Chapter 973: Alternate Timeline: The Engagement Ceremony (1)

Firstly, with the rise of her strength, the lightning clone, and Manitcore to protect her, she no longer needed to depend entirely on Androids for combat and security purposes alone, meaning their other talents could finally be utilized productively instead of remaining idle like swords hanging untouched on walls.

Secondly, the weapon store itself suffered poor customer flow during afternoon hours except on weekends, so opening a secondary business could help stabilize earnings during the lunch periods.

And beyond that, a restaurant would provide the perfect environment for using the butler robots effectively.

Truthfully, the idea had arrived somewhat suddenly inside her mind.

She simply wanted to test whether it could succeed.

If opening a restaurant eventually proved impossible, she could still profit by selling the recipes themselves to existing restaurants.

After all, her previous world contained endless ideas capable of generating wealth here.

Food.

Entertainment.

Technology.

Manufacturing methods.

The possibilities stretched endlessly.

And the reason she had suddenly begun considering all these additional business plans was simple.

Debt.

The debt hanging above her head continued growing steadily like storm clouds gathering before monsoon season.

Kiara could already see the future clearly.

The deeper she advanced through the system, the more terrifying the required investments would become.

Unless she planned to endlessly extort money from noble houses forever, she needed stable income streams beyond weapon manufacturing alone.

These smaller businesses would never erase her enormous debt to the system.

But at the very least, they could cover the terrifying interest accumulating continuously.

And for now, that alone was enough.

As for the truly massive debt awaiting her in the future...

Kiara already possessed a plan.

And she intended to unveil part of it today.

*

It was around ten o’clock in the morning.

Since it was Monday, most citizens throughout Carlo District remained occupied with their daily work, yet even busy streets gradually slowed as people noticed the enormous shadow passing overhead, because far above the outer sector, a gigantic stingray-shaped beast drifted through the sky with slow, majestic movements, its massive body blocking sunlight intermittently while heading directly toward the area containing the Nexus Weapon Store.

Inside the gigantic carriage mounted upon the creature’s back sat the imperial group.

Emperor Alexander Phoenix.

Serestia Phoenix.

Callista Frost.

Supreme Commander Xander Cross.

And surprisingly, the fourth member was not another imperial consort nor the third prince.

It was Magnus Phoenix himself, the second prince, who had coincidentally returned to the Imperial City only a day earlier after receiving notice regarding his weapon order.

Naturally, General Magnus had not traveled all the way back merely on a whim.

Before deciding to visit personally, he had first confirmed through subordinates that the order was indeed ready.

Yet the true question remained.

Why would a general of his status personally retrieve weapons when ordinary soldiers could easily collect them instead?

The answer involved several reasons.

First, the trip provided Magnus with a legitimate excuse to revisit the Imperial City, where his mother’s grave still rested silently beneath old stone and fading memories.

Second, the rocket launchers and grenade launchers were far too dangerous to place casually into ordinary soldiers’ hands without direct supervision, because unlike swords or bows, those weapons cared little whether their wielder was weak or strong.

In the hands of a child or a Supreme expert, destruction remained destruction.

"A venomous snake does not ask whether the hand holding it belongs to a king or a beggar," Magnus had once remarked to his officers. "Its poison remains the same."

Third, the fifty Panzers themselves were enormous.

Each exceeded two meters in width.

Even ordinary gold-grade storage rings would become cramped trying to contain them.

Fortunately, Magnus possessed a semi-divine-grade storage ring capable of storing something as large as an entire palace comfortably.

And finally, there was personal curiosity.

Every time he met Kiara, she somehow unveiled another impossible weapon.

Ten days had already passed since their previous meeting.

Knowing her nature, Magnus found it difficult to believe she had remained idle during that time.

Thus, he made the journey personally once again.

Unfortunately, his repeated visits to Kiara’s store had already begun attracting political suspicion inside the palace.

Forget about the Crown Prince Darius... people such as Theron Mist and even Kaelan Phoenix quietly wondered whether Magnus himself had begun eyeing the throne.

After all, strength attracted ambition like blood attracted wolves.

And now, after learning about the engagement between Arceus Silver and Kiara, Magnus decided to accompany the imperial family openly, both to offer blessings and to complete his business simultaneously.

Inside the flying carriage, the discussion soon shifted toward matters far more serious than engagements or celebrations.

The atmosphere gradually became heavy.

Emperor Alexander’s expression darkened slightly as he spoke.

"If the Seed of Fire truly appears within our territory," he said slowly while resting one arm against the carved wooden armrest beside him, "then we must strengthen security immediately. External guests are troublesome enough, but internal chaos concerns me even more. When great treasures descend upon the world, greedy men emerge like rats fleeing flooded burrows."

The others nodded immediately.

Everyone understood the danger.

The birth of a Seed of Fire would attract countless opportunists, criminals, rogue cultivators, and even hidden factions.

Xander Cross spoke next.

"How about speaking with Kiara?" he suggested thoughtfully. "She possesses these things... what are they called again? Yeah, I believe they are called Rocket launchers and grenade launchers... these things are capable of threatening even five-star rank Spirit Warriors. If every unit possessed even a dozen such weapons, they could greatly reinforce our defenses."

Before the Emperor could answer, Magnus immediately rejected the idea.

"I’m afraid that will not work, Commander."

His voice remained calm, but firm.

"Our soldiers in the newly formed firearm division have already begun training with the firearms. So I understand their strengths and weaknesses better than most. Yes, they are terrifying on the battlefield, and yes, they can shake enemy morale easily, but the problem lies with the users themselves. These weapons have never existed in recorded history. There are no manuals. No established combat doctrines. No veteran instructors."

Magnus paused briefly.

Then continued.

"At present, we still rely heavily on the training Kiara personally gave a few selected soldiers earlier. For the newer weapons, we plan to send more personnel directly to her so they can learn properly before returning to train the rest of the regiments. But even with urgency, the entire process will require at least a month."

He looked toward the others.

"And according to our current estimates, the Seed of Fire may appear within one or two weeks."

Silence followed briefly.

Then Xander asked another question; his brows drew together. "Do we know the exact location yet?"

"Well," Emperor Alexander replied while leaning back slowly, "according to the envoy from Solaria, the Seed of Fire should emerge from a volcano somewhere in the southern regions."

After speaking, he glanced toward Grand Secretariat Quenric.

The elderly official immediately continued.

"We currently have 92 active volcanoes within imperial territory, excluding the Bloodhill Forest," Quenric explained carefully while stroking his beard. "Determining the exact location remains difficult, but if I were forced to place a wager, I would choose Prucell Province. More than half of the active volcanoes are concentrated there."

"Hm..."

The quiet sound escaped Magnus’ lips while his gaze drifted toward the distant southern horizon outside the carriage window, where clouds stretched endlessly beneath pale sunlight, and although his face remained calm outwardly, calculations were already moving rapidly inside his mind, because everyone present understood one thing very clearly.

Once the Seed of Fire appeared...

The Phoenix Empire would no longer remain peaceful.

*

Nexus Weapon Store;

Inside one of the upper rooms of the residence, Arceus Silver sat quietly at the edge of the bed while staring at the expensive attire laid carefully beside him. The young man only released a long, exhausted sigh as his fingers brushed across the outfit absentmindedly.

The clothes alone cost more than five hundred gold coins.

Five hundred.

Even after living inside the Nexus residence for some time and gradually growing accustomed to Kiara’s terrifying spending habits lately, the amount still made his heart tremble slightly.

"Kiara really goes too far sometimes..." Arceus muttered softly while leaning back a little. "This is only a fake engagement. There was no need to spend so much money."

Still, even while saying those words, he understood part of the reason.

Important guests were arriving today.

Imperial family members.

Nobles.

Wealthy merchants.

People who measured status through appearances before even speaking a single word.

And because of that, Kiara naturally wanted everything to appear flawless.

Arceus lowered his gaze slightly.

The room suddenly felt strangely quiet.

He knew this engagement was not real.

Both of them understood it clearly.

Yet somewhere deep inside his chest, a small trace of loneliness still surfaced quietly, because ceremonies like this were supposed to happen beside family, beside loved ones, beside people who genuinely cared.

Also, this isn’t his first engagement ceremony either. He was engaged before, went through it, although in a nobleman’s manor, not under a tent. But then, he had his father, mother, his cousins, relatives, and everyone. Now... despite having all of his family members living in the same city, he had to be engaged like some orphan...

That left a bad taste in his mouth.

At that exact moment, three knocks echoed softly against the door.

Tok.

Tok.

Tok.

Arceus blinked once before standing up quickly, and the moment he opened the door, his entire expression froze.

"Mother...?"

Standing outside was Selene Ash.