When the parade ended and the crowd finally dispersed, I caught a glimpse of Casath walking with Hanung and Amber over to where the cattle pageant was about to take place.

Before I could run out to the street and call them, I lost sight of the three again.

Well, I guess I know where to go next now.

The townsfolk gathered in the large town plaza, where a makeshift stadium ring was created so as to allow as many people to see what was going on as possible. At the center of the ring stood an announcer, and several ranchers were waiting by the back entrance with their cattle.

I looked through all the stadium benches, and finally found my three traveling companions two sections away.

"Where have you three been?"

"Watching the parade. What about you?"

"The marketplace. I restocked on supplies, so we can leave for Mitana city now."

"But what about the show?"

"Eh, it's just a bunch of cows. I'm not interested."

Amber and Hanung had a slightly displeased look.

"I want to watch for a bit though!"

"Yeah, we don't have ranches in Sachiru town!"

"I don't want to be here either, Blaze, but if I leave now Hanung will throw a tantrum."

Seeing how I don't have any other choice but to stay here for a while, I sighed.

"Fine… But only for a while."

"Yay!"

I still have no idea how people could get this excited over a bunch of cattle, but the two girls cheerfully responded to my reply.

* * * * *

"Next up is contestant number 53: a magnificent ox being led in by rancher Cobo! Look at that long body and perfectly straight topline! The loin is thick, and the shoulder is smooth. You can even see the gloss on this cow's hide! What beauty! What magnificence!"

The crowd loudly clapped as the steer was led through the ring for everyone to see.

"Please just let me leave already…"

Contrary to the excitement in the crowd, I was absolutely bored and disinterested.

I still found no entertainment value whatsoever and felt like I had wasted the past half hour just by being here. Despite my frequent complaints and lack of interest, the two girls were still attentively watching and paying no heed to how I felt.

I decided to sneak out.

"Where are you going?"

As soon as I moved just half a meter away, Amber suddenly turned to look at me, and Hanung also followed suit after hearing Amber's question. Why couldn't they just continue ignoring me like for the past half hour?

"I… need to pee."

That should probably be a good enough excuse to go outside.

"Oh, alright. Just make sure you come back here soon, then."

I just quickly headed out while pretending I didn't hear what Amber said.

Outside of the stadium ring were multiple food stands serving all kinds of savory snacks. It was as though I was at the local market once again. I had already sampled most of the local foods here a couple hours ago, so this time I chose not to stop at any of the stalls. The prices would have been much higher, anyways, since it was aimed towards making a quick profit out of the massive crowd in the makeshift stadium.

Suddenly, a few faint screams and crashing sounds rang out from the distance, and clouds of dust appeared not long after, about 300 meters away. All the market activities paused for a brief moment as people were curious about what happened, and the people started showing concern on their faces after seeing a group of people running towards the stadium from the direction of where the screams came from a while ago.

"Hide! It's dangerous outside!"

The fastest runner among those people shouted that out several times as he closed his distance with the stadium. When he reached where the food stalls were, he stopped to take a breath, and was panting non-stop after shouting out the same thing one more time. He looked like he was about to collapse from dashing and shouting.

"Please calm down. Tell us what happened."

A couple of people standing nearby came over to help with keeping himself standing, and one offered him a cup of juice from one of the stalls. The running man probably only needed to catch his breath, so he refused the offer and eventually calmed down after a little while.

"Huff… Huff… Bull… Went mad…"

"Bull… went mad?"

Another moment passed by, and the man finally recovered enough as more people ran through.

"That's right… One of the bulls… suddenly went berserk. The other animals… got frightened and started running… resulting in a stampede."

"Oh, no! Did anyone get trampled?"

"I don't think… anyone got hurt, but several buildings… and most property on the streets… got destroyed."

Having heard that, a lot of people in the crowd began to worry.

"We need to stay away from the streets!"

"Even staying indoors won't protect us from a stampede!"

"What do we do?"

"Someone alert the town!"

The previously quiet crowd was now noisy all over again, except this time it was not because of the market activity. The stall owners also began packing up, fearing that the stampede might eventually make its way towards the stadium area.

"Calm down! The cattle probably stampeded in another direction!"

"Don't make so much noise, you might attract their attention!"

"Why don't we just make a barricade instead?"

Among the crowd were also more rational people, trying to calm the screaming people down. I walked over to the running man earlier to inquire a little more about the incident.

"Excuse me."

"Yes?"

"Which way were the animals charging earlier?"

"Probably towards the town's outskirts. Opposite of this direction."

"Has anyone tried to stop them?"

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Huh? Wouldn't some ranchers be able to stop the stampede if they put down the bull riling up all the other animals?"

"Are you nuts? Who in their right mind would try to challenge that bull?"

"What do you mean?"

"The one that went crazy was going to be entered in the bullfighting tournament tomorrow, and it's one of the strongest contenders from last year. That thing's almost twice the size of most bulls in town, and its hide is so thick that even swords can't cut into it."

From what I saw earlier today, a "regular" bull was already about three or so times larger than the kind we raised on human operated farms in Kitrod, and this one was supposedly almost twice as big. That meant there was a 10 meter high, 6 tonne beast running rampant on the edge of town.

"What about magic?"

"Ain't nobody in this town capable of using that. You'd have to send someone from Mitana city over, and it already takes half a day to go there and back. Nobody's ever tried using magic on our town's cattle anyways, so they won't even send help if they don't know whether it's effective or not."

"I'm a mage, so maybe I could try shooting it with magic."

"I appreciate that thought, but you're better off hiding, kid. That thing's like a mobile fortress. Take one hit from its charge and you'll be flying to the moon."

"Alright…"

I guess he had a point. The bull in question was about the size of a monster that would normally require an expedition squad of adventurers to subjugate, and without knowing whether or not magic is effective in the first place, I might easily end up enraging it and getting killed.

Right when I thought the crowd had finally calmed down, waves upon waves of panicking people began pouring out of the stadium. It looked like the cattle pageant was suspended for now, and the crowd inside were concerned about their safety due to the lack of detailed information about the stampede that just took place.

There might not be a cattle stampede here, but I was worried that I might get trampled by the stadium crowd, so I figured I might as well head over to where the bull started its rampage to see how badly it damaged the town. People probably won't head towards there for a while, after all.

"Well, thanks for the info. By the way, if you see a giant lizard, tell him I'm checking out where the stampede started."

"Wait, I don't want to be here! Hey! Stop!"

The running man may have had enough time to catch his breath, but he probably didn't have the stamina to run away from this crowd, so I left him with a message for Casath as I dashed away.

* * * * *

"We are terribly sorry!"

"This was beyond our control!"

"Please forgive us!"

It wasn't a good idea to leave our carriage out in the streets while a busy festival was taking place, so I paid to leave our carriage and horses in the stable of one of the inns in town. When I arrived there to check, the stable as well as several other buildings in the neighborhood were in ruins. There were a mix of wooden and stone houses in this town, and it was understandable that a wooden structure like this one would get destroyed if a large beast charged through. Nonetheless, there were blood stains all over the ground from the horses that got trampled, and all items of value inside the stable were now in splinters all over the ground. The innkeeper and his employees were profusely apologizing since my carriage and all of our supplies were destroyed along with the rest of the stable. They were probably feeling responsible since I paid them to look after it, after all.

"It's okay, I'm not blaming you for anything. Nobody would normally expect a stampede to run through here."

Looking at the mess on the ground, it didn't seem like it would be possible to fix up the carriage in a reasonable amount of time. In fact, it didn't seem like it would be possible to reassemble it in the first place. I tried looking for any food supplies that could be recovered, but all the items we had on board were crushed and probably inedible. Luckily, our changes of clothes were not torn, but they were quite dirty stepped on multiple times.

"Well, there goes my security deposit for the carriage. Looks like we'll have to stay here for a night."

"Let us make up for letting your carriage get destroyed! We own another inn down the street, and that one's still standing since it's made from stone. You and your friends can stay the night for free!"

"No, please don't do that. The stampede was out of your control, and it's not like you started it, so it's definitely not your fault. We'll pay for our rooms and food like anyone else."

"Are you sure about that? A carriage like yours already costs at least 150000 doviti, so I thought you might end up in debt soon…"

That was half a week's worth of my tax-exempt profits. I haven't spent much of my money since coming here four weeks ago, so that much wasn't too significant.

"Yes, I'm sure. I have quite a bit of money saved up, so it won't leave me in debt."

"If you insist… Still, let us know if there's anything we can do for you after your losses…"

"I will. Thank you for your concern."

Come to think of it, 150000 doviti was the amount of money people usually make in half a year, and yet I wasn't bothered at the least about losing that much. Maybe I should just voluntarily pay taxes when I come back home…

"In any case, could you prepare two rooms for my group?"

"Certainly."

Casath, Hanung, and Amber came over to the scene not long after the innkeeper left. I explained the situation to them, and they didn't seem to be too bothered by having to stay here for another day. The only thing that annoyed them somewhat was that I kept ditching them today. Well, sorry for having no interest in bovines.

Since we weren't from this town, it was unlikely for us to rent a new carriage since we had no credibility here and since there was no guarantee that we would ever come back. I couldn't just purchase a new carriage either, since Casath and I didn't bring enough money.

I also asked if it was possible to use the underground network's freight carriages, but Amber said that was not possible since they only operated between the capital and some towns relatively close to the border, as well as those along the way. As to why I knew there was an underground transportation network, I figured that using the tunnels for just communications was quite a waste, so I inquired Amber about it after coming back from that fight against the dragon two weeks ago.

Anyways, Amber later managed to find a group of merchants planning on delivering food shipments to Mitana city the next day, and they happily agreed to take us there for a small fee.

I hope more problems won't arise until then…