Chronicles of Forgotten Extra Chapter 369: Alden and His Journey to Becoming the Greatest Romance Author (According to Himself).

A few minutes had passed since Alden and Aemirya had heroically rescued the merchant caravan from the trouble they had caused themselves.

The caravan was currently stopped to recover and thankfully, no one had lost their life.

At worst, a few guards had suffered light injuries as Alden had made sure to step in the moment any situation threatened to turn fatal because he didn’t want any unnecessary bloodshed.

Meanwhile, inside the merchant carriage, Ruru, the merchant leader’s daughter, sat discussing the matter with the captain of her guards as the Expert-ranked knight sat respectfully in front of her.

Unfortunately for him, the thin mana barrier he had erected to hide their conversation was utterly meaningless for Alden.

After reaching the Ascendant Rank, Alden’s Spirit Domain had become sharp enough to pierce through such feeble attempts with ease as every word reached him as clearly as if he were standing beside them.

"Young Miss, I understand that they saved us and I do not believe they intend to cause us any harm."

The knight captain spoke seriously.

"But they are still strangers with no identifiable background. You know how strict Rosarco’s laws are regarding unknown visitors."

He frowned.

"And besides, what kind of thieves could possibly rob two Master-ranked individuals?"

Ruru looked at him earnestly.

"I understand your concerns, Vance but... didn’t you hear their story? Didn’t you hear what they went through? They are young lovers... just like Judith and Rian..."

Her voice dropped to little more than a whisper as she spoke the final names.

"What was that, Young Miss?"

Even the captain hadn’t caught it as Ruru immediately straightened herself.

"I-I mean... they are simply a pair of young lovers who ran away from home."

She hurriedly continued.

"I am sure they have faced countless hardships along the way. Maybe... just like Judith’s family, Lumyn’s family sent assassins after Rian—I mean, Damien. Maybe that’s how they lost all of their belongings."

She paused thoughtfully.

"Or maybe, they threw everything away themselves so no one could track them."

***

Listening to their conversation, Alden couldn’t help but chuckle in amusement.

He grinned inwardly because he couldn’t have asked for a better ride into the kingdom.

When he had come up with the story of two young lovers running away from home, he had fully expected people to question how a pair as strong as they were could have been robbed.

He had even prepared several different explanations in advance but he never got the chance to use a single one because Ruru had enthusiastically filled in every gap herself.

For the first time in his life, Alden genuinely felt grateful for his ever so shitty luck. Though he wisely kept that thought to himself because knowing his luck, the moment he praised it, the damned thing would probably take it as a personal challenge.

His gaze shifted toward Aemirya, who was sitting beside him with her usual bored expression. Alden had asked her to alter her appearance a little more as well.

Her snow-white hair, striking crimson eyes and flawlessly sculpted face drew attention with every step but unfortunately, she had rejected the idea without the slightest hesitation, only concealing her single horn.

He didn’t push her further either because doing so would have made him a complete hypocrite. After all, he firmly and completely believed his own handsome face attracted no less attention.

"How much longer do we have to wait?"

Just then, Aemirya’s annoyed voice snapped him out of his narcissism.

"Well... it’s almost over."

Alden replied and right on cue, the guard captain stepped out of the carriage with a resigned expression.

The moment his eyes met Alden’s, he put on a polite smile and began walking toward them.

"I am sorry to have kept you waiting, Sir Damien and Young Miss Lumyn." The guard captain spoke politely. "If you don’t mind, would you care to accompany us to Rosarco?"

Ever since Alden had introduced himself as a knight, the captain had stopped addressing him as Young Master and had begun calling him Sir instead.

Not that Alden minded because if anything, it sounded much cooler.

"Definitely."

Alden nodded without the slightest hesitation.

***

Despite the slow pace of the journey, it was far from boring as the merchant’s daughter, Ruru, kept the entire carriage lively with one curious question after another.

She wanted to know how he had met Aemirya, how their families had opposed their relationship and how he had confessed his love.

Alden didn’t really mind as the failed author within him, one who had never gotten the chance to bloom, finally found an audience.

One story after another, he spun together the cringiest romances imaginable, shamelessly stitching bits and pieces from every sloppy romance novel he had read back when he was Damien and somehow, they worked spectacularly.

Ruru’s eyes sparkled brighter with every story and even her usually composed maid gradually found herself leaning forward, quietly engrossed in his stories.

While Aemirya rolled her eyes at them quietly.

Still, even as he told stories, Alden couldn’t help but wonder whether what he was doing was truly alright because the thought of the butterfly effect kept nagging at the back of his mind.

But, he had already changed far too many things to start worrying about it now and more importantly, his mother had made one thing very clear.

Fate was far more rigid than it appeared.

If that was true, then perhaps none of this would matter or perhaps, his very presence here had always been part of history itself.

He didn’t know and at this point, it was already too late to worry about it.

And just like that, a few hours passed quietly before the caravan finally arrived at the entrance to the Sky Islands.

Alden looked out of the carriage window with unconcealed curiosity.

An enormous transparent tube stretched endlessly toward the heavens, connecting the ground to the floating islands above.

Up close, both the tubes and the islands looked even more colossal than they had from afar.

The tubes seemed to function like gigantic lifts, with massive platforms constantly traveling up and down, carrying thousands of people at once.

Alden was fairly certain they could transport hundreds of elephants in a single trip...

... but at the same time he was fascinated.

Before Alden could dwell on the thought any longer, their turn finally arrived as the captain of the guard guided the caravan toward a small checkpoint built beside the enormous transparent tube.

Five guards clad in obsidian armor stood watch over the entrance. After inspecting a permit presented by the captain and doing some nominal checkup, they nodded and signaled for the caravan to proceed.

The carriages, guards, supplies and merchants all rolled onto the massive platform inside the transparent tube, joined by several other travelers waiting to ascend.

Even then, there was still an astonishing amount of space left as a moment later, the platform began its ascent toward the floating islands above.

As the islands pulled closer with every passing second, only a single thought appeared in Alden’s mind.