On one hand, if Principal Antonio managed to take down the Collector, humankind’s back line would be in a much more stable position than before. On the other hand, if this was truly a trap and Antonio lost his life to it, humankind would be placed in a disastrous position.

  Humankind only had so many Origin Level 1 transcendents, and each of them had their own role to play in the current worldview.

  Holy Eminence John was stationed in the Holy Capital, where he took on the important job of inspiring humankind in its time of difficulty.

  Emperor Lukas Ackermann of the Austine Empire couldn’t be relied on.

  King Friedrich Cambonyte of Knight Kingdom Pendor was currently guarding the frontlines together with Wilhelmina.

  Layton Seze was already officially in retirement, but he also played an important role as the counterpart to Emperor Lukas in the Austine Empire.

  In the current scope of things, Antonio played the role of a law enforcer within humankind itself. He primarily dealt with internal threats, particularly evil cultists who sought to spread dissonance during tumultuous times. He was the only one who could and would fight against the Fallens.

  Roel thought hard about the matter, but he was unable to make up his mind. It was only once Grace was done helping Charlotte and walked over to enquire if she could be of any help that his expression finally soothed out.

  “…Prepare some paper and ink for me.”


  “Paper and ink?”


  “Yes, I’m going to write a letter,” Roel replied with a nod.

  He had decided to prioritize his allies’ safety above everything else.

  He knew that this rare opportunity to deal with the Fallens might never come again, but he found it too unnerving how the Collector was simply ‘found’ by coincidence. He could be overthinking things, but the Collector didn’t strike him as a careless person.

  After all, the Collector was the true mastermind running the Connoisseur Guild right under the Theocracy's nose for many years.

  On top of that, Roel felt indebted to Antonio. The latter had offered him a lot of help during his time in the academy, including concealing his involvement in the fight with the Fallens at Marlin Town—not to mention that he had been working hard to free Astrid over the years.

  He couldn’t allow Antonio to step into this minefield for his own safety.

  That being said, Antonio was a Human Sovereign who had lived for many centuries. He had risen to the top of Brolne and emerged victorious in many wars. The sheer experience he had accrued over his lifetime had granted him an astute insight into things. He would have his own rationale for making a certain decision.

  It would be arrogant of Roel to impose his opinions on Antonio.

  In view of that, he decided to pen down the Collector’s personality traits and his conjectures regarding the situation and advise Antonio to be additionally careful. To put it bluntly, he was simply supplementing Antonio’s knowledge about the situation so that the latter could make a more informed decision.

  Having thought things through, he picked up a brush and began writing with neat but sharp strokes.

  “To the esteemed Principal Antonio…”


  …


  Located nearer to the south, Rosa had warmer winters and experienced less snowfall.

  The morning drizzle of snow trailed to a halt by noon, and the sky swiftly cleared up afterward. The radiant afternoon sun was devoid of its usual warmth, but it was uplifting.

  Sitting by the study room’s window, Roel continued browsing through his documents while enjoying the brilliance of the winter sun. The temperature in the room was comfortable, and a quick glance over indicated to him that Charlotte wasn’t feeling chilly either, so he decided against draping a blanket over her.

  Such a job was usually left to the maids, but he had taken on the responsibility since the two of them were the only ones in the study room at the moment.

  Roel was done with his work for the time being after finishing up the letter for Antonio, but Charlotte still had plenty of documents to go through, as indicated by the thickness of her pile.

  Tactful as ever, Grace knew that there was no need for her to continue taking care of Charlotte now that Roel was free, so she subtly took her leave. That naturally led to Roel’s transition to being Charlotte’s assistant.

  The documents Charlotte was handling contained classified information from the frontlines, but with Roel’s standing, there was hardly any intelligence in the world that was beyond his access rights. It was just that there wasn’t much he could help with other than organizing the documents.

  Most of the documents were urgent requests for resources from the frontlines, which fell into the Rosa Merchant Confederacy’s scope of responsibilities as the key logistics supplier.

  Under normal circumstances, the requests made by the frontlines would be swiftly approved as there was nothing more dangerous than depriving the frontline soldiers of their necessities. However, the current situation was different.

  Paths leading to the eastern border were either cloaked with snow or frozen over following the arrival of winter, forcing Rosa to scale down its logistical operations. This meant that they would have to prioritize the urgent requests while postponing the less urgent ones till spring.

  The problem was that there was no such thing as a ‘non-urgent request’ in war.

  All armies were accustomed to tagging all logistical requests as ‘urgent’, which Roel, as the successor of a military house, could relate to. To a military commander, there was nothing more important than the safety and welfare of their own soldiers.

  The Sorofyas understood that too, which was why they had made preparations for that.

  They had dispatched scouts to the eastern border to evaluate the conditions of each army. This information was compiled into reports and delivered to the Sorofyas, where Charlotte and the other administrative officers would collate them and decide on logistical priority.

  Regarding that, Roel could only say that merchants were much shrewder than soldiers.

  In any case, this was a good thing. The Rosa Merchant Confederacy might be wealthy, but their money didn’t just pop out of nowhere. It was only right for them to properly manage their resources lest they were bankrupted by the war.

  Roel was able to roughly deduce the condition on the frontlines while organizing Charlotte’s documents, though he didn’t expect to see a familiar name on one of the requests: Lilian Ackermann.

  It had been half a year since Lilian headed to the frontlines. He hadn’t received any information on her during this period of time, which compelled him to carefully read through the request she had sent in.

  It was a formal request for the replenishment of their defensive fortress weapons, and Charlotte had approved the request with the highest priority level.

  Frankly speaking, Roel was surprised by the approval.

  The hostile relationship between the Rosa Merchant Confederacy and the Austine Empire was no secret, and Charlotte and Lilian had never hesitated to express their dislike for each other. Yet, now that they were fighting alongside each other, Charlotte didn’t shortchange Lilian in the least and even approved her request with the highest priority level.

  He was impressed by how broad-minded Charlotte was.

  There were many people in the world who preached about righteousness and justice, but few were able to separate private grudges from work as Charlotte did.

  Roel retracted his admiring gaze from Charlotte and turned his attention back to the document. As he continued browsing through it, his heart swelled with reminiscence and yearning.

  Is senior… still doing well?