Chapter 968: Alternate Timeline: new reward

The Crown Prince froze entirely. His heartbeat instantly accelerated. Cold sweat formed across his back.

"You..."

His voice trembled slightly.

"What are you doing?"

Despite being a 6-star rank Spirit Warrior himself, he could not even gather the courage to resist.

Noah’s voice then entered his ear like a winter wind.

"If you cannot learn how to control your tongue, then learn to control your wording, Your Highness. Especially ones that involve my master."

The dagger pressed further, "Otherwise, one morning you may wake up and discover that your tongue is missing."

For the first time in a very long while, Darius Phoenix genuinely felt fear.

Real fear.

Not fear of punishment.

Not fear of politics.

But fear of death itself.

Immediately, he nodded stiffly.

"S-Sorry..."

Noah withdrew the dagger without another word.

Then he simply walked away.

*

Meanwhile, inside Nexus Weapon Store;

Kiara stood near the counter while several large storage containers rested nearby like sleeping beasts waiting to be awakened.

"Here is the remaining payment."

As she spoke, pouch after pouch landed upon the wooden counter with heavy metallic thuds, causing even the polished surface beneath them to creak softly under the accumulated weight of gold coins.

Nineteen large pouches.

Each containing exactly five thousand gold coins.

And one smaller pouch carrying another 145.

Malric’s eyes almost glowed. The merchant tried maintaining dignity, yet the corners of his lips twitched uncontrollably the more he stared at the mountain of wealth before him.

Including the 30000 gold coins paid in advance earlier, Kiara had now paid him a total of 125,145 gold coins.

Out of that amount, 121,500 covered the actual order.

The remaining gold coins were his 3% commission.

For ordinary merchants, earning more than 3600 gold coins of profit required years.

Sometimes decades.

But today, fortune had descended upon him like rain over dry land. The old merchant immediately cupped his fists toward Kiara with visible gratitude.

"Miss Kiara," he said warmly, "pleasure doing business with you. I hope we continue to have this partnership for a long time."

His voice carried genuine happiness.

Meanwhile, Kiara merely nodded casually.

Compared to the merchant’s excitement, she appeared strangely distracted. Her wealth had now fallen below 100k gold coins for the first time ever since she extorted those noble clans during the public trial.

Fortunately, several pending orders still remained incomplete, and once they were finalized, not only would her hidden assets become legitimate wealth, but her total fortune would also rise even further.

After the transaction concluded, except for the weekly supply agreement involving 300 barrels of flaxseed oil, everything else had been delivered successfully.

Kiara then casually took out another invitation card and handed it toward Malric.

The merchant accepted it with surprise before quickly understanding.

Like everyone else in the city, he too had heard the rumors surrounding Kiara and Arceus Silver.

To the public, their story had already transformed into some dramatic romance worthy of bard songs.

Thus, he immediately smiled brightly.

"Thank you for inviting me, Miss Kiara," he said happily. "I will surely attend the engagement ceremony."

Soon afterward, he departed in high spirits.

Once the merchant left, Kiara quietly stored both storage rings in her inventory.

One ring carried materials.

The other contained the oil barrels.

Only after ensuring everything was secured did she return to handling business normally.

About an hour later...

Noah returned.

The moment she entered upstairs, Kiara looked toward him immediately.

"What happened?"

Noah calmly explained everything.

He informed her that the invitation had ultimately been handed directly to Serestia Phoenix since neither Alexander Phoenix nor Callista Frost was available.

Then...

He also mentioned the matter involving Crown Prince Darius Phoenix.

Kiara’s brows slowly furrowed listening to Noah’s conversation with Darius.

A faint coldness entered her expression.

To begin with, she already disliked the Crown Prince because of the public trial incident.

But after hearing Noah’s report, her impression worsened considerably.

A dangerous glint briefly flashed inside her eyes as she thought. "If it weren’t for the fact that he is a half-brother of mine, I would have taught him a lesson for those remarks right away, but forget it, there are important things to be done."

Her fingers lightly tapped against the armrest.

For now, she remained silent.

But somewhere inside her mind, a small mark had already been placed beside Darius Phoenix’s name.

A debt.

One to be settled later.

Meanwhile, Arceus Silver had a deep frown on his face. He knew Darius’ terrible personality, but since those ugly remarks aimed at Kiara, Arceus couldn’t help but clench his fists tightly.

But in the end, he did not comment on it, and instead, he asked about something else.

"Noah, did you learn why Serestia disappeared these past three days?"

The moment that question emerged, Kiara also shifted her attention toward Noah again.

This was the answer she truly wanted.

Because ever since that day... a thorn had remained lodged inside her thoughts.

Did Serestia hear the truth upstairs or not?

And if she did, how much did she hear it?

Noah answered calmly. "The Princess said that she was grounded for one week due to disobedience."

Silence followed.

Kiara narrowed her eyes slightly.

That explanation sounded believable.

Yet somehow... it felt too convenient.

As she couldn’t do anything about it, she chose not to overthink it for now. If Serestia stayed away from the store, that was honestly better for her current situation anyway.

"Alright," Kiara replied calmly.

Beside her, however, Arceus looked slightly disappointed.

"I see..."

His voice carried faint loneliness.

After all, Serestia’s noisy presence had become strangely normal around the store lately.

Another ten minutes later...

Zion returned from Storm Manor.

The moment he relayed Daniel Storm’s response, disappointment appeared on Arceus’ face once again.

Not only because he would miss Lucian’s company but because guilt quietly surfaced inside his heart. In the end, Lucian was facing pressure because of him.

Time slowly passed.

Eventually, lunch hour arrived.

Everyone gathered upstairs once again and ate together around the table like a small family.

The atmosphere felt peaceful.

Warm.

Almost ordinary.

Yet just before everyone returned downstairs... Kiara quietly absorbed three points of luck from Alucard.

The latter naturally noticed nothing.

Once everyone left and silence returned upstairs, aside from the sleeping Lux and the lazily resting manticore, Kiara immediately hurried toward her room.

Her movements carried unusual urgency as more than ninety seconds had already passed since absorbing the luck points.

The moment she entered her room, she immediately opened the Lottery Wheel.

At present...

Only three items remained upon the massive spinning wheel while the other eighteen slots sat empty.

And thanks to possessing ten luck points... failure was now impossible.

The remaining rewards floated before her eyes.

[Peak potion]

[Reconnaissance Satellite]

[Light Combat Aircraft]

Kiara’s heartbeat unconsciously quickened.

Among them, what she desired most was naturally the Peak Potion.

Because with it, she could finally complete her inheritance quest and get the beast.

"Here we go..."

She pressed the spin button.

*Ding!

[300 credits were deducted.]

The wheel began rotating rapidly. The colorful sections blurred together into streaks of light.

Kiara stared intensely.

The spinning gradually slowed.

Her anticipation rose higher and higher.

Then finally...

The wheel stopped.

The result appeared.

[Ding! Congratulations, you won Light Combat Aircraft. The item has been sent to your inventory.]

Several notifications immediately followed.

[Ding! You unlocked R-73 air-to-air missile]

[Ding! You unlocked the S-13 rocket (120mm)]

[Ding! You unlocked the S-25 rocket (Air to ground)]

[Ding! You unlocked ZB-500 bombs (incendiary free-fall bombs)]

Kiara exhaled deeply.

"Sigh..."

At first, disappointment appeared on her face.

"Light combat aircraft are not even that powerful compared to proper fighters," she muttered while rubbing her forehead. "Mostly subsonic speed, short-range armaments... and unlike with the Attack Helicopter, I still need to build a runway."

Under ordinary circumstances, she would have been extremely happy. But right now, it was not what she wanted most.

The Peak Potion remained out of reach for another week.

Still...

Since the item was already hers, there was no reason not to inspect it.

"Open inventory."

The moment she clicked the aircraft icon... its full information appeared.

And instantly, her expression froze.

Then slowly, her eyes widened.

"Say what?"

*

Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) – Yak 130

Grade: N/A

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS:

Crew: 2

Length: 11.49 m (37 ft 8 in)

Wingspan: 9.84 m (32 ft 3 in)

Height: 4.76 m (15 ft 7 in)

Wing area: 23.52 m2 (253.2 sq ft)

Empty weight: 4,600 kg

Gross weight: 7,250 kg

Max takeoff weight: 10,290 kg

PERFORMANCE:

Maximum speed: 1,060 km/h

Cruise speed: 887 km/h

Stall speed: 165 km/h

Range: 2,100 km

Service ceiling: 12,500 m (41,000 ft)

Rate of climb: 65 m/s (12,800 ft/min)

Fuel capacity: 2246 liters

Fuel consumption: 2173 liters/hour (diesel), 3622 liters/hour (gasoline), 24146 liters/hour (vegetable oil)

ARMAMENT:

Hardpoints: 9 (1 on each wingtip, 3 under each wing, and 1 under the fuselage) with a capacity of up to 3,000 kg.

Autocannon 20mm (x1), R-73 missile (x2), S-13 rocket (x2), S-25 rocket (x2), and ZB-500 incendiary bombs (x2)

Additional attachments: Available

Maximum effective range (100% accuracy): 20km (R-73 missile), 3km (S-13 rocket), 3 km (S-25 rocket)

Absolute range: 40km

Storage chamber: No

Description: A light combat aircraft capable of going at subsonic speeds and is powerful enough to eradicate every enemy under peak stage of 7-circle with one shot.

PRICE: 50000 gold coins

*

Kiara stared blankly for several seconds.

Then suddenly...

"It’s a freaking mass-produced model?!"

Her voice echoed across the room.