Doing his best to ignore the stares as he walked, Rick eventually made his way towards the Tier 7 beasts.

  The other members of the Royal Retrieval team were probably the first to get out of their stupor and they quickly fell in behind Rick. Of course, Rick noticed but didn’t say anything.

  What was interesting though, was the reaction of Geedi and other members of the Royal Guard. Seeing the members of the Royal Retrieval Team wake up and fall in line behind Rick without even thinking about while she and others were still shocked by Rick’s appearance was a bit of a slight knock to her confidence.

  Because of that, she was planning to just stay where she was, but another member of the Royal Guards grabbed her and pulled her along. She wanted to fight against it, but the whole group began to push her forward and before long, the Royal Guards were also behind Rick.

  As they drew closer to the Serpent in particular who was restraining his presence greatly but not completely, the weaker members of the group began to feel it, and knees could be seen trembling.

  Of course that was only until Rick, who suddenly had much greater control of his presence, began using it to shield the group behind him. It further grew the suspicion in the eyes of the Serpent.

  Something that Rogu noticed once more, but he did nothing other than falling in place behind Rick.

  It was clear that this was no longer his stage, and all of his actions would now be dictated by those of Rick. Such was his place as a General. As he displayed previously, there was a time to give counsel, and there was time to simply fall in line.

  This current situation was of the latter variety.

  Eventually, Rick and the group behind him stopped walking and faced the Serpent and the Fox. The Serpent who seemed to rise back up a few notches as if to further assert its dominance, and the Fox who was simply lounging nearby…as if watching a good show.

  POV Rick

  ‘I don’t know why everyone decided to follow me, but whatever, I’m not this overgrown snake pressure them….actually they probably followed me to show support. I’ll have to thank them all later.

  ‘Now…are they just going to stare at me without saying anything? Should I say something?

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  ‘What would I even say…“Welcome to my humble Village how can I help you?”, no that would be stupid. Wait a minute…why are they even here in the first place? I don’t know why I’m just now thinking about this, but why are they even here.

  ‘The only thing of note that happened recently was…my evolution…so my evolution brought them here? What do you think Vel…ah. Hm. She’s not back yet. Right then.

  ‘…Anyway, it was probably my evolution that brought them here, but how is that possible? Did I do something while I was unconscious?’

  “It’s good to see you again little Goblin…well perhaps not so little anymore. I guess you were able to successfully survive against those Tier 5s you sought out.”

  ‘So, the Fox decided to speak up first huh.’

  “Good to see you too. Yeah, I manage to survive.”

  ‘Honestly, I didn’t know what else to say to that. Even though I know Velora would probably agree with him…

  ‘He didn’t even bother responding to me, just lying there with an odd expression on his face. It was almost as if it was amused at everything that was happening. Even though I don’t really know what exactly was happening here…’

  “Goblin.”

  The large rumbling voice of the Serpent resounded in the area…

  ‘Now the Serpent finally speaks…’

  “What are you? You are no normal Goblin.”

  “…I’m a Goblin.”

  “Do not take me for a fool Goblin. I have been alive for many years, and I have seen many things. There has been a creature who caused so much commotion on their evolution to the next Tier. Especially not Tier 5, and especially not a Goblin. What. Are. You.”

  The tone of the Serpent seemed to drop several levels lower as it stared at Rick with narrowed eyes.

  “He’s right you know Goblin. You cause a stir when your evolution ended. Even when it began, I could sense something was amiss even from my home in the north part of the forest. It wasn’t normal.”

  ‘Before just believing them outright, I took a look behind me and without even asking Rogu nodded as if he could understand exactly what I wanted to know. They weren’t lying.

  ‘What type of commotion could I have possibly caused to draw the attention of two Tier 7s?

  ‘…Better yet, what the hell am I going to tell them? I already said I was a Goblin and that wasn’t taken very well. Do I tell them I’m supposed to be the Future King of Goblins? I can’t say that right. Yeah, definitely can’t…At least not immediately.’

  “…I don’t know.”

  “…You don’t know…?”

  “Yeah, I don’t know. I do know that I’m different, and I’m not just a regular Goblin, but I don’t know exactly what I am. That’s all I can tell you, because I don’t know another answer.”

  ‘I watched on as the Fox dropped its amused expression for a moment as it narrowed its eyes at Rogu. Rogu did tell me about the interaction it had with the Fox when he first reached the forest, so it knows.

  ‘It definitely knows that they traveled here for an important reason, and it’s probably guessing that the important reason is me.

  ‘Either way…it didn’t say anything, and the Serpent simply stared at me as if it was trying to smell the lie floating in the air.’

  “Fine…then tell me Goblin. You continue to seek out strength and power. You will likely continue to seek out opponents to fight in an effort to grow stronger. You will likely continue to try and grow this…settlement of yours.

  “What are your intentions in this forest?”

  ‘My intentions huh…’