The elf martial saint took a few steps toward Faust, standing on her tiptoes as she looked at him with eyes full of hope.
Her eyes, like molten gold, burned with an unprecedented light. She didn't even bother to put away her weapon before taking an eager step forward, the cold aura of a martial saint instantly pressing down on Faust.
“Faust! I am even more certain now that you are the person of prophecy! Otherwise, how could you have achieved something so incredible?”
Mystoria's voice trembled slightly, her usual composure nowhere to be found. Her flaxen hair swayed violently with her movements.
“Faust, since your skills have already reached this level, can we try to set out? Or tell me what else you need to prepare? As long as it is for the Princess, I am willing to carve a path for you even if it means slaughtering gods!”
In any other situation, Mystoria was always as calm as a still well, maintaining a natural, cold-yet-cute demeanor. Only when it came to the Princess she served would she instantly lose her composure, as if a switch had been flipped.
Under such fervent expectation, Faust couldn't help but feel a prickle of unease.
“Uh, actually, my understanding of dreams isn't that profound. I was planning to study them further after this.”
Looking at the rare loss of composure from the elf martial saint before him, Faust merely offered a gentle smile. He reached out and lightly pressed his hand on Mystoria's tense shoulder, signaling for her to calm down first.
“I understand your urgency, but to be honest, you have to tell me what exactly happened in the Zhexuan Kingdom first.”
Every elf who had come from the Zhexuan Kingdom was extremely secretive about what had occurred within their borders, remaining entirely tight-lipped.
Faust hadn't pried before because there was no need; he would eventually find out when the time was right. The Prince had always been very patient.
Take Mephistopheles, for example. When they first met, the entity was constantly trying to bait Faust with various secrets, but Faust never fell for it. Over time, Mephistopheles stopped playing such games.
Mystoria's exquisite face turned pale, and she bit her lip tightly. Then, with a long sigh, she spoke.
“Indeed. Since I have made such a request, I can no longer remain silent.”
The elf martial saint took a deep breath and sat down with Faust at the round table in the courtyard, beginning her tale.
“To the humans of the outside world, the Zhexuan Kingdom likely seems eternal and unchanging. But internally, Zhexuan is not unified. Throughout thousands of years, except for its earliest days, the Zhexuan Kingdom has never been fully under the banner of a single court.”
“Overt struggles and covert maneuvers, conspiracies and schemes—everything found in human courts is nothing new in the courts of elves. Our kingdom is divided among many courts. Those ancient courts check and balance one another, annexing each other while maintaining a low-intensity internal conflict.”
“And the court into which Princess Irithea was born, in the language of humans, is called 【Dawn】. This court is descended from...”
“There's no need to go into the history of your courts; it's far too complex, and I'm not interested in hearing it. Let's fast-forward to the important part,” Faust interjected.
Faust hurriedly stopped her. If he were to listen to the ancient history of the elves from the beginning, he wouldn't be finished for the entire day.
Fortunately, Mystoria didn't intend to dwell on that either. She paused for a moment to reorganize her thoughts.
“In short, on the day Princess Irithea was born, she displayed extraordinary qualities. The monarch of the court celebrated this newborn child, and at the birth celebration, incredibly distinguished guests arrived.”
“The twelve fairies who had blessed the Zhexuan Kingdom in history sent the Ladies of the Lake under their command. They came to offer blessings to Princess Irithea while she was still in her swaddling clothes.”
As the elf girl spoke, her golden eyes sparkled, and her voice trembled with excitement.
“They blessed the Princess with unparalleled 【beauty】, blessed her with matchless 【talent】, granted her 【wealth】 enough to rival a nation, prayed for her to have pure and untarnished 【virtue】, offered prayers for 【glory】, and bestowed 【victory】...”
“Born with the blessings of all the fairies and Ladies of the Lake, all of Zhexuan whispered the Princess's name. She was destined to become a king of unparalleled stature among the elves!”
Mystoria recounted all the blessings with practiced ease, clearly filled with pride. But afterward, the light in her golden eyes seemed to extinguish. She pursed her red lips and lowered her head in disappointment.
“However, after the twelve Ladies of the Lake, another visitor arrived. It was furious that the court had not invited it, and so it cast a curse: Princess Irithea would prick her finger on a rose thorn upon reaching adulthood and fall into a thorn-dream.”
“Who?”
Faust noticed Mystoria was beating around the bush and pressed for an answer. “Who cast the curse?”
If it followed the progression of 《Sleeping Beauty》, it should have been one of the Ladies of the Lake or a fairy. But if that were truly the case, why would Mystoria be so evasive? She could have just said it openly.
Mystoria: “That was the Nightmare Fiend, a great fiend that appeared over two hundred years ago and has been haunting Zhexuan.”
A fiend?
Faust nodded thoughtfully.
Fiends and monstrous beasts were the core monsters of this fairy tale world. Whenever a source of experience fodder was needed, it was time for heroes to subjugate them.
However, although both were classified as stepping-stone monsters, they could not be conflated. Monstrous beasts had definite physical forms, such as various magical beasts or the giants he had subjugated before.
Even the wolf ancestors of the Fog Moon Kingdom would be considered a type of monstrous beast if they hadn't come under the Moon Deity's command.
In contrast, fiends held a much higher level of prestige. Their birth was inextricably linked to things like 【curses】 and 【filth】.
They might have physical forms, or they might not. They could be born from the collective resentment of the masses, or they could be the product of a transcendent being's fall.
But regardless of their strength, all fiends were without exception absolute enemies of all living things. While there might be rare cases of monstrous beasts being rehabilitated, a struggle with a fiend was always to the death.
And a great fiend was bound to be a terrifying existence akin to an evil god. Even if they couldn't be compared to over-the-top entities like the evil dragons—the fallen forms of fairies—they were certainly in the top tier just below them.
If this fairy tale world had power scaling rankings, a great fiend would be the T0 gatekeeper!
The Prince stroked his chin. “If it's a great fiend, though it's difficult, the Zhexuan Kingdom should be able to subjugate it on its own, right? Not to mention, if the Sanctuary were to call for it, a crusade force could be formed immediately. People would come to subjugate a great fiend even without payment. Why resort to deception and trickery?”
“That is precisely the problem. The Zhexuan Kingdom is absolutely unwilling to let outsiders know the truth about this nightmare.”
Mystoria sighed as if giving up entirely.
“His true identity is Orphelus, the founder of the one and only High Phoenix Court of the Zhexuan Kingdom.”
Rate on N.U.
