Anarce?
Hilia was stunned.
"Why is she tracking me?"
"It's okay, let her track you. Maybe she just wants to confirm whether you're participating."
"Really?"
Hilia kept walking as she pondered.
She sensed something strange about this.
If it weren't for this tracking business, she wouldn't have thought much about it. But first, Anarce provided information about the flying competition, then helped her clarify the registration process during this period...
Before knowing about the flying competition, she was accidentally exposed by Doris in the cafeteria, who realized she was poor and wanted to make money.
The answer was obvious.
"Doris bribed Anarce to give me the flying competition information."
Rose said nothing.
Hilia's face was full of disappointment, "Doris Loring comes from a noble family, her family is wealthy, Anarce lacks money, agreeing to Doris's plan to harm me… quite normal. But if Doris wants me to participate in the flying competition, what is her goal?"
Anarce definitely doesn't have the means to learn about such underground competitions. Doris surely knows and wouldn't kindly offer such a good opportunity.
What exactly does she want?
Hilia felt overwhelmed with emotions, stifled inside.
Rose condensed a faint phantom with his spiritual power, hovering beside Hilia, smiled and said, "Say what you want to say, I'm listening."
Hilia glanced at him, opened her mouth, and finally lowered her head.
"Anarce, like me, came to Huijin City from a remote area. However, I came from the Divine Hall, and was selected as a preparatory Holy Daughter. She came from a poor family.
"I heard her parents were killed a long time ago, her land seized, leaving her homeless. To avoid being caught by slave merchants, she used the inheritance left by her parents, carrying dreams to Huijin City. Her magic talent isn't great, just barely reaching the excellent passing mark.
"Without the school's support, she can only survive through part-time work, so I often brought her along for meals, as I could eat lunch and dinner for free at school.
"There are many poor mages, both in class and school, but many poor people tend to be polite to me on the surface. Yet, in their hearts, they harbor jealousy, mockery, saying I'll soon fail, revealing my true colors, or they're too self-conscious, talking to me like there's a vast gap. Only a few interacted with me naturally, Anarce being one of them.
"I invited her for meals, and she would help me with tasks, like this flying competition. I only mentioned it once, and she went to find a suitable job for me..."
As Hilia recounted, she suddenly paused.
It was like a revelation—she seemed to understand something.
"No, maybe she didn't betray me. Perhaps when she was looking for a job for me, Doris approached her, and Doris might have used her!"
Rose found amusement in watching Hilia in self-persuasion, saying nothing.
In reality, all her assumptions were wrong.
This friend of Hilia's was far more complex than she imagined.
Although Hilia claimed to come from a remote area and be poor, her poverty was relative to nobility. She seemed impoverished because she came from the remote area's Divine Hall to the Divine Magic Academy, but even the poorest places, the Divine Hall is surely better than other poor people.
Anarce's poverty, on the other hand, was the poverty of the lower classes. Additionally, she was an orphan, poor compounded by poverty, yet when facing the Holy Court Saintess, she was neither self-conscious nor jealous, treating her with normalcy, fitting the protagonist template perfectly.
Come to think of it, Hilia often mentioned the High Priest but never spoke of her parents, could it be that they're also deceased?
Rose was a bit curious but didn't inquire, as he was more concerned about another matter.
"More than your friend, what I care about is, why are there still slave merchants now?"
Hilia was puzzled, "They've always existed."
Rose recalled his efforts in the game, firmly confirmed one thing: "More than a thousand years ago, before I became a god, I abolished slavery, suppressed all slave merchants, liberated all slaves, making the sinful system of slavery disappear from history. After the Era of Calamity ended, the Holy Court took control of everything, representing the gods, how did you let the slave system revive?"
"This…" Hilia was speechless.
Rose didn't expect Hilia to explain; she was only 16, not yet the Holy Daughter, so her ignorance of such matters was normal.
The revival of such an ancient system, the gods certainly played a great role.
Forget it, let's solve the seal first.
Then... Rose vowed to protect his Starfall Continent.
Rose said nothing. Hilia remained silent for a long time until she was close to the dormitory, then asked in her heart, "Dear God, before summoning you, I heard your believers say that you created a world more than a thousand years ago where everyone was equal and had bread, is it true?"
"Of course, before I let go of governing, whether it was happiness or stability, it maintained over 98% for years. Everyone not only had bread but also meat."
As an enthusiast of management games, what sets Rose apart from other players is that he enjoys gradually managing, from the outset satisfying the requirements of troublemakers to the greatest extent. Although he occasionally applied harsh measures to keep them in line, later on, he could generally achieve the ideal society.
In "Star Fall", he naturally achieved this too.
"The history books say you once slaughtered, making the world flow with blood, is it true?"
"Yes, before I became a god, many nobles and corrupt officials liked to make trouble, creating many problems for me, especially during the abolition of slavery, many slave merchants and nobles rebelled, demanding to stop the abolition of slavery. I killed them all."
"... A lot of them?"
"Not many, around a hundred thousand."
This game differs from other management games; if one's strength is insufficient, any reforms are extremely easily met with opposition and rebellion, not to mention countless corruption incidents. These incidents accumulated, exploding with the event of abolishing slavery.
As Rose chose to abolish slavery, vast swathes of green NPCs turned red instantly. They made numerous demands. Already red-hot from various negative events, Rose chose to slay, slaying from one city to another, wiping out all the red-named NPCs.
That was before he became a god.
Once a god, any national policy executed was unimpeded.
These gaming behaviors have turned into real memories ingrained in Rose's mind. As he reviewed those memories, Rose couldn't help but feel somewhat emotional.
In the eyes of those people, he was undoubtedly the Evil God.
"These are old records, no need to mention again, defeated, there's nothing to say." Rose sighed, compared to being dragged back to a medieval fantasy world by the gods, he would've preferred seeing humanity reach the stars, exploring the cosmos.
"No." Hilia was very serious, "I also believe slavery shouldn't exist in this world. People are equal. I will help you abolish slavery again."
Joy.
"It's long ahead, don't aim too high, first earn your first pot of gold."