Chapter 23: I Know You!

Through the night, Saiba dreams about different kinds of fires.

First, a bright and hearty bonfire that gives people warmth. Second, a stovetop fire that burns the bottom of a pot and boils the water inside. Lastly, a large house fire that quickly spreads to the other houses and causes the destruction of a village.

Suddenly, Saiba wakes up and shouts,

"The village!"

He runs over to Lily and starts violently shaking her. She wakes up and looks very drowsy as Saiba frantically shouts,

"The village! The fire! Burn bad!"

Lily looks at Saiba with a confused glare before coming to a realization. She stares at him and shouts,

"You're right!"

They both run over to the village to stop the fire.

When they get there, they are met with a surprise. There's steam coming from the buildings as it looks like the fire has recently been doused. In the village, there's a crowd of cheering people. Saiba and Lily run over and push their way to the front of the crowd.

Standing in front of the crowd is a familiar face. Posing confidently is the longbow bandit from the cave incident. Lily and the longbow bandit notice each other while shouting,

"You!"

Lily takes out her blade and starts marching towards the longbow bandit. Before getting to him, some of the villagers stop her. One of them says,

"Ma'am! I don't know the history between you and this man, but he's the Hero of our village, so we are indebted to him!"

Angrily, Lily replies,

"Hero of the village? I have the Hero of the Kingdom on my side! My Hero even saved the children here!"

The villager asks,

"Children? Do you mean the elementary school students? You know where they are!? Are they safe!? Did any of them get hurt!?"

Lily answers,

"Yeah I know where they are! I can show you after I beat this guy up, so hurry up and get out of the way!"

The villager insists and says,

"I'm sorry ma'am, we can't do that!"

From behind the villagers, the longbow bandit approaches and wraps his arms around them. He says,

"Now, now boys... You can back off... I'll take care of her..."

The villagers move aside which reveals Lily who is standing menacingly. He steps back and loses his confidence while saying,

"On second thought, can you guys make sure she doesn't get to me!"

The villagers step back into place as Lily shoots the bandit a death stare. From behind, the teacher starts running towards Saiba while shouting,

"Hero! What's going on?"

Saiba turns around and waves while innocently saying,

"Oh Ms. Teacher! Lily and the bandit are fighting!"

The teacher has a shocked expression as she shouts,

"What!?"

One of the villagers sees her and says,

"Ms. Isabelle! Is that you? Are you alright? What about the children?"

She replies,

"I'm okay! The children are doing fine as well! The Hero saved us after we were ambushed at the school!"

The villager asks,

"Hero..?"

Isabelle nods and replies,

"Yup! He's the Legendary Hero of Estrelia!"

The villagers in the crowd start whispering things like,

"That's him!?"

And,

"Is it really him? Is someone that great really in our measly village?"

Saiba announces,

"Why yes! It is I, Saiba Okumura! The Legendary hero of Estrelia!"

The villagers quickly forget about the longbow bandit and start crowding around Saiba.

Disappointed, the longbow bandit flops on the ground as he gets comforted by the axe bandit and warhammer bandit.

The villagers begin asking Saiba some questions as Saiba tries to answer as best as he can. This goes on for a few minutes. After a while, the villagers begin to scatter to rebuild their village.

Saiba is left completely tired and on the ground. Lily helps him get up as they walk to the bandits. They're still sitting in the same spot as before.

The longbow bandit notices them first as he gets his hands up in the air and pleads,

"Please don't hurt us! We'll do anything!"

The other bandits follow and put their hands up in the air Lily mumbles,

"Anything... huh....?"

She begins imagining cruel things that she would make them do. Saiba speaks up and says,

"We won't hurt you. Let's just have a little talk."

Lily gets slightly annoyed. Saiba starts walking away with Lily trailing behind him into the unknown as he says,

"Follow me!"