Battle-Hardened Faust

Faust couldn't help but be momentarily dazed, struck by the sheer impact of Yusewood's beauty.

During this period, while he had been intensely leveling up within the dream, he had remained within Yusewood's bedchamber.

The silver-gray haired princess had constructed a sophisticated spell for this purpose. It allowed the dream to persist even if she wasn't focusing entirely, as Mephistopheles was far too powerful a weaver; the royal sister only needed to provide the framework for the authority.

If not for the fact that fairies cannot actively interfere with the mortal world, even this permission wouldn't have been necessary.

However, Faust hadn't expected Yusewood to actually fall asleep.

Although the prince's movements upon waking were slight, they still disturbed the silver-gray haired princess.

Yusewood opened her sage-blue eyes. Unlike her usual dignified and clear gaze, the first look she gave upon waking was inevitably one of confused innocence.

But very quickly, the silver-gray haired princess realized the situation. She hurriedly released her tight embrace of the man and sat up.

She coughed twice with slight embarrassment, immediately switching back to her cold expression.

“Ahem... Faust, why did you finish so early today?”

Yusewood feigned ignorance while secretly feeling annoyed at her own carelessness.

During this time, the princess of Qingxi had been living in utter bliss. With the other girls absent, she was able to monopolize all of Faust's time.

She had already sampled every interaction she had previously only dared to secretly fantasize about.

That expression management!

Faust really wanted to ask what his royal sister had been doing while he was in the dream. Although, to show his gratitude for Yusewood's labor, the prince had tacitly allowed her to do whatever she wanted while he was asleep, choosing to act as if he hadn't seen a thing.

But while I was fighting hard in the dream, just how much did my royal sister drain? That was a truly curious question; it was probably beyond counting by now.

No wonder I always felt a strange sense of pleasure in the dream. The root of it was right here.

“Royal sister, you... never mind. My training for today ends here.”

Faust smiled and shook his head. Since he had indeed benefited quite a bit, he didn't intend to tease Yusewood further, lest she become too embarrassed and refuse to help him.

Though that likely wouldn't happen; after all, opportunities to have such dignified physical intimacy with her dear prince were rare, and Yusewood was someone who cared deeply about saving face.

Leaving Yusewood's bedchamber, the first thing that greeted Faust was a mountain of administrative work.

Although most affairs had already been handed over to a professional team of bureaucrats, there were still matters that required the monarch's personal attention. As the territory of the Qingxi Kingdom grew larger—especially with the rapidly expanding volume after the union with the Midwinter Kingdom—such tasks had increased several times over.

However, with the bonuses of being an occult noble and a 【sovereign monarch】, handling them was quite easy.

Faust soon finished the trivial matters and began reading the letters sent by his lovers.

Just a few days after returning to the Qingxi Kingdom, they had all decided on their own directions for self-improvement and set off with great efficiency.

Selena had returned to the Midwinter Kingdom. As the co-ruler monarch, she would lead the kingdom's outward expansion.

The Midwinter Kingdom had plenty of historical claims. It would be enough for Selena to entertain herself until the Sanctuary's assessment arrived.

The beautiful girl with long black hair proudly announced in her letter to Faust that her 【Divine Countenance】 authority could now influence more than just sentient beings; even inanimate objects with no consciousness would twist and submit under her charm.

For instance, arrows would stop on their own before reaching Selena, and swords would decay themselves out of fear of harming the princess.

“Just as expected.”

Faust wasn't surprised that Selena had achieved such immediate results.

Theoretically, aside from Viviana's 【one night's dream】, which could be called a universal plug-in, the authorities of other witches had great limitations. But in reality, that was far from the case.

These authorities could be extended at will. Who were they kidding? A witch's authority was not such an inconvenient thing!

The other two intended to act together. Viviana's Chivalric Crusade had targeted a forbidden forest shrouded by fiends. These monster-spawning points were theoretically supposed to exist forever to provide an endless stage for future stories; forcibly clearing them would usually be more trouble than it was worth.

But if it were the Lady Witch, an exception could certainly be made. The merit of clearing a fiend stronghold was enough to make anyone famous across the continent.

After reading all the letters from his lovers, Faust carefully wrote his replies and sent them off. Only then did he stand up and walk into the courtyard.

The afternoon sun was warm and comfortable. Faust stretched his limbs and then spoke to the beautiful figure standing in the courtyard.

“Teacher Mystoria, you've seemed a bit unhappy lately.”

The elf martial saint was still dressed in her usual light attire, her flaxen hair tied into a high ponytail. Her dignified and exquisite face had a slight furrow in her brow as she tightly held her greatsword wrapped in gray cloth.

Hearing Faust's voice, those eyes like molten gold looked up. What should have been a pure gaze now held a trace of melancholy.

“The time spent waiting is always difficult, especially when one holds hope. I thought I could sit in silence for a hundred years to wait, but now, every minute and second feels like an ordeal.”

Ever since the prince of Qingxi had told Mystoria about Danilla Starfall, the Purple Chamber Observer he met in the empire, the elf girl's mood had been very low.

On one hand, she felt deeply ashamed of her colleague's despicable deception in offering a human prince as a sacrifice.

On the other hand, if it truly meant rescuing Lady Irithea sooner, then any amount of sacrifice and sin would be worth it.

Such contradictory feelings caused the elf girl, who had high moral standards, to become mentally exhausted. The internal friction alone was enough to wear her out.

Faust: “If you have the time, let's spar.”

He wanted to test the results of his training in the dream.

Mystoria pulled the gray cloth off her greatsword and nodded.

“...Alright.”

No sooner said than done. Given the style of a 【White Court martial saint】, a duel was practically a post-meal leisure activity. It required no preparation; they could start whenever the whim took them.

The elf martial saint engaged her disciple almost the next moment. Both fought with restraint, so it didn't seem violent or intense, yet it was as continuous as a torrential rain.

Without relying on stat suppression and purely clashing with skill—in the past, whenever Faust sparred with Teacher Mi like this, he would be one-sidedly suppressed and lectured.

But this time, Mystoria was soon astonished and spoke up.

“Faust, where did you learn these techniques? Why have you made such rapid progress in this short time?”

Faust laughed. “Teacher Mystoria, when a man is away for three days, you should look at him with new eyes.”

Although it couldn't be said that Faust was on par with his elf teacher on the 【martial saint】 path, the gap was no longer the chasm it once was.

In terms of raw strength, Faust was hardly inferior to Mystoria anymore.

This was the strength of the Battle-Hardened Faust!

“Actually, I've been training in a dream during this time.”

The prince informed the elf martial saint of the reason for his growth.

“A dream... a dream... You can actually train in a dream? Is your understanding of dreams already so profound?!”

Mystoria's golden eyes widened at the news, her cool yet cute face showing a look of pleasant surprise.

“In that case... the chances of you saving the princess have increased once again!”