(Clank!)
Out of nowhere, Saiba dashes in front of the little kid and uses his sword to block the incoming attack. Saiba uses the sharp end of the blade as the bandit's shortsword gets split at the collision point. The sword fragment gets launched away and into the ground.
Saiba follows it up with a horizontal slash to the bandit's stomach. The bandit falls back and spits out some blood before letting go of his weapon and dropping to the ground. The dagger bandit, who is now very scared, says,
"Who are you!? You better stay back or this lady is done for!"
Behind him, Lily is now standing with her rapier as she says,
"Hm... We'll see about that!"
She takes flat end of her blade and bonks the bandit in the head. This causes the bandit to lose consciousness and drop to the ground. Saiba then shouts,
"Alright kids! Come follow the hero! I'll take you to safety!"
The kids cheer and begin following him out of the village. The woman follows behind, making sure no kids are left behind. Saiba notices Lily isn't coming as he asks,
"Lily, you coming?"
She replies,
"Oh yeah! I just have something I need to do!"
Saiba, the kids, and the woman are now sitting in a clearing in a nearby forest. As the kids run around and play, the woman approaches Saiba and says,
"Thank you very much for saving us! I'm the teacher of the local elementary school and we were ambushed while trying to flee the village."
Saiba replies,
"Don't worry about it! I'm a hero after all, and a hero's job is to save people!"
Surprised, the teacher says,
"Oh, you're the new Hero! I'm so very sorry for inconveniencing you like this! We should be okay now! I'm sure the Hero has more important business than saving some villagers!"
Saiba asks,
"Are you sure? Well, I still have to wait for my partner, so I'll stay here for the time being."
Shortly after, Lily arrives on to the clearing with Uma. Saiba runs over and asks,
"So, what was the thing you had to do?"
Lily points to the wagon and says,
"Check inside."
Saiba runs to the back and opens up the curtain. Inside are the two bandits. They are tied up with rope and their mouths are covered by cloth to prevent them from making noise. Saiba asks,
"What are supposed to do with these guys?"
Lily answers,
"I'm just gonna ask them a few questions, so you can go play with the kids or something while I do that!"
Saiba shouts back,
"Okay!"
Saiba walks to the kids and notices a boy sitting all alone under a tree. Saiba thinks to himself,
"That was the kid with the toy sword, right?"
He walks over and asks him,
"What are you doing sitting all alone? Shouldn't you go play with your friends or something?"
The boy answers,
"I wasn't able to protect them. I don't deserve to be with them."
Jokingly, Saiba replies,
"What are you saying? You're just a kid! You're way too young to worry about those things!"
Annoyed, the kid stands up and replies,
"What!? I'm already 10-years-old!"
Saiba lightly pushes the kid towards the other kids and says,
"Just go have fun while you still can!"
His mood darkens a bit as he adds,
"I would do anything to be a kid again..."
From afar, Lily shouts,
"Hey, Hero! Let me borrow you for a bit!"
Saiba jogs over and Lily says,
"I was watching you talk to that kid. You're pretty good with children, aren't you?"
Saiba blushes from the compliment and says,
"I guess..."
Lily explains,
"Anyways, that's not why I called you here. I found out that the bandits were hired to burn the village. Apparently the village and the ones who hired them we're business rivals. Fielsworth is a big name in the farming industry, so I guess their story makes sense."
Saiba asks,
"Did they know anything else about the guys that hired them?"
Lily answers,
"Nope. The one who told them about the job just heard it from someone else and those bandits don't even remember who told them either."
Lily adds,
"In any case, we should just keep going to Riveria. If we happen to run into the culprits, then we can take care of them, but getting you new armor is our main priority!"
Saiba agrees with one condition as he say,
"Fine, but you have to promise me that we'll bring justice to the bad guys if we find them!"
Lily nods back. From behind, the teacher shouts over,
"Mr. Hero we made some food if you would like to have some!"
Saiba shouts back,
"Mm! That smells so good! I'll be glad to give it a try!"
Saiba and Lily walk over and dig into the soup they prepared. They also ate it with some of Fielsworth's famous vegetable bread.
As the night approaches, the villagers, Saiba, Lily, Uma, and even the bandits decide to call a night. They go to sleep, ready for what's to come tomorrow.