The King's Command"
Rourke Learns the Truth Behind the Doctor
One week after Captain Gaines' mysterious death in Port Victory, the capital city of London was drowning in winter rain.
Captain Jonathan Rourke stood alone before the massive iron doors of Buckingham Castle, summoned by the king himself.
Rourke was young to be this close to promotion — sharp-eyed, disciplined, impossible to corrupt. His reputation for solving unsolvable cases had reached the palace.
But even he did not know why the king wanted him.
The guards opened the doors.
"Captain Rourke," a chamberlain announced.
"His Majesty will see you now."
1. The King Reveals the File
King Alexander IV sat beside the fireplace, a cane in one hand, tension lining his aging face. He waved Rourke closer.
"Read," the king ordered, handing him a thin folder.
Rourke opened it.
Inside were:
Captain Gaines' death report
His investigations
Rumors of a hidden surgeon called the Doctor
Notes about impossible medical miracles
Drawings of tools that should not exist in this century
Rourke frowned.
"With respect, Your Majesty… why bring this to me?"
The king's eyes hardened.
"I do not care about the dead captain. He was a traitor and a fool. The only reason I do not brand him as such," he said coldly, "is because it would stain the crown."
Rourke stiffened.
"So this is not about him?"
"No."
The king leaned forward.
"It is about the man he was hunting."
2. The King Tells the Truth
King Alexander tapped the file sharply.
"I am interested in this surgeon — the one they call the Doctor. A man who can cure anything. A man whose skills do not belong to our age."
Rourke's breath caught.
"A myth, Your Majesty?"
"Not a myth," the king whispered.
"A necessity."
He stood with effort, back cracking under the weight of age.
"I want you to find him — alive, unharmed — and bring him to me."
Rourke blinked.
"…why?"
For the first time, the king looked vulnerable.
"Because my daughter is dying."
3. The Heir to the Throne
Rourke froze.
Everyone in the kingdom knew Princess Amelia was sick — but the truth had been hidden:
She was dying of an illness no physician could name.
The king continued.
"Her body weakens by the week. Our finest healers have failed. Old treatments do nothing. New remedies do worse."
He turned, staring at a portrait of the young princess.
"If the next heir dies…"
He didn't finish.
He didn't need to.
It would destroy the future of the crown.
"You," the king said firmly, "will ensure my bloodline survives."
4. The Captain Accepts the Impossible
Rourke swallowed.
His whole life, he had wanted to serve something greater.
To be chosen.
To protect the kingdom.
But this task… this was more than an assignment.
It was the king's most desperate prayer.
Rourke knelt.
"I accept, Your Majesty."
A slow, proud smile touched the king's lips.
"As I hoped. You will leave at once for Port Victory. Follow the disgraced captain's trail. And when you find this Doctor…"
He looked Rourke straight in the eyes.
"…you bring him home."
5. The True Purpose of His Arrival
When Rourke boarded the ship to the colony the next morning, the soldiers assumed he came to restore order.
The nobles assumed he came to replace the dead captain.
The Governor assumed he came to investigate corruption.
But none of them knew the truth:
Captain Rourke was hunting the Doctor not to punish him…
…but to save the future queen of England.
And he would stop at nothing to complete the king's command.
"A Wolf Arrives Quietly"
Captain Rourke Enters Port Victory
The ship cut through the gray-blue waves, sails heavy with wind.
Captain Jonathan Rourke stood alone at the bow, coat whipping around him as the colony finally appeared on the horizon.
Port Victory.
To most, it looked like a crude settlement clinging to the coastline.
To Rourke, it was a hunting ground.
He clutched a small leather notebook close to his chest — the king's mission written in his own careful handwriting:
Find the surgeon known as the Doctor.
Bring him home unharmed.
By order of the King.
And underneath it, a note Rourke added himself:
This man saved criminals and ghosts. That means he hides in the shadows. I must become a shadow to find him.
1. The Colony Reacts to the New Captain
When Rourke walked down the gangplank onto the docks, the colony shifted like someone had kicked a hornet's nest.
Soldiers snapped to attention.
Innkeepers whispered.
Thieves ducked behind crates.
Even the nobles on the balcony stared.
They were expecting a hard, cruel military officer.
Instead, the man who arrived was:
young,
composed,
unreadable,
and carrying a captain's uniform that looked far too new for him to be ordinary.
Governor Edmund Fox arrived at the docks moments later, slightly tipsy but eager to display authority.
"Captain Rourke!" he exclaimed, extending a hand. "A pleasure. I trust your journey was—"
Rourke took his hand briefly.
"A journey is a journey, Governor. No need to decorate it."
Governor Fox blinked.
Belle, behind her father, studied the newcomer with sharp eyes.
He bowed slightly to her — polite, but cold.
"Lady Fox," he said.
Belle curtsied, but her mind raced.
There's something dangerous about him… something hunting.
2. Rourke Begins His Quiet Hunt
As soon as the formalities ended, Rourke declined the governor's offer of dinner.
"I prefer to see the colony before I eat," he lied.
In truth, he wanted three things immediately:
To walk the back alleys
To find the criminal networks' hiding places
To confirm if the Doctor was truly real — or a ghost story
He dismissed his soldiers.
"Stay at the barracks. I patrol alone."
The soldiers exchanged confused glances.
Only a madman walked alone in Port Victory.
Or a predator.
3. The Rumors Reach Him First
Rourke bought a drink in the roughest tavern of the colony — The Bleeding Anchor — and simply listened.
It didn't take long.
"Did you hear?" a miner slurred.
"That 'doctor' fellow fixed Old Thom's broken spine!"
"Bullshit."
"No, really! Thom was a cripple yesterday! He's walkin' today!"
"Some say he cut out a bullet without spillin' a drop of blood."
"A surgeon like that shouldn't be here. Someone's hidin' him."
Rourke's fingers tightened around his glass.
So the rumors are true. There is a surgeon here — and he's not ordinary.
He lifted his notebook and wrote:
The Doctor exists. Confirmed by multiple sources. Works in shadows. Might be protected by criminals.
He closed the book.
And smiled.
4. Rourke Visits the Morgue — and Makes a Discovery
The colony morgue was dim, cold, and reeking of old death.
The mortician looked up with fear when Rourke entered.
"I am reviewing all medical deaths from the last month," Rourke said calmly.
The mortician swallowed.
"Y-yes, Captain."
Rourke moved body sheets, examining stitches, cuts, mistakes of amateur surgeons.
Then… he froze.
On one corpse — a bandit — he found stitches so clean, so precise, they would make a London physician cry.
"These are not colonial work," Rourke murmured.
The mortician whispered,
"They say… the Doctor might've tried to save that one."
Rourke felt a thrill rush through him.
He was here. Close enough to leave his mark. Close enough that I can find him.
5. Rourke's Strategy Becomes Clear
As he left the morgue, Rourke wrote one more note:
The Doctor is skilled beyond reason.
He hides among criminals.
He will not reveal himself if cornered.
So I must not corner him.
I will become his ally… before I become his captor.
He shut the notebook.
This colony had no idea a hunter had arrived — one who did not kill, but captured.
And Jack Dawkins had no idea that the greatest danger of his life had stepped onto the colony's soil… smiling, patient, and relentless.