Third person POV
But, halfway through the forest, the horse wagon was suddenly ambushed by a group of goblins, armed with battle axes, spears, and bows and arrows, causing the horses to stop suddenly and galloped a bit. Both the driver and Colt were alerted by this, and they wield their weapons just in case of an attack from the goblins. The driver was required to have a weapon by law.
"Intruders! Get out of our territory!" one of the goblins screamed while threatening to fire an arrow towards one of them.
"We're not intruding your territory," Colt responded as he readies his sword. "We're just going through so we could go to Vanworth."
"Just like any other passer-by claims to be," another of the goblins, who was wielding a battle axe. "Now scram!"
Hearing what is going on outside, Robert grabbed his katana, despite how untrained he was, and get off, facing the goblins while asking, "What do you want from us, goblins?"
He said that while wielding his katana, pretending to be skillful.
Hearing this, Masanori grabbed his weapon, get off, and sided with Robert just in case the goblins would attack him.
"Robert-kun, you're just starting," he said to him.
"I'm just acting tough so they would go away," Robert responded back to him.
"Who are you, human?" one of the goblins demanded.
"I'm Robert Lightningheart, of the Lightningheart and Windheart clans," Robert replied back with an introduction.
Hearing this from the grey-haired young boy, the goblins suddenly remembered what their brethren from the forests near Peacewood had reported to them 6 years ago. And then, they trembled and became afraid of Robert, dropping their weapons to the ground.
Seeing this, Colt, Masanori, and the driver were confused, and Masanori commented, "Wait, what?"
"Oh, yeah right," Robert explained in response, "I defeated most of their brethren who tried to abduct my older sister when I was 10, six years before I enrolled into the Peacewood Magic Academy."
"Wow, you did that?" Colt asked upon hearing that.
Robert then nodded. "Yes, with my lightning magic."
"I see," Masanori responded. "That was smart of you."
But, the goblins couldn't stand Robert's presence so they grabbed their weapons and retreated into the forest in fear.
Watching this, the driver puts his sword in its scabbard and commented, "Wow, they're cowards."
"Yeah, they are, thanks to their bad history with Robert-kun," Colt replied.
"Okay, let's hop in," Masanori said to them.
He then hopped in.
But before he would hop in, Robert couldn't help but noticed a young goblin girl hiding behind a tree, looking afraid and shy.
"Who's that goblin?" Robert asked in his mind.
Then, out of curiosity, he went to her and said, "Hi there, goblin."
But that goblin girl kept on hiding from him in fear that he might attack her.
But Robert didn't, and he just asked her for her name.
"I'm…I'm Riana," the goblin girl responded.
"Wow, you do have a name!" Robert replied back in happy response. "I thought your people doesn't have any."
"We do have names," Riana replied back while still looking so shy, "but the Kingdom of Vanworth hunted us down and we had to flee our home and lived here."
"I see, that's why," Robert commented. He then thought, "Wow, I didn't know Vanworth was that cruel and oppressive."
So, he asked, "So, wanna come with us?"
"You're going to Vanworth?" Riana asked back.
Realizing his mistake, Robert aborted it and apologized, "Oh, sorry, I realized it now. We're going to that kingdom for a peace negotiation, and you don't want to come back to that nation, right?"
Riana then nodded. "Yes."
"Okay, I'll see you around," Robert responded, before turning around and went back to the wagon.
He then climbed in and the driver whipped the horses, causing them to move and pull the wagon.
Riana watches this from the distance.
Meanwhile, at a palatial mansion within Peacewood, Sol was reading a book while listening to music emitted from a vintage record player when one of his messengers came and reported to him that Robert, William, and Emma went to Vanworth alongside Peter, Masanori, and Colt. He knows this because he had been spying on Robert, William, Emma, and Peter from the part when they went to Keystone.
Upon hearing this, Sol was visibly upset by it then, knowing that Matthew II didn't inform him about that.
So, he stand up, grabbed one of his best weapons, and left the library, before going outside and flew to Vanworth using magic.