Blessing

After hearing Rhine's words, the King and Queen were stunned.

The 12 Witches were all stunned.

Violet Fairy, foremost among the 12 Witches, was especially taken aback.

This mage who looked so young knew such a formidable warrior?

Recalling how Rhine had displayed magic surpassing her own earlier, Violet Fairy suspected that the boy before her was far less young than he appeared.

Could he be some old wizard who had lived for centuries, pretending to be young?

"Lord Rhine, is what you said true? So you know such a powerful warrior! Why didn't you say so earlier?" The Old King's eyes widened in uncertain astonishment.

This white-haired old man no longer retained even a trace of a king's majesty.

Seizing this last lifeline, he grabbed Rhine by the lapels and asked excitedly, "Please tell me, Lord Rhine, where is that warrior? Which kingdom is he in now? I want to hire him, even if I have to empty every last piece of gold from the royal treasury!

"Oh, right! I can marry my daughter to him and make him the new ruler of the kingdom!

"I am willing to offer him the entire kingdom as a gift, as long as he can help me defeat the Black Witch and lift the curse."

Rhine's expression remained unchanged. After a moment of silence, he said calmly:

"Your Majesty, let me confirm this with you: do you truly wish to meet this warrior, and are you willing to pay any price, even making him the future ruler of the kingdom?"

Upon hearing the question, the Old King froze for half a second.

Then—

The increasingly weathered old man nodded resolutely, his eyes filled with emptiness.

If the curse could not be lifted, the kingdom would be destroyed anyway. What use would it be then?

Rhine smiled.

"Your Majesty, since you have made up your mind, allow me to take you to meet that warrior..."

Under the gaze of the kingdom's monarch, the Queen, and the Witches, Rhine strode forward.

One step, then two. The young mage walked up to the Little Princess's cradle.

Following the blessings of the 12 Witches, Rhine opened his arms and bestowed the thirteenth—and final—blessing upon the "Sleeping Beauty" in her swaddling clothes:

"Princess Aurora, recipient of twelve blessings.

"I grant you three gifts: talent in battle, courage to press ever onward, and the strength to uphold justice.

"I bless you to become the great warrior I just described, to defeat Black Witch Maleficent, and to personally bring an end to the curse upon you!"

Rhine turned gently around.

"That is the blessing I have given Princess Aurora."

Behind him, dazzling light bloomed from the cradle and swaddling clothes, so brilliant that no one could keep their eyes open, signifying that the blessing had taken effect.

A deathly silence fell.

Whether the King and Queen, the Princess's parents, or the 12 Witches, all of them stood dumbstruck as though they had turned into stone statues.

It was not that they were foolish or had failed to consider it.

Rhine's approach had utterly overturned the way these fairy-tale figures had always understood the world.

Was this... the sort of blessing usually bestowed upon a princess? They had never even heard of anything like it! Rhine looked perfectly natural, as though he had just done something entirely ordinary.

It was everyone's shock that left him somewhat speechless.

Wasn't what he had done simply the natural course of events?

Right now, their only resource that might possibly stand against the Black Witch was this final chance to bless Aurora.

Like curses, blessings possessed a causal-law-level power of self-fulfillment.

Since the Black Witch could impose an inescapable curse, they could likewise make use of that fact and use a blessing to predetermine a favorable future.

Compared to a passively defensive blessing like "the Princess will not die, only fall into slumber," wouldn't simply setting "the Princess will kill the Black Witch and lift the curse" in the blessing be a hundred times better? The King recovered from his shock and asked doubtfully, "Lord Rhine, what is this?"

With a smile, Rhine explained at length, "Your Majesty, the future Princess Aurora is precisely the perfect warrior I just described.

"The Witches' blessings have bestowed upon Princess Aurora every positive trait in the world.

"The Princess has been granted a healthy body that will never know illness or fatigue, allowing her to become the bravest of warriors.

"The Princess has been granted a photographic memory and astonishing talent for learning, enabling her to easily master peerless swordsmanship and even magic.

"The Princess has been granted a voice that stirs the heart and charm that captivates all beings, allowing her to become a commander for whom soldiers would follow unto death, a banner shining amid ten thousand troops.

"If she is present, morale will surely soar; if she does not fall, the army will not collapse.

"Her Highness also bears the blessing that 'neither blades nor water nor fire can harm her.' Only she can withstand an evil dragon's flames and drive a sharp blade into its heart!

"Together with the blessing I have just bestowed, Princess Aurora will surely become the kingdom's finest warrior, kill Black Witch Maleficent, and personally lift the curse that 'she will be wounded by a Spinning Wheel at the age of fifteen'!"

The Old King was stunned for a moment, carefully recalling every detail Rhine had just described about this so-called "warrior."

They truly corresponded perfectly to every blessing the Witches had previously bestowed upon the Princess!

Though it seemed unexpectedly reasonable, the Old King could not help roaring inwardly, This works too?