From Wild Mage to Wizard King.

Chapter 400 Self-analysis and Veterans Parade
What is Hella to me?
Roland sat at the table by the window. The bright sunlight illuminated his lower body and the table. He turned the sugar water with a spoon in his right hand, looked out the window with his head tilted, and thought about the problem silently.

Although Roland had been teaching Hela since the North, and although the two of them were not officially master and apprentice, Hela had never called him master, and he had never called Hela apprentice, but they were in fact master and apprentice.

So, do I regard Hela as my disciple?

Roland swirled the sugar water and shook his head.

Not a disciple.

Roland did not consider Hela as his disciple.

During his time in the North, Roland viewed Hela more as a child who needed care, except that she was more obedient than ordinary children and didn't cry or make a fuss.

After leaving the North and moving around in Sinar, Hela grew up and became a little more mature. Roland began to take Hela a little more seriously. After Hela was promoted to the fourth ring and revealed some of her thoughts about him, Roland finally realized that Hela had grown up.

After realizing this, Roland officially regarded Hela as an adult with whom he could communicate on an equal footing.

Roland silently analyzed his own memories and inner thoughts.

The reason why he taught Hela in the beginning, besides out of pity for Hela and wanting to awaken Hela's fighting spirit, one of the main reasons was also so that he could have an assistant to help him cleanse the cultists in the north.

When Roland just recovered his memories of his previous life, he successfully modified the sacrificial ritual, but he was still a little worried about how much of the knowledge in his memory could be used. It was always good to have an assistant to help.

The talented Hela will be a good assistant, allowing Roland to have more room for error.

This was Roland's thought when he was in the north, but looking back now, Roland also glimpsed another key reason.

During his time in the North, he was confused and lonely.

Roland did not travel through time and space into this body; he was reincarnated into this world. When his memory awakened, everyone who had a connection with him had been killed by the cultists.

He became an orphan with no one to rely on. Under such circumstances, although Roland set the goal of eliminating the cultists and worked hard to achieve it, he paralyzed himself.

After losing his home and awakening his memory, Roland felt infinitely lonely. He could not integrate into other human tribes in the North, nor could he integrate into the Northern Kingdom. His only choice was to huddle together with Hela, who was also an orphan, for warmth.

But he still felt that he was out of tune with this barbaric world. The humans, orcs and orcs in the north made Roland feel uncomfortable and disgusted.

When Roland stood in the alley of an unknown town in the North, beheading the last slave trader who tried to capture him with his sword, standing on the warm corpses, Roland thought more than once about destroying everything.

Roland, who relied on the blessing of the dark elemental world to become a supernatural being from a mortal, was affected by the negative energy. He was prone to having countless extreme ideas and had thought about sacrificing the entire city more than once to open the door between the material world and the dark elemental world and set off a crazy undead disaster.

Anyway, he has no sense of belonging to this world.

However, every time Roland gave up his chaotic thoughts, because he knew that there was someone waiting for him, even though Hela didn't care about Roland at that time and her mind was full of revenge.

Hela is the lock that Roland used to restrain himself.

If it weren't for Hela, Roland might have already become a crazy lich, and now he would either be attacking everywhere with the Undead Scourge, or he would have been killed by the Legendary Alliance.

So, Roland gave Hela the ability to revenge, and Hela saved Roland who was entangled in negative energy.

Roland selfishly kept Hela because he was greedy for Hela, who was also an orphan and depended on him.

Otherwise, with Hela's talent, Roland could easily send her to the Spellcaster Association in the North.

Roland's eyes seemed a little distracted.

Although there were negative energy factors at the time, it was ultimately his choice. He was indeed selfish at the time, with only himself in his mind. It was his fault.

When preparing to leave the North, Roland, who had adapted to this world a little, gave Hela two choices: to go to the Tower of Truth to study, or to continue following Roland.

To be honest, when Hela chose to continue to follow Roland, Roland was very happy and secretly delighted.

It was because Hela chose to continue to follow Roland that Roland chose to leave the North and go to Sinar, and even planned to study and travel across the continent.

After all, Roland has already traveled across most of the continent in the game. Many places do not have much appeal to Roland, and he has no interest in getting involved in various major events in the future.

If Hela chose to go to the Truth to study, perhaps Roland would choose to stay in the North, go north to find a sparsely populated place alone, and live out his life quietly.

As for the future civil war and disasters in the North, Roland didn't care. Those who died in the civil war and disasters were ordinary people or low-level extraordinary people. As long as he became a mid-level spellcaster, he could survive easily.

Although Roland did not pursue power after eliminating all the cultists, he didn't care about anything anyway. Even if he encountered a supernatural being or a disaster that he could not defeat, the worst that could happen was death.

It was Hela who gave Roland the motivation to keep moving forward.

However, after traveling in the North and Sinnar for several years, Roland, who was born in the Human Union, realized the opportunities that lay in the disaster in Eastnar and ignited the desire to promote change, which became Roland's new motivation.

Of course, although Roland's motivation to move forward has now been replaced by the War Council, Hela still occupies a significant position in his heart.

Roland looked to the side and saw a couple in love snuggling together and feeding each other.

After glancing at them, Roland withdrew his gaze and silently took a sip of the sugar water.

Love?
Roland didn't have any romantic impulse towards Hela. He was probably just used to living with Hela.

Based on Roland's rich knowledge of love theories, he believed that he was not in love with Hela.

Roland didn't feel uncomfortable imagining Hela being with other people. If Hela could find her true love, Roland would bless her.

If Roland fell in love with Hela, he would have felt unhappy, but he didn't, so Roland thought that he probably didn't like Hela.

As for the discomfort caused by Hela's absence, Roland did not think it was a big problem and he could always adapt to it.

Yes, we can always adapt.

Roland lowered his eyes slightly and silently swirl the sugar water with a spoon. He can always adapt.
This is how it should be, but why do I feel a little lost?

Could it be that the old father couldn't bear to see his daughter get married? Or was it that the child had lost his toy?

That's not right. I don't consider Hela as my daughter, and Hela is not his appendage.

but
Hela seems to like me. If I take the initiative, maybe she will stay with him forever.
This kind of thinking is wrong and it is a false possessiveness.

I shouldn't have such thoughts.

Roland shook his head, not knowing what this was. He glanced at the communication device in his hand.

It would be great if he was still in the Human Rights Network. When he encountered such difficulties, he could open a small account to go to the forum and listen to the opinions of netizens. But now, the committee’s data network is limited to official applications and there is no forum function.

Roland took a sip of the sugar water and looked absentmindedly at the bright sunlight on the table.

What's wrong with me?
Roland still hadn't figured out the answer until the restaurant closed and he packed up his cold, uneaten dessert and left.

Although Roland was lost in thought when Hela was away, this thought did not affect his normal performance of his duties as chairman.

Roland will not let personal matters interfere with his official duties, and he can still work normally.

The entire war committee continued to develop steadily and orderly. In March of the 57th year, the statistical report of the last province was uploaded to the Apocalypse Central Database.

After joint review and judgment by the Administration Department, the Executive Committee and Roland.

On March 7, the War Council officially announced that the expected three-year reconstruction plan was completed ahead of schedule and all the expected goals of the reconstruction plan were exceeded.

The productivity of the War Council has recovered and even surpassed that of the prosperous era of Donnar. The agricultural and industrial bases have all been completed. In terms of people's livelihood, with the lifting of various material restrictions and the influx of cheap sugar, the happiness of the people in the Council has also increased rapidly.

In terms of compulsory education, the War Committee has also established a basic framework, which has been successfully extended to the municipal level.

The War Committee's ten-year economic plan entered the next stage, namely: the Seven-Year Development Plan, which targeted the in-depth development and improvement of the four aspects of agriculture, industry, people's livelihood and education.

The reconstruction plan only rebuilt the various population centers within the committee's territory, and there were still vast marginal areas waiting to be developed and constructed.

As the War Council completed its reconstruction plan and prospered, in the distant Silver Empire, a turmoil was slowly brewing.

In the Silver Empire's capital, Ginza, the War Council's embassy in the Silver Empire.

Ambassador Randy from the War Council leaned against the wall next to the window, pulled aside the curtains, and looked at the veterans who were marching in protest on the street below.

Thousands of veterans, densely packed and occupying the streets, silently raised their flags and marched quietly in protest.

Before the rise of the War Council, that is, in 1453, the situation in Donnar could be said to be extremely dire. The Green Tide's victory seemed to be visible to the naked eye, the Allied Forces were on the verge of collapse, and the War Council could not see the possibility of victory.

The green tide could engulf the entire Donnar at any time, and with the momentum of a great victory, it could break out of the buffer zone, invade and attack the Silver Empire.

Therefore, in order to prevent possible invasions and attacks by the Green Tide in the future, the Silver Empire re-recruited veterans from the Rose War.

During the Rose War, in order to motivate the soldiers, the Silver Empire once promised to pay each soldier a salary of one silver coin per month, and also promised various bonuses in battles.

During the war, these promised salaries and bonuses were not paid to the soldiers who participated in the war.

Moreover, since the Silver Empire did not win the Rose War, did not profit from the war, and even suffered heavy losses, it was naturally unable to fulfill its promise to the Rose soldiers.

Even though many soldiers died in the Rose War and no longer needed to receive salaries and bonuses, the Silver Empire could not afford the remaining huge expenses. Therefore, the Silver Empire agreed with the veterans to pay a small portion first, and the remaining salary would be repaid in twenty years.

Although the Rose veterans were very dissatisfied, facing the huge Silver Empire, they had no choice but to accept it.

Moreover, in order to reduce expenditures, the Silver Empire began to adopt various measures, including reducing the number of registered veterans and cutting various promised salaries and bonuses. A large number of soldiers who died in battle were judged as missing rather than dead, and pensions were continuously reduced.

In addition to these methods, the pensions issued went through layers of corruption among the nobles, and only a small amount finally reached the hands of the veterans.

Originally, the Silver Empire had solved most of the pension issues, but in order to fight the Green Tide, the Silver Empire once again forcibly conscripted them.

This time, the Silver Empire made various promises. However, by the time they set out on the journey at their own expense and had gathered everyone, Roland had already killed Kan'ozu, and the Green Tide was no longer a threat.

Therefore, the Silver Empire disbanded them once again, and this time, the Silver Empire was not even willing to pay a copper coin.

This makes it difficult for a large number of veterans to even survive.

The pension was not much to begin with, and the veterans' lives were already hard. This time they had wasted several months of their time and had to travel at their own expense. Their last bit of savings was spent completely, and they didn't even have the money to go home.

That's why they marched in protest in Ginza.

Their demands were not high. They just wanted Ginza to pay them in advance the salary that was due twenty years after the end of the Rose War. If that was not possible, they could at least give them some money for the trip home.

The Silver Empire remained indifferent to this, and the ruling class pretended not to see anything. They ignored the veterans' marches and demands and allowed them to march.

It’s not that the Silver Empire has no money. Although the Silver Empire does not have much money now, it can still meet their minimum requirements, such as: providing them with travel expenses to return home.

You can say that the ruling class of the Silver Empire is bad, but you can't say that they are stupid. Under normal circumstances, they will still pay this small amount of money to appease the veterans.

The only problem is that the current ruling class of the Silver Empire is not stable internally. The Silver Emperor and the Silver Family are now in conflict. Therefore, both sides know that the veterans are marching and making trouble, and they also know that they can be appeased by giving them some money, but both sides do not want to intervene, and no one is willing to give the money.

In addition, not only do both sides not want to give out money, they also prevent others from giving out money. For example, religious organizations such as the Pantheon and the Knights of Radiance are expressly prohibited.

　I feel like if Roland were to go into a romance comic, given his setting he would probably just be a loser.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)