I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 187: Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance

Looking at the dried corpse in front of him, Aurus had mixed emotions in his mind, eventually letting out a sigh that embodied all of them. Not long after, he focused his sense of vision towards Herellia and Horell, not before muttering a few words to the corpse that was behind him.

“May your soul rest in peace.”

He then went ahead and teleported closer to Herellia and Horell while commanding Fenrir and Charisa to get closer to them as well. At the instant all of them were gathered together, Aurus looked at them, noticing the various emotions they felt before radiating an aura of slight elation and happiness soon after.

“The alliance has finally won,” Aurus said in a slightly happy tone. He then added, “We are the sole rulers of Tempest Cliff now.”

Hearing these words, Herellia could not help but radiate an aura of slight melancholy. On the other hand, Horell radiated an aura of composure, yet his sense of vision was focused on Herellia, knowing very well what was going on in her mind.

“What’s wrong, Herellia? Shouldn’t you be happy that we won?” Aurus asked her this question after noticing the aura radiating from her, only to remember her words from a while ago. After that moment of realization, he hastily uttered, “No, wait. I’m sorry for being insensitive. I shouldn’t have said that.”

Herellia heard Aurus’s words, focusing her sense of vision towards him before letting out a short sigh. She then replied, “No worries. As I’ve said before, one cannot bring back the souls of the dead. I’ve somewhat come to terms with the deaths of the Verdant Nut and Blossom Breeze Alliance after Chonk died.”

She then focused her sense of vision towards the empty alliance base a distance away from them, muttering to herself, “I shouldn’t dwell on the past…but why do I still have the feeling that they must’ve survived?”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Just as Herellia muttered those words to herself, a group of sticks and saplings gradually made their way towards Herellia and the group, all of them radiating auras far weaker than them.

The first one to notice this group was Horell, who had a greater view of the area due to him still hovering. At the very instant he noticed them, he hastily said to Aurus and the others, “Guys, we have some surprise guests coming to where we are. Their power level is around…B to A-grade Inanimate.”

Hearing this, Herellia focused her sense of vision towards the direction where the group of sticks and saplings were coming from. As for Aurus, he did the same thing as well while commanding the system to keep Fenrir and Charisa, leaving only him, Herellia, and Horell near Chonk’s dried-up corpse.

With the three of them being vigilant, the group had eventually arrived in front of them, with an old-looking branch rolling forwards to be in front of the group.

Just as Herellia was about to ask the group what their intentions for coming near them were, the old-looking branch radiated an aura of relief and happiness as it said, “Ah, thank goodness! The Tempest Branch Alliance wasn’t destroyed by Chonk!”

These words left the three at a loss for words, with the old-looking branch turning around to look at the sticks and saplings that came with it as it continued, “Then again, the Tempest Branch Alliance is the strongest alliance in Tempest Cliff, right?”

“Right! The Tempest Branch Alliance is the strongest alliance!” the sticks and saplings behind the old-looking branch replied in unison, increasing the confusion Herellia and the others felt by a few degrees.

“Er…may I ask who you might be?” Seeing as the group that came seemed to be in adoration towards them, Herellia reduced her vigilance towards the group and asked this question to the old-looking branch. In response to this, the old-looking branch let out a short chuckle, replying with words that seemed to not answer Herellia’s question.

“I guess the skill I’ve crafted is quite effective.” The old-looking branch then radiated an aura of slight happiness as it said to Herellia, “Hello, Herellia. I wonder if you remember the super-smart me?”

Herellia listened to the old-looking branch’s question, the words it said bringing out memories in her mind in an instant. Looking through the surfaced memories, the aura radiating from Herellia had changed from vigilance to shock, her voice slightly quaking as she asked, “Harriott…is that really you?”

“Although I’ve sacrificed a ton of my power just to create a second body of myself, it is indeed me,” the old-looking branch replied to Herellia’s words before letting out a chuckle. Not long after, the old-looking branch let out a sigh of relief, “Fortunately, I was able to teach this skill I made to the leader of the Blossom Breeze Alliance and a few of their important members before Chonk struck.”

Hearing these words, Herellia’s shock had intensified, asking, “Cermalia…is also alive?”

Whoosh!

At the instant she finished asking those questions, a slightly crooked sapling moved beside to where the old-looking branch was, radiating an aura of happiness as it replied, “What? Do you seriously want to see us die that badly?”

Finding out that the two of them were alive all this time, Herellia could not help but radiate an aura of intense happiness as blood-red fluid started to drip from the eyes of the Crimson Spirit. The happiness she felt was too overwhelming, prompting her to scream, “Thank the heavens you two are alive!”

On the other hand, Aurus and Horell looked at this from a bystander’s viewpoint, with Aurus utilizing the soul connection he had with Horell as he asked, “Horell, do you know who Herellia is talking about?”

“Harriott, the leader of the Tempest Branch Alliance, and Cermalia, the leader of the Blossom Branch Alliance,” Horell replied to Aurus’s question before adding, “I don’t know how they did it, but they survived Chonk’s attacks at the cost of their power reverting to around B to A-grade Inanimate.”

“I see…” Aurus said after listening to Horell. Not long after, he pondered over a few things before telling Horell, “Well, I guess I won’t disturb Herellia’s reunion. I’m pretty sure you know a few important people from those alliances as well so go and greet them.”

Noticing the tone of slight indifference in Aurus’s words, Horell asked, “How about you? What are you going to do?”

“Me?” Aurus radiated an aura of slight happiness before replying, “As the vice leader of the alliance, shouldn’t I go ahead and tell the alliance members that we’ve won the war?”

Swoosh!

And so, without letting Horell reply, Aurus disappeared in front of Horell’s field of vision, with Horell letting out a short sigh before lightly chuckling. He then muttered, “You could’ve just told me that you were jealous, you know.”

…

Whoosh!

It did not take long for Aurus to arrive at the back of the alliance base, appearing in front of the alliance members who were still in an arrow formation all this time. At the very instant he had appeared in front of them, the alliance members hastily moved towards him, transforming the arrow formation into a circular formation that circled Aurus.

All of them were eager to know what had happened after they shot their strongest skills at the alliance leader. Nonetheless, since Aurus was the vice leader of the alliance, many of them were quite nervous to ask him this question. Fortunately for most of the alliance members, a decently sized tree came closer to Aurus, catching Aurus’s question as he asked the tree, ��What’s your name?”

“Verutia, Vice Leader,” the tree responded to his question, with Aurus remembering what Verutia had done in the war. Recalling this, he said, “Ah, you’re the leader of the party we sent out.”

“Yes,” Verutia briefly answered his question as she went silent for quite some time. Eventually, she mustered up her courage as she asked him, “Vice Leader, what happened…in the war?”

In response to this, Aurus went silent, making the alliance members feel that something bad has happened. He then teleported towards the back wall of the alliance base, hastily conjuring a decently sized portal that led to the main hall of the alliance base in about a minute or so.

Swish…swish…

At the instant the portal was successfully connected and conjured, Aurus focused his sense of vision towards the alliance members who were now in a semicircular formation around him. Not long after, he radiated an intense aura of happiness as he said, “Chonk is dead. Our alliance has won.”

“Now go back to the main hall and make Herellia’s feel the alliance’s victory!”

“…” A moment of silence spread throughout the alliance members for a few seconds until…

“Hooray for the Tempest Branch Alliance!”

“We won!”

“As expected from the Alliance Leader and Vice Leader!”

“Our alliance shall become the strongest alliance in Tempest Cliff!”

Incessant cheers soon came from the alliance members as they rushed towards the portal without hesitation, forcing Aurus to hover above the portal before lightly chuckling at what they were doing. It did not take long for all of the alliance members to cross the portal, leaving Aurus alone at the back of the alliance base a couple of minutes later.

After making sure that everyone had crossed the portal, he dispelled the portal before sending a message through a certain connection. A minute or so later, Aurus could vividly hear the sound of wings flapping, prompting him to look at the origin of that sound with an aura of happiness, saying, “Thanks for your help, Bell.”

Bell, who had just arrived at the back of the alliance base thanks to Aurus’s message, was slightly startled by Aurus’s abrupt show of gratitude, hastily composing himself a few seconds later as he replied, “Well, I did reap a few gains from sucking that rabbit and wolf, so I have to thank you as well.”

Not long after, Bell went ahead and lowered his altitude to a comfortable height, looking at Aurus at ‘eye level’. Just as Bell was feeling that the silence between them was awkward, Aurus went ahead and broke the silence as he asked, “With that now over, what are you going to do next?”

“Hmm…” Bell pondered Aurus’s question for a bit before answering, “I might go back to where I came from after I talk to you about some stuff.”

“Eh? That soon?” Aurus was slightly shocked at how fast Bell was going to leave, remembering that they talked about how Bell entered this place just some time ago. Just as Aurus was going to persuade him to stay, Bell went ahead and said, “Don’t try to persuade me. By the looks of it, I don’t even have enough strength to travel the whole world unhindered. I still have to get stronger.”

“Speaking of which,” Bell added. “You should go to that red spirit thing. No, wait, the branch with the red squiggly lines. They’re talking about something important right now.”

“How about you?” Aurus asked before adding, “Are you going to stay here?”

“Yeah,” Bell replied to his question in an instant. “Just send me a message through our connection once you’re done.”

“Alright then,” Aurus answered before letting out a short sigh. A few seconds later, Aurus had disappeared from Bell’s field of vision, leaving Bell alone to himself.

With him being alone, Bell could not help but mutter, “I can’t help but feel a resonance to this being. Perhaps…he has a system just like me?”

…

Whoosh!

It did not take long for Aurus to appear where Herellia and the others were at, with all of them radiating an aura of happiness and reminiscence as they continued to banter at the instant he arrived. Nevertheless, his appearance hadn’t gone unnoticed as Horell muttered, “Ah, Aurus. You’re back.”

Hearing these words, Herellia, who had already dispelled her Crimson Spirit form, turned to look at Aurus and said, “Great timing, Aurus. Anyways, why did you disappear for a bit?”

“I transported the alliance members back to the main hall,” Aurus replied to her question. He then added, “I’m pretty sure they’re just waiting for us to arrive.”

“I see,” Herellia responded to his answer, feeling great gratitude towards Aurus inside. Not long after, she then said, “Anyways, you truly did come at a great time. Harriott, the leader of the former Verdant Nut Alliance, Cermalia, the leader of the former Blossom Breeze Alliance, and I were thinking up of a name for the Tempest Branch Alliance.”

She then added, “We’ve decided to unite the three former alliances as one, each with their respective divisions so the Tempest Cliff could be safely protected. The problem is…”

“We’re having a hard time thinking up of a good name for this new alliance.”

“…” Aurus was left at a loss for words, wondering how three alliance leaders, with two of them previously being at the peak grades of an Inanimate, are having a hard time thinking up of a good name.

Eventually, he let out a sigh as he responded, “How about you fuse the names of the alliances into one good name?”

“So…Verdant Nut Blossom Breeze Tempest Branch Alliance?” This time, Harriott, the old-looking branch, responded to Aurus’s question with this answer. Cermalia, the slightly crooked sapling, soon responded to Harriott’s response, saying, “For someone who calls himself super smart, that’s not a super smart move.”

“Naming isn’t my forte, Cermalia. You know that already,” Harriott radiated an aura of slight annoyance towards Cermalia. Not long after, he then focused his sense of vision towards her and asked, “How about you? Do you have a good name?”

“Of course I do,” Cermalia let out a chuckle as she responded to his question. She then gathered the attention of everyone in the vicinity before saying, “How about we name the new alliance the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance? We have the word ‘Verdant’ from ‘Verdant Nut’, ‘Blossom’ from ‘Blossom Breeze’, and ‘Branch’ from ‘Tempest Branch’. Doesn’t it sound nice?”

Hearing the new name, Herellia hastily agreed to this suggestion, saying, “I like that name. I think we should go with it.”

Not long after, Horell voiced his opinion, saying, “Although it’s a bit wordy, it’s less wordy than Harriott’s suggestion. I think we should go with it as well.”

Aurus went ahead and voiced his opinion as well, saying, “I think I don’t have the authority to voice out my opinion, but that does sound nice. I think it’s a good name for the new alliance.”

Eventually, Harriott, the old-looking branch let out a sigh before saying, “I hate to admit it, but Cermalia, you seriously have a good knack for naming things. I love the name. Let’s go with it.”

Around half a minute later, the sticks and saplings that came with Harriott and Cermalia voiced out their agreements as well. With that, Herellia went ahead and said, “I guess everyone agrees with the name then. Let me officiate it.”

“With the power vested in me as the Tempest Branch Alliance’s leader, a new alliance shall be formed under the leadership of me, Harriott, and Cermalia.”

“Let the death of Chonk be the starting point of a new age in Tempest Cliff, a new age of peace.”

“I now announce to the heavens that the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance is born.”