Chapter 372: I Only Wanted a Free Meal, But Apparently I Had to Reveal My True Strength.

"Would you mind explaining what you meant by that?"

Aemirya’s cold expression made Alden sweat for just a moment before he smiled pleasantly.

"Well, just adjust it for today. I will fix everything by tomorrow, I promise."

"You better do so."

Alden said nothing more before walking forward and taking a good look around the room, or pretending to do so, when in actuality, he was simply ignoring Aemirya’s sharp gaze.

He couldn’t understand what the problem was. Even if they were to live in one room, he did understand that it wasn’t a good idea, but was it really that disastrous for her to react so violently?

After all, they did live close by in that sacred forest of dragons.

It was as if she thought he would eat her just because they were in the same room.

How could she even doubt an innocent and handsome young man like me? As if I would do something like that.

Shrugging off his useless thoughts, he immediately looked around.

The room wasn’t very luxurious, nor was it particularly plain. A strange artifact was hung from the ceiling, letting out a stream of cold air, while the lights were embedded into the ceiling as well.

It looked more modern than what Alden had seen at the academy.

"Oh, they even provided us with some clothes."

He walked around for a while before looking through the closet.

Once he was done looking, he immediately spread his mana throughout the room, sensing for any hidden artifacts that could be used to see or listen in on them.

He did find a few but they had already been busted by Aemirya as soon as they had entered the room. Except for those, he didn’t find anything else.

I wasn’t planning to do it... but I guess there is no choice left.

With those thoughts, a smile appeared on his face as he looked forward to the dinner they were going to have with the merchant leader.

***

The night arrived soon enough and Reynold sent the same maid, Layla, as before to summon Alden and Aemirya over for dinner.

Alden and Aemirya had already freshened up and gotten dressed in the provided clothes, although both of them had plenty of noble clothes stored away in their storage rings.

Aemirya had her own, while Alden had clothes belonging to the dragons that he had stolen from them.

But they had to make an appearance.

It barely took them a few minutes before they were guided to a grand dining room. Various dishes were already prepared, and except for the owner of the house, Reynold Stroptor, and his two knights, one being a grandmaster rank and the other being at the peak of the master rank, nobody else was present.

Not even Ruru.

Hmm.

Alden wasn’t surprised. Hell, in some ways, he already knew this was going to happen the moment he had sensed that grandmaster rank knight back then.

"Good evening, sir Reynold."

He greeted Reynold, who was seated in the head chair of the dining table, as Reynold greeted him back with a smile.

"Good evening, sir Damien and Lady Lumyn." The man greeted them even more politely. "Please have a seat. Ruru had already gone to sleep after such a tiresome day."

He chuckled, pointing towards the two seats to his side. Alden didn’t hesitate and took one of them while Aemirya sat on the one next to him.

The servant began serving the food immediately.

Alden and Aemiyra ate without much thought. They weren’t even slightly concerned about being poisoned or anything similar.

Dragons being dragons, they were immune to most varieties of poison that affected humans, while Alden, having Voidheart, was immune to most of them as well.

Reynold didn’t talk much throughout the dinner and only added some normal details here and there. And although Aemiyra didn’t like the food much, she didn’t speak about it either.

Alden was the only one who didn’t care about either of them and was completely immersed in eating the delicious food before him.

Although it wasn’t anything particularly exquisite, it was practically the first proper meal he had gotten in a long while, and he had no intention of wasting it for anything.

Only after they were done with the meal did Reynold finally look at them, his gaze turning slightly serious.

"Now that we are done with the meal, shall we talk about important stuff now? Who are you both? And what exactly were you doing in that forest at that exact time?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, the grandmaster-ranked knight standing behind him let out a small, intimidating aura.

Alden merely smiled at the pitiful attempt to scare them.

At least he is polite enough to let us eat, so I guess I will go slightly easier on them.

With those thoughts, he opened his mouth to speak.

"As I said before, it was a complete coincidence that we were in that forest, and we had already shared our origins with you before, sir Reynold."

He muttered, still trying to convince the man with the fake story in case it worked but unfortunately, he knew how pitiful that hope was.

Just as he had expected, Reynold narrowed his eyes at him.

"We have already checked the records with the Kingdom of Qurovan. Although it is quite a closed-off kingdom, as a merchant, I have my own networks. The only reason I haven’t informed the Royal Knights about you is because you have been polite so far, but please do not try to push your luck."

His voice was cold.

The knight standing behind Reynold immediately touched the sword at their waist, their aura erupting as if trying to crush both Alden and Aemirya.

Alden merely shook his head.

"I truly didn’t wish to resort to something like this, but..."

He got up from his chair as his Spirit Domain flared around his body, his Eyes of Supreme activating as he stared at both of the knights behind Reynold.

"You leave me with no choice."

"If you wish for a talk... then talk is what we will have."

With those words, he released his entire Ascendant-rank aura, suppressing it within the room.

For the first time since they had entered the room, the confident expressions on Reynold’s and his knights’ faces crumbled completely.