Chapter 279 - Welcome Back (2/2)

”Hm?” As a familiar voice to Argentum resounded from the main hall, he could not help but focus his sense of vision on the one who spoke, being greeted with the sight of a large branch with red veins all over it while it radiated a dense yet somewhat beautiful crimson red aura. Naturally, this large branch was none other than Herellia, the leader of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance.

Thanks to Horell stalling for time, Herellia was able to amass enough energy to utilize the skill she had used in the war against Chonk. Unfortunately for her, even though she came to the entrance of the alliance as fast as possible, the fight was already over, with Horell being defeated. But just as she thought that the being in front of Horell was about to intrude into the alliance, she then heard the being mention the name of someone quite close to her.

”What is your relationship with Aurus?” she asked not long after as a follow-up to her previous words. In response, Argentum pondered as to whether he should say the same words he told Horell a while ago before deciding to switch it up a bit. With that in mind, he replied, ”From a certain perspective, you can say that Aurus and I are one and the same.”

”Is that true?” Herellia looked at the worn-out Horell and asked, to which the latter took in a few deep breaths to compose himself before replying, ”He told me a while ago that he and Aurus were blood brothers, but I decided to doubt the idea and fight off against him.”

”To be honest, that was incredibly stupid,” Argentum could not help but say in response to Horell's words before adding, ”That decision of yours is very unlike you, Horell.”

”Wait…” Hearing his name being mentioned by someone he did not know, Horell could not help but let out an aura of disbelief, with Herellia doing the same as the killing intent surrounding her had immediately dissipated. It took a few seconds for them to snap back to reality, yet they were still in utter disbelief.

In response to Argentum's words, Horell cautiously asked him, ”How do you…know my name?”

”As I've said, you can consider me and Aurus to be one and the same,” Argentum replied to his question before looking at Herellia and saying, ”Of course, I recognize you as well, Herellia. To someone like me, the leader of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance is quite the prominent figure.”

”How…” And just like Horell, Herellia was left at a loss for words after hearing her name being mentioned by the being in front of him. As for Argentum, he could not help but inwardly be happy as he found that his on-the-spot thought of mentioning their names had actually helped out.

Taking in a few deep breaths to ease her shock, Herellia eventually calmed down before looking at Argentum and asked, ”What's your name? And what do you mean by you and Aurus being one and the same?”

”My name is Argentum, and well…” At first, Argentum replied by using his voice, but just as he was about to answer the second question Herellia asked, he opted to send a strand of energy to her instead before saying, ”What I mean by that is…”

”I'm Aurus's clone. The trump card that he was hiding in the war.”

”Ah?” Rather than utilizing energy to respond, Herellia could not help but utter a sound of shock after listening to Argentum's words, making Horell look at her peculiarly for a bit. Fortunately, she hastily composed herself before sending back a strand of her own to Argentum, asking, ”How could I believe you?”

Of course, hearing that the being in front of her was a clone of Aurus brought her a lot of joy as Aurus was still unconscious. Nevertheless, she still had to make sure that this being in front of him was speaking the truth, lest she wanted to put the alliance in grave danger. Naturally, Argentum had the same idea in mind, deciding that a certain skill Herellia had would be the best way to prove his innocence.

Sending a strand of energy back, he replied, ”Use your [Eyes of Undeceiving Truth] on me, then. Wouldn't that be enough to show you that my words aren't lies?”

Hearing the name of one of her skills being mentioned by Argentum, Herellia could not help but become biased at the thought of Argentum actually being a clone of Aurus, although she went ahead and suppressed this urge to accept Argentum into the alliance without verification as she radiated an aura of affirmation before using [Eyes of Undeceiving Truth] on him.

It did not take long for Herellia to find out the truth, prompting her to radiate an aura of immense elation…which she hastily suppressed as it did not fit her image as the Supreme Leader of the alliance. Nevertheless, she was still inwardly happy that Argentum was actually an ally of the alliance, wanting to ask him multiple questions soon after.

But just as she was about to do so, Argentum went ahead and sent a message to her through a strand of energy, as if he had read her mind.

”I know you're eager to ask me a lot of questions, but let's save that for later. How about you let me enter the alliance first?” Argentum said through the strand, to which Herellia had no qualms with as she said without utilizing an energy strand, ”Alright.”

She then looked at Horell for a bit before saying, ”Horell, make sure to apologize to Argentum later. I'll explain the details to you once I bring him to where he wants to go.”

Although Horell was quite curious as to what the two were talking about through strands of energy, Horell had finally returned his previous personality as he solemnly nodded, ”Alright, then.”

”As for you, Argentum,” Herellia said not long after before focusing her sense of vision at Argentum. ”Follow me. I'll lead you to where Aurus is.”

”Understood,” Argentum said in response before following Herellia as he noticed that she was already heading towards the small ecosystem of the alliance.

While making their way to the ecosystem, Herellia could not help but feel incredibly happy since to her, it felt like the alliance was back to normal. With that in mind, she could not help but mutter to herself in a soft yet happy tone…

”Welcome back…”

”Aurus.”

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