Roel was in a terrible condition right now.

  It had only been six hours since he entered the Witness State, and he had already impersonated as the Holy Envoy to confront Bradley and led the zealots of the Saints Convocation on a counterattack against the Salvation Brotherhood.

  Things did work out fine in the end, but he was pretty much treading on thin ice all this while. However, what was of greater concern was his exertion.

  He was able to pull off this miracle thanks to him having encountered these monsters in a parallel dark academy he was teleported into via the Blackrose Ring. While trying to unlock the ‘Second Authority’ Margaret spoke of, he tried all kinds of things with his Crown Origin Attribute, one of them being an AOE suppression of those black-armored soldiers.

  The results were unspectacular. He realized that all his Crown Origin Attribute did against those black-armored soldiers was to alleviate the headache created by those blasphemous whispers, but it proved to be unexpectedly crucial here.

  All he really needed to do here was to create an environment where his ‘allies’ could fight in, and the Crown Origin Attribute did just that.

  It was just that keeping the Crown Origin Attribute activated for hours on end while ensuring the range was enough to cover most of the evil cultists was no easy feat. He had exhausted himself greatly, and he urgently needed rest to recover.

  【Evaluation: 39 (Low)】


  Roel frowned upon seeing the evaluation of the System. He wasn’t too satisfied with the result.

  To raise his evaluation by 37 points over the course of a night might look impressive, but Roel knew that increasing his points would get progressively harder the higher he advanced. Perhaps, these 37 points might not even be worth 5 points once he reached the 70s or the 80s.

  Roel had two deductions regarding this.

  One, the enemies he had defeated last night were mainly cannon fodder. He didn’t take down any notable figures, so the points he received ended up being on the lower side.

  Two, he was working in the wrong direction. It was unlikely that he was transported into this Witness State in order to help the Saints Convocation turn the tides against the Salvation Brotherhood. Considering the trigger for this Witness State was the Blackrose Ring, which came from ‘Academic’, he ought to be looking for him in order to figure out his goal here.

  Besides, all he really did so far was to provide immunity to the evil cultists, so that could be a reason for the lower points too.

  Though honestly, Roel wasn’t too bothered by it now. He was more concerned about finding Lilian and saving her. What was the point of gathering more points and becoming stronger when he couldn’t even protect those whom he cared about?

  Fortunately, he already had a plan in mind.

  The disciples who had just been through the battle were now all gathered in a solemn hall. Many of them were caked in blood and dirt, and some were even injured. Despite so, they remained in a feverish mood due to Roel gracing them with his attention. Even Bishop Bradley was standing respectfully by the side, giving the spotlight to him.

  “Fellow brothers and sisters, we have guarded the Mother Goddess’ honor with our own hands last night. We have proven our faith through our actions. We have driven off those blasphemous beings back to the void they belonged to. Without a doubt, this will be a huge blow to the Salvation Brotherhood.

  “I believe that the frightened lambs in this city would have already heard of our heroic exploits. They must be anxious to hear about us, so we should let our voice out. Let my name spread through every nook and cranny of Leinster. Let our enemies know that the Mother Goddess has sent Her Holy Envoy to punish those who dare to sully her honor!” commanded Roel.

  The feverish crowd cheered deafeningly in response and chanted his name again and again. Given the enthusiasm they were showing, it should take no more than three days for everyone in Leinster to know about him.

  Roel nodded his head in satisfaction. He glanced out of the window at the scenery of daybreak and solemnly prayed for Lilian’s safety……

  The eastern city area’s Worcester Castle used to be owned by the Worcester House, but after they met their demise in the uprising, the Saints Convocation took it over and used it as their temporary headquarters.

  And now, it was welcoming its new owner.

  As Roel walked on the red carpet of victory into the castle, the disciples swiftly made arrangements amongst themselves to further tighten the castle’s defenses. There was a sentry every five steps one took in the castle, such that it was unthinkable for any assassin to sneak in.

  Bishop Bradley requested permission from Roel to retrieve the holy artifact, and the latter gave a nod of approval.

  On one hand, it was only normal for him, as the Holy Envoy of the Saints Convocation now, to be in possession of the holy artifact. On the other hand, he wanted some time away from Bradley so as to gain a better grasp of the current situation.

  His mind was still in a fluster right now.

  In the previous Witness States, there were usually two clear positions for him to choose from, and one of them was the side of his ancestor—and it was a no-brainer choice who he should go with.

  But it was different this time. There were three powers at play here, and Roel wasn’t even sure what he ought to be doing. On the surface, it looked like the Salvation Brotherhood was attacking the city, the Twilight Sages Assembly was guarding it, and the Saints Convocation was getting beaten up, but there was something really weird about these three powers right now that made Roel feel uneasy.

  First and foremost, why was the Salvation Brotherhood staging a revolt at this crucial moment during the war against the deviants? Were they having a brain aneurysm? What was even the goal of this revolt? Surely they couldn’t be planning to turn all of humankind against them just so that they could conquer Leinster for a short period of time?

  Other than that, there was also something wrong with the garrison troops and students of the Saint Freya Academy.

  Last night, Roel led the disciples of the Saints Convocation on a successful campaign against the Salvation Brotherhood. They were on the advantageous side throughout the entire battle. As long as the Saint Freya Academy had opened its gates and reinforced them, they could have conducted a pincer attack and dealt crippling damage onto the Salvation Brotherhood.

  This was a godsent opportunity, but the leaders of the Saint Freya Academy actually didn’t make a move. Was it that their position was so dire that they couldn’t go on the offensive at all, or that ‘Academic’ and ‘Guardian’ had some other reason behind it?

  Last but not least, the Saints Convocation had been losing terribly ever since the initial outbreak of the war. It would be wiser for them to cut their losses and retreat first before coming back to the city at a later date. Was there really a reason for them to desperately hold on to Leinster at this specific period of time?

  One must know that the Salvation Brotherhood had pretty much doomed themselves. The black-armored soldiers and black-robed figures were formidable, but they weren’t enough to fend against the main forces of humankind. Once reinforcements arrived from the frontlines, it would be the end for the Salvation Brotherhood.

  Was it really necessary for the Saints Convocation to hold on desperately against a bunch of soon-to-be-dead people? What was so bad about stepping back first and allowing someone to wipe their butt before joining the party once more?

  Ordinary disciples might do it for their beliefs, but surely the executives of the Saints Convocation weren’t a bunch of idiots too?

  Roel pondered for a moment before shaking his head.

  He had met Douglas in another Witness State before, and the latter had no qualms with running away the moment things got bad. At least based on his experience with Douglas, it would appear that the executives of the Saints Convocation were pragmatic people who valued tangible gains more than pride and honor.

  This could only mean one thing.

  The Saints Convocation Leinster Branch was no more than a pawn to them right from the very start.

  Be it ordering Bradley to hold on to the end or dispatching a Holy Envoy over, the truth was that the executives didn’t give a damn about the Saints Convocation Leinster Branch at all. The only thing they were interested in was tying the Salvation Brotherhood down.

  It was such an attitude that brought about the poor performance of the Leinster Branch thus far.

  Roel thought that the first step to making sense of this mess was to understand the reason why this uprising even started in the first place, assuming that the Salvation Brotherhood wasn’t really so foolish as to have started this war just to occupy Leinster.

  So, he began looking through the Saints Convocation’s intelligence over the past few months, and his attention was swiftly brought to a certain name.

  ‘Magician King’ Priestley Maxwell.

  Roel was bewildered to see this name not because he thought of something, but that it sparked nothing in his head at all. Someone worthy of being titled the ‘Magician King’ was bound to be a formidable figure that had left his mark in history, so it was queer that a history buff like him had never heard of him before.

  So, he tried casually probing the disciples guarding the entrance of his room about Priestley Maxwell, and the results shocked him.

  It turned out that the Magician King Priestley Maxwell was the current principal of the Saint Freya Academy!

  ???

  Huh? This isn’t right. There is no way I wouldn’t have an impression of someone as formidable as that!

  Roel’s eyes turned sharp as the incongruence he felt grew the more he learned.

  According to the disciple, it had been some time since Priestley came into prominence. He used to be the speaker of Brolne, but he had long gone into retirement. No one knew how old he was, but he had been viewed as the ‘Uncrowned King’ of Brolne by everyone for some time now, for he was one of the strongest individuals amongst the current human transcendents.

  He was an Origin Level 1 transcendent.

  Under normal circumstances, someone as revered as him should be allowed to rest peacefully in his final years, but the situation with the deviants was so dire that Priestley couldn’t afford to take a back seat anymore.

  So, he decided to stand forward and shoulder numerous responsibilities including becoming the principal of the Saint Freya Academy.

  It was most likely that Priestley would be personally leading troops back to reinforce the Saint Freya Academy.

  Roel listened to the disciple’s explanation nonchalantly, as if it wasn’t a huge matter to him at all. He followed up with a few more questions before he dismissed the disciple and closed the door to his room.

  As soon as he was all alone, his face turned grim……

  At the same time, somewhere far away, a black-robed old man had just received a letter and was looking through it. When he saw that someone had used his Origin Attribute to neutralize the blasphemous whispers of the Salvation Legion, the old man’s eyes narrowed.

  “Ascart……”


  Priestley looked in the direction of Leinster and murmured under his breath.