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.”