The three charge in and begin hacking and slashing away at the guards. The leave a trail of fallen soldiers wherever they go.
Suddenly, the large man from before, Aldrich Alberoth, stands firm behind the group guards and shouts,
"Guards! Halt! You are no match for these three."
The guards quickly step aside and create a path for Aldrich. He marches over and says,
"Lazaro... Little brother... You know that you have no chance against out family, yet, you still choose to defy us... You've really fallen, Lazaro..."
Lazaro shouts back,
"Aldrich, you wouldn't understand... People like you only care about themselves..."
Two little girls suddenly flash like electricity behind Saiba and Lily and trap them with special handcuffs. Saiba tries to struggle but he get electrocuted by the handcuffs and fails to the ground. Aldrich explains,
"Those handcuffs have been imbued with electricity, using my [Charge Strike] skill. Voltie, Voltia, fall back."
The little girls zap back to other side of Aldrich. Lazaro turns to look at Saiba and Lily and worriedly asks,
"Saiba, Lily, are you okay?"
Saiba replies,
"We're okay! You worry about your big brother!"
Lazaro nods and turns back to Aldrich. Aldrich says,
"Little brother, I will allow you to show a chance to rescue both the insects and those two, however, you must defeat me in a duel. It will be a one-hit duel. The first one to land an attack on the other will be declared the winner. What do you say?"
Lazaro answers Aldrich,
"Sure."
Lily shouts,
"Are you crazy!?"
Lazaro ignores her while saying,
"I'll accept your terms big brother! If it means saving my friends, I'll do anything!"
Lazaro makes a request by saying,
"I want to ask for something though, give me some time to prepare with Saiba and Lily!"
Aldrich answers,
"I have no problems with that. You will have two days to prepare. If you do not come back, those insects will be squashed."
Lazaro replies,
"Of course! You better be ready when I come back!"
Aldrich nods to the two little girls as a signal. They flash back to Saiba and Lily and unhandcuff them. Lazaro starts walking away while Saiba and Lily follow him. He gets on his Scaled Horse and says to Saiba,
"Follow me! I know the perfect place to prepare!"
Saiba and Lily get on their ride and follow Lazaro as the iron walls of the Alberoth Stronghold close behind them. Lazaro takes them to a small lake that's surrounded by trees. He announces,
"Welcome to the Water Hole! This is where I first learned how to use Water-Type Magic!"
Saiba notices a small hut and quickly runs inside. It's a quaint little hut and the only things inside are a mattress and fire pit. Lazaro says,
"We'll stay here tonight!"
He walks back out and call,
"Saiba! Can you help me with my training?"
Saiba runs out while shouting,
"Sure."
Lazaro explains,
"Just run around and I'll try to hit you!"
Saiba get surprised and starts frantically running around. Lazaro takes his longbow and starts forming an arrow. Saiba notices the arrow. It's as big as Saiba. Saiba shouts,
"How am I supposed to dodge that!?"
Lazaro releases the arrow and completely drenches Saiba. They continue training like this for the rest of the day. They decide to finish up for the day and eat a small meal. While eating, Saiba asks,
"What made you leave your family anyways?"
Lazaro answers,
"It's kind of a long story, but if you're willing to listen, I'll tell you."
Saiba replies,
"Why not? I have time to listen to my friend's story!"
Lazaro starts explaining,
"It all started when I was 7. Alberoth's are supposed to learn their first Lightning Skill, [Charge Shot], once they turn 7. Long story short, I wasn't able to learn it. My parents got disappointed and my siblings started to make fun of me. I put up with that for about six years. The only thing that kept me sane was coming here to the Water Hole and playing with my longbow. That's how I awakened my skills and found out I had an affinity for Water and not Lightning. Once I turned 13, I decided that I didn't want to live like that anymore, so I left and set out on my own journey. Shortly after, I met Klaus and Raffael. We became friends and travelled from town to town as bandits and living off whatever we could get."
Lazaro finishes with,
"That should bring us up to speed."
Saiba replies,
"I see... You have a pretty interesting past, Lazaro! I'm glad I got to be your friend!"
After the story they go to sleep. The next day, they wake up to a cold wind that blows through the Water Hole. The wind has managed to freeze over the lake. Saiba walks out of the hut while shivering and mumble,
"C-C-Cold!"
Lazaro says,
"That's odd... It's never been like this here..."
He changes the subject and says,
"Let's begin training, Saiba!"
Saiba shouts,
"With this wind!? How am I gonna run around!? How are you going to shoot your arrows!?"
Lazaro thinks while saying,
"Hm... You have a point there..."
He keeps thinking and comes to a realization. Lazaro says,
"On second thought... I don't think I'll need your help today! I'll train on my own, so you can do your own thing too!"
Confused, Saiba replies,
"Huh? Okay..."
Lazaro runs off into the forest to continue his training as Saiba is left freezing in the small hut.