Geralt proceeded to share everything he had heard in the aftermath of the evil cultist’s assault, which further drove in the fact for Roel just how big this incident was.

  In particular, there was great focus placed on Lilian’s involvement in the investigation team. The upper echelons of humankind viewed the incident as an attempt by the Fallens to instill chaos through murdering a potential successor of the Austine Empire, and they quickly came to an agreement that they had to take action against this.

  First and foremost, Principal Antonio of Saint Freya Academy, as the survivor to the unfortunate tragedy that had befallen Leinster centuries ago, stepped up and shouldered the responsibility of investigating the incident. He also urged the other countries to take action against the evil cultists.

  Following that, the Austine Empire also stated their intention to thoroughly investigate the Fallens. At the same time, they castigated the church for its failure to keep the evil cultists in check.

  The Theocracy didn’t respond to the criticism since it was typical for the Austine Empire to sling mud on them. However, they did express their full support for an operation to cleanse the evil cultists. They were already planning to make a move on the evil cultists over the disappearance of Tark Stronghold, and the participation of other nations in the cleansing was welcomed.

  With the major powers coming to a consensus amongst themselves, the motion to purge the vermin of humankind was eventually passed unanimously.

  In view of that, the first thing Antonio did upon returning to the academy was to gather the members of the investigation team and conduct a thorough investigation of the incident.

  Geralt looked much more assured when he talked about how the upper echelons of humankind were already on the matter. In contrast, Roel’s complexion started to turn awful, for he knew that his concealment wasn’t foolproof.

  It was one thing for the scholars to submit a report from their end, but it was another thing if someone headed down to Marlin Town to investigate the incident. Roel hadn’t removed the traces of his battle with the Treant High Priest, so doubts were bound to surface upon further inspection. All the evidence would eventually lead to him.

  But when he heard that Antonio was in charge of the investigation, he quickly calmed down.

  What? Antonio?

  Ah, there’s no problem here then.

  Antonio was aware that Lilian and Roel shared the same bloodlines. Given his intelligence, he should be able to swiftly figure out Roel’s intention once he learned about his involvement. He believed that Antonio would be able to promptly deal with this matter without him saying a word. He might even alter the memories of those scholars just to be safe.

  Roel didn’t have to worry about the secret getting out anymore.

  It sure feels good to have strong backing.

  The following day, Roel returned to Saint Freya Academy. The long journey spanning across spring and summer finally came to an end, leaving him with many precious memories that he would cherish for life.

  …


  Roel’s return from his months-long mission didn’t cause much of a stir in Saint Freya Academy. The student populace was much too focused on the uproar centered around Lilian.

  Different from the upper echelons who mainly looked at the Fallen’s attack from the perspective of potential repercussions, the students were more focused on the actual loss caused by the incident, meaning to say, the casualties.

  An incident can be blown up, but casualties don’t lie.

  If there had been no casualties in the incident, the students wouldn’t have thought highly about the evil cultists, thinking that the upper echelons were just making a big fuss out of nothing. However, that was clearly not the case here.

  Shortly after the investigation team returned to the academy, all kinds of news started to float around. It didn’t take long for the students to panic.

  More than half of the scholars who were in the investigation team displayed signs of insanity after the encounter with the evil cultists. This was indubitably frightening news for Brolne’s populace, who saw knowledge and rationality as the most important things of all.

  If not for Paul, Selina, and the others emerging out of the incident unharmed, the matter might have blown up even further.

  The first ones to make a statement were the Scholar Factions that the victims belonged to. They denounced the evil cultists and volunteered their manpower to Principal Antonio, vowing to get to the bottom of the matter.

  Following that, the staff members spoke out, saying that the current security measures put in place by the academy were insufficient to protect the students and needed to be revised.

  Last but not least, the Rose Council, which theoretically wielded authority comparable to the principal in Saint Freya Academy, made a statement. As the only Ringbearer currently in the academy, Alicia solemnly requested Principal Antonio to investigate this matter and soothe the students’ unease.

  These series of statements made it impossible for anyone to remain oblivious to the evil cultists’ assault on the Braytown’s disappearances investigation team. Roel happened to return as this matter was at the peak of its virality, leaving no room for others to pay any heed to him.

  Of course, Roel was perfectly fine with the peace he was enjoying, but there was some work to be done first.

  The first thing he did upon arriving in the Azure Manor was to find Paul and enquire about the happenings after his departure. Paul told him that they waited in the military town for three days before a nearby rescue team arrived in a rush under the academy’s dispatch. Unfortunately, they weren't enough to escort them back to the academy.

  More often than not, the work of a rescue team centered around transporting the casualties or bringing back the dead. Yet, the rescue team found themselves faced with a team where over half of the high transcendents had gone mad. This was most definitely not a situation they were trained for.

  Thus, they sent a request for additional reinforcement to the academy, and a platoon of staff members finally arrived a week later. With their help, they were able to safely bring the insane scholars back to the academy within half a month’s time.

  As for Lilian, she went ahead with her original plan of heading to the eastern border together with the Austine soldiers, not bothering to wait for the academy’s response.

  While the investigation team was recuperating in the academy, Antonio personally paid them a visit and enquired about what they had been through. Under the questioning of the highly-esteemed principal, the sane scholars eventually crumbled into pressure and sold Roel out, though Antonio also requested them to keep it a secret afterward.

  That concluded the investigation of the incident, and what was left was to go after the culprits. Roel was fully supportive of that, even making a commentary on the academy’s press for that.

  “I am appalled to hear of the atrocities that had happened to the Braytown’s disappearances investigation team. We can’t just turn a blind eye when the evil cultists are already climbing over our heads. We must teach them a lesson they’ll never forget…”


  As an innocent bystander who was repulsed by the sheer atrocities, Roel impassionately condemned the evil cultists to the academy’s press. His acting was so real that Paul and the others who knew of the truth wondered for a moment if this was a conspiracy.

  After making his statement, Roel took one last look at his involvement regarding this incident, and he was confident that he had covered everything. It shouldn’t be likely for anyone to suspect him anymore.

  With his mind put at ease, he turned his attention to the research on historical records regarding the Six Calamities. Kurt and the others had been continuing the research while he was away, and he thought that they would have been able to get quite some work done. He was visibly disappointed when he saw how the research compilation couldn’t even fill up a single desk.

  “It doesn’t look like we have made much progress over the past three months,” Roel said with a frown.

  “Indeed. The speed of our investigation slowed considerably after you left. Many of those historical records contain falsified information, and it’s hard for us to discern truth from falsehood without your ability. We ended up wasting a lot of time on that aspect,” Kurt replied bitterly.

  It would appear that the rampant falsehoods scourging the historical records had thoroughly disgusted Kurt and the other students. Seeing that, Roel responded with an understanding nod. It was unreasonable to expect efficiency when fact-checking was already a huge problem.

  In the first place, the research team looking into the Six Calamities was centered around Roel. His absence was a huge blow to the team; the team wouldn’t even have been able to function if not for Kurt. It would be both irrational and ungrateful of him to blame them for not meeting up to his unreasonable expectations.

  With such thoughts in mind, Roel earnestly thanked Kurt for everything he had done over the past few months. Kurt replied that it was nothing much since browsing through historical records was not work but an enjoyable hobby to him.

  … And here I thought I was an avid reader. I have been humbled.

  After getting up to date with the recent research progress with Kurt, Roel paid a visit to Panoply Manor. Selina and Juliana were faring well, but Stuart was suffering from the side effects of his eyes and needed time to recuperate. It would be cheating if those overpowered eyes of his came with no setbacks.

  Roel spent a while chatting with the trio before returning to Azure Manor. Unsurprisingly, a silver-haired girl was waiting for him.

  “Lord Brother, you’re finally back.”


  With those words, Alicia leaped into his arms.