"What kind of devil are you? You're helping these evil bandits steal my hard-earned wealth!" The middle-aged man cried in despair after hearing what Bruce was teaching to the bandits who stole his goods.
"Wait, hold on a minute here mister. I don't like it when people slander me. If you have never done any bad deed to generate the wealth that you have, we wouldn't have anything to extort you with" Bruce's reply shocked the man, but he still yelled out in rage.
"But you bastards will still torture me!"
Bruce thought for a moment and turned his attention to the bodyguard. "Ok then, why don't we torture your bodyguard instead? Would that be alright?"
"Why would that be alright? Once you're done with him, you're going to move to me!"
"Well, we're going to give your bodyguard a choice. Confess the sins you have committed and no torture"
"But let's say you have not committed any sins, then we can torture your bodyguard for a bit to make sure it's true." Bruce's smile turned the man and his bodyguard's face turned pale. This is a devil in front of them, not a kid.
Meanwhile, the bandit leader listened to the conversation and started to understand Bruce's intention. He made sure to write down all the notes during the lecture for he had turned into a student of the art of banditry.
"Please don't torture me. I know all the sins he committed in the past couple of years. I'll tell you everything you want to know." The guard spoke for the first time.
The middle-aged man's face turned pale. Everyone now paid attention to the guard.
"His main source of income is through taking bribes from upper-class families and stealing wages from his workers. Last year, he slept with his manager's wife. Just last month, he ordered rats to be placed in his competitors' establishments. Just yesterday he…."
The bodyguard began to spill all the bad deeds the man had done throughout the years he had worked for him. The number of nasty deeds the man had performed throughout the years was truly shocking.
Bruce didn't originally think the man had committed so many sins. Even the bandits looked at him in disgust.
"You motherfucker! You're fucking fired!" The man no longer cared about the situation and started to curse his ex-bodyguard.
"Hmph. You can't afford me after they take all your wealth anyway."
The two began to curse at each other while the bandit leader took down notes intensely. His way of thinking when it comes to banditry was too narrow-minded before. Bruce has opened a new pathway for him to rise to a new level.
"Master, what should we do with these two?" The bandit leader respectfully addressed Bruce after attending the lecture.
'Finally, someone who appreciates my wisdom'
"Ahem. If you have enough money, you can buy a recording device and record the confessions from these two to guarantee the money."
'This kid has a black heart. What kind of monster did we meet today?'
The two victims cried internally after seeing Bruce destroy their final way out.
"What a fantastic idea master. I shall do as you say" After the whole fiasco, the bandit group obtained the entire wealth of the man and his bodyguard.
After seeing their wealth being robbed, the two men cried loudly. Bruce felt somewhat pity for these two even though they somewhat deserved today's outcome. After all, these two had been working together to steal other people's money through different means while committing immoral acts.
Staring at the two crying men, Bruce bid his farewell.
"No need to thank me for today, you two"
Hearing the most absurd thing in their lives, the two stopped crying and yelled at Bruce.
"WHY WOULD WE THANK YOU? YOU STOLE ALL OUR MONEY"
"Clearly heaven has sent me here to stop you two from committing more sins. It's likely that you'll die in the future had I not been here to steal your money. You can thank me later after you have been reformed." Bruce began to lecture the two men on their short-sightedness.
"I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN TO LET YOU TAKE MY MONEY" The man furiously screamed at Bruce.
"Ok then. Mr. Bandit, could you please send this ungrateful man to the other side?" The bandit leader nodded and moved toward the man with the intent to kill.
"NO PLEASE. I WAS KIDDING. PLEASE LET ME GO" The man took back his statement and begged for mercy instead.
"Let them go. They have learned their lessons today."
The duo got released and ran away from the group, swearing to never go near this area ever again. They planned to move out of the country to avoid seeing the shameless devil again. Whether or not they learned the lesson that Bruce intended to teach them is another story.
With hundreds of thousands of gold coins at their disposal, the bandit group began to cheer and thanked Bruce for making it happen. The bandit group had been working hard all month but the amount of money generated today far outstripped what they had earned in the year.
"Master, did you lie about your father leaving you here alone?" The bandit leader asked as he was quite sure Bruce is much more intelligent than anyone at his age. It didn't make sense for his father to leave him alone.
"Correct. I lied about that. I intended to steal from all of you actually. However, I changed my mind after seeing your kind intentions" Bruce lay down on the ground and enjoyed the blue sky. He really wanted to nap at that moment.
"How would you go about stealing from us? Not to be disrespectful but you are at Low Stage Body Refinement while I am at Early Stage Soul Manifestation."
"I'm stronger than I look. To tell you the truth, I have killed a Late Stage Soul Manifestation before. In this world, strength isn't everything." Bruce smiled mysteriously while laying down on the ground. The group gasped after hearing what Bruce said.
"Master, are you some young master from a great background?" The bandit leader could only guess that much since only powerful forces on the continent could produce someone like Bruce.
"Something like that. But let's forget about it and celebrate, shall we?" The group agreed and cheered their way to a luxurious meal in a nearby city.
The entourage went to a high-end restaurant and ordered the most expensive meals. Bruce had very much dreamt of this day ever since he left home.
"So, tell me Mr. Bandit, what is your name" After eating and drinking to his greatest desires, Bruce started to ask some personal questions the bandit leader.
Even though this group is a group of bandits, none of them is actually that bad. They have never killed anyone and only robbed to provide for themselves.
Other than the bandit leader, all of the other bandits are at Body Refinement Stage. Bruce found that very weird as the bandit leader could have made a killing being a bodyguard to a wealthy man.
"Master, my name is Sean Walker. I recently started as a bandit. The other people in my group are young men from a remote village. I created the group two months ago after traveling to that village."
"Nice to meet you Sean Walker, my name is Bruce Pendragon. It looks like fate put us together" Bruce walked toward Sean and shook his hands for the first time.
"Master, it is a pleasure to meet you as well. Are you currently traveling to a specific destination?" Sean still wanted to learn more things from Bruce and didn't want their interaction to end after this meal.
"First of all, stop calling me master. Please call me Bruce, I'm only 10 for your information. To answer your question, I am indeed traveling to a specific destination." everyone got dispirited after hearing that Bruce will soon leave the group. To them, he was their lucky star.
"No worries, I have plenty of time to reach my destination, so I can leisurely travel with you guys for a while" everyone's face cheered up after hearing that Bruce will be traveling with the group. There were still so many more things that Sean wanted to learn from Bruce regarding banditry.
"Bruce, can you tell me what's the highest level of banditry?" The other bandits wanted to know the answer to that question as well. After all, if you are dedicated to a craft, you want to know what's the highest level.
Bruce began to think briefly and then he found the answer.
"Tell me, have you guys ever heard of capitalism?"