I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 377: Progress on Two Paths

“The Heaven’s Element potions? Is there a problem with them?” Just as Argentum mentioned that Helios had come here because of the Heaven’s Element potions, Felix was the first one to voice out his worries. Well, it didn’t come too much of a surprise since he was an alchemist, just like Helios. With that, he had a feeling that Helios had come here since he had probably found a way to improve the efficacy of the Heaven’s Element potions even further.

Hearing Felix’s question, Argentum shook his head as he clarified the doubts Felix and Eleanor had in their minds, telling them, “No, there’s no problem with them at all.”

He then pointed at Felix as he continued, “In fact, even if there was a problem with the potions themselves, either you or Helios would have told me about it already.”

“The reason why Helios came here was because of, as I’ve said before, the distribution of the Heaven’s Element potions,” Argentum said as he returned to the original topic. “Just like you, Eleanor, and Rosalia, Helios is now a benefactor of Verdant Breeze Town, in charge of selling Heaven’s Wind Potions.”

“But just as me and Rosalia were about to leave his inheritance, Helios offered to sell some of the potions you three concocted in order to obtain more funds for the development of the town. With that, I brought him here to check and see if there would be any problems with that.”

Listening to Argentum’s words, both Felix and Eleanor looked at each other with slightly solemn auras surrounding them, seemingly thinking about the suggestion Argentum gave them. They then looked at Rosalia, who seemed to have accepted the suggestion already. Then again, both of them knew that Rosalia was quite close to Helios, so she didn’t have too much of a problem letting Helios sell a portion of the potions she concocted.

After going silent for a bit, Eleanor gestured to Felix to ask more about the suggestion, to which Felix lightly sighed before asking Helios, “Say, Helios. How much of the potions we sell would we be giving to you?”

“Half of the potions you guys currently sell. Any less than that, and I wouldn’t bear to call myself the business-savvy Tempest King,” Helios replied with an air of slight arrogance around him.

Hearing Helios’s words, Argentum could not help but send a strand of energy to Rosalia, privately asking her, “Although I didn’t think it was a problem while we were in the inheritance, isn’t selling half of Felix and Eleanor’s potions basically making him sell twice as much potions as any of you would normally sell?”

In response, Rosalia replied to Argentum’s question with a shrug. “Remember that he’s narcissistic.”

Being reminded of that once more, Argentum knowingly nodded before looking back at Felix and Eleanor, who were still pondering over what they should do regarding the distribution of Heaven’s Element potions.

“Is there any reason as to why you should be selling a portion of the potions we create? Surely we can sell them on our own, no?” This time, it was Eleanor’s turn to ask.

“Yes, but would you obtain the same level of profits as I, the great profiteer Tempest King, can achieve?” Helios replied, still with an air of arrogance surrounding him.

“You…” Although Eleanor wanted to punch Helios in the head right there and then, she controlled herself as she took in a few deep breaths. Sure, he may be arrogant and overly narcissistic, but in the world of business, he was definitely top-tier.

Seeing as Helios wouldn’t take no for an answer, Felix decided to just go with the flow, inwardly accepting the proposition. Nevertheless, he asked, “Where would the profits of the potions we give you go?”

“Towards the development of the town,” Argentum was the one to reply this time. “Of course, to make his effort worthwhile, we’ve decided earlier that part of the profits that come from the selling of your potions would go to him.”

“I have no problems with that.” With his doubts clarified, Felix decided to go ahead with it as he shrugged his shoulders, leaving Eleanor as the only one who hasn’t made a decision yet. Though, being the only one to not make a decision, it gave her some pressure as to whether or not she should accept it.

Fortunately, Eleanor decided to do the same thing, shrugging her shoulders as she let out a sigh, warning Helios, “If you make less than what I could achieve with my Heaven’s Fire potions, then don’t be surprised if I decide to stop giving you my share.”

“I wouldn’t be called the business-savvy Tempest King for no—” Just as Helios was about to respond to Eleanor’s words with yet another of his narcissistic lines, Argentum stopped him just in time as he said, “And with that, this topic is now over.”

“Felix, Rosalia, Helios, you guys can head back to your inheritances now,” he said soon after, to which Felix and Rosalia nodded in response as they bade farewell sometime later. With that, only Eleanor and Helios were the only inheritance owners left inside the Flame Spirit Inheritance, which left Argentum somewhat confused.

At this moment, he could not help but remember their earlier interaction, wondering to himself, ‘Could it be that…?’

Sadly, his thoughts did not become a reality as Eleanor told the two of them, “Could you leave the inheritance? I have something to do.”

Sensing the slight hint of annoyance in her tone, Argentum nodded as he replied, “Alright then.”

After that, he looked at Helios and asked, “Shouldn’t you be heading back to the Heaven’s Gust Inheritance, Tempest King?”

Surprisingly, Helios shook his head in response as he told him, “It’s been a while since I last left the Heaven’s Gust Inheritance. It has probably been a couple of centuries since then.”

“In any case, I’m quite curious as to what kind of town you own would have so much sway on inheritance owners like me, the great Tempest King.”

“So, you want me to give you a tour of the town?” Argentum asked, to which Helios nonchalantly replied, “But of course. I need to know where this divine being’s profits are being invested towards.”

Hearing that, Argentum just shrugged his shoulders as he and Helios bade farewell to Eleanor. After exiting the Flame Spirit Inheritance, Helios then wrapped both him and Argentum in a cocoon of Wind energy particles as Argentum pointed the direction of Verdant Breeze Town to him.

Just as it took only a couple of hours for Helios, Rosalia, and Argentum to reach the Flame Spirit Inheritance, it took an even shorter time for the two of them to arrive at the entrance of Verdant Breeze Town, whose streets were surprisingly bright even at this time of the night.

Hastily activating [False Visage of the Animate] as they slowly descended in front of the town’s gates, Argentum could not help but mutter, “Why are the streets so brightly lit at this time?”

“Oh! It’s the leader!” Just as he could ponder over the matter even further, one of the town’s guards patrolling over the town’s walls noticed Argentum and Helios standing there. Without hesitation, that guard called the attention of the other town guards to let Argentum and Helios in.

Of course, they were curious as to who Helios was. But since Argentum seemed to be in a pensive state, they decided to rein in their curiosities.

Then again, the same couldn’t be said for Argentum, who was left at a loss for words after he noticed that quite a certain amount of people in town were busily moving through the streets, with some holding papers, some holding materials, and some even holding tools.

“What’s going on?” Argentum could not help but ask the town guard that allowed them to enter. With a salute, that town guard replied, “After you mentioned the development projects that the town would undergo while you are the leader, quite a great portion of the town’s population has proactively decided to help out in those projects.”

Taking in a quick breath, the town guard continued, “Although almost all of the projects you have explained in the town meeting earlier today have been started on, the project that has received the most participation is the streetlight and road renovation project you mentioned at the end.”

With the town guard mentioning this, Argentum then went ahead and focused his attention on the roads and the streetlights, noticing that they seem to look more modern than before. Of course, it wasn’t as modern as the streets of modern Earth, but it was still far better than its previous state, which looked incredibly decrepit.

As he walked along the streets of Verdant Breeze Town beside Helios, he could not help but notice that two people were more active than the others, seeing them give out orders every once in a while as they talked about the development projects he had given them. Surprisingly, those two people were none other than Delmann and Valstra, the vice leader and the secretary of Verdant Breeze Town.

Seeing how Argentum looked to be at a loss for words while looking at them, Helios went silent for a bit before telling him, “You want to talk to them, right? Go ahead, I’ll just take a tour of the town myself.”

Hearing that, Argentum thanked Helios, making sure to use words of flattery before the two parted ways. Argentum then headed to where Delmann and Valstra, noticing that quite a few stacks of parchment have been placed near them.

With him being greeted every once in a while by the people, Delmann and Valstra had already noticed the arrival of Argentum, prompting Delmann to ask, “Sir Argentum, why are you here? Didn’t you tell us you were going out for a few days.”

“I’ve already taken care of what I needed to do. It had finished earlier than I thought,” Argentum replied before asking, “Forget about me for now. What are you two doing?”

“Well, before you left us two, you told us to create a policy that would help make sure that the Livelihood Incentivization Law isn’t being abused,” Delmann replied, to which Valstra continued, “Though, just as we were about to go ahead and do so, quite a few of the townspeople decided to ask us when the development projects were going to start.”

“With that, we talked with each other for a bit before deciding to go ahead with the smallest project of them all, the renovation of roads and streetlights. Though, to make things a bit easier, we also started preparing for the three main projects you mentioned earlier in the town meeting, Sir Argentum.”

Noticing that this was the first question Argentum asked them, Delmann could not help but think of the worst-case scenario as he asked, “Is there…a problem with us doing this, Sir Argentum?”

“A problem? No, not at all,” Argentum hastily replied before lightly smiling. “I’ve quite happy to see that the town has proactively made a move to start the development projects. Though, as the town’s leader, don’t you think I should make a contribution as well?”

Seeing that they weren’t mad at him at all, but rather wanting to help out in the development process, Delmann and Valstra looked at each other before beaming bright smiles towards Argentum as the three of them went ahead and worked on the development projects with the townspeople.

In the midst of doing so, unknowingly, two weeks have passed since then. Compared to the previous state of Verdant Breeze Town, it could have been said to be a miracle for the town to drastically look better in the span of two weeks. Nevertheless, it had been done under the leadership of the three leaders of Verdant Breeze Town.

At the moment, Argentum was sitting on top of his bed as he gradually increased his mastery over the element of Lesser Origin. While doing so, a knock could be heard from the other side of the door, to which he responded, “Come in.”

Creak.

Slowly opening the door, Valstra appeared in front of Argentum, who was still more or less focused on circulating the element of Lesser Origin. Nevertheless, he ignored that as he told him, “Sir Argentum, we’ve obtained news that the townspeople have found an iron ore vein only ten kilometers from here, 10 degrees south-southwest. Would you like to head there and check it out?”

Hearing that, Argentum opened his eyes as he stopped circulating the elements. With a light stretch, he then looked at Valstra with a smile as he told him, “Lead the way, then.”

“As you wish, Sir Argentum.”

…

Maerr-viki Continent, Tempest Cliff, inside the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance.

While Argentum was fully focused on the development of Verdant Breeze Town these past two weeks, another being had instead focused on improving their combat power at Tempest Cliff.

Ding!

As a notification sound resounded throughout the large stone room, a jade-like being opened its eyes as it let out a long sigh, muttering to itself, “Finally. After two long weeks, I’ve finally maxed out [Purification of Noble Blood].”

With a slight grunt, the jade-like being slowly got up before starting to stretch its body. Of course, this being was none other than Aurus.

After commanding the system to show him the effects of a maxed-out [Purification of Noble Blood], Aurus could not help but nod in satisfaction as he focused his attention on the other skills he had obtained, muttering to himself, “With [Purification of Noble Blood] maxed out, I can finally use that other skill and give Herellia and the others a decent boost to their stats.”

“Then again, I should probably focus on myself a bit more before doing that.”

“Hmm…what should I do next?”

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