Chapter 15: Axium City: The Trade Capital of Estrelia

Lily charges toward the bow-user as he tries to hit her with one of his water arrows. Using her high speed stat, Lily successfully dodges every single one and lands a slash directly on the bandit's upper body. He lets out a grunt of pain and shouts,

"You little-!..."

He loads his bow again. This time, instead of an arrow, he loads something that looks more like a warhead. He releases it and shouts,

"Water Missile!"

Anticipating the attack, Lily slices the projectile in half as it explodes like a water balloon on either side of her. She rushes back in and lands a hit that cuts through the bandit's longbow and creates a wound beside the previous slice.

The bandit falls on the ground as he is rendered unable to fight. Now it's Saiba's turn. He runs in and tries to slice the axe-wielding bandit. He releases a flurry of slashes, but the bandit uses his large axe to block them all. The bandit lights his weapon on fire again and release a wave of fire while shouting,

"Flame Wall!"

Saiba manages to dodge as the fire hits the spare firewood instead causing it to start another fire. Slightly annoyed at the fact that he missed, the bandits grinds his teeth. Saiba sees an opening and slashes at the bandits arms. This causes the bandit to let go of his axe and drop it on the floor with a loud clanking noise.

The bandit looks slightly in pain, but he quickly changes his expression to a confident one as he smirks. He shouts,

"Blazing Axe!"

A replica of his axe appears in his hand made completely with fire. It is lighter and much easier to handle. Faster than before, the bandit swings at Saiba, but Saiba deflects the attack every time. The bandit stops swinging for a bit as Saiba announces,

"My turn!"

He jumps up and slashes downward, giving the bandit a wound that reaches from head to toe. He falls on his back as he is also rendered unable to fight. There is one more bandit left. Seeing the disadvantage he's in, the bandit takes his hammer and pounds the ground while shouting,

"Stealth Dust!"

The skill causes a large dust cloud to appear that covers the whole cave. Saiba and Lily start coughing due to the dust as they can hear the bandit shout,

"Stone Wall!"

The dust clears and there's a wall blocking the opening of the cave. Saiba and Lily rush in to use their skills, [Parallel Flash] and [Crimson Strike]. They create a hole and the wall which reveals that the all three bandits are gone. Slightly annoyed, Saiba says,

"They got away..."

Lily heads back to her sleeping bag as she suggests,

"For now, lets just get some rest while we still can."

Saiba nods and does the same. They sleep soundly through the night. The next day, Saiba wakes up and Lily is already packing up their stuff. He yawns and says to Lily,

"Good morning..."

Lily replies,

"Good morning to you too! Now hurry up so we can get going again!"

Saiba packs up his things as they get back on their pigs and continue the voyage. They go through some villages, farms, and lake sides. After a while, they set up camp and carry out the same activities as last time. While getting ready to go to sleep, Saiba asks,

"Do remember the bandits from yesterday? I never thought people would use their skills to fight other people..."

Lily replies,

"There are good people in this world like you and Geoffried, but there's also some bad people like those bandits. It all depends on what path you choose to follow..."

Saiba blushes and is joyed at the fact that Lily called him a good person. They go to sleep and, luckily, nothing happens this time. They wake up, get their things, and set out on the last day of their trip. This time, it's just flat fields that they have to go through.

As it starts to become sunset, the bustling city can be seen in the distance. It's filled with people socializing and doing business with one another. They arrive at the gate and get off their pigs. Like Lily explained before, the pigs turn around and start walking back home. Saiba shouts,

"Axium City! We have arrived!"

The two walk through the entrance and finally enter the 'Trade Capital of Estrelia'.