I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 430: Realizing One’s Wrongs

“I…” Although Horell felt like accepting Aurus’s offer was the right decision, he could not help but feel a slight danger from it. With that in mind, Horell could not help but let out a light sigh as he told him, “I-I’m sorry, Aurus. I’ll have to reconsider it for now.”

After that, Horell respectfully bowed to the four before making his way out of the room. Sometime later, Herellia looked at Aurus for a bit before sending a strand of energy to him, containing a message within. Eventually, she respectfully bowed to the four as well, leaving the room about a couple of minutes after Horell left.

At that point, only Aurus and the four inheritance owners were left in the room, with the latter four staring at Aurus in silence. From what they could infer through the words spoken between the three of them, it seemed like something happened before they arrived. Noticing this as well, Aurus looked at the four before letting out a soft sigh, telling them in a slightly gentler tone than what he used to speak with, “We’ll have to postpone this conversation for a later time. Give us some time to sort this out.”

Hearing that, the four looked at each other for a bit in silence before collectively nodding. Soon after, Felix opened up a rift that the four passed through, exchanging a few strands of energy between one another that seemed to contain messages within them. A few seconds later, the rift was closed, leaving Aurus alone to himself as the dim moonlight from the large window shone down on him.

Letting out a long sigh, he laid down on his back as he stared out of the large window, muttering to himself, “Just when I thought I had it all together, it turns that I don’t.”

In his mind, he thought that he had already gotten over the rage and grief that came from the fact that Kurohana had turned Aurus into a weapon and that everything was a lie all this time. In fact, he also thought that he had it together while talking with Felix and the others. However, now that he had the time to mull about it, he realized that he was speaking in a manner that was slightly foreign to them, they just didn’t tell him.

He thought that, to them, he must’ve sounded like a crazed person aiming to achieve a goal that was fruitless in the end. Well, in a way, his end goal was kind of like that. After all, he would have to reach the Divinity level.

“In the height of my delusions, I even implicated Horell into my madness,” he muttered. “Then again, it would be nice if he and Herellia were there to accompany me on my journey.”

“I wonder why it’s so hard to move on,” he said a few seconds later, only to correct himself soon after. “No, moving on is always hard. I just deluded myself into thinking that it was that simple to forget about it.”

Letting out yet another sigh, he closed his eyes as he thought about how he would approach everything from now on. Right now, the thought of reaching the Divinity level as fast as possible was now pushed to the back of his mind, with his main priority now wondering how he could mend the relationships he had possibly broken just from this single meeting. After all, what’s the point of reaching the Divinity level if he had no one else to enjoy the feeling with?

Surprisingly, by the time he opened his eyes, the sun was already up, prompting Aurus to realize that he had been lying down on the floor for quite some time already. Standing up, he felt his back start to ache. In response, he did a bit of light stretching, albeit with a hint of difficulty due to the pain.

After that, he looked out of the window for a while, taking in deep breaths as he tried to make sure that he was like his usual self. Then again, he knew for a fact that it was difficult to do that after the event, so he aimed to become his self that was at least familiar enough to the others, not erratic like the Aurus they saw last night.

Slapping his face with both hands, he then headed out of the manor, walking around town to greet those that he had come across with a smile. Bit by bit, he felt his mind relax as the thought of revenge gradually disappeared for the meantime. By the time he had arrived at where Herellia and Horell were, the aura he gave off was now similar to how it was before the event.

As Herellia and Horell were both leaders of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance, they decided to help out in the development process of the town by acting as managers. With that, they were quite surprised to see Aurus appear in front of them in the middle of work.

Recalling what Herellia told him last night, he could not help but stand in place for a bit.

‘You’ve changed’ was all that Herellia told him last night, but that was more than enough of a wake-up call for him to realize that he had messed up somewhere. Seeing as to how the two were in the process of excusing themselves in order for them to leave the premises, Aurus went closer to them and said as he scratched his head, “I… I’m sorry for what happened last night.”

Hearing those words come out of him caught the two by surprise, making them wonder which Aurus they’ve interacted with was the real Aurus. With the two now staying to listen to him, Aurus knew very well to not pass up on the opportunity, continuing to apologize as he said, “I’ve been rash in my decisions last night. After all, I’ve gone through quite a few things before you two arrived at my room. However, that doesn’t excuse me from the fact that I treated you two badly. In fact, I’m also planning to apologize to the four sometime later, telling them that the Aurus they were talking to wasn’t in the right frame of mind.”

“However, you two have been with the actual Aurus for the longest time, so I felt like it was just right for me to apologize to you two first.” At this point, Aurus was now looking at the ground, wondering if the two would even forgive him. Fortunately, two hands were placed on his shoulder, prompting him to slowly looking up, seeing that Horell and Herellia were looking at him with smiles on their faces. After that, they hit him with statements that could not help but make him laugh in the end.

“I may be an Animate, but I still don’t get how emotions work for the most part. However, one thing’s for sure. You’ve realized that you did something wrong and owned up to it. That alone is enough for me to realize that the Aurus we’ve known so far hasn’t disappeared,” Herellia said.

“Unlike our leader right here, I do know how to read emotions somewhat, so I know you’re feeling guilt right now,” Horell said, letting out an awkward chuckle as he continued, “To be honest, seeing you in that state was kind of scary, so I decided to leave. With that, I want to apologize as well. However, I’m really glad that you seem to have control over your emotions again, unlike last night.”

“And uh…” Twiddling with his fingers, he asked, “Is the offer of transitioning into an Animate still available? I’m pretty sure that even though you were like that, there’s some truth in their words you spoke.”

“But of course,” Aurus chuckled as he replied, nodding at Horell. “The part where I told everyone that you two are important variables in my plan is not a lie. However, it’s not in the way you think.”

Wrapping his arms around the shoulders of the two, he continued, “After all, don’t you think it’s boring if I’m the only one striving to reach the Divinity level?”

Hearing that, Herellia and Horell could not help but look at each other for a bit before letting out a hint of laughter. Sometime later, Aurus laughed as well, allowing a joyous atmosphere to spread throughout.

After a while, Aurus let go of the two as Herellia could not help but say, “It seems we’ve gotten our Aurus back.”

“For the most part. After all, I’m not sure if I really have it under control.” Aurus wryly smiled in response. “If I do return to that state, do tell me.”

“Naturally.” Horell and Herellia nodded in response.

“So, great town leader, what are you planning to do now? Contact the four benefactors and apologize to them?” Horell asked not long after, to which Aurus shook his head in response. Instead, he told them something that left them slightly confused. Nevertheless, with the aura of confidence surrounding him, it seemed that Aurus was adamant in doing this first.

“Although that’s a great idea, I did say that I’m going to do that later. For now, I’m going to…”

“Head to the Origin Pantheon!”