Chapter 1009: Alternate Timeline: Nexus Exposition (10)

The winner was Wilheim.

The very first merchant who had shown interest earlier.

At this moment, joy practically overflowed across his face as Noah approached with the contract.

Some people looked at this merchant enviously.

Some mocked him inwardly.

Some admired his boldness.

And some...

Thought he was an absolute fool.

Among them...

Gideon Crescent clearly belonged to the final category.

As soon as the contract exchange ended, Gideon calmly revealed the reasoning behind his earlier withdrawal to Prince Ayush beside him.

"The Executioner appears impressive as it sounds," he said quietly while resting his chin against folded fingers, "yet appearances often deceive people just as painted gold deceives hungry beggars."

Prince Ayush frowned slightly.

Gideon continued calmly.

"The Shotgun already exists."

"And according to my investigation into Kiara’s store, any customer whose purchases exceed ten thousand gold coins can freely purchase Shotguns afterward."

Only then did realization strike Prince Ayush.

His eyes widened slightly.

"So that means... That merchant wasted over fifty thousand gold coins?"

Even as he spoke, disbelief filled his face completely.

Fifty thousand gold coins.

Even within the Aryavarta Empire, such a sum could not be dismissed lightly.

Much less by someone like him who lacked real authority.

He instinctively glanced toward Wilheim, whose foolish grin had not faded even slightly.

Then toward the other merchants who had participated fanatically.

"There is clearly something wrong with these people’s heads..."

Prince Ayush genuinely believed the merchants of the Phoenix Empire had gone insane.

They might not possess the monstrous wealth of Aryavarta’s great merchant houses... Yet they spent money like drunken gamblers throwing coins into rivers.

However...

Very soon...

He realized he had underestimated them badly.

Because the madness only intensified afterward.

"116,000 once..."

"Twice..."

Tok!

"Sold."

"Congratulations, Number 32, for acquiring Tigon-3."

"27,500 once..."

"Twice..."

Tok!

"Congratulations, Number 7, for acquiring Tigon-4."

"68,000 once..."

"Twice..."

Tok!

"Congratulations, Number 14, for acquiring Tigon-5."

"46,000 once..."

"Twice..."

Tok!

"Congratulations, Number 26, for acquiring Tigon-1A."

"258,000 once..."

"Twice..."

Tok!

"Congratulations, Number 9, for acquiring Tigon-2A."

For more than an hour, the merchants completely dominated the battlefield called the auction hall.

The Noble House representatives gradually stopped competing.

Even foreign merchants and kings withdrew repeatedly.

The merchants had abandoned all restraint now.

They no longer attempted clever tricks.

No longer waited patiently.

Instead, they lunged toward opportunity like starving wolves tearing into meat.

And then...

Kiara finally revealed one of the weapons that almost everyone desired.

The moment the long rifle appeared upon the podium, silence quietly spread throughout the hall.

Even Emperor Alexander straightened slightly.

Arceus deliberately allowed the atmosphere to settle before speaking.

"Behold... One of the prized weapons of Nexus Weapon Store."

"The sniper rifle..."

"Tigon-5A."

His voice echoed across the hall.

"This firearm possesses the ability to eliminate targets accurately from distances exceeding five kilometers."

Even though everyone already knew its details from the exhibition hall earlier, Arceus intentionally repeated its greatest strength once again to ignite further excitement.

And it worked perfectly.

"The price per rifle is 270 gold coins."

"One hundred units available immediately."

"Minimum assured annual order of ten thousand."

"The starting bid... twenty-five thousand gold coins."

"The buyout price..."

"Two hundred and fifty thousand."

The instant the buyout timer began...

Paddles shot upward everywhere.

More than thirteen participants declared immediate interest in the buyout.

Even Arceus himself became slightly stunned.

These people possessed wealth beyond what most major noble houses could imagine.

And then...

For the very first time since the auction started... Alexander Phoenix personally raised his paddle.

The atmosphere shifted immediately.

Meanwhile, Gideon quietly withdrew once again.

He already predicted where this madness would end.

And he was correct.

At first, competition remained orderly.

Controlled.

But once the price crossed half a million gold coins...

One merchant after another withdrew unwillingly.

Eventually...

Only two participants remained.

Alexander Phoenix, the seasoned Emperor.

And Phaethon Solaris, a child king who isn’t even considered a teenager.

Yet, neither side wished to surrender.

Neither side could tolerate defeat before foreign powers.

At that point, the auction ceased to be business.

It became pride.

A battle between the Phoenix Empire and the Solaria kingdom without blades.

It became a war fought through gold.

The numbers climbed relentlessly while the atmosphere grew hotter and hotter.

Until finally...

Under Grand Secretariat Quenric’s persuasion, Alexander Phoenix reluctantly withdrew for the sake of preserving resources for future items.

And thus...

The Tigon-5A ultimately fell into Solaria Kingdom’s hands for the terrifying price of 875,000 gold coins.

If not for Quenric’s intervention...

The bidding may truly have surpassed one million.

Watching all of this unfold, Kiara could barely suppress her excitement anymore.

Her original strategy had succeeded beautifully. It was for this very reason that she invited the foreign powers. The Noble houses and the merchants, also the martial clans... all of them might be too reluctant to fight an auction war with Emperor Alexander, but the foreign rulers wouldn’t hesitate at all, even if there was friendship between them.

She intends to milk these wealthy monsters dry.

And beyond the profits...

Another emotion quietly rose within her chest.

Pride.

A strange yet satisfying pride.

These were her weapons.

Her designs.

Not the system’s.

Yes, the system might create them, but it was she who designed them.

As a weapon designer, only she knows the frustration of just becoming a weapon seller, selling the system’s generic weapons. Before the factory function was unlocked, she actually thought she wouldn’t be able to bring her designs to life at all. After all, manufacturing firearms would need a complicated machinery setup, which she couldn’t build in this medieval world.

If not for the goal of vengeance, by now Kiara would have been busy creating more and more designs and experimenting more.

And now, watching rulers, merchants, and empires fighting desperately over them, a smile appeared on her face.

Soon afterward, the Chimera SGM appeared.

It was the very first firearm Kiara designed after awakening within this body.

Naturally, expectations rose inside her heart.

She genuinely believed it would exceed one million gold coins.

After all, it could be considered an ultimate firearm in her view.

Unfortunately...

Reality disappointed her slightly.

The rights for this quad-barreled weapon sold for only 327,000 gold coins.

Then came the Ether Pistol.

The only ether weapon sold within the store.

A unique firearm capable of launching ether bullets carrying peak 2-star rank power.

Kiara once again expected fierce competition.

Yet the final result was merely 56,000 gold coins.

A trace of disappointment finally surfaced across her face.

The last two items had failed to meet expectations.

To calm herself down, Kiara finally announced a fifteen-minute intermission before the vehicle auction began.

As she and Arceus left toward the waiting room quietly together, Noah immediately instructed the robots to continue serving wine, tea, and refreshments to the guests while the noisy atmosphere of the auction hall buzzed endlessly with discussions about firearms, profits, and their influence in the near future.

As Wester Silver stood silently before the entrance of the waiting room like an unmoving black tower wrapped beneath heavy armor, making sure no guest, servant, or curious noble disturbed the two people inside, Kiara and Arceus finally allowed themselves a brief moment of rest after the exhausting first phase of the auction, their bodies sinking into the softness of the cushioned seats.

Arceus lifted the glass and drank water slowly, his throat still slightly strained from speaking continuously for more than an hour using the sound amplification potion bought from the market, while Kiara leaned backward upon the sofa and stared blankly toward the ceiling as thoughts rapidly spun within her mind once more.

"So far..."

"I earned around 1,773,500 gold coins merely from selling the rights alone."

The number itself almost felt unreal.

Even after calculating it repeatedly within her head, Kiara still found the amount absurd.

"And that money belongs entirely to me."

"The system gains nothing from rights ownership."

A faint curve slowly appeared upon her lips.

"Which means..."

"Even if some items sold below expectation..."

"I still profited monstrously."

Yet the next moment, another thought suddenly surfaced.

Kiara’s expression froze slightly.

"Wait..."

"If I include direct weapon sales too... Then the overall amount has already crossed two million gold coins..."

Her eyes narrowed slowly.

"And according to the agreement... I promised Arceus two percent."

A dangerous silence settled inside her thoughts.

"Two percent of two million... That alone already exceeds forty thousand gold coins."