Grand Knight Charlotte Graham's funeral, held the day after her passing, was an intimate affair despite its public location.
Golden Kingdom law dictated any grand knight might pick where their funeral was to be held. Very few places were beyond their reach, so they usually chose luxurious rooms in the palace or official knight buildings.
Charlotte's testament revealed she had chosen a small park in the capital's upper district.
The simple green square was surrounded by trees and metal benches. Today, it was also surrounded by dozens of royal knights and even five grand knights tasked with protecting the funeral, which was held in its center. The park would be closed to the public until the next day.
Black metal chairs surrounded an open coffin in concentric circles. William sat on the one closest to his late wife. Arthur and Stinson each sat beside him. All three wore black mourning clothes.
No one else dared occupy the innermost circle.
Arthur was surprised to find her entire family, other than the two men, was gone from the capital. Stinson had said it was for safety reasons.
Knights, grand and royal, and servants sat on the remaining chairs. Those were Charlotte's friends, colleagues, and helpers who cared for her. As customs dictated, whoever wasn't directly associated with her and wanted to show support to those she had left behind would come later.
The lack of a single non-work-related friend made it clear that Charlotte had lived as a knight through and through.
"The Weary Traveler Square," William said softly. His words marked the beginning of the funeral, quelling some people's quiet chatter. "The place I met the light of my life. The place this amazing traveler of a woman came to rest at last."
Arthur hadn't visited the park but had heard of it in his cultural customs lessons. The kingdom's young scions from affluent Houses visited it between political parties and intrigue-filled days to have some legitimate and careless fun. Tradition dictated only non-political topics could be uttered there.
William continued, "I remember when I first saw her, sitting with two girls. Lara and, quoting Charlie's testament, 'that two-faced pig,' whose name I'm forbidding from uttering for the rest of my life," he said with a sad smile.
Everyone else at least smiled slightly. A few chuckled, likely those who knew more on the subject.
"The three women had come for a picnic, and I..." She paused for a while. "She... She always asked me to bring her on a picnic too. I never did."
His voice was sad and defeated.
His eyes stared straight at her loved one's face. The coffin floated a yard above ground to let those nearby see her for the last time. It wiggled a few inches up and down in a soothing motion.
Like William, Arthur also couldn't take his eyes off her. Magic made her as beautiful as she had ever been. The white and blue dress and light blue and pink flowers around her made her look like a living painting.
She had found her peace.
Graham kept quiet for a while, then continued, "Back then, I had just become friends with four squires and came with them to play cutball. This place was way above my station back then." Stinson lightly snorted, and William added, "Some will say it still is, but my friends insisted. I messed up in a pass and had to go get the ball. It had rolled to Charlie's back. The moment she turned to see what had bumped into her, the world froze. I've been absolutely enamored with her ever since. I still am. I will always be."
He went on to share a few precious moments he had had with her. Their first date. Their first trip. Their first mission.
Stinson spoke next. He was brief and to the point. "Charlotte was my youngest. She was also the one person in the world who truly understood me. She didn't have even half my mind stats but made up for it with sheer empathy." He paused. "I would've given her my everything as gratitude for no longer feeling alone. We both knew it. And yet, she only ever used it to demand one thing of me: to protect someone. All other times, whenever she reached the exact line where she would insist and knew I would give, she stopped herself. Even when it came to marrying a man I disapproved of. She believed the best in me when even I didn't. Her absence makes the world a sadder place."
It started raining then, as if Fate heard his words and agreed with them.
No one moved to leave.
Arthur was next. He didn't have much to say, but what he did say would shock the kingdom.
"She was like a second mother to me," the crown prince uttered, then kept silent.
He had thought about who might get affected or saddened by his words. Besides his mother, he thought of his father and Tamara.
His father would be politically affected by the declaration, but Arthur decided Charlotte deserved that much for everything she had given and done for the crown prince. The same went for his mother. The very least Arthur could do for Charlotte was to let the entire kingdom know what a wonderful woman she was.
As for Tamara, looking back at their interactions before and after his training, it was clear that maid training included keeping herself distant enough from him to avoid such feelings from surfacing. For instance, she had never hugged her as she had done to Sophie on her first day of work. Maybe the head maid cared for him as more than a maid, but she had never shown it or let him develop familial bonds with her.
Other people talked after him, sharing heartwarming or funny stories. When no one else talked for an hour, everyone left except the three men.
The funeral entered the second stage then, and the Golden King was the first to arrive.
He patted the shoulders of the two knights and his son, then sat in the first circle of chairs on the other side of the coffin. Arthur was sure there was more to the gesture, the moment he had come, and the time he remained than he could guess but didn't try to guess. As Graywinter had said, he'd better leave that for scholars and mind specialists.
William and Stinson's friends and colleagues also came to show support at this stage. A few just patted their shoulders and left. Others sat down for a while afterward. No one said anything.
The funeral started at first light. It entered the second stage a little after midday. Then, sunset came, and the third stage began.
Only the king and seven other acquaintances remained from the second stage. The empty chairs started refilling quickly, though. Many of those directly related to Charlotte, who had come in the morning, could now return.
Most were visibly intoxicated after spending hours reminiscing about her with their peers. They arrived, talked loudly, and sat around without care at first, but it didn't take long for almost everyone to start crying.
A few knelt beside the coffin and sobbed desperately, touching Charlotte's hands and face. They often only let go when friends came to take them away.
Three moons and myriad stars blanketed the now clear night skies when William stood up and approached the coffin. The two women who remained by the coffin didn't leave, and he didn't mind.
He knelt too, kissed his wife's forehead, caressed her hair, looked at the skies, and said quietly, "Fate, be kind; if there's an afterlife, may Charlie's be filled with joy everlasting. Fate, be fair; if there's reincarnated life, may Charlie's be filled with happiness to her dying breath."
Everyone expected him to ask for graciousness next. It was the most religious of the three statements.
Religion was for the unawakened, for awakeners were told by Fate itself that their destiny was in their own hands. However, when the finality of death came knocking, awakeners and unawakened both had to bow down and pray.
William had other plans, though. "Fate, be wise," he said. "If there's only oblivion after death, kill me before I grow powerful enough to rip the fabric of reality apart in vindication for daring to make such a wonderful entirely cease to exist. A universe without Charlie is not a universe worth existing. The only thing that can take me from this path is if it gets in the way of fulfilling her last request. Otherwise, I'm going to investigate, and if I don't like what I find, I'm coming for you. This, I swear to you."
Mana left his body and swirled around him.
People gasped. Arthur was shocked that someone dared make a soul vow to threaten Fate itself. Even the Golden King widened his eyes in surprise.
Graham couldn't even take those words back. Swearing something to someone who died or was already dead made it impossible to remove the vow. He had just set his path for life. He either investigated and, if needed, sought revenge, or he would suffer a severe backslash.
Stinson laughed loudly and wildly while the mana rotated.
Then, he yelled, "This! This!" He laughed again, somehow even louder. "This is it! I see it now, Charlie! I see the man you claimed you married!"
Some people turned to look at the man. Arthur couldn't. William's soul vow's mana made him incapable of moving.
"Charlotte, my girl," the commander continued, "as penitence for doubting your husband's love and devotion, I swear to Fate that I shall never let my missing arm regrow."
Mana left his body and swirled intensely. The grass and trees in the park started shaking violently as if hit by a strong gale. Arthur had been told a lot of raw mana was needed to affect physical objects.
"And William," Stinson went on, "I doubted you so much that I poisoned you with a sterilization potion! I swear to Fate that I shall not defend myself if you decide to take my life in retribution!" The king stood up. "More! I swear to Fate that if anyone tries to stop you from it, I'll fight them to the death to prevent this right from being taken from you!"
The very ground shook. There was so much mana in the air that Arthur felt dizzy. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. He could only wait.
At last, moments later, first Graham's and then Stinson's vows entered their bodies.
The prince took a deep breath.
There was a tense silence as no one moved or said anything. Everyone was waiting and seeing.
Against all expectations, William acted as if nothing had happened. He kissed his late wife's forehead again and waved his hand.
The gesture, magically bound to him, activated the coffin's enchantments. An invisible force gently pushed the two women's hands away, then a white lid materialized above the coffin. Finally, the closed coffin slowly descended to and into the ground. It went through grass and earth as if they weren't there, leaving no mark of its passage.
"Find peace, love," he whispered. "For I know I won't."
The funeral was over, but William wasn't done.
He stood and, without turning to face Stinson, delivered, "Charlie said your greatest flaw was making everything about you. She was right. You couldn't even let her funeral be about her and the undying love she commanded in the man she chose. It had to be about you, your mistakes, your hatred. About your conveniently publicly witnessed redemption."
Arthur had seen multiple people die by now. He had seen some blow up into bloody mists. He had seen a half-beheaded head get punched out of its body.
No execution had been as brutal as William's following words.
"Do you know why Charlie was cursed? Because she stole a potion that the Whispering Witch would only exchange for having Charlie betray our kingdom. A potion to cure me from the poison you used. And guess what? She didn't mess up in the theft.
"I'm cured, Stinson.
"I'm cured, and Charlie is dead."
He paused and looked at the heavens. No one said anything in the ensuing silence. Surprisingly, not even Stinson, who suddenly looked pale like Arthur had never seen.
"The potion bottle was rigged," William continued. "Charlie was cursed, and someone with a vampire bloodline can't have children if they have a death curse. It saps their vitality just in the wrong way. A cruel trick by the witch. We didn't want to believe it at first, but we were convinced when not even the strongest magic or potion could make her bear children. We couldn't fulfill her greatest wish in life."
He turned to Stinson. "I knew my wife. I don't doubt her feelings for the crown prince. She did love him like a son.
"But how fitting that she exposed such love in front of you twice, isn't it? Once, before going on a mission that she thought she wouldn't return from. Then, when she was, in fact, about to die. And that, after sacrificing some of her remaining time to guarantee all three of us would be together in her final moments.
"It's almost as if she knew what you did. As if she was trying to tell you not to care so much about taking her greatest dream from her. That she had found solace in the end in the crown prince.
"And how fitting that she convinced me to kill the witch against my king's orders, isn't it? Yes, she did. I wanted to stay every second I could by her side and then find revenge, but she wouldn't let me.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
"It's almost as if she didn't want you to find out why she had been cursed in the first place. As if she wanted me to redirect my ire somewhere else and find closure in killing the wicked monster in human skin.
"And do you know what makes it even worse for me? Despite your loudly repeated suspicions, the only thing I ever said against your father-daughter relationship was that she went too far in covering for your mistakes. I will die knowing I was right and should've done something about it.
"But you, Stinson? You'll die knowing you killed Charlotte.
"Not the witch.
"Not me.
"You."
Then the man just walked away.
Arthur didn't. He spat on Stinson's face—and if he was killed for it, so be it—and then he left.
----------------------------------------
Sophie passed the mysterious tests with flying colors. In fact, Arthur was told she couldn't be more perfect. More importantly, she ended up not asking to leave.
The prince only caught glimpses of the reason here and there but understood it had to do with Tamara bringing her to Lord Brimstone, and the man convinced his daughter to give it a chance.
Arthur was glad about it. The girl was so clumsy it was funny, constantly dropping something she was carrying around. She was also so timid it was endearing. Her presence was a breeze of fresh air in the miserable world his life became after Charlotte's funeral.
The more he thought about it, the more he believed he should've tried to kill Stinson after William's speech.
He would've failed. He might've been killed in return. Yet, he felt way too frustrated about merely spitting on the man's face. He hadn't been furious enough. He had just been too emotionally drained and sad. Charlotte deserved more.
Then again, Charlotte would want her father to live—which only made things even more frustrating.
After leaving the funeral, he had found out William hadn't gone away. He had waited for the prince outside the park's boundaries, and he had come to stay. He followed Arthur wherever he went, except into his room; then, he stood guard by the door. He was taking his vow to protect Arthur seriously.
The two didn't bound easily, though. Both men cared for the same woman—in different ways—but that didn't suddenly turn them into best friends.
Arthur had once tried to start a conversation by saying, "I'm sorry for your loss."
To which Stinson had replied, "Thank you, Your Highness. I apologize for my gloominess. I'll become more talkative in time."
Arthur admired how politely the grand knight had told him to shut up.
Other than Sophie, the only light spot in his life was Stinson—or, more precisely, his absence.
Thank Fate, the man wasn't as keen as William on following his vow. He had disappeared after the funeral. The prince hoped Fate would consider he was breaking the vow.
He hoped the backslash caused him to have a slow and agonizing death.
----------------------------------------
One week after the earth ruthlessly swallowed Charlotte's corpse, Arthur stood back in Weary Traveler Square with Graham.
It made him feel utterly offended.
The people around didn't care about last week's funeral. No one did. Spoiled young men and women laughed and played, gossiped, and flirted in the square as if the world hadn't lost its color after Charlotte's passing. As if the kingdom wasn't at war. As if—
A gauntleted hand on his shoulder interrupted his thoughts.
"My wife loved you like a son, Your Highness," William said. Despite the contents of his words, his voice was surprisingly harsh. "But she loved the 'you' she knew, not the 'you' you're becoming. Feel your emotions, be them what they are. Hate, grief, despair, I don't care. Curse the world, scream, cry, fight Fate itself. But don't let your dark emotions turn you into a monster that my wife would've killed instead of embracing."
His speech delivered, he removed his hand and returned it to rest on his sword's pommel while looking around for threats to the crown prince.
He needn't have worried about security, though. Just as no one cared about Charlotte, no one cared about Arthur. It had taken only a poor martial robe and a hat to stop anyone from glancing at him twice.
Arthur left the park unsure of when he had felt smaller: when he was slapped by Stinson or now, that his suffering and existence were ignored by everyone around him.
----------------------------------------
The more days passed, the more worried Arthur became about his mother's absence. Was she really alive? If so, where? His anguish made him even ignore reason and ask people about it.
Unfortunately, his father was nowhere to be found. He had come for the funeral and disappeared right after. Tamara said she knew nothing. William revealed he had received a Royal Decree not to talk about it. And Sophie not only was even more ignorant than Arthur, but she even dropped the painting by his nightstand while clearing it, damaging his mother's face.
Arthur was glad he had the Locket of Everlasting Memories he used to see his mother in his birthday painting.
Wait!
"Colonel Graham," Arthur called after leaving his walking closet in a martial robe.
The grand knight promptly entered the room. "Yes, Your Highness?"
"I want a painting—" he paused, realizing how insensitive his words were about to sound. The man was still grieving. Arthur's own desire for a painting showing Charlotte could wait until the subject wasn't as touchy. Maybe he could even ask his father for an official picture in their upcoming meeting instead. "Never mind."
William said nothing for a while, but he did stay by the door. Arthur didn't know how to politely ask the man to get out of the way, so he just awkwardly waited.
An entire minute later, the knight extended his arm sideways and pulled a William-sized wooden-framed painting from his spatial storage.
It showed Charlotte wearing a light green dress with white flowers under a tree. Her black hair was long and woven in a braid behind her head, and her too-fit face was rounder and younger. The artist had even captured a twinkle of mischievousness in her red eyes and smile. She kept her hands behind her and stood on the tip of her toes in a playful pose, like a child hiding something from her parents and anxious about showing it.
"This is the only painting of hers I'm willing to part with, Your Highness," Graham said seriously. "And only because I know your locket will preserve it better than I can."
Arthur's mouth was left hanging for a while. He had never thought Charlotte could be so breathtaking. He wanted to know everything about this picture, from how long ago it had been painted to why she had started wearing short hair.
Fortunately, instead of being an indelicate savage, he almost ceremonially took it from William's hands—
The thing was heavy and would've fallen to the ground if William didn't grab it again.
"Let me remove it from the frame, Your Highness," he said.
When Arthur finally took the painting, he made one of the painting's corners touch his locket's empty socket. Mana filled it and took it away in a flash. When it was done, the miniaturized image was in the now-filled socket.
Arthur pushed some mana into it, and the original-sized painting came to life before him like a Fate window.
"Is that all, Your Highness?" William asked.
Arthur pushed a little more mana to hide the image and nodded. "Yes. Or maybe not. I'm going to meet my father. I guess you'll follow."
"Yes, Your Highness."
----------------------------------------
It had been nine days since Charlotte's funeral. It was finally time for Arthur to meet his father. If all went well, he would get news on his mother.
Surprisingly, he found the king already waiting in the palace gardens. That was nice.
Also surprising but considerably less nice was Commander Stinson's presence. He was wearing grand knight armor from head to toe, but Arthur could easily distinguish the armless knight with the elk drawing on the shoulder, House Stinson's insignia.
Even more surprisingly, Tamara and Sophie were also present for reasons Arthur couldn't even begin to fathom.
The king, Stinson, and the two maids were surrounded by nothing less than thirty grand knights. Arthur had been told that was almost the entirety of his father's retinue. Getting to level fifty was no easy feat.
"What's going on, father?" he asked as he approached.
"Come," the king commanded briskly, barely even looking at his son, then turned and walked away.
Arthur looked lost to Tamara, who nodded with an encouraging smile. She held Sophie's hand and waited for the crown prince to get behind the king before following. Graham also came.
"Father?" Arthur tried again.
"I was told you left your bedroom on the night of the attack because you reached peak natural stats," the king replied, still not looking at his son. "You'll continue your training now. It'll be held in a secret place. We must make haste before a specialized spy can come read the mana waves to find out where you went."
The prince finally noticed they were walking to the private teleportation room. The black doors were open and protected by nothing less than four other grand knights.
"Oh," Arthur mouthed.
Excitement filled him, conflicting with guilty for being happy about something not even a month after Charlotte's departure.
Embarrassed, he said, "I don't know if you know, but I also raised my agility."
"Inconsequential at this point," the king replied.
The man was uncharacteristically sharp. Arthur had to muster some courage to ask, "Is mother really okay, father?"
Did the king miss a step there? No. Arthur must've imagined it. The king had too many body stats to not walk smoothly.
"Yes. Only I know where she is. We can't contact her for safety reasons. She..." His voice softened a little. "She really wished she could be here. That was the entire reason we even used a mind-shared soul clone. Alas, it wasn't meant to be."
There. The kind man had returned. Arthur took advantage of it.
"What is a mind-shared soul clone, father?"
"Putting it very simply, it was a way of your mother sharing two bodies at once. Untraceable and expensive. Graham will explain it better to you later."
They reached the teleportation room. Only the king and Stinson went inside; the other grand knights moved around to secure the perimeter.
Arthur followed. "Graham will explain it, father?" Then, before the king could reply, he was surprised to see Tamara and Sophie follow in too. "My maids are coming, too?" he asked.
"Yes, to both questions," the king replied. "Come."
There was already an open temporary portal there. Arthur looked at Tamara again for support. He found it in a light, serious nod. He also found Sophie tearing up silently, biting her lower lip. William was also in the room, but there was no support to be found in his black helmet.
The prince turned to the portal again. That was it, then. The next part of his training. The next step of his journey.
He took a deep breath and stepped through.
----------------------------------------
Arthur had expected to find many things on the other side. A moldy, damp brick room was not among them.
Light came from a single light crystal on the ceiling that didn't illuminate the room very well. There was a dungeon stone archway on the opposite side of the room. It was blocked by a voidsteel door.
Stinson, who had come first, was already standing guard beside the door. Arthur got out of the portal's way and kept looking at the place. It had another exit, a rusty gray metal door that didn't inspire much confidence.
Soon, the king, Tamara, Sophie, and Graham were also present. William was the last to come. The portal blinked out of existence after his arrival.
The king sighed in relief. "Son, come, give me a hug." Arthur complied. The tight embrace was over in a few seconds. "Alas, we must be quick." He pushed his hand into his spatial storage and pulled two storage safes from it.
Despite their name, storage safes were not as secure as spatial storage items, which were linked directly to the owner's soul. However, they were the second-best thing and, what made them truly useful, transferable. Anyone could open them if they knew the password.
The two cubes were identical to each other. Fist-sized and made of wood-textured metal, meant to be as nondescript as possible. Ten discrete dark brown digits to one side were the only indication it was more than a decorative box.
The king gave one to Arthur and whispered the code to him. "Eleven-oh-one-five-seven-eight-one-hundred."
The whisper was a bit useless. Only Sophie couldn't hear it. Everyone else had the stats and maybe the skills to hear it even better than Arthur could.
The prince enjoyed the slightly intimate gesture, though, and the password.
11/01/573, his birthday, followed by 100.
Arthur took the object with interest. It weighed at least twenty pounds. He had the stats to easily lift it but not to deftly move it around.
"Don't open it yet," the king said. "You must only do that when you leave this dungeon. Captain Graham will carry it for you in the meanwhile, but not in his spatial storage. We don't want it gone if something happens to him."
Spatial storage's greatest strength, nigh-inviolable security, was also its most glaring weakness. If whoever they were soul-linked with died unexpectedly, all items inside were lost. The only way around it was to have an awakener with the spatial element and suitable skill set come to where they had passed away.
William approached and extended his hand. Arthur gave him the cube. He put it in one of his golden cloak's pockets, which were so seamlessly sewn that Arthur hadn't even known they existed.
"This one is for you, Captain," the king said. "The password is Lieutenant Graham's knight code."
A fitting password. William took it, nodded to the king, put the cube in his spatial storage, and stepped back.
The king took a deep breath. "Arthur, we are losing the war." The news was delivered and received with heaviness. "We knew our allies wouldn't help us, but we never expected them to join our enemies. They weren't supposed to. Not without having more access to our secrets than they should have." He turned to Stinson. "More and more, my Knight Commander's arrogant shortsightedness comes to bite us all."
The prince only heard it quietly. He didn't even feel glad about Stinson being called out. Not when that same arrogance had caused Charlotte's death.
"You'll be needed more than ever," the king continued. "I wanted to give you breathing air between delving sessions, but we don't have that option anymore. You'll have to stay in this dungeon until you reach level one hundred."
Arthur widened his eyes. "What?!"
No one reached level one hundred. Legend had it that you gained incredible power if you did, but it was just impossible. Extension stones lost effectiveness after each use, so no one had enough time to grow that much.
"This dungeon is special," the king said with a kind smile. "Time runs a hundred times faster on the inside. Did you learn about time dilation bonuses?"
The prince nodded. "Yes, father. Divide the dilation by five. That's roughly how much faster you can grow in that dungeon. In this case, I'll grow twenty times faster than I should."
"Precisely. You'll be staying inside for years from your perspective. Only a month will have passed when you leave as a level one hundred awakener. You'll change the course of the war for us."
Many questions came to the prince's mind then. "Won't I turn into a dungeon dweller, father? And why don't we send all our squires into this dungeon?! Or even knights that haven't used all their extension stones?"
"Good questions. You won't stay inside for the twenty-seven years required to get the Dungeon Dweller achievement. The reason is related to why I don't send squires inside: I can't; not unless I'm willing to kill my subjects."
He pushed his hand into his spatial storage again and pulled out four glass tubes filled with black liquid.
"This dungeon has level ninety-five monsters and is brimming with mana. If a single squire stays inside for a while, it might overflow. The Golden Kingdom would be gone in a matter of weeks." Arthur shivered at the thought. "Luckily, there are ways around it. None is cheap or easy to find. I could only barely procure these negation potions for the four of you. They will prevent the dungeon from growing more powerful from your presence and achievements. However, they will only last ten years, dungeon time. Fate willing, that will be enough."
Arthur gulped. "I... Father, I don't mean disrespect, but why are my maids coming? Isn't that a waste of potions?"
The man closed his eyes for a few seconds, then stared firmly at Arthur. "You'll be inside for up to ten years, son. That can make people go crazy. You'll improve your mind stats, which shall help prevent that, but the only sure way is to have enough human company. Variety is also important. Their presence will shield you against madness." He paused. "But even if that weren't the case, the alchemist who brewed these potions warned that they can only be consumed once. They won't work a second time. I suspect he might be lying, but I don't have enough potions to test it, and we can't risk this dungeon overflowing if I'm wrong. Be sure to return within ten years."
A sob made Arthur turn to look at Sophie. She was crying, her face hidden in Tamara's clothes. "Are... Father, ten years... I mean... Are... I'm sorry, but are you sure?"
The king nodded. "Yes, son, I am. Remember when I swore that I believed becoming your maid was the very best that could happen to Brimstone? This was partly why."
He offered Arthur one of the vials, then made the others float away. Tamara got one, drank it at once, and softly convinced Sophie to drink hers. Graham and Arthur also drank theirs.
It tasted overly sweet. Like candy, really. He even licked his lips after he was done.
Arthur didn't feel particularly different, but his father nodded to Stinson, who wordlessly opened the dungeon door. Meanwhile, the king took the vials back with floating magic and stored them away.
"Obey Captain Graham in everything," the man commanded. "Do whatever he asks of you, even if it invades your Fate's privacy. He'll train and protect you to the best of his ability."
"Yes, father," the prince acknowledged.
Then, the man hugged Arthur one last time.
"I believe in you, son," he said softly. "Remember, level one hundred. You can do this. And also remember, your mother and I love you. More than you can imagine."
"I love you too, father," Arthur replied. "Tell her that for me?"
"I will," the king said with a slightly trembling voice, then released the prince from the hug. "Go. Go, son. Go, and meet your fate."
Arthur nodded seriously. "I won't return until I reach level one hundred, father. I swear to Fate." Only a little mana came from and returned to his body to bind him to the vow. It was kind of pathetic, really,
His father nodded. "I appreciate the gesture, but I release you from it. Go."
Arthur felt something rupture when he was released from the vow. It was a bit lackluster and disappointing to have his resolve brushed aside like that, but he couldn't just tell his king what to do.
He nodded to the man, turned, and walked straight to the dungeon. All this was very sudden, but he could do it. He would do it.
For his father, mother, sister, and kingdom, Arthur would get to level one hundred.
Tamara and a surprisingly recovered—though still dispirited—Sophie joined him midway. Graham was next. Arthur never even glanced at Stinson.
He held his head high as he moved towards his fate.