The Giant Snake's Fall

Orano had just made it in time and saved Caitrin. Now they both were gasping for air while looking at the snake, and the snake was hissing with pain.

Orano pointed his sword toward it and said,

"We have to finish this now."

He then looked at Caitrin once again and said,

"You stay here and don't move anywhere until I give you a signal."

Caitrin nodded.

The snake stopped hissing after a couple of seconds and looked at them with wide-opened eyes. Then Orano and the snake both charged at the same time and attacked each other.

It was an intense fight between them. They were both furious and both were attacking each other rapidly. Their hits made the underground shook once more and it was slowly collapsing.

Caitrin shouted at Orano,

"If you don't be quick enough we are going to get buried here! This place is about to collapse!"

And while they were fighting, they kept getting closer to each other. Then Orano jumped through the attacks of the snake and approached its head quickly. He then finally reached its head, kicked it, and stuck his sword in the neck of the snake.

He then stood up and shouted,

"Caitrin! Hurry, come here!"

Caitrin quickly ran towards him, jumped, and held his hand. The snake hissed loudly once more and started to go upwards. The underground was collapsing and the exit seemed so blurry. But they just made in time and got out of there.

And when they got out, the snake threw them to the ground. Orano held Caitrin and slowed her fall, but hit his back. He then stood up once more and looked at the creature.

On the other hand, The snake was still hissing and making sounds with agony and pain. Then it looked at Orano angrily and was about to attack him. 

"Hey! What are you doing!" Caitrin said,

But when the snake was about to attack him again, it fell right in front of Orano's feet and died there. And right after that, the weight over its body dragged it back to the underground and it stayed there.

Caitrin took a deep breath, laid down, and said,

"Finally! I was going to lose my mind."

"Even it had a good place to hide, it didn't have enough time to escape. Fortunately, we were able to come on time and prevent what might happen." Orano replied while putting his sword in its belt.

Then Caitrin stood up, approached Orano, looked at him confused, and said,

"This was harder than before, but I still don't understand how it died? I mean it was very strong and lively seconds before. "

She then turned to Orano, and said,

"How did this happen?"

"Before the creature came after you, I tried to use the poison I took from another creature on it. And my predictions turned out to be correct. It turned out that it couldn't stand any other poison than its own. And every time it moved with this poison in its body, it gave vital damages to its internal organs, giving it huge damage from the inside."

Then he added,

"But even I didn't expect it to last that long."

They were still looking at the creature and talking, but suddenly so many people started to come out from the empty street and houses nearby them. And approached them while shouting with joy,

"They did it!"

"They have defeated the Snake!"

"We can relax now, finally!"

Caitrin looked at them with confusion, trying to understand the situation. And while they were shouting, one of the woman among the people approached them and handed them two pouches of gold.

Then she said,

"We're really grateful for your help. You both have taken care of the monster, that we even feared approaching. We can't thank you both enough."

Orano took the gold and said,

"It is no problem at all. And since nobody is harmed and the problem is gone, We will move on our way."

"You can come back anytime you want." 

"Why are we leaving early?" Caitrin said.

"We have to. Yuma will be there waiting for us and we have to get going as soon as possible."

"Did he arrived?"

"He arrived at Faye. But I don't know he arrived on Lavinia or not. Even so, we have to be there to plan out where we should move."

They were about to leave the town, but a horse-drawn carriage approached behind them at a rapid pace and then stopped. There were two people on it and they looked at them. 

The first person had short brown hair, was almost 6 feet tall, and he looked like he was about in his thirties.

The other guy had short silver hair, had silver eyes, was almost 6 feet tall like the other guy, and he looked like he was in his twenties.

They both had cheap villager clothes and they both looked exhausted.

Then the person in his thirties got out from the carriage and started talking to them,

"Excuse me, Are you two creature hunters?"

"Yes, but why do you ask?" Caitrin replied while looking at him confused,

The guy smiled very brightly and said,

"Ah! So they finally decided to call somebody for that creature!"

He then said,

"I am sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Finn, and my friend over there is "Noah". And sorry for being late to the party!"

Caitrin asked,

"Party?"

"Unfortunately, for the last two weeks, we were unable to bring supplies to our city. And we decided to set off a week ago when the trade route in the Torox desert was just opened. When we were halfway there, we heard that a creature that attacked our city. And since we had nothing to do but to wait for a creature hunter to help us, we waited patiently."

Orano said to himself,

*So that affected Faye too.*

Then Finn smiled again and said,

"But looks like you guys came just in time to save us! And I am grateful to both of you for that! If you need any help, my friend Noah will be going to Lavinia now."

"Really?" Caitrin asked excitedly.

He said,

"Of course! If you need a ride, just tell me."

Caitrin then said,

"Actually, we were planning to go to Lavinia too. It would be great if you helped us."

"No problem at all. Hop on and he will take you there." Finn said.

Caitrin turned to Orano and whispered,

"We are so lucky to have them here, at a moment like this! We have to take this ride!"

Orano sighed and said,

"Looks like we have no choice. It is the fastest way for us now."

And after they got on, they started moving and started getting far away from there.

On the other hand, Finn stood at the road and waved at them as they were going. And Caitrin smiled and waved back.
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When Orano and Caitrin finally left there, Finn turned around and walked where crowded people stood and approached them.

He smiled and said while waving at them,

"Hey! You guys finally taken care of that little creature, huh?"

But one of the old man turned to him with a scared expression and said,

"Finn. This is not that little creature."

"What do you mean it's not that?" Finn asked as the smile on his face slowly turned into a nervous expression.

The old man turned his face towards the hole and said,

"I think you'd better see it for yourself."

And after his words, Finn quickly approached the hole. And the thing he saw, made him shiver with fear.

It was the same snake that Orano and Caitrin defeated, but something was bothering everybody,

Finn slowly said,

"This is Mr.Nuzuki's own pet, isn't it?"

The old man replied while he sighed,

"Even I can't believe how brave they are."

They were just standing there, looking at the huge body of the snake with fear.

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On the other hand, Like every time before, Orano and Caitrin were on the road and exhausted as usual. And while they were on the road, Orano suddenly asked,

"Which route are we going to take?"

Noah smiled and replied,

"Oh! Unfortunately, I will be taking a longer path that takes two to three days."

"Two to three days, huh?"

Caitrin asked,

"How much time do we have?"

Orano crossed his arms and said,

"It's the time that we exactly need since Yuma will be there too in three days or more. But like I said, anything can happen and we should be on guard."

Caitrin then sighed and said,

"Yeah, you are right. Since I saw that snake, I will not be able to sleep well in the next few days."

Then she looked at Orano with thoughtful eyes and said,

"Hey, Tatsumi. I want to ask something."

This made Orano look at her. And he was waiting for an answer.

So she finally started talking again and said,

"Back there, when we were in Aetas and when we were taking care of that snake, you protected me. 

I am not saying this is a bad thing, but I really want to know the reason. 

I mean I paid you to become my personal creature hunter, but that should consider taking care of the creatures. And I thought you would only do that too. But there were moments you didn't care about your own life and risked it to save mine. I really do appreciate it, but like I said, I really want to know why."

Orano bowed down his head, closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, and replied,

"The answer is simple."

She looked at him confused and said,

"Simple?"

Orano replied,

"A human life is worth more than even the most expensive jewelry in this world. 

Shortly, It's priceless. 

People often don't notice it or completely ignores it. Or they just don't agree with my opinion. But I have no intention of giving up on that idea. And If I knew you for a second, or if I knew you for ten years, I would think the same thing and help you. Because I can bring back the gold that I've spent and the equipment that I have bought, but I can't bring back your life."

The words of him sent different kinds of emotions to her heart and created beautiful feelings in it.

She didn't know what to say.

She just smiled and said,

"Actually, It is good to have a person beside you to think like that. And I think it is no wrong to think like that."

But Orano didn't say anything back. He just bowed down his head with his eyes closed.

Caitrin gave up on saying something. But she just thought about the things he said. Her thoughts about him were slowly being erased from her head. So she slowly looked out of the carriage and dived into her thoughts.

The moon was glowing, beautiful than ever before.