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"How long....How long must we walk for now!..." Y/n said slightly panting. It was just a few hours since they began their journey but due to how bad the weather was, Y/n was on the verge of passing out.

Alhaitham finally stopped on his track and turned around. "Around Six hours more to go. We aren't even halfway there." 

For a moment Y/n lost the only living consciousness in her. 

"SIX HOURS?" She questioned. 

Alhaitham slightly shrugged. "...And a lot more than hundred kilometers to go.....Hey? Snap out of your thoughts, do you want to rest?" 

Y/n stood there still. Horrified. But her pride refused to agree with Alhaitham's suggestion to rest. That man didn't even show the slightest symptom of exhaustion. Y/n snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head. 

"No, we shouldn't stop or we'll never reach the site."

"You look like your about to collapse any moment. I wouldn't want to have a hospital trip. making such ignorant moves is a complete 'No' to a scribe such as I." The man bluntly said as he saw Y/n walk past him.

"Oh Mr. Alhaitham, if you ever need a break, don't be shy in taking one so!" Y/n forced a smile into her face despite the fact

"Tsk...Whatever you have to say Miss. Y/n" Alhaitham muttered and walked behind Y/n. 

The sun was scorching. It wasn't the desert region but the weather was extremely terrible. This was not the usual Sumeru weather. The road up ahead was so heated up that mirages were visible.

Not barely thirty minutes in and Y/n was literally dragging her foot with the ground. She was sweating from top to bottom. Alhaitham was also seen slightly sweating from his forehead but not as much as Y/n was.

"H-....How much longer..." Y/n muttered loud enough for Alhaitham to hear.

"I thought someone was not keen on taking a rest though I'll have the utmost pleasure in letting you know once again that it's gonna take more than six hours at the speed we are walking." 

"I....I..is it to late....to go back..." 

"Another two hour trip back to the City if you ask me. I'd rather not walk back as the sun's rays would directly hit at your face while walking back all the way around. At least at the moment it's only hitting us from the  back." 

Suddenly there was rustling sound of leaves together. Both Alhaitham and Y/n were startled. They stared at each other for a moment. A dry breeze blew along with some leaves.

"There's no one following us, I'm certain about that." He said as he took a look around. Y/n stood there gulping in fear. 

She neither had a vision nor a weapon as she couldn't wield both of them unlike Alhaitham who has a dendro vision and a sword, NOT TO FORGET how he and General Mahamatra, Cyno fought on a regular basis over every single pointless things.

Y/n was standing there as her gaze was on Alhaitham who was looking around to find the source of the sound. He was walking slowly until he stopped and slightly crouched to look through the thick long grass. 

Alhaitham's expression turned to a worried one and he gulped nervously. He slowly motioned his hand to Y/n but she was too scared to understand what he was trying to say.

"What...?" She asked. Instantly, Alhaitham brought his finger towards his lips asking her to remain silent. He slowly tried walking back without making any sound which only made Y/n's adrenaline hormones to act up. 

"Alhaitham! What....is the matter.....!!" Y/n whispered. 

"Can you please remain quiet for one who minute! Move aside, don't stand right behind me." He whispered loud enough for Y/n to hear.

As Alhaitham slowly walked backward, he stepped on a twig which made noises.

At that moment, Y/n and he stared at each other for one moment. "Shit." he muttered to himself.

Two Rishboland tigers leapt out from the long thick grass. They roared violently. The tiger's lime green colored eyes with long vertical black orbs were gawking at Y/n.

 Alhaitham was running towards Y/n while she began praying to all the Seven Archons of Teyvat. He quickly grabbed Y/n's wrist and started pulling her along with him to run faster. Y/n was somehow managing to run along with Alhaitham's pace as she wasn't quite the runner. 

Both of them were having a faster heart rate as the two tigers were still behind, chasing them like matras.

"I TOLD YOU TO GET AWAY!" Alhaitham shouted as he kept going short on breath by running.

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHAT YOU WERE TRYING TO CONVEY?? I HAVEN'T HAD ANY COURSES FOR SIGN LANGUAGE FROM THE VAHUMANA DARSHAN!" 

"Keep running with my pace or I'm gonna give the Rishbolands a wonderful lunch." He said sarcastically.

"Your such a jerk! Oh god of freedom please make my death more peaceful, oh god of contracts I don't know what to ask you for, oh god of eternity please freeze this moment so that I can make my escape, oh god of wisdom please give these tigers some wisdom to hunt some other animals down—" 

"KEEP RUNNING WITH MY PACE!" he once again shouted. The tigers started running more faster.

"FINE FINE! HEY GENIUS WHY DON'T YOU HOLD THEM BACK WITH YOUR DENDRO VISION?" 

"Do you now want the Forest Watchers to throw US INTO A PRISON CELL IN THE NAME OF ANIMAL ABUSE?"

"...We're gonna die. Yep. That's it. I knew this was my last mission. Now I—" Y/n said as she was running low on her breath and was slowing down.

A spark lit inside Alhaitham's mind. "I have an idea. You keep running, I'm gonna hold them back."

"Is this supposed to be a novel where the decoy dies and the main protagonist has to mourn their death till the end of the story?" Y/n questioned the logic of the man as she stared at his eyes while running parallel with him. He still had a firm grip on her hands. They were basically holding hands.

"As a scholar. I'm truly disappointed in you and your obsession for romantic novels." Alhaitham said as he left Y/n's hand and slowed down. He turned around and stopped running. The tigers upon seeing him growled in anger and stopped running. It stood there showing it's sharp teeth to Alhaitham.

He ran towards the tigers with his sword out. Y/n stopped running upon seeing what he was about to do....or so what she thought he was about to do.

The Rishboland tigers tried attacking him with their claws but he defended himself and pushed them backward. Once they were far enough, Alhaitham placed his sword on the ground, releasing his dendro powers by forming large branch barriers which blocked the tigers.

They were growling in defeat from behind as Alhaitham pulled his sword back and dismissed it. He stood there panting, trying to settle his breath. Y/n too stood from a distance against a tree, panting due to lack of oxygen.

The sky turned grey as if it was about to rain. Clouds hid the bright sun as a gust of cold breeze flew by.

"Did you now....perhaps....pray to the Hydro Archon for such a weather..." Alhaitham asked.

"You cut me off with my prayer and devotion to all the archons....." 

"Whether I cut you off with your 'prayers' or not, the weather just took a turn for worse meaning we'll have to walk through muddy conditions." He said as he walked towards me.

"I bought these shoes yesterday."

"You can always buy another pair of them, Y/n." Alhaitham said.

"Will you pay for them, Sir Alhaitham?" Y/n asked sarcastically.

"Of course.....Not." 

Y/n sighed in sadness. "We should get a shelter soon till the rain dies down a little...."

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END

a/n: Hey y'all how was the chapter.🤗🤗I'll be on a small writing break from Tomorrow (30 September) till the 8th of October! Maybe another week more since I have exams too but I'll try coming by often!!

Thank you for the 3.6k Reads & the 600 FOLLOWERS!!