Third person POV
Later, they all gathered at the dining table of the main house to eat a feast-like lunch as a celebration of Robert and Blaise's visit to their home. The food includes everything from poultry and meat to fruits and vegetables. There are drinks as well, offered by the servants. Almost everyone is chatting to one another while eating and drinking. William and Peter are seemed to be comfortable talking to the various members of the clan while Emma is very uncomfortable with the environment. Meanwhile, Robert and Blaise tell their life in Peacewood to their grandfather.
"Ah, so Blaise got attacked by some goblins, eh?" Aaron commented.
Robert then positively nodded. "Yes, and I drove them away with my lightning magic."
"Wow, so you're 10 at the time?" Aaron asked.
"Exactly." Robert sipped on his glass of water.
"You're quite a fast learner, Robert."
"Not entirely. At first, it was quite difficult and only a few small sparks, but as I train more and more every day, I'm getting more and more used to it."
"I see."
Then, Blaise jumped into the conversation. "Yeah, and I had been training to protect him."
"Oh, so you're following in your parents' footsteps then?" Aaron asked.
"Partially yeah, but I wouldn't learn dad's lightning magic," Blaise responded.
"It's your choice what to magic you want to learn," Aaron said to her.
"Oh, um, thanks, grandpa."
After that, Aaron said to everyone in the dining room, "Alright, everyone, settle down. Let's talk something serious."
But, Max saw that coming and was uninterested by it.
"What's wrong, Max-kun?" Robert asked him upon seeing his attitude.
But Max wouldn't answer him.
Then, Aaron brought the topic about who's going to be the next head of the Lightningheart clan after he died, a topic that everyone, except for Max, who wasn't interested to be one, was talking seriously every time there's a feast.
"You know, everyone, I'm getting old now." Aaron glanced at them, "so we need a successor to this clan, otherwise this clan wouldn't survive.
Everyone then murmured and whispered to each other.
"Alright, alright." Aaron stopped their murmuring, "I would like to propose that Robert will be my successor, since my older son, James, had died during a war."
Hearing his father's name, Robert thought, "So that's the name of my father?"
He then verbalized that thought to his grandfather.
"Yes, grandson," Aaron responded, "that would be the name of your father. You know, when he was your age, he is a determined, yet kind person."
"Oh, okay, well, I can be that brutal and overprotective of my family name," Robert replied with admitting.
"Ah, might be the result of your parents' death."
"Yeah, but I can be soft and weak on the other side."
"Okay, did you ever got spoiled by your sister? Because I know your sister took care of you after your parents died."
"Yeah, I did that, grandpa," Blaise admitted.
But, Aaron wasn't that upset to Blaise for spoiling her own younger brother. He just let out a good sigh. "Well, you shouldn't do that. What if he wasn't mentally and emotionally unprepared for something unexpected?"
"Oh, right, I forgot about that, sorry, grandpa," Blaise responded.
"That's alright, because it's too late. It's been a long time, so we cannot do anything about it. So, did Robert ever got into trouble?"
"Not exactly, grandpa," Blaise replied. "He only almost got robbed on his first day in school.
This mildly shocks the old man. "What? Really? What did you do to them?"
"I just beat the crap out of them," Robert responded back happily, before eating his meal of roasted chicken with potatoes.
"Wow, you seemed to be strong, dear," Aaron's wife, Mary Lightningheart, commented.
"Yeah, more like that, grandma," Robert responded.
Then, Max jumped into their conversation. "Man, Robert-kun, William-san told me that you beat him in a duel, in your first day at school. Is that true?"
"Huh? You had a duel at school?" Aaron asked Robert.
"Yeah, three times," Robert admitted in response. "2 wins and 1 postponed."
"Wow, you're so strong," Max commented in enthusiastic admiration.
"Yeah, except I win easily against Emma-chan with a single Spark," Robert replied back.
This causes Emma to be embarrassed by it then. "You little…!"
"Woah, calm down, sis," Peter said to her while trying to calm her down. "Don't be noisy during a feast."
Eventually, Emma calmed down and sat back on her chair while looking like a tsundere.
"That jerk Lightningheart," she thought to herself angrily.
After that, Robert said to Aaron, "Well, grandpa, I need some time to think about this because, I don't know what I want to be in the future once I graduated from the magic academy."
"Okay then, grandson," Aaron agreed with him. "Just think about it first before you make that choice. Max wasn't interested on becoming the next clan head."
"What? Really?"
"Yeah, because I think it's too hard for me to handle that," Max responded. "I think I might want to be a soldier or a merchant."
"Yes, I respected your choices, Max," Aaron replied. "But we needed a successor, and Robert seems to be a good choice."
"How he will do that, dad?" Max's mother and Aaron's daughter, Sofia Bernette, asked. The reason why she had a different last name is that she was married to someone outside of the family. Inbreeding was considered forbidden in their family.
"We can give him training as early as possible," Aaron responded. "I'll give him lessons on administration and management."
"Um, I'm not sure if I can do that, grandpa," Robert objected. "I mean, I am only a first-year student."
"The earlier the better," replied Aaron back. "Feel free to ask me for lessons on them."
"Oh, thanks, grandpa. I'll think about it first."