"….No…no…no…no..."

"What is it, Chii? Actually, do I even want to ask?"

"No, no, no, no, nonononono-"

"No. No I don't."

Chiibun refused to be discouraged by Hiro's tone, clearly completely overwhelmed by her own trauma as she fell to her knees, eyes wide as knelt before the high steps that led down to the Military Hall. Hiro casually walked back toward the large fountain they'd passed, sitting at its edge to rest his legs as Chiibun took a deep breath.

"WWWWWHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!"

This shrill shriek pierced the air, disturbing the few people still hanging around the Military Hall, who were all stunned, not expecting to hear so much rage and grief trapped in a single voice. Hiro rolled his eyes, knowing how melodramatic they must have thought Chiibun to be.

Though this reaction was to be expected. After coming all this way, Chiibun only found that the Military Hall…was vacant.

Well, as the person who got dragged here against his will, Hiro felt that he should be the one screaming.

"Do you think they'll come running back when they hear that scream of yours?" Hiro called over to Chiibun in a casual tone. "I bet they heard you all the way in the Aura Kingdom."

"Why are the knights not here?! They should be here training in the hot sun, the heating beating down on them to force them to take of their shirts, displaying their abs covered in clear, salty, bodily fluids! Don't give me that look, Hiro! What do the women of Navea have to live for if the knights all leave at the same time?! I pity them all! I pity myself more!"

"Ah, Chii's definitely broken." Hiro sighed, shaking his head in mild amusement. Cheering her up would not be easy. It would probably be better to just leave her alone and wait and she finds something to distract her from her grief.

On another note, Hiro thought that coincidence was a funny thing. There was no controlling it—it was a simple natural occurrence that happened to work out just because it could. No reason, no logic. It was something that just was.

If you were to ask Hiro why he decided to look around at that moment, he could give several reasons, such as wanting to look anywhere but at the sobbing Chiibun, or because he was looking for something interesting to help him pass the time, or even because he was curious about what kind of things they had around here.

He would say all that because the real reason of 'just because' would be a rude and dissatisfying answer.

As it was, Hiro craned his neck to look over his shoulder to see what was behind him (whether it was for the reasons stated above is up for debate). Almost immediately, he caught sight of the raging face of the massive ox rushing full speed, swinging its head in every direction as it pulled a cart along wildly, throwing people aside in a rampage. As it went beneath the large arch that acted as the entrance to the Military Hall, the ox crashed into one of the thick pillars, making a loud crash before stumbling to the side and heading straight for the animal cages and the mother and her two children that were looking at the animals like it was a circus.

They'd be flattened in a second underneath those massive hooves.

"Oh god—Chii! Chii, we got a problem!"

"…Huh?"

The lifeless Chii looked up slowly and lazily as Hiro hopped to his feet, calling out with urgency in his voice, though that didn't seem to register too well with her in her current state. It was doubtful that she could think straight at the moment.

Which meant it was left to Hiro to save the children and their mother.

"Agh! I can't even kill it!" Hiro rushed forward while grabbing his grimoire out of thin air and tossing it forward so it floated in the air before him, levitating at a set distance. He continued rushing forward while slashing his hand through the air, carving a magic circle in the air as the letters in his grimoire shone bright. "Make it, make it, make it, make it, MAKE IT!"

The moment Hiro completed the magic circle, it expanded rapidly, growing in size until it equaled the large ox, then instantly vanished, reappearing between the ox and the screaming woman and her children, who were literally staring at the ox's overbearing body about to crush them. The moment the ox's body collided with the magic circle, sparks flew through the air as repulsive energy forced the ox back, forcing it away from the three endangered people.

But the magic circle was weak. In order to avoid sending too much energy back into the ox on contact, Hiro had made sure that the magic circle was fragile. But this resulted in it being unable to cope with all of the ox's weight, so it began cracking almost immediately.

"The first gate isn't enough?" Hiro clicked his tongue as he skidded to a stop, hesitating. If the ox was too tough for the first gate, should he use the second? But if he overestimated how sturdy the animal was…he'd kill it.

Did he have to choose between the lives of the three humans or the life of the ox?

The gears of Hiro's mind whirred fast enough to produce smoke, all in the second between the ox hitting his magic circle and the first crack appearing. He had, at best, five seconds before his spell broke and the woman and her children were crushed. That was barely enough time to cast even the quickest of his spells, and he still hadn't decided which one would work best.

"Create a cage!"

A voice called out from behind Hiro at the end of the single second that Hiro took to consider his options. He didn't recognize the voice or the figure that rushed past him, barreling toward the ox like a train, but he didn't bother wasting time being suspicious. He abandoned the thought of trying to use another spell to stall for time and focused instead on doing as this stranger asked.

It was a surprisingly good decision.

By time the magic circle broke, the figure had already placed themselves between the ox and the three civilians, swinging a shield through the fading remnants of the magic circle to bash it against the ox's face with merciless strength. A painful roar shook the air as the ox stumbled away, all of its momentum being thrown to the side as it shot straight toward the cages on the other side of the street in a daze.

This sent the cart trailing behind it right at the four people, giving no room to sigh in relief.

The figure with the shield didn't hesitate to brace their legs and hold their shield up before them in a defensive posture, taking the full brunt of the force as the cart slammed into them like a flung projectile, shattering on contact from the force. It was enough to send any person flying in a crumpled mass, killing them instantly, but this figure hadn't even budged an inch, as if they were a solid statue.

There was no doubt that this was a Templar, who stood for the protection of others.

"Catch it now!" The Templar roared just as Hiro finished casting his spell, the pages of his grimoire flipping as rapid as a storm as strangely colored electricity flew from its pages, aiming straight for the ox as it continued to barrel toward the animal cages.

Right before the ox could slam into the animal cages and let loose who knows what into the square, a spray of bullets sprinkled across the ground right in front of the ox, causing it to hesitate for a moment in both fear and surprise. The moment it stopped, a small sphere was shot through the air and slammed into the ox's side, exploding with pure force as a repressive shot, forcing the ox's legs to buckle underneath it.

Completely stopped, the ox was completely surrounded by the cage of oddly colored electricity that Hiro created, enclosing it in a single, small space.

Hiro released a heavy sigh in relief as soon as he saw it was safe, no lives lost in an accident. It looked like they had been lucky.

"If you're going to help, help sooner!" Hiro yelled toward Chiibun, mostly in relief. "I thought someone—or something—would end up dead!"

"Well excuse me for not being as quick to act as you!" Chiibun frowned at Hiro as she hurried over, holding her massive cannon in her hands. "This thing can only be loaded so fast! But more importantly, are those people okay?"

Hiro looked over to the three civilians whose lives had been spared. Clearly, they were fine. The mother was sitting on the ground, apparently unable to stand from the relief she clearly felt. The Templar was patting the heads of the two children comfortingly.

"Did you see how he stood up to that ox?" Chiibun grinned excitedly as she shook Hiro's shoulder with one hand, forcing him to swing back anf forth limply. "He was like a rock! Think of the muscles needed to pull THAT off!"

"Yes, yes, good for you." Hiro sighed. "You found your knight. Glad you're so happy."

"Let's invite him to the guild! Hehe…Maybe he'll even show me his muscles!"

Assuming the Templar was an Envoy of Gaia, Hiro thought to himself. But he didn't bother to ruin Chiibun's mood by her reminding her of that. It was just a relief that things had worked out.

Really. Coincidence was such a funny thing.