sense of unseen eyes watching from the banks.

Luke paused, his boots sinking slightly into the cold mud.

This is it. This is the way to the hideout.

Inside his head, Artemis’s voice drifted in, soft and almost curious. ‘Luke, your precious friend here has been having some interesting thoughts about the final challenge of this tutorial.’

He didn’t answer right away. He helped Ronan shove the boat into the water, watching the warped reflections of their silhouettes ripple across the current.

What kind of thoughts?

Ronan pulled another wooden boat from storage and dropped it into the river. The boards creaked but held. The women tightened their packs and checked their gear before boarding.

‘Hmm…’ Artemis hesitated. ‘I’ve been thinking. The final challenge is basically a war, right? The enemy trying to stop you from reaching the portal?’

That’s right. Luke replied in thought.

‘If you realize things aren’t going to end well for your side…’ She gave a little mental cough. ‘I wouldn’t judge you for using your skills to slip through the enemy, get to the castle, find the portal, and escape back to your world. Honestly, I’d be all for it, as long as you survived and saved us in the process.’

Luke’s gaze drifted to the distant castle, a jagged shadow against the gray sky.