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—— ‘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——Why 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 crus.h.i.+ngly 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 pa.s.sing 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 b.r.e.a.s.t.s 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 doc.u.mentaires 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 eyes⁴ since the stench inside the cave was unbearable.

Looking at the expanse of the gra.s.sland, 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 rabbit standing up straight while munching on some tree leaves.

That’s right, I think that’s a rabbit. Should I call it a ‘Girabbit⁵’?