“Really?” Rosalina asked with hope clear in her tone. She had seen Richard converse with Athena, so there was no doubt his words held authority.

She was in a joyous state that she didn’t mind that Richard was hugging her.

“Yes, Mistress Athena promised victory in our favor. You can lighten up now, because everything will be all right.” Richard replied in a soft tone like he was talking to a child but Rosalina didn’t mind in the current state.

Rose was happy and hugged him tight. It lasted for a few minutes before she remembered what was happening and Richard’s words.

Rose thought about it and decided to ask, “Are you her chosen?”

Her sense of worship and wonder was clear in the body language. It made him feel bad to lie to a child but he needed this lie to stick.

It was fortunate that Athena wouldn’t mind such a tactic since she represented war and wisdom. There was nothing fair in war in the old times and in the modern times.

Countries continued to violate human rights and destroy innocent people. Nobody really cared for people of another country until it personally affected them.

The violators just lied and nothing could be done. His home land was one of the biggest violators of human rights in history and was responsible for the destruction of multiple countries, and millions of lives.

It was the only country to have never stopped fighting even after the Second World War and continued to sabotage other nations for its benefits.

It was the country that fought for the interests of the Defence contractors and used up its soldiers like they were nothing.

Richard had many friends from the army and he had travelled around the world, so his world view wasn’t narrow like the majority of his people.

He found the situation wrong and fought for it with his limited capability. He gathered people with similar mindset and demanded the government to stop such operations while informing the people of the atrocities done.

Richard avoided working with big people that had political agendas. He felt that both sides were part of the same coin and if he got support from any of them, they would mix some crazy agenda into his noble cause to stop people from joining him.

He had seen these people mix up good things with crazy nonsense so that people wouldn’t support it. All of them just cared for their own pockets and it was made easy with the policies at hand. Though, it didn’t really matter if taking bribes/donations was legal or not.

Those people would still take the bribes. It happened all around the world. The only way that the country could operate properly would be through the proper education of the citizens and morality within the society.

Scums continue to rule the people because society itself wasn’t united and corrupt. It was immoral, ignorant and lacked critical thinking.

People were too hasty and didn’t listen to each other. Everyone was raring to go at each other instead of having proper debates.

Even when there were debates, people refused to actually listen. Society itself was collapsing in the big nations from the inside as they became extremely immoral, corrupt and ignorant.

Richard feared such a society and left his nation to live far from such nonsense that was polluting his people.

It was unfortunate but he couldn’t bring himself to waste his energy and time for others. Those people wouldn’t listen and he would have to live a poor life for people that wouldn’t care if he died.

“Yes, she has blessed me with power and knowledge.”

“What…do you intend to do? Did she give you a quest?” Rosalina was in awe of the situation. She never dreamed of meeting one of the chosen and now she was touching one. It was the best day of her life.

“She did, however, it’s a secret.” Richard replied with a smile and let her go.

“Let’s go inform the others and help them relax before the dawn of battle.” Richard walked forward slowly and talked to Rosalina.

Knowing that he was the chosen one, Rosalina didn’t act like usual with him and respected his words. She treated him as if he was on the same rank with Charles.

It was an honor and it was a very scary thing to mess with a chosen one. Having a good relationship with a chosen one was the best decision.

Even though it felt a little bit awkward, Rosalina adjusted to it quickly because of the good atmosphere.

Without a word, she followed behind Richard as he returned home. Her mind was still not recovered, so she was in follower mode and wanted to see more of Richard.

Richard didn’t send her away and walked back home. It was a short journey and it was very quiet except their footsteps.

Noah and Lala were sitting under the tree, and Lala seemed to have calmed down. She knew there was no choice and decided to believe in Noah.

If they died, she would kill herself and become free.

“Richard, where have you been?” Lala asked with a smile as she stood up and saw Rosalina behind him. The pained smile turned to a real one as she saw her daughter in law.

She was happy that they were getting along.

Even Noah was surprised to see Rosalina behind Richard and wondered what happened.

Mother, father, I have good news.” Richard walked forward and hugged Lala, his expression was relaxed and happy.

His words and tone made them wonder what happened.

“Athena has promised us victory. There will be no losses in this battle and she has even blessed me with new powers. Mother, you don’t have to worry now.” Richard continued with an excited tone, hoping to infect them with the same excitement.

His words shocked them to the core and Noah quickly understood what happened. Rosalina’s presence made sense with those words and he knew how Richard might have done it.

Athena represented Wisdom, and Richard had knowledge from another world. It made sense but still, it was dreamlike and hard to believe.

“Did you really talk with Mistress Athena?” Lala questioned, she couldn’t believe that her child could have such honor.

“Yes, you can even see that my Ki has changed.” Richard replied as he kissed Lala on the cheeks and separated to show them his Ki.

Everyone’s Ki was unique and people couldn’t take it from someone else or they would have issues. Ki was usually white when it came to normal level species and then other colors showed up signifying the focus of the individual.

Someone with Fire would have mostly red color Ki while someone with Earth would have brown color.

Richard was new to Ki so his color should be mostly white and tiny brown, but it was different now. There was some silver mixed within the white.

The ranks of Ki were common knowledge, so they knew what it meant. Richard’s Ki had been upgraded to the next rank. It was one of the hardest tasks for anyone as it was an inherent ability.

“Richard is telling the truth, I witnessed all of it.” Rosalina also provided her support like Richard wanted and gave more credibility to his claim.

Though, she was also taken by the sight of the tiny silver in his Ki. It made clear that Richard would climb higher than anyone she knew.

With all the proof presented, Noah felt a little bit conflicted for a moment. The thing he hated about his son had just saved him.

Nonetheless, he could accept it. He was happy that both their survival was guaranteed. It made Lala happy and made him relaxed, as he didn’t have to worry about anything during the battle.

The stress and fear would have affected his performance.

With that news, Lala cried tears of relief and kissed Richard on the cheeks repeatedly for being a blessing.

The immortals were fickle beings but they kept their promises.

Having informed his Parent’s and letting Lala settle down; Richard went to talk to Charles. He was accompanied by Noah and Rosalina.

Noah wanted to praise him but felt awkward about it and just gave him a nod of approval. Richard understood the expression as he would also give a nod instead of speaking.

Arriving at the manor, they found Charles in the garden. It was filled with flowers that Rosalina liked and she took care of them personally.

Being a noble, she had been taught various things that people of her stature needed to know. She knew about leadership, geography, manners, basic knowledge, combat knowledge, horse riding, nobles, royalty, music, fashion, poetry and negotiation.

Getting back to Charles, he was walking beside Angelina in silence. It was a stressful time and they were putting their daughter on the line for it.

No matter how well Rosalina hid her feelings, they knew she was afraid. They were proud that she was acting mature but none of them had known what it would feel like when they were put into such a position.

They had thought it wouldn’t be too difficult, but it was nerve-racking.

“Good afternoon my lord, I have come baring some good news.” Richard spoke in his normal tone as he was emboldened by his success and Athena’s touch.

Charles and Angelina turned towards him, and they were taken aback by his tone as it seemed like someone talking to his equal.

They didn’t take it to heart since it was a dangerous situation and the boy could die. He was also their future son in law, so it was kind of okay.

But, they were surprised by Rosalina’s presence. She was walking behind Richard instead of the other way around. She was even looking excited, it was clear from her expression and steps.

‘What happened?’ Charles wondered and asked Richard to elaborate.

Richard explained everything and Rosalina backed him up along with Noah. Charles expression went from anger to respectful and happy.

He was a devotee of Athena, so he wouldn’t allow any disgrace in her name.

With the news, he could boost the morale of his troupe and even avoid getting trouble for some years. The news of the miracle would spread and people would hesitate to mess with him. They would wait for some years to try again with care to avoid getting cursed.

He could see it, their victory and rise. Richard turned out to be his lucky nickel.

Charles took them inside and he talked with Richard. He wanted to get a proper feel of the kid. The boy was the chosen one and he most likely had more knowledge than him because of Athena.

Charles asked him how it felt to converse with Athena but avoided asking any delicate questions that might offend her.

He asked about their tactics and if they needed to change anything. He asked about governance and anything that they needed to know.

Charles was being respectful towards him because of Athena. It would have made him awkward because he didn’t really earn it, but he easily went with it since he was used to such situations because of his father.

With Charles being so forthcoming, Richard decided to help them out a bit so they avoid problems in the future. He told them about sources of diseases and what diseases truly were.

A disease was an abnormal condition affecting a living organism. Diseases were generally understood to be medical conditions that involve a pathological process associated with a specific set of symptoms. Localized diseases affected specific parts of the body; disseminated diseases spread to other parts of the body; and systemic diseases affected the entire body.

Categories of diseases included autoimmune, bacterial, blood, cancer, digestive, heart, nerve (or neurodegenerative), sexually transmitted or thyroid. Diseases may be communicable or non-communicable. External sources that can cause disease include acquired viruses or bacteria, and internal causes of disease include autoimmune or genetic dysfunction. Some diseases were chronic, meaning that they are continually present and may present symptomatically during a long duration.

Humans generally associated disease with pain, distress or social problems. Atypical variations of structure and function, deviant behaviors, disabilities, disorders, injuries, infections and syndromes may be the signs of disease or may be confused with actual disease processes.

Disease may be prevented or avoided using a number of strategies, including proper sanitation, proper nutrition, frequent exercise and vaccination.

He talked about cleanliness and how to create a sewage system in the village, such as simple plumbing, creation of proper bathrooms and roads that wouldn’t get flooded when it rained.

They could make cobblestone road with openings on the side and the middle for water, all of those openings could be covered by wooden grates.

They could make a trash deposit in front of each house and have someone collect all of it, to dispose at the end of the village through burning or burying.

These things weren’t new to them since even the Roman Empire and Moehnjo Daro had roads, schools, washrooms, simple waste management. He didn’t know if they knew so he covered it and showed its importance.

It was very important to him since he really hated living in an unclean environment and having to risk getting unknown diseases.

He also talked about improving the training grounds, suggesting different methods and how they helped the body.

The training in the village was very simple, so he told them how each one targeted different sections of the body and helped it grow properly.

He suggested building a simple treadmill using leather and the wheels. He gave them idea about jump rope and how it helped the body.

He gave them idea about sand bags since hitting rocks at low level could lead to permanent injuries. He talked about different ways to utilize weight training, barbells, chest, and shoulder, hack squat, pull ups and leg press etc.

He covered anything that could be replicated in the current era without much effort since he wasn’t a mechanic.

He talked about diet and even the basic understanding of the elements, fire, wind, water, ice and lightning.

He also talked about leisure activities and how people needed them or they would break down from too much work.

He introduced Cricket, Volleyball and football.

The talks went for four hours and Charles had his servant write everything down. It was a one man show and they only listened to what Richard said while trying to understand it. It was given in a simple manner to avoid too much difficulty.

Richard didn’t give them anything too important but helped them get to the starting point of these concepts.

It was also impossible to learn from a single lecture that covered too many topics. Without his personal input, it would be extremely difficult to apply the scientific knowledge.

He was still not strong enough to give away his cards and he didn’t trust anyone beside Noah. He planned to help people that were trustworthy.

With all that new information, his lie would sell and his position would be secured. After the battle, Richard expected that he would be the most important person in the village and he could manipulate it.

He didn’t like the sound of it, but Richard was manipulative and loved to control everything. He disliked having things beyond his control.

Looking at the wowed crowd, he was happy with the performance. His confidence was back and his memory had improved, letting him remember thinks clearly.

He could now see a path of ascendance. He was going to win, he just had to remain cautious and avoid trouble.

He didn’t want to challenge the world and attract trouble, so he avoided planting any flags.

Example: What could go wrong?

I am ready for everything. Hit me with what you got.

Nothing could go wrong.

Such words invited bad luck and he avoided them like the plague. He just wished that whatever came at him was within his limits and didn’t torture him. Good things had come, so there was no denying the bad.