After hearing Roel’s reasoning, Wilhelmina decided to try putting aside her prejudice to accept them. She looked at him with a grim face and said.
“I’ll allow them to join the Dawnbringer Order, but I forbid them from bringing politics into the organization. The Order is an organization similar to the Twilight Sages Assembly; it serves to protect humankind from the crises, not to negotiate national interests.”
“Definitely. I can’t say the same for others, but I’m willing to vouch for them,” replied Roel with a nod.
Charlotte and Nora were both descendants of the Tripartite Alliance, and Lilian possessed the Ascart Bloodline. Alicia was unlikely to be too concerned about the fate of humankind, but she was very supportive of anything Roel did.
He determined the four of them to be trustworthy, and that was why he wanted to bring them into the Dawnbringer Order first. There were also others whom he wanted to pull into the organization, such as Paul and Geralt, but he decided to take things slowly for them.
Paul and Geralt were still young, and it was unlikely they would connect with the ideals of the Twilight Sages Assembly. They would still join the organization when prompted to, but they would be confused by it as well.
Roel thought that it would be better to go with the flow and invite them if an opportunity arose in the future, which should be aplenty. As members of the protagonist’s party in Eyes of the Chronicler, it was almost fate that they would have to fight for humankind.
With this matter resolved, he started approaching the topic of what he had been working toward over the last few weeks—the liberation of Astrid Arde.
That was his primary goal for approaching the transfer students in the first place.
According to Antonio, the Knight Kingdom opposed the liberation of Astrid Arde from the Chaos Dream, thinking that it could lead to the awakening of the Savior. However, Roel, who had come into contact with Astrid in the Witness State, knew that there was no link between the two.
He explained the situation to Wilhelmina, who then promised to try her best to convince the elders from the Twilight Sages Assembly about it when she returned to the Knight Kingdom over the holidays. She wasn’t too optimistic about it though, saying that it would require quite a bit of effort to persuade them given her past experiences.
Roel understood that. He was prepared for the long haul from the very start.
There was no question in his mind that Astrid had to be saved, but it would likely have to wait till he, Wilhelmina, and the others became stronger and gained greater say.
In this half an hour conversation, Roel managed to resolve most of the problems clogging up his mind. The two of them continued chatting till they heard calls for them coming from the distance.
It wouldn’t do for the stars of the show to be absent from the party, so they had no choice but to head back. Roel first returned to the banquet hall whereas Wilhelmina went off to put on her armor.
By this point, Antonio and the staff members had already left the venue, allowing the students to go wild. Transcendents were particularly resilient to alcohol due to their enhanced constitution, and Roel ended up getting roped into some of the drinking circles.
The aftereffects from his three days of disappearance right after winning the Challenger Cup were finally starting to show. A long queue of students were waiting for their opportunity to propose a toast to him, leaving him flabbergasted. Wilhelmina was faring much better in comparison, not because she had less fans but because she could use her knight’s chivalry code to turn down the drinks.
The crowd understood that the culture over at Pendor was different, not to mention that she was a member of the royal family. She had a duty to lead her people by example, so no one tried to peer pressure her into drinking. As a result, the pressure over on Roel’s side intensified.
Over the clinking of wine glasses, Roel’s social circle swiftly expanded. Thanks to the noble conferment he had received from the five major countries, there were many non-Theocracy students who approached and befriended him too. This was a sign that his influence was expanding beyond national borders.
It took an entire hour before Roel was done greeting the excited students—most of them noticed his increased mental fatigue and were considerate enough not to tie him down in a lengthy conversation. He spent the remaining time at the party chatting with Charlotte and the others.
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