"How did I not know I was this capable?"
Faust's ambitions amounted to becoming a regional hegemon, and that was more or less enough for him.
Though Mephisto harangued him daily, insisting he had never seen a human child as insatiably greedy as Prince Faust of Aurum, Faust genuinely could not see where the greed was.
He had no desire to ascend to godhood, no designs on unifying the world. Was it really too much to want beautiful women at his side and the reins of power in his hands?
Truly a baffling assessment.
"Well, at least that's what Lord Lian says, and if it comes from Lord Lian, I can only take it as truth."
Seraphina stated this as a matter of course, reclining against the cushioned couch with her arms folded across her chest.
"Lord Lian fears no mortal, yet the Dragon-Slaying Hero, bound by fate, is truly difficult to contend with. His very existence is forged for slaying dragons... damn it all."
Every wicked dragon recorded throughout history, no matter how arrogant and tyrannical, no matter how unrivaled under heaven, had ultimately been vanquished by a Hero without exception.
As descendants of the Dragon-Slaying Hero, the Imperial family naturally knew the truth of it. Their ancestors' mysterious traits were practically tailor-made for dragon-slaying.
No matter how powerful a dragon might be, it would be brought to its knees before techniques such as the Dragon-Severing Sword, the Dragon-Rending Strike, and the Dragon-Slaying Art, all of which carried bonus effects specifically against dragons.
[Hmm... the Hero, heh. To speak plainly, the Wheel of Fate does not typically write a "Hero" into its scripts. It is quite a dull destiny, nothing more than pure invincibility and purpose. As narrative, it is thoroughly substandard.]
Mephisto offered a sharp critique of the Hero concept and continued frankly:
[The Hero's fate is nothing but direct intervention from the Wheel of Fate. Ordinary adventures and great deeds can already be accomplished by mortal champions. A Hero only comes into being when existing conditions prove insufficient to correct the course of events.]
Good grief, a literal deus ex machina, the hand of destiny itself.
Faust pressed a finger to his chin and, after a moment's thought, asked, "Has a Hero already been born?"
"According to Lord Lian, a Dragon-Slaying Hero will appear within the next few years at the latest, and may well have already been born. Time is running short."
Seraphina tilted her head and smiled at Faust.
"Prince of Aurum, what do you say? Do you have the courage and confidence to deal with the Hero who threatens Lord Lian within these few years?"
Faust spread his hands. "Who can say for certain what the future holds? Even so..."
The Prince of Aurum's tone shifted, and he spoke with absolute conviction.
"I haven't read many books, but I do remember one thing my father used to say: when you're rowing upstream, fight until you have no regrets."
Even knowing the Hero's fearsome power, that he was essentially a walking protagonist among mortals, Faust felt no fear whatsoever.
Sure, the Hero might be the greatest force under heaven.
But the Witch is that very sky.
In terms of rank and supremacy, could a Hero ever surpass a Witch? Perhaps Faust himself was only a supporting character in the grand script, but as long as he could bask in the halo of the Witch's Feast... he was genuinely curious which of the two held the higher priority.
Seraphina had no idea where Faust's confidence came from, but seeing the Prince of Aurum so calm and composed, she could not help but smile.
"Truthfully, I came here without much hope. Opposing the Hero is something we cannot entrust to others; it can only rest on our own shoulders. But looking at things now, perhaps it is not impossible to place a measure of trust elsewhere after all."
The Imperial Princess rose to her feet, sweeping her apricot-gold hair behind her back. Her plainly worn clothes did nothing to diminish her elegance and radiance.
"Since you have promised to help the Empire resolve this trouble, we ask nothing more of this alliance. Now it is your turn, Prince of Aurum. What do you want from the Empire, or what do you need the Empire to do for you?"
"That's quite a long list. Let's discuss it back at the palace."
Faust stood as well, and the group left the café, walking through the royal capital's streets under the cover of night.
"As I said before, I need substantial backing."
The Prince of Aurum walked into the night breeze, tugging his collar higher. "Since advanced weapons carry a curse, I'll set those aside, but production lines and skilled specialists, I need all of it, and the more the better."
"Resources have never been the issue."
Seraphina was candid. "Transportation is the real difficulty."
It had been emphasized many times: the productive capacity of this fairy-tale world was staggering, so much so that even under a production model as backward as the feudal manor system, everyone could still live free from want. Though the Second Empire could not compare to the Radiance Dynasty at its former zenith, on the matter of material resources, there was absolutely nothing to worry about.
"The Empire shares no border with the Kingdom of Aurum. Such a remote little kingdom requires passing through multiple territories to reach, and while we have no fear of losses or expenses, our geopolitical situation, well, you know how it is.
We cannot make any of this too conspicuous. If we need to maintain secrecy, the scale of what can be shipped over will be quite limited."
"I'll resolve the issue of transport routes later, so there's no need to rush on that front. What I really want to ask is something else entirely."
Faust's desire to make his Aurum compatriots a little more prosperous was little more than instinct; he had no expectation of developing to a level where they could participate in the great war any time soon.
After learning the true nature of this fairy-tale world, he had stopped placing his emphasis on conventional means of building power.
Farming? Climbing the technology tree?
A waste of effort. You could toil away for half a lifetime, forging alliances and calculating every move, and then, right when you were ready to emerge onto the stage, you'd find yourself written into some hero's rise-to-glory arc as a stepping stone to be crushed underfoot. Who would you even complain to about that?
Just thinking about how close he had come to such a bleak end sent Faust's blood pressure surging.
In a world like this, there was only one path to achieving great dominion: get onto the stage.
Show the Wheel of Fate a drama of absolute chaos, absolute beauty, and absolute intoxication.
Win thunderous applause and flowers like a sea of blood, and fate's rewards would follow naturally.
Seraphina maintained a composed smile. "Please, go ahead and ask. As long as it is something I know."
Faust murmured quietly, "Your Fae, how exactly did she fall and become a dragon?"
"!!"
Seraphina's glass-blue eyes flew wide open, and then she fixed a long, searching gaze on the man's flawlessly handsome face.
"Prince of Aurum, why do you ask that?"
Faust pressed a hand to his chest with an air of absolute sincerity.
"To be honest, for this alliance to truly be one of equals, Aurum would need a true dragon as its protector. I believe there must be other Fae in this world with the inclination to fall and become dragons. If I could find one..."
Before he could finish, Seraphina's brows arched sharply upward and she cut him off.
"What a naive idea. The Fae of this world are, for the most part, faithful prisoners of fate, long since reduced to bloodless, tearless machines. And the older the Fae, the more numb and indifferent they become, regarding humanity as no more than blades of grass."
"Lord Lian alone is the youngest of the Fae, and that is precisely why she has not yet been tainted by that rot."
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~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones