《Regarding the Story of My Wife, Medusa》


 Volume 1 - Prologue

    Ever since I have started reading novels and watching movies, I¡¯ve had a strong desire to head for the other world. Riding a cool dragon, wielding a mighty sword and defeating many types of fierce monsters, possessing many high-tech weapons, having a strong army under my command, or even having a beautiful harem¡­¡­and accompanying those are obviously the superpowers of the protagonist.


    Unfortunately, reality wasn¡¯t as perfect as I would have imagined it to be.


    Of course, I wasn¡¯t mentally prepared for it in the beginning . After all, it was something that had exceeded my brain¡¯s processing capacity.


    I am logical enough to know that nothing is perfect. It doesn¡¯t matter if I have no superpowers, no cool dragons to ride, or even no mighty swords to wield, which I probably am not strong enough to do so anyways.


    Still, there¡¯s only one question I want to ask, and that is: Why did I end up in a monster¡¯s nest when I woke up?

 Volume 1 - CH 1

    To be honest, having both of my arms tied behind me was a first for me. The feeling was uncomfortable and hard to describe¡­let¡¯s just say that it makes you feel that you would die through no blood circulation instead.


    When I opened my eyes, all I saw was darkness and when I closed it, all I saw was darkness as well. The first thing that popped into my mind was that I had become blind.


    Of course, I couldn¡¯t rule out the possibility of me being enclosed in a small dark room. At least I still had my glasses.


    Then fear hit me relentlessly as I panicked. Unless you¡¯re a blind man yourself, anyone would panic when they were in a completely dark environment. Maybe it was due to my sense of sight being robbed, but my sense of hearing and smell became more keen.


    ¡°Is anybody out there?¡±


    I tried to call out, but didn¡¯t get any reply other than my faint echos.


    ¡°Is there anyone out there?¡±


    I tried to call out again, this time with a louder voice.


    This time. there was a reply, but it wasn¡¯t a positive one. A weird bad stench assaulted my nose coupled with creepy rustling noise.


    And then, I got hit.


    I¡¯ve been hit so many times in my whole life, but to be hit while  my vision was robbed was a first time for me. The attacker even deliberately aimed for my head.


    It wasn¡¯t that  painful, not until to the degree of me being beaten to death, at least. If you ask about the dizziness, then I really felt dizzy. It felt worse than the worst hangover I had in my whole life. The dizziness overcame me as I fainted.


    I couldn¡¯t tell how long I was out, but when I could finally open my eyes, the disgusting stench and rustling sound had vanished. I felt lucky that I didn¡¯t die, but maybe the situation I was in wasn¡¯t something that lucky. My arms suddenly felt painful around the wrist. Oh right, My hands were tied up.


    ¡°I¡¯ve only lived for 20 over years, it couldn¡¯t be my karma, right? Or is it the karma of the me from the previous life?¡±


    I felt tired and sighed. Craving for a cigarette, I tried to reach for the lighter and a pack of cigarettes in my shirt pocket but couldn¡¯t reach it with my tied-up limbs. I couldn¡¯t run, and calling for help would only attract the attention of that guy who kept hitting me. If I couldn¡¯t use my limbs, then let¡¯s use my brain to at least figure out who did this to me.If there is a slight chance that I can escape, I could directly go to a police station and report a kidnapping.


    But now that I think about it, isn¡¯t it kind of scary?


    First was the horrible stench. It was impossible for a human to emit such smell unless they had an intention to. Next, the rustling sound. It didn¡¯t sound like someone was out there making the sound but it sounded like it was from my surroundings. Furthermore, as long as you were a human, your footsteps would make sound. With sound in mind, I also didn¡¯t hear any door opening. This means that I was in an open area, and not in an enclosed space.


    I¡¯m a genius at reasoning! Please call me Detective C¡ùnan!


    Still, what¡¯s the point of knowing these stuff?


    Furthermore, based on these knowledge, didn¡¯t the possibility of the opponent being not a human become higher?


    Still, not being in an enclosed space was beneficial to me. As long as I could get these ropes off, I had a chance to escape.


    Ugh, I should just save my brain power.


    Although it felt like I was going to die, my mind screamed in protest to live. It didn¡¯t matter if I became blind, broke my limbs, or even have no chance to see those who were important to me.


    I just wanted to live.


    Suddenly, as if it heard my thoughts, the horrible stench assaulted my nose again. I didn¡¯t struggle, because I felt a pair of hands tying a rope around my waist.


    My reaction was¡ª¡ª¡±Don¡¯t kill me, please! Anything but that!¡±¡ª¡ªI said such unmanly words without a moment of hesitation.


    There¡¯s only one reason I would say this: I didn¡¯t want to die.


    However, I felt the pair of hands untying the rope binding my hands and continued with the ropes binding my legs. I didn¡¯t move a single muscle as if I was an acrobat walking on a tightrope. Hope, survival and confidence. These words materialised within me as my limbs felt like they were filled with strength.


    However, in reality, I was just sitting on the floor. Indeed, I was filled with confidence, but those few hours of being tied up caused me to be unable to move my arm.


    ¡°THE HELL!?¡±


    When I tried to move my arm, I immediately screamed out these two words loudly. It wasn¡¯t because my arms hurt, but because the rope tied around my waist was pulled from the other end by someone. If I had to describe the strength, I would say that rather than a human, it could be a 125cc motorbike1 pulling it.


    My muscles desperately tried to protect my fragile backbone, causing painful muscle cramps coupled with the pain of being dragged on a floor. Clenching my teeth, I put my hands around my head to protect it from the unending impacts on something that was like a wall. Also, maybe it was because of the sand and dust that had entered my lungs, it hurts like hell.


    Unable to take the pain anymore, I howled out painfully.


    That¡¯s right. I howled. I didn¡¯t even know a human such as myself was capable of making such a sound


    The only thing I was glad of was that it didn¡¯t last long. If this continued on for 30 more seconds, I was sure I would be dead.


    And then, another good thing happened¡ª¡ªI saw a light!


    The sunlight was so strong that it made me dizzy. Even though I may be an idiot, I was not blind! My eyes were properly executing their duties!


    Looking at my hands, although they were covered in scratches and wounds,at least I could still move them; Looking at my body, although my favorite T-shirt was ruined, at least my backbone was still intact; Looking at my legs, the knees were scraped and bleeding, but I would still be able to run and even jump after it heals!


    Talking about jumping, I finally remembered the rope binding my legs¡­..


    Maybe it¡¯s because I was tortured until I had become crazy? Or maybe I was just having a nightmare right now?


    The ¡®rope¡¯ which looked like a snake at a first glance still looked like a snake.


    No, seriously. It was a real snake.


    The brown stripes on the snake didn¡¯t look that appealing. After gulping down my little saliva left in my mouth, and looked upwards. The ¡®rope¡¯ tied around my waist was actually a thick yarn fabric. I couldn¡¯t discern whether the fabric was a piece of ¡®cloth¡¯ or not, but the problem didn¡¯t lie there. The real problem was that the snake had a waist¡­¡­


    IT HAS A WAIST?!


    I sat dumbfounded at the sight of what was in my field of vision as I tried to decide whether my eyes were telling me lies.The curvy waist, big breast, sexy collarbone, beautiful face, snakes that were slithering their tongues among her hair and the rope on her hand.


    All of it showed the signs that she was a mythical monster, the ¡®Medusa¡¯.


    Okay, now that there was a real monster in front of me, there was no procedures or experiences whatsoever that I could use as a reference at all. All I could do now was pray that she didn¡¯t eat humans.


    In other words¡ª¡ª¡¯Survive first, others later¡¯.


    I didn¡¯t utter a single word as I quietly became a half-dead man.


    She didn¡¯t utter a single word as she quietly became a Medusa who had tied up a half-dead man.


    The animal fur underneath me on the floor didn¡¯t utter a single word.


    The warm sun shining down on me didn¡¯t utter a single word.


    An unending dripping noise from somewhere was the sound of water.


    I glanced at the water spring in front of me and crawled over. Turning my head, I glanced at the owner of the ¡®rope¡¯ tied around my waste. Thinking that the action of drinking water doesn¡¯t show any hostile intent, I lowered my head to the small spring of water to drink.


    The source of the spring was from a cliff on top of it. Water dripped down from a protruded rock into a small pit of water, forming a spring gradually. The spring was also surrounded by pebbles, probably by that monster to prevent sand and stone from contaminating the water.


    So thirsty. The first mouthful of water felt as if it evaporated when it reached my throat. I kept on drinking even though the water tasted weird, but still, I kept drinking until I didn¡¯t feel thirsty anymore. More than half of the water in the spring had been drunk by me when I raised my head to see that monster¡¯s face around 10 centimetres from my face.


    Although I was surprised, I didn¡¯t move away. It wasn¡¯t because I wasn¡¯t afraid, but because I was too tired to even move. Even nodding my head now would prove impossible.


    To be honest, she wasn¡¯t really that pretty. She had a normal face if you looked at her more deeply. Her eyes that were droopy yet slit eyes2  looked weird and the bridge of her nose wasn¡¯t that high. But unexpectedly, her lips were quite thin. If she puts on makeup, she would look like a beauty. Without it, she would still be considered good looking. Women who were still beautiful after taking off their makeup totaled up to less than 30% of the world¡¯s women.


    Of course, the above evaluation I gave didn¡¯t include her bodily stench.


    Ahh¡­¡­Have I already broken down mentally to be appraising a female monster¡¯s beauty?


    Just like how a body will grow tired, a brain would too. I think that I may have overused my brain today, because I have no idea why I woke up in a dark place while being tied up, beaten and then dragged on the floor till I was nearly dead by some monster. It even had a feminine face which I had no idea how it grew one¡­¡­


    I really want to sleep now. At least when I sleep, I won¡¯t feel scared.


    If I could make a wish, then it would be that I would still be alive when I wake up. Miss Medusa, wait, let¡¯s call you Sister Sa to be more intimate¡­¡­


    Good night.

 Volume 1 - CH 2

    After much procrastination due to Kookiedreamer singing in the discord chat, I present to you Medusa!


    When I opened my eyes once again, the first thing that entered my field of vision was that long tail.


    I wanted to fall asleep again, just to confirm that I was really having nothing but a dream. Sadly, the pain in my joints was a painful reminder that this was reality.


    After getting up slowly, I noticed that my surroundings were very quiet. It seemed like the monster had fallen asleep.


    I confirmed my surroundings once again, and found out that I was in a cave.


    Most of the things around me were the skins of animals that I didn¡¯t recognize. Also, most of them were either brown or black in colour.


    Whatever. The most important thing right now is to call the police while that monster is sleeping.


    With a kachak, I unlocked my phone¡¯s screen lock and quickly turned it to silent mode. Unfortunately, the words ¡®No Signal¡¯ shown on the screen seemed like it was something natural in this kind of situation.


    ¡°Maybe if I break free of these strings and go outside the cave, there will be a signal?¡±


    As the rope behind me was tied in a fast knot, the naive me used a somewhat sharp small pebble, and started to slowly cut the rope that was thicker than my fingers.


    Sadly, before I started by more than 2 seconds, the rope tightened around me.


    Weren¡¯t snakes supposed to have bad hearing?!


    Oh, wait. She¡¯s a Medusa, not a snake.


    I obediently put down the stone and nodded my head in response, showing that I had no intention of seeking death, as well as hoping she could be magnanimous.


    Next, to prevent silence from befalling over us, I squeezed out a smile and said: ¡¯Morning.¡¯


    Unfortunately, the monster before me couldn¡¯t even understand a single word of Chinese I was saying.


    Thus, silence still persevered between us. The thing I hated the most was when two people were staring at each other without uttering a single word, even though the other party was a monster in this case.


    If this was the case, then I rather have some peace and quiet on my own. Within the area that the rope allowed me to move freely, I stood up, walked to a certain side of the cave, and sat down with my back leaning against the rocky wall.


    Luckily, I had brought my usual belongings with me. I had my phone, cigarettes, house keys, as well as my genuine leather wallet which was given to me on my birthday.


    Taking out a Yellow Crane Tower1 and putting it into my mouth, I tried to light it up with my lighter.


    Just as a small flame appeared on my lighter, my body immediately flew up¡­¡­


    ¡°!?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t even smoke?! Was there any ¡®No Smoking¡¯ sign here?!


    When I touched the ground, other than feeling like my spine was on the verge of breaking, there were more than 10 heads staring intensely at me.


    Of course, excluding one of them, they were all snake heads.


    I don¡¯t know if snakes are scared of fire or not, but it must be a monster¡¯s instincts to guard against someone who could create a small fire from his hands. My brain spun quickly as I thought¡ª¡ª ¡®Maybe with the use of this lighter, I could have a bigger chance of escaping from this monster¡¯s grasp?¡¯


    Thinking logically, she must have thought that this lighter was able to cause some serious damage to her. As such, she feared it. Though it was actually impossible to do any.


    On a side note, I had thought regretfully¡ª¡ªWhy didn¡¯t I use the lighter to burn the rope?!


    Curse my habitual thinking! Because I was in a dark place, my brain had automatically registered the lighter as a tool for giving a source of light. If I had used the lighter back when I was still in that dark place, I could have immediately determined whether I was blind or not.


    Even though I had left that dark place behind, I still habitually thought that the lighter was a tool for giving a source of light, and considered it useless in a bright place. Just as I was about to smoke, I realized that the main use of a lighter was to emit a small fire.


    But then, I had to make a choice quickly. To either use the lighter as a weapon to fight the monster, or¡­¡­just surrender it quietly to the monster in exchange for her trust.


    In the end, I chose the latter, as I had never read a manga nor a novel about a hero exterminating monsters with a lighter.


    I slowly took out the lighter that only cost a Yuan2 , that was still very durable, and ignited a small fire on it. After doing that twice, I slowly handed it over to her. Coupled with the sincere eyes of mine, it was a perfect plan.


    Anxious! I was so very anxious!


    Because if she didn¡¯t know how to use it, I have to torture my brain more, by thinking of a way to increase her knowledge of lighters.


    And I¡¯ll have to reestablish the most basic form of trust between us.


    Thus, I held my hand out. That¡¯s right, I held it out without even a moment of hesitation and held her hand.


    Medusa¡¯s hand was colder than I had expected, as if she was a fish. I slowly adjusted the lighter in position on her smooth hands, and put my thumbs over hers.


    Now that I think about it, that decision was the best one I had ever made in that time. The moment I ignited the lighter could have very well been the moment that had changed my whole life.


    ¡°Flick¡± (TLN: Lighter igniting noises)


    The sight of the small pretty flame flickering entered my eyes, as the rustling sound emitted from the snakes on her hair entered my ears.


    I let go of my hands to let her try it herself. Even though I wasn¡¯t looking at her face, I could tell she was actually happy as she tried to light the lighter. Now that I think about it, isn¡¯t the special characteristic of a Medusa her ability to petrify a person into a stone? I had actually looked at her in the eyes for a few times now, so this magic must have been controllable by the Medusa herself, thus allowing her to choose her target of choice.


    In other words, she wasn¡¯t going to kill me off just like that.


    Yep, this monster who was crushingly superior to me in speed, strength, as well as probably having the magic skill of petrifying a person into a stone was not killing me. She may have been thinking that I have some value of usage, and may use me as her slave or something, but it doesn¡¯t matter as long as I can survive.


    Just as I was thinking about that, the lighter was returned back to me. She may have thought that it wasn¡¯t something to be feared off, but I was actually secretly rejoicing in my heart.


    Now, if only there was a chance to burn this rope off¡­¡­


    CLANG!


    Eh? Why was there something like fetters3?!


    Does Medusa know some mind reading magic?! It was nothing but a passing thought¡­¡­


    The fetters definitely weighted more than 2 kg as one of ends were shackled to one of my legs with the other on one of her arms.


    With a metallic clang, the metal chain was moved as she stood at the exit of the cave while looking at me. She had an expensive-looking necklace with a gem on it around her neck, as a green thick yarn fabric covered her breasts and left arm. Though the quiver behind her back and the Turkish bow she held in her hands looked plain. If one does not look at her lower body, she really does look like a female archer from a certain RPG game.


    I didn¡¯t think much of it and quickly tried to catch up with her.


    The vegetation outside the cave was very thick, yet the number of insects were surprisingly low.


    The rainforest was totally different from those in documentaires which had giant mosquitos buzzing around.


    After around 300 steps, the vegetation reduced drastically as it was replaced with plains as far as my eye could see. At the same time, I noticed that the Medusa¡¯s cave was situated at a slightly protruded piece of ground at the foot of a mountain.


    The Medusa slowed down as I was enjoying the rare beautiful scene. Although I had no idea why she brought a bow and arrows with her, the scene outside was really a fascinating sight for sore eyes? since the stench inside the cave was unbearable.


    Looking at the expanse of the grassland, then looking towards the bountiful growth of greenery, I couldn¡¯t help but be marvelled at how wonderful nature was.


    Just as I decided to look towards the peak of the mountain, I finally saw an evidence of me not being in a world I know of¡ª¡ªa rabbit standing up straight while munching on some tree leaves.


    That¡¯s right, I think that¡¯s a rabbit. Should I call it a ¡®Girabbit?¡¯?

 Volume 1 - CH 3

    ¡°Oh, fuck me¡­¡­¡±


    I believe anyone who comes upon a ¡®rabbit¡¯ like that would make such an exclamation.


    If that really happened to be a rabbit, then it must have been a rabbit where it¡¯s nape  was pierced with a hook and hung on a wall, because that thing¡¯s neck was just long.


    Too long.


    If it didn¡¯t have such  long neck, this round fluffy rabbit may have looked cute. Unfortunately, other than goriness, I couldn¡¯t even sense a speck of cuteness from it.


    Isn¡¯t this too cruel for a joke?


    It¡¯s body size looked more like a sow¡¯s than a rabbit¡¯s.


    Although it¡¯s fur looked like it was very thick, it wasn¡¯t at the level of the ¡®big rabbit¡¯ that I knew of.


    Just as I was about to use my phone to take a picture of that girabbit, I heard a soft muttering beside me.


    Being unable to understand even a word of it, I reflexively turned my head towards her¡ª¡ªthe Medusa who had drawn her bow to it¡¯s limit.


    The bow looked like it was going to break any second, as the arrow on the bow looked like a rough handicraft. The arrowhead was nothing but a sharpened end of the arrow shaft.


    Even though it¡¯s only like that, it still possessed enough power to kill. With the diameter of the arrow being around 1 cm, that girabbit was as good as dead.


    However, the hand that was drawing the bowstring back did not release it yet, until some thin fog started to form around the arrow. I stared intensely as I waited for what would happen next.


    It wasn¡¯t until the fog had grown thicker and had completely concealed the arrow within it that she let it loose. Just like that, the arrow silently disappeared without a trace.


    A straight trail of white fog had appeared from the bow and ended at the girabbit¡¯s head, with the arrow protruding out from the other side of it. On the arrow, pink brain matter could be seen as the prey silently fell onto the ground and struggled violently.


    I could feel my throat heating up, as if my adam¡¯s apple was being forcefully constricted and relaxed.


    That wasn¡¯t the normal power a Turkish bow such as that should have possessed.


    Although a 20 lb bow is already enough to kill someone with it, the speed that that arrow had was abnormally fast. The penetrating power it possessed was almost on par with a bullet.


    It was hard to imagine that if not for the help of magic, that white fog and the arrow¡¯s lethal destructive power couldn¡¯t have been achieved.


    Whilst praising the wonders of magic in my heart, I had been trying to decipher the actions of the Medusa.


    Although that was indeed called ¡®hunting¡¯, could she even finish eating the whole prey in one time? How was she going to keep it in a good state if she couldn¡¯t finish it? What does she eat besides girabbits? Does she eat¡­¡­humans?


    Various questions started popping out in my head as my thoughts ran wild.


    But Medusa didn¡¯t give me any time to think as the metal chains moved again.


    Her hands pointing at the prey was an obvious gesture telling me to bring the food back to her.


    ¡°Today I¡¯ll answer the question of whether humans are capable of moving rabbits of their size or not!¡±


    Is what I wanted to say. But even a guy with as little common sense as me was able to deduce that a rabbit with the body size of a sow was not something that could be moved by a normal person.


    But that was an ¡®order¡¯ from the Medusa. Even if I wasn¡¯t capable of doing it, I had to let her understand.


    Therefore, I ran towards the dead girabbit, held one of it¡¯s legs, and tried to pull it with all of my strength. The pain of my muscles returned once again as it reminded me that I was nothing but a mere human.


    Still, I had really moved the girabbit, though by only a few centimetres.


    I looked at the Gorgon and laughed drily, hoping that she got the message that I wasn¡¯t capable of such a feat. Sadly, she didn¡¯t have an ¡®I understand¡¯ expression on her , but an unsatisfied one.


    Is the humans in this world capable of carrying sows on their backs while running around? Don¡¯t joke with me!


    In the end, she used a rope that transformed from a snake to drag the body back to the cave.


    En route, I came up with the idea of lying on the girabbit and save the trouble of walking back, though only for 2 seconds.


    To be honest, I don¡¯t know why I always liked to invite death by doing something reckless. No matter how dangerous the situation got, I have always had this frivolous attitude. Such a personality is bound to get me into trouble one of these days.


    After returning to the cave, I had the chance to see a monster dismantle another, as if I was watching a horror show close-up. I felt sick in the stomach while watching the gory live-action dismantling of a corpse.


    The random bits of innards and bones were disposed of outside the cave, as the pelt was spread onto the floor to be dried with it¡¯s sides weighted down by stones. The meat from it¡¯s back, legs as well as it¡¯s necks were chopped and assorted by it¡¯s type in a certain order.


    To be honest, the scene in front of me was quite different than what I had imagined of a butcher slaughtering cows or goats. Maybe it was because butchers don¡¯t use a hatchet to dismantle the body of an animal.


    What came next was mealtime. Raw meat of different shape and sizes were stacked on the spread-out girabbit pelt.


    It actually looked kinda grandiose.


    On a side note, compared to a real sow, the girabbit didn¡¯t really have much meat in it¡¯s body. With all those bits and pieces stacked together, it looked like it would roughly weight 50 pounds..


    Although I had been hungry for more than a day already, after looking at the bloody pieces of raw meat, I couldn¡¯t even muster up one teeny bit of appetite.


    Still, Sister Medusa looked like she had thought of something as she threw two pieces of the raw meat towards me.


    From my point of view, I had to eat these two pieces of meat. From my stomach¡¯s point of view, it was better to eat those two pieces of meat, because hunger was the worst enemy of survival.


    I forced myself to sit down and held up a piece of meat¡­¡­


    It felt kinda slippery, yet it wasn¡¯t cold. As if it was raw meat¡­¡­


    Bullshit! Isn¡¯t this just raw meat?!


    It smelled horrible, so if I pinch my nose, I should be able to eat it.


    If I were to give my opinion on it¡¯s taste, other than being hard to chew, there wasn¡¯t really anything worth mentioning.


    When I bit it, liquid would gush out of it. Therefore, I had to spit out all the saliva in my mouth before eating it. It wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that raw girabbit meat are not good for humans.


    Still, after thinking about the worst food I had ever eaten in my whole life, swallowing the raw meat became much easier than before.


    I didn¡¯t want to recall how I ate those two pieces of meat, but in the end, I felt so full that I could have even been able to pick out the little pieces of meat stuck between my teeth.


    As I was done with my share of meat, Medusa was still eating, albeit in a speed that was faster than me. By the time she would have finished eating, it would already be nighttime.


    I suddenly remembered that some pythons could eat an amount of food equal to it¡¯s own weight, and then, they don¡¯t even require food for a month.


    Considering her appetite and the speed at which she ate them at, she did kinda look like a snake. Maybe the Medusa in such a world was transformed from a snake?


    Turning my head to face her, the yarn fabric on her hands and waist had been taken off. If I try to not look at her lower body and her hair, in front of my eyes, what could be seen was the gory scene of a barbaric girl consuming raw meat.


    It could have been on a whim, or it¡¯s just me seeking death with recklessness again yet again, but I secretly took out my phone and pressed the camera icon.


    ¡°KaPi¡±


    Maybe it was due to the sky turning dark, the flash had turned on by itself.


    I don¡¯t know how fast the speed of the flash was. But It was certainly very fast.


    I also don¡¯t know how fast the movement speed of a Medusa was. It¡¯s just as fast as the flash.


    I was then pushed hard against the rocky wall, forced to smell that unbearable stench again, see her canine teeth with blood trails on it, and listening to a language I couldn¡¯t understand.


    ¡°Seilerezz1!¡±


    ¡°Seiler¡­ezz?¡±


    I blindly repeated her words. No, I didn¡¯t do that deliberately.


    ¡°Seilerezz!¡±


    ¡°Seiler¡­ezz?¡±


    We repeated it. This reminded me of how the Japanese people kept bowing to each other without stopping.


    Although I knew later that that word meant ¡®Don¡¯t move¡¯, but I really didn¡¯t think of it as a language used by humans in that period of time.


    A few snake-hairs of hers bared their thin sharp fangs at me, as my body trembled like a sieve being shaken. I could literally feel the chills going down my spine.


    If her face was more ferocious-looking, I would have probably already wet my pants.


    What happened next was something that felt like it was already planned.


    My phone slipped from my hands and gave off a dull cracking sound as it hit the ground with a bounce.


    It then splendidly turned half a circle in mid-air and had a nearly full marks landing.


    The screen turned black as the flash looked like it must have been destroyed.


    The Medusa who had immediately lowered her head to see it, didn¡¯t let her guard down, with the snake wrapped around my neck as proof of it.


    A few moments later, she considered the destroyed phone to not be of a threat to her, and swiped it out along with the pebbles on the floor with that tail of hers.


    That was when the snake around my neck let go of me.


    With my back leaning against the wall, I felt much more calmer. Now that I think about it, it felt as if a god somewhere was helping me.


    The phone couldn¡¯t pick up any signal, and its battery was bound to be exhausted anyways, so sacrificing it for my safety was well worth it.


    Still, I had stifled my nose as I stared at the direction of where the phone flew for a long time on that day.


    I sincerely paid my respects to my phone which had passed away in this strange world. R.I.P.

 Volume 1 - CH 4

    ¡°Ah¡­¡­that time? My brain didn¡¯t think properly nor did it remember anything about it. All I knew was that I had to keep doing it.¡±


    At the Nightfall Town1 bar, I was asked about what it felt like having sex with a monster and that was my response.


    When night came, I finally had my first smoke in this world. It felt like that was the best smoke I have ever had..


    Even if that Gorgon monster was staring at me with a mouth full of blood as soon as she had finished her meal.


    ¡°If you could understand my words, or vice versa, at least we could have a chat.¡±


    Staring at the moon in the sky, I started mumbling to myself.


    She, who have had her fill of food, was surprisingly sitting calmly just like a snake before hunting. Even the rustling sound that came from her hair has disappeared.


    Still, it wasn¡¯t important to me, because I can only depend on fate.


    Maybe it¡¯s because she had never seen a human smoke, she stared at me for a long time, making me feel a little embarrassed.


    Adding to the discomfort created by the awkward silence, my frivolous heart ached to do something stupid once again.


    Her delicate and pretty face had many blood stains on it, some which had even coagulated, giving off a very dirty look.


    Even if she had decided to have me as a dessert after her main course,  I am still going to wipe that face of hers clean.


    ¡°Do the others like you eat in the same way as you do?¡±


    I walked to the side of the small spring and wet my cuffs with it.


    ¡°In my imagination, Medusa was supposed to be a high-grade monster. So of course, I imagined that it¡¯s eating habits were supposed to be graceful too¡­¡­¡±


    Half-squatting in front of her, the distance between us was closer than ever before.


    ¡°Umm, this is my first time helping someone  wipe their own mouth. Do tell me if I didn¡¯t wipe it properly¡­¡­¡±


    Helping a Medusa wipe her own mouth should be listed as one of the top 10 most dangerous jobs in the world, because more than 5 small snakes were glaring at my hands.


    ¡°Then, here I go.¡±


    Raising my hand, my cuffs slowly neared her face as I tried my best to stop my hands from shivering.


    With the wet cuffs between us, I felt Medusa¡¯s face for the first time. When I did that, a few small snake heads licked my hand.


    It would be a lie if I were to say that I wasn¡¯t scared. I even felt like running away.


    But then, since I have already said that I was going to do it, I couldn¡¯t very well stop now.


    Maybe it was due to the water being cold, she pulled her neck back a little.


    I couldn¡¯t see very clearly and shuffled myself closer.


    As if I was playing a lottery scratch-off ticket, the bloodstains slowly disappeared as I wiped them off little by little.


    ¡°It isn¡¯t as dangerous as I expected it to be, huh~¡±


    I said to myself as I wiped off the last stain beside her mouth.


    ¡­¡­


    Actually, can I take back those words I¡¯ve just said?


    When wet, no matter which part of a woman¡¯s body, it would be very dangerous.


    Especially those glistening lips of hers.


    I gulped as I knew exactly what I was thinking, so I had to control myself.


    Remember! That mouth had just ingested 50 pounds of raw meat. What¡¯s more, it reeked heavily with the bad stench of insects.. Furthermore, that is the mouth of a monster! What if a mind-controlling parasite  came out of it? What if she became angry? What if¡­¡­


    Heh, so many what ifs! If I really believed in those what ifs, I shouldn¡¯t even be here in the first place!


    Who cares if I die? I can¡¯t even go back to where I came from anyways!


    A heated feeling pestered me to move my face closer to hers. She could probably hear my ragged breathing.


    My brain was completely blank, but there were intentions of closing the distance between that devil-like succulent lips of hers and mine.


    ¡­¡­


    But in the end, I never kissed her.


    My common sense stepped on the brakes of the lust train.


    Helping a lady I just met to wipe her lips and then suddenly kissing her must be quite the rude sexual harassment2.


    I was willing to succumb to my desires, but I have a line that I cannot cross.


    I don¡¯t know when I had started seeing ¡®her¡¯ as a woman, but stopping those thoughts had probably saved my life.


    ¡°Sorry¡­¡­if you understand what I¡¯m saying.¡±


    Standing up, I walked to the entrance of the cave.


    The cold night wind blew against my face, calming my heated body.


    It was the right decision. I should really stop this frivolous attitude of mine.


    But the things that happened next were completely out of my expectations. Or should I have said, it was impossible to expect?


    Her agile body turned around and then her thin lips touched mine.


    That kiss, was filled with the stench of raw meat.


    What happened next was me backing off in a panic, slipping on something slippery that was probably a small piece of meat, and falling on my back onto the pelt.


    Then, just like the movements of a snake, she quickly yet flexibly came to my side.


    Even if my back was facing against the moonlight, I immediately realized that not only were her lips wet, her eyes were wet too.


    Double the risk, double the profit? The basics of Economics that I learnt were definitely useless.


    But since it has come to this, do I really have any other choice?


    ¡°If that was your first kiss, then I should definitely do something.¡±


    Straightening myself,  I looked up and stretched my hands into the head full of snakes, putting my hands onto the back of her head.


    With my shivering hands, I pulled her head near mine and kissed her without a moment of hesitation.


    But no matter how intense our exchange of the tongues was, her body temperature was still cold.


    If you are a woman, then I am a man; If you are a female, then I am a male. After helping each other to take off the clothes and fetters, her body started swaying around.


    Perhaps,  she wanted to wrap around me? Snakes are cold-blooded animals, so she should like warm things just like any snake would.


    At first, it felt somewhat cold, just like a corpse. Slowly, I grew used to it. It didn¡¯t matter if it was the agile tail that made me feel kind of scared, or the smooth skin that could make my hands grow addicted to it.


    Thoughts about monsters, snake or the horrible stench had been selectively forgotten by my brain. All I could feel was the magma of desires bursting forth from every pore of my body¡­¡­


    Still, she really was heavy. Just that tail alone must have weighed around 100 pounds. Adding the 50 pounds of meat from before, and¡­¡­ah, let¡¯s not count anymore.


    The most serious problem was, snakes mate for a long time¡­¡­


    While having such random thoughts, my mind slowly began to blank out. Let¡¯s just slowly sink in the whirlpool of the monster¡¯s lust¡­¡­(TLN: Unsure,Ë÷ÐÔ¾ÍËæ×ÅħÎï÷È»óµÄäöÎÐÕâô³ÁÏÂÈ¥°É)


    ¡­¡­


    When I woke up the next day, it was already afternoon. After wearing my underwear, I sat at the entrance of the cave, shirtless and smoking.


    I couldn¡¯t remember how long we were at it, as I didn¡¯t have my phone anymore. Still, it must have been at least two or three hours, because now, I could feel the discomfort all over my body.


    She slept very soundly, so even if I ran away now, I wouldn¡¯t be discovered. However, I chose to sit at the cave entrance, lighting the second cigarette and listening to the rustling sound of the tree leaves.


    Living here with a Medusa may not seem like a bad idea at all, but the consumption of raw meat just had to stop.


    When the number of cigarette butts on the floor grew to 3, she finally woke up.


    The scattered sunrays shone into the cave from the entrance.


    That cute bleary face of hers had completely conquered my heart. Maybe it was due to her lower body being covered by a pelt, or maybe it¡¯s because her upper body was just too perfect for a human.


    I gave her a present called a ¡®smile¡¯, because I wasn¡¯t sure about what kind of expression I should have shown her.


    ¡°Did you know that you were very heavy?¡±

 Volume 1 - CH 5

    ¡°Black merchants are one of the most important people in this world. Without them, the living standards of monsters would never advance, and the future of the kingdoms would be lost.¡±¡ª¡ªI always emphasised the importance of black merchants to the shopkeepers.


    Ever since that day, we passed the days so peacefully that even I myself was shocked. Even though there were many things that I couldn¡¯t do, as well as many things that I wasn¡¯t used to, I still accepted that kind of life.


    The most awkward thing was the language that she speaks sometimes, and the Chinese that I mumble to myself. They were totally different.


    Even though we couldn¡¯t understand each other, we still wanted to say something.


    Other than that, there was the problem of salt. It was fine to live without sugar, but it was impossible to live without salt. Until I had a steady source of salt, I had to resort to licking the sweat from my body or drinking the blood of the animals.


    If I continued to live like that, I would really become an insect myself.


    Though due to the language barrier, I couldn¡¯t express my needs to anyone. Still, there were always opportunities, for example, black merchant caravans.


    Based on my records, it was the 5th day for me since I arrived into this world.


    When I was overcome with boredom, I sat at the entrance of the cave, thinking about how could I get the chance to eat cooked meat smeared with salt, learn the language of this world, or even buy a pack of cigarettes.


    At that very moment, a long, rhythmic blare of a clarion came from the foot of the mountain.


    She was the one who moved first¡ª¡ªShe tightened the bowstring on her Turkish bow, wore her arrow quiver, and put on a black cloak.


    Next, she went into a pitch-dark cave. Though I wasn¡¯t allowed to enter the cave without her permission, I had already guessed that the cave was where I was bound and kept earlier.


    I wasn¡¯t so stupid that I wanted to destroy the trust I had painstakingly established between us anyways.


    In the time that it took for me to finish a cigarette, she finally came out with a small bag in her hands. Just from looking at the tied-up bag, I could see that it was filled with some kind of coins. Other than spending it on regular expenditures, there wasn¡¯t really any other use for it.


    I didn¡¯t really believe that Medusa would put the money in a bank.


    What happened next was that she tossed the bag to me¡­¡­


    Eh?


    At that time, I didn¡¯t know that the amount in that bag was, in actuality, a very large sum of money. The only question in my mind was ¡®why would she give the money to me¡¯.


    Her cold hand held my forearms, which probably meant that she wanted to go out.


    On the road, I, who was sensitive to bodily contact, slowly held on her forearms, moving little by little to her hands, until our fingers were finally deeply intertwined with each other.


    Why was I the only one with the accelerating heartbeat?¡ª¡ªwere my thoughts at that time.


    Soon, we reached a trail at the foot of the mountain.


    Although I had been to a village market before, the scale of the black merchant caravan group really shocked me.


    A line of black carriages which I couldn¡¯t even see the end of! The total number of the carriages would easily be over 50! Spreading across the side of the road, each wagon was either covered with a black cloth or had a black canopy propped over it.


    Just like Medusa, the customers were clad in black cloaks too, whilst the merchants all wore the same black top hats.


    In that kind of scenario, the only things that had different colours were the merchandises on the shelves.


    If I were to talk about the difference between a village market and the black market, then it had to be the creepy silence here.


    It was as if the actions people made while purchasing did not require any exchange ofwords.The only sound that could be heard was the clear clinking sound of coins.


    ¡°Is this the legendary black market?¡±


    I couldn¡¯t help but sigh.


    After following her to the lead carriage of the Black Merchants, as if to show this place off to me, we slowly sauntered from there.


    The lead carriage was pulled by three horses, making me feel happy to see animals that were the same as the ones in my world.


    I even thought of touching the horse¡¯s mane, but immediately gave up on the idea when I saw the tame horse baring it¡¯s beautiful fangs at me¡­¡­


    Other than having a few more horses than the other wagons, the lead carriage¡¯s body had a plaque with a picture of a black sun painted on it.


    The second carriage only had a small window, with a plaque hanging on the outside. On it was an easily understood illustration of the worth a gold coin, in silver coins, done in chalk.


    Of course, I couldn¡¯t understand the drawing, but it feels like it was not a small sum of money. Looking at the yellow gold coins in the bag (if they are really gold coins), I couldn¡¯t help but feel like I was acquainted with a millionairess.


    As a Medusa, she must have some plundered treasure, right?


    From the third carriage onwards were the booths for merchant to sell things. In the booths, there were things ranging from spices to axes and even shields.


    It looked like we could get everything we wanted today from there..


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°Where is this weird pressure coming from?!¡±  I muttered in my heart.


    Ever since I arrived here, an uncomfortable feeling accompanied me¡ª¡ªwhenever I lowered my head, it felt like everyone was staring at me, when I raised my head, they would quickly look away.


    ¡°The hell you looking at. Never seen a human who had passed through from another world?¡±


    ¡°Is Medusa finding a human boyfriend a rare occurrence?¡±


    ¡­¡­


    Uh, fine, this is actually kinda rare.


    But please stop staring at me. Aren¡¯t those cloaked customers monsters too? At least I am human!


    Talking about humans, the merchants were all made up of humans. Unfortunately, they couldn¡¯t understand English nor Chinese, because when I was buying salt, saying ¡®how much¡¯ or ¡®duoshaoqian1¡¯ proved to be useless.


    As expected, language was an important factor. Regardless of which language, if I could at least learn one of them, I would be able to communicate with the people of this world.


    Thus, after buying salt, I held her hands and pulled her to a booth that seemed like it was selling books.


    It was also at that time that I bought books and pencils, or else it would have been impossible to remember these stories with just my brain alone2.


    Regarding the purchase of books, whenever I thought back about it, it was the first ¡®intellectual boom¡¯ I had since coming to this world.


    Considering the fact that the one communicating with me everyday was Medusa, the one who was holding my hands, it could be said that I would have to leave all the teaching to her.


    As someone with no knowledge of the language, I chose the thickest book with the most illustrations. Even in a different world, the way books are set up shouldn¡¯t differ very much.


    The thicker the book was, the more information it would hold. The higher the number of illustrations were in a book, the easier it would be to understand the content.


    Thus, the plan of using illustrations to learn the language from her was formed in my head.


    After an hour or so, the number of customers gradually decreased. I started counting the gains today¡ª¡ª2 big sacks of things.


    A spice that tasted just like salt, some other spices that were popular, two sets of cheap clothes, shoes made of linen, a book, pencils, and a bunch of stuff that looked useful but I was not sure how they were used .


    Looking at what we bought,  we had spent around 4 gold coins, with a change of 21 normal coins. These normal coins weren¡¯t made of gold, and each side had something designed on it. On one side, there was a signet relief, and on the other side, there was a cameo portrait.


    This currency was probably widely used in some country or, probably, even within this world. Further to that, if I am to think about it simply,  it would be easy to recognise that a gold coin is  worth more than 21 normal coins.


    Oh my god, if I were to bring this bag of gold coins to the merchant¡¯s city, I could become a ¡®big shot3¡¯!


    Hold on. Relax. The feeling on my hands reminded me of the cloaked woman beside me.


    Perhaps, as I was overly excited, I had forgotten that the person who had given me this chance was her¡­¡­


    For a moment there, I even felt like I wasn¡¯t worthy of holding her hands.


    She, who had been quietly by my side this whole time, watched a normal human, whom she had met mere 5 days ago spend her money.


    I used to be a man who could be cruel and cold when it came to money.


    But at that very moment, in this foreign world, I decided to change myself.


    Seeing that the caravans had not left yet, I threw down the sackful of purchases and ran towards the only merchant selling accessories.


    When I returned, panting heavily, there was a necklace that cost me 20 gold coins in my hands¡ª¡ªthe necklace that I found to be the most special and beautiful of them all.


    Opening the hood of her cloak, under the inconceivable gazes of those around us, I put the necklace around her neck.


    ¡°Sorry. This is the only thing that I can do for you right now.¡±


    In front of her surprised face, I blurted out those words in Chinese. Then, like how they did it in television dramas, I hugged her tightly.


    It had been a long time since a weird rumour about ¡®the weird man with Medusa¡¯ started spreading in town?.

 Volume 1 - CH 6

    ¡°Veddori.1¡±


    ¡°Veddori.¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What about this?¡± I asked while pointing at a picture of people having a feast.


    Using this simple yet effective learning technique for three days, I had already remembered more than 100 pronunciations of terms.


    Although I had done that through writing them down in Chinese and English homophones.


    If I had put the same amount of effort during my college entrance exams, I could have scored a little over 140 marks for my English test.


    Still, my English wasn¡¯t that bad in the first place and it proved to be useful since there were many words I could speak using English homophonics.


    If this continues, then I should be able to have a simple conversation with her as well as the other humans in about a month¡¯s time.


    Thinking about it, I couldn¡¯t help but feel a little excited¡­..


    On the other hand, the food situation had a major improvement. Although it was still girabbit meat, I had it cooked by roasting.


    Using a few stones to make a simple stove outside the cave, I cut the meat into small pieces and skewered them. Then, after smearing salt and other spices on it, I placed the skewers over the fire.


    The sizzling sound of the fats dripping onto the fire really made me hungry.


    Unfortunately, the taste of the roasted meat wasn¡¯t as good as I had expected. The difference between meat roasted using charcoal, and meat roasted using fire was just too great. Not to mention the wooden skewers would actually catch on fire.


    If only I had some cooking utensils, like a pot¡­¡­Mhmm, let¡¯s add that to the list of ¡®things I have to get in the future¡¯.


    Now, it¡¯s time to eat.


    ¡°Eat?¡± (Medusa)


    She asked me softly as I tried to start a cooking fire with my lighter and firewood


    ¡°Yes, eat.¡±


    ¡°Ok.¡±£¨Medusa)


    With my current level of language abilities, we could only have a simple conversation like that.


    ¡°You, eat?¡±


    ¡°Ah, no. No eat.¡± (Medusa)


    ¡°Yes. Ok.¡±


    Even if it was just a simple question of whether we were eating together or not, I still had to resort to using hand gestures.


    While I was lighting the fire, I recalled the day I helped her put on a necklace. After doing something that jaw-dropping, I still had a smug smile on my face. Maybe it reflected myidiocy2?


    Of course, she, who was being hugged tightly by me, had blanked out for 3 seconds, and then immediately wriggled out from my arms. Then, with the sack containing our shopping in one hand, and dragging me with the other, we went back to the cave.


    Is this what they call, ¡®Being cool for only 3 seconds3¡¯?


    Still, it was my first time seeing Medusa¡¯s embarrassed expression. Even though she didn¡¯t blush, she told me off while avoiding my gaze.


    Yup, she was embarrassed all right.


    Later, she denied the notion that she was embarrassed. But I still felt that she was definitely embarrassed.


    ¡­¡­


    Occasionally, I would think about the relationship between the two of us. But since doing so was pointless, I just let the days pass on peacefully.


    There was nothing bad about making food everyday, washing clothes, reading a book, and then learning another language¡­¡­


    ¡­My ass! I want to surf the net! I want to eat rice! I want to use a proper toilet with a toilet bowl! I want to sleep on a clean and comfortable bed, not on a smelly piece of animal pelt!


    Ugh¡­¡­whatever.


    Flush toilets aside, I had to work my ass off just to light up a small fire. Oh, it¡¯s on fire!


    The flames flickered around endlessly just like waves, as I placed the skewered meat over the fire.


    As I had already tasted the evil cuisine that is charcoal flavor, tree bark flavor, smoke flavor as well as sand flavor, I hope that this attempt would be tasty.


    While the meat was roasting, I revised the words that I had learned.


    ¡°Mai ge? means greetings.¡±


    ¡°Mai Nita? means farewell¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°They don¡¯t mean hello and goodbye, so it should be used as polite language?¡±


    ¡°Ugh, this language is just too profound.¡±


    While I was mumbling to myself, my elbows touched something soft.


    It felt like it had a fabric over it, so it¡¯s probably her boobs.


    Turning my head, Medusa was staring at the small notebook in my hands with interest.


    ¡°Mai ge!¡± Might as well use what I¡¯ve learned.


    ¡°Hey¡­¡­¡±


    She still had a very charming smile on her face.


    I am not sure when this started, but she has become gentler.


    ¡°Uh¡­¡­eat?¡±


    ¡°No eat.¡±


    Am I stupid? Clearly, I had already asked that question, so what the hell was I doing?! Even if I had to find something to talk about, at least think before opening your mouth, me!


    ¡°¡­¡­Ok.¡±


    Perhaps I have misunderstood it, but she laid her body against me. Well, it felt like her tail was coiled around my body.


    ¡°Gotta¡­¡­flip it over¡­¡­¡±


    I said it in Chinese as I moved my body forward to flip the two skewers over.


    ¡°¡­¡­¡±


    Her tail coiled around me again, but this time, just below my knees.


    Snakes are cold-blooded animals, so that must be the case. I tried to convince myself to not think otherwise


    Still, it¡¯s afternoon now! It¡¯s not even cold!


    Feeling the two meatballs pressed against my back, I tried to change my posture and put my hands around her waist. If it¡¯s about her body temperature, then it¡¯s true that hers was a little lower than mine.


    Meh, I¡¯ll just let her lie against me. At least, it makes me much calmer than when her breasts are pressed against my back.


    The awkward silence had befallen upon us once again.


    It was hard to put focus on the fire and the cooking meat, with my ears being constantly licked by the small snake-hairs of hers.


    Without thinking, I had stolen a few glances at her face.


    Despairingly, she had been staring hard at my face the whole time.


    When the meat was finally done, I swallowed my saliva as I moved my body to retrieve it from the fire. However, my legs were bound tightly by something soft yet strong.


    I grew nervous as my body grew more sensitive.


    ¡°About that?¡­¡­the meat¡­ should be ready.¡±


    Because I could only say that in Chinese, I tried to convey the message to her by pointing my hands toward the stove.


    Very good, the coils around my legs had started to loosen¡­¡­by only one round.


    I still didn¡¯t dare to act willfully. Suddenly, the part of her tail that had loosened skillfully passed a skewer of cooked girabbit meat to me.


    Why do I sense that I have ¡®lost this round¡¯¡­¡­


    In the second round, the only choices I had were: Whether to use my hand to take that stick of meat from her or not.


    I was panicking, because, at this moment, there was a chance of me being teased by her Although it could also just be her showing good intentions.


    Perhaps, as I was teased regularly by others in the past, I had been slightly traumatized.


    Thus, I did what I felt was smart at that time, but I realized later that it was a really stupid move¡ª¡ªI used my hands to gently touch her tail.


    There was a unique feeling to the smooth scales, as my hands greedily discovered every nook and cranny of her tail while reaching towards the skewer at the end of her tail.


    Suddenly, her tail escaped from my hands. Relying on my decent reflexes, I had still managed to grab hold of the skewer.


    However, my legs were still bounded by her tail.


    What is this frustrating feeling? Aren¡¯t mealtimes meant to be happy?


    Taking the meat off from the burnt stick, I realised that it had a charcoal smell to it. The gray-brownish meat had beautiful tissue patterns on it, making the me who is famished impatient to eat it.


    Biting down, it had a little taste of blood in it, though I was already used to it. Since it was such a rare chance of the meat being roasted successfully, I believe I can call this attempt a success.


    While I was eating, I looked at her. My mysterious yet powerfully frivolous heart ached to do something stupid which I was bound to regret later.


    I held the half-eaten piece of meat towards her.


    ¡°A little, eat, good.¡±


    This was the limit of my language mastery. What I wanted to say was ¡®Try it, it¡¯s good.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    After showing a slightly shocked expression, she moved her mouth closer to the piece of meat in my hand. It was just as I expected.


    ¡°Ha!¡±


    Just like I was teasing a small child, I retracted my hands.. Haha, so even the legendary Medusa would get teased by me¡­¡­


    ¡°Uh, I¡¯m sorry. I am really sorry. I won¡¯t do it again.¡±


    Beside her raised eyebrows, those small snakes on her head were baring their fangs and making intimidating hissing sounds.


    This made me understood something: So even if I¡¯m in as ¡®intimate¡¯ relationship with a Medusa, I was still not allowed to tease her. Maybe monsters don¡¯t understand the playful relationships between human couples?


    I obediently put my hands near her mouth and watched as she slowly ate the roasted meat¡­¡­and then my fingers.


    Fingers¡­¡­


    As she was sucking on my fingers, the blood in my body flowed so fast that it felt like my brain was going to explode. I sucked a large amount of air into my lungs in order to provide oxygen to my heart that was beating uncontrollably.


    The saliva on my fingers were not crystal clear like those in adult videos, it just felt wet.


    But that didn¡¯t matter anymore, because I was using my tongue to lick her smooth and white neck.


    Succumbing to my desire to touch every place I wanted, my body temperature slowly invaded hers.


    ¡­¡­


    If I were to give an advice to a newbie that just arrived into this world, all it would be is to try to stay as far away as possible from a Medusa. This monster surely knows some sort of Charming Magic, or at least it happens to be super effective on me.

 Volume 1 - CH 7

    When I think about a monster hoarding tons of treasures, what comes to mind would be an evil dragon. But in front of me, was a Medusa who was displaying a big pile of treasures as if she was flaunting it.


    To call it ¡®a big pile¡¯, would be exaggerating it a little. It actually was, just a meter square at most.


    Other than some bags that were already filled with gold coins, there were also variety of Ancient European style of accessories ranging from the smallest brooch to a large crown.


    The most eye-catching amongst them all was a ¡®Great Jewelled Sword1¡¯.


    The wide blade reflected the light as if it was a mirror, and it¡¯s hilt had metal adornments on it. What caught my attention the most, was the large green emerald embedded into the sword hilt.


    If such a sword was put up for an auction, wouldn¡¯t it¡¯s worth be over a few millions?


    I tried to hold the sword¡­¡­.Hmm, while I was able to hold it up, but it¡¯s weight was somewhat dissatisfying.


    If held with only one hand, it would neither be possible to use any sword techniques nor hack things with it.


    And if both hands were used, all that I was capable of doing was to hack things with it.


    Did that mean that the humans in this world were actually capable of carrying sows on their backs while running around?


    ¡­¡­


    Don¡¯t give me that bullshit! There is a limit to how far logic can be exceeded! Furthermore, those black merchants didn¡¯t look like they were capable of even wielding these kind of swords around.


    Anyway, regarding these eye-catching treasures, I was actually more curious about how they came into her possession.


    ¡°These¡­err¡­how?¡±


    ¡°Oh. These are¡­¡­hmm¡­¡­gotten from the past.¡±


    In response to my question, she tried to convey her message to me in a way that I can easily understand.


    After a week of language learning, which happened to be quite effective, I was capable of holding such a level of conversation with her that I didn¡¯t think I would have been able to have before.


    ¡°War¡­¡­past?¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s¡­¡­nnn¡­¡­¡±


    When I couldn¡¯t understand what she was saying, she would try her best to explain by using actions and gestures. Like now, she was putting a ring in my hand, and then taking it back.


    Did that mean plunder?


    In my mind, the following scenario appeared: A distinguished adventurer party came to the cave in order to subjugate Medusa, but were turned into stone instead. Thus, the adventurers¡¯ equipments became her trophies.


    Monsters are so strong! To be able to live together with a monster, I must also be very strong!


    ¡°You, very good!¡±


    I didn¡¯t know know the term for ¡®very strong¡¯, so that was the only way i could praise her strength.


    ¡°Ah?¡±


    Although she may not have understood my words, she still gave me a slight smile.


    Meh, there¡¯s something more important than that. Rather than selling these treasures to the merchants, it would be better to¡­¡­


    The shiny tablewares ,and the scissors with golden edges looked like they were used by the wealthy. Since they couldn¡¯t serve their original masters anymore, I might as well take ownership of them.


    Oh right, there¡¯s that ¡®Great Jewelled Sword¡¯ too. I couldn¡¯t hope to use it as a means of self-defense, but it seems to be suitable as a tool for cutting trees.


    After picking out items that were useful, we moved the treasures back into the cave. Incidentally, the cave was very dark, as well as narrow, so both of us moved in a weird way¡ª¡ªme holding the end of her tail as she led the way.


    An indescribable feeling surfaced in my heart as, a week before this, I was dragged on the floor of this narrow cave.


    The relationship between the two of us has really changed. Although I had no idea what her motive was in tying me up at the beginning, I could only describe myself as lucky for the recent developments.


    I didn¡¯t possess any kind of magical abilities, nor did I have overly powerful physical abilities. To be able to live with a Medusa for more than a week, shouldn¡¯t I be getting some kind of achievement or something.


    Such as, a Medusa¡¯s blessing?


    In the eyes of a normal person, to live together with a monster, and even had sex with her, I must look like a lunatic. However, I feel that I have only made the best choices right from the start.


    The me who was thinking that ¡®it would be okay as long as I get to live¡¯, was leisurely hugging a Gorgon beauty in one arm while eating roasted meat on the other side.


    Talking about roasted meat, I came up with another weird idea.


    After making a fire in the stove, I put the ¡®Great Jewelled Sword¡¯ over the fire and put sliced pieces of meat on the flat side of the blade.


    It¡¯s done! ¡®Great Jewelled Sword¡¯ meat grill Mk.1!


    That was just my imagination. When I seriously tried to do that, many problems arose: the blade heated slowly; the meat got stuck on the blade; or the whole sword became too hot to handle¡­¡­


    But the wisdom of humans were equally great, and, in the end, that sword was rendered into an axe as well as a BBQ tool.


    The knife and fork, which looked like they were made from silver, became my tableware. Although I hoped that she use cutlery too, she hadn¡¯t even had a second meal.


    The small pair of scissors were very suitable for cutting animal pelt. Oh, and the brooch that had many precious stones embedded on it? I broke the pin behind it and used it as a toothpick.


    Hey, don¡¯t accuse me of wasting precious treasures. You have to understand that wearing that brooch wouldn¡¯t increase my comfort levels anyway.


    Thus, those items that could be used were put to use. I didn¡¯t ask about her pile of treasures again. Since they were plundered treasures, they must have quite a bit of history behind them. When I get a better grasp of this world¡¯s language, I would then ask her about it.


    ¡°Let¡¯s eat!¡±


    Hearing my call, she slithered to my side with her tail.


    Although we called it eating together, she just leans on my side, waiting to be fed like some kind of a Play. But still, it looked like she was enjoying it, so I just let her be.


    After smearing the fat from the animal skin onto the blade, I wiped my fingers on my shirt (don¡¯t call me dirty, the treasures didn¡¯t come with tissues). While waiting for the sword to heat up, I opened a thick book to learn from her.


    There was a time when I suspected whether or not the language she was speaking was of this world. But after seeing her read out the words on the book fluently, all that a noob such as myself could do was to believe in her.


    Other than relying on the book, there was also another fast way to learn the language. If I didn¡¯t know the name of an item, I would bring it to her and ask her how to pronounce it. For example, I have already committed to memorize the words for animal pelt, stone, axe and short bow.


    Unfortunately, the number of things in the cave were just too few, and there were many words and terms that were impossible to describe using items or gestures.


    Furthermore, no matter how thick the book was, there would still be a limit to what it can teach. It was inevitable for the book¡®s contents to be completely learned by me one day. By then, I¡¯ll have to resort to other ways to learn the language.


    Later on, I found out that the book¡¯s name was [Chronicles of the Kingdom], a famous book that was written with highly intellectual monsters as its target audience.


    While I was thinking about that, the meat was finally ready. Piercing the slice of meat with a fork, I put it in my mouth. The taste was so much better than roasting with skewers. The weird taste of tree bark was gone and the meat was cooked evenly.


    After seeing her shocked face as soon as she tried it, I was deeply motivated.


    I did inherit the blood of a chef from my father after all. Thinking back, my father who worked as a chef in a 5-star hotel had taught me how to prepare dishes.


    Even if I was in a different world, I was still capable of making good dishes!


    Ah, I digressed. The next time when the black merchant caravan comes to town, I¡¯ll see if I¡¯m able to buy a pot or something. Still, Chinese dishes and roasted meat don¡¯t really have much relation, huh¡­¡­


    I could fill my stomach quickly with just eating meat, but I had to eat a lot at a time. As the girabbit meat could only be kept fresh for 3 days at the very most, ¡®To maximise the use of limited resources¡¯ became my reason to binge.


    ¡°Ah~Mealtime is the best.¡± I exclaimed while picking my teeth.


    Still, my stomach was very full, so I felt like going out for a walk. I wondered if she would have the same idea¡­¡­


    ¡°Err¡­how do I say it¡­¡­walk? We go for a walk?¡±


    While saying those words awkwardly, I used my fingers to make walking gestures .


    ¡°Wa¡­lk?¡±


    It felt like the snakes in her hair had also made weird expressions.


    ¡°Yep!¡±


    This time, allow me to hold your hand as we walk together through this strange land.


    There was nothing happier than holding the hand of the one you care the most about while strolling in a forest. For each person, there must be something more precious than treasures to them.


    At least in my case, she had become the only one I could depend on. No matter what the future holds for us, I would stay by her side until the end.

 Volume 1 - CH 8

    ¡°Living here was like trying to survive in the wilderness. Although I wasn¡¯t ¡®Bear Grylls1¡¯, I was still alive. Also, I wanted to improve our living conditions.¡±¡ª¡ªIn my diary, on the entry for the 11th day, I wrote this goal down.


    I haven¡¯t really seen much of the environment outside the cave. Since we were going out for a walk, I used this opportunity to explore the scenery around the cave.


    The first thing was positional recognition. In a situation where not much is known about this world, the simplest way to explore it was by setting your own house as the point of origin, and memorize the environment around it.


    I decided that the direction the cave entrance was facing would be considered ¡®North¡¯. A place that I have walked through before, taking 300 steps into the thick vegetation would lead me to a large thicket. After which would be the foot of the mountain near the plains.


    Furthermore, there was a trail at the foot of the mountain.


    Then, let¡¯s start exploring from the East, where, coincidentally, we first hunted for girabbits. While maintaining the appearance of taking a stroll, I committed the geographical layout of the area into my memory.


    ¡°This, what is this called?¡±


    I pointed at a red fruit that was hanging off a tree and asked her.


    ¡°Oh, this, Holica.¡±


    ¡°Holica?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Holica.¡±


    Although I suspected that I have heard it wrongly, why did it feel like if I ate that fruit I would be full of vigor2?


    ¡°Oh¡­.then, eat, can?¡±


    ¡°Can, maybe.¡±


    She had a very understanding look on her face..


    Hey, which is it? Could I or couldn¡¯t I!?


    The red fruit was the size of a crabapple and had a smooth surface. Though, it looked like the type of fruit that grows singularly on each branch. It looked like it was edible, with the skin having such a bright and attractive colour, one could already imagine the taste to be deliciously sweet and sour..


    Still, I knew that it may not be edible as it seemed¡­¡­


    I knew it. Even though I knew it, I still plucked one of the fruits¡­¡­


    ¡°Me, eat?¡±


    ¡°Yes, eat. Hehe¡­¡­¡±


    What¡¯s so funny about me eating a fruit?! Or are you messing with me, knowing that this fruit wasn¡¯t edible?


    Ugh, whatever. Since I had already plucked it, I might as well eat it. It didn¡¯t look like it was poisonous anyways. And if it was, she wouldn¡¯t let me eat it. At most, it would just taste bad.


    The moment I took a bite out of it, the extreme sourness spread through my mouth. The fruit was even more sour than wild hawthorn, smelled like it was a mixture of white vinegar and freshly mowed grass.


    Even though it tasted like that, I still continued to chew on the flesh.


    ¡°Delicious?¡±


    ¡°Deli¡­uuu¡­¡±


    I can¡¯t put up an act anymore. It feels like my whole face had scrunched together3, with my saliva dribbling uncontrollably out the side of my mouth.


    I spat it out. If I had continued, it would be a threat to my life.


    As I was trying to alleviate the sourness by breathing through my mouth, I watched her laugh so hard that even the little snakes on her hair were swaying wildly around.


    Medusa, you are definitely like those gangsters who would deliberately pick on foreigners at a train station.


    Sigh¡­¡­it doesn¡¯t really matter anyways. Didn¡¯t the Divine Farmer3 eat more than a hundred plants by himself? Compared to him, I would be nothing.


    Wiping away my tears, I let on bitter smile¡ª¡ª¡®Taste bad, really taste bad¡±


    ¡°Hehe~¡± she laughed as she pulled my hands.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    If she was holding my hands to lead us, our speed of walking would be faster than when I¡¯m holding hers. I didn¡¯t like the feeling of being ¡®dragged¡¯ along by her.


    However, I didn¡¯t mind it this time, because I came upon the legendary Golden Fruit.


    I¡¯m sorry for giving it such a lame name. It¡¯s just that I couldn¡¯t think of anything more appropriate.


    The fruit was so bright and yellow in colour that I could even feel the sunlight reflecting off it. With each of the fruit¡¯s size being almost identical, it felt like a masterpiece.


    Just by looking at it, one could already guess that it would be delicious¡ª¡ªmany small bugs were buzzing around clusters of the fruit.


    She quickly plucked a bunch for me. There were only 15 fruits in a bunch, but it was as heavy as a regular bunch of grapes.


    Putting one of it in my mouth, the liquid-like flesh flowed inside my mouth, releasing a musky fragrance that travelled into my nose.


    The refreshing sweet and sour taste completely washed away the horrible sour taste that was lingering in my mouth. If God eats fruits too, this would definitely be the most favoured one on the plate.


    ¡°This, what is the name of this?¡±


    ¡°Bolisnier Naca?¡±


    ¡°Bo¡­Bo what?¡±


    ¡°Bolisnier Naca. How is it, delicious?¡±


    ¡°Very delicious.¡±


    While we were eating the bunch of Bo-something fruits together, I started recalling the road we had just came from. If my memory serves me right, we were walking towards the NorthEast area.


    On a side note, there were only 5 trees that bore such golden fruits. It may be hard to find such trees in the future, so I committed the surrounding area into my memory, for good measure, before continuing with our stroll.


    Once we were out of the forest, we discovered that the entire Northside was covered with shrubs. It was impossible to finish the walk through it today However, from that, I could tell that the mountain¡¯s shape is curved.


    After mulling over the distance, we started walking towards the West.


    Compared to walking through countless shrubs, I would rather walk through a forest. After all, being unable to see much around your legs was something to be terrified of.


    Also, I wouldn¡¯t get lost if I walk along the edge of a forest and the shrubs.


    Although chirping sounds could be heard from the forest, I rarely saw any birds, with the sole exception of a sparrow-like bird that has yellow feathers.


    After walking in the shade of the trees for about half an hour, I finally spotted a small stream, which, to me, resembles a small river. Based on my geographical knowledge, this river, which originated from the top of the mountain, should have been formed from melted snow.


    The water should be very cold, and, based on the above deducement, the mountain should be very high¡­¡­


    Actually, that was no educated deducement, I just randomly guessed it. Though the water was genuinely cold.


    Squatting near the river, I tried a mouthful of the water. It was somewhat better than the spring water back at the cave.


    Following the river North, I discovered that the river was coursing towards the west. It was possible that there were many similar small rivers along the mountainside, eventually merging into a bigger river further downstream.


    Still, the water was really clear. I could even vaguely see the reflection of my face. Hmm, my hair was getting long, and it had been some time since I shaved. My glasses was still firmly attached to my face.


    Uhh¡­¡­I know that your face is far more beautiful than mine, but please don¡¯t lean on my back. My center of gravity will¡­¡­


    ¡°Hmm? What you looking at¡­¡­¡± she asked with a giggle.


    ¡°Uhh, I¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    ¡°This!¡±


    With a big splash, we both fell into the river. Even though I wasn¡¯t being reckless at all, why did this have to happen?! Don¡¯t you have any awareness of your own body weight!?


    In the ice-cold river, the first thing I did was to make sure that my glasses were still on my face, and then I quickly returned to the shore with her. I¡¯m pretty sure no one likes having an Ice Bucket Challenge for an extended period of time.


    Under the setting sun, a human and a Medusa could be seen hugging each other, shivering in each other¡¯s arms.


    This was just too damn cold. As a North-Eastern Chinese, I should just admit that I have lost to this cold.


    Besides, it should be reasonable that I am shivering from being cold, why are you, a Medusa, shivering too?!


    ¡°Cold.¡±


    I, who had limited vocabulary, could only repeat that word again and again.


    ¡°So cold.¡±


    Even she, who had a better grasp of this language than me, could only mutter a word more than me.


    I felt very uncomfortable with the wet clothes sticking to my body. Once I thought about how she is also soaked to the bones, I can¡¯t help but feel like I was hugging an explosive item that can easily blow up on me at any time.


    However, at that very moment, we were very ¡®calm?¡¯¡¯.


    In the North West direction from the cave entrance, there was a small river that could freeze a person to death. Yep, got it.


    ¡­¡­


    By the time we returned to the cave, night had already fallen. After changing into clean set of clean clothes, both of us didn¡¯t hesitate to bundle ourselves with three layers of animal pelt.


    Screw memorizing the layout of the terrain. All I want to do now is have a nice and warm sleep¡­¡­

 Volume 1 - CH 9

    I have always wanted to copy the main character in [Robinson Crusoe], who, in the later partsof the story, reared livestocks and farmed crops.


    But reading something and doing something were, in reality, two completely different things.


    Those of you who had practiced agriculture before should be very aware of this: tending to a land is no walk in a park.


    For example, clearing a piece of land. Simply chopping down a few trees would take a few hours. One would still need to plow the land, calculate the area of the land, and also research the suitability of the plants for the region.


    For five days, we were searching for crops that would not only be able to cultivate here, but also easy to grow and quick to mature. And, most importantly, it has to be edible.


    Now that I think about it, I am really kind of impressed with myself, I have dared to eat anything I have encountered so far.


    The first plant that I felt was edible was something that looked like a Mimosa plant. it didn¡¯t taste too bitter, and there were a lot of it nearby. However, it had two rather severe drawbacks: firstly, on the back of the leaves were these weird white hairs; secondly, the stem was too hard to chew. The first caused me to lose my appetite and the second made me give up.


    The second plant I tried was a plant with very large leaves and was quite similar to the pakchoi plant t, but was very bitter.. Most of its bitter taste was concentrated at its leaves, the stems were crunchy, though it was somewhat edible. I¡¯ll consider it as an alternative for now.


    We¡¯re still in the process of searching for a third type¡­¡­


    ¡°Could it be that there is not a single tasty plant in this forest?¡±


    I sighed as I laid my back heavily against the animal pelt behind me.


    As I haven¡¯t eaten any vegetables for a while, my breath smelled awful. After all, there was also no way for me to brush my teeth.


    ¡°Plop.¡±


    Something was thrown at my body.


    ¡°Back?¡±


    ¡°Yes. This thing, should be edible.¡±


    Medusa, who was holding a girabbit by its neck in one hand, said that while looking down at me.


    I held it up and examined it. From the looks of it, it was a carrot sized plant that looked like a miniature version of a yam.  There were lots of leaves and its cylindrical roots were likely to have substantial nutritional value.


    ¡°Girabbit was eating , so I brought back.¡±


    Indeed. Upon examining the leaves, some girabbit¡¯s saliva could be seen.¡­¡­


    The roots of this thing could be eaten right? Or would I have to eat the leaves like a girabbit?


    All in all, I should decide after tasting it. Carrying on the ¡°Tiger¡± traits of North Eastern Chinese, I bit into its roots without any hesitation.


    Crunch!


    The crunchy ¡°kacha¡± sensations travelled from my teeth to the auditory nerves in my ears.


    It was unexpectedly good¡ª¡ªwhat I actually meant was that it does not taste weird.


    Judging from the starchy taste in my mouth, it should soften after roasting. If I can cultivate this, it could become a decent crop.


    The reason I put a lot of thought into the cultivation of food was because I was under the impression that there was no way for me to return to my world. But if I was given a chance to return, to reunite with my family and friends, I would still return at all costs.


    At least, that¡¯s what I thought back then.


    It¡¯s always best to prepare for the worst in everything. If I really can¡¯t go back to my own world, then I would have to live here. For a human who had almost no understanding of the world, and, with a Medusa who led a very different lifestyle than to humans, the most we could achieve was the life of where ¡°the male tends to crops and the female hunts1.


    We might face many issues in the future, such as keeping ourselves warm during winter; finding ways to stay dry when it rains; and, should a day come when one of us falls sick , we would need to know how to care for each other.


    Every time I thought about that, I felt so powerless. After all, the reason why I am clothed and fed was all thanks to her.


    If there really was a chance, I¡¯m talking about those one in a million type of chance, if I could bring her back with me, to the world where I belonged, I would take her to the best restaurant, to have the best meal. I would take her to the best cinema to watch a movie. I would take her to the best hotel for the night.


    As someone who isn¡¯t well educated and cultured, these were the best things I could think of to do for her..


    Watching her flawlessly slice open the girabbit¡¯s stomach, then removing its skin perfectly, I couldn¡¯t help but feel the urge to help her with something. Quietly walking to the messy pile of, what looked like, innards, I grabbed them and threw them away. I did the same with the bones, and, lastly, the head.


    Preparing the girabbit was faster than I thought. Just like what I have seen before, the pieces of prepared meat were stacked on top of each other. Then, it was mealtime. If I remembered correctly, this was her second meal.


    For some unknown reason, a heart rending pain surged. Simply from observing her eat the raw meat one mouthful at a time, I just felt really down.


    For two people, who had such large differences in their lifestyles, how would they live together?


    It wasn¡¯t just the lifestyle differences, they are also from completely different species.


    While it looks like it¡¯s a life together, the reality is, we are completely independent of each other..


    Maybe, even now we were all alone.


    Pulling out the last cigarette I had in stock, I lit it up. I had originally planned to smoke it just before I am about to die, just as my final treat. But, right now, I was very much in need of a cigarette to maintain a calm frame of mind.


    The pale, white smoke danced in front of my eyes as my tense expressions loosened up slightly. There wasn¡¯t actually any reason for my heart to ache. The only reason I felt uncomfortable was because a human¡¯s emotions could never vanish. For example, thinking of your parents, whom you¡¯ve not seen for more than 10 days; and the close friends, whom you have planned to hang out with next Monday. Would they be worrying about me right now? My parents were probably so anxious that they weren¡¯t even able to sleep¡­¡­


    I don¡¯t even know whether Medusa has parents or not, but if she had the same emotions as a human, she must be a lot tougher than me for being able live on her own for so long.


    Why was I thinking of such things today? It might be because I¡¯ve been here for a while. This would be thee sixteenth day since I came to this world.


    Even so, these emotions and feelings might be forgotten in the end. There were still many things that I had to force myself to accept. When I do, only then could change happen, albeit gradually.


    ¡®Get a grip¡¯¡ª¡ªEver since the moment that I have chosen not to run away, I have carved my determination in my heart.


    The cigarette burnt faster than I imagined. Looking at the red embers burning towards the cigarette butt, I couldn¡¯t help but remember a quirky wordplay: ¡®Cig¡¯s butt burn your hands, inhale twice2¡¯. As my classmate and I were poor, we had to work in a part time job in Beijing. The two of us even had to share one packet of Golden Dragon2, which we did so sparingly.  (Though, those times times were definitely much more difficult than now)


    If I had already survived those times, I could do so even now!


    A speck of orange spark flew outwards along with my fingertip¡ª¡ªJust wait, I¡¯ll make everything better.


    Flipping the book open, I started immersing myself in the study of language¡­¡­


    Till twilight, by the time the yellow rays of the setting sun covered the text on the book, it feels like my brain had also started to swell. Lying against the last remaining tree, that I haven¡¯t yet cut down, in front of the cave, I let my eyes feast upon the beautiful scenery of a sea of clouds..


    ¡°Lalalalalalala,lalalalala~¡±


    ¡°Oh little piece of cloud, drift slowly towards here~¡±


    ¡°Oh please just rest yourselves, just catch your breath for a while~¡±


    ¡°Oh, the flowers on the mountain, please bloom~, then I will come up the mountain~¡±


    ¡°So you have also come up the mountain, to see the mountain flowers bloom~¡±


    Not sure why I sang Xu Huai Yu¡¯s ¡¶Treading on Waves¡· out. Probably because it was such an old song with a fast cheerful melody?


    (TLN: Link for song here. I suck at translating lyrics, but whatever.)


    Silently, I could hear the sound of her humming along with me, a soft but clear female voice.


    When I turned around to face her, who was already beside me, I found myself at her waist level.


    ¡°Like it?¡±


    ¡°Un.¡±


    ¡°Hehe, that¡¯s good.¡±


    What is there to worry about? This was already my home.

 Volume 1 - CH 10

    Translated by Lickymee


    Edited by IcePhantom, Ruzenor, Anivyl


    ¡°Three things to note: Keep yourself dry during rain; Keep yourself warm during winter; Maintain proper hygiene.¡±¡ª¡ªFirst page of the ¡®Another World¡¯s Diary¡¯.


    Personally, I liked the rain, because it gave me the feeling that romantic encounters were about to happen. Although I knew that it was nothing but a misconception, I still looked forward to a rainy day during summer.


    In this world, too, I looked forward to the rain. I always felt wonderful whenever I listen to the sounds of raindrops pitter-pattering on the leaves in the trees.


    And, on the twentieth day, the thing I looked forward to the most finally happened.


    The afternoon sky was covered with large gunpowder-colored clouds as the wind blew fiercer than usual.


    She was the first on to head to the entrance while I quickly put down my book and followed behind her.


    ¡°Rain is coming.¡±


    ¡°Un.¡±


    After our short conversation, she became extremely busy. The animal pelts on the floor were hung up by her. When she ran out of places to hang them, the pelts were neatly folded into a pile. If the pelts weren¡¯t sorted out, I wouldn¡¯t have noticed that they were around 40 of them.


    Although I didn¡¯t know why she was doing this, I quickly lent her a helping hand.


    After the pelts were sorted out, we also arranged to bring the other stuff into the inner cave. I had somehow gotten used to calling the place, where the treasures were kept, as the ¡°inner cave¡±.


    The whole process was quite fast, though I was immediately covered with perspiration.


    Next, we put the folded pelts at the highest part of the cave¡ª¡ªthe place where we slept.


    Highest part of the cave¡­¡­


    I suddenly understood something¡­¡­


    The hell! This cave was going to be flooded! It was definitely going to be flooded!


    I couldn¡¯t imagine how the cave would look like when it was filled with water. But one thing was for sure, there would be no dinner tonight. Rather than worrying about that, I really wanted to ask her how she persevered through each flooding.


    Nothing can stop the inevitable. Even Chairman Mao himself said ¡®If it threatens to rain or your mother wishes to remarry, there is no way to stop them1¡¯, so what can I do?


    Pitter-patter


    Rain fell noisily as I, who had been leaning against the wall at the entrance of the cave, got partially soaked. Since I have ran out of cigarettes, and I couldn¡¯t read any books, I casted my gaze at the bored Medusa.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡±


    ¡°Rain¡­don¡¯t like.¡±


    She arched her tail up and hugged it with her arms, just like how a maiden would hug her knees, giving off a feeling of loneliness and gloom.


    ¡°Because water¡­come in?¡±


    ¡°Hah!¡±


    I spread my body wide like the shape of the chinese word for big, ¡®´ó¡¯, in an attempt to block a part of the rain that was getting through. Unfortunately, my arms weren¡¯t wide enough, and, furthermore, the raindrops quickly fogged up my glasses.


    ¡°How silly.¡±(Medusa)


    ¡°Hehe.¡±


    I have managed to tease a little smile out of her. I¡¯ve also discovered that the main reason the cave floods wasn¡¯t due to the rain drops flying in. Rather, it¡¯s because the cave floor juts out further than the cave¡¯s ceiling, collecting a large amount of the rainfall from the top of the cave¡¯s entrance. Furthermore, the cave¡¯s floor isn¡¯t completely flat. Instead, it slopes downwards from the entrance into the cave, making it possible for tiny streams of rainfall to sneak into the cave.


    If that was the issue, then there¡¯s a quick and easy solution to this. First, I need to make aneave2. Although I didn¡¯t know how to make one, it was fine as long as it can prevent water from dripping into the cave.


    Next, we need to construct a door sill. The height of the door sill needs to be a little higher than the ground, and the gap between the floor and the door sill could be resolved by padding the gap with the pelts. As for the crafting of the door, that could be left for another time.


    As I was being complacent about my ingenuity, the cave¡¯s interior was already wet. I sat on the bed that was made out of two large stones and a stack of animal pelts.


    Though, it¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t want to lie down on it, but that she had almost fully occupied the slightly small bed when she laid on it.


    I didn¡¯t know how long it rained, but after an hour or so, it stopped. By then, the sky had already turned dark.


    Other than the reflections of a few things, the cave was filled with a grayish darkness. After some hesitation, I lit up a candle that I had previously bought from the black merchants.


    As I only bought four of those candles, they were quite precious.


    The candlelight was very beautiful, especially within the embrace of darkness. It felt like many happy things could be seen from the tongue of the flame with its distinct layers. A major part of the reason of human¡¯s persistence toward flames was probably due to their fear of the darkness.


    We were bored, silently watching the candlelight while listening to the sound of the boring rain.


    Suddenly, I remembered something and opened the journal I had on me. Tearing off a blank page, I made a small paper crane out of it.


    ¡°Eh.¡±


    ¡°Un? What¡¯s the matter?¡±


    ¡°Look.¡±


    I showed her the paper crane that was placed on the back of my palms.


    ¡°Eh?!¡±


    ¡°Un¡­¡­look good?¡±


    ¡°Look good.¡±


    ¡°Hehe.¡±


    ¡°How you do it?¡±


    Making a girl a happy with just a paper crane was certainly a stupid thing to do. After all, where in the world would you find a girl who would be happy over such an easily made paper crane?


    But she was different. After all, Medusa wouldn¡¯t have origami making as a hobby.


    Seeing her smile, I felt very relieved and comforted. Tearing another paper from the book, I held her hands and guided her, step by step, on how to fold a paper crane properly.


    Unknowingly, she had, once again, tunneled into my arms, her smooth and cold skin touching mine in the process. If two people could touch each other like this when they were together, the feelings of anxiousness and worry would surely be chased away.


    Following the paper creases, a small paper crane slowly took its shape. Once the wings were done, a look of joy could be seen on the candlelight-lit face of hers.


    In her soft hands, the sight of the lone paper crane made me feel uncomfortable. I pointed my fingers at myself,and put the other paper crane in her hands.


    ¡°Let¡¯s stay together, just like this.¡±


    If I knew how to say the words above, I would have immediately spouted it all out. Sadly, I didn¡¯t have such a good grasp of the language yet, so I couldn¡¯t say it.


    But at that very moment, even if I hadn¡¯t said those words, she must have understood me.


    It was her turn to look like she realized something, as she took the journal and pencil from me, and started drawing a mountain on a page. She then drew a circle at the mountainside and put the two paper cranes on it.


    ¡°Like this, Un.¡±


    Uh, it means two paper cranes living in a mountain cave¡­¡­right?


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s raining.¡±


    I sneakily drew some raindrops in the sky.


    ¡°Like this is no good.¡±


    Her brows knitted into a frown as the small snakes in her hair pecked my face. Well, I guess it made sense. Paper cranes would be soaking wet and destroyed under the rain¡­¡­


    ¡°Then¡­¡­like this.¡±


    I drew an eave at the mountain cave, meaning that the rain wouldn¡¯t get us. I then drew a candle in the cave.


    ¡°Why not¡­like this, hehe.¡±


    She took the pencil and drew a big sun in the sky.


    Although she was a monster that people took as a symbol of darkness, she was actually looking forward that much to a sunny day, huh. What did this Medusa who was showing such a pure and innocent smile on her face see in someone like me? Are monsters really that naive?


    No, she wasn¡¯t naive in the slightest. Judging by her strict and careful actions since the very beginning, it could be said that I simply didn¡¯t have the slightest chance of escaping. Rather than that, I even tried to establish a relationship, based on trust between us, and even didthat with her. Or is it because I did that with her, that I felt like I wanted to stay by her side?


    Sigh, I don¡¯t understand. It didn¡¯t matter if it was over what lies in a girl¡¯s or a monster¡¯s heart, it would be best not to dwell over it. In this world, if I could see her smile once a day, it would be the best gift god could ever bestow upon me.


    As I had such random thoughts. I messed with her hair. When the small snakes were tame, they were actually quite cute. No matter how I teased them, they never even attempted to bite my fingers. My frivolous attitude still can¡¯t be changed, huh¡­¡­


    That¡¯s right. I licked one of the small snakes with my tongue.


    She gave a violent shudder and increased the distance between us.


    The baffling expression she had on her face made me feel awkward. I coughed drily a few times as I realized I had forgotten myself.


    ¡°S-sorry.¡±


    ¡°Never mind¡­¡­¡±


    Although she said that, her tail had coiled and forcefully went between my legs, nestling up behind my back.


    A dirty thought flashed through my mind, as I¡¯m pretty sure it did in hers as well, but I immediately understood the reason for her doing that¡ª¡ªin such a small sleeping space, the tail behind my back could prevent me from rolling onto the wet floor while I slept.


    ¡°Let¡¯s sleep¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Ok.¡±


    Putting out the candlefire with my fingers, sleep came quickly with the sound of rain.


    Probably because she was feeling very at ease, I could feel the two paper cranes she held in her hands amidst the stretch of darkness.


    Footnotes:


    1.¡®If it threatens to rain or your mother wishes to remarry, there is no way to stop them¡¯: An old Chinese quote, means an inevitable occurrence.


    2.Eaves: The part of a roof that meets or overhangs the walls of a building.

 Volume 1 - CH 11

    Talking about keeping in contact with fellow humans, I know that it¡¯s a double edged sword.


    On the one hand, humans could be said to be gregarious animals, so communicating with them could bring in many huge benefits as well as greatly aiding you on your personal growth.


    On the other hand, after some careful thinking, it¡¯s not necessarily a good thing to be in contact with the humans in a different world. You have to understand that it¡¯s not as simple as meeting a moe girl, who would bring herself to strike up a conversation with you randomly, then give you a free starter kit or the likes. (TLN: Some kind of RPG reference?)


    Instead of meeting moe girls, the real challenge lies in knowing if the people that you meet is kind or not.


    Oh, how I hoped that I had some kind of superpower or something. If I couldn¡¯t act cool in my world, then at least give me the chance to try it once in this world goddamnit.


    Unfortunately, I have tried this a few times in secret. Though I focused so hard, to the point where I had even farted, things such as fire or electricity didn¡¯t appear from my hands. The tree that I couldn¡¯t chop still remains, and I still panted heavily after running a few hundred meters.


    Thus, I had put off the matter of getting in contact with other humans for a long time. Furthermore, I spent a number of days being busy with the flooding and farming issues. By the time I wanted to have a serious discussion about that with her, it was already the 29th day.


    When I pointed at a picture that had the aerial view of a certain town to try and convey my thoughts to her, I could sense her hesitation just from seeing the space that formed between her brows.


    Just as I expected, the difference between monsters and humans is just too great. Once again, this reinforced my view: logically speaking, in this world, it is impossible for monsters and humans to have a life together.


    Of course, by that I meant the ¡®humans of this world¡¯. After all, I¡¯m not a ¡®human of this world¡¯.


    I tried my best to convey my intentions of purchasing things to her as well, but she kept telling me that it¡¯s too dangerous.


    Of course, I had already considered the risks. However, even if it¡¯s dangerous, it was still worth a try. If we don¡¯t interact with other humans and buy some better tools, there was no way the eave for our home could be built.


    ¡°Then, only can go there¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Un¡­¡­?¡±


    ¡°Dinarnia2.¡±


    Although it was the first time I have heard that word, Dinarnia sounded like something that is related to the meaning of the word ¡°night¡±, though I¡¯m not entirely sure. But by pulling the words apart, I quickly understood that the word can be translated to ¡®Nightfall Town¡¯.


    Through her explanation, it seems like the cities in this world can be categorised into 3 types; first is Niya3, a term for small towns or villages. The second one is Kanya3, used for cities that had more buildings and a larger population size. The last one was called Ouzaina3, which had a different pronunciation than the other two. Based on the book¡¯s illustrations, which showed a gigantic city, the word should have the same meaning as ¡®Capital¡¯.


    No matter what they are called, whether we are heading to a village or the capital, it completely suited my intentions.


    Seeing my determination to go, she passed me the short hatchet she normally used, probably to give me a way to protect myself should I ever be in danger.


    When I held the hatchet, it didn¡¯t take that much of an effort to wield it. Perhaps, because I have been labouring continuously for many days, it¡¯s made me think that I have become stronger.


    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±


    Hanging the hatchet off my pants, I gave her a somewhat relaxed smile.


    ¡°¡­¡­¡±


    But she didn¡¯t respond to me as she tightened the bowstring on her bow and carried the quiver on her back. There were 10 arrows in the quiver¡ª¡ªI have never seen her bring so many arrows with her before. She also had a machete with a scabbard on it, which I had no idea where she took from.


    That¡¯s right. The type of machete that was only used to hack at people back in my village?.


    ¡°Uh¡­that.¡±


    ¡°I already said, very dangerous.¡±


    My long-gone sense of fear returned to overwhelm me again. No matter how cute and gentle she was in our daily lives, when faced with danger, her cautious personality would instantly reveal itself.


    Taking a look at my small hatchet, I couldn¡¯t help but feel like I am not fated to be described as ¡®efficient with both brains and brawn?¡¯¡¯. But if she has decided to play the role of the guardian, then I could only play the role of the communicator.


    I practiced the sentences that I felt were useful in such situations such as: ¡®Hello. We want to buy tools¡¯. ¡®Hello. We are not hostile¡¯. ¡®Hello. We need help¡¯. ¡®Hello. We want to buy a pot.¡¯.


    Oh, and the most important one¡ª¡ª¡®Please don¡¯t hurt us.¡¯


    As soon as it felt like we were appropriately prepared, she draped on her black cloak, and we both set out on the journey to the human village. En route, we never held hands, not even once, as we kept our guard up for the whole journey.


    Still, isn¡¯t the journey a little too long? It felt like I had walked halfway through a city. If I really had to describe it, I would say it that it was the same as walking from the hotel in the centre of the city to the North Grand Canal?¡­¡­.


    When I saw a big wooden sign that was on the verge of crumbling, I knew we had reached the so-called Nightfall Town. After sticking my face close to the sign, I could only barely managed to make out the unrecognizable letters and illustration of a house which represented a village.


    The well trodden dirt road wasn¡¯t as dusty as I expected. And, as I walked towards the Southern entrance of Nightfall Town, I could see that the building in front of me was a wooden two-storey building.


    Based on the open sliding door and the plaque with a liquor bottle on it, it wouldn¡¯t be hard to guess that it was some kind of bar or something similar to that.


    Steeling myself, and forcing myself not to think about the hatchet on my waist, we walked in side-by-side, and entered the bar that was located at the outermost end of the town.


    ¡°Hello¡­¡­¡±


    I swallowed the words I was going to say next, because I was being stared at by a hostile crowd without a trace of goodwill on their faces. It made me feel so nervous that I felt sick.


    I took in the surroundings with much difficulty; there were more than 10 tables with the number of people in the room totalling up to more than 14. Including the bartender, there were 15 of them.


    A quick glance told me that there were around 7 flintlock pistols, with hands ready to shoot them at any moment.


    I still started to dry heave, having nothing in my throat when throwing up blurred my vision. However, my mind was still clear. After counting down from 3 in my heart, the first words that come out of my mouth were ¡®Please don¡¯t hurt us.¡¯


    To be honest, that was the first time in my life that I had disgraced myself in front of a woman.


    But as long as I¡¯m still alert, my body would go through the necessary motions. My left hand started pulling hers in, as I readied my right hand on the handle of the hatchet. The reason I hated silence so much was because, the longer the silence was, the worse the situation will become.


    The silence among all of us had lasted for almost half a minute. It should be more than enough to cause a bloody bar fight.


    ¡°First, I¡¯ll attack the brown hair dude, and then use him as a meatshield¡­¡±¡ª¡ªAs I was working out my plans, an unbelievably tall person with impossibly broad shoulders stood up from behind the shadows of the bar counter.


    ¡°Aohoo~Look who came to our Nightfall Town bar? A Medusa, and a human beside it!¡±


    As I was still thinking about whether ¡®Aohoo~¡¯ meant an onomatopoeia for being surprised or the howling of a wolf, a wolf started towards me, it¡¯s nails rapping against the floor. It was about 3 to 4 heads taller than me, and was wearing a top hat.


    That¡¯s right. That¡¯s a wolf. A wolf who wore a short-sleeved western suit and a five-cents trousers?.


    Maybe calling him a wolf isn¡¯t polite. Let¡¯s just call him Mr.Werewolf for now. After all, wolves wouldn¡¯t know how to take off their hats.


    ¡°Hello.¡± I struggled to swallow a mouthful of saliva.


    ¡°Un~Hello, weird Mr.Human. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am the humble Wolflang?, a xx.¡±


    As I have never learned honorifics before, it took me 5 seconds to listen to that sentence, 10 seconds to decipher it and, roughly, get the meaning of those words.


    Un, Hello Wolflang, I¡¯m¡­¡­¡±


    I hesitated for a moment.


    ¡°Sorry, I am Lao Wu.¡±


    ¡°Oh~you¡¯re Mr.Lou Woo.¡±


    I introduced myself as Lao Wu because I didn¡¯t think that he will understand me even if I said my Chinese name. In addition to that, I couldn¡¯t even remember my English name, so I just told him my ranking amongst the male students that were in the same college course as me?.


    Although my classmates were more than willing to call me Brother Wu, I couldn¡¯t very well let a werewolf call me ¡®Brother Wu¡¯.


    As I was smiling along with him, I tried to think of a way to interact with this Mr.wolf without coming across as having any malicious intents.


    ¡°Okay, Mr.Lou Woo. What are you1? here for?¡±


    Although I was quite shocked that a wolf with a mouth full of fangs could speak so fluently, I still had to reply quickly.


    ¡°Oh~that¡¯s right. Rather than that, everyone here, including me, wants to know why are you holding Miss Medusa¡¯s hands?¡±


    Honestly, I couldn¡¯t understand what he was saying, but based on the the gazes of the crowd and the way the top hat in his hands was angled, I guessed that that was the question he asked.


    Right, because I was so nervous, I had been grabbing her hands tightly this whole time. Grabbing her with my sweaty palms.


    Still, I could only explain it like this, even though I didn¡¯t really want to expose it.


    ¡°We live together.¡±


    She and I said that at the same time.

 Volume 1 - CH 12

    Translated by Lickmee


    Edited by IcePhantom, Ruzenor, Anivyl


    It was impossible for humans to live together with monsters, because this is crossing the lines of two completely different types of species. Still, that was my theory and mine only. Because if monsters were the type of species that had a higher intelligence than humans did, relationships between humans and monsters would be more widely accepted.


    Because humans had always sought after strong things in order to advance their own civilization.


    For those weaker than themselves, humans would normally seek to possess them for exploitation. This is the law of nature after all: the weak becomes food for the strong.However, should there be something that could not be considered ¡°weak¡±, yet the level of civilisation is clearly not as as good as theirs, then the most concerning point would be that it couldn¡¯t exploited for humankind. Therefore, when necessary, humans will discard these ¡°things¡±.


    Coincidentally, monsters were one of those ¡®things¡¯.


    The immediate danger of a gunfight happening within the Nightfall Town Tavern was luckily diffused by a Mr.Wolf.


    Well, it couldn¡¯t really be called ¡®diffusing¡¯, but at least the people in the tavern weren¡¯t as nervous as before.


    When told of the reasons behind our hand-holding, it was as if we were forcefully writing the word ¡®impossible¡¯ into ¡®possible¡¯. Each and every one of their eyes, even Mr.Werewolf here, were eyeing me in amazement.


    ¡°Mr.Lou Woo, are you xxx?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, Wolflang, but I¡¯m serious.¡±


    I put my arms around her shoulders to prove our relationship, and immediately noticed that her hands were still grabbing onto the machete.


    ¡°This¡­¡­is too xxxxx¡±


    I guess what he¡¯s saying is that this was just too unbelievable.


    Huhu, I was also quite shocked myself. A werewolf who was wearing a western suit, and a short-sleeved one at that. How trendy!


    After organising the words mentally, I said the next sentence.


    ¡°Wolflang, we have no hostile intentions.¡±


    ¡°That, I know.¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡­¡±


    Yo Bro Werewolf, can¡¯t you speak a little more? At least give me some time to think! I¡¯ve only learnt this language for 25 days, and how was I supposed to respond to that kind of statement?!


    ¡°About that¡­¡­we want to buy a pot!¡±


    ¡°Un?¡±


    Brother Wolf¡¯s furry grey head had a querying look, as he remained speechless.


    I can¡¯t blame him for that, he must have never seen someone who would change topic so abruptly in his whole life.


    But I don¡¯t know how to talk about other stuff anyways! No matter how good I am at chattering, I could only speak in Chinese after all!


    ¡°Sorry, we¡­¡­¡±


    In the end, it was still Medusa, who would help me no matter what, who started explaining the situation to Mr.Wolf here with a series of words that I couldn¡¯t understand.


    ¡­¡­


    At the end, we got invited to sit at the bar and were offered a red-brownish liquid in a glass that had the words ¡®Please drink¡¯ written on it. I was already very thirsty from the journey and all, so I drank it without a moment of hesitation.


    It was liquor. Sweet liquor.


    It tasted just like the 380 yuan wine per bottle I had in my company¡¯s annual meeting. I wouldn¡¯t really say that it¡¯s good, but it was still okay.


    As for Mr.Wolf here, he had been talking with her this whole time. Or should I say, one-sidedly asking her questions. I supposed I could somewhat understand. After all, the news of me being unable to speak this language is already out, I am sure such problems are unavoidable.


    I really wanted to understand what they are talking about, but it was not possible to do so as they were talking too quickly for me.


    Once I was done with my second glass, I signaled to the shopkeeper that I had enough. Perhaps he didn¡¯t understand at all, as he set the third glass on to the table with a ¡°duang¡± sound.


    Steeling myself, I drank half of it. Then, my craving for a smoke came up again. I had gone without smoking for a while now, but there was only a reason as to why desire for tobacco has returned.


    There was someone smoking beside me.


    That¡¯s right. The shopkeeper who gave me the alcohol just now was smoking.


    It was impossible for me to endure, as I had no intention to quit smoking in the first place. I used my fingers to make a gesture of holding a cig to the shopkeeper, asking him if he could give me a stick.


    This time, he understood me. Taking out a cigarette from a small cloth bag, he passed it to me together with a box of matches. I threw the box of matches back to him with a smile.


    That¡¯s right! It¡¯s finally time for me to act cool!


    Taking my lighter from my pockets was like giving life to it. Following the flipping actions from my fingers, nudging the cigarette into the most comfortable position, I lit up and inhaled from the cigarette deeply.


    This whole process took less than 2 seconds.


    Fear me, you mortals! This is the only thing I can act cool with in this world¡ª¡ªa lighter!


    As expected, the shopkeeper had a shocked expression on his face, though it only lasted for a few seconds.


    Can¡¯t you act a little more surprised!? This was a secret lighter flicking skill that I took a while to perfect¡­¡­


    Puffing out my first mouthful of this world¡¯s smoke, Brother Wolf came to talk with me.


    ¡°Ah, Mr.Lou Woo. Just now you¡­¡­, you wanted to buy a pot.¡±


    ¡°Un, yes, also.¡±


    ¡°And also tools. What did you need to buy tools for?¡±


    ¡°Uh, like this.¡±


    In the end, I still needed to draw. I didn¡¯t know how to say ¡®an eave to keep the rain outn¡¯, so I took out my journal.


    ¡°Me, and her. Live. Mountain cave.¡±


    ¡°Un.¡±


    ¡°And then, rain.¡±


    ¡°Un.¡±


    ¡°And then, home, have water.¡±


    ¡°Un¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°And then, home, cannot, have water.¡±


    ¡°Un¡­¡­Ha,haha.¡±


    Wolflang let out a crude barbell-like laughter. I knew he didn¡¯t try to hold it back.


    ¡°Sorry, Mr Lou Woo. Please continue.¡±


    ¡°Ah, nevermind. And then, we need, this.¡±


    I used the best drawing skills I had in my entire 20 plus years of life to draw an eave.


    ¡°Un, I understand. Do you know how to make it?¡±


    ¡°This¡­¡­sorry. I don¡¯t know.¡±


    ¡°Just like this, then it¡¯s done.¡±


    He drew three pillars under ¡®ÈË¡¯-shaped eave, which was made by piecing wooden boards together. After he was done with that, he drew the details of the eave as well its supporting structure. He then used the pencil to point at a piece of board, and used gestures to ask me about the length of the boards that we needed.


    ¡°Like this.¡±


    ¡°Ah, thank you, Wolflang.¡±


    He waved his hands and gestured towards the sitting Medusa. We then followed him out of the bar.


    It was only then that I finally noticed that there was no one casting hostile gazes at us anymore, though sometimes there were gazes with unknown feelings directed at me.


    The roads in Nightfall Town were all dirt roads, with the structures primarily made out of wood. It had a somewhat above average population, and gave off a feeling of peace and harmony.


    Wolflang had even greeted an auntie who was drying clothes. Was the relationship between humans and monsters in this town really that good?


    It felt like we had walked from the southern part of the town to the east, before finally arriving in front of a neat brick wall.


    The wall was made out of stone bricks and, what looked like,cement. In a town where most of the structures are made out wood, a structure made of bricks amongst them was certainly eyecatching.


    Based on the white plumes of smoke and the hammering sounds behind the wall, it seemed to be an industrial area.


    Although it was just a guess, it was totally out of my expectations. There was just a single man in that place¡ª¡ªa man who was holding a hammer in his hands while greeting us.


    The ash and sweat stained body of his was almost 2 meters high, easily causing people to mistake him for those blacksmiths in games.


    Though blacksmithery was actually a talent of his.


    ¡°Good afternoon, Mr.Parker.¡±


    ¡°Hei! Wolflang, what do you need?¡±


    ¡°No, they¡¯re the customers here.¡±


    As I heard their exchange, I sized up the open-aired factory. The reason I called this a factory was because the area was just too large. After some rough calculation, the factory was almost 100x100m large.


    The dazzling woodwork equipments, metal-smelting furnace as well as the steam machine made me open my mouth wide in awe.


    Even Medusa stood there expressionlessly for a while.


    ¡°My dear customers, welcome to the kingdom¡¯s best xxx.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t understand what he said at the end of that line, but he must have been quite proud of his factory. I could already feel it just by looking at the few shining metal tooths he had in his mouth.


    Honestly speaking, this brother called Parker isn¡¯t really that easy on the eyes, or it could just be because his mouth was crooked. Even so, just by having this small factory, he was someone worthy of my respect.


    Maybe it was due to my northeastern blood, I have always liked to watch the sparks of molten steel flying everywhere in factories, and listen to the sounds of cars being lathed.


    Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t get to be a craftsman in the end. Of my father¡¯s three craftsmanship abilities, I have only managed to pick up his culinary skills and being road savvy. .


    ¡°Parker, I am Lao Wu. This is my¡­¡­¡±


    I thought hard about how to introduce she who lived with me, but right when I was about to speak, I realised that I haven¡¯t learned the word ¡®girlfriend¡¯ in the language of this world yet.


    ¡°This is my¡­¡­¡±


    I felt her tail lashing gently at my ankle. Well, yeah, i was in the wrong here.


    Brother Blacksmith eyeballed me with his uneven eyes. I looked at him in return.


    Then, as if he remembered something, he brought the hammer down soundly on the chopping board next to him..


    ¡°I understand now! You guys are xxx right.¡±


    His sudden action made me tremble in shock. Hey big brother, don¡¯t scare me like that! And what did the word you just blurted out mean?!


    As I was scratching my head in confusion, she unexpectedly acknowledged it.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    I then felt my arms being held tightly. Uh, okay, it should have had the same meaning.


    ¡°Haha, how splendid, Mr.Lou Woo.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Mhmm.¡± I quickly agreed.


    ¡°Then, what do the both of you need?¡±


    Parker moved his strong-as-an-ox body aside, then waved his big, thick hands at the 100% hand made goods behind him, ranging from muzzle loaded flintlocks to chairs and tables.

 Volume 1 - CH 13

    Translated by Lickymee


    Edited by IcePhantom, Sekiryuu, Anivyl


    T/N: Here you go Dessugar. Now would you stop whipping me please.


    Whether they are a business or a consumer, a satisfactory exchange is desired by all. And in Nightfall Town, almost every commercial dealing was satisfactory.


    Especially when Mr.Parker hand made a brand new eave in front of me in less than 10 minutes. (E/N: eave means roof)


    The drawback was that no matter how beautiful the eave was, there was no way we could take it back home¡­¡­


    Oh, we also bought a big pot, a few books, and a decent dip pen. Aside from these important stuff, we also bought some daily necessities such as shoes and clothes.


    Eventually, once we were done with all the bits and pieces of our shopping, it all filled up a large gunny sack. It was only when we were checking on our purchases that we realised the problem we have walked ourselves into: transporting everything back home.


    On a side note, what I was using before couldn¡¯t exactly be called a ¡°pencil¡±. To be precise, it was a stick from a tree that was carved cylindrically, with the center of the stick itself containing large amounts of black sap. After sharpening the end of the stick, it could be used as a pencil, though I have to constantly sharpen the end when the sap runs out.


    ¡°What to do?¡±


    ¡°I take this, you take that?¡±


    What she meant was that she wanted me to carry the sack, and she will carry the eave in our journey back to the cave. Let¡¯s not talk about her dragging that giant piece of wood product back, she didn¡¯t even consider if it was possible for me to carry the huge gurney sack with the big pot strapped to my back


    Uh¡­¡­we still need that, right?¡±


    ¡°Un¡­?¡±


    The direction I was pointing at was a structure that looked like a stable, with a few horses inside. That¡¯s right, horses that looked like the ones the Black Merchant caravan had.


    Although I didn¡¯t feel like spending anymore money than I already had, but this was a necessary investment.


    My boss used to tell me ¡®A car can let your career grow wings and fly!¡¯. I don¡¯t know if it can really grow wings and fly, because I have never been a boss myself. But with a wagon, at least I will be able to take these things back.


    Hesitation. Oh, how I hesitated.


    I wasn¡¯t hesitating over whether to buy a Prado1 or a RAV41 or not, but instead, I was more concerned over the costs. I was very aware of how much a carriage was worth to the people here.


    ¡°Maybe¡­not¡­¡±


    ¡°Buy!¡±


    Turning my head, I saw her excited face and felt a little stupid.


    Could it be that gold coins weren¡¯t that important to her? She didn¡¯t say anything when I bought that necklace for 20 gold coins earlier, so buying a carriage shouldn¡¯t bother her one bit.


    Although, it could also be because she was just curious.


    And so, I asked Wolflang how to go about acquiring a carriage. He stroked the fluffy white hair at his throat, but was unable to give us a definite answer.


    Therefore, the three of us went together to inquire about it.


    After the owner of the horses went through a series of emotions from surprised, terrified, before finally calming down, he eventually started explaining to us.


    Simply speaking, a horse cost 8 pieces of gold, a carriage cost 4 pieces, while a covered carriage cost 8 pieces.


    First, I can pick a carriage, then I can buy horses to go with it. That is to say, the type of carriage I saw in movies costs at least 12 gold, huh¡­¡­


    Glancing at the feeding trough, and then observing the canine teeth of the horses, I realized that the horses here were carnivores¡­¡­


    Walking in further, I discovered another weird animal¡ª¡ªa huge sheep.


    Why did I call it huge? Well, it¡¯s because this sheep¡¯s back was at the same height as my chest.


    I have a reliable theory¡ª¡ª that the living things in this world were larger than the original ones that are in my world. For example, the girabbits, or even this sheep here.


    The tamed-looking huge sheep looked at me and bleated a few times.


    ¡°How much is this?¡±


    ¡°Ah?¡±


    ¡°I said this.¡±


    ¡°3 gold coins¡­¡­¡±


    While the owner of the horses looked at me bafflingly, I calculated the sum in my head.


    A carriage and a horse would cost me 12 gold coins, but a huge sheep and a carriage would only cost me 7 gold coins. On top of that, the huge sheep had the temper of a tamed animal herbivores, making it easy to take care of. On the other hand, although a horse had more uses compared to a sheep, it grabbed too much attention to us. Furthermore, the way I saw it, there really wasn¡¯t any need for a horse in the future..


    ¡°Buy this.¡±


    ¡°Ah?¡±


    Wolflang and the horses¡¯s owner made a bigger surprised gasp than before.


    The only one who didn¡¯t feel surprised was Medusa.


    My Medusa slithered to the side of the sheep carefreely and only asked a question after sizing it up a little.


    ¡°Can eat?¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡± I replied without a moment of hesitation.


    ¡°Buy it.¡±


    I threw 7 pieces of gold coins towards the horses¡¯s owner as Wolflang took out a pair of glasses and stared at the sheep. Turning his head, he asked me: ¡°Mr.LouWoo, are you sure you want to buy this? This is a¡­¡±


    Hey! Even I could guess that he was about to say ¡°This is a sheep!¡±


    ¡°Un. Yes.¡±


    The sheep was led along to outside the stable, and was harnessed to a slightly small carriage. How do I say it, it does give off a sense of violation¡­¡­


    Still, it was something I bought myself, so no matter how good or bad it was, I felt kind of prideful for having it.


    Putting the sack, the eave, the pot as well as our other shoppings on the carriage, I tried to make the sheep move from its place.


    As I pulled the reins harnessed onto the sheep (if this thing could even be called a ¡®rein¡¯), the sheep started walking without much effort.


    Though that¡¯s when the problem occurred. If I wasn¡¯t pulling on the reins, it wouldn¡¯t move more than two steps¡­¡­


    Whatever. I¡¯ll deal with these problems when I get back. Today¡¯s journey should end here, since I still want to keep a low profile and all.


    By staying at the mountain cave with her, it should reduce any unnecessary contact with the other humans of this world. Taking out a stick of cigarette that I bought a few moments ago from the town , I glanced at Medusa who was leaning against the carriage. Under the bright sun, the brown tail of hers was in a beautiful S-shape.


    No matter what position she was in, she looked absolutely beautiful as usual.


    ¡°Going back?¡±


    I smiled as I stretched my hands towards her.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡±


    There was a word that I loved the most when she said it.


    ¡°Un, go.¡±


    ¡°About that¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Un?¡±


    ¡°Hug me1¡­¡­¡±


    My brain went blank for 2 seconds, because she would only say this word when we were in bed. If she said it suddenly like that, I really didn¡¯t know how to respond to her.


    But after looking at the carriage, and then her tail, could it be that she wasn¡¯t able to get on the carriage?


    Hug? If I don¡¯t hug her, then who will?!


    Rolling my sleeves up, I bent my back without a warning and carried her. My right hand supported her back as her tail completely coiled around my left shoulder. It was done in order to maintain the balance.


    Also, she weighed at least 80 kilograms. Her first princess carry, and my first time giving someone a princess carry, ended with her having a panicked expression and me being so tired till my face went red¡­¡­.


    The carriage creaked as I was worried about the sheep, though it doesn¡¯t seem to be bothered by the weight at all. Wolflang scratched his head as we glanced awkwardly at each other without knowing what to say.


    ¡°Thank you, Wolflang, goodbye.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome, Sainiharuila3!¡±


    That word meant something like a blessing, though I didn¡¯t really know the way to translate it correctly. It wasn¡¯t only like ¡®Bon Voyage¡¯ ¡®I wish you good luck¡¯, but a word used to show friendliness. Just like how we normally say ¡®thanks to you¡¯, but it doesn¡¯t really specify who do you give your thanks to.


    ¡°Sainiharuila!¡±


    I used the same words to show my gratitude to Wolflang.


    I didn¡¯t really understand much of Nightfall Town¡¯s customs back then, though I knew through Medusa¡¯s explanation later that this small town was the only town in existence that allows interaction between monsters and humans.


    The me from back then only felt that Wolflang, the werewolf was very awesome for being able to get along with humans so much.


    As I drove the carriage, I couldn¡¯t help but look forward towards a hopeful future. If it was possible to even buy an eave such as this, was there something that was even impossible to obtain?


    In the future, we could probably own a plot of farming land of our own, an animal farm of our own, or even a garden and a bungalow to call our own.


    Although I didn¡¯t know if it was possible to realize such dreams in my lifetime, it was good to have a few dreams.


    A human living without any dreams to achieve is quite the sad thing, no?


    If I knew magic, I would research it thoroughly to become the number one mage in the world.


    If I knew sword skills, then I would never stop challenging the pros until I¡¯m the best swordsman in the world.


    If I was able to do everything, then I¡¯d easily be the overpowered protagonist of some lame story.


    Unfortunately, I knew neither of the above. All I had was a Medusa who fell in love with me at some point.


    Still, this was more than enough. At least I wasn¡¯t alone anymore in this world.


    The sun had already touched the horizon as I turned my head to look at her. Staring at the direction of our home, I returned my gaze to the front and touched the neck of the sheep.


    It seems like there won¡¯t be enough time to put the eave up today. Let¡¯s just go home and have a meal.


    A man who was driving a carriage that was pulled by a sheep, and a Medusa sitting on the carriage. If it was possible, I wanted to have a picture of this scene taken and posted in my Moments?. Of course, the caption would be ¡®Bros, this is the new car I bought for my wife today¡¯.


    Footnotes:


    1.Prado and RAV 4 are cars made by Toyota.


    2.Lao Wu misunderstands her words I think? ±§ can either mean hug or carry.


    3.Originally ÈüÄá¹þÈðÀ­.


    4.Wechat users would understand. For those who don¡¯t, it¡¯s something like  a mini Facebook in Wechat, a social app.


    T/N:Don¡¯t worry about OreOjou guys, it¡¯s coming realllll soon

 Volume 1 - CH 14

    Translated by Lickymee


    Edited by IcePhantom, Anivyl


    ¡°Relax, I won¡¯t die from this. The old lady who was my neighbor read my palms before. ¡±¡ª¡ªsaid me, who was down with a serious cold.


    It¡¯s been two days since the day I went shopping at Nightfall Town. Within these two days, the thing that I felt most sentimental about was¡ª¡ªwoodwork was really a handicraft.


    Why would I say that? Well, that¡¯s because the perfectly made eave by Mr.Parker had been disassembled by me¡­¡­


    As for the reason, it was quite simple. Once this thing was put in place, it would really block the rainwater from flowing into the cave. But then, as the eave was rectangular in shape whilst the cave entrance was round, the only way to fix it in place was by cramming it .


    Unfortunately, cramming it at the entrance would most probably result in her being unable to enter and exit the cave freely, so the only thing I could do was to modify it.


    The modification process was quite a pain in the ass. I had to slowly disassemble the wooden boards one by one, and then fit them up into the curved cave entrance by hammering them in, nail by nail.


    Should any of you wish to make your hands rough within a few hours, my personal recommendation for you would be to go do some carpentry work.


    There was also the problem of fixing it in place. Even though I used Wolflang¡¯s design and suggestions, it was still very hard to turn ideas into reality.


    Contrary to how easy it was to build a small house model using toothpicks, it was the total opposite when trying to build a real wooden house with wooden boards.


    Unless you have the skills for it, building a house based only on your own imagination would result in how the eave I built turned out ¡ª¡ªa pile of mess.


    But no matter how shitty its appearance was, it still did its job. As a bonus function, you could even hang clothes off it.. So, it was a degree of success.


    Oh right, Medusa had helped me quite a bit, though I tried to prevent her from doing so.


    After all, I wasn¡¯t that type of man who would allow his woman¡¯s smooth soft hands to become rough and hard.


    As for the door sill, I made it quickly by using the wood I chopped before and some animal pelts. With that done, the problem of the cave being flooded during rainy days should be solved.


    While I was doing the carpentry work, I had also considered the weather changes. If I had arrived in the summer season, then after a month or so, it should be fall. The heavy rain before had helped me figure that out.


    Also, there was another evidence.  If I slept shirtless at night, I could feel the very cold weather in the morning


    Sadly, I was an idiot for thinking that all that I needed when autumn comes, was to wear a long-sleeved shirt. Just like how the last generation kept telling us¡ª¡ª¡¯If you do this now, you will be riddled with illnesses in your old age¡¯..


    But now, before i have even turned old, illnesses had come knocking on my door..


    The weird feeling started from that morning. After waking up, the first movement I made sent jolts of pain from every joint in my body to my brain. . After that, I felt that my brain was not even clearly aware of pain anymore, instead, it was replaced by a feeling of drowsiness, extremely lethargic drowsiness.


    It took all of my strength to just sit up. This wasn¡¯t just the feeling of exhaustion anymore, but it was as if I had no strength at all.


    ¡°Ah¡­¡­did I catch a cold?¡±


    It was inevitable for humans, who were omnivores, to catch a cold. But that was the past.


    As I didn¡¯t bring any Contact NT1 with me when I came to this world, the thing I worried about the most was contracting illnesses such as a fever or a cold.


    After all, being down with a cold that can paralyse your body movement by 30 percent, it was an extremely scary thought.


    Come to think about it, it¡¯s been a month since I have come to live in this hygienically poor cave. I should consider myself lucky, since I only caught a cold. If I had been inflicted with tetanus instead, I might not have been able to live till now.


    Opening my eyes with much effort, I decided to tough it out and get out of bed. After all, for a grown man to stay in bed just because of a small cold isn¡¯t really a good thing.


    This cold¡­ I should be able to grit my teeth and just get over it. Not just that, but there were chores waiting to be done.


    Draping an animal pelt over my shoulders, I walked out of the cave. Eyeing the ¡®small yams¡¯ I planted a few days ago, my body was  filled with determination2.


    When it came to planting stuff, I should be watering it, but the only thing I could use to water it with was the big pot I had just bought.


    Using the heavy metal pot, I carried some water unsteadily back from the cold stream up west. Perhaps it was because of my cold, or perhaps the water itself was freezingly cold, when my hands touched the water, it was so cold that my hands ached from the pain.


    But seriously though, this pot is so goddamn heavy. If I knew that this would have happened, I would have bought a wooden basin too.


    Sigh, I wonder how my friends would have reacted if they have seen the current me.


    ¡°Good morning.¡±


    ¡°Un, good morning.¡±


    She also had a piece of animal pelt draped over her shoulders as she stood at the cave entrance.


    With some trinkets, she could easily pass off as a rich heiress¡­


    ¡°What are you doing?¡±


    ¡°Ah, these things need water.¡±


    ¡°Oh~Want to read book today?¡±


    ¡°Un, I will be over soon¡­¡­Achoo!¡±


    ¡°Pu.¡±(TLN: Medusa laughing?)


    As expected, I really caught a cold, with a stuffy nose and all. Ugh, I feel dizzy.


    Screw this, I am just going to have a smoke and read those newly-bought books with her.


    Sitting on the bed, we opened a book together. As usual, the weird characters made no sense to me.


    When I was bored, I did looked further into this world¡¯s characters. There were 19 alphabets, which were primarily made up of straight lines.


    Although the printed words were abnormally neat, the punctuations were a complete mess to me. Especially those few types with small round circles, theyt were completely incomprehensible.


    If I wanted to learn things, like the grammar of this world¡¯s language, it would take a lot of effort to achieve that with my current understanding of the language.


    There were a few things I discovered about the language. One of them was that it shared some similarities with the basics of the English language.


    The unique thing about the English language was that a single English alphabet does not have a meaning. For example, ¡®Å£¡¯ means cow in Chinese, but English needed three alphabets to form the word ¡®cow¡¯.


    From this unique likeness, English was really a good language to learn this language with.


    However, I wasn¡¯t thinking of such things at that time. Instead, I learned through the illustrations in the book.


    If there was an illustration of a bird, I would ask her what it was called in her language. If it was an illustration of a house, I would also ask her what it was known as.


    Yet in this new book, there was an illustration of a man and a woman in, what looked like, a garden. With their foreheads pressed against each other, they had a look of happiness on their face..


    Although I didn¡¯t understand this world, it was obvious that these two people in the picture were married.


    No matter how serious my cold was, or how dizzy my head was, it was still very obvious to me that these two people were in the midst of a wedding.


    The man in a suit and the woman in a wedding dress. If they weren¡¯t getting married, what else could they be doing? Going to a funeral?


    Due to my long thinking process, coupled with my dizzy head, I decided not to ask about the picture.


    With the picture in front of my eyes, my train of thoughts started drifting. I thought of my parents, who always emphasised heavily on marriage**, as well as the irony behind marriage¡­¡­


    (**ED/N:In context of the chinese here, it seems that the parents were concerned about the mc and his¡­ singledom. So they were worried for him being single)


    ¡°What is the problem?¡±


    ¡°Ah? Ah, nothing, nothing¡­¡­Then, this, what is this called?¡±


    It was only when she shook my elbow that I came to my senses. Yet, the freezing cold and my brain, which was slow to react, made me jumble up my words.


    ¡°Hehe, this is Weslianna3.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡­¡±


    As if she was waiting for me to ask her about this picture, she told me the pronunciation for the word ¡®marriage¡¯. While I strained my brain to try and remember it, the pencil in my hands had already stopped listening to me.


    Though I could still maintain this sitting posture for a little while longer.


    ¡°Come on~¡±


    ¡°What is the matter?


    ¡°Let¡¯s do this, do this.¡±


    The bright pair of eyes, coupled with those delicate lips of hers, made me unable to reject her request. She pointed at the picture as she grabbed my elbow.


    Even though I nearly lost my balance, I still managed to stand up.


    As we imitated the couple in the illustration by pressing our foreheads against each other, our fingers intertwined with each other.


    At this point, I could barely hold myself up, but I still wanted to satisfy this small wish of hers.


    As long as you can feel happiness, in the future, we can hold a real wedding at the place that was illustrated in the book.


    I could feel her cold body temperature through my forehead, but by then, it feels like my vision was filled with dark spots as I couldn¡¯t even see her face clearly anymore.


    ¡°Sorry¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°What is the matter?¡±


    ¡°I feel, very cold¡­¡­¡±


    At that very moment when I collapsed, I remember trying, but failing to grasp at her hands.


    That was the second time I had fainted in my whole life. The first happened when I had a sudden bout of diarrhoea in the toilet. This time, I fainted in the arms of a beautiful Medusa..


    Well, at least it isn¡¯t as embarrassing as before.


    When I finally opened my eyes, the first thing that I saw was a familiar face with a complicated expression on it.


    The fact that I could feel my hands confirmed my suspicions that I was still alive, which was a good feeling


    Before this, I didn¡¯t want to die because of my natural instincts, but now, it is all because I wanted to see her smile again.


    After all, humans can¡¯t spend their life time alone.


    ¡°You won¡¯t die¡­¡­right?¡±


    The tip of her brows which had tipped downwards was an obvious sign that she was worried about me.


    For the bridegroom of a couple that were secretly having a wedding to suddenly faint must have been quite a shock, huh.


    ¡°Relax, I won¡¯t die from this. The old lady who was my neighbor read my palms before.¡±


    I smiled as I replied in Chinese, though it was obvious that she didn¡¯t understand me.


    ¡°I am fine¡ª¡ª¡±


    Using this world¡¯s language to repeat my words, I pressed my forehead against hers, in order to show that I really won¡¯t die.


    Then, she hugged me with the same speed of a flash which I hadn¡¯t seen in a long time.


    When you are sick, you will feel very happy if there is someone who is really worried about you.


    Footnotes:


    1.Contact NT is the name for an over-the-counter flu remedy produced in China. Though not illegal there, it is a class C regulated drug in New Zealand because of its high pseudoephedrine concentration.


    2.Picture. Who plays Undertale too here haha


    3.Originally ά˹Àö¶÷ÄÈ.

 Volume 1 - CH 15

    Translated by Lickymee


    Edited by Ruzenor, Joe, Anivyl


    TLN: Life¡¯s been a bitch, thus such slow updates. Also, I know a lot of you don¡¯t read the footnotes, but this chapter has a lot of important ones, so please do it.


    I wasn¡¯t the type of person who wished to have an exciting life everyday.


    When I started forming my outlook on life, my dream was to inherit the job of my mother who was a honest public servant.


    Unfortunately, I was a useless son who couldn¡¯t even achieve that kind of dream.


    Still, it was the same here. All I wanted to do was to lead a simple life. Never mind owning a large manor, as long as I was fed and clothed, I would be content.


    After all, there was no known way of me returning to where I was, so I might as well enjoy my life here.


    When I first recovered from being sick, it felt really good. If I knew how to do a somersault, I would have already did it twice as a celebration.


    Through being sick, I was made aware of the limitations of this world¡¯s medical standard. Based on the technological advances of Nightfall Town, there were many illnesses that couldn¡¯t be treated.


    Though you can never ignore one of the elements of this world, which was magic. So maybe there was a magic that could cure illnesses¡­¡­


    Still, I couldn¡¯t be sure that if something such as healing magic existed in this world.


    It was wrong to keep thinking that this world was like an online game or an anime.


    However, at least I am certain of one thing: Medusa doesn¡¯t know any magic that could heal diseases.


    If she knew one, then she wouldn¡¯t need to keep on chewing herbal medicines for me to eat.


    To eat something that had been chewed on was embarrassing and disgusting, but still, I persevered for a whole week.


    Didn¡¯t Traditional Chinese medicine have scorpions and even centipedes? As long as it heals diseases, it would still have to be ingested.


    Still, it was fine as long as I was cured. I don¡¯t know if she was able to fall sick or not, but for my health¡¯s sake, I do have to maintain the hygiene around the house.


    For example, the animal pelts have to be aired out, in the sun, from time to time.


    The days passed by normally, though I think of it as a good thing. Because you see, the word ¡®Æ½°²1¡¯(ping an) and the word ¡®Æ½µ­2¡¯(ping tan) has the word ¡®Æ½¡¯¡¯(ping) in it.


    When I woke up in the morning, I would water the palm-sized farm. Then, I would venture into the forest and find some fruits to fill my stomach with for breakfast.


    After she has woken up, we would read books together  in order for me to learn the language. Then, I would fry some meat for lunch, then accompany her as she basked under the hot noon sun.


    When the sun had slightly set in the afternoon, we would keep ourselves busy by packing things up or cleaning the cave, because we didn¡¯t have anything else to do anyways.


    On the days when she feeds, she would be eating till late into the night. However, when she wasn¡¯t,we would pass the time freely.


    Still, we had controlled the number of times we did that.


    Because even if I am a healthy 20 years old male, my body couldn¡¯t possibly take that much of a burden.


    Yet, even if I was leading such a simple life, there were still many problems that arose.


    ¡°We are a family, right?¡±


    I asked, while seated next to her.


    ¡°Un, yes.¡±


    ¡°Then, you are the wife?¡±


    ¡°Un¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Then I¡­am the husband?¡±


    ¡°Un¡­¡­What do you want to say.¡±


    I don¡¯t even know myself!


    For a man, the greatest moment of his life should be when he is intending to shoulder the responsibilities of being a family man.


    Yet, why the hell am I beating around the bush for!? And why is it that, when I could finally manage to say a sentence fluently, we couldn¡¯t understand each other?!


    ¡°What I want to ask is¡­¡­How should I refer to you as?¡±


    ¡°Refer to me as?¡±


    ¡°Eh, it¡¯s like, I can call you Wife, and you can call me Husband, like that¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh. Do you want me to call you Husband?¡±


    Yup, she must be acting dumb with me.


    Previously, when we were in Nightfall Town, she explained our relationship to others so easily.


    And, why do I get the feeling that she was secretly laughing at me in her heart? Is she bullying me for my shitty amount of vocabulary or what?


    All I wanted was to have a title that we could call each other with. It would be much more convenient for both of us when we were out in the public.


    ¡°Un, yes¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Husband.¡±


    ¡°Yes, just like that¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Husband.¡±


    ¡°Puhahahaha!¡±


    We let out a loud laugh together. Why is it so funny anyways? The way she said ¡®Husband¡¯, was as if she was practicing her pronunciations.


    Do I have to call her ¡®Wife, wife¡¯ too? Would our future conversations become something like this: ¡®Wife, do you want to eat?¡¯ ¡®Husband, I¡¯m not hungry.¡¯?


    What the hell?! At least it should have been said as ¡®Oh mine wife, art thee fill¡¯d with pangs of hunger3?¡¯.


    Damn it, this world¡¯s language is rubbish! Doesn¡¯t it have a word that¡¯s more intimate than ¡®wife¡¯?


    My guess would be that there was such a word, but Medusa wouldn¡¯t know about it After all, she had never been married.


    Whenever Medusa was in heat, she would capture a male to satisfy her needs.


    It was only later, in Nightfall Town, that I understood that all those men were all ¡°single-use products¡±.


    After all,  no sane man would abandon their own homes to stay in Medusa¡¯s cave.


    Still, there was the problem of what to call each other.


    Logically speaking, there was no real need to worry about such pet names, because there was only two of us in the home, which means there was only one partner to converse with.


    However, I was the type who views titles and names as something that is very important. As such, no matter what, I insisted on deciding on a form of addressing each other..


    As my language abilities were poor, my way of solving it was using the opposite way.


    I¡¯ll just use another language to say it.


    Because I didn¡¯t know how to call her ¡®Darling?¡¯ in the language of this world, I¡¯ll just resort to using Chinese instead.


    After all, this way of addressing each other would only be used between the two of us. It even had the feeling of a sweet couple sending small, secret codes to each other.(Why didn¡¯t I feel embarrassed at all back then?)


    ¡°I¡¯ll just call you Xifu er?.¡±


    ¡°Ah? Xu¡­foo?¡±


    ¡°Xifu er~it means wife.¡±


    ¡°Eh¡­¡­Xifu,er?¡±


    Once again, I understood something else, this world¡¯s language didn¡¯t have erization?.


    ¡°This is the language I used in the past. Read, it¡¯s fine, right?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I am¡­¡­Xifu, er?¡±


    ¡°No, not right. This means, you, are ¡®my xifu¡¯.¡±


    ¡°I am, ¡®my xifu?¡±


    I tried to hold in my laughter, but still failed anyways.


    I am my xifu, and also your xifu.


    So who the hell is whose xifu now!?


    ¡°No no, you are, my, ¡®xifu¡¯. That means that you are my wife.¡±.


    ¡°Ah, I got it~xifu er~¡±


    That¡¯s why I said, who is whose xifu now!?


    ¡°And then me, I am your hubby?.¡±


    ¡°What?Hub?¡±


    ¡°Hubby, which means husband. I am your husband.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡­Hub, bee.¡±


    ¡°Yes. Eh, you can call me ¡®hubby¡¯.¡±


    ¡°Hubby, are you eating?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Hubby, are you eating?¡±


    Do you really want to eat or are you just practicing how to pronounce it?!


    In a nutshell, the problem regarding how we would address each other had been solved.


    Though it was funny sometimes, because she was behaving like a child who just learnt something new, repeating it over and over again.


    Although Medusa is a monster, she had an unexpectedly strong learning capability. With just a day¡¯s work, we were already capable of calling each other Xifu and Hubby.


    With this, conversing with her should be more comfortable now, as there would at least be some kind of family warmth in our words now..


    Oh, home. My home sweet home. It was the most important goal of my life.


    The warmth of a home does not lie in the number of children, grandchildren in it nor how posh the house is..


    I have never believed in the proverb ¡®An impoverished couple faces a thousand sorrows¡¯. Because, for a family to be unstable due to poverty, one can only say that the family¡¯s willpower is too weak .


    For two person to be holding hands, even after going through tons of trials, it would truly show their willpower.


    And although I wanted to walk beside her until we some day reach that point in life, the ordeals in this world are very life-threatening¡­¡­


    The first time both of us came face-to-face with real, life-threatening danger, happened on the 45th day.


    I still remembered clearly¡ª¡ª how that day¡¯s gloomy weather changed into a sunny one.


    While drying the animal pelts outside, I heard the sound of humans.


    Although I couldn¡¯t clearly hear their conversation, it was clear that they were approaching our home.


    One of the common sense of life was that, by the time you sensed danger, it had already touched the tip of your nose.

 Volume 1 - CH 16

    Translated by Lickymee


    Edited by Anivyl, Ruzenor


    ¡°I am a simple person, so my view on life is simple. You can hit me, shame me, or bully me. But once you touch my family, prepare to taste hell.¡± ¡ª¡ªMy father¡¯s view of life was as the same as mine.


    The dense forest, which I thought served as a perfect hideout, was easily


    ¡®breached¡¯ by 5 humans just like that.


    Consisting of 4 guys and a woman, the party was bigger than I expected.


    Before they came near, I had carried out my plan as fast as I could.


    The main goal was to prevent her from being spotted. So I told her to stay put in the cave and to not come out.


    After that, was to find a way to somehow lead the humans away from this place. Although I didn¡¯t know if my xifu would listen to my words obediently, but this was the best solution available at that time.


    Of course, according to the Dark Forest theory1, Medusa and I should just kill these 5  people.


    Yet, the Dark Forest laws isn¡¯t suitable to used here. This is because we didn¡¯t know if they were stronger than us or not.


    If the opponents were much stronger than us, then attacking recklessly would result in death.


    Also, this is a world where human civilization exists, so communications was possible.


    And communications were vital in solving problems, which could even benefit both sides and bring forth a win-win situation.


    But then, I had forgotten a very important point, and it was that I don¡¯t belong in this world.


    No matter how I disguised it, it was still impossible to let them think of me as a normal human being. With my poor grasp of the language, and the fact that I live in such a desolate place, it would arouse their suspicions even more.


    With such a situation at that time, I didn¡¯t have much time to think much about it.


    On the other hand, as I am a peace-loving person, I decided to do what I did next .


    The leader must be the guy with a typical Caucasian facial features. I thought he was the leader amongst the 5 in the party as he was the only one with a sabre hanging off him. The other 3 men also had Caucasian facial features, and one of them had a short hair cut.


    (Anivyl: Great logic bro. I carry a sabre too, so now i am leader of all humanity.)


    With blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a cerulean batwing-like cape2, the woman next to them was quite a beauty.


    I was unable to tell what sort of abilities or jobs these people had based off what they were wearing. I was hoping to distinguish their skills, like in the MMORPGs that I used to play. However, 3 of them had flintlock pistols, whilst the woman looked unarmed, making it hard to tell if they are warriors, mages or priests.


    When we met face to face, both of us had shocked expressions on our faces.


    Well, this was within what my expectations.


    ¡°Hello.¡±


    With the most natural voice possible, I greeted them.


    ¡°Oh, xxxxxx¡±


    Crap, he was speaking too fast for me to understand, not to mention using words that I have never heard before.


    What do I do next? What should I say next? Come on, brain. Work!


    ¡°We are the kingdom¡¯s xxxx. Who are you?¡±


    ¡°I am¡­live here.¡±


    The Blond Leader(temporary name)placed his right hand on the hilt of his sabre as he questioned me.


    Seeing how he puffed his chest out, he must be quite a proud person. At least, I was able to, mostly, understand what he just said.


    ¡°You live here?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Hahahaha, he said he lives here¡­¡­¡±


    Blond Leader said that as he laughed with his other party members. Although I felt slightly annoyed, I laughed along with them.


    Previously, within the society, I had already trained my ¡°fake laughter¡± technique to get along with people.


    ¡°Are you alone?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    Blond Leader started pacing around as he sized me up. Beside my other-wordly glasses, I was entirely outfitted by my purchases from Nightfall Town and the Black merchants. There shouldn¡¯t be any problem with my apparel.


    ¡°Alyssa, we¡¯re here, right?¡±


    ¡°Un¡­¡­it can¡¯t be wrong.¡±


    At this moment I noticed two things. The first is that the woman was called Alyssa, and the second is that she knows magic.


    In her hands was a navy-blue gem, and, if my eyes weren¡¯t playing tricks on me, the interior of the gem was letting out a white light.


    At that very moment, I realized that things were not going according to my plan.


    To me, there are only 2 kinds of situations in a fight: One of it is me reacting to the opponent¡¯s moves; and the other is the opponent reacting to my moves. When either side is unable to take anymore actions, the victor and the loser is certain.


    Currently, it was my turn to move. Facing against a party of 5, which also had the advantage of magic, it was impossible for me to get rough with them.


    I also had no intentions to let Medusa be caught up in this  trouble, so I had to say something now that could turn their attention away.


    ¡°May I inquire about everyone¡¯s job?¡±


    Since there was just too little time for me to think, I could only ask such a question.


    ¡°I believe we have said it, mister. We are the kingdom¡¯s xxx¡±


    ¡°Or could it be that you don¡¯t know about and have never seen xxx before?¡±


    ¡°Living in such a place, it isn¡¯t weird for him to have not heard about xxx.¡±


    ¡°Could it be xxxxxxx?¡±


    Maybe because the question was quite effective, they started making guesses about me. Please, just take me as a savage who is living in the forest.


    ¡°Mister, can you allow us to go into the mountain cave at the back, to xxx?¡±


    With an extremely invasive sound, a cavalry sabre was pulled from from its scabbard in front of me.


    I subconsciously clenched my fists.


    Stabbing the sabre fiercely into the ground,the leader¡¯s glared at me with his brown eyes, as if he found a prey.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, everyone¡­¡­this is not¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°I already said, we are xxx!¡±


    That¡¯s why I said, who the hell are you guys! Does this world have secret organizations like the FBI who can intrude into the homes of civilians too?!


    Even if you guys are armed with guns and blades, even if it means getting one of my limbs chop off, I can¡¯t let you guys in.


    But the beautiful tip of the sabre connected my chin with his hands.


    Two pistols and a rifle, which someone must have been carrying on his back, were aimed at me.


    In other words, a limb wouldn¡¯t solve this problem. Heck, the problem wouldn¡¯t be resolved even at the cost of my life.


    The situation till now was the worst I had, even worse than the time I was pressed against the wall by Medusa, because they were really going to kill me.


    I raised both my hands up, silently hoping that this international sign of surrender was usable here too, while praying that she would stay obediently in the cave and not come out.


    ¡°Everyone¡­I have no hostile intentions¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Then please move away.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t do that.¡±


    ¡°Alyssa, it¡¯s really here, right?¡°


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then we could only xxxxx.¡±


    A second ago, I was still working out what was he saying, in the next moment, I felt such great pain in my stomach that I nearly crumpled to the ground.


    When a leather boot connects with stomach that offers up no resistance, it was clear who the victor was.


    Next, a series of sudden movements made me unable to react in time.


    After my body had undergone a series of turns and my hair experienced being violently and painfully pulled, in front of my eyes was Medusa, standing at the front of the cave, her bow taut in her hands.


    The cut I had on the right side of my neck was throbbing painfully, as Blond Leader held the sabre against my throat, in a way that¡¯s totally different from the movies.


    The sharp edge of the blade had already dug into my flesh by a few millimetres, which served as a painful reminder that my life was in his hands.


    At that very moment, fear had already overloaded my brain as I almost screamed out ¡®Help me, xifu!¡¯.


    In the end, I managed to stay quiet, although it took all my willpower to do so.


    If I let her know that I am terrified, it would surely affect my xifu¡¯s decision-making. Thus, I clenched my teeth so hard that my jaw started cramping.


    Though the percentage of a single bow winning against 3 guns isn¡¯t that high, huh.


    Various sounds started entering my ear, which must be short but precise orders.


    I couldn¡¯t understand a single thing, except the phrase ¡®Kill that Medusa¡¯ said by the Blond Leader.


    From that phrase onwards, anger slowly overtook the fear in my heart, fueling the anger in my heart, transforming it into rage.


    Every sense and every ounce of energy I had was used in planning amidst this struggle.


    I had immediately understood that this blond asshole was using me as a meatshield, because Medusa has her Petrifying Magic.


    But all you had to do was not look at her eyes, and it would be fine. Besides,maybe because xifu was being considerate of me, she didn¡¯t use it.


    Thus, I looked at my wife, and squeezed out a smile that looks even worse than crying.


    ¡°Oh, my Xifu er¡­¡­¡±


    I closed my eyes.

 Volume 1 - CH 17

    Translated by Lickymee


    Edited by Anivyl, Ruzenor


    The gamble started.


    The deafening sound of the gunfire was more than enough to strike terror within the heart of any human living in peaceful times.


    Coupled with the smell of gunpowder smoke, I finally realized how worthless a life can be in this world.


    But at that moment, despite being extremely nervous, I managed to keep calm.


    Based on my observations, the fight was mainly revolving around a single focal point¡ª¡ª my wife, Medusa.


    Whether it was because she intends to protect me, or because I was trying to hide her, or even because those people want to kill her, all of this was in direct relation to her.


    Then, the simple solution to this was letting Medusa unleash her power to gain the upper hand.


    Medusa¡¯s Petrification Magic could be described as our killing move, because it should deal tremendous damage to these people.


    But she didn¡¯t use it immediately, probably because I was looking at her. She wouldn¡¯t want to petrify me along with those people.


    Thus, my next move was a risky gamble.


    I didn¡¯t know if closing my eyes would be effective against the Petrification Magic, nor was I able to find out if struggling with my eyes closed was going to be effective.


    Heck, I didn¡¯t even know if my Wife, as a Medusa, knew how to cast Petrification Magic.


    ¡°I believe in her.¡±


    With just such a simple thought, I closed my eyes and started the fight of life and death.


    If this goes as I planned, then three of the enemies have the probability of being petrified because it was impossible to aim a gun without opening your eyes!


    As for this Blond Leader, his physical strength must be stronger than mine.


    Though in the process of the casting of Petrification Magic, he should still be affected by it.


    As long as he was distracted, I would have a chance of removing myself from the threat of his blade.


    Although this plan had too many risks, it was the best one I could think of in such a situation.


    If my luck was bad, then my throat would be cut. If it¡¯s worse, the blade would also cut my carotid artery.


    But as long as a human is alive, he couldn¡¯t very well be pessimistic all the time. As long as he keeps thinking from an optimistic point of view, then he could live a happy and successful life.


    So if I give up now, how would I be different from a piece of rock?


    When the gunfire and magic started at the same time, it felt as if the piercing sound of someone wailing would mask the sounds of gunshots.


    Despite having my eyes closed, I could still feel a wave of heat from Medusa¡¯s Petrification Magic.


    Going with my plan, I used my knee to hit the inner part of the blond leader¡¯s right leg.


    It wasn¡¯t as effective as I had imagined, but it didn¡¯t matter. Because my next movements were so fluid that I was shocked by them.


    Jumping off my left leg, I laid my entire body weight into him as I positioned my right hand on to my shoulder to prevent him blade from harming my throat further.


    ¡°Fuck!¡±


    Following my angry curses, my 180cm body coupled with the body mass of 80kg effectively caused 2 men to crash into a pile on the ground.


    Even if it¡¯s the Blond Leader¡¯s well built body, it couldn¡¯t stand a chance against such a sudden movement. I could even feel the back of my head hitting hard against that aquiline nose of his.


    So far, things were going as expected. Next up: quickly changing the tactics from defending to attacking.


    It didn¡¯t matter that I couldn¡¯t see my Xifu when I opened my eyes,I don¡¯t believe that 3 flintlock rifles were enough to kill a Medusa.


    The closest weapon to me was the pot that I had bought previously. Lifting it up with both my hands, I turned my head to see two of the men standing, their bodies still poised to shoot They must have had gotten hit by the Petrification Magic.


    I didn¡¯t see the other man and that woman, but it didn¡¯t really matter as my priority now was the Blond Leader, who still haven¡¯t got up from the floor.


    Then, I raised the pot with both of my hands and smashed down on his leg without giving a shit. From what I could feel, I have probably hit his bone.


    As expected, I had hit his shin bone.


    Fueled by some unknown strength, I smashed the pot onto his leg repeatedly.


    As I continued bringing the pot on his leg, his sabre would hit against the pot, making loud clanging noises.


    While I know that you can¡¯t kill someone by hitting his leg, I couldn¡¯t stop my hands.


    Coupled with the wails of the Blond Leader, adrenaline coursed through my body as I continued smashing his leg.


    Though why can¡¯t he just move his legs away?


    Oh, seems like his leg is cramping.


    Finally, I grew tired of smashing his leg and threw the pot aside. Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I sat on the floor and rolled up my sleeves, because there will be more physical activities soon.


    However, I was still too naive. I did not know that, despite having a leg cramp, it did not take him more than 5 seconds to take a gun out from behind him.


    As the Blond Leader was facing me this whole time, I totally didn¡¯t know, nor expect, him to have another pistol at his back.


    Once again, I face an array of life or death options: whether to block the bullet with the pot; or to roll on the ground and evade the bullet.


    Of course, I chose the later. I didn¡¯t know what he was shouting about, probably something about killing me and stuff.


    I immediately laid backwards and rolled to my right, so if I still get shot, it would just be my bad luck.


    ¡°Goddamnit, these gunfires are so fucking loud. A few more shots and I would really turn deaf.¡±


    Though what I couldn¡¯t understand was, after those shots, Blond Leader became unusually quiet.


    Just when I was about to lower my head a little to check out the situation, I heard a shout that made my heart tremble.


    ¡°Hubby where are you?¡±


    ¡°I am here. I am alive.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I see. One¡¯s still alive.¡±


    ¡°Un, got it.¡±


    Sitting up immediately, I saw Xifu with her bow looking for me.


    After I called out to her, I looked at the blond idiot, only to see an arrow tip protruding from his head. That was, of course, the work of Medusa.


    There was one left¡­¡­which was most probably that woman. With both the gem and knowledge of magic, no matter how you look at it, that woman¡¯s survivability appears to be higher than those gun wielding idiots.


    As I thought about that, I heard a feminine voice that was totally different from the shout before the fight.


    It was obviously the sound of a spell being chanted, though it was a pity I didn¡¯t get to see what it would do as Xifu had already released her arrow.


    A shout that sounded more normal came from the forest.


    That arrow wasn¡¯t empowered, so it shouldn¡¯t have much killing power. Though, based on the ridiculous speed of the arrow flying towards its target, it should have either hit her shoulder or even her stomach.


    Walking into the forest, it seems like Alyssa, the ¡®mahou shoujo¡¯, was shot in the hand.


    (T/N: Literally means Magical Girl for you non-weeaboos)


    Though only her hand was hit, the amount of blood coming out was so much, huh.


    I signaled towards Xifu to not kill her yet, after all, we need to leave one alive so that I could question their motives, just like in those movies.


    Just as I took the small hatchet from my Xifu¡¯s waist, I finally noticed something I didn¡¯t before.


    The beautiful tail of hers had an obvious gun wound, positioned right where a human¡¯s thigh would be.


    At that point, if there was even an ounce of mercy within me, I would have to returned it entirely to God.


    There¡¯s no difference between the blood of monsters and the blood of humans: the wound would not automatically rejuvenate nor would the bleeding stop by itself.


    In my eyes, the thumb-sized wound seemed to nearly fist sized, causing my already unstable rationality to be completely overtaken by blind rage.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t kill me!¡±


    The twisting expressions on her face made me extremely irritated.


    I really wanted to ask her: we have not met for even 10 minutes, yet you are bent on killing my Xifu.


    What the hell is that bullshit? What the fuck are you guys trying to prove? Was speaking with reason even possible between us? Are there no rules in this world?


    I didn¡¯t even have the mood to interrogate her.


    ¡°You want to live, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes! I beg of you, xxxxxx¡±


    I was too lazy to figure out whatever she just said, so I squatted down with the hatchet in my hand.


    Blonde women with blue eyes were never my taste, especially when she has long hair.


    My ex-girlfriend¡¯s hair were always scattered all over the bathroom. Every few days, I had to dig the hair balls out of the drain that¡¯s been clogged up, which was really a pain in the ass.


    ¡°If you want to live, sure. But you have to be faster than my Xifu¡¯s arrow.¡±


    I pointed towards Medusa, who was behind me.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Like I said, she¡¯s my wife.¡±


    ¡°AHHH!¡±


    Alyssa immediately started running.


    The combination of fear and confusion is a really scary monster, isn¡¯t it.


    I stood up and stood behind Xifu. From her point of view, I  looked at the arrow that was about to be released.


    As merciless as I was, the arrow cleared a white trail straight through that bitch called Alyssa, eventually protruding through her head..


    For safety reasons, I asked my Xifu if there were more people around.


    Getting a no for an answer, the bloodthirsty rage in my heart finally dissipated slowly.

 Volume 1 - CH 18

    After suffocating both of the petrified bastards to death, the conflict finally came to a conclusion. In the end, the casualties were decent, mostly because they were all on the enemies¡¯ side.


    As I recalled that my Xifu was wounded, I swiftly carried her to the bed as I convinced her to rest


    Afterwards, I dragged the corpses and arranged them side by side¡£ I couldn¡¯t care less about covering them.


    When I was done, I rushed back to the cave, and checked my Xifu¡¯s wound.


    Bullets used by a flintlock gun don¡¯t fragment, so the internal damage should be little.


    Looking at the wound, I could easily spot the small lead-like ball stuck in the flesh.


    So I tried to remove the bullet from the wound, though the only tool I could use for it were the small scissors.


    To be honest, I was already afraid of taking thorns out of my fingers Even more so, taking out a bullet from someone¡¯s wound and treating it.


    But, she¡¯s my wife after all, so I have to do it.


    Just like how we scratch our nose when we feel it itch, my hands trembled greatly due to subconscious physiological reflexes.


    Taking a deep breath, I cracked my knuckles and looked at her.


    Her face showed a relaxed expression¡­¡­Hey, you do know that you just got shot, right?


    ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Eh, nothing. If you are in pain, then bite me.¡±


    ¡°Ah?¡±


    As I was speaking, I put the scissors over my lighter flame to sterilise it. In a fluid motion, I inserted the blade into the wound and forcefully tried to pry the bullet out.


    ¡±Sorry¡­..it must hurt, right?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡±


    As expected of my strong Xifu, even when being treated by someone like me who had no experience with taking out bullets, she merely knit her brows for a second.


    The blood coming out wasn¡¯t that much, so I decided against bandaging it. And even if I wanted to, I didn¡¯t have any disinfectants such as alcohol.


    As I stared at the blood-red wound, I realized that this was the first time in the 45 days I had been with her that she was injured to protect me, as well as that this was the first time we won a battle against an ¡®enemy¡¯.


    What would you call an ¡®enemy¡¯ in this world?


    I used to think that I only needed to guard against fierce beasts and bad weather, but now it seemed that danger would come knocking on our door readily.


    I started thinking about how this whole thing happened, which left me with a few questions. The first was why did the humans come here?


    I was pretty sure that there weren¡¯t any humans in a 10 kilometre radius around our home, after all Nightfall Town was definitely more than 10 kilometre away.


    Looking across the plains, there hasn¡¯t been any sign of humans inhabiting it before.


    Because of that I hypothesized that these 5 humans travelled far and wide to come here, and the camping supplies in their luggage only served to fortify my hypothesis further.


    Then, if they travelled so far to come here, how did they find us so accurately?


    It would sound too forceful, to say that it was because they saw the wagon with the big sheep that I tied near the cold river.


    After all, the cold river was quite a distance from the cave, and the forest blocked the view from the outside.


    Two possibilities floated in my mind. The first was that this group had already known of our existence as well as our position.


    The second was that they had used some kind of device or other way to pinpoint our position.


    Personally, I considered the second possibility as more plausible, seeing that glowing gem made me think it might be a tool to detect monsters.


    If that is right, then my guess bore fruit.


    These 5 people came here with a goal in mind, and that is to hunt down monsters.


    However, a hypothesis is only a hypothesis in the end, and there were still many possibilities that I hadn¡¯t considered yet.


    Still, it wasn¡¯t bad to expect the worst when your life was threatened. Especially considering how the Blond Leader threatened me, and how easily he decided to fire.


    So in a way, there was no reason not to think of the worst case scenario.


    Another problem that surfaced was the question whether or not there really was any need to kill all 5 of them?


    During that time, my rationality had been completely taken over by my anger, so I hadn¡¯t been thinking straight.


    But to be honest, I couldn¡¯t possibly let even one of those 5 people get away.


    Had I had even an ounce of compassion when facing that woman Alyssa and thus let her go, then our position and existence would have been completely exposed.


    By having them rest here eternally, there won¡¯t be any more people that know our position.


    Although this was the safest way, it was also our loss for not having interrogated them. To us right now, information was the most valuable commodity.


    Putting aside whether my guess was right or not, I had to act now.


    Right now, my next ¡®big project¡¯ was to bury and deal with these 5 corpses.


    Other than the military sabre and the firearms, the only thing worth keeping on the Blond Leader¡¯s corpse was money.


    Next was the short-haired dude with a beard. There were many useful things on him such as supplies to set up a tent, as well as an a lantern reminding me of those from early Europe. The miscellaneous items include matches, wine pots, needles, threads and more.


    I didn¡¯t know what use the things on Alyssa¡¯s body had except for the small handheld mirror.


    The other two men didn¡¯t have much stuff on them as they mainly carried food supplies.


    In the end, the spoils we got were quite a lot. The 2 most special out of them all were a pocket watch and a glowing blue gem.


    To the me at that time, these two items were definitely treasures.


    Why? Because it¡¯s a pocket watch! Having a pocket watch means having knowledge of the time!


    Not only can I easily find out what time it is, I can also use it to calculate.


    Additionally this pocket watch used the same time units and had 3 hands displaying hours, minutes and seconds just like the ones back in my old world.


    Although the way the numbers were written was entirely different, the division of the dial was clear as day.


    The blue gem, on the other hand, looked like a pendant, due to its sides being covered with metal.


    What I was curious about was that it doesn¡¯t glow when I or Medusa held it¡­¡­


    Well, I¡¯ll look into it in the future.


    After taking off all their clothes, burying all 5 bodies took me the entire afternoon. With so much fertiliser, my crops should grow quite robustly.


    I initially planned to burn their clothes, but it was too bothersome, so I teared them apart and used them to fill in the gaps and holes of the door sill.


    As for the canvas used to set up the tent, I draped it over the eave, which served as a decent waterproof roof.


    Using the food rations I found in the luggage, I made a pot of stew.


    According to my family traditions, only while it¡¯s winter or when someone falls sick, would we make a stew, which made it¡¯s appearance scarce on the dining table.


    Although among the ¡®spoils¡¯ was bread which normally would be a ¡®high quality food¡¯, but it was so rough and hard that my gums would bleed¡­¡­not to mention the cheese that smelled of rotten milk, making sugar the only edible one among them.


    Although I call it sugar, it was more like crystallized honey. It¡¯s yellow and white colour somehow raised my appetite for it.


    After mincing some girabbit meat and putting it into the pot, I threw in some sliced mountain herbs I had planted, added some cheese, spices to warm the body up, and some salt.


    When the soup became thick and fragrant, I teared the bread into bits and threw them into the pot, to let the heat soften it.


    I was used to make this kind of ¡®Meal for the sick¡¯ as my father had been through a time where his body had been weak causing him to fall sick easily.


    Rather than going on an expensive trip to the hospital, he chose to recuperate at home.


    I myself liked taking care of others.


    From the point of view of my friends, it as if I was an independent person by not relying on others.


    To be honest, when I take care of others, I feel that I am also being supported by the one I¡¯m taking care of.


    Although I would prefer to call this ¡®When one is helping another, both gain strength¡¯.


    ¡°Delicious?¡±


    ¡°Delicious, hehe.¡±


    A beautiful woman eating¡­¡­now that¡¯s what you call eye candy. If she wasn¡¯t hurt, I would have really done something¡­¡­


    ¡°Eat more¡­¡­¡±


    As I fed her, I thought about what had to be done in the future.


    As to why these people could find us, it could also be due to us exposing ourselves first.


    For example, the smoke from the cooking fire, or when we came in contact with other humans. Could it be due to that time we went to Nightfall Town?


    I don¡¯t know how to explain it, but it doesn¡¯t seems like the Nightfall Town residents have anything against monsters.


    Wolflang the werewolf could already live there carefree, and the blacksmith even welcomed me and my Xifu warmly. The people in the bar were initially wary of us, but in the end they didn¡¯t have any hostile intentions.


    These 5 people shouldn¡¯t have come from Nightfall Town, and that trip to Nightfall Town was really worth it.


    As soon as possible I had to obtain as much information as possible so I could get answers to my questions.


    All I knew was, that this was just the tip of the iceberg, and I had the prediction that both of our futures would be more than I could ever imagine.

 Volume 1 - CH 19

    Lia the Succubus


    Translated by Lickymee


    Edited by Mithril


    TLN: Please don¡¯t read this on other sites other than the translators. Your piracy hurts the community and the translators itself. I won¡¯t  say which pirate site is doing it, but please have some guilty conscience.


    On a more positive note, I¡¯m lifting the hiatus on this site. And the next part of Goblin Slayer should be finished and posted soon.


    ¡°I really don¡¯t want to meet a succubus or a monster like it, because who knows whether they are using their Charm magic or not.¡±¡ª¡ªAfter thoroughly understanding this monster called succubus, this was the sentence I wrote down in my diary.


    On the 50th day, I decided to make a journey to Nightfall Town alone. Xifu only let me leave after I convinced her in a heated argument.


    I had my own considerations after all. As a man, there are some things I just have to do myself. I can¡¯t keep relying on my Xifu forever after all..


    Additionally, it was probably safer for her to leave my wife alone here. If something were to happen on the way, I¡¯d probably only end up dragging her down even further.


    Initially, I wanted to bring a gun with me for self-defence. Yet as I have only seen flintlock pistols in the internet before this, using them was a real pain.


    Its complicated reloading procedure had me pull my hair out. First, I had to fill the muzzle with gunpowder. Next, after loading the bullet in, I had to pull the hammer back. What came next was loading flint into the cock and priming the flashpan with a small amount of finely ground gunpowder.1


    Only after all this the gun can be considered loaded. Who the hell would be in the mood to go through so many steps in a middle of a fight¡­¡­


    Thus, in the end, I chose to take the short hatchet with me.


    Although it was a melee weapon, it felt comfortable in my hands.


    As if by holding it I would be granted powers from Xifu(lol)


    Xifu¡¯s wound heal a little faster than normal humans do, so I didn¡¯t worry too much about them.


    What really bothered me was that I didn¡¯t know whether I could do this on my own. If I had my notebook with me, I could use more than 2100 words.


    Without it, I¡¯m practically screwed.


    Eh, whatever. Anymore hesitation and I won¡¯t even reach there before noon.


    The sheep-drawn wagon had been tied to a tree near the river by me. I didn¡¯t really pay much attention to it since the sheep could fill its belly with grass when hungry and drink water from the stream when thirsty.


    All I needed to do was to clean it¡¯s faeces regularly. As I had also spent a lot of effort training it, it finally could draw the wagon like a real horse if you ignore it¡¯s occasional disobedience.


    Sitting on the wagon, all I had to do was poke the sheep with a wooden stick and it would start moving.


    Although that sounds easy, but the sheep would keep stopping to graze. And when it starts grazing, it wouldn¡¯t move no matter how many times I¡¯d poke it.


    Unlike other farm animals, such as cows or pigs, I had never come contact with a sheep before, so to have been able to train it to this level was actually quite a feat for me.


    As I remembered the way to Nightfall Town clearly, it made me think that my skill to recognise the way was an ¡®ability¡¯ inherited from my father.


    In the past, no matter in which unfamiliar city I was, I could remember the roads 90 percent of the time.


    But in reality, I was currently figuring out which way Nightfall Town was.


    I dug into my memories from last time as a reference, which included the geography and even the height of the trees.


    At last, I reached Nightfall Town before 10 o¡¯clock in the morning.


    Due to using this road for the second time, I etched the position of Nightfall Town in my heart¡ª¡ªit¡¯s to the Northwest of the cave entrance, and 15 to 20 kilometres away from the cave.


    When I pushed the door of Nightfall Town bar once again, the people seated at the tables only glanced at me without any signs of wariness.


    Walking straight towards the bar counter, I plopped my small money pouch on the countertop¡ª¡ªdrink first, talk later.


    ¡°The same as before?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯ll be 1 Krauer.¡±


    Krauer had to be the name of their currency, though I got used to calling it Krau nowadays.


    ¡°O-okay.¡±


    Handing the boss of the bar a normal coin, he passed me a cup full of wine. It tasted just like how I remembered it, being slightly on the sweet side.


    Taking out my lighter and cigarettes, I was considering what to do next when a big furry claw touched my shoulder. Of course, it was obvious who the owner of the claw was.


    ¡°Hey, Mista Wolflang?¡±


    ¡°Oh~Hello, Mis-ter Lou Woo.¡±


    Wolflang emphasised the word Mister, thus obviously correcting my pronunciation.


    ¡°Mis-ter, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, that is right haha. For what purpose are you here for today, Mister Lou Woo?¡±


    ¡°About that¡­¡­I want to show you something.¡±


    ¡°Hmm?¡±


    Under his expectant eyes, I took out the pendant with the blue gem in it from my clothes.


    Because in this world, I was totally clueless about many things, especially the ¡®Kingdom¡¯ I heard so much about.


    Thus, I used a unique object such as this as a conversation starter.


    ¡°Hold on, Mister Lou Woo.¡±


    Putting on a pair of glasses, he carefully took the pendant from me.


    When a werewolf gets serious, it¡¯s facial expression really does look human.


    As I waited patiently for the appraisal result, he suddenly passed the pendant to the owner of the bar behind the counter and started discussing something with one another.


    ¡°This, how did you get it?¡±


    The owner of the bar touched the whitening hair on his temple as he stared at me.


    ¡°I¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s head upstairs and call xxxxxx.¡±


    ¡°Un.¡±


    Eh? Why do I feel like I just screwed up big time? Could it be that this pendant is some kind of ancient artefact!?


    Climbing the ¡®Z¡¯-shaped wooden stairs felt very unusual. It gave off a totally different feeling from those modern replicas of those traditional wooden stairs.


    The second floor had 4 doors, with one of it being a double door on the right side.


    I was then led by Wolflang into a living room that looked as if it was straight out of a movie about 18th century Europe.


    ¡°Please take a seat, Mister Lou Woo.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°For this object, we still need another person to¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, it¡¯s fine.¡±


    With excitement bubbling inside of me, I watched as the bar owner took out  a rifle from a cabinet.


    Despite it being a flintlock rifle too, it had a rear sight on the barrel of the gun.


    With skilled hands, the owner of the bar loaded the rifle with ammunition and fired out of the window.


    Unable to contain my excitement anymore, I scuttled to the side of the window to see what was going to happen next.


    An ethereal ringing sound of a bell filled the air as l looked towards the source.


    30 meters from here was a building that looked like a church with a gigantic bell hanging on the bell tower.


    In other words, the bar owner just shot the bell with an antique flintlock rifle with perfect precision.


    Before I came back to my senses, something very large flew in through the window.


    In my whole life, I have seen many types of women. Yet for the first time in my life, I saw a girl with such natural beauty.


    If I had to describe it, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that even the rulers of nations would crumble before her.


    Her brown hair curled down on her clothes with elegance, not to mention the graceful aura of hers that rivaled that of a noble lady. Her lips looked like they were the  masterpiece of a skilled sculptor and what escaped them was a dream-like voice.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter~¡±


    ¡°This! This¡­¡­¡±


    A succubus! She¡¯s definitely a succubus! I¡¯d bet 3 months of my rent!


    The horns that curl backwards on her head and those large wings of hers were more than enough indication for me to confirm that this ¡®thing¡¯ was definitely a succubus.


    ¡°Mister Lou Woo, this is Miss Lia.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡­¡±


    Even though I heard Wolflang¡¯s introductions, I didn¡¯t even move a finger.


    Normally, should a man stare at a woman for more than 3 seconds, the surrounding people would notice it. And I think I stared at her for more than 5 seconds already?


    But the reason I was staring at her wasn¡¯t  her beauty but instead due to my wariness of her.


    I trusted no one in this building completely except for my wife and she wasn¡¯t here.


    ¡°Hello, Mister Lou Woo.¡±


    ¡°Hello, Miss Lia.¡±


    I shook the hand she stretched towards me as a sign of friendliness.


    To be honest, I could have done better at being polite, like making a gentlemanly move like kissing her hand or something.


    The blue pendant I put on the table earlier didn¡¯t earn a look of surprise from Lia the succubus as she picked it up leisurely and looked at it.


    ¡°Mmm~not bad. A thing from the Kingdom. Whose is this?¡±


    Even though Wolflang and the owner of the bar turned their line of sight towards me, I didn¡¯t answer her.


    ¡°It seems that Mister Lou Woo here doesn¡¯t like me¡­¡­.¡±


    ¡°My apologies, I did not mean that¡­¡­I want to know, err¡­¡­use. How to use this?¡±


    Flipping my notebook that was filled with words, I quickly compiled a sentence and said it.


    ¡°Oh~that¡¯s easy.¡±


    The succubus said such simple words as she held the pendant in her hand.


    Without the need to chant a spell or anything, the gem in the pendant started emitting a bright light that was almost as bright as a 200V light bulb.


    Next, her fair white fingers slowly covered the shining pendant as a portion of light shone from between her fingers.


    At the same time, the light also shone  through her fingers making them glow as red as rubies, making her straight phalanges be slightly visible from the outside.


    I will never forget that sight for my whole life. I stared and stared, as if the magical power would have entered my eyes itself.


    ¡°How is it? Mister Lou Woo~?

 Volume 1 - CH 20

    ¡°This world needs someone like Magellan1. Even someone like Columbus2 would do.¡±¡ª¡ªThis different world was way larger than I had ever thought.


    I didn¡¯t understand whether Lia asked about how the pendant was or how she (as a succubus) was.


    It was difficult to describe what I felt now into words, so all I could do was nod my head in response.


    Lia made the gem stop glowing and placed it back on the table.


    Plopping onto the sofa, she laid on her side and took out a cigarette holder which I couldn¡¯t discern whether it was made from ivory or clay. She then attached a brown cigarette on it.


    ¡°Okay. Whose is this?¡±


    The out-of-place tone of hers made me feel like the situation in the room was totally under a succubus¡¯s control.


    And then, my natural instincts flared up.


    Taking out my lighter, I ran up to Lia¡¯s side and bowed down to light her cigarette for her.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Miss Lia. This thing is mine.¡±


    ¡°Un¡­¡­¡±


    Shrouded amongst the smoke, the succubus only smiled without probing further. Based on what I learned from my ex-boss, an action like this on a negotiation table where the ¡®initiator¡¯ passes the ¡®initiative¡¯ was a sign that the negotiation was coming to a success.


    ¡°How did you get this, Mr. Lou Woo?¡±


    Wolflang grabbed the chance to enter the conversation.


    To be frank, it would be a lie to say that honesty was a trait of mine.


    Yet for a magic item such as this, I couldn¡¯t make some excuse up. So, aided with my hand gestures, I explained to her the story of how I got this pendant.


    Lia didn¡¯t even bat an eye when I told her that Xifu and I had killed 5 humans, but she was more interested in how I lived together with Medusa.


    As I said before, I wasn¡¯t close to anyone here, not even Wolflang who helped me and my wife before. Thus, it felt uncomfortable to discuss about how my wife and I lived together.


    ¡°Mr. Lou Woo. As your wife said before, you seem to have come from a very far place¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes, it¡¯s very far. And it¡¯s highly probable that I can never return to it again.¡±


    ¡°Then, you must¡­¡­not know much about here, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes, for example, the Kingdom that you people kept mentioning¡­¡­and this Nightfall Town.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Hey, take the xxx.¡±


    Wolflang gestured towards the owner of the bar to take out a scroll of paper from the bookshelf.


    The paper which had yellow colored sides was then spread on top of a table with each sides weighed down with an ashtray, an inkpot and coins.


    The curved lines and symbols on the paper gave me a familiar feeling¡ª¡ªthis was a map.


    The map was rectangle in shape, and based on the contents, it wasn¡¯t a map of the world.


    The explanation process was done entirely by Wolflang, with Lia chipping in from time to time. The owner of the bar only prepared some drinks for us halfway.


    The whole explanation took a very long time, mainly due to my very poor grasp of the language. But Brother Werewolf and Sister Succubus never showed an ounce of impatience, and even corrected my pronunciations.


    Thus, I got quite a lot of information about the area around here.


    The information I got can be split into three parts:


    First: The mountain Xifu and I are living in was called Mount Dochi3, which was crescent-shaped. The entrance to our cave was located right at the bottom of the crescent.


    Second: There¡¯s a mountain called Mount Mercaly? at the opposite of Mount Dochi, which I called it Mount Caly for short. Between the two of the mountains was the large grass plains we needed to cross to reach Nightfall Town.


    Based on the map, it was stated on it that this grass plain was called the Southern Plains.


    Third: The opposite of the Southern Plains would be the Kingdom in the North. The Kingdom was so large that it wasn¡¯t even completely drawn in the map. As for Nightfall Town, it was placed slightly to the North from the Southern Plains.


    Simply put, Nightfall Town can be said as to be a borderline. To South was mountains and plains, and to North was the Kingdom.


    As for how large this world actually was, I didn¡¯t even have the courage to ponder about it.


    Actually, the one thing I wanted to understand the most was what kind of country the Kingdom was. Unfortunately, all three of the people seated here including the owner of the bar said that they had never even set foot in the Kingdom, though it seems like the Kingdom¡¯s full name was the Ensel Kingdom.


    The clues only lead up to this. As for those 5 people from the Kingdom, Wolflang gave me an explanation, though I couldn¡¯t understand any of it due to my current shitty grasp of the language.


    In the end, Wolflang gave up trying to make me understand and just told me that I need not worry because those kinds of people were very few.


    Then, we started chit-chatting. After Lia had confirmed that the pendant was harmless, I kept it back into my pocket.


    She didn¡¯t even tell me how to use it. Seems like if it¡¯s harmless, even if it¡¯s a magic item, people wouldn¡¯t really care much about it huh¡­¡­


    Because they were speaking too fast, I couldn¡¯t even understand what were they chit-chatting about.


    The only thing I was able to glean from their conversation was that this bar was actually opened up by Wolflang the werewolf¡­¡­No wonder he was doing so well.


    After their third cup of alcohol, Wolflang and the boss of the bar said they had something else and headed downstairs, leaving me and Lia alone in the room.


    As a man with a family, it was natural to be reserved. Both of us kept quiet as the our cigarette smoke filled the air.


    ¡°Are the both of you having a good life together?¡±


    The smell of perfume and tobacco entered my nose as Lia sat beside me.


    ¡°Very good.¡±


    ¡°You remind me of the past¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°By that, you mean¡­¡­?¡±


    ¡°Nothing, it¡¯s just that if only he was still alive.¡±


    ¡°Ms. Lia had a relationship with a human too in the past?¡±


    ¡°That was a very long time ago, hehe.¡±


    She giggled as her eyes focused on the pretty finger nails of hers.


    ¡°You guys too, must have had a good life together¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, the me during that time felt like something good was going to happen everyday.¡±


    ¡°Sorry.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine. It¡¯s been a long time since I saw a human like you. Want me to teach you a word?¡±


    ¡°Ah?¡±


    ¡°Say ¡®I love you¡¯ to her. She would really be very happy.¡±


    Actually, I always wanted to learn how to say it. I knew how to say ¡®I¡¯ and ¡®you¡¯, but really didn¡¯t know how to say the word ¡®love¡¯.


    So, in that very moment, I understood that the word she just said meant ¡®I love you¡¯.


    ¡°I¡­¡­ love you¡­¡­.right?¡±


    ¡°Un. Say that to her, not me okay?¡±


    After looking at me with complicated eyes, Lia flew out of the window.


    If I were 3 years younger, I would have said something like ¡®You slut, how dare you seduce me!¡¯.


    But now, I felt like I could understand her.


    Lia, was probably just a lonely yet kind succubus.


    After eating something for lunch in the bar, I bought a small table, chairs and a wooden tub from Parker¡¯s factory.


    After that, I headed for home. Although the residents of Nightfall Town were very friendly, it gave me the feeling that the town itself was kind of quiet.


    When I finally reached home on the sheep wagon, the sun had already set. At the familiar cave entrance stood my Xifu.


    I had a girlfriend before, and I had loved someone with all my heart as well. But to see my special someone standing at the entrance of my house waiting for my return gave me an inexplicably sweet new feeling.


    Although I lost many important things ever since I came to this world, I gained something even more precious..


    (Ruzenor: TOO MUCH SUGAR UGHHH)


    The personal growth of a human is caused by his slowly changing daily life. Now, I could affirm that it¡¯s the truth.


    ¡°You¡¯re back!¡±


    ¡°Un~you eaten?¡±


    Hugging Medusa can turn a normal greeting into the most effective love potion, making us who were in the honeymoon period not wanting to let each other go at all.


    In reality, I would of course feel somewhat shameful.


    But now, all I wanted to do was to just indulge myself in this passionate and free love.


    The pure love that not any impurities like materialism will ever be able to pollute.


    ¡°Oh right. I love you.¡±


    ¡°AH!?¡±


    Xifu froze in her place, making me wonder if I pronounced it wrongly.


    ¡°Eh¡­I love? I love you¡­Un, right. I love you.¡±


    When I was trying to correct my pronunciation, she had already hugged me with her whole body.


    Even though it was so freaking heavy, it felt reassuring.


    ¡°I love you.¡±


    No matter in which world, these 3 words were enough to express the person¡¯s most passionate love. This three words were probably what I wanted to get today.


    Though if it were like this, I can¡¯t make dinner¡­¡­


    ¡­¡­


    After eating a meal on the newly-bought table with with a lantern lighting up the place which made the atmosphere romantic, I smiled dumbly at her.


    Men would become fools when it comes to love. But for me right now, I was really willing to become a retard.


    ¡°Body, fine?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine~¡±


    ¡°Then¡­¡­..missed me today?¡±


    ¡°Hehe.¡±


    ¡°I really missed you today you know.¡±


    ¡°Then, hug me~¡±


    Footnotes:


    1.Ferdinand Magellan was a Portuguese explorer who organised the Castilian expedition to the East Indies from 1519 to 1522, resulting in the first circumnavigation of the Earth. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan


    2.Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, colonizer, and citizen of the Republic of Genoa. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus


    3.Originally ¶àÆæɽ=Mount DuoQi, which literally means Mountain of Many Oddities¡­¡­.


    4.Originally ÃɸñÀöɽ=Mount MengGeLi. You pronounce Mercaly as Me-r-caly.

 Volume 1 - CH 21

    Translated by Lickymee


    Edited by Ruzenor, Mithril, Bordelined


    Let me tell you about the sheep at my house. It¡¯s awesome!


    After coming back from Nightfall Town, my life returned to it¡¯s usual peaceful state.


    Thinking rationally, I should be exploring the Southern Plains, Mount Caly and other places thoroughly


    However, I really didn¡¯t feel like leaving my Xifu¡¯s side. For those who have had a girlfriend before, you should know how it feels to not even want to leave your lover alone for more than 5 seconds.


    Now, I¡¯d rather just stay and laze at home for two days straight.


    What urged me back to work was simply the weather, as it was getting colder from day to day. When I woke up in the morning, it was pretty obvious that the temperature in degree celsius was down to single digits.


    (E/N: ¡ãC single digits 1-9¡ãC ~ 33,8-48,2¡ãF)


    After counting, there were 41 pieces of fur. Other than these furs, there weren¡¯t anything else that could ward off the cold in this house.


    Ever since the time when I was down with a cold caused by the rain, I understood the importance of making preparations for winter. And so, my gaze fell onto the big sheep¡­¡­


    The big sheep was really tame, and wouldn¡¯t even wander around when it was not tied up. Thus, I placed the sheep far from the house, until the time when Xifu decided not to hunt and eat this sheep for lunch instead.


    Now about the sheep, it¡¯s inevitable to link them with wool. If I could somehow get some wool from this sheep, it would be invaluable to prepare for the cold winter. And so, I started researching on how to pull the wool out¡­¡­


    Why not just shear the wool with the scissors, you ask? Of course, I had considered it, but the only thing holding me back was if the sheep instead had no wool to pass through the winter and died from hypothermia, I was going to be so screwed.


    Although this sheep was just an animal, it was still a life after all. If it could talk, it would probably protest, saying something along the lines of: ¡®I pulled the cart and the cargo for the house! Don¡¯t shear my wool! I want to meet the chief!¡¯.


    (T/N: Means something like complaining)


    Every time I thought of that, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to do it. I didn¡¯t even bat an eye when I was killing those 5 people, and yet here I was, unable to even shear the sheep¡¯s wool. Sigh¡­¡­


    But they¡¯re two totally different cases. This sheep had contributed much to this house, and those 5 people intended to harm me instead.


    So I had no choice. If I couldn¡¯t shear the wool, then there was only one thing I could do¡ª¡ªpull it out!


    There was a sentence in one of Zhao Benshan¡¯s1 skit that went something like


    ¡®Pulling out the wool of socialism¡¯. (TLN: Apparently means something like harming the majority for your own benefits)


    I didn¡¯t care about whether my house was made up of socialism, but I was still capable of pulling out sheep wool.


    And so, simply put, what happened was I brought a basin filled with some water with me, and moved a bench next to the sheep. Stretching my hands into the thick, firm wool, I started grabbing and pulling it out. With every movement, pieces of loose wool were in my hands. I then tossed them into the basin of water to prevent them from flying about.


    After an hour, I managed to obtain quite a lot of sheep wool. Due to the large body size of the sheep, this was actually quite a decent way to obtain wool.


    Though it was a pain to process it. I had no idea if it was because I had no prior experience or something else, but the wool got really dirty. I had to wash it twice, dry it under the sun, and then wrap it up with pieces of fur.


    As pulling out sheep wool became one of my daily routines, my Xifu, spurred by me, also started pulling it out.


    Though compared to the sheep¡¯s wool, I could sense from her gaze that the sheep¡¯s meat held her interest more instead¡­¡­


    After 5 whole days, the large sheep had been harvested so much that I couldn¡¯t even get half a basin¡¯s worth of wool from it¡­¡­


    Ever since that fight, I was constantly plagued by recurrent nightmares, keeping me awake. The dreams consisted of bizarre sights and events that would creep you out and make you unable to talk to others about it.


    There had even been an occurrence  where I got shocked again from seeing my sleeping wife beside me after I woke up from another nightmare.


    I was scared that one day Medusa would leave me, that the passionate werewolf would attack me, and that the 5 dead people would look for revenge¡­¡­


    ¡®What happened?¡¯


    I was once again woken up by a nightmare. But as my movements were too sudden, I woke my Xifu up too.


    ¡®Nothing, nothing¡­¡­¡¯


    ¡®It¡¯s getting cold, recently¡­¡­¡¯


    ¡®Un, that¡¯s right.¡¯


    ¡®You cold?¡¯


    She placed her hand over my chest, making my intense heartbeat slow down gradually.


    ¡®Not cold.¡¯


    Not wanting to say another word, I hugged her in my arms. It felt as if numerous things had accumulated within my heart, but I had no idea how to articulate them.


    I really wanted to tell her about Nightfall Town, and things about my past. Yet, it was as if there was an invisible wall between us. One that wouldn¡¯t let us hear each other no matter how hard we called for each other.


    No matter where, humans were bound to have stress. There wasn¡¯t a single human alive that lived without a worry, I dare say. Although one could run away, his problems, just like cockroaches, would only multiply.


    Other than working, there was no way I could release my tension here. From hunting to sewing, I did almost anything one could think of. After compiling the wool together, it seemed to be just enough to make a blanket.


    And so, by using the sewing kit I obtained, I once again became a good househusband.


    As I started sewing, a thought went through my head. Could this blanket be considered a ¡®marriage blanket¡¯? If I had red dates, peanuts, longans and lotus seeds on hand, I would have followed tradition and stuffed them into the sides of the blanket, which is said to wish the newlyweds to give birth to a child soon2.(TLN:Check footnotes for more info.)


    Talking about children, would I have a child in the future? If I really had one, would it look more like me or like her?


    Hold on, if she was to really give birth, would she give birth to a human, a snake, or lay an egg instead?!


    Giggling at my own thoughts, I shook my head and placed the wool on the freshly-sewn fur.


    ¡®What are you doing?


    ¡®Uhh, how do I say it¡­¡­like this.¡¯


    As I didn¡¯t know what a blanket was called, I told her with my actions as usual.


    Placing a layer of wool on the fur, and then placing another layer of fur on top of it, I covered my body just like how you would with a blanket.


    ¡®Just like this, won¡¯t feel cold.¡¯


    ¡®Eh?¡¯


    ¡®How is it? Isn¡¯t hubby awesome?¡¯


    ¡®Hehe.¡¯


    Suddenly, she blew onto the wool. As the dried sheep wool was very small and dispersed, coupled with her immensely large lung capacity, the small pieces of wool immediately flew everywhere and some stuck onto my body.


    How could my Xifu be so cheeky!


    Maybe cause I was just too tired, I merely played along with her.


    ¡®Oh, my Xifu. *cough* I¡¯m too old, and can¡¯t move anymore¡­¡­¡¯


    ¡®Hahahaha¡¯


    I placed the wool under my nose like a mustache, and acted like an old man.


    ¡®*cough* Even while I¡¯m so old, do you still love me?¡¯


    ¡®Hahahaha¡¯


    She couldn¡¯t stop laughing as her tail even started swinging up and down repeatedly. We continuously threw the wool into the air, and watched as they floated down like snow. It had flown about everywhere covering the insides of the cave, and stuck onto our bodies.


    Amidst the white, snowy scene, I had closely observed every facial muscle of her move as she laughed happily.


    As I didn¡¯t have a camera, I had to imprint these small, daily, happy events into my memory forever.


    After messing around for a little while more, I started to have a coughing fit. It could be that I had got some of the wool into my throat.


    I quickly coerced her to help gather the wool scattered about everywhere because of us messing around earlier, the anticipated coziness of the blanket I made could have been lowered due to the seemingly large amount of disappeared wool¡­¡­


    By the time I could sew the wool together, Big Sheep¡¯s wool looked like it could be pulled again.


    To be honest, I had no idea on how to do needlework. My generation which was born in the early 90¡¯s had to take the brunt of the bad economy so most of our daily living skills were learnt out of necessity.


    When I living alone working, I had only myself to rely on. Despite having close to zero culinary skills, I still had to force myself to cook. Who in the right mind would blow their hard-earned money to eat out in restaurants?


    Still, skills such as sewing blankets weren¡¯t those that you could expect someone to have.


    When I showed Xifu my completed wool blanket, whenever I grabbed one side of the blanket, the wool filling would fall to the other side.


    Could this be what you call a concentration of failures¡­¡­


    (TLN: Some untranslatable pun here. I don¡¯t really get it anyways¡­¡­ so I made some random sentence. So here is it: Õâ½Ðʲô£¬Õâ½Ð´«ËµÖеġ°¹ö°ü¡±)


    And so, that¡¯s why there are some things that you can¡¯t complete with actions alone. You have to have the appropriate skills for it. Although I failed at making the woolen blanket this time, our lives still haven¡¯t. With that, the preparations for the coming winter continued¡­¡­


    Footnotes:


    1. Zhao Benshan is a Chinese skit, sitcom actor, director, and entrepreneur.


    2. In Chinese traditions, red dates(ºìÔæ/H¨®ngz¨£o), peanuts(»¨Éú/Hu¨¡sh¨¥ng), longan(¹ðÔ²/Gu¨¬yu¨¢n), and lotus seeds(Á«×Ó/Li¨¢nz¨«) are normally given to newlyweds as each of the items has a letter that can form the word ÔæÉú¹ð×Ó(Z¨£o sh¨¥ng gu¨¬z¨«), which actually makes no sense, but rhymes with ÔçÉú¹ó×Ó(Z¨£osh¨¥ng gu¨¬z¨«), which means giving birth to a child soon. Practically wishing a couple to have sex and get a kid ASAP.

 Volume 1 - CH 22

    Translated by Lickymee


    Edited by Ruzenor


    I understood the theory about how the economic base determines the superstructure of a human society1. Therefore, there must be an integrated trading economy system within this world.


    With the Black Merchant Caravan as the basis, the system would probably be countries practicing autarky with caravans doing foreign trades along the trade routes.


    Holding a cigarette in my mouth, I whipped out my lighter. Alas, it was out of fuel.


    Well, it¡¯s decent quality lighter that had costed me 1 yuan, with an average lifespan of a month with continuous usage. It¡¯s already been 68 days since I came here¡­¡­


    Slipping the lighter back into my pocket, I decided to keep it as a memento of my past.


    It was the usual peace and quiet at Mount Dochi today. Once I woke up in the morning, I began the daily routine of fetching and boiling water, making breakfast, reading, and of course, peeking at the cute sleeping face of my Xifu.


    Around half past nine in the morning, the long and drawn out blow of a hunting horn that I hadn¡¯t heard in a long time entered my ears. It was the sign of the Black Merchant Caravan.


    ¡®Going out?¡¯(Xifu)


    ¡®Want to buy things?¡¯


    ¡®No, just¡­¡­going for a walk with you.¡¯


    Once she said that, only had I realized that I could even understand colloquial terms of this world¡¯s language like ¡®going for a walk¡¯.


    ¡®Sure.¡¯


    ¡®This black, this, can no wear?¡¯


    ¡®Umm¡­no, must wear.¡¯


    ¡®Oh¡­¡¯


    ¡®Hehe, you wear too?¡¯


    ¡®No no, I no need.¡¯


    If you are to buy goods from the Black Merchant Caravan, wearing this black mantle was a must. This rule was made for those nonhuman customers.


    On the contrary, the merchants who were humans wore bowler hats with no regards to their gender.


    Regardless, it was an interesting rule. It probably was made to prevent the scary-looking monsters from scaring some timid merchants. The bowler hats were probably there to differentiate the identities.


    Once again, I was standing at the lead carriage with the black evil-looking logo of the sun on it. Well, rather than describing the black sun, the entire carriage was made with  black-coloured wood.


    This made me think of the evil villains in those western fantasy movies. Would there be a Headless Horseman in this world too?


    Being in a good mood, I knocked on the black plaque.


    And then, the entire plaque started to rise.


    Yep¡­ it really started to rise¡­¡­


    Hey, I¡¯m not looking for death! All I did was knock on the plaque twice, and it started to rise with mechanical sounds as if some trap had been activated. There wouldn¡¯t be poisoned arrows shooting from carriage¡­¡­right?


    Fortunately, there weren¡¯t arrows behind the plaque, but a single person within the carriage.


    The only thing is, he seemed familiar¡­¡­


    The hell! Aren¡¯t you the boss of the bar!?


    ¡®You¡¯re¡­!¡¯ x2


    Both of us exclaimed at the same, giving my Xifu a shock with her hands almost  pulling the bow out.


    ¡®Didn¡¯t really expect to see you here, Mr. Lou Woo.¡¯


    ¡®Y-Yeah.¡¯


    Who the hell would expect this!? What, you¡¯re not properly managing your bar, but instead doing this as a part-time job now?!


    ¡®And this is¡­?¡¯


    ¡®Ah, this is my wife.¡¯


    ¡®So it¡¯s Madame Lou Woo. Pleasure to meet you.¡¯


    The boss was in a smart-looking suit. Despite his old age, he had an aura of charm and hale of an youngster. He then reached out his hand in a friendly manner.


    Signaling my Xifu, she reached hers out and shook his hands.


    And then, this old pervert dare kiss my Xifu¡¯s hands!


    How the hell can I allow someone to just kiss my wife!? Thanks to my quick reflexes, I quickly pulled my Xifu¡¯s beautiful hands back.


    You should be thankful to even hold her hands, and now you want to use your mouth? Hell, I wouldn¡¯t even allow it even if she wore gloves.


    ¡­¡­I know, I know. A kiss on the hand is a formality between a gentleman and lady.


    But I¡¯m not a gentleman, and my Xifu¡¯s isn¡¯t a lady either. So what? I¡¯m a freaking plebeian*, so my Xifu is only mine to kiss!


    My actions made my Xifu and the boss shocked for a moment. To the boss, this must be something along the lines of saying ¡®Hello¡¯ but only saying ¡®Hel¡¯ before getting his mouth covered.


    ¡®Sorry, sorry. M-my wife don¡¯t like¡­¡­¡¯


    ¡®Ah, it¡¯s fine.¡¯


    Well, the older the wiser. The shocked expression only stayed on his face not more that 2 seconds before he gave a friendly smile, preventing the situation from becoming too awkward.


    As we continued talking, I got to know that his name was Simon. According to him, the entire Black Merchant Caravan was under his command.


    The Black Merchant Caravan¡¯s history of doing business with non-humans was a long one, dating back even before Simon was born.  Apparently, it had been an even larger organisation compared to now.


    (T/N: I interrupt this novel to tell you to read on lickymee¡¯s site! Pirate sites do no good to the translator¡¯s mood to translate, so stop supporting them!)


    As the three of us walked on, Simon, without stopping, started explaining the history and the current situation of the Black Merchant Caravan.


    It had been formed by some lone travelling merchants who traded human products with the rare items of the non-humans. These items commonly had something to do with magic.


    As they earned quite a sum, their scale grew continuously larger. Their travels consequently grew further, which increased the danger included as well. As many non-humans had no idea if the Black Merchant Caravan were merchants or invaders of their homeland, for a period of time, being a member of the caravan was quite the perilous career to have.


    Within this time, the merchants decided to develop the stop they used to rest into a town.


    And so, Nightfall Town was born. It was at that time that the rule of non-humans wearing a mantle and the merchants to wearing a bowler hats was formed.


    Later on, there was a major event that happened in the Kingdom. I couldn¡¯t understand what the major event was, but I bet it¡¯s something crazy like a revolution or an usurpation of the government, cause the entire time he was talking, the words ¡®War¡¯, ¡®Death¡¯ and ¡®Magic¡¯ kept repeating itself.


    Ever since that major event, the area of activities of the Black Merchant Caravan had been reducing due to the Kingdom restricting all contact between humans and non-humans, even if it¡¯s to conduct business.


    The merchants who had their income cut off suffered greatly, with some returning to the Kingdom to operate other businesses, whilst others chose Nightfall Town.


    And so, it was thanks to those merchants who chose to stay in Nightfall Town that it became the sole place where humans and non-humans could interact with each other in peace.


    Actually, there were more details that Simon had explained, but I couldn¡¯t understand most of it.


    Thinking about it, there was a burning question in my mind about the gold and normal coins. After some time of observation, I noticed the non-humans had been paying with the same type of gold coins, with the merchants returning the change with the same kinds of normal coins too.But when I¡¯m in Nightfall Town, it seems the only currency accepted here was the normal coins.


    In other words, it seems only the Black Merchant Caravan accepted gold coins, while the others only accepted the normal coins.


    So, where would the gold coins go?


    Or, put in other words, where were they from?


    Still, I didn¡¯t voice out my question. Because I knew even if he was willing to explain to me the reason, I wouldn¡¯t understand it anyway.


    I only queried him whether the Kingdom accepted the gold coin as currency, which they didn¡¯t. Simon also showed me the currency that the Kingdom used a type of paper bills. These bills had a large denomination, with the smallest value at a 100.


    As my mind connected the clues such as the information on the map, the gold coins, history of the Black Merchant Caravan and the current situation of the Nightfall Town.


    All these information came to the shocking conclusion¡ª¡ªNightfall Town and the nonhumans had formed a trading economy with the trading route as the basis.


    Looking over, despite not having the noisiness of a night market, the long rows of carriages gave a feeling of a thriving liveliness. Well, maybe this was the best proof of the good relationship between Nightfall Town and the nonhumans?


    I came to the Black Merchant Caravan with the intention to buy. Although I¡¯m not sure if there had cotton here, acquiring a cotton blanket and clothings was the first priority on my shopping list.


    As we leisurely strolled, Simon really played his role as a host as he introduced to me good items I should get such as kettles, combs, some kind of mechanical fire starter, a jar for storing food, weird-looking snacks and food, a small fine-looking box¡­¡­but no cotton blanket in sight.


    But hey, Xifu and I had an enjoyable time there. Well, I understand why she was happy. Which woman wouldn¡¯t be when they went shopping? She even has a hubby accompanying her.


    Well, it¡¯s not like I¡¯m not happy too. I got to see so many weird monsters, even though I can¡¯t see their face. Still, under those hoods, there were a few curious clues that I could see, especially a small-sized monster who dripped water wherever he went.


    Buying and eating whatever you want, that¡¯s what you call shopping.


    To hell with the cotton blanket, I love the Black Merchant Caravan! And my wife too!

 Volume 1 - CH 23

    Translated by Lickymee


    Edited by Mithril


    As I chugged down my third mug of alcohol, the cheers from the people in the bar continued on. As if challenging me, Simon pushed the fourth mug in front of me. I shouldn¡¯t have made such a huge bet¡­¡­


    Simon is such an enthusiastic person and a good friend.


    Wolflang has been helping me so much all this time, and he¡¯s my bro.


    Parker though¡­.Well, he¡¯s really got some remarkable skills, so I admire him a lot.


    And about the succubus Lia¡­¡­.though she¡¯s quite the looker, but¡­¡­she¡¯s not as beautiful as my wife!


    But can you guys stop messing with me?


    Ah, wait. This isn¡¯t the problem. What I want to know now is how the hell did my Xifu and I come to drink in the bar in Nightfall Town?!


    Oh, right, I remember. I had been caught up in talking with Simon during the shopping spree and ended up here somehow after being invited to drink at the bar.


    Putting that aside, aren¡¯t you the big boss of the Black Merchant Caravan, old man!? (TL: Referencing to Simon.) How could you just leave your caravan and get drunk with us?


    Though, it¡¯s not like I dislike alcohol or anything. I¡¯m quite fond of going out for a few bottles with close friends to relief stress.


    But back then, it has been with my close friends, not a werewolf, a succubus, and an old man that I knew no more than a few days.


    Also, aren¡¯t you guys a little too enthusiastic? Heck. I¡¯m not even really close with you guys, and why the hell are you all drinking like it costs nothing? Also, to the noisy bunch who¡¯s been jeering along all the while, don¡¯t just believe whatever I say! My wife¡¯s still here, so please at least save some pride for me, god damn it!


    ¡®Let me introduce someone to you bunch. This is Mr. Lou Woo, and this¡­lady is Madame Lou Woo. Mr. Lou Woo is new to these parts and is here to give his greetings.


    ¡°Hello, everyone. I am Lao Wu, and this is my wife¡­¡­¡¯


    After a few moments of silence, almost every customers exclaimed in surprise, followed by the noisy sounds of discussion. Amongst them, what I could grasp the most was:


    ¡®Isn¡¯t that¡­¡­Medusa?¡¯There was nothing wrong about that remark, or rather, the problem was my Xifu herself¡­¡­


    Well, my Xifu was really something though. No matter how crazy and lovey-dovey we were at home, she was like a totally different person when we¡¯re out in the public, with her words and actions polite yet as serious as a dead man.


    Meh, monsters are monsters after all. If I had been someone else, I also would have found it to be really weird to see someone living with one.


    ¡°Do take a seat, Mr.Lao Wu.¡±


    ¡°Ah, thanks.¡±


    ¡°So what are ya having?¡±


    ¡°Uh, the usual¡­¡­¡±


    Two beer mugs clanked on the table. Simon too was holding one in his hands. I guess we¡¯re having a toast?


    ¡°Eh, Xifu. Let me, take that, drink, for you.¡±


    ¡°Mmm? What¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°You, wounded, right? Drinking, is bad, right?¡±


    ¡°Hehehe. My hubby¡¯s the best.¡±


    Shit, did she just say that!?


    A random surge of happiness filled my heart as I grabbed the mug.


    Screw this! I¡¯m gonna down these drinks even if I die!


    And so, I ended up chugging down both mugs of alcohol in front of the dumbfounded old man*. (TL: Referencing to Simon.)


    In other words, that was when things started to get messed up.


    The two people I hoped wouldn¡¯t be there, appeared right at the bottom of the stairs and stared at me as I gulped down every last drop of alcohol.


    ¡°You¡¯re really such a XXX, Mr.Lao Wu.¡±


    ¡°Ah, it¡¯s nothing, really.¡±


    I knew he was most probably praising my drinking capacity, and I couldn¡¯t help but play along.


    ¡°How many mugs can you take, Mr. Lao Wu?¡±


    ¡°I, uh¡­¡­¡±


    The hell, Lia! Why do you have to be such a party-pooper!? Don¡¯t just interrupt a drinking session between men!


    Just like normal female humans, it felt like these two female monsters were always competing with each other.


    My Xifu raised her chin as if accepting her challenge¡­..Oh, my dear wife. Do you have any idea how high the alcohol percentage in that was? Even if it had been a slightly-sweet Western wine, that still ought to be at least 20 to 30 percent.


    I always had to make something clear to everyone first. It isn¡¯t the case that we Northeasterners have a good alcohol tolerance, but we¡¯re just chugging it down without a single care for our own lives.


    I was no different. I could normally only take up to seven bottles of beer, but I can push it to ten under special circumstances.


    Now I¡¯m standing beside my Xifu. No matter how useless I am, I can¡¯t possibly let her lose face!


    ¡°Come on! I¡¯ll stop only when ya¡¯ll tell me! Whatcha gonna do about it!?¡±


    I raised my cup into the air and shouted to the entire crowd.


    ¡°Shiny Haruila!¡± (TL: I have no idea what is this supposed to mean either ED: maybe some kind of toast or cheer?)


    The atmosphere of the bar went wild as everyone started rhythmically banging their mugs on the table.


    Adrenaline started to course through my veins as I embraced the atmosphere. No matter how many times I¡¯ve been at a company dinner or a gathering with friends, it¡¯s just been too long since I¡¯ve been in the spotlight, receiving the lively cheers and hurrahs.


    And so, down went the third, fourth and fifth mug of the red-brownish liquid.


    In my 60-ish days here, there had been countless good and bad things happening to me. There was the time I met and fell in love with her, how it changed our lives, how we built our home together, and how we got to know these friends in Nightfall Town, never forgetting the countless grave dangers we faced together.


    Call it me releasing all my feelings, or just getting swept away by the atmosphere. All I wanted to do today was chug these liquids called alcohol down into my stomach.


    It was on the eighth cup when I started to have trouble keeping my eyes open. Although I understood that the alcohol was beginning to affect my body, I still raised the mug.


    Suddenly, Xifu grabbed my arm and placed her other hand on my forehead, which felt cool to the touch. I was still able to discern the number of small snakes she had in her hair, as well as the worried lover¡¯s gaze emitted from her eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine, Xifu.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡­¡±


    Giving her a smile, I raised the mug again and emptied it in one go.


    My breathing started to feel ragged, like the irregular waves of an electrocardiograph. Still, I could keep going, was well enough to continue standing here for another 3 mugs.


    Wrapping my arms around her neck, I had no idea if I was being too rough towards her. With almost 6 liters of the Western alcohol in me, I couldn¡¯t even imagine what the hell being gentle towards someone even meant.


    Even though the old man had even started to look hesitant as he passed me the ninth mug, I stubbornly grabbed it.


    ¡°I will never ever fall here because my wife is just beside me!¡±


    Shouting these words in my heart, my lips touched the edge of the mug.


    Before I could even react, my Xifu suddenly snatched the cup away, held it with both hands, and downed it within seconds as if she was an excited young lady having her first taste of alcohol.


    ¡°Hehehe¡­¡­¡±


    As Xifu grinned at me, the noise of the ruckus around me suddenly quieted down. It wasn¡¯t because I had been drinking too much, but the whole bar itself turned so quiet that I could even hear water dripping.


    My mind had turned blank. Before I realised it, I had already jumped up and kissed her in the lips, disregarding the fact that her cape had slipped off.


    Someone started throwing their hat, which was immediately followed up by numerous hats and caps, of others, flying around in the air. Even Wolflang had gone along with the mood and started howling.


    I raised and waved my hand in response. It was time to end the day. Usually, we would both already be in bed at this hour.


    Wait, talking about a bed, we are still far from home¡­..and with me in this state, it would be hopeless for me to drive the sheep wagon home, not to mention my Xifu was even worse at it.


    ¡°Head upstairs and rest, you two.¡±


    ¡°Ah, uh, sure. Thanks¡­¡­¡±


    I couldn¡¯t recall who suggested us to stay a night there, but I recalled that Xifu was bad at climbing stairs. I remember carrying her up the stairs with all my strength, Wolflang leading the way. The guest rooms looked decent, and had hot water provided too.


    ¡°Try not to make too much noise, you two.¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡±


    ¡°Good night, then.¡±


    I¡¯m already hopelessly drunk. As if I could make any noise in my state. Also, why do you look like you¡¯re super understanding? Just go be busy with whatever you do, my werewolf bro!


    Closing the room door, I suddenly recalled something. It¡¯s so rare that we¡¯re staying out for the night, especially having been provided with hot water as well! So a hot water bath is a must!


    The hot water is available at the nearby building, so I should get some whilst I¡¯m still awake.


    After moving to and fro three times, I¡¯d finally finished filling up the small tub with hot water from a giant basin of hot water.


    Ugh, so tired¡­¡­.I should just take the bath tomorrow¡­¡­


    Slapping myself awake, I only just saw my Xifu who had been watching me bustling around this entire time.


    Ahh, I should let my wife take a bath first. I used to enjoy baths at the bathhouses back in my world, but it should be the first time for Medusa to even have a hot water bath.


    Come on, Xifu. Let your hubby service you with a bath.


    ¡­¡­Is what I thought. With my blurry state of mind, I managed to test the water, then carried her up with what last bit of strength I could muster.


    ¡°Ahh!¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s okay, not hot. Hubby try, just now now.¡±


    I really drank too much. Did I just mix in Mandarin into my words?


    I barely managed to stop myself from just throwing her into the water, and slowly lowered her entire body into it. Her arms had been wound tightly around my neck this entire time.


    Ahh, she hadn¡¯t taken off her clothes yet¡­..


    As I watched her slowly get used to the water temperature, my body sprawled our beside the tub relaxingly, mixed my yawn and me saying goodnight together, and drifted off to sleep as my glasses fogged up from the steam¡­¡­

 Volume 1 - CH 24

    The pain of experiencing a hangover is what a man must experience to really mature. Only through facing the drunken dizziness and throbbing headache can a man learn how to handle his drink.


    It could have been that my Xifu was the one who carried me to my bed. Of course, compared to the ¡®bed¡¯ made out of wool that I had at home, this was much more comfortable.


    Though sleeping in my dirty clothes does feel disgusting¡­


    ¡®Welp, time for a bath¡­¡¯


    The room felt warm, most probably due to the glaring sun visible through the window. No wonder she didn¡¯t coil around me as usual¡­


    Looking around, I found my spectacles being held tightly in her hands. Not wanting to wake her up, I got up in a daze without my spectacles and boiled some water.


    Mixing some of it into the leftover water from the tub last night, I soaked my body into it, and was speechless when the water immediately turned murky¡­


    Having a bath in this world is way different. There was no such thing as shampoo or soap, just some paste-like substance¡­


    I had no idea what it was, but it could apparently be used to wash the hair and the body.


    When I got out of the bath, Xifu was still deep in her sleep. Well, after such an extended period of observation, I could somewhat understand Medusa¡¯s daily schedule.


    Compared to a normal human, it seems that she needs to sleep for an extra two hours, which was obvious as she always woke up way later than me. Though it¡¯s not like it¡¯s affecting our lives too much, since she¡¯s still a magical creature that¡¯s diurnal.


    It would have been a problem if she was a nocturnal creature like a vampire though.


    When I finished washing up and put my clothes on, it was only 8:30 AM after checking my pocket watch. Time to head downstairs for breakfast I guess¡­


    ¡®Good morning, Simon¡­¡¯


    ¡®Yes, Mr Lao Wu, good morning.¡¯


    ¡®Now, eat, okay?¡¯


    ¡®Yes, wait a moment.¡¯


    It seems that it¡¯s steel-cut oats porridge on the breakfast menu this morning¡­it really was different from the rolled oats I was used to having in my old world¡­


    It was way harder to chew and even more to swallow..though it¡¯s kind of interesting that the oats in this world were all shaped like a coffee bean.


    Honestly though, I was actually expecting a western-like breakfast like a mug of piping hot milk and a freshly baked croissant¡­


    As I had some small talk with Simon, I contemplated on the itinerary for today.


    Honestly, I don¡¯t mind staying here for a few more days, maybe even take it as a honeymoon with her.


    As I was lost in my train of thought, Medusa appeared in my line of sight as she slowly climbed down from the staircase.


    Wait, she can¡¯t climb stairs, but she¡¯s able to use it to get down?


    After some observation, I could say that there¡¯s two ways of how she¡¯s able to move about.


    First was how she slowly squirms forward with her tail,  similar to the speed of a human walking. Another was by using her tail to slither in an S-shape, which increased her speed similar to a normal human running.


    Of course, there¡¯s also when she¡¯s able to dart quickly from one place to another, probably by compressing the muscles in her tail and releasing them quickly


    She was slowly getting down from the stairs, as if she¡¯s cautiously moving bit by bit. I quickly went by her side to help her. It felt like she¡¯s having a hard time controlling her body¡¯s centre of gravity.


    Seems like even though her body¡¯s more stable than any human on a flat surface, she really needs to take it slow as if she¡¯s tiptoeing on uneven surfaces like these stairs.


    While feeding her a spoonful of the oat porridge, I took a whiff of her body odour.


    Yep, still smells like a snake to me. All those anime logic about how a girl would smell after a bath is all bullshit.


    Alright, where do we go next? Since Nightfall Town is so large, we can probably explore around for another few days or so.


    When you¡¯re having a vacation in an unfamiliar city, you don¡¯t have to go to famous places only. Even wandering around the quiet alleys would be an experience. After all, all I have now is time.


    After saying my goodbyes to Simon, we stepped onto the busy streets of  Nightfall Town.


    While slowly trudging along the roads,I couldn¡¯t help but feel really accepted by the people of this town. Everyone we passed by greeted me, even though I already forgot who most of them were. There were just too many people in the bar last night.


    After walking a bit, we reached Parker¡¯s workshop. Looking in, I could see Parker hard at work, with his hands full on operating the machines and materials. From the looks of it, he seems to be working on wooden fences this time.


    ¡®Ho, Mr Lao Wu¡¯


    ¡®Good morning, Mr Parker¡¯


    ¡®Hahaha, how was last night?¡¯


    As he laughed, he was expertly making measurements with a pencil and a wooden set ruler.


    ¡®Well, I kind of drank too much¡­¡¯


    ¡®Hoho, even though you overdid it a bit, you¡¯re not so bad yourself. It¡¯s been a while since I¡¯ve seen someone able to take 8 mugs of Nawedom in a single sitting.¡¯


    ¡®Nawedom?¡¯


    ¡®Yep, that¡¯s the name of the alcohol you drank.¡¯


    What a unique name for an alcohol. Well, even the taste is unique, so I guess that¡¯s that¡­


    ¡®What are you making this time Mr Parker?¡¯


    ¡®Oh, you mean this.¡¯


    Putting down the tools in his hands, he showed me a set of blueprints. On it were plans of fences surrounding an empty piece of land, probably for a ranch or a farm.


    Well, seems like this town gotta be self-sufficient, else it¡¯s going to be really hard to survive on lands outside of the Kingdom.


    There wasn¡¯t any designated place to rest in the workshop, just some commercially made chairs at the side. Xifu and I made ourselves comfortable on them and looked around.


    Parker¡¯s really a pro with manufacturing, seeing that he could even create delicate items from the miniscule gears for pocket watches to the various parts of a flintlock pistol with that bear-like hands of his.


    I¡¯ve got experience with handling flintlock pistols, but I can¡¯t say I¡¯m fond of it. It just has a reloading process that¡¯s too complicated, not to mention that it¡¯s only a single-shot weapon.


    But I couldn¡¯t help noticing the flintlocks that Parker made all had different sizes and unique designs compared to the ones that the 5 people had on them, which were all identical. Maybe the Kingdom had strict rules to follow on the manufacturing of weapons?


    Sensing my interest in the flintlocks, Parker quickly wiped his smudged face with his dirty apron and started recommending to the ones he had. Though he looked clumsy trying to do so, it honestly made me feel relaxed around him so it¡¯s fine I guess.


    ¡®Wanna try it?¡¯


    ¡¯Right here?¡¯


    ¡®Yep, how about behind here?¡¯


    Lighting the tobacco in his pipe with a match, he took a long deep breath with it.


    It seems Xifu was also interested in these things. Well, I¡¯ve got nothing better to do anyways, so why not play with these antiques?


    Following him to the back of the workshop, I was shocked. Even though he told me before that his workshop was around 100 metres in width and length, I didn¡¯t expect it to actually be that large, even more than the workshop building itself.


    There were big stacks of wood and minerals piled up behind his workshop, each covered with a layer of what seems to be a type of waterproof cloth. Just 10 metres away from them was a target made out of a few large thick pieces of wood.


    Beside us was a rack stacked full of different kinds of firearms. Though I¡¯m calling them firearms because I had no further knowledge of any other 17~18th century weapons that looked like these.


    Though I soon realized what these weapons meant¡ª¡ªthe proof of a genius.


    With the recommendations of Parker, I tried my hand firing a few different guns. To be honest, I didn¡¯t expect my shots to land, which was even more evident when I saw how bad my wife was at using them. I even had to cover her ears for her when she was firing them.


    Wait, couldn¡¯t you just use the small snakes you had to cover your ears for you?


    ¡®So, how was it?¡¯


    ¡®Yeah¡­I like this better¡¯


    ¡®You¡¯re right¡­¡¯


    Xifu took out her shortbow and in a quick succession fired three arrows, all which landed a perfect bullseye on the target. Heck, it seems like those arrows are way faster than the bullets!


    ¡®Mr Parker, anymore¡­better, gun?¡¯


    Testing my luck, I asked the question. Honestly, I didn¡¯t want to know if there was any gun that was better. I was just curious if there was any  weapon in this world, or even just in Nightfall Town, that was more powerful other than magic.


    Parker only kept quiet as smoke billowed out like a chimney from his nostrils.


    Even though my question doesn¡¯t seem like it was implying much, it was understandable for him to hesitate a bit. To provide a powerful weapon to an outsider was the same as increasing the danger risks to the townspeople.


    ¡®Follow me¡¯


    After a while, he gestured to me to follow as he moved his giant body. Briefly glancing at my wife, I quickly tried to catch up to him.


    In a small hut made of bricks behind the workshop, I saw a weapon that didn¡¯t belong in this world.


    Yep, in the hut laid a metal box which had a revolver in it.


    Much different than what I expected, there were no markings or carvings on the gun, with the smooth slick piece metal laying on its side. In it were 5 rounds chambered in it¡¯s cylinder.


    I was surprised, because I remembered clearly that revolvers only appeared in my world in the 19th century, wherever this world¡¯s firearms technological advancement was at most only up to the flintlocks in the 18th century.


    Parker didn¡¯t react to my shocked expression, but only sat on the bed on the side. Emptying the ashes from his pipe, he gestured for us to take a seat anywhere.


    ¡®Care to hear a story?¡¯


    In reaction to our wide blinking eyes, Parker only continued refilling his pipe with more tobacco leaves.


    ¡®You two may not know this, but this gun was actually made for a person named Krifrey¡­¡¯


    TL Note: Surprise! I¡¯m alive! I¡¯ll try to keep being alive and do more updates, though it seems that the author actually took the raws down from his publishing site. I¡¯m still managing with webarchive, but it¡¯s really slow and I don¡¯t know when I will run out of raws.

 Volume 1 - CH 25

    Placing the revolver in the drawer beside me, I laid on the bed inside the inn. Meanwhile, Xifu was having her meal, making the numerous dishes in front of her disappear at a speed no slower than when she devoured 50 kilograms of raw meat itself.


    As I watched her wolf down the food without any utensils, I recalled the story Parker told me during the day¡­


    ¡°Krifrey is a good person. A very, very good person.¡±


    As I listened to the craftsman¡¯s story, I expected the story to be a tragedy, because good guys always get it worse.


    Although his voice was as incomprehensible as if he spoke with a bellow, my wife and I sat down quietly as we listened to his slow voice.


    In his younger days, Krifrey was a Black Merchant who later on settled down in Nightfall Town. When Parker got to know him, they were both still young and in their prime. According to Parker, he was a good looking young chap just like me.


    It seemed that Krifrey changed his occupation from a Black Merchant to a ¡®Hunter¡¯. To be fair, I could only half-guess what Parker said as he described him as a Hunter.


    It should probably mean a hunter that goes hunting everyday for animals with a gun.


    On a side note, it seems the word ¡®hunt¡¯ that Xifu taught me and the word Parker used for ¡®hunt¡¯ was pronounced differently, but it should probably mean the same thing.


    It seems at that period of time, Nightfall Town was still very much underdeveloped compared to now. Meat was scarce, so the residents at that time could only survive on the grains grown from the southern fields and by scavenging from the surrounding plants.


    Thus, hunting became a respectable profession, even though there were risks and it was not guaranteed you could always bring back spoils for the day.


    But Krifey was different from the others. He had never once returned empty handed. This not only meant he had tremendous luck, it also displayed his tremendous skills.


    Despite all that, he had never once hesitated to share his spoils with the children or the poor of the town.


    As time went on, respect for the old hunter only grew. Even the other hunters didn¡¯t mind going out for a hunt with him.


    As the days passed, the hunter probably realized his body was aging and changed his focus on long term development and sustainability.


    He started experimenting with rearing livestock like Fanged Horses and Big Sheep.  That was also when it showed hope to the residents that a better future was really possible.


    And the gun was the first and the last one that the Hunter commissioned the Craftsman to make.


    At that period of time there must have been a lot on Krifey¡¯s mind. With the development of the Town there must have been a lot of dangers, which must have included dangers that can come to his home¡­


    ¡°We and the Kingdom is, uh, ¡®bad¡¯, right?¡±


    I didn¡¯t understand what Parker said next, and Parker didn¡¯t explain further but only repeated the word ¡®bad¡¯.


    Between choosing to continue living his life or to protect Nightfall Town, the Old Hunter didn¡¯t hesitate to choose the latter.


    As he started telling the second half of the story, the excitement I had built up for the epic climax, were dashed when he summarised it into ¡®Krifey died in a fight to protect this place¡¯


    Wait, he died?!


    In a fight with who? The Kingdom?


    How did he fight? Did he use magic or guns?


    I don¡¯t really want to know where the Old Hunter came from, but I want to know how he met his end!


    Even though I was dying to know what happened in the fight, I didn¡¯t ask any further as Parker looked like he didn¡¯t want to elaborate it any further.


    Well, Xifu looked like she was enjoying the story so far. Probably imagining the part about the meat that the Hunter brought back¡­


    After that, Parker demonstrated for me the way to use the revolver. Even though it looked really modern, it was unexpectedly utilising antique technology.


    To reload, you still had to fill in the gunpowder and place the ammunition in. Then, you had to lock it in with a small silver button. It was practically the oldest type of percussion cap revolver.


    Still, it had an overwhelming advantage¡ªfirepower. There¡¯s no need to even compare a single shot pistol with a 5 shot capability pistol.


    ¡°You take it¡±


    ¡°Huh? Are you giving it to me?¡±


    ¡°You need it even more than others, don¡¯t you?¡±


    Parker smiled, revealing his yellowed crooked teeth.


    ¡°Ah, still want to drink tonight?¡±


    ¡°No no, I¡¯m not drinking¡­¡±


    Anything but more alcohol¡­ to show my gratitude for a gift, I¡¯ve got to at least have toast 3 mugs in his honor¡­(TL Note: A traditional drinking culture in China where you drink 3 cups of alcohol in someone¡¯s honor. For more info click here)


    Till today, I still haven¡¯t really understood Xifu¡¯s eating habits. Maybe it¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t understand, but because her habits had been affected after living too long with me.


    I know I should have let her continue her race¡¯s own eating habits, but I just like feeding her too much!


    Here, I can do things that I would have normally been too ashamed to do without care, and I¡¯ll do it until I¡¯m sick of it!


    A-anyways, back to the story of the Old Hunter of Nightfall Town. From what I¡¯ve understood from the story, ignoring any doubts on the authenticity  of the story, he must really be one hell of a hunter.


    On a side note, it felt like there was a fact that Parker was also trying to hide¡ª he was capable of making a modern weapon like a revolver.


    Throughout the whole story, Parker never stopped talking about the miracles that the Old Hunter was capable of, but only simply admitted that he was only the maker of the gun. Thus, he was probably trying to say the gun belonged to Krifrey, and Krifrey was a great man.


    And because of this story, this simple revolver carried the heavy burden of his mission and his responsibilities.


    I flipped the gun around my hands. As I caressed along its edges, a strange sensation welled up inside me.


    ¡°Xifu¡­How do you think we will be¡­In the future?


    ¡°In the future?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­Like what will both of us be doing? Who else will we get to know?¡±


    ¡°The future, just like now!¡±


    ¡°As happy and peaceful, like now?¡±


    ¡°Yes, happy, peaceful, and I love you!¡±


    ¡°Haha, yeah, and I love you.¡±


    As I gently wiped the bits of food at my wife¡¯s mouth, I couldn¡¯t help but think how positive her mindset was. And unknowingly, it became a pillar of support for me mentally.


    ¡°Oh, will everyday be a sunny day in the future too ?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not possible I think?¡±(Xifu)


    ¡°Then, does my face look like a sunny day ?¡± (TL Note: Some untranslatable expression/joke in Chinese)


    ¡°You dum-dum.¡±


    Xifu used a snake to lick my forehead, probably a way she used to flirt?


    In view of several factors, we decided to stay another night here. Despite Simon and Wolfgang insisting that it¡¯s fine, I still decided to give 5 gold coins for the food and a room.


    They¡¯re still a business after all, and the amount of food my Xifu ate was no joke¡­


    We were both like poor newlyweds that had small white collar jobs on their honeymoon, spending our savings recklessly in pursuit of the feeling of sweetness and happiness.


    But life was filled with the unknown. You never know what will happen tomorrow, or even whatever that will happen in the next few hours.


    Not even I expected that after that night of having sex like animals, that danger was coming when the Sun rose the next day.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°Lou Woo, quickly, quickly!¡±


    I was shaken awake by Wolflang, and my Xifu in return was shaken awake by me.


    ¡°What happened?!¡±


    ¡°Quickly, quickly, Mr Lou Woo!¡±


    ¡°What happened?!¡±


    Even though he was a werewolf, I couldn¡¯t even see the nervous expression on his face. Seeing how he threw our clothes to us in a hurry, it didn¡¯t seem like a prank.


    ¡°Hubby, what¡¯s up¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Wolflang, what¡¯s going on?!¡±


    ¡°XXXXXX!¡±


    ¡°Oh for fuck¡¯s sake, I don¡¯t fucking understand you!¡± (TL Note: He says this in Chinese


    I cursed out in Chinese again. Times like these, make me wish for Doraemon to be beside me now. (TL Note: Reference to a gadget that Doraemon has called Translation Konjac/Gummy)


    It was so early in the morning and I was already breaking out in cold sweat over Wolfgang looking so anxious that it was as if his own tail was on fire.


    ¡°Xifu, you understand?¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡­¡±


    She was still in the state of blurriness after being suddenly woken up.


    ¡°Two of you, quickly! No more time!¡±


    ¡°I know, I know, but we need to at least put on some clothes first!¡±


    ¡°Ahhhh!¡±


    Before I could even put my shirt on, Wolfgang forced his tuxedo¡¯s coat onto me and pulled me out of the room.


    Xifu, on the other hand, nimbly put on her already few pieces of clothes and followed along.


    ¡°Wait, stairs.¡±


    ¡°Let me, let me¡±


    ¡°You two¡­¡±


    I didn¡¯t care about my body, as I clumsily hit the sides as I carried her down the stairs.


    Wolflang my friend, if this is a prank of yours, I¡¯m going to get my revenge on you.


    But as we ran onto the streets of Nightfall Town, I finally heard the repeated tolling sounds of a bell.


    All it could remind me off was the sounds from an old movie¡ªTunnel Wars. (TL Note: Reference to his REALLY old movie)

 Volume 1 - CH 26

    Translated by Lickymee


    Edited by General Napoleon


    ¡°You can¡¯t solve a problem, that you don¡¯t even understand by taking part in it.¡±


    I had heard of this sentence somewhere before, and had written it down in my diary thinking it was useful.


    With Wolfgang in the lead, we ran frantically into the street.


    We weren¡¯t alone. Just beside us was the stable boy with the reins of six horses in his hands, a farmer with a basket of veggies on his back, and a middle-aged woman with a basket of fruits in her hand¡­


    It¡¯s as if watching a scene, where we were refugees running from a storm or a flood.


    I couldn¡¯t help but start to feel even more nervous from the surroundings. Coupled with the fact that Xifu¡¯s hands weren¡¯t in mine and with both of us squeezing through the panicked crowd, a fear of the unknown started growing in me.


    As we ran, we passed by the giant bell that was being hit repeatedly by Simon. We split up with the crowd here with Simon joining us.


    Before all this, I was able to keep my head clear in any situation, but I just couldn¡¯t calm down right now. Everything was just a big confusing mess.


    A few minutes later, Wolfgang stopped at a small normal-looking house. As I tried to open the door, while panting heavily, Simon stopped me and pointed downwards.


    Following his hands, I saw Wolfgang lying on the floor.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡±


    Wolfgang¡¯s claws were scraping the sides of the walls, as if he was searching for something.


    ¡°Found it.¡±


    As his claws reached into a small crack along the walls, a deep roaring sound could be heard from inside the house, and the heavy wooden door that had no handle opened on its own.


    Walking into the home, there wasn¡¯t anything out of the ordinary other than it was mostly made out of stone, which obviously meant that it was much sturdier than the wooden cottages.


    It¡¯ll probably be able to withstand even a hurricane.


    As I stood there dazed wondering what was going on, Wolfgang huffed as he started pushing the stone stove.


    Werewolves must have immense strength, as the stove was at least 300 kilograms.


    Beneath the stove was a tunnel with stairs in it. Beckoning for me to follow him, Simon entered the tunnel.


    However, Wolfgang only stood beside the entrance in place.


    ¡°Wolfgang, how about you¡­¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be here.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯ll know soon enough, and look¡­¡±


    He grinned as he compared the differences between the small entrance and his large body.


    However, his grin was by no means a relaxed one, as even his eyes filled up with a determination unbefitting that of a wolf.


    Without a sound of protest, I grabbed Xifu¡¯s hands and headed down the stairs. As Wolfgang once again pushed the stove over the entrance, the entire tunnel became as dark as night.


    Even though Medusa¡¯s night vision was supernaturally good, I was totally blind as a bat here.


    ¡°Only one way.¡±


    ¡°Yes¡­¡±


    Giving us instructions, I followed Simon along the pitch black tunnel . As we stumbled along, Xifu placed her hand on my shoulders for balance.


    The tunnel was so cramped that only one person could fit along the tunnel at a time. Not having any way to tell how far we had progressed, I started counting my steps to have an idea on how far we had gone.


    At long last, I could make out a door at the end of the tunnel. As Simon knocked on it 5 times, it slowly creeped open, filling the pitch black tunnel with candlelight.


    Behind the door were two familiar faces¡ª¡ªParker and Lia.


    Other than those two, I could see thousands, no¡­ Hundreds of thousands of gold coins glimmering with the reflection of the candlelight.


    ¡°This is¡­¡±


    ¡°Take a seat.¡±


    Simon coldly ordered, as I managed to make out a few worn out chairs beside the basement wall.


    ¡°What is this? Why are we¡­¡±


    I nervously broke the silence in the room, but the three of them only glanced at each other as no one seemed to be interested in explaining the situation.


    These passionate faces of yesterday now only showed a deadpan expression. It didn¡¯t help ease my nerves as I glanced at my Xifu, getting ready for any conflict that might happen any moment.


    As I quietly observed the basement, it was evidently simple but sturdy, with the entire ceiling made out of stone slabs, supported by a thick wooden frame. Other than the smell of smoke from the candle, there was a musty smell in the air only found in basements.


    ¡°Let him see.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯ll know sooner or later.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡­¡±


    The first one to speak was Lia, with Parker objecting to her  suggestion. I could only wonder what they wanted to show me.


    As his thick and burly hands dug away the soil located near the ceiling, a small crack appeared. As it was too high up, I had to stand on a chair in order to peek through it.


    Yet, before I could see anything, countless noises entered my ears.


    The neighing of horses, screams of men, sobbing sounds of women, and sounds that sounded like things clashing against each other.


    I immediately wanted to stop looking, but my eyes could  only grow wider.


    In the distance was a woman kneeling, with the wooden basket beside her destroyed, and the contents sprawled out everywhere. I couldn¡¯t make out what they were saying, but the piercing sobs of the woman were met with angry voices of men.


    Suddenly, a man was carried over. He looked exactly like the farmer I saw this morning, just his jacket he had on was missing¡­


    The ones carrying the farmer were a few men clad in a blue and white uniform, as if they were soldiers of an army. They mercilessly kicked at the man on the ground as he struggled to stand up.


    Soon, they used the butt of their rifles instead as they continued hitting, smacking and knocking the farmer down  each and every time he tried to get up.


    As the muddied farmer¡¯s actions slowly got sluggish, a heavy-looking fanged horse was brought over by the soldiers, which they made to step on the farmer. Any part of the body that the hooves connected with had a deep hoofprint imprinted on it.


    Soon, the farmer stopped moving altogether.


    As the sobs of the woman grew louder, the soldiers¡¯ laughter grew in course, as if they were demons clad in human skin. Gunshots echoed throughout the sky as they fired their guns, as if they were celebrating a festival. The woman was scared witless, as she stopped her sobs and cowered beside a wall.


    Then, their hands reached for her¡­


    BANG!


    I was grabbed by Parker and slammed back with my butt onto the chair.


    ¡°LET ME GO!¡±


    I screamed as my hands gripped the revolver Parker gave me tightly.


    ¡°No.¡±


    As Parker glared into my eyes, I couldn¡¯t move as his strong grip firmly held me in place on the chair.


    ¡°Hubby!¡±


    ¡°Mdm Lao Wu¡­¡­¡±


    As Xifu got up from her chair, Simon almost immediately aimed the barrel of the rifle he was always carrying with him at her head.


    In this distance and space, even if she used her petrifying magic, there was almost no guarantee that Simon wouldn¡¯t pull the trigger first. Even more so, there was Lia here, who just sat quietly.


    ¡°Why?! Why won¡¯t you let me go!¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t need another Caleb!¡± Strongly exclaimed Parker.


    (T/L note: Changing Krifey to Caleb, rip my naming sense)


    ¡°Then why¡­ Did you give me this gun¡­?¡±


    ¡°Even with it, you wouldn¡¯t become Caleb anyway.¡±


    With a soft mutter ¡°Caleb¡¯s dead¡­¡±, Simon put down the rifle and slowly sat back down into his chair.


    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s already dead.¡±


    I understood what Lia meant as she repeated Simon¡¯s words. At that moment, I realised that Caleb was none other than the human that Lia had loved.


    Even in an alternate world, couldn¡¯t I even become a man who defends the weak against the strong?


    Yeah¡­ I should have realized long ago, that I should stop having these delusions of being a hero¡­


    ¡°Then, what about the gold coins?¡±


    ¡°These are the last things left by the Black Merchants¡­ Other than Nightfall Town, we¡¯re only left with these¡­¡±


    ¡°Wolfgang¡­¡±


    ¡°He¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    Grabbing Xifu¡¯s hands in mine, is only when my heart calmed down a little.


    ¡°Then why, are you all, not fighting against them¡­¡±


    ¡°The Kingdom¡¯s men are numerous, even more so than these numbers of gold¡­¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡±


    I stopped asking questions, as the scenes of the soldiers that were a hundred times more crueler than that of the town guards, and the screams of the residents that kept replaying in my mind.


    ¡­¡­¡­.


    At long last, the surface became quiet again. When we returned to it, the scene that I saw in that basement could be seen everywhere throughout the town. The only thing that I was glad about was Wolfang was still alive.


    I found the farmer and woman I saw when I was down in the basement.


    He was barely alive as he sat against a wall. There were glass shards everywhere from windows that were shot by the soldiers. Still, he even waved his hands at us, as we approached him.


    ¡°Cough, Wolfang, you¡¯re fine, hehe, even¡­ Mr Lao Wu¡­¡±


    ¡°Big Hans, are you xxxxx?¡±


    Wolfgang squatted beside the man called Big Hans and assessed his wounds.


    ¡°I-I¡¯m fine, as long you guys are safe¡­he..hehe¡­¡­¡±


    The farmer laughed, as fresh bloodied saliva flowed out from the space between his teeth.


    As I kneeled down beside the man, my glasses started fogging up from my tears.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­I¡¯m sorry¡­I¡¯m sorry¡­¡­¡±


    I covered my mouth, as I repeated the words that weren¡¯t enough to express my feelings right now.


    T/L: Shit hitting the fan! Time to wait another year for another chapter xD. I¡¯ll do my best to translate more, so stay safe and FOR THE LOVE OF SWEET GOD WEAR YOUR GODDAMN MASK!

 Volume 1 - CH 27

    Unable to stomach the scene of the carnage around Nightfall Town any longer, I did what little things I could do to help the residents out, such as replacing the glass windows and gathering up the scattered vegetables etc¡­


    Compared to a hurricane or a tsunami, this was nothing of note. Yet, it was still an unexpected disaster nonetheless.


    Seeing me trying my best to help, the residents weirdly seemed cheerful, as if things were fine. It¡¯s like it didn¡¯t matter how much of a sacrifice that they had to endure even if it was for Xifu and I.


    Returning to the bar, the messy furniture scattered on the floor as well as puddles of liquid everywhere needed no explanation of what the soldiers had done to it.


    The strong Parker and Lia who could fly soon started cleaning up the mess, with Wolfgang and Simon joining soon after.


    As Xifu and I joined in, I couldn¡¯t help noticing maybe because of me that she was being unusually quiet and gloomy looking.


    My heart still couldn¡¯t calm down, not because our honeymoon was disrupted, but I¡¯ve just witnessed too many things I never wanted to.


    After cleaning up for a bit, Wolfgang moved a few bar stools to the bar and beckoned for us to sit.


    ¡°Sorry, both of you had XXXX.¡±


    ¡°No, actually, I should be the one apologizing¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, this isn¡¯t the first time.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡­¡±


    I could only remain speechless.


    Wolfgang chatted with us for a bit, whose contents could be summarised as him telling us not to worry. According to him, he was the first line of defense for the wealth of Nightfall Town, and he could easily kill 20 soldiers by himself.


    I knew that this was a lie, because with the presence of rifles in the soldiers¡¯ hands, he could at most only hold them back.


    The gold coins were everything that each and every resident here owned. As the strongest mythical creature here, he naturally became the guardian of their most prized possession.


    At that time, rather than even considering both of us as a part of the fighting force, they were more focused on hiding our presence.


    I could understand that they had no intention to drag outsiders into this mess.


    ¡°The gold coins, Kingdom, need it?¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ need, but not as coins.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡­¡±


    The Kingdom needed the gold coins, but not to be used as coins itself. In other words, the Kingdom needed them not as a currency, but as a valuable material.


    ¡°The white, blue, humans, who are they?¡±


    ¡°Tiari.¡±


    The term Tiari was used for the army of the Kingdom, but specifically what kind of army, I had no idea. Well, let¡¯s just simplify but call them as ¡®City Guards¡¯.


    Well, calling them ¡®City Guards¡¯ is kind of taking lightly of them. Let¡¯s just call them Celeste Demons.


    (T/N: Celeste as in the mix of blue and white color)


    We didn¡¯t stay for lunch, as we left Nightfall Town soon after bidding our goodbyes to Wolfgang and Simon. On the way home, Xifu and I didn¡¯t talk much, with our good mood being swept away and all.


    ¡°Lalalalalalala~Lalalalala~¡±


    Standing behind me, Xifu started humming a song. I recognised the melody she was trying to hum as the song       ¡¶Treading the Waves¡·was that I¡¯ve sung in front of her before. Evidently, she didn¡¯t remember the lyrics or the proper tune¡­¡­


    (T/N:Original song here )


    ¡°It goes like this, Lalalalalala, lalalalalala~¡±


    ¡°Hehe.¡±


    Placing both her arms over my neck, she shifted half her body weight onto me.


    ¡°Xifu, can we, protect ourselves?¡±


    ¡°En~It should be more like me protecting you?


    ¡°Then, I¡¯ll protect you too, okay?¡±


    ¡°Can, you?¡±


    ¡°I¡­¡­¡±


    Yeah, I couldn¡¯t even protect my wife, and I even dreamed of protecting the residents of Nightfall Town.


    ¡°That¡¯s why, let¡¯s eat!¡±


    ¡°Uh, okay?¡±


    ¡°Eating, you will be happy, yes?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­you¡¯re right¡­¡±


    ¡®Women who love to eat are always happy.¡¯


    Well, the quote itself doesn¡¯t make sense, but I¡¯ll believe in it. Even though she is my wife, she didn¡¯t understand me. Therefore, she used the only way she knew to bring me out of my sadness, and that was enough.


    ¡°So, what to eat?¡±


    With half of her body on my back, I started preparing our late lunch. Now that we were back home, things seemed like a fairytale once again. There were no cruel soldiers, nor any tortured residents, as if they had never happened.


    The only thing reminding me of that dreadful scene was only the cold revolver on my belt.


    After so long, I still couldn¡¯t achieve the goals that I had plotted in my diary. Still, I have unexpectedly improved my living conditions greatly. For example, the storage of meat.


    The portion of meat that a single Girabbit provided was enough for me to eat up to a week. Yet, because of storage problems, we had only a few days to eat it before it got spoiled.


    I was a modernized person in an urban environment, so I naturally had close to zero survival skills in the wild. Thus, I used the most straightforward way I knew.


    How did you keep meat fresh at home? With a fridge.


    How did the fridge keep the meat fresh? Because it was cold.


    So what was cold around here? The cold stream!


    Splitting the meat into two halves, with one portion enough for three days worth of meals, I placed the other portion into a wooden basin. Sinking it entirely into the cold water with stones holding it down in place, it became a natural eco-friendly fridge.


    The only con was the wooden basin was unable to be used during this time, and the meat tasted weird after being soaked in the water for too long.


    Other than the storage of meat, there was also ¡®agriculture¡¯ to think of. To be honest, I was unable to properly plant anything till now. The only thing I really did was replant the wild yam that I found into the field in front of my home.


    Well, it was more of a way to store food too, so I couldn¡¯t consider a full cycle of sowing and reaping anything.


    Still, I had to bet that common sense must rule here too, so no matter where, plants must follow the natural laws of the world.


    It¡¯s autumn now, the season of plants bearing their seeds or fruits. If there are no seeds to be found, then I¡¯ll continue hunting for them when autumn comes until I finally get a grasp of their normal life cycle.


    Other than these yams, I also brought back seeds of various fruits and vegetables from Nightfall Town as a backup plan. Still, given that it is autumn now, I¡¯ll have to wait till spring to start planting these.


    As for the cave, it actually improved quite a bit. As we had bought quite a number of things, the initially widespread space within the cave became much smaller than expected. Still, it somehow encouraged us to clean our home up properly, which in turn made us arrange the numerous items orderly.


    As we both sat on the bed marveling at our clean ¡®home¡¯, I immediately understood no matter who, a person needed a home. No matter how much pain and suffering one goes through outside, the home is where happiness lies with the warmest bed, the most delicious food, and the person who loves you the most.


    That¡¯s probably why humans would do anything to protect their own home, or even their own country.


    Ever since we came back from Nightfall Town, time slowly went by like the water flowing down the stream. Our lives slowly got quieter as time went by as it gradually fell into a routine. With it, the initial burning hot passionate feeling of marriage slowly cooled down like the weather.


    Well, it¡¯s not like we were officially married or anything, but we decided to stay together because we loved each other.


    A long time had passed since we last went to Nightfall Town. Well, we had already mostly gotten what we needed, and there was that event too. Even though the people there were really welcoming of us, and even accepted us as one of them, the event still made me feel like a setback that I could never overcome.


    Who knows, maybe if we were there, it would only be more trouble than it¡¯s worth to them?


    Around 80 days later, the leaves started turning yellow, with the crisp sounds of leaves being trampled on could be heard, as both of us went on walks.


    The forest too started getting quieter than usual, and animals that I could normally spot during summer appeared less than usual, which meant that hunting took longer than expected.


    Well, on the brightside, as the weather¡¯s temperature dropped further, so did the number of annoying bugs.


    Based on my memory, I managed to sew up a cape with the fur of a Girabbit. Well, it looked more like a fusion of a shawl and a cape though. Still, she liked it very much, even constantly wearing it around her neck.


    But the preparations for winter weren¡¯t progressing well, as there was still close to no progress on the completion of the goat fur quilt project. I had already failed it three times already, as I was still stuck on how to hold the wool in the quilt in place.


    The initial plan to ask the residents for tips when we left had totally slipped my mind with the chaos and all. And at most in 30 days, winter is coming. I started getting nervous too as I thought about it.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening, hubby~¡±


    ¡°Nothing, just thinking, will be cold, next time?¡±


    ¡°En, maybe.¡±


    Xifu turned her body to face me, and with her big bright eyes staring at my face, I for some reason found the corner of her eyes were weirdly charming.


    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ cold too¡­¡±


    She grasped my hands and placed them on her chest. The soft sensation was coupled with a cold touch as she said.


    My hands could feel her heartbeat as it slowly caressed her collarbone, shoulders and neck.


    ¡®As expected, my wife isn¡¯t what I had ever imagined.¡¯ I thought to myself as I sighed in my heart.


    ¡±No, not cold.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not cold, today is not cold, tomorrow won¡¯t be cold, and it will never be cold in the future.¡±


    As long as there is still a sliver of warmth in my body, it will always be shared with you.

 Volume 1 - CH 28

    Chapter 28: A Sudden Parting


    Translated by Lickymee


    Edited by General Napolean


    T/N: I¡¯m changing Krifrey¡¯s name to Cariff.


    The cold weather was just insufferable for the both of us. Even though I had put on 2 layers of clothes on and lit a fire in the cave, I would still wake up shivering cold the next morning.


    Using the seasonal cycle back in my old world as a reference, the weather felt like it should be around late October on the northeastern side.


    Even Xifu stopped her daily routine of basking in the sun and spent her days buried in a mountain of fur pelts.


    I could neither get myself to go out and care for the fields nor even feed Big Sheep. Without my warm inner coat, fur jacket or my snow boots, winter wasn¡¯t just about pure white snow and the clear skies. Any good memory to be made during winter might as well cease to exist.


    There wasn¡¯t a second to waste to prepare for the winter. Tearing a page of my journal, I used a dip pen to write down my plan for the preparations. It couldn¡¯t be helped that I¡¯m the type of person that couldn¡¯t get anything done without a plan.


    ¡°First on the list would be food. If I were to use my old world as a reference, winters normally last around 3 months. 3 months worth of food would be around 15 Girabbit¡¯s worth of meat. Let¡¯s forget about vegetables. There wasn¡¯t even any way for me to preserve any of them for now.¡±


    ¡°Next would be warmth. A quilt would be necessary. If the conditions allow it, let¡¯s see if we can get some warming equipment. Electrical heaters are impossible, but a stove would do.¡±


    ¡°And not to forget about the unpredictable nature. There could be sudden blizzards, or anything that could cause some form of damage to the home. There could be a need to secure the eaves, or place a door, or better yet find a way to seal the entrance of the cave.¡±


    ¡°Last would be the miscellaneous things, like would the spring water in the cave freeze, or would the water flow from the cold stream be cut off, or would Big Sheep survive this winter, or would there be any highly prized animal out there during the winter that is worth hunting for¡­ ¡±


    As I mumbled to myself while listing down the tasks neatly on paper, my heart felt much calmer.


    Wait, this isn¡¯t something to feel calm about!


    There were too many things to be done. Even the task of gathering the meat of 15 girabbits would take too much time!


    To get the quilt, stove and door done within a month¡¯s time¡­it¡¯s impossible!


    What am I supposed to do? It wasn¡¯t a simple thing of not paying the gas company your fees and getting the supply to your home stopped¡­


    Hmm¡­


    Of course, let¡¯s ask Xifu! She would be a ton more experienced in going through more winters than me.


    ¡°Xifu.¡±


    ¡°En~?¡±


    Her lazy voice reminded me of an animal in hibernation.


    ¡°Before, when it gets cold, what would you do?¡±


    ¡°Before¡­go there.¡±


    ¡°There? You mean sleep?¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s not cold there.¡±


    Xifu pointed towards the inner cave where the treasures were hidden.


    When I was first held captive there, it didn¡¯t feel warm at all. But it must be warmer there compared to outside here during the winter.


    Xifu was a little weird recently, and was more cold towards me. Was it because of the weather?


    She could have kept warm by closely sticking to me, but she chose to bury herself under a heap of pelts.


    I couldn¡¯t help but have a bad feeling. Was she getting sick?


    ¡°Xifu, you okay?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡­¡±


    Within the small mountain of brown pelts, appeared a small white hand. As I held it in my hands, I could feel her grasp was much stronger than usual.


    ¡°Will you wait for me?¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Will you wait for me?¡±


    ¡°Wait for you?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Will, I will wait for you.¡±


    For the first time, an ambiguous look of sadness appeared on her face. I tried not to think about it, but images of her leaving me started flooding my mind.


    Why would I wait for you? Are you going to leave me? Leaving me for where? For how long?


    Before I could raise any of those questions, my wife who accompanied me for many months, gave me a kiss on my forehead and slowly slithered deeper into the dark cave.


    I got up, ran after her and held her hands in mine, wishing for God to press a pause button right now.


    ¡°Xifu¡­¡±


    ¡°Hubby, wait for me.¡±


    Without turning her head, she mumbled those words.


    ¡°Xifu, now, can you, give me a smile?¡±


    I didn¡¯t know why I said those words, maybe because I didn¡¯t know how to respond to her firm words.


    ¡°Hehe.¡±


    Medusa pushed my hands away and gave me the face that I wanted to see the most, yet today the face that would always make me smile had no effect.


    As the last bit of her tail disappeared into the darkness, I was still unable to say a single word.


    She wasn¡¯t gone, but only went into that dark cave. Yet, it felt like she had already left me. Is it because she said she wanted me to wait for her?


    Maybe she just went in to get something, and will be out soon. No need to worry¡­¡­


    Stop lying to yourself, Chen Lao Wu!


    You have no idea when she will be back, so just do what you promised and wait for her!


    Why didn¡¯t I ask when she would come out? Why didn¡¯t I ask what she was going to do?


    I couldn¡¯t even ask her. I couldn¡¯t even tell my thoughts to the person that I¡¯ve for so long shared a bed with.


    I even thought I could bring her happiness.


    Now that I think about it, was it because of love, that I was with her? Or was it just because I was finding someone to depend on?


    In this dangerous world, was it that I was just looking for Medusa¡¯s protection, while using her gold to make my own life better. It was clear that she didn¡¯t really mind her meals that weren¡¯t that delicious, or that she had to have a carriage to go to and from Nightfall Town.


    It was all of my own wishes, and I merely forced my imagination of a perfect life onto her.


    My appearance, existence, and lifestyle could all have been nothing but a burden to her.


    Even those nights where I hugged her as we slept, I won¡¯t deny that I¡¯ve had feelings of conflict.


    Yet everyday, this Medusa still smiled at me, hoping I would bring her on walks under the warm sun, all the while wearing the necklace I gave her around  her neck. She even kept and treasured the paper cranes I made for her as if they were made of pure gold.


    I knew that she was giving 100 percent of her love to me.


    Yet, I only had a love that consisted of wariness, doubt and fear for her.


    I wanted to blame this on the reason that we were of different species, but why a Medusa like herself was able to love a human, yet I as a human couldn¡¯t love her back was a question I couldn¡¯t answer.


    Maybe because I was a human? Heh.


    These days, with the worry of food and shelter out of the way, both of us had never quarreled, and even defeated 5 other humans. It had made me feel complacent.


    Now that I even got a revolver on hand, I couldn¡¯t help but feel that I was a god that could defeat a hundred men with ease.


    Even though these days I had practically done nothing but give myself a pat on the back for the bare minimum amount of knowledge I previously had.


    Yet, I still didn¡¯t want to leave her. I wanted to continue spending the warm sunny days with her.


    Because when I was at my lowest and darkest point of life, she was the lightbulb that gave me hope.


    But when there was a wall between us now, and it felt like she had already left me for good.


    ¡°Can you forgive such a useless husband like me?¡±


    Lighting a pipe, I took two deep breaths as I muttered to myself.


    I couldn¡¯t be as great as Cariff, to be able to sacrifice himself for Nightfall Town, and the succubus that he loved. But at least, I wanted to be able to not let my wife Medusa be worried for me.


    I took a deep breath in, and my mind cleared up a little. I had no idea nor did I want to know what or why she was in there, because she had asked me to wait for her.


    To fulfill my wish for her to be able to see her handsome husband when she came out, I needed to be independent. Even without her here, my life needed to go on.


    As I continued my preparations for the winter, the hunting of girabbits was harder than I imagined. Even when their legs were shot, they were still able to run at a speed that humans had no hope of catching.


    Well, my skill with the gun wasn¡¯t the best, but since when were girabbits so strong?! They weren¡¯t so scary before!


    Oh, right. She was the one who one shot them all¡­


    No, I¡¯ve got to prove myself. How could a man such as I, could not even catch a rabbit with it¡¯s leg shot?


    And so¡­¡­


    I started fighting with the rabbit!


    This rabbit must have attended kickboxing classes, because it started using moves like left hooks and high kicks. Even with both of my hands, I couldn¡¯t hold it¡¯s thick neck in place.


    Don¡¯t laugh! How about you have a go instead!? Initially I thought it would easily be done in by one shot, and I would just drag it back to the cave. Well first, you would have to land in a shot first.


    What if you can¡¯t land it? Alright, then it¡¯s just a never ending cycle of chasing it down. When it started running in the forest, it was impossible for me to hit it with my marksmanship.


    So, it ends up with me chasing it down, and then hopefully shooting the girabbit dead. To even fight physically with the girabbit was a incredibly stupid thing to do.


    After using all the fighting skills I had, I finally managed to close in enough to land two shots. The kickboxing champion Girabbit also finally took its last breath.


    Sitting on my prey, I reloaded my weapon while smoking my pipe.


    ¡°Hah, doing this alone, is too goddamn hard after all.¡±

 Volume 1 - CH 29

    Translated by Lickymee


    Edited by General Napolean


    Without Xifu, the days become immensely boring as I felt nothing, but my lonely presence in the cave.


    The food gathering was also going poorly. Lurking in the forest for days yielded nothing, except for a girabbit or two. But lacking the agility of Medusa, nor the skills of Cariff, I only managed to scare them away.


    As the days passed, I got slightly depressed as I thought about doing other things on my list first. But if I couldn¡¯t stock up on food now, it would be even harder in the future. As a last resort, I would have to buy some from Nightfall town.


    In order to conserve my limited amount of revolver ammo, I used the muskets I got last time instead. It honestly felt like it had more firepower, and it could even be used as a club in a pinch. Still, getting close enough for me to actually hit something was still a problem.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get that bread¡­¡­¡±


    I raised the musket, and placed its sights upon the prey around 7 metres away. Hoping it would help with my accuracy, I steadied my breath and told myself to calm down.


    BANG!


    The smoke from the musket immediately obscured my vision upon firing. Unable to confirm my hit, I could only run to where the girabbit was.


    What good luck! The girabbit was lying on its side, panting quickly. The bullet went through the girabbit¡¯s torso, probably shattering it¡¯s spine in the process.


    As soon as I dragged this girabbit back, it would be my second out of my goal of 15 girabbits. If I could on average get two girabbits every four days, I should reach my goal of 15, just barely before winter comes.


    Still, it was all theoretical. There were problems I was already facing, like how to keep the meat fresh. I couldn¡¯t very well just chuck them all into the stream.


    When I just came into this world, hunting was quite interesting to me. But just after four days of hunting alone, it wore me away, as I was faced with the reality of survival, and of my own inability.


    Today the one to take a bullet was the girabbit. Who knows, it could be my turn tomorrow.


    Still, my days without my wife weren¡¯t as hard as I expected, with the only problem of my learning of the language being impeded. Still, survival for the winter took priority.


    The words in the journal were getting shorter by the day, but it always ended with: ¡®She wasn¡¯t back.¡¯


    Without a choice, I could only see her sudden disappearance as a test of our relationship from God. Even though we were only a stone wall away, I couldn¡¯t bring myself to disturb her. Thinking back of how my classmates broke up after becoming in a long distance relationship, I couldn¡¯t help but worry.


    At this point of time, what we needed was absolute trust of a husband and wife in each other. If I couldn¡¯t even do that one bit, then I wasn¡¯t worthy to be called her husband.


    On my seventh day, I gave up on hunting. After a few days of coming back empty handed, I decided to head towards Nightfall Town to try my luck.


    But as I couldn¡¯t go into the cave to restock on gold coins, I was only left with a  very limited budget of 7 coins. Well, the prices in Nightfall Town weren¡¯t high, but there were just too many things I needed to get.


    Simon had already put on a warm-looking woollen coat, and Wolflang was still clad in this usual suit. Well, the werewolf must have alot of thick fur that helped keep him warm.


    Even after not seeing them for so long, they were still as warmhearted as before. Simon poured a hot peppery drink for me that tasted weird, but it sure warmed me up.


    ¡°Simon, your shirt, how to buy?¡¯


    ¡°Shirt? Oh, you mean this?¡±


    As he pointed at his coat, he called it something I¡¯ve never heard before.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡­ okay. Wolflang!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±


    Wolflang was holding a cup larger than mine in his claws, filled with the peppery soup-like drink too.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go, Mr Lou Woo.¡±


    I followed Wolflang to an expensive looking shop with full glass windows attached, which honestly looked much more impressive, compared to other shops here. Looking inside, it looked like it was a clothing shop.


    The shopkeeper was a middle-aged woman. After giving a simple greeting to Wolflang, she also waved at me, making me slightly less cautious.


    During the whole process of purchase, I had kept quiet. It wasn¡¯t because I didn¡¯t want to say anything, it was because I didn¡¯t understand anything. I only knew the simple word for shirt, and had no idea what a coat, jacket or a blanket was called.


    If I forced myself to the limit, I could probably say something along the lines of:   ¡®I need a shirt for winter.¡¯


    Wolflang obviously knew how to talk more than me. After a while of conversing, the shopkeeper quickly produced a black coat. Putting it on, it felt really nice, with it being handmade and all. It didn¡¯t look like it was made of cheap cotton either.


    (TLN: China is known for, you know, cheap fillers and cotton made of fibre.)


    Well, the only downside was that it felt kind of heavy.


    For Medusa, I chose a brown coat that was around the same design as mine. I couldn¡¯t get a quilt that I always wanted, and in its stead I got a woollen mattress.


    It was more expensive than I expected, with me only getting back 10 copper coins in return, after forking over 4 gold coins. Still, it made sense, seeing that the materials to make a coat was enough for 5 shirts, and the mattress itself too would have used even more.


    I wanted to use my remaining three gold coins to get a heater of some sorts, but after scouring through Nightfall Town there wasn¡¯t such a thing to be found. Everyone was still using the fireplace in their homes.


    In the end, I got help from Parker, to stick two metal pots together to make somewhat of a ¡®heater¡¯ for me.


    Thinking back to my old world, I didn¡¯t need to worry so much about food and clothings, and there was central heating in our homes. Now, look how much I needed to slave away just for a heater¡­¡­


    Just like that, I had used up all of my 7 gold coins. Waving goodbye to Wolflang, I got onto my sheep cart.


    ¡°Mr Lou Woo!¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    Wolflang ran just like a real wolf and caught up to me.


    ¡°At this time, you must come! Mr and Mrs Lou Woo.¡±


    As he stuffed something like a calendar into my hands, on the neatly drawn dates in it there was a day circled.


    ¡°Wait, that day, which?¡±


    ¡°Oh, today, it is this.¡±


    The werewolf used his front claw and poked a few holes into another date.


    ¡°Alright, I understand. Thank you, Mr Wolflang.¡±


    ¡°En.Seneharella¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Good bye.¡±


    Flipping through the calendar, there were 20 days and more till the date. Smiling bitterly, I thought the only person who could come as promised was ¡®Mr Lou Woo¡¯.


    ¡­¡­


    The woollen mattress still couldn¡¯t protect me from the morning chills that I was waking up to. The cold white mists of my breaths told me that winter was already at the doorsteps of my home. Even if I didn¡¯t open my doors for it, it would still come barging in with the wind and snow.


    ¡®It¡¯s raining¡­¡­¡±


    There was a reason for the cold today. The late autumn rains were never my favourite.


    I had to quickly make a fire as I grabbed the matchsticks beside me, but my body was unwilling to come out of the bed. Learning from Medusa, I wrapped the fur all around me as I struck a match alight.


    Within the weak yet beautiful light, it was as if I could see tons of wonderful images and memories, as if they came pouring out of my mind as they flickered about within my vision. As I struck another match alight, my fantasy of a happy life surfaced, and I imagined my wife walking out towards me from the depths of the cave, with a smile on her face.


    As matchsticks were struck again after another, my imagination was already high within the clouds, and I was stuck in my own happy world that I constructed myself.


    Until the feeling of my fingertips being burned, is when only when I stopped lighting matches alight.


    I didn¡¯t want to become The Little Match Chen Lao Wu.


    (TLN:Reference to the Andersen story The Little Match Girl)


    But as the fire sputtered out, darkness fell too. Within the dim cave, the only thing that was conversing with me was the soft raindrops outside. No matter how many smokes I had, I was still restless inside.


    Putting on my coat, I made a decision that could destroy everything¡ª¡ªI decided to look for her.


    Because I had bought so many, I decided to use the matches as my source of light. My lighter already ran out of fuel long ago anyway.


    I hadn¡¯t seen her for only 9 days, but the loneliness was unbearable. Even if Medusa just wanted to hibernate, I just wanted to be with her. I could make a fire, and just cover her with the coat.


    Holding a big bunch of matches in one hand and a lit one in another, I slowly walked into the average sized cave. This felt like what happened a long time ago, but this time the roles were reversed.


    ¡°Xifu, where are you?¡±


    My calls were met with silence.


    ¡°Xifu, you there?¡±


    I gave another shout, this time raising my voice louder.

 Volume 1 - CH 30

    ¡°I don¡¯t care what kind of monster you are, I just want you.¡± ¡ª¡ª On that day, I was seriously crazy.


    The light of the match was limited, and as I was reaching the place where I was once held captive, my steps slowed down.


    As the sound of something rustling that I heard long ago entered my ears, I confirmed that this was the place where I first came into this world.


    ¡°Ergh¡­¡­¡±


    I heard a soft female voice. No matter how small the sound, I could make out that it was from my wife.


    Knitting my eyebrows, I slowly advanced towards the sound. Still, the echoing rustling sounds made it hard to find the source.


    ¡°Xifu¡­is that you?¡±


    My question changed from ¡° Where are you¡± to ¡°Is it you¡±, showing how scared I was.


    What was I afraid of? Was I afraid of seeing something scary? Or was I scared that she would gobble me up? Why would I be scared of my wife, who shared the same bed with me?


    Oh Chen Lao Wu, how disappointed I am in you.


    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­¡±


    ¡°Xifu?¡±


    With what bit of light I had, I could only make out a slithering tail on the ground. The browns weren¡¯t visible as usual, but the glistening shine it had was undoubtedly the tail that had wrapped me up tightly.


    There was a pile of white stuff laying beside the tail. Based on my knowledge of biology, it looked like it was shedded skin.


    Wait, shedded skin¡­that means!


    It was by luck that I could keep myself from retching. I didn¡¯t know if I had the courage to call the organism in front of me as my wife.


    It was something you would only see in a monster movie. Although she still had the shape of Medusa, every inch of her skin was covered in scales, even her face and hands. Even her hair became a mess of ferocious snake heads.


    When was the last time I felt fear? When I had a blade on my throat? No.


    Was it when Medusa had pressed me against the wall. No, not that too.


    To me, I hadn¡¯t experienced true fear yet, because the worst fear wasn¡¯t the fear of death, but the fear towards the unknown.


    The match fell onto the ground, as a gust of air filled with stone debris flew towards me. It must have come from the swinging of that tail.


    ¡°Don¡¯t look¡­¡­¡±


    The voice of my wife sounded so bleedingly painful.


    I escaped from the cave without turning my head back, with my limbs moving as if on instinct. With my ragged breath that won¡¯t slow down, I numb mindedly put a cigarette in and out of my mouth repeatedly, as I paced repeatedly at the cave entrance.


    What the hell was I doing? Why do I always do this to myself? Why couldn¡¯t I understand?


    ¡­¡­


    Squatting down outside the cave, the raindrops flowed down the hands that I had placed on my hair, onto my clothes. As a sizzling sound was heard from the damp cigarette, I could see her coming out of the caves between the wisps of smoke.


    A pair of eyes could be seen on her face that was covered with scales, with it¡¯s thin sleek pupils reflecting the me who was standing in the rain.


    The sounds of booming thunder behind me were mixed with my ragged breaths, with the sudden appearance of arcs of  thunder illuminating and colouring the brown scales with a scary colour of white.


    Does she hate the thunderstorms today too?


    Other than the shape of Medusa, the face which didn¡¯t seem like a human one, looked as if it was laughing at me.


    Didn¡¯t you hate the silence? How about you do something?


    Didn¡¯t you swear to always say I love you to her? Do you dare to say it again one more time?


    Didn¡¯t you always dream of passing the days happily with her? Do you still have the guts?


    Chen Lao Wu, you¡¯re nothing but a coward.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m not a coward!¡±


    Saying the words in Mandarin that she couldn¡¯t understand, I imitated what the movies did and ran to give her a hug.


    Yet the ones welcoming me weren¡¯t her arms, but a tail that sped through the cold, humid air.


    ¡°Ugahh, she¡¯s still as lively as before. COUGH!¡±


    After being hit rolling onto the ground, I coughed after getting my breath cut short. Standing up, I wiped the rainwater off my face and once again ran towards her.


    ¡°You fell in love with a cultureless, useless, and weak human¡­¡­Sorry¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°GO!¡±


    As if the tail had its own mind, I couldn¡¯t even get near her and got sweeped out of the cave once again.


    Even though I managed to block it with my arm this time, I still got covered in mud.


    ¡°After so long, it was because of you, that I could only have these experiences that I¡¯ve never had.¡±


    ¡°GO AWAY!¡±


    I failed to block the third one. My pelvis was seriously hurting.


    ¡°So what if there was a language barrier? So what if the lifestyles were different? So what if the appearance became scary?!¡±


    ¡°JUST GO AWAY!¡±


    With the fourth hit, the risk of a bone fracture was skyrocketing.


    ¡°And so, I¡¯ve thought it through. I will change for you, and no matter what happens, I will never leave your side.¡±


    ¡°WHY? WHY?! GO AWAY!!¡±


    The fifth strike was accompanied with her fierce voice, though it sounded like she was gonna cry.


    ¡°Hey, although you don¡¯t understand Mandarin, I still wanna say it out loud.¡±


    ¡°GO! WHY ARE YOU NOT GOING!?¡±


    Instead of her tail, the sixth attack of hers were the messy clothes and the journal. What a coincidence, since I had no more strength to take another hit from her tail.


    ¡°I love you, the one I love is you! I don¡¯t care what kind of monster you are, I just want you! I don¡¯t care if you will be like this in the future, or even become a snake, or maybe even turn into a scarier monster! I would still hug you, kiss you, and put on the wedding dress for you!¡±


    At this point of time, it was as if God broke the language barrier between us, as she stood shaking in her spot. I could only barely support myself to stand as the rain poured.


    ¡°Why¡­why¡­why you don¡¯t go¡­¡­I¡¯m¡­the Medusa¡­¡±


    The one that called herself Medusa, walked into the rain and softly rested herself on me.


    ¡°Hmm, because I¡¯m Medusa¡¯s husband.¡±


    ¡°Uwaaah¡­¡­¡±


    The sound of her crying came from my chest. I wonder what colour would Medusa¡¯s tears be?


    I slowly raised the scale-covered face. Her cute, transparent eyelids blinked repeatedly. Because of the rain, I couldn¡¯t tell if she had tears, but there were mine falling for sure.


    My breath slowly fogged up as my hands slowly caressed her face. The small snakes on her head in return affectionately wrapped their bodies around my hands as my wet hair stuck more and more to my forehead.


    Am I crazy? Heh, when did I ever say that I was ever normal?


    The wet but passionate kiss lasted long. Her tongue had become one of that of a snake, with the clashing of both our teeth egging the freaking agile tongue slowly entering my throat.


    The rapid breaths only brought our bodies closer, with every scale of hers digging into my skin, as if with one, small push and they would join into one.


    I had no idea who started pulling the other first, but we took turns dragging one another along the walls of the cave.


    As I watched her pupils rapidly expanding and shrinking, we somehow ¡®rolled¡¯ onto our bed. What happens next needed no explanation, with something called lust guiding our next move¡­¡­


    (TLN: HUEHUEHUE SEGGS)


    ¡°I love you.¡±


    ¡°En~~~¡±


    She made an ecstatic voice which she had never made before, felt as if it lit a fire that could immediately dry up the humid air in the cave.


    No matter how I recall it, I couldn¡¯t help but feel that day made no sense at all. If I invited Discovery Channel¡¯s camera crew here, we probably would have made an excellent animal documentary.


    I didn¡¯t jot down all the details that happened on that day, with only one sentence written down in my journal:


    ¡°She is back.¡±


    Because even if I didn¡¯t write it in my journal, I wouldn¡¯t ever forget what happened.


    I don¡¯t know how much time passed, but she was tired, and even more so was I too. Just like that joke I heard some time ago:


    [Hubby, you¡¯ve only touched me 7 or 8 times since our marriage. Do you not love me anymore?]


    [Oh my wife, we just got married yesterday afternoon, and it¡¯s only the afternoon today. We didn¡¯t even sleep last night. Your husband is a human, not a cucumber!]


    Still, having sex for so long was detrimental to a mere human¡¯s body. The scene of me having to support myself with the cave walls the second day gave quite a shock to my Xifu, so I lied down the whole day instead.


    Staring at the jagged grey ceiling of the cave, I massaged my waist. As the image of my wife¡¯s body being covered in scales entered my mind, I couldn¡¯t help but laugh.


    Had I gone mad? My basic sense of beauty was totally gone. I had no idea if she would be able to change back. If she couldn¡¯t, well, it honestly felt kind of exciting.


    In the end, it would be my fault wouldn¡¯t it? To disturb Medusa in the midst of shedding, would it be akin to be peeping on a fair maiden when she changes her clothes?


    Just as she said: ¡° After seeing me like this, why would you still want to be together with me?¡±


    This probably was the last wall between the monsters and humans.


    Still, it didn¡¯t matter. All the walls were destroyed on that rainy night, with the only thing remaining is a pair of connected hearts.


    To this world, I was something of an abnormality. But to me, this world is abnormal as it is. In this world filled with magic, werewolves, Medusa and giant rabbits, you want to talk common sense with me?


    Forget about it. Love needs no common sense. Look, you can even see the greenish split tongue in the smile of my wife.

 Volume 1 - CH 31

    Although I didn¡¯t want to admit it, the cold stream had stopped flowing.


    The two girabbits were frozen solid in the ice itself, so I had to dig them out¡­¡­


    After Xifu had finished shedding her skin, she didn¡¯t get any new powers of cold resistance, so she still had to hide in the cave. To be honest, I still couldn¡¯t get used to her current appearance.


    She still had some form of a human before, and now it was almost gone.


    Hold up, she¡¯s not even a human in the first place.


    After her appearance became like this, she had for some reason got a weird new hobby¡ª¡ª scaring me. While I was starting a fire, she would sneak up behind me and bare her sharp fangs, and top it off she would open her mouth wide and spread her hair of snakes apart.


    Those densely packed teeth of hers would be the nightmare of anyone with trypophobia.


    ¡°Gasp! Fucking hell!¡±


    ¡°Ahahahahahah¡­¡­¡±


    She would be delighted each time that I was scared by her.


    It was only until one night where I almost took my gun out when I was scared by her, that she somewhat restrained herself.


    Other than that, because her tongue had become one of a snake, she would sometimes playfully stick it out. It was kind of scary at first, but it gradually grew more endearing to me.


    Things were different than expected for her sleep. Instead of hibernating like normal snakes would, her sleeping hours had really extended. At most, she would only be up and active for 4 hours a day.


    Her sleeping schedule was bizarre too, and at times if she woke up at midnight, I wouldn¡¯t have a chance to sleep at all.


    But because of the aforementioned patterns that it was, only I could see the things she had never done before, like how she strangled a girabbit alive with her tail¡­¡­


    She was obviously unsatisfied with my food preparations for winter, and so we went out hunting until we got our last girabbit of my goal of 15. Because it wasn¡¯t just girabbits, even the birds have practically disappeared from the forest.


    The yams that I planted hadn¡¯t bore seeds like I expected, so I could only dig them all out and stack them at the cave entrance.


    Big Sheep had it good, because of the lack of grass to graze on, I had to cut off the leaves of the yam as feed for it.


    With this weather, there weren¡¯t many pests up and about, so food storage became simpler.


    Because of the massive amount of wood that was left after reclaiming the land in front of the cave, firewood wasn¡¯t a problem.


    Sigh, how long do winters last in this world?


    Rubbing my hands together, I started to prepare the meal for today.


    Well, although it¡¯s just a pot of stew.


    I had bought quite the amount of rye bread from Nightfall Town, so I simply chucked them in with meat and stewed them together to make a simple meal.


    After shedding, her diet had become much more like mine, having only one meal a day. Still, she couldn¡¯t really eat her fill just like me too.


    ¡°Sigh, I¡¯m sorry that I, as a husband, can¡¯t even let you eat your fill when you¡¯re with me.¡°


    ¡°Ah? What?¡±


    ¡°Ah, my bad, I forgot you don¡¯t know Mandarin. What I meant was, you, eating like this okay?¡±


    ¡°Okay, what do you mean?¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯ll put it like this. Food, alot?¡±


    ¡°En¡­like this, very little.¡±


    ¡°Sigh¡­¡­¡±


    I sighed deeply as I scooped the mush of girabbit meat and bread stew into my mouth with a fork. On the other hand, Xifu was holding the pot in one hand and stuffing its contents into her mouth with another.


    I even thought that she would learn to use utensils after she had finished shedding¡­¡­.


    I had asked her before about how long do winters normally last here, and she only replied that she wasn¡¯t sure. It was a fair answer, seeing how her lifestyle after winter started was an irregular cycle of sleeping and eating.


    She would store a large amount of food before winter, then hide deep into the cave till it passes.


    However, because of her shedding and my existence this time, she couldn¡¯t gather enough food, so we had to ration each meal carefully each time.


    ¡°Which do you like best, the me now, or me before?¡±


    ¡°Ah?¡±


    After we finished our meal, she suddenly threw this unanswerable question to me. It was as if after getting her hair cut short, your girlfriend would ask you if you liked her with long or shorter hair.


    If I said I liked her before, then it would mean I didn¡¯t like her now. If I said I liked her now would mean I didn¡¯t like her before. And if I said I liked both, then it was too obvious of a lie.


    If she understood Mandarin, I would have sweet talked her to death. But the problem was, she didn¡¯t.


    ¡°I¡­¡­like both.¡±


    ¡°Wrong.¡±


    The face full of scales approached near mine, with her eyelids blinking repeatedly and her sleek straight pupils staring straight at me, there was no way I could even utter out a single lie.


    ¡°I¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Say.¡±


    ¡°I like, the you before. But¡­¡±


    ¡°As I said, you should have waited for me.¡±


    She turned her face to the side, as if she was unhappy because I broke a promise.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, it was my fault.¡¯¡¯


    Sigh, she was angry as I expected. Why was I so hot headed at that time¡­


    Wait, she wanted me to wait. In other words¡­¡­she can turn back.


    ¡°You, can become like before?¡±


    ¡°En¡­¡­yeap.¡±


    Although I didn¡¯t know how long I would have to wait, it was still very good news. Looking at how unhappy she was, I could understand why she didn¡¯t want to come out before.


    Even if she was Medusa, she didn¡¯t want to let her lover see how ugly she was. If we had never met, then she wouldn¡¯t have needed to  hide herself in the cave. Still, it was because of my recklessness that the last barrier between us was torn down.


    How do I put it, was our fate too coincidental?


    ¡¯¡¯Didn¡¯t I say¡­¡­even if you will always be like this, I will still love you¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Thank¡­¡­you.¡±


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you calling me your hubby?¡±


    ¡°En, hubby.¡±


    Although the fire of love was burning passionately, the cold wind outside had no intention of stopping. The after meal walks we had were cancelled long ago, so the four hours of active time she had were spent together chatting near the heater and reading books.


    Even though the temperature had dropped below 0 degree celsius, it wasn¡¯t snowing yet. I couldn¡¯t imagine how scary the temperature would be when it does.


    Let¡¯s just live by it day by day. During winter, the northern villages were almost the same as now. The villagers would sit around on a heated brick bed and play mahjong as they waited for Chinese New Year to arrive. And once it did, spring was around the corner.


    It was a pity that Medusa didn¡¯t know how to play mahjong, and there was no such thing as a heated brick bed here. Still, we had a lot of activities to pass the time.


    For example, she would read the stories in the book to me. After learning the language for so long, with the help of the numerous illustrations in the book, I could somewhat understand what she was saying.


    Just like my old world, literature existed in this one too. One that gave me a deep impression was the classic and overused trope of a knight saving a princess.


    In the story, there was an evil dragon. In order to save the princess that was kidnapped by it, the knight scaled mountains and waded through deep waters to finally slay the dragon in battle, saving the princess in the end.


    If I was young then there maybe wouldn¡¯t be any problems if I heard it, but thinking about it now, it sure was filled with it that I could rant about.


    And I didn¡¯t know if it was the story itself, but after finishing listening to it, I couldn¡¯t help but feel cringy.


    The story took place at where we were, the Dochi Mountain, with a black evil dragon residing in it.


    Heh, dragon my ass. I¡¯ve been staying here for almost a hundred days and all I¡¯ve seen is a lizard.


    And to top it off, it wasn¡¯t a single knight that did the saving, but a whole band of them. How are you guys going to split the princess after saving her? Gangbang?


    And why would the evil dragon even want to kidnap the princess? It must¡¯ve some weird fetish to look for a human princess instead of a female dragon.


    And in the end when the knights managed to defeat the dragon and save the princess, the king was very touched and merely said to the knights:


    ¡°Thank you. If there is nothing else, you may now all leave.¡±


    What the hell was this king? In order to save the princess, they went through hell and back and risked their lives, just for you to chase them away? What happened to bethrothing the princess? Even if you didn¡¯t offer them the princess, at least give them some gold or something.


    ¡­¡­


    After some deep thoughts, I finally figured it out. The moral of the story was in order to perform the heroic feat of defeating the dragon, the knight¡¯s sacrifice was immeasurable. They were good role models for us, because if it weren¡¯t for them, we would never have such a good life as of today.


    Isn¡¯t this just an advertisement to promote the Empire?!


    After she finished the story, and I was ranting about the numerous problems in my head, she asked me another question.


    ¡°If there was a day, where I was kidnapped by an evil dragon. Will you come and save me?¡±


    ¡°What did you say?¡±


    You must be joking. With your current state, no one would even dare.


    ¡°What I said is, if there is a day, I am kidnapped by an evil dragon, will you come and save me?¡±


    ¡°You mean, you getting kidnapped by an evil dragon?¡±


    ¡°En.¡±


    Why would the evil dragon kidnap you? Didn¡¯t it like princesses?


    ¡°I will save you of course.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°For sure.¡±


    ¡°Hehe.¡±


    ¡°Erm¡­about that, I mean, are they really any evil dragons?¡±


    ¡°Who knows~¡±


    Sticking her tongue out playfully, she closed the book and got ready to go to sleep.


    ¡°But, you must save me okay, as you promised.¡±


    ¡°Yeap, as long as I¡¯m alive, even if it¡¯s God, I wouldn¡¯t let him kidnap you.¡±


    ¡¯¡¯Who is God?¡±


    ¡°God is an old friend of mine¡­¡­He is way stronger than an evil dragon.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Just sleep.¡±


    ¡°En. Good night, hubby.¡±


    ¡°Good night, Xifu.¡±


    I could hear her gentle breathing from beneath the quilt. Sitting down beside her with a breath of relief, I added more fuel to the fire in the heater.


    Alright, what I¡¯ve got to think about next is¡­¡­


    Are there really any goddamn evil dragons in this world or not?! Don¡¯t say it like it really exists!


    It was only after deciding to become stronger, that I realised there were more and more love rivals I had to face¡­¡­

 Volume 1 - CH 32

    ¡°Festivals are a vital part of human life. Without festivals, life would be as hard to swallow as rye bread.¡±¡ª¡ª After coming back from the Torch Festival in Nightfall Town, I made such a comment in my diary.


    Recently, I had been worrying if I could fulfil the promise I made with Wolfgang. Because although my Xifu was back, with her current appearance, we would probably be at the other end of many gun barrels if I brought her there as she is.


    As my observations of Xifu became more and more, the number of notes I jotted down in my diary regarding her daily life increased too. The scene that I was looking forward to where her scales would change was also happening.


    The change started at the middle axis of her body, in other words, it started first at her forehead, tip of the nose, neck, chest and belly button. The scales started fading away and slowly became shiny skin which looked really fascinating. It felt warm to touch too.


    Magic was really something eh, it can even change a type of skin to another totally different one.


    The process is quite fast too. Just after a good sleep, half her body had become what she originally looked like before. Her new skin somehow felt even more smooth than before. Well, it was just a feeling, but her breasts were definitely larger than before.


    It honestly felt sinful to watch my own wife¡¯s body transform, as if I was peeping on her during a shower. But the more sinful it felt, the more I couldn¡¯t stop myself.


    Motivated with my own curiosity too, my eyes were glued 24/7 on my wife as if I was a camera lens that had limitless battery.


    I swear I had never in my whole life looked at a girl with such dirty eyes! Not even on my ex-girlfriend.


    ¡°Mmm¡­¡­?¡±


    As if to add oil on the fire, my Xifu started stirring up from her sleep in the dead of the night.


    ¡°Ah, uh, well, what a fabulous night we are having¡­¡­¡±


    What the hell was that greeting. Why does it feel like I was caught red handed doing something bad?


    ¡°Eh, don¡¯t look.¡±


    ¡°Ah, sorry, sorry.¡±


    Covering her body with the wool mattress, it was as if she was a shy young girl. I too was like an immature young man and turned my head away, blushing.


    Hold on, something isn¡¯t right¡­¡­


    What¡¯s there to be shy about, we¡¯ve seen practically everything about each other!


    This married life is really regressing in time!


    ¡°You, want to see?¡±


    ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to see.¡±


    ¡°You want to see!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t wanna see¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°No, you wanna see!¡±


    ¡°Fine, I wanna see!¡±


    I was too nervous, and somehow got caught up in her flow.


    I could feel her small snakes slowly turning my head back to her, as she slowly let go of the wool mattress covering her body. She looked exactly like the white glistening flesh of a mangosteen.


    As I took a deep breath in, I could feel the veins in my neck throbbing.


    ¡°Hug me.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    Her body was different than before, with the warmth of a human body. As I silently hugged her, my eyes stared fixated at the numerous sparks flying out from the heater as the sound of the gusting winds outside entered my ears.


    The day her body finished transforming was coincidentally the day I had promised Wolfgang. I had no idea why he chose that day specifically for us to go, but maybe there was something he needed to tell us.


    Because my wife¡¯s awake time was too short, I could only move the whole wool mattress and the coat to the cart so that she could sleep on the way there.


    But it snowed on that day, so Big sheep could only walk very slowly through the snow covered road, not to mention I had to disembark from the cart frequently to feed it. We had departed from home at noon, but the sun had already set by the time we reached Nightfall Town.


    Under the somewhat heavy snow, within the dancing snowflakes, a small orange flame from Parker¡¯s lit pipe could be seen. After parking my cart, I could see the craftsman squatting on the ground. Under the heavy winds, his already ugly face made him seem like a demon from some video game.


    ¡°Hu~¡­¡­Oh, Mr Lou Woo, you¡¯re here.¡±


    ¡®Ah, Mr.Parker. My apologies, the road is hard to walk today.¡±


    ¡¯¡¯Where is Mdm.Lou Woo?¡±


    ¡°Erh, still sleeping, I guess?¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡±


    ¡°Erm¡­how do I put it¡­¡­you know, Medusa.¡±


    I opened a small sliver beneath the mountain of warmer layers on the cart to let Parker see. what I packed on the cart wasn¡¯t a mountain of fur skins but my wife instead.


    To be honest, it was kind of funny that my Xifu could even sleep in this condition¡­¡­


    Medusa was really reluctant to be woken up, so it was mostly me half-carrying her into the Nightfall Town¡¯s bar. It was empty inside, and both Parker and I went to the living room on the second floor.


    There was a roaring fire in the fireplace, and the walls of the house must have been covered in some kind of insulating layer as the temperature inside was very cosy. As soon as we reached, Xifu immediately went back to sleeping on the couch.


    ¡®¡¯Mr Parker, Wolfgang and others¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh, they are busy with something now, you just wait for a moment.¡±


    ¡®Okay.¡±


    Parker poured a glass of the pepper soup for me. As I took a sip out of it, we both sat down at the table and smoked as we chatted.


    ¡°Wife and I come today, what is it for?¡±


    ¡°Ahahahaa Mr Lou Woo, it should actually be said like this: ¡®Why have my wife and I come today?¡¯¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­is it so?¡±


    Don¡¯t correct my word order goddamnit. It¡¯s not like I actually learnt any of it from you guys.


    ¡°Hmm, today is Laneige!¡±


    ¡°Lai what again? Laineige?¡±


    (TLN: From the raw it seems its called À³Äþ¿Â(L¨¢i n¨ªng k¨¥). Did my best trying to make a name lol.)


    ¡°Oh, right, Mr Lou Woo does not know yet.¡±


    Parker retrieved a thick, heavy book that could be mistaken for a brick from a bookshelf nearby. Sitting down beside me, he started explaining to me about this mysterious ¡°Laneige¡±.


    The word Laneige apparently was the name of a festival. If I were to directly translate it, it would literally mean ¡°Torch Festival¡±.


    Torch Festival¡­¡­


    My heart was shocked when I heard it. Was the FFF Inquisition even present here in the other world? Then wouldn¡¯t my Xifu and I be burnt to death?


    Taking a look at the picture that Parker passed to me, it was an illustration of a group of people with torches in their hands forming a circle around another two figures in the centre.


    Fucking hell, isn¡¯t this freaking scary?!


    (TLN: A reference to the Japanese anime and light novel Baka to Test no Shokanjuu. FFF Inquisition in the novel is a group who punishes those who receive attention and/or affection from girls)


    When Xifu finally wakes up later, I better discuss our escape plan with her. Whoever knew that these warm and passionate villagers would want to burn us to death!?


    C-calm down, me. This isn¡¯t an anime, the FFF Inquisition doesn¡¯t exist.


    Realising how childish my thoughts were, I focused once again on Parker¡¯s explanation. This Torch Festival was a long-standing tradition of Nightfall Town, which symbolises the hope for a better future, as well as marking the anniversary of the friendship between the humans and monsters here.


    I couldn¡¯t really understand what Parker was saying, but based on the illustrations, the festival itself was filled with tons of activities, or something like that.


    The first would be a dance, like those high school rom-coms with their bonfire dances.


    Next would be something like letting off fireworks, or maybe gathering everyone to stargaze together.


    It looks like there would be singing too? As long as we don¡¯t get burnt, I don¡¯t really mind playing along¡­¡­.I¡¯ll just go with the flow later.


    To be honest, I didn¡¯t really care about experiencing the hospitality of other places, considering our house food supply was running dangerously low.


    As I chatted sparingly with Parker, I was about to bring up about the manufacturing of the revolver when the heavy steps of Wolfgang could be heard from the stairs.


    ¡®¡¯Aha! Mr Lou Woo!¡±


    Wolfgang said as he took off his hat to shake the snow off of it and waved at me.


    ¡°Hey, Wolfgang.¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯s Ms.Lou Woo?¡±


    ¡°Er, she¡­is sleeping.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­the time is soon reaching, let us go see it together. Has Parker told you yet?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Xifu wore a reluctant face as I woke her up, and her expression changed to one of impatience as Wolfgang told her a few words. With my companion, she put on her coat and we soon walked on the streets of Nightfall Town.


    If you asked me what the most breathtaking scene I had ever witnessed before I came here, I would have probably told you the night scene of Harbin city¡¯s main street, or the mountain tombs under the drizzling rain in Nanjing.


    However, I would now only tell you the scene of Nightfall Town celebrating the Torch Festival. Those real breathtaking scenes are neither those of majestic pavilions and towers, nor naturally made wonders, but the most simple scene of the Nightfall Town¡¯s villagers in front of me.


    The whole street was packed with villagers, each with a torch in their hands as they walked towards one direction. Wolfgang too passed a torch to my Xifu and I as we blended into the crowd.


    Xifu originally looked like she was really reluctant to come out, but now she even looked alert. Under the glow of numerous torches from everyone¡¯s hands, the winter cold just disappeared.


    This was Nightfall Town. Even if it suffered the pillaging of the army or the oppression of the Empire, the people here still happily celebrated the harvest of this year, giving their thanks to the heavens as well as hoping for a happy year ahead of them.


    No disaster can ever beat down these optimistic and tough people. Even Xifu and I were somehow infected by these cute people.


    Although I didn¡¯t really understand the history of Nightfall Town, maybe it was due to the ¡°Spirit of the Black Merchants¡±?

 Volume 1 - CH 33

    I had always been wishing for time to stop, and never move again on a certain day. I wasn¡¯t just daydreaming, but it was just to remind myself to always appreciate what you have.


    The people with torches in their hands, were singing as they slowly proceeded to the centre of the town, where Simon had rung the huge bell before. In the middle of the town, there was a small tower made out of wooden sticks and hay.


    There wasn¡¯t any host, nor was there any town chief to give a speech. As if they practised beforehand, the people shuffled orderly into a circle.


    Wolfgang walked out from the crowd with a handsome young man in tow. Carrying an unlit torch in one of their hands, they stretched their torches out into a lit brazier under the gazes of the crowd.


    After that was some simple speech that I could understand, but the order was messed up. Maybe it was some kind of literary writing of this world.


    What the handsome man said was something along the lines of: ¡°I, representative of the humans of Nightfall Town, am grateful for the help and support of the monsters to the humans. May the days ahead be forever peaceful and filled with happiness.¡±


    What Wolfgang said was something like : ¡°I, representative of the monsters of Nightfall Town, am grateful for the protection and understanding of the humans for the monsters. May the fields always be filled with bountiful harvests.¡±


    These two sentences must have been chosen and practised by both of them beforehand. In a fluid motion, both of them raised their lit torches and threw it into the wooden tower.


    Without a moment¡¯s hesitation, the tower caught ablaze. As if they had already practised beforehand, the townspeople started taking turns going near the tower and adding their own torch onto the blazing inferno. With a pat on my back, Wolfgang signalled us to follow suit.


    Actually, these kinds of festivals were directly against any scientific benefit with such waste of wooden supplies as well as the mass amount of smoke produced.


    Yet, for these people who lived at the mercy of the elements, what kind else of festival would they be able to celebrate?


    To light up the darkness was the most simple form of pleasure for humans. Each torch represented a townsfolk, which could be interpreted as a show of the residents banding together.


    I¡¯ve liked this small town ever since before, because even though there weren¡¯t any strict laws or codes to get by, the residents still lived together peacefully and happily.


    ¡°SENEHARELLA!¡±


    Cheers echoed repeatedly from the town centre, as the tower shone its glory upon the residents whose numbers don¡¯t even reach a thousand.


    My wife smiled as we held our hands tightly together, the slight pain reminding me that this wasn¡¯t a dream.


    After the cheers came the time for songs. Simon and a few other young men set up instruments and started playing a light yet fast folk music. Although we didn¡¯t know how to sing it, we still waved our hands together as we tried to blend ourselves into this beautiful night.


    And then as quick as a blink, I was suddenly separated from my wife.


    Although I didn¡¯t know if it was of malicious intent, I was still a bit shocked. The one pulling her away from me was none other than the succubus Lia too. I wonder what would happen between the two of them.


    Wolfgang made me put on a handsome suit too. I couldn¡¯t even remember the last time I wore one. As I stared at myself through the mirror, a tinge of nostalgia came to me.


    The leather shoes didn¡¯t fit my size, and the tie was slightly too tight, but I was still quite pleased with it. Who knew that even in a different world I would have the chance to wear a getup so dashing.


    ¡°Wolfgang, this is?¡±


    ¡°For both of you, a gift~¡±


    ¡°Ah, I sincerely give you my thanks.¡±


    ¡®¡®Hehe, this is nothing. Because the both of you are¡­¡­special.¡±


    ¡°What does that mean?¡±


    ¡°It has been a long time since a human and a monster got together.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Alright, take a good look, you dashing gentleman!¡±


    I was quite surprised at how Wolfgang was able to hold a comb with those claws of his, and his skills were unexpectedly decent too. The hair he styled for me was seriously good looking.


    ¡°Ms.Lou Woo still needs some time, please wait a moment.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    As we both puffed on a cigarette, we returned to the town centre. The people there had already started dancing among themselves. There were couples, husbands and wives, as well as children.


    Those of old age were sitting at the sides as they started drinking alcohol that somehow suddenly manifested here as they chatted happily among themselves.


    And from a distance, I took stock of the two that could steal the entire show.


    ¡°Oh hoh~ Lia really is still the same as ever.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    Wolfgang was much taller than me, so he must have seen something. I could only make out the body figures were my wife and Lia.


    She was near. The person that I loved the most slowly got nearer to me.


    Her shoulder-length short brown hair had the sweet smell of chocolate. The black dress she had on was a tubetop, with it¡¯s straps crossing over each other on her neck. It¡¯s velvety cloth was tightly wrapped around her waist, with the cloth just barely covering the crotch area. At the same time, tassels with gold and silver fragments on them could be seen swinging on the similarly shiny scales.


    Each breath I took was as if I was choking on it, which made even swallowing my own saliva hard¡­¡­


    Standing in front of me, my wife made a crazy seductive move¡ª¡ª she gently tucked her hair behind her ears. And on her earlobe was an immensely beautiful, brightly shining piece of jewel hanging off of it.


    No sane men in this world would have no biological reactions after seeing such blatant seductive visual temptations.


    Of course, unless he was a homosexual.


    My mind was instantly filled with compliments for her that I wanted to scream out loud for everyone to hear.


    But whatever was concocted in my mind, suddenly transformed into a few words when they reached my mouth¡­¡­


    ¡°Where did the snakes go?¡±


    Scratching my head, I spouted this question.


    I hadn¡¯t actually wanted to voice out my question, but seeing how there was only hair on head now, those cute snakes had suddenly disappeared!


    ¡°Harh?!¡±


    As Medusa stood here, stunned, Wolfgang shook his head as the pleased look on Lia¡¯s face had immediately disappeared.


    ¡°Oh Mr Lou Woo¡­¡­Oh¡­¡­¡±


    Wolfgang covered his face with his claws as he made a sound of helplessness.


    W-wait a moment, let¡¯s be reasonable here. You guys made the snakes of my wife¡¯s  hair disappear. Isn¡¯t that the same as chopping off the ten fingers of someone¡¯s hand!?


    My wife took a look at Lia, who started waving her hand as if saying: ¡®I don¡¯t care about this dumb couple anymore.¡¯


    ¡°Erm¡­like this?¡±


    The snakes peeked their little heads out from the hair, spitting their tongues out intermittently as their eyes darted around.


    Ah! My cute little snakies! You¡¯re back!


    Erh¡­why does this feel like Medusa was NTR¡¯ed by the snakes in her hair.


    Well, what I really wanted to say was, there was no need to try and specifically dress up like a real human.


    Didn¡¯t I say it before? The one I loved wasn¡¯t only your appearances.


    ¡°Really beautiful.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°Really really.¡±


    As we both embraced into a hug, I could hear sighs of relief from the crowd around us.


    Why are you guys even feeling relieved, shouldn¡¯t it be me instead!?


    ¡°Mr Lou Woo, you¡­¡­forget about it.¡±


    Giving a pat on my back, Wolfgang walked away with a look of resignation.


    Parker pointed at me, and with his hands made a shape of a hammer, which he then knocked on his own head twice¡­¡­


    Are you saying there was something wrong with my head?


    Lia kept her silence, she merely sighed deeply in front of us and gave a pat on my wife¡¯s back¡­¡­


    To be honest I wasn¡¯t so dense as to not sense the atmosphere, but I just couldn¡¯t react in that particular instance.


    After that, Xifu and I tried our hands on dancing. It was a piece of cake for Medusa, since she didn¡¯t need any dance steps.


    With what little experience of ballroom dancing I had back in high school, I managed to somehow keep up with her.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you cold?¡±


    As we danced, I then only noticed that the dress she wore was bareback.


    ¡°Not cold.¡±


    Resting my hands on her smooth back, it became hard to keep it in place.


    I didn¡¯t know if it was because the bonfire was really warm or was it because of her getup, that after a mess of a dance we did, my body felt like it was burning.


    As she slithered her tail in time with my steps, her eyes were filled with love.


    Loosening my tie for a bit, I decided to take a rest.


    I didn¡¯t know when, but Lia and Wolfgang had started dancing together.


    Well, it was more of a ¡®flying¡¯ dance. Because of her wings, Lia could keep her balance even in midair. Coupled with the strong arms of Wolfgang, the two of them could make various perfect acrobatic moves, making the hardest dance moves in the world seem like a piece of cake.


    For example, Lia easily pulled Wolfgang¡¯s hand as she did a whole 360¡ã in midair.


    Parker was drinking at the sidelines with the other middle aged men, while Simon was utterly devoted to his duty as he played something that looked like a flute.


    As Xifu almost fell asleep as she rested against me, Parker started lighting up fireworks.


    These fireworks weren¡¯t like the colourful ones that I saw during Chinese New Year back in my old world, but were merely colours of bluish white and orange ones.


    The little sparks they made were honestly kind of pathetic to look at. But for the riled up crowd in the town square, this was more than enough.


    Now that I think about it, this was probably the work of Parker too.


    Looking at the meagre display of fireworks, I actually felt happier instead.


    Here, I didn¡¯t have the tourist-like attitude, like I was just passing through. Instead, for everything I see or hear, it became an attitude of mine to always be a type of observer , documentor and an analyser that would yield useful knowledge.


    But after almost a hundred days here, this attitude had slowly changed bit by bit. Monsters weren¡¯t as scary as I thought, and humans weren¡¯t all cruel and cold blooded as I assumed.


    In the end, I probably would need to spend the remainder of my life in this world. If I was always on my guard and lived a dull life, why don¡¯t I try to blend into this wondrous world instead?


    Not to mention, that I found my other half here too.


    Oh, now that I thought about it, I just realised that a hundred days in this world would make the 100th day anniversary of me meeting Medusa.

 Volume 1 - CH 34

    ¡°What does Mr.Lou Woo plan to do in the future?¡±


    ¡°After winter, I want her and I, to go on a¡­Ermm..¡­.turripehj. Is that how it¡¯s said?¡±


    ¡°It should be ¡®trip¡¯ instead. These two words have different meanings.¡¯¡¯


    ¡®O-oh. Ter..reep. Trip. Me and her, go on a trip, right?


    ¡°Correct. About that, Mr Lou Woo, where to would both of you go on a trip?¡±


    ¡°Well¡­¡­Mount Dochi, Mount Caly, the Southern Plains or wherever else that was near.¡±


    ¡°Oho~that¡¯s good.¡±


    Simon let out a gaze of approval, as he chugged down his mug of beer.


    On a side note, it was now eleven forty-four in the night. Within the hall of Nightfall Town¡¯s bar, there were 3 monsters and 3 humans. The one sleeping was my wife, and the one snoring away was Parker.


    ¡°AHAHAHA, AS I SAID, THIS FELLA¡¯ WOULD¡¯VE BEEN A BLACK MERCHANT IN THE OLD DAYS!¡±


    Pointing his fingers at me, the piss-drunk Wolfgang blubbered away.


    ¡°Yeap, that¡¯s for sure.¡±


    Simon agreed with his statement.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m fit to be one. I¡¯m not a smart human after all.¡±


    ¡°Oh, the Black Merchants aren¡¯t the least bit bright~¡±


    Lia, leaning her body forward on the chair, let out a puff of her smoke as she said leisurely.


    ¡°Eh? They aren¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°He was such a fool, to have fallen in love with me.¡±


    ¡°Lia, you¡¯re drunk.¡±


    ¡°Am~Not~¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s not bring up the past now.¡±


    The suddenly sober Wolfgang hinted at lia to not continue talking about Cariff.


    When women were drunk, most of them preferred to talk about their sad past memories. On the other hand, men would, well, talk about everything.


    ¡°About your trip, we can lend you a hand there. But it¡¯s very late now, so do have a good rest.¡±


    Under Simon¡¯s suggestion, we returned to our own rooms to rest.


    To carry my wife who weighed more than 150 kilograms was a difficult feat, but to be honest I¡¯ve kind of got used to it recently.


    I woke my wife up early in the morning the next day, and we got onto the Big Sheep¡¯s cart to return to our abode which was covered in a thick layer of snow.


    I had wanted to stay in Nightfall Town until spring had come, but we hadn¡¯t even brought a single cent with us. I couldn¡¯t possibly burden Simon¡¯s business any longer, especially with my wife¡¯s voracious appetite¡­¡­


    ¡°Hubby¡­is it time to eat yet¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah, sure. I¡¯ll start cooking now.¡±


    ¡°When it¡¯s done, do wake me up¡­¡­¡±


    After telling me that, she immediately got back to sleeping.


    Now that I mentioned it, the foxy, stunning, lovely, wonderful, smashing, charming, elegant, sexy, cute wife of mine who also possessed the ability to instantly kill a girabbit and with a swish of her tail throw me far out from the cave had been doing nothing but eating and sleeping this entire time.


    I was happy to see every part of my Xifu, but there was a serious problem looming above our heads. If I didn¡¯t find a way to face it soon, it would come looking for us from our pots.


    That¡¯s right. The food was running out.


    We had two frozen solid loaves of bread, one single remaining girabbit which was filled with ice shavings, and 9 frozen yams which became like ice popsicles.


    If we really tied our stomachs, we could drag what we had for about another two weeks. But the winter wasn¡¯t so kind to end in just two weeks.


    Ah! I¡¯ve had too much fun during the Torch Festival and totally forgot my other goal of buying food from the town! Now that I think about it, I didn¡¯t even bring any money with me. Are you kidding me¡­¡­


    And so there were a few choices we had.


    Number 1: was to eat what we currently had and hunker down, hoping for the best.


    Number 2: was to have a discussion with Xifu and head to town with some money to get some food.


    Number 3: was to dig up roots in the winter soil and to munch on the tree barks we could find.


    And so, Chen Lao Wu, your final choice is!


    Choose your ass! Number 1 equaled certain death, number 3 was looking for death. There was only one choice here!


    But my pitiful ego had suddenly started acting up, making myself think that if we went to town to get food was practically announcing that:


    ¡®Please have pity on us, we are practically starving here.¡¯


    I didn¡¯t want to show how useless I was, and wanted to prove that even without anybody¡¯s help, me and my wife would spend our days just fine.


    And as I had observed, there didn¡¯t seem to be any excess food in stock in Nightfall Town, because even during the festival there weren¡¯t any signs of food, just really large amounts of alcohol.


    I was a person who viewed my dignity equally to my own life. If we don¡¯t head to town in the end, we can only stretch out what food we have to get through the winter.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just put it aside, and when the time comes I¡¯ll think of a way.¡±


    Harbouring such a line of thought in my head, I decided not to rely on others¡¯ support for the moment.


    Xifu didn¡¯t voice out any opinions regarding the dwindling amount of food stocks. On the dining table, I had many times when I wanted to bring this up with her, but seeing how happy she was gulping down her food only made it harder for me to bring up this urgent matter.


    But in the end the truth would come sooner or later. Food wouldn¡¯t suddenly grow larger, they can only go mouldy.


    On the 120th day, I scraped the last bits of meat off the bones of the girabbit into the stew.


    Well, it wasn¡¯t even a stew anymore. If I had to give it a name, it would be called ¡®Plain boiled meat bits¡¯.


    Looking at the meal that couldn¡¯t even be classified as one, we both didn¡¯t touch our food. After a while, she asked:


    ¡°Food, not enough?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°You eat, hubby.¡±


    ¡°You no eat?¡±


    ¡°I am Medusa. I am fine without eating.¡±


    ¡°Ah?¡±


    Even Medusas have to eat. Are you starving to cultivate to become a Daoist immortal!?


    ¡°Xifu, can we head to Nightfall Town to get some food?¡±


    ¡°NIghtfall Town¡­has none.¡±


    ¡®Why?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been there before.¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­I see¡­¡­¡±


    Well, that¡¯s reality for you. If you think about it, the amount of food both of us needed combined wasn¡¯t a small number to the residents of a small town. Their grains were still needed for the next year¡¯s sowing, and meat was even more scarce.


    The best example was at the Torch Festival itself. Wolfgang and the others hadn¡¯t treated us to a meal, and there was no signs of any food during the festival.


    ¡°No, you still need to eat.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, hehe.¡±


    Xifu was seriously stubborn, and didn¡¯t even budge after all the advice I gave. I could only let her do as she wished.


    Well, Medusa really had the ability to continue living even without eating, but the steep price was a really prolonged period of sleep. She could just continue sleeping up to 40 hours straight.


    Humans also could survive four to five days without eating. But a person that has starved for four to five days would have lost most of its motor functions.


    Even in the most dire straits, digging up roots and chewing on tree barks was an action that is easier said than done. For an urbanised person who was used to enjoying the sweet grains of rice.


    Even after extensively boiling it, tree barks were basically inedible, seeing how they weren¡¯t food in the first place. The taste of the grass roots were worse than I expected, and I could only blindly gulp them down.


    For the few days after the food had totally finished, I could only depend on the honey I had acquired much earlier before as a source of energy.


    Still, the worst situation still came. As the snow storm continued for the entire day, I slowly blew and sipped on a cup of hot water when a sound could be heard from behind me.


    It was probably her waking up from her sleep. I didn¡¯t move a single inch, not that I didn¡¯t want to, but I had none of the strength left to.


    ¡°Is it time to eat?¡±


    ¡°There is still no food¡­¡­¡±


    She rested herself on my back. I didn¡¯t know if it was my own illusion but after 80 hours of continuous sleep, it felt like her body weight had dropped a lot.


    ¡°I¡¯m¡­¡­hungry.¡±


    Medusa¡¯s voice sounded weak. Maybe it was because of the strong, loud winter gusts, or it was just the hunger making my hearing bad. Even the Medusa herself couldn¡¯t hold a candle against the power of hunger.


    ¡®¡¯If you¡¯re hungry, then eat me¡­¡­¡±


    I smiled bitterly, as I reached my hands to caress her face.


    The pain sensation of something biting me came from my neck. You¡¯re really eating me, huh¡­¡­


    Warm blood slowly seeped out from my body, and into my wife¡¯s mouth. I stayed completely still in my sitting position.


    It¡¯s okay I guess, just eat me up. It was too late to fix anything now. Even if we dragged ourselves to Nightfall Town to beg for food, we still had to wait until the snowstorm had passed.


    Compared to the brother who had lied on the ice praying for carp, sacrificing myself as food for Medusa should be a touching story too.


    (TLN: Lying on ice praying for carp is a proverb from ancient China originating from the story where a young boy named Wang Xiang had lied his bare belly on the frozen river in the middle of winter, praying for the ice to melt so that he could get carps for his sick stepmother. In short, this story teaches filial piety and sacrifice.)


    ¡®¡¯How could I even¡­eat my husband¡­¡­¡±


    In the end, my wife released her bite and hugged me from behind.


    If this continued, it looks like we were all going to starve to death. The snowstorm seemed like it was going to continue for a longer time, and even if it stopped, the thick snow-covered ground looked hard for Big Sheep to traverse.


    Eh¡­Big Sheep? Ah, Big Sheep.


    I suddenly recalled what Xifu asked when we bought Big Sheep initially.


    ¡®Can we eat it?¡¯


    There always is light at the end of the tunnel. I¡¯m sorry, Big Sheep.


    ¡°Xifu, we still have that sheep!¡±


    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re right!¡±


    Braving the wind and snow, I gave it my all to get Big Sheep into the cave. Xifu was already holding a short axe in her hands beside the fire, with a glint in her eyes. There was a thick layer of snow on its back, with ice crystals in its eyebrows.


    Dusting off the snow off the sheep¡¯s back, I patted its head. The shivering sheep looked like it knew what fate awaited it, as it baa¡¯ed a few times, looking at the axe in Xifu¡¯s hands¡­¡­

 Volume 1 - CH 35

    ¡°When I was finally unravelling the worries that were lingering in my heart, it was only then I realised the truth wasn¡¯t so important anymore.¡±¡ª¡ª Day 124 entry of the diary.


    Big Sheep was so much weaker than before. It was much less lively from when I first saw it in Nightfall Town.


    I still remember the satisfying feeling when I first carried Xifu onto its cart back home. At that time, I would always keep an eye out for it, fearing that it may slip and fall into the cold stream, or get eaten by wild beasts, or even freeze to death during the winter.


    Although Big Sheep didn¡¯t know how to speak, it dutifully did whatever it was assigned to. Without it, there was no way these pots and pans could have made it way from Nightfall Town to here.


    Massaging the soaked fur on its body, it rubbed its head against my hands in return.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, my sheep bro. Today, we shall say our farewells.¡±


    ¡°When the next spring comes, I will spread your ashes in the Southern Plains.¡±


    ¡°If there ever is a next life, I hope you will become a big sheep in the Pampas plains.¡±


    (TLN: A vast grassland in Argentina. Link here)


    As if it understood a bit of my words, it nodded its head and licked my hands.¡±


    When Xifu brought the axe down cleanly separating its head and body apart, it didn¡¯t even struggle one bit. It was probably already frozen stiff¡­¡­


    The huge sheep fell to the ground, its neck spurting out bright red blood, instantly staining the greyish-white fur into a dark red colour.


    Although I was really hesitant to kill this companion who had been with us for a long time, we didn¡¯t even have any food left to feed it with.


    The reason this sheep could pull a cart was due to its body size. Looking at the back which reached around the height of my chest, you could imagine how strongly built it was.


    After spending a great effort, Xifu finally dismantled the really big sheep. The amount of meat and organs combined was around 200 kilograms, just barely enough to last us through this winter season.


    Looking at my wife who was enjoying the small bits of meat, I suddenly thought what a weird cycle it was, as if I went back to the earlier times where we only ate raw meat.


    My wife and I huddled together around the fire as we waited for the mutton soup to cook . Looking at her chewing as she stuffed bits of raw meat into her mouth, I suddenly had a lot of questions.


    ¡°Xifu, how did I, at the time, come to this place?¡±


    ¡°You at that time?¡±


    ¡°Yeap, at that time.¡±


    I put my hands behind my back, signalling the earliest point of time where my hands were tied behind it.


    ¡®Oh~you at that time¡­¡­you weren¡¯t like this at that time.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    ¡°Erm¡­¡­you at that time, is not you at this time.¡±


    ¡°I am not me?¡±


    ¡°Yeap, you didn¡¯t have this.¡±


    Xifu made a gesture of a pair of glasses with her blood soaked hands.


    What does that mean? I didn¡¯t wear a pair of glasses initially? It¡¯s impossible. I remember clearly that my glasses were always on me.


    Well, unless she was describing another person.


    Another person¡­¡­If it was like this, in other words, the one initially getting tied up by her was another human.


    ¡°Then¡­how did I come here?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know? Weren¡¯t you caught by me?¡±


    ¡°Huh? I was caught by you?¡±


    ¡°Yeap.¡±


    Xifu wiped her mouth with her nails, and nodded her head along with the small snakes.


    ¡°Hold on, let me think for a bit.¡±


    Combining my guess from just now, what should have happened was that another person was caught by Medusa, and then tied up and held in the cave. And at that moment, that person became me.


    ¡°Eh, that means, I was caught by you, then in the cave, I became how I looked right now?¡±


    ¡°Yeap yeap, that¡¯s right. At that time, I also felt it was really strange~¡±


    My hypothesis was correct. When I was drinking water initially at that time, she was staring at my face, because ¡®my¡¯ appearance changed. In reality, that person had become me.


    Isn¡¯t this just too weird?! How could I so coincidentally get isekai¡¯ed into the body of another human that was kidnapped by Medusa?


    ¡°And then?¡±


    ¡°What and then?¡±


    ¡°I mean¡­¡­why¡­why kidnap, me?¡±


    I slowly voiced out my question. It was connected to the cause of everything, and involved a lot of things that she had never mentioned to me.


    For example, why did she share her food with me, or why did she kiss me. I could bury all these questions deep inside my heart, but I will never know how the origin of this marriage started.


    I had already swore to myself to always love and accept her, no matter how scary the truth was.


    ¡°You, don¡¯t know?¡±


    Shooting a gaze at me, she held the meat she was going to eat tightly in hands and averted her gaze, only using her snakes to peek at me.


    Looking at how she reacted, I was even more confused at what she was pointing to.


    ¡°It has already, happened a lot of times¡­¡­¡±


    Her tail slipped under the fur I had used to cover my legs, and she used to touch the inner part of my thigh gently.


    ¡­¡­


    I instantly got what she meant. If by this time I had still not understood what she meant, then I was practically a homosexual!


    It seems that originally Medusa would kidnap human males to satisfy her lust. It was just too scary.


    No, wait. It was just the best!


    I suddenly felt I was kind of perverted.


    ¡°Ah, I-I see, haha¡­¡±


    ¡®Why¡­¡­why did you not run away?¡±


    ¡°Did you mean¡­that morning?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    I recalled that morning, that fateful morning where my heart was shaken to the core by the monster named Medusa. She¡¯s right, why didn¡¯t I escape?


    At that point of time, I was following the thought of ¡®more chances of survival by being together with the snake-headed monster instead of running away alone¡¯, But I gotta admit, I had already fallen in love with her since that morning itself.


    ¡°At that point of time, I¡­needed you.¡±


    ¡°Then¡­do you love me?¡±


    ¡°Yeap, it was around that point of time where¡­I started, loving you.¡±


    ¡°Hehe~actually, I knew.¡±


    ¡°Ah? You knew?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, for a human to come, and touch me¡­¡­¡±


    Xifu turned her head away, and made a hand gesture of kissing.


    ¡°Eh¡­I¡­¡±


    She¡¯s right. Why did I kiss her? It wasn¡¯t so easy as the sentence ¡®I was looking for death¡¯ could explain.


    ¡°You were really beautiful.¡±


    I bluntly told her the plain reason why I kissed her that night. How many people had the chance to see the real Medusa? Even if Medusa wanted to kill me, I also hoped that it would be only after something happened between her and I.


    For me who had nothing to lose, there was almost nothing that I didn¡¯t dare to do.


    ¡°R-really?¡±


    ¡°Yeap. But, Xifu, if you can, stop moving your tail, please¡­¡­¡±


    If this continued, she was going to scratch a wound on my thigh.


    ¡°Oh, ah, sure, hehe.¡±


    ¡°Then, why didn¡¯t you leave me?¡±


    ¡®¡¯I¡­¡­you are different from the other humans. Last time, they all left¡­¡­¡±


    They, erh, in other words, there were a number of men kidnapped back here. It was obvious why no one wanted to stay on. After all, they had their own homes, and no one was willing to stay with a Medusa.


    But I couldn¡¯t return to my own home, so the Medusa who I had the luck of knowing became the only family I had in this world.


    ¡°I will never leave, so only love me, okay¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°En, you too.¡±


    The mutton stew was done, and I poured some into a bowl. Thinking back on all the things I had gone through, the me who after having known the truth was calmer than I expected, because the so-called truth wasn¡¯t important.


    What¡¯s important was whether she was still smiling by my side.


    I was a man who didn¡¯t carry many responsibilities. I was always putting on a pretence, always going along with my clientele¡¯s laugh, hoping to give them a good impression, or lighting up their cigarettes for them, as if I was their faithful dog wagging its tail.


    Getting a salary that was barely enough to cover my daily expenses, cursing my daily repetitive job, I didn¡¯t know how long it had been since I had smiled truely from the depths of my heart.


    I was fed up with my pointless life, fed up with the me who had achieved nothing. And the one that saved me was a Medusa.


    Although I had eaten raw meat, had a knife pressed against my neck, and to have been totally tired out just to catch a single girabbit here, we had also relied on each other¡¯s power to improve our quality of life.


    For the first time ever, I felt like I was standing firmly on the land here with my own two feet, not like before where I was practically begging on all fours on a daily basis.


    Sipping on the mutton stew with my wife, our bodies had warmed up considerably from before. I had given Medusa love she had never had, and she had given me something a human had never ever possessed.


    Although the road ahead may be a path filled with thorns, if the days ahead were always filled with sunshine just like she wished for, then it was enough.


    ¡°Hey, once winter ends, want to go on a trip?¡±


    ¡®Ah, sure. As long as it¡¯s with you, anywhere we go would be fine~¡±


    ¡°Ah, me too.¡±


    ¡°Why, did you ask me these today?¡±


    ¡°Actually¡­¡­I always wanted to say, thank you, for everything.¡±


    ¡°Hah, it¡¯s because I am your wife~¡±


    I once again held Medusa¡¯s blood-stained hands.


    Amongst the long winter nights, we waited for the arrival of spring, continuing our talk regarding the pasts and future ahead of us. After all, there were still too many things out there unknown to us, awaiting us to discover them.


    (TLN: And there goes the first volume! That took me 7 years to complete translating LMAO. There are a few more side stories and the afterword left, then its onto volume 2 we go! There¡¯s almost 70 chapters including the side stories combined in the next volume, may god have mercy on my soul.)

 Volume 2 - CH 1

    ¡°I believe there is no need to keep reminding myself of the importance of maps.¡±


    I had written such a message in my diary many times.


    The sound of birds chirping could once again be heard from outside the cave. I¡¯ve never felt spring to be so wonderful before.


    According to my records, the winter had lasted 2 months and 19 days this year. It was much shorter compared to the ones at the northeastern parts of my country where I was before. But, don¡¯t the northeastern parts only have two seasons of summer and winter(Lol).


    The damp soil appeared suitable to grow crops on. Thus, the first thing in the morning, I dug out the seeds that I bought from Nightfall Town and carefully sown them, not knowing what kind of seeds they were.


    Rather than vegetable seeds, it was as if I was sowing the seeds of hope itself.


    I had already planned out the trip, with just some essentials left to prepare. So, I was going with Xifu to Nightfall Town to get the rest of the stuff.


    Talking about Xifu, her tail was wrapped around my ankles as she lay spread out sleepily on the bed.


    ¡°Are you awake?¡±


    ¡°Yeah~¡±


    ¡°Are you cold?¡±


    ¡°Just fine.¡±


    We¡¯re really like an old couple already huh, to not wrap herself tightly around me for warmth anymore. She was much cuter before, not like now where she could easily guess what I was gonna do next.


    ¡°Today, we are going to Nightfall Town.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­lemme sleep a little longer.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine, just sleep.¡±


    ¡°Come over ¡®ere¡­¡±


    Although I just said that she doesn¡¯t stick as close to me now as before, she forcefully dragged me back into the bed. Well, with the comfortable spring weather, I also felt like dozing off for a bit. There was no need to rush after all.


    But I had forgotten something¡ª¡ª the sheep to pull the cart was already in our stomachs.


    We napped till the clock struck 11, and got up to pack our luggage. The preparation for the trip must be planned meticulously, or else the weird scene of the increasingly more luggage as we packed would occur.


    Still, Medusa had no need to worry about such things. She only packed her bow, machete and gold coins, with only a black cloak on her body.


    I stuffed things like a change of clothes, all the ammo and guns, the short axe, diary and the woollen mattress into a sack.


    As I confidently carried the sack to the cold stream, only the lonely, creaking cart awaited us. Big Sheep had already forever lived on in our hearts.


    Sigh, let¡¯s go. I can¡¯t let Xifu help me carry the sack anyways.


    Once again, I relived the painful experience of walking by foot to Nightfall Town. I needed to get some sort of transportation.


    ¡°Simon, if there¡¯s anything else to eat, make us something other thanmeat.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡±


    As I dropped a bag of gold coins onto the counter, I felt that I was really cool.


    ¡°What do you want to eat, Xifu?¡±


    ¡°Meat.¡±


    Oh my Xifu! We had already eaten mutton for the entire winter! Even now when I open my mouth I felt like I was gonna baa like a sheep!


    Because the sowing season had started, better varieties of food had appeared in Nightfall Town. The oatmeal porridge had even tasted like ambrosia itself. After you get used to it, the taste of the Sorghum oats-like grains is actually really good. As for Xifu, she chose to have a giant piece of meat.


    There were only 4 types of animals in the husbandry economy in Nightfall Town: Fanged Horses, Big Sheeps, Dairy Cows and Jumping Chickens.


    I had already talked about Fanged Horses and Big Sheeps before, and Dairy Cows are actually quite normal-looking. looking almost the same as the dairy cows back in my world. The only thing different about it was, there weren¡¯t any characteristic black dots on its body.


    As for ¡®Jumping Chicken¡¯, it could also be called ¡®Springing Chicken¡¯. It was another animal that made me confused, the other being the Girabbits.


    This domestic animal, or if it was one, was called ¡®Borbotu¡¯ by the people here. I gave it the grounded name of ¡®Jumping Chicken¡¯. These chickens were normally reared at the northern parts of the oat fields as a source of protein. I called it ¡®Jumping Chicken¡¯ because it basically moved around by jumping like a spring, and really high at that.


    I had even seen Parker shoot one down from the rooftop with his gun¡­


    What Xifu was eating right now was two chicken drumsticks that were bigger than my fists.


    So, there were only four choices for transportation. Firstly, the Jumping Chicken was out of the question. It could only jump, so it couldn¡¯t pull the cart. Big Sheep was a sensible choice, but just like the Dairy Cow, these two tame domestic animals couldn¡¯t gallop like the horses.


    But the Fanged Horses were too dangerous. No matter how obedient it looked, it was still a carnivorous animal. Even back in my world, people really rarely could train a carnivorous animal obediently.


    ¡°What happened, Hubby?¡±


    ¡°Ah, I was thinking, to get a horse or a sheep?¡±


    ¡°Sheep!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not talking about what you wanna eat¡­¡­¡±


    I decided, it¡¯s you, Dairy Cow!


    There wasn¡¯t any proper rationale behind that decision, other than in my mind cows had an image of being hardworking. In view of the long journey ahead of us, the cow was the best choice.


    Well, there was another obvious reason why I didn¡¯t choose the horse. My Xifu eats meat, I eat meat, and the horse eats meat as well. Where the hell would I get so much meat from while travelling?


    11 gold coins.


    That¡¯s right. That was the lowest price for a single Dairy Cow. As an animal that could plough the fields as well as produce milk, it naturally was a precious resource for the residents of Nightfall Town. Even this transaction of 11 gold coins for the cow was only possible after Wolfgang convinced the other party to part with it.


    ¡°Ah, Mr Lou Woo, Simon has something he wants to pass to you.¡±


    ¡°Simon? Sure, I¡¯ve got some questions for him too.¡±


    ¡°Follow me, you two.¡±


    As we returned to the familiar hall, Simon was sitting at the table scribbling away at something.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here Mr Lou Woo, please do take a seat.¡±


    ¡°Ah, thanks.¡±


    My wife and I took our seats at the table as we waited for this elder to impart us with his experience.


    Simon worked as a Black Mercant for 30+ years, and the routes that they were using now were actually revised by him. On top of that, Simon¡¯s experiences with monsters was the most amongst the town residents.


    ¡°These things could be of use to both of you. Especially if it was Mr Lou Woo, then it wouldn¡¯t pose a problem.¡±


    I glanced through the three things on the table. The first was a hand-drawn map, the second was a telescope, and the last was a metallic coat of arms.


    The map was much more detailed than the one before, with numerous dots and labels around the Southern Plains. There was also an obvious route on it, which should belong to the route of the Black Merchants.


    The telescope was the retractable monocular type, like those in the movie: Pirates of the Caribbean. Its sturdy, heavy design felt really good in my hands.


    The black metallic coat of arms could be hung at my waist, with one side engraved with the black sun logo of the black merchants, with the inscription of Nightfall on the other.


    According to Simon, this was the earliest proof to indicate one¡¯s affiliation with Black Merchants, but it was already not in use. If one were to face a ferocious monster, showing the insignia could possibly stop its attack.


    A long time ago, the Black Merchants would travel into the territories of monsters to trade, so danger was always above their heads. They had to use the coat of arms to prove their affiliation with Black Merchants.


    As the time passed and the scale of the Black Merchants shrunk considerably, the merchants would just set up shop somewhere safe, and the monsters would put black cloaks to shop. It could be considered as an advancement in commerce.


    In other words, there was a map filled with words I didn¡¯t understand, one useful-looking telescope, and a talisman which I had no idea if it was useful or not.


    Well, it¡¯s better than nothing I guess.


    I then asked Simon more questions regarding monsters, but I couldn¡¯t really grasp the terms used to describe the monsters. In the end, Simon could only draw a point on the map and suggested we take a look at it first.


    ¡°There would be some women who know magic there.¡±


    Simon said something along those lines, which I guess meant there were some witches gathered around there.


    Saying my goodbyes to Simon, we visited Parker. The craftsman¡¯s hands were always busy, as when we went there, he was busily hitting away at a piece of red-hot metal meant for some unknown use.


    ¡°Hey, Lou Woo!¡±


    ¡°Aha, Parker, I¡¯m here.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting. Come and take a look at this.¡±


    Parker proudly showed a brand-new shortbow, with its string already strung up, and with it accompanied 10 metalhead arrows. It should have been meant for my wife.


    The burly Parker was as if a child as he impatiently pushed us to try it out. Xifu shot 3 arrows in succession and looked satisfied. I tried to shoot one for fun, but I couldn¡¯t even pull the string back completely¡­


    I¡¯ve been messing around in this world for half a year, and my body was much more fit than before, but why couldn¡¯t I still pull the bow back?


    What happened to being a great person who is even able to shoot down an eagle?


    (TLN: Untranslatable proverb.)


    Is it only the weak that use guns, and the strong that use bows?


    ¡°Pfft, hubby, don¡¯t pull anymore¡­¡­¡±


    ¡°No! How could I not even use a bow and arrow!?¡±


    ¡°Hahaha, Mr Lou Woo, it¡¯s not a bow meant for humans.¡±


    ¡°Then how could you use it?¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯m Parker! Ahahaha~¡±


    Who the hell set the rule that a craftsman can use a weapon he made!? Can I just change my name to Chen Parker!?


    In the end, I gave up on the really cool looking shortbow, because Xifu had already started laughing at me.


    ¡°Sigh¡­how about me, Parker?¡±


    ¡°What about you?¡±


    ¡°Is there nothing for me?¡±


    To give a bow to my wife but nothing to me, how unfair is that.


    ¡°For you huh¡­let me think.¡±


    Parker touched his short hair on his head, as if he thought of something, and passed me a small wooden box. Hearing the metallic clinking sounds in it, I already guessed what it was.


    ¡°Made some during the winter. Don¡¯t know how long you¡¯ll be gone, but it should be enough.¡±


    ¡°Ah, these are enough.¡±


    Hmm, it was bullets meant for the revolver, and it looked like there were around a hundred of it in it.


    We wanted to pay Parker money, but he stubbornly refused. In the end, for symbolic purposes I paid him one gold coin, and he knocked it against his forehead and bit it in his mouth as he gave us a smile.


    And so, the journey starts!


    The second day, as we rushed along on the Cow cart, my Xifu and I headed for the northern Mount Dochi where the witches gathered. With the cow and the cart being brand new, it was also easier to drive the cow compared to the sheep. I could only feel more excited for the journey ahead.


    ¡°Lou Woo!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±


    Both of us turned our heads, to see Wolfgang who had chased after us, although we had already travelled quite a distance.


    ¡°Take it!¡±


    What flew to us was a bundle of wolf fur tied with a string, as if it was shaved from Woflgang¡¯s body.


    ¡°What is this?¡±


    ¡°It will be of use to you!¡±


    Wolfgang shouted back. Although I didn¡¯t understand its purpose, I stashed it away. It was probably a tradition of the werewolves.


    The cart shuddered once again.


    Seneharella! I said to myself.