Felicity trusted her grandma's prophecy as it was her greatest power. The empire rose due to her grandma's divination ability. The ability brought many fortunes to her family, but it also came with debt.
The debt had to be paid off in the near future. A storm is brewing slowly and when it strikes, her family will be wiped out. Her grandma only told her father and herself about this prophecy. As she reached the end of her life, she used her last vitality to peek into the future. Her last prophecy ended her life.
"Alain, I want you to find me all information about that boy including his whereabouts at all times"
"Princess, I already told you that it's impossible for the boy to have lightning affinity, what is so special about him?" Alain didn't understand Felicity's interest in the boy.
She had countless suitors from different empires. Many prodigies have asked the emperor for her hand in marriage. How could a kid from this barren land catch her eye?
"Alain, I have my reasons. You no longer have to protect me. Instead, you'll be protecting him in secret." Felicity replied with an indifferent expression. She could not tell Alain why Bruce is special to her. The prophecy could only be shared between her father, the emperor, and her.
"Unfortunately princess, that's not for you to decide. I only follow the emperor's order" Alain refused right away as he thought Felicity was becoming unreasonable.
"Alain, you've been protecting me for a very long time, and I view you as my family. There are some things I cannot tell you due to karmic retribution"
"But I can tell you that Bruce Pendragon is a very important person to the empire. You can communicate with my father, and he'll order you to protect Bruce as well"
Felicity decided to tell some of the truths to Alain so that he would protect Bruce wholeheartedly. Bruce is an anomaly that cannot be explained. Felicity herself didn't know how Bruce would be able to protect her family from the upcoming disaster.
His strength is far too weak, but she still chooses to believe in him. The only thing she can provide him right now is protection in secret. Also, it'd allow her to keep track of him.
"Very well, princess. I shall protect him per your order. However, I will not leave your side until you have arrived safely back at the empire." Alain sighed and complied with Felicity's order.
He had known Felicity all her life. She was groomed to be the next empress and rightfully so. Felicity was extremely beautiful, talented, and intelligent. Since she had assigned this task to him, he will see to the end that Bruce is safe.
"No, you need to go back and protect him now. There's a good chance that he's in big trouble." Felicity saw the group of bandits behind Bruce and knew nothing good will come to him if he sticks around with those bandits.
Except for Sean, everyone in the world did not think highly of the bandit profession.
"Princess, even if the emperor orders me to leave you, I will not do so. Plus, how much trouble can the kid get into in a day?"
Meanwhile in the city where Bruce and the gang were staying…
"BRUCE! HOW COULD YOU SPEND 2,500,000 GOLD COINS in 1 HOUR?" Sean cried out loud as so much money was gained today and yet half of it was gone within 1 hour.
Right after Bruce's group left the casino, a few men followed them to rob the fortune. Unfortunately, Bruce knew about it and immediately slaughtered them with the help of Sean. The group made sure to rob the men before leaving to maximize efficiency.
Bruce told them before heading to a hotel, they needed to do some shopping for the upcoming battle.
Everyone followed Bruce to the auction house where Bruce squandered half of their fortune on useless items such as divine formations, bombs, ancient herbs, and energy stones. No one in the group knew how to use any of those things.
"What's wrong with your head? Do you think it's going to be easy killing a Late Stage Soul Manifestation expert?" Bruce had enough of the crying and screaming from Sean and the men. It's already been 2 hours and the group still hadn't stopped crying!
"But we all could have just retired and do nothing for the rest of our days with that money. We don't have to defeat that bastard anymore" Sean was still crying over Bruce's squandering.
"You idiot, you don't see the big picture, do you? 5,000,000 gold coins is a chump change once you get to the top. Why are you satisfied with 5,000,000 gold coins when you get 100 million or 1 billion?"
"But you said last time to not be greedy and just retire when we can" Sean retorted back with a perfect comeback.
"Sean, I changed my mind recently. You have to be greedy in this world to survive. If you stay hidden and hope that no one comes to kill you, then what's the point of living?" The question that Felicity had asked Bruce changed his mindset.
He still wanted to remain low-key, but he did not want to hide from everything.
"What's done is done I suppose. When will we take back the village" Sean finally stopped crying and got serious? He also wanted to kill the corrupted son of a bitch mayor who had been robbing people of their livelihoods.
"Everyone! We will be heading back to the village tomorrow morning. But we will not strike until we have enough information on the mayor and his backer"
"Remember my lesson earlier, information is king in this world. With information, even the weak can come out on top" Bruce began to explain the plan to the group.
"First, we will perform reconnaissance on the mayor before making any move. We need to know what he does and where he's at. After we have sufficient information about that son of a bitch, we can move on to the next step of the plan."
The group nodded and agreed to Bruce's plan.
"Also, make sure your families and everyone in the village evacuate on our signal. We don't want any innocent casualty or potential hostage that the bastard can use"
After Bruce finished explaining the plan to the group, Sean got worried.
"Bruce, are you sure that you can handle the Late Stage Soul Manifestation by yourself?"
"Maybe, it's definitely on the risky side of things but not too risky. I'm taking a calculated risk and it's more fun this way don't you think" Bruce smiled at Sean seemingly fearless even though he was about to go up against someone 1 entire realm higher than him.
"But you really shouldn't risk your life for people you just met" Sean still didn't feel comfortable with the plan as Bruce was risking his life for the group.
"Sean, we are no longer strangers. You guys are my students, and I will see to it that you guys obtain back your home."
Everyone got emotional and before anyone could cry, Bruce ordered them to go to sleep. The next couple of days will be very chaotic. Everyone can cry after they win the upcoming battle.
In a city near the remote village of Briestone…
A young man was currently on top of a woman.
"Come on you slut, moan louder for me"
"Yes young master, it feels so good" The woman moaned loudly as the young man was aggressively plowing her. The two went at it for a couple more minutes and concluded the session when he finished inside her.
The prostitute lay down on the bed panting as the young man got up.
"That was a very good session today, here's an extra 30 gold coins tip"
"Thank you, young master. You can use me again any time that you want."
"If you keep your pretty face, I'll always come back here" The young man smirked as he walked out of the room. This young man is the mayor of Briestone village.
His life is very good as he earns on average 5,000 gold coins per month due to taking massive cuts from the energy crystals transactions. Since his father is a powerful official figure in the Stellae country, he can do anything that he wanted in the village without repercussions.
However, his life will turn upside down in the next couple of days due to a certain devil….