Somewhere in an unfamiliar room, Kriro was sitting on his throne.
"Honored Kriro, I wanted to inform you that everything is ready for action," said the young man.
A smile appeared on Kriro's face. "Excellent, now all we have to do is wait for information from him."
Meanwhile, Ronibo arrived at the mayor's office to inform him of the situation, but his grandson was already there.
"What's the matter, Ronibo? You look upset."
"Old man, someone stole the dungeon key and freed all the goblins."
Henry looked at Ronibo strangely. "Really, that's interesting, because Eric just came to me and told me he found those keys."
"What?" Ronibo was surprised.
"Yes, I went to check if everything was alright and it turned out no goblins had escaped."
"That's not true, I saw with my own eyes that the cells were empty."
"Ronibo, you look nervous, you better go home and rest," Mayor Silono advised.
"But..." Ronibo wanted to say something else, but decided against it. "That brat must have something to do with this situation," he thought as he left the mayor's office.
Meanwhile, Derivan was walking back to the hotel, still thinking about the situation. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice when he bumped into a girl carrying groceries.
"Oh no..."
"Sorry, I was lost in thought, let me help you," Derivan offered to help gather the scattered groceries.
"No need, I'll manage."
"Come on, it's partly my fault we bumped into each other."
The girl didn't say anything more, just let Derivan help her gather the groceries. As she looked at him closely, she noticed a resemblance to her and her sister.
"My name is Laura, nice to meet you."
"Derivan, me too."
"If you don't mind, maybe you could help me carry my groceries to my hotel, we could get to know each other better."
"Sure, why not, I don't have anything else to do anyway."
Derivan and Laura walked through the city, chatting about various topics. Suddenly, the conversation turned to their parents.
"I want to become stronger to protect my sister and mother, and why are you training?"
"What do you mean, why? To prove to everyone that I can become a great magician"
"Just because? Don't you have people you want to protect like family or friends?"
"I don't have many friends, not even my parents," he replied, surprising Laura. "I've been alone for as long as I can remember."
"Could it be that he..."
[Flashback]
"You still don't have any news about Yashimiro?"
"No, I asked my husband's friends in other countries for help, but none of them had heard of that name. The worst thing would be if I ever had to tell the girls about their brother, who was kidnapped the day he was born."
The woman didn't realize that Laura had been listening to the entire conversation from behind the wall.
[End of Flashback]
"There's nothing wrong with becoming stronger to prove a point. But you truly become strong when you have a real reason to do it, like protecting your loved ones."
Derivan stared at Laura for a moment, pondering her words.
"Hey, are you okay?"
"What? Oh, I'm sorry, but I was thinking about what you said."
"I'm glad my words resonated with you."
As the two of them walked, they noticed a battered guard. He had numerous bruises and wounds, and blood was leaking from them. Derivan and Laura immediately ran to him.
"Hey, what happened?" Derivan caught the guard before he fell.
"We have... a traitor... in our city..."
"Do you know who this traitor is?"
The guard didn't answer, as he had lost consciousness.
"We need to take him to the hospital" Laura said.
"I know."
Suddenly, the city was attacked by goblins.
"They're back, and they're more important than before."
"What are these monsters?"
"They're goblins. They were usually locked in cells, but someone released them."
Two goblins charged at the teenagers, Derivan eager for a fight. When he attacked one goblin, another appeared above him, trying to attack him. However, the second goblin was blown away by the wind. Derivan fired an energy bolt that blew the goblin apart.
"Wow, that was amazing, did you just use wind magic?"
"Yes, she's my element... But it seems there's no time for conversation," Laura replied, pointing to more goblins that had appeared.
"You're right, we have to stop them."
They weren't the only ones fighting the goblins; Nohara had also joined the fight in another part of the city when she heard the noise.
"You'll soon regret coming here." Using her ice magic, Nohara trapped three goblins in ice and then blew them to pieces.