With Alicia’s resounding success in ‘Night of the Demons’, there was no need for Roel to worry too much about her anymore. The newly crowned Whiterose Ringbearer returned to her dormitory under the cheers of the other students whereas Roel headed back to the Azure Manor after spending the night watching the trial.

  Roel couldn’t go to sleep right away upon returning to the Azure Manor for there was a pile of work waiting for him. He had to revise the name list of potential recruits, and there was a stack of documents awaiting his approval. Above that, he also needed to give careful thought to a few doubts that had recently floated into his mind.

  Ever since the abrupt disappearance of Tark Stronghold, all of the countries had been worried about a possible invasion by the deviants. The outbreak of another Holy War was already looming above the Sia Continent. With imminent danger right ahead of them, even Brolne’s transcendents couldn’t possibly continue living their lives in peace.

  Both Scholar Guilds and research facilities had been assigned specific missions to contribute to war efforts, and the students were no exception.

  Roel had been tasked with the mission to investigate the trail of Shrouding Mist as a representative of the Theocracy. This mission also went by another name: Operation Rescue Tark Stronghold.

  So far, the Saint Mesit Theocracy had yet to announce Prince Kane’s death. The families of disappeared soldiers had already received death gratuity, but the Theocracy still officially deemed these soldiers as missing.

  On this matter, the Country of Scholars was tasked with the responsibility of bringing back the missing soldiers and finding ways to deal with the Six Calamities. This decision was made on the basis of the optimal allocation of resources.

  This was one of the cases where brains were more important than brawn, and Brolne had the greatest number of researchers, scholars, and talented students of all countries. Furthermore, manpower was currently tight for most countries. If the Theocracy or any other country took on this case, they might end up diverting soldiers away from the eastern border, which would be unwise when humankind was anticipating an imminent invasion by the deviants.

  As for casualties that might arise from dealing with this case, that was not a factor for consideration at all.

  From the moment the International Crisis Management Symposium was held, the entirety of humankind had already gone into a state of emergency. At this point, there were only two classifications for humans that really mattered: Transcendents and non-transcendents.

  Non-transcendents were responsible for producing and supplying resources for the frontlines whereas transcendents were all considered to be soldiers. Naturally, it was inevitable for soldiers to die over the course of a war.

  All students of Saint Freya Academy, including Roel, were already adults and were considered to be part of the reserve army. If any of them were to lose their lives in the course of carrying out any missions from the united army, they would be deemed to be casualties of war.

  Of course, the students could also withdraw from Saint Freya Academy, but the chances were likely that their country would simply send them straight to the frontline.

  No human would be able to circumvent the threat posed by the deviants, no matter where they were. The First Grade students were generally insensitive to it due to their excitement from having just joined the academy, but the older students were already starting to feel uneasy.

  And that was just for ordinary students.

  There were also those with an unusual beast-like intuition for danger who perceived the looming threat of war more vividly than anyone else, leaving them in a constant highly-strung state. To avoid losing their minds, they had no choice but to look for ways to suppress their instincts.

  “What have you been staring at all this while? Aren’t you going to sleep?”


  Selina sat obediently on a sofa by the corner of the study room as she stared at Roel curiously.

  “Why else do you think I’m still here? If not for a wild cat suddenly appearing at my doorstep after losing control of her bloodline, I would have gone to sleep by now.”


  “I-I can’t help it too! You also know how troublesome my bloodline is… Wait, who the hell are you calling a wild cat?! You’re now the leader of our Rose of Dawn. Aren’t you obliged to help your members out when they are facing difficulties?” Selina retorted with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

  “Rose of Dawn, huh…” Roel contemplatively murmured the name of their newly found organization.

  Before the end of the previous semester, Roel had suggested to Wilhelmina that she should extend an invitation to Nora, Charlotte, and the others to the Dawnbringer Order too. Wilhelmina agreed with the suggestion and immediately got to action.

  However, Nora hesitated to accept the invitation. She was the successor to the Theocracy, after all. It might not be a wise decision for her to affiliate herself with an organization.

  It was only when tragedy befell the Tark Stronghold and all kinds of crises started surfacing that Nora came to understand the anxieties faced by the old Twilight Sages Assembly. That was the final push that convinced her and the others to accept the invitation to the Dawnbringer Order.

  However, Charlotte had raised a condition during their negotiation—Roel had to be the leader of the organization.

  “I don’t trust anyone other than my darling,” Charlotte said obstinately.

  Roel tried to convince her otherwise, but she refused to listen to him on this matter. Surprisingly, Wilhelmina accepted that condition easily enough, not hesitating to dump all of her responsibilities on him. Selina and the others also unanimously approved the motion.

  Wilhelmina later told him in her letter that she was nothing more than a stand-in leader when there was no Ascarts’ awakener around, so she was simply returning the position to him. Her sincere words and earnest expectations left him with no choice but to step up to the role.

  As for the change in name… it just so happened that the ladies planning to join the Dawnbringer Order were of towering stature. The financial power and influence they held in their hands far surpassed that of the organization itself. For that reason, they weren’t willing to just become members of the organization.

  Instead, they were looking to establish a partnership.

  To symbolize that relationship, they eventually decided to take a word from both sides and rename the organization as ‘Rose of Dawn’. It was a refreshing name that suited the tastes of the female members, and Wilhelmina was more concerned about the practicality of the organization than its name. As such, the proposal was approved without any issues.

  Without a doubt, the reorganized Rose of Dawn was a terrifying force to behold.

  Nora, Charlotte, Lilian, Selina, Juliana, Kurt, Wilhelmina, and so on…


  Many members in Rose of Dawn were the successors to prominent houses, and some of them were even descendants of ancient races. They were the strongest elites of the younger generation, and their combined influence spanned the entire Sia Continent.

  What was even frightening was that Rose of Dawn had hardly reached its peak yet.

  As the current members of Rose of Dawn matured, the organization’s fighting prowess and influence would expand correspondingly. At this rate, it could even reach a scale comparable to the Second Epoch’s Twilight Sages Assembly.

  Roel felt a heavy weight on his shoulders just thinking about it.

  As the leader of Rose of Dawn, all decisions he made would influence the development of the organization from now onward, whether he liked it or not. His workload had also increased by a great deal. For one, he had to thoroughly study the traits of each individual member so that he could assign them to the right place where they could fully utilize their strengths. Even that was more work than he could have imagined.

  Transiting from the First Grade to the Second Grade, Roel’s curriculum had shifted from highly theoretical lectures to taking on missions and practical lessons. With the current backdrop of humankind, most of the missions allocated to the students were from the united army.

  Due to the happenings at the Challenger Cup, Roel’s batch came to be known as the golden generation of Saint Freya Academy, which resulted in the missions entrusted to them being of significantly higher risk and danger.

  With Wilhelmina and the others away at the International Crisis Management Symposium, the responsibility eventually fell onto Roel to prepare the members for the mission so as to minimize casualties. This was one of his duties as the leader of Rose of Dawn.

  Even so, he still expected to receive some help from the existing members of Rose of Dawn.

  To his annoyance, the problem children of Knight Kingdom Pendor had learned from Wilhelmina’s example. As soon as they learned that Roel would be taking charge, they didn’t hesitate to dump all of their responsibilities onto him and happily strut away.

  “You don’t have to stay up late for me. My bloodline won’t run amok as long as Lord Peytra’s aura is around. You can go to sleep,” Selina replied in embarrassment.

  Her tail also drooped a little, reflecting her mood. However, Roel shook his head and explained.

  “I know that works as well, but I can’t sleep when my companions are around. It reminds me far too much of battle.”


  “Ah. I see…”


  Selina awkwardly scratched her head.

  She did sense a subtle warlike aura coming from Roel with her beast-like instincts. Roel had likely been through too many fights with his ancient gods that their manifestation automatically put him in a combat state, similar to how veteran swordsmen would instinctively get into stance when they had a sword in hand.

  “… Sorry.”


  “Don’t worry about it. By the way, where are your companions? Are they all in Panoply Manor?”


  “William and Teresa are attending the symposium. Kurt is busy researching records of his ancestors. Juliana went to look for your younger sister. She was murmuring something along the lines of wanting to join the progenitor’s faction. Stuart is probably in the training field right now.”


  Selina subconsciously put up her fingers one by one to check if she had missed any of her companions. Her words brought a frown onto Roel’s forehead.

  Putting Kurt and Stuart aside, I didn’t think that Juliana would approach Alicia to become a member of her Whiterose Faction. It looks like the misunderstanding about Alicia being a progenitor of the Blood Clan hasn’t been resolved yet.

  Roel let out a deep sigh.

  Before he could address this issue, there was a sudden knock on his door. Upon granting permission to enter, one of the students who were on patrol duty tonight walked in with an envelope in hand.

  Roel took the envelope and opened it. The content of the letter caused his frown to further deepen.

  To the esteemed Mister Roel,

  With the greatest sincerity, we would like to invite you to join our Tark Stronghold Search and Rescue Seminar…”