If not for professional necessity, he would even want to close the tavern and quit.
He sighed, grabbed a beer mug, and guzzled the ale, completely disregarding the light yellow ale dribbling from the corners of his mouth.
After drinking the ale in the mug in one gulp, he heavily set down the mug, wiped his mouth, and couldn’t help but reminisce about the ordinary days gone by.
Handling intelligence, selling adulterated drinks, occasionally ’cleaning’ the tavern, dealing with the occasional blind thieves and patrons, and by the way, discussing life with the newly arrived flirty dancers.
Nowhere like now, having to serve these foreigners all day long. Especially according to the intelligence, these damned fellows are undying!
Shaking his head, the tavern owner forced himself to change his train of thought.
On the bright side, as a tavern owner, even though he needed to serve these outsiders, at least he himself was unlikely to encounter life-threatening dangers.
The real dangers lie with those secret agents lurking under the name of the Olivendi Family, or even directly within the Lord Mansion.
Based on the instructions from upper management this time, he could discern that there might be some major upheavals about to occur in the upper echelons of the Empire.
That’s one of the pillars of the Empire, an ancient family that has survived for thousands of years! After carrying out this task, those who could still escape alive would probably be one in ten.
Having been a tavern owner here for over twenty years, even someone partially involved in logistics like him receiving coordination instructions indicates the magnitude of this matter.
Although it’s a game played by those higher-ups, in the end, those who truly hustle and even sacrifice their lives, are still these ordinary smallfolk at the bottom.
Perhaps till death, they might never understand why they died.
"Bartender, a mug of ale!"
No longer dwelling on his thoughts, the tavern owner grabbed a linen cloth, wiped a cup, turned around, filled up a mug with inferior ale, and handed it to the next customer.
The existence of players ultimately shifts regardless of anyone’s will, even if he’s not accustomed, he must force himself to adapt to all of this.
After all, this is life—
The undercurrents outside have not yet reached Pamir Academy, still shrouded under the Mystery Lock.
However, with the continual development of events, it’s conceivable that the peace here will be disturbed, and it’s just a matter of time.
Under this calm before the storm-like backdrop, Anvis received a letter from the Duke, specially treated with anti-prophecy measures.
In the letter, the Duke seriously addressed the recent developments concerning this prophecy, carefully admonishing him to pay attention to his personal safety and to take good care of Fiona to avoid any danger due to her immature personality.
After perusing the letter, Anvis couldn’t help but frown deeply.
In his memory, the appearance of this prophecy should have been at least ten years away.
And according to the developments in his past life, the emergence of this prophecy was the beginning of the decline of the old Nobles of the Empire, led by the Four Great Families.
Because of this prophecy, the upper echelons of the entire Empire began to fall into chaos.
Apart from the Alfred Family among the four Duke Families, who was closest to the Olivendi Family, the other two families, and even the Empire Family, started to probe the Olivendi Family, either deliberately or unintentionally.
Even Anvis himself is not sure whether the Alfred Family has been secretly gathering intelligence.
The dignity of the Frost Crystal Bird cannot be violated. Faced with overt and covert tests from the outside world, the Olivendi Family has shown a very tough attitude.
They thoroughly purged internal powers’ spies and directly eradicated some smaller factions that had become overly active due to secret support from other groups, setting an example by making a warning out of them.
In the Noble Council, when asked by other nobles for his views and guesses concerning the prophecy, Duke Carrot consistently claimed ignorance.
In fact, the Olivendi Family themselves could not ascertain what specifically the prophecy referred to.
Even so, upon first learning of the prophecy, they immediately employed a Bloodline Artifact to investigate whether any direct or collateral family member had fathered illegitimate children.
In the history of Magic, there are many cases where noble bastards received favors, became the Child of Destiny, and after a series of adventures and encounters, returned triumphantly to their main family, sometimes even eventually becoming the Family Head.
Fingertips touching the pale yellow smooth parchment, Anvis closed his eyes, rapidly contemplating how this matter would impact him.
Originally, he planned to steadily progress, spreading out his foundational support such as developing his territory, scouting future talents, conducting various high-end technological research, and establishing global trade.
Owing to his memories of two lifetimes, he had a significant developmental advantage in this area.
But now, with the prophecy’s timeline suddenly advanced by ten years, his original plans were disrupted, forcing him to find every way to speed up, or be swallowed by this abruptly accelerated era.
Fingertips igniting with Ice Flames, Anvis watched the parchment turn into twinkling ice dust, ready to re-plan his future development strategy.
Towards the significant advancement in the timing of the prophecy, he felt not much negativity, only a faint sense of inevitability.
Because he had a feeling that the reason for the premature emergence of the prophecy was mostly likely due to the butterfly effect he had caused.
Considering what had been mentioned in the letter about the time the Destiny Stone Tower resonated, Anvis couldn’t help but think of that egg.
Was it because of it?
But in his previous life, it had been sacrificed as an offering, yet the prophecy still emerged.
After pondering for a while, Anvis shook his head, giving up on guessing the content of the prophecy and planning to find Fiona instead.
He also was not sure what exactly the prophecy was indicating.
In his previous life, the younger Anvis had made his wish to the Wish Ball before the truth of the prophecy surfaced.
But in Anvis’s view, it was highly likely referring to Fiona, especially since in her previous life she held the title "White Princess" as well as "Northern Star."
With a gesture, a pure black academy cloak on the rack flew over and draped itself over his shoulders. Anvis summoned a Magic Mirror, checked his appearance, and then left the room.
When he found Fiona, the girl with shimmering light golden hair was reading a storybook with illustrations along with her kitten.
That was indeed the low-rank growth potential Mysterious Object, "Fiona’s Dreamland" that Anvis had given her.
The pages emitted a dream-like glow, both the girl and the kitten were immersed in the book’s Dream World, embarking on a little adventure.
Since the Fairy Tale World of the book could evolve on its own, even though she had explored it many times, it never bored her, especially with the addition of Kate in the stories.