I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 423: Discussing the Future

Maerr-viki Continent, inside the Seraph Kingdom.

A couple of days have passed since the eventful battle between the being that called himself The Great Calamity and the Transcendent level guardian of the Seraph Kingdom. In a surprising turn of events, rather than fight against the guardian of the kingdom until one of them died, the one called The Great Calamity eventually decided to surrender, prompting multiple of the bystanders to ponder as to what was going on in the being’s head when he decided to end their fight that way.

Nevertheless, as it was a rare occasion for a fight of that scale to ever occur in their kingdom, or the entire continent even, a great portion of the masses went ahead and made sure to remember the fight in their own ways. May it be making novels, creating poems that would be told by bards over multiple cities, or forming works of art like paintings and statues that captured the feeling of the fight itself, these things had boomed in popularity within the territory of the Seraph Kingdom, with the kingdom itself even supporting it.

As to why the kingdom had decided to support it, it was due to the massive amount of money that was needed to restore the various settlements that had been destroyed by The Great Calamity along its way to the Seraph Kingdom itself. After all, to build a small village would already cost a great amount of gold coins, not to mention towns and cities, which were villages of far grander scale.

Unsurprisingly, the capital, which had received its own fair share of damage from the nigh cataclysmic event, had been able to repair the damage it had received, thanks to the help of the Arcana Tower. Of course, the royal family watching over the kingdom also made sure that the capital was repaired as soon as possible, lest the other kingdoms of the continent decide to strike their capital while they had one knee down.

While all of that was happening, two incredibly powerful figures looked at each other in silence as they sat in one of the multiple prestigious halls of the Seraph Kingdom’s royal palace. On one side was a man that exuded all of the characteristics that a great ruler would have. On the other was a man that exuded the same qualities. In fact, if one looked closely, the two looked similar to one another.

“So, how’s the recovery efforts of the kingdom going, Zeldrion?” As Wilhelm took a sip from the cup of warm milk that was prepared for him, he asked this question to his grandson.

“Fortunately, with the help of the Arcana Tower, as well as Dalton, we were able to restore the capital back to its original state before the fight happened within a day.” Not beating around the bush, Zeldrion quickly replied. “As for the settlements that the Inanimate had destroyed while making its way to the kingdom, the cities would take highest priority, followed by the towns, then the villages.”

“To think that an Inanimate could unleash such levels of power. A Spiriveritas is truly a terrifying existence once left alone,” Wilhelm could not help but say in response, slightly shuddering over the possibility of Erudis having a kill order when they met. It was just his luck that Erudis had arrived at the continent without consulting the others. If not, then it was a given that the Seraph Kingdom would have ceased to exist on that day.

“In any case, I’d suggest focusing on the villages first. Although all of the people in the villages that were destroyed had been killed by that Inanimate, it would allow us to foster better relations with the people,” he said soon after, to which Zeldrion could only nod in response.

After looking at each other in silence for a bit more, Wilhelm eventually let out a sigh before saying, “Talking to you like this reminds me of how tiring it is to keep up a formal facade. Don’t you think it would be better for us to relax?”

“You know, you could’ve said that earlier, Grandfather,” Zeldrion said in response, letting out a light chuckle. Soon after, Wilhelm let out a bit of laughter as well. A few seconds later, with the atmosphere in the hall they were in now more relaxed than before, Wilhelm went ahead and asked his grandson, “So, how much of the Principle you obtained have you grasped?”

“Around half,” Zeldrion succinctly replied. “After all, it’s only been a couple of days since I had come to recognize that I’ve obtained a Principle. I think I’ll be able to fully master it within a month or so and ascend to the Transcendent level after that.”

“Sounds about right.” Wilhelm nodded in response. “When I was trying to break through to the Transcendent level back then, it took me around a month as well to fully master my control over the Principle. I think you’d be able to shave off a week and a half if you focus all of your time towards mastering your Principle.”

“You know very well I can’t do that, Grandfather.” Zeldrion wryly smiled. “As the current king of the Seraph Kingdom, it’s still my duty to oversee the various problems that the kingdom faces, even if I can relegate some of them to other people. Naturally, if I were able to focus all of my time into mastering my Principle, then I’m certain I would be able to master it within two weeks.”

“All the more reason you should bring that war for the throne forward, Zeldrion,” Wilhelm could not help but say in response. “Once one of your children take your position as king, you wouldn’t have to worry about managing the kingdom anymore, allowing you to concentrate all of your energy towards ascending to the Transcendent level.”

Hearing that, Zeldrion could not help but ponder over it for a bit in silence, taking a few sips from the cup of tea placed in front of him. Eventually, he shook his head, saying, “Although I could not agree more to your proposition, I’d rather stick to the previous schedule I’ve already planned for the war for the throne. After all, what’s delaying my ascension to the Transcendent level by half a year going to do? At most, I would have a stronger foundation, making the tribulation to the Transcendent level slightly harder.”

“If I decide to move the event forward, then that would make it harder for me to find out who among my children truly think of the betterment of the kingdom,” he continued. “So far, I’ve already found out that one of my children has decided to collude with an opposing kingdom. Don’t you think that’s a bit interesting?”

“Truly an intriguing situation,” Wilhelm said in response, rubbing his chin soon after. “In any case, you’re the king, so I won’t meddle into matters like that too much.”

“However… what are you planning to do with the Inanimate?” he asked soon after, prompting Zeldrion to stand up from his seat with a light smile on his face.

After a while, Zeldrion started to head towards another part of the palace, prompting Wilhelm to finish the cup of milk served for him before quickly following behind his grandson. As they were not in a race against time, they took quite a while to arrive at the destination Zeldrion had in mind. Surprisingly, they stopped at the lowest underground floor of the royal palace.

On it, one would see a room filled to the brim with amenities that would allow a person to live their lives with great contentment, giving the person the feeling that they did not even have to set foot on the outside world. In it was a being that had skin the color of jade green, idyllically looking out through a screen that was connected to the outside world through magic.

As the door to the room was opened by Zeldrion, with Wilhelm following behind him, Aurus could not help but look at the people that had entered his room, radiating a faint aura of happiness as he could not help but say, “Who knew I would get visitors at this point in time?”

“Were we disturbing you, Verdante?” Zeldrion could not help but ask in response as Wilhelm closed the door to the room. Hearing the king’s question, Aurus shook his head, saying, “To be honest, I would not mind staying in this place forever if that were possible.”

“But since you’ve come here, it seems it’s time for you to bare your true fangs at me.”

“You have quite keen senses, Verdante,” Wilhelm said in response, lightly sighing soon after. “In any case, the reason why I captured you in the first place was not because of some purpose I had in mind. Instead, you should ask my grandson over here.”

After Wilhelm was finished talking, Aurus went ahead and focused his attention towards Zeldrion. “So? What are you planning to do with me?”

“We… err…” As Zeldrion tried to think about how he would respond to Aurus’s question, he could not help but twiddle his thumbs. Eventually, he decided to get straight to the point, saying with a light sigh, “We plan to turn you into the main material of a weapon we aim to forge.”

“Well, I was already expecting that much,” Aurus said in response, his tone indifferent, slightly catching the two off guard. Seeing as the aura surrounding him changed to that of acceptance, Zeldrion could not help but say, “I don’t know what came over me while we were clashing blades, prompting me to think up of this idea, but let me just say that I want to apologize to you in advance.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. After all, I’ve destroyed quite a lot of your settlements. Being used as a material for a weapon can be considered as my just desserts,” Aurus replied. “Can I ask you a few questions regarding the weapon?”

“We’re all ears,” Wilhelm quickly said in response, prompting Aurus to nod as he asked, “Once I’ve been forged into a weapon, where will I be used?”

“You shall become the supreme heirloom of the Seraph family, being the blade that would always accompany the ruler of the Seraph Kingdom,” Zeldrion replied. “But before then, you shall become the grand reward for the victor in the war for the throne being held in the near future.”

Nodding in response to Zeldrion’s words, Aurus then asked, “Will I be treated badly?”

“Of course not,” Zeldrion answered once more. “As you’re the supreme heirloom, it would be better to say that no one would dare to treat you badly. After all, your soul would still remain once you’ve been forged into a weapon.”

“Alright, here’s my final question,” Aurus said soon after, eliciting a hint of laughter from the two as he was finished asking.

“Will the forging process hurt?”

“Not at all.”

“You’re totally lying.”

“Hehehe… who knows?”

…

Celestial Plane, inside Kurohana’s plane.

Seeing that the image on the orb in front of her was now of Aurus confronting the higher-ups of the Seraph Kingdom, Kurohana could not help but let out a loud cackle in great joy, eventually bellowing with a tone of glee, “Finally! He’s finally coming back to me!”

Feeling incredibly giddy from the sheer happiness she felt, she could not help but move around a bit, even going so far as to throw a punch with all of her power into it. Unfortunately, a couple of galaxies were in the trajectory of her punch, with their final result utterly decimated into nothingness.

Sensing that, Shirohana, Kurohana’s clone, could not help but open her eyes and say with a slight frown, “Can’t you control your excitement?”

“You think I can control this happiness I’m feeling? I’ve waited for quite a long time, okay? I’ve waited for around over a month for this to wrap up. Any longer and I would’ve probably lost it,” Kurohana said in response before pointing at her clone. “In any case, don’t lie to me, Shirohana. I can see for a fact that you’re just raring to go out and use the weapon.”

“Alright, alright, you caught me,” Shirohana replied, letting out a chuckle. After a bit, she then asked Kurohana, “How long do you think it would take for the process to finish?”

“At the latest, we’ll be able to obtain it tomorrow,” she replied. Factoring in the time difference between the world of Erudinia and the Celestial Plane, with one day being equivalent to over a week, this was the conclusion she had arrived at. “They have to gather their best people, after all.”

“In any case, we’ll finally have something against those—” Before Kurohana could finish her sentence, an orb appeared in front of her, showing a mature woman that emanated the feeling of darkness. In fact, it wouldn’t be a lie to say that she was the epitome of darkness.

“Kurohana, are you busy right now?” the woman asked.

“Not really, Nix. Why?” Kurohana asked in response.

“We’ve obtained reports from our scouting team that there seems to be a small skirmish at one of the outer regions of the Celestial Plane,” Nix replied. “If left ignored, this small skirmish could possibly serve as an entry point for the demons. In other words, we’re basically giving them a foothold if we ignore it.”

“In other words, you want me to join in on the fight? Do they have a True Demon God on their side?” Kurohana could not help but ask soon after.

“No, but one of the Depraved Deities could have the chance to transform into one,” Nix answered. “We’re just trying to stay on the safe side here, Kurohana. After all, you already have experience in fighting against demons.”

“So, what would it be, Kurohana? Would you like to join?”

“Hmm… although I would have normally accepted your offer, I’d have to decline right now. I have something special coming up, you see.”

“And what would that special something be?”

“Hehe~ That’ll have to be a secret for now.”