A month passed in a flash.

The weather was starting to turn warm as the seasons marched toward summer.

In the master bedroom of the Azure Manor, an alarm clock suddenly went off, and a black-haired young man opened his eyes. With a light swing of his hand, he silenced the noisy clock with his mana.

Unlike other days, Roel didnt sit up right away. He continued lying in his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Today happened to be a rest day for the Saint Freya Academy. While the alarm clocks went off as usual, the campus was still quieter than usual.

Unfortunately, rest days didnt necessarily spell a break from work. Roel was one perfect example of thatheck, he was even working in his dreams!

Roel sighed softly as he raised his hand and stared at the shimmering Blackrose Ring sitting on his finger. A heartened smile curled on his lips.

It has grown once again. Good but its so exhausting.

He thought about the fight he had just been through in his dreams and sighed softly. He had been so busy over the past month that he only wore the Blackrose Ring to sleep eight times in total. Prioritizing his safety over all things else, he chose to only target solitary black-armored soldiers.

After crossing blows with the monsters in his dream several times, he noticed that the only ones with commanding power were the black-robed figures. Ever since they noticed his intrusion, the black-robed figures would always be accompanied by at least five black-armored soldiers, though it was worth noting that the black-armored soldiers would gradually scatter whenever the black-robed figures werent around.

He had killed over fifty black-armored soldiers to date, but for some reason, the number of monsters in the dream world only seemed to be increasing. He hadnt been able to make sense of this bizarre phenomenon yet, but his intuition told him that it didnt bode well. It was likely that the circumstances were worsening in one way or the other.

Just thinking about it left Roel with a headache, prompting him to massage his temples. The only thing he could do now was to unlock the Second Authority as soon as possible in hopes of getting some clues from Margaret.

Aside from the problems in the dream world, he also had his hands full with the recruitment for the Bluerose Faction and the establishment of the Request Club. Fortunately, things were proceeding smoothly for those two matters.

Thanks to Pauls efforts, the Bluerose Faction managed to recruit over fifty people over the span of a month. It was humble compared to Nora and Charlottes factions, which were hundreds of members strong, and most of the recruited members were still in their trial phase, but at least it was good progress for a faction that had started from ground zero.

Most of the recruits were local Brolne students and the nobles of smaller countries. Based on preliminary observation, they appeared to be upstanding individuals with principles.

On top of that, Paul had also managed to secure the original members of the games Request Club.

One of them was Geralt Stephenson. He was of smaller stature, but his appearance particularly stood out due to his ash-gray hair and blue eyes. He was the son of a marquess house from Knight Kingdom Pendor, as well as Pauls roommate.

He was close brothers with Paul in Eyes of the Chronicler, and he helped him greatly along the way.

The Stephensons were a high noble house in Pendor, boasting centuries of history. Many of their predecessors had risen to high ranks in the military and fought valiantly against the deviants. It would be fair to say that they were a military powerhouse similar to the Ascart House.

That being said, the Theocracys overall military prowess and influence far surpassed that of Pendors. Due to that, the Ascarts were viewed to be above the Stephensons, which was why Geralts standing was far beneath that of Roels despite being a marquess son too.

So here came a question: How did the offspring of a high noble, who would typically reside in single rooms, end up becoming Pauls roommate?

It turned out that the Stephensons didnt approve of Geralt attending the Saint Freya Academy, so he snuck out without them knowing.

In fact, he had engaged the services of an identity forger to create a fake identity trail for him. His student profile documented in the academy listed him as the son of a merchant, completely unrelated to Pendor.

Paul was dumbfounded to hear all of that. He would have never imagined that the roommate whom he hung out with every day would actually be the son of a marquess. At the same time, he was baffled as to why the Stephensons would forbid Geralt from attending the Saint Freya Academy. After all, it was a dream for most people to enrol in the Saint Freya Academy.

However, Roel had an idea behind the Stephensons stance.

The issue lay not just with the Stephensons but Pendor as a whole. They were honestly quite a peculiar country with most of their more traditional nobles adopting such a line of thought:

Spells? Please, those are what women use. Real men would charge forth and slay their enemies with their swords! Only the weak would resort to that kind of meaningless trick!

Yes, the Knight Kingdom Pendor was filled with muscle heads. That was also the reason why there were very few students from Pendor in the Saint Freya Academy even though they were one of the major countries in the Sia Continent. They believed that ultimate strength could tear down any obstacle standing in their way.

As a traditional knight house, the Stephensons shared the same beliefs too.

Even when Geralts talents showed a clear inclination toward spellcasting as compared to physical prowess and swordsmanship, the Stephensons still adamantly insisted on him enrolling in Pendors Saint Fran Academy.

Geralts plight was not one of a kind.

There were many young nobles in Pendor who found themselves faced with the same quandary as Geralt, but most of them chose to follow their familys orders. Only a small handful of them who didnt want their talents to be put to waste attempted to conceal their identities and enrol in the Saint Freya Academy.

In Geralts case, he simply failed to bring sufficient money when running away from home. By the time he finally reached Brolne, he realized that he wouldnt have much left after paying the tuition fees, so he had no choice but to opt for the cheaper two person accommodation.

So thats how the son of a marquess like you ended up having to make do with a two person accommodation. Haha, what a peculiar circumstance you are in, remarked Paul with a chuckle.

Roel and Geralts eyebrows twitched upon hearing that.

Paul, have you forgotten that youre an imperial prince?

Roel shook off those thoughts and carefully pondered about the circumstances surrounding their newest member. In truth, based on his in-game knowledge from Eyes of the Chronicler, he knew that Geralt had only revealed the partial truth behind why he had come to the Saint Freya Academy.

The real reason why Geralt adamantly refused to attend Saint Fran Academy was because he wanted to avoid his fiance, a daughter from a ducal house named Brittany.

Well, hes in for a rude shock. Brittany is actually one of Pauls allies in the game too. If Im not wrong, she should be on her way here at the moment.

In the game, Brittany caused a huge commotion upon arriving at the Saint Freya Academy, but she eventually stayed as a student and joined the Request Club. In other words, Roel was about to get two powerful allies at once, and they were both offspring of high nobles in Pendor.

After confirming that the Bluerose Faction would be providing free lodging in the Azure Manor and daily allowances to its members, Geralt immediately penned down an official application to join and submitted it directly to Roel, who then approved it right away.

However, knowing that Geralt was not a person who lowered his head to others easily, Roel decided to challenge him to a duel.

As one of Pauls allies in the game, Geralt did have skills that stood out from the rest of the student populace. His mana was particularly unsteady and prone to changes, which might sound like a huge problem to a spellcaster. However, such a mana nature was actually highly advantageous to conversion-type spells.

It was just a pity that his opponent was Roel.

The mana projectile Geralt fired at Roel abruptly burst into a blazing inferno in the middle of its trajectory. Geralt thought that he would be able to clinch victory by catching Roel off-guard with this attack, but his naivety only lasted till a humongous skeleton giant suddenly manifested before him in the middle of the training field.

This fight was indubitably a traumatic experience for Geralt, and it forced him to acknowledge Roel from the bottom of his heart. Roel chose to assign him and Paul the role of team leader in the Bluerose Faction.

This was definitely an exciting development for Roel, but this excitement had already calmed down over the past half a month. By now, they were starting to get used to one another.

Roel finally got up from bed, took a bath, and changed into a set of formal clothes that were guaranteed to leave a good impression on others. Then, he grabbed his Nine-headed Serpent Staff and walked out from his bedroom to head for the extravagantly designed dining room.

By the time he arrived, breakfast was already laid out neatly on the table. There was already someone sitting at the tablehis second-in-command, Paul.

Morning, big brother Roel.

Morning.

Roel greeted Paul as he took a seat at the table and began digging into the food. While eating their fill, they began chatting about the recent affairs at the Request Club, which was under Paul and Geralts management.

Despite being a newly-established department with no clear scope of duties, the Request Club still received quite a number of requests over the past half a month since its establishment. It was just that most of the requests consisted of looking for missing pets and such trivial matters.

This was all within Roels expectations.

If not for his in-game knowledge, he would have really thought that the existence of the Request Club was of minor importance.

Unexpectedly, before the two of them could finish their breakfast, a knock suddenly sounded on the door and a young man with ash-gray hair entered the dining room.

Geralt? What brings you here?

Good morning, chief. The Request Club has received a new request, but its content is a little peculiar so I brought it over for you to have a look.

A new request?

Geralt walked in and handed a blood-red envelope into Roels hands. Pauls eyes narrowed at the ominous appearance of the envelope, feeling a bad vibe from it. At the same time, Roels eyes narrowed as well.

What will come will eventually come.