Giant snake problem

4.    Giant snake problem.

“It is probably better if I handle this one.”

I glance at Sarah and see she is frozen in place, she didn’t even hear what I said. Can’t say I blame her, her instincts are telling her that no matter what she does she can’t escape that snake.

I have felt the same fear she is feeling now twice; first time was when I was about to be eaten by a pack of anti-wolves and second when I disobeyed my father and got exiled. 

Two of my worst memories in life and they both happened on the same day. The sound of the snake made me come to my senses, it is close now, so I prepare my sword.

I step away from Sarah, so the snake won’t hit her or if it targets her then I will just jump in and save her, but I doubt it will go for the one that is not a threat.

The snake comes my way and when it is within striking distance I jump to the side and stab my sword into the snake. It tries to pull away to the other side, but I jump over it and cut its head off.

The body of the snake keeps moving for a while, but it soon stops. I make sure the snakes head is dead by stabbing my sword into it, the snake was a bit harder to cut but with my strength it was still doable.

I am happy how good the sword is, I will have to try out a few more things with it but for now I’m satisfied. I go to Sarah who is on her knees on the ground.

As I approach her she looks up teary eyed and her mouth open.

“Are you, all right?”

“No, I am not all right. I was sure we were dead, then you just killed it with no effort. What are you?”

“I know that seeing my power must freak you out a bit…”

“A bit? You killed a giant snake, one can eradicate a whole village, add few more and they could take down a whole city around here. You killed it effortlessly.”

“The higher-class beings are strong, and with this sword I am even stronger but there is no reason for you to be afraid of me. There are many things in this city that are a lot stronger than you are.”

I smile smugly at her and she gets an angry look on her face. She stands up.

“I guess being born with power makes you overconfident in your abilities, I will get stronger than you in no time and show you that there are many things in this city that are stronger than you.”

She picks up the wolves she dropped on the ground and throws then inside the snake’s head.

“We need to report this to the guild, this is already the second giant snake in this area. If there is a large group of them we need to start preparing for them.”

I throw my wolves inside the snake’s head and then Sarah jump on its mouth to close it. We turn the head toward the city and start pushing it.

When we reach the city, we are both sweaty from pushing the head this long. A guard comes from the gate.

“What is this?”

“It is the head of a giant snake we killed, the rest of the body is still where we killed it.” I say to the guard.

“Go report this to the guild at once, I will tell another guard to arrange transportation for the head as I go tell the city officials about this.”

“I should clean up first, I’m covered in blood as you can see.”

“No, this is more important go straight to the guild.”

“I will stay here and make sure they don’t take our spoils.” Sarah says clearly happy for the fact that she can rest.

“Fine.”

I go inside the city and head toward the guild. The people on the streets look horrified as I walk past them and some even run away. They must assume that I killed someone or something, but I don’t mind them.

I arrive at the guild and see Benma at the counter as usual, she gets a little startled as she sees me but regains composure quickly.

“I was told that I had to come and report the guild about the giant snake we killed.”

She seems to be surprised but not to the extent I was expecting her to be.

“Thank you for coming here, can you wait a moment while I go get a person more suited for this matter.”

“Sure.”

She turns and walks away from the counter. I wait until I hear two sets of footsteps coming. A beautiful blond-haired woman comes with Benma to the counter.

I notice how the mana in the area is drawn to her and her ears are a dead giveaway. She must be the guild master.

“You are the one who killed the giant snake?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“You think I wouldn’t know about the only vampire in this city? No one else could have killed it alone. Well no adventurer in this city at least.”

“Fair enough, are we done here then? I want to go wash away all the blood.”

“Wait, we need someone to go investigate these snakes. They are not supposed to be in this area and two is too many to be a coincidence.”

“You want me to do it?”

“You are the only one that can.”

“What about you or Benma?”

“I need to stay here to protect the guild and the city. Benma could survey the area but if there is a cave or they are underground then she couldn’t see them.”

“Why would I do it?”

“There will be a reward for it.”

“I have no interest in money.”

“What do you have interest for then?”

“I guess I could do the quest if I had some high quality elven leather or a scabbard made from it.”

“Fine, but it is my only scabbard, so you have to give me yours, and only after you have investigated it.”

“I’m sure you have enough gold to buy one for yourself.”

“I do not have time to go shopping around in the city. Besides the folk around here aren’t that appreciative of me being here so I rather not go out much.”

“Sounds though.”

“You should know it.”

“I am not tied down like you are, I can just leave if things get too bad.”

“I suppose that’s true. Although your travel companions might not want to leave.”

“How much do you exactly know about me? Besides you think I would take them with me? You think too highly of me.”

“Well it doesn’t matter, you are a powerful man, at least around here. We had to know what kind of a man you are, so we can prepare for whatever you do.”

“Well what kind of a man am I?”

“Not the kind I was expecting.” The elf smiles and walks away.

“Can you do the investigation tomorrow?” Benma asks.

“Yeah, I will do it tomorrow.”

I feel exhausted from talking that much, it was a different kind of a conversation that I usually have with Sarah. It was like she was testing me the whole time, seeing how I react to what she said.

I haven’t really met anyone equal to me, so it was a strange experience, only those who were so much stronger than me and those who were much weaker than me.

I get reminded of my past and I get lost in thought as I go to my house to wash up. 

Chapter three. Chapter five.