Chapter 953: Alternate Timeline: System’s interest toward Arceus

Meanwhile, the guards exchanged furtive glances.

Most of them knew nothing of the truth, but judging from Kiara’s words and the three corpses, they assumed their lord had attempted some dark deed against his own son.

Whatever the details, they felt an unexpected surge of relief.

Their young lord, gentle and beloved, would now be protected by the legendary Cerberus Slayer.

In their hearts, many silently wished that Wester Silver would soon be replaced.

The helicopter rose once more and returned to Nexus Store.

When the aircraft settled into the training ground, Kiara, Zion, and Arceus walked toward the store beneath the silver moonlight.

The moment Arceus stepped through the entrance, the familiar sound of the system rang in Kiara’s mind.

[You completed the Quest. Arceus Silver’s affinity with the store is increased by 3 levels.]

[Arceus Silver’s affinity with the store reached level 5.]

[You unlocked a level-4 exclusive weapon, Medium Tank: Sd.kfz. 161 (Panzerkampfwagen IV).]

[75mm caliber ammo has been unlocked.]

[You unlocked a level-5 exclusive weapon, Light Artillery Rocket System (LARS).]

[110mm rocket has been unlocked.]

Kiara’s eyes lit up.

"Panzer IV and LARS."

A grin spread across her face.

"Now this is truly good stuff."

For a moment, her heart soared like a child discovering treasure hidden beneath the floorboards.

But she quickly reined in her excitement. There would be time later to admire her rewards. For now, Arceus stood beside her, exhausted and emotionally shattered.

That mattered more.

She started toward the staircase.

At that very moment, Zion teleported downstairs the instant he sensed his master’s return.

A bright smile bloomed on his face.

Then he saw Arceus standing beside Kiara.

And just like a candle struck by a sudden wind, the smile vanished.

"Oh! Hey, Noah... Arceus will be staying here again."

The words left Kiara’s mouth as naturally as someone mentioning that rain had returned after a brief clearing of the sky, yet the effect they had on Noah was immediate and unmistakable.

The android, who had teleported downstairs the very moment he sensed his master’s presence, had arrived with his usual bright smile, the kind of eager expression that always appeared whenever Kiara returned home safely.

But the instant his eyes landed on Arceus standing beside her, wrapped in exhaustion and moonlight, that smile vanished as though a candle flame had been pinched between two fingers.

His eyes widened.

"Huh?" he blurted out, the sound slipping from him before he could organize his thoughts. "What is going on?"

His voice was not hostile, but the confusion in it was so obvious that even Arceus lowered his gaze uneasily.

Noah was not permitted to access Kiara’s memories unless she allowed it, and he respected that boundary with the same unwavering obedience with which a soldier guarded a sacred gate.

Yet, as an android linked to the system, he could inspect the quest logs whenever he wished. Until now, he had not done so. He had simply waited for Kiara and Zion to return, trusting that his elder sister would explain everything when the time came.

But curiosity, once awakened, was like a pebble dropped into a still pond. The ripples spread on their own.

In the brief silence that followed, Noah connected to the system and reviewed the quest records.

The details unfolded before him in an instant.

Arceus had returned to House Silver.

House Silver had tried to eliminate him.

Kiara had accepted an emergency quest, rescued him, proposed a fake engagement, and brought him back to Nexus Store under her protection.

By the time Noah finished reviewing the information, the broad outline of events was clear. Yet one small thorn remained lodged in his thoughts.

Why did seeing Arceus standing beside Kiara make him feel so uncomfortable?

The sensation was irrational, and that only made it more troubling.

Still, he asked nothing.

Without another word, he turned and quietly led Kiara and Arceus upstairs. His steps were measured, but inside his mind, gears were spinning.

Arceus returned to the guest room that had already begun to feel strangely familiar, while Kiara entered her own room.

Just as she reached for the door to close it, Noah suddenly stepped inside.

Kiara paused and turned around. The soft lamplight fell across Noah’s face, illuminating the uncharacteristic tension in his expression.

"What happened?" she asked.

Noah did not answer directly.

Instead, he looked at her and asked in a low voice, "Why is he here, Big Sister?"

Kiara blinked.

This was the first time she had seen Noah display visible displeasure toward someone who was not her enemy.

The realization caught her off guard.

She crossed her arms and studied him for a moment. "Are you uncomfortable with him or something?"

Noah nodded at once, his honesty as clean and unfiltered as mountain water.

"Yes."

He hesitated, then added with a slight frown, "I am not sure why."

Kiara’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Her mind immediately returned to the two emergency quests involving Arceus.

The system had intervened for him twice.

From a purely practical standpoint, it made little sense.

Arceus had become a level-5 exclusive customer, but his current financial situation offered no immediate benefit. He could not purchase expensive weapons, and his total transactions had not even reached five hundred gold coins.

And yet the system had repeatedly pushed Kiara to protect him, rewarding her with powerful, exclusive weapons in return.

That was not a coincidence.

It was a pattern.

At first, Kiara had considered Arceus a person deserving of sympathy.

Now, between the system’s unusual behavior and Noah’s instinctive discomfort, Arceus had become something else entirely.

A question mark.

A sealed letter whose contents were still hidden.

Kiara exhaled slowly.

There was no point trying to pry answers from the system. If it wished to reveal something, it would do so in its own time. Until then, all she could do was observe.

"Big Sister?" Noah’s voice pulled her from her thoughts.

Kiara rubbed her forehead and recounted everything that had happened, from the emergency quest to the attempted murder, the rescue, and the engagement proposal.

Noah listened without interrupting.

When she explained the concept of engagement, he tilted his head.

He understood marriage.

He understood contractual bonds.

But engagement was a strange human arrangement, half promise and half possibility.

When he asked for clarification, Kiara explained it in detail.

After she finished, Noah remained silent for a few moments, processing the information.

Then he asked the simplest question of all. "Why him?"

Kiara stared at him.

A faint, wry smile touched her lips. "That," she said, letting out a long sigh, "is exactly what I would like to know."

The answer seemed to satisfy him, at least partially.

Kiara straightened. "Anyway, starting tomorrow, you do not need to treat him like a guest anymore."

Noah looked up. "He lives here now."

She spoke firmly. "But he is also the manager of the store, so show him the respect that position deserves."

Noah raised his hand in a crisp salute. "Yes, Big Sis."

He turned and left the room. When he returned to the living room, he sat on the couch and leaned back, his gaze fixed on nothing.

His thoughts churned.

"So it is because of some mysterious power within him that I feel uncomfortable? Based on the Quest Log, the Creator was interested in Arceus Silver and purposely put him in the master’s path."

He tapped a finger against his knee.

"Then, Master was only tending him because of the Creator?"

The conclusion should have reassured him.

Yet for reasons he did not fully understand, it did not.