Different Dreams in the Same Bed
Her name was Echidna. Born with the blood of the Great Snake, she had inherited the name of the legendary mother of all serpents, and so she was called Echidna. Also known as the Sage of the Desert, she slithered through the sands today just as she did every other day.
The desert was an extreme environment. Cacti that had evolved into bizarre shapes, and arthropods like scorpions and spiders that had adapted to hunt their prey with lethal precision—all of them served as excellent specimens for her experiments. If one were to consider biodiversity alone, a lush jungle would undoubtedly offer a wider variety of creatures for her research. Yet, this desert was by no means a lesser laboratory for her alchemy.
Moreover, the desert was Echidna's home. While she loved alchemy, she was not so obsessed with it that she would abandon her familiar homeland to crawl through some treacherous jungle. She loved her craft, but not enough to completely uproot the life she had built.
Slither. Slither. She glided through the heart of the desert, the sound of her scales parting the sand echoing softly.
"Maybe I'll harvest some sand scorpion venom and cactus nectar today."
Ssslip. Ssslip. As she moved, parting the sand, Echidna flicked her tongue out of her expressionless face at regular intervals. It was an old habit of hers. A serpent's tongue is used to detect chemical signatures in the air, and as a Lamia with the lower body of a snake, she navigated her surroundings in much the same way.
"The scorpions seem scarce today. Is the cactus grove over that way? I believe those cacti produce a nectar that stimulates the central nervous system..."
Flick. Flick. She continued to navigate, her tongue darting in and out to taste the air. How long had she been traveling like this?
"Hm?"
A pungent, foul stench—one she had never encountered in this silent desert—assailed her senses. Yet, beneath that rot, she could also detect a sweet, floral fragrance...
"A rare species?"
It seemed there was still an undiscovered specimen hidden in this vast desert.
Slither. Flick. Slither. Flick. She pushed through the desert sands, her serpentine lower half undulating in a graceful S-curve, her forked tongue constantly tasting the air to guide her. It did not take long before she reached the source.
"Oh...?"
Buried in the scorching desert sand, with only her head exposed, was a blonde woman. A short distance away lay a massive, mangled lump of flesh.
"Well, this one looks like an Orc."
Orcs were not particularly valuable alchemical ingredients. At best, their hearts and brains could be used as control specimens to test reactions to various elixirs...
⟨ Wind Blade ⟩
Echidna cast a simple spell to extract the Orc Shaman's heart and brain, placing them into a specially treated container to prevent decay. Next was...
"A human female."
Without using magic, she used her serpentine tail like an excavator to dig the woman out of the sand. Having been trapped in the scorching heat, her skin was red and blistered with sunburn, but beneath the damage lay a beautiful, porcelain face.
"Hmm..."
It was rare for a pure human to venture this deep into such a harsh wasteland. The desert was notoriously hostile to outsiders; without senses as keen as Echidna's, one could wander forever without finding treasure, monsters, or even a decent experimental subject.
"Did she end up here after fighting that Orc? If so, it must have been a Shaman capable of casting basic spells. This might turn out to be quite useful."
Thud. Echidna tossed the woman back onto the sand. She used Wind Blade again to sever the Orc's limbs one by one, harvesting a few more organs for good measure. An Orc Shaman was a high-ranking variant of the standard Orc. While the species as a whole was a disappointing alchemical subject, a high-ranking variant was a different story entirely.
"Hmm..."
Having gathered her materials, she prepared to head back, but the sight of the beautiful blonde woman wasting away helplessly on the sand gave her pause.
"If I leave her here, she might haunt my dreams..."
Echidna was not the type of person to go out of her way to rescue those in distress. That was why she was called the Sage of the Desert. She was no savior who actively sought out lives to rescue; she was merely a sage who helped those she happened to stumble upon, or those who managed to find her on their own.
"I suppose I have no choice."
In that sense, this woman was incredibly lucky. Echidna possessed medicine to erase burn scars and remedies to soothe the mind and body. Of course, those "medicines" were actually refined from the venom of her own fangs... but regardless, a saved life was a saved life, wasn't it?
Blink. Blink.
When I opened my eyes, what greeted me was an Egyptian-style building, reminiscent of a desert-themed assassination game and world-travel simulator I had played once. The architecture seemed to be constructed primarily of yellow clay. However, it was blended with fantasy elements—wide windows and numerous pillars gave it the majestic feel of a temple.
But...
"Why... am I... here...?"
I was utterly bewildered. I had definitely been carrying out a mission in high spirits with my fuckbuddies when we encountered an Orc Shaman. I distinctly remembered piercing its heart with my own hands and killing it...
"Rina? Girls?"
Why was I in a place like this? This didn't look like the Adventurer's Guild, and my body felt as heavy as lead, leaving me utterly exhausted. My skin stung so intensely that I wanted to claw at it immediately, but...
"Ah, you're awake."
Accompanied by a soft slither, slither, a woman entered the room. She had brown skin, brown hair, brown eyes, and a serpentine lower body that was slightly darker in hue.
"A... Lamia...?"
It was a Lamia. A race I had never once encountered in the regions where I used to operate. Why on earth was a Lamia here...?
"Hello, human. Do you remember your name?"
"M-my name?"
My name. Let's see...
"Roen..."
"Hmm, not a name with any particular meaning. Quite ordinary."
Roen. Yes, that was my name. I had chosen it simply because it sounded nice. Yet, this snake-woman casually dismissed it with a smirk.
"I am Echidna. An alchemist who carries the name of the Great Snake."
"Ah, yes..."
She seemed to have a bizarre sense of superiority, so I kept my response brief to avoid engaging further.
"Anyway, could you give me your hand?"
"My hand?"
"You were collapsed in the middle of the desert alongside an Orc Shaman. You must have been left out there for quite some time. We need to start treatment immediately if we want to prevent permanent burn scars."
"Ah, the desert... with the Orc Shaman..."
Perhaps she wasn't a bad person at heart. Echidna explained how I had ended up here and expressed her desire to treat me so that I wouldn't be scarred.
"But... where exactly in the desert are we?"
"Somewhere in the Nefeland Desert."
"Ah."
Nefeland. I recalled hearing about a kingdom entirely composed of desert once, back when I was flirting with a guild receptionist and the conversation drifted. However, it was incredibly far from the Adventurer's Guild where I used to operate. If that was the case...
Maybe I should just seduce this chick and marry into her wealth.
The foundation I had built back in my old territory was as good as gone. Unlike modern society, this world didn't have convenient transportation, nor could I simply hop on a plane to cross hundreds of miles to another country.
Her house looks huge, and being an alchemist means she's basically a highly paid professional, right? Seeing how she's treating me, she probably acts as a doctor too... This might actually be a sweet deal.
A gold-digging marriage simulator began running at high speed in my mind. Should I return to the Adventurer's Guild, where Rina and most of my connections were, to continue living my life as an alpha female? Or should I cling to Echidna under the pretext of repaying my savior and secure a comfortable life of domestic bliss? I stood at a crossroads...
Honestly, the fact that I'm even debating this means my mind is already half-made.
To hesitate was to have already leaned toward a decision. I had just faced the terrifying reality of death during my fight with the Orc Shaman, nearly being dragged down to the grave with him. Whether I could even make a comeback as an adventurer was highly uncertain... and besides, I wasn't even a top-tier adventurer. It was doubtful whether my guild connections would continue to treat me so warmly now.
To use a stock market analogy, returning to the guild was like taking on triple leverage to maintain my alpha female lifestyle, while staying by Echidna's side was like investing in a blue-chip stock guaranteed to grow. The former carried high risk, while the latter offered absolute stability.
And it's not like I'd ever fail at seducing a woman.
Choosing between a path with at least a forty percent chance of failure and one with a guaranteed success rate of one hundred percent? Choosing the former would be sheer madness.
Heh, now how should I go about seducing this snake-chick?
With the gleaming eyes of a seasoned gambler, I turned my gaze back toward Echidna. Just then—
Chomp!
"Huh...?"
Echidna suddenly sank her fangs deep into my neck...
"Ah, a-ah...?"
She began rapidly injecting a cool liquid into me.
"You were taking forever when I asked for your hand. I've injected a mixture of burn suppressants and skin restoratives. Just sleep for a bit. It might make you sleepier as a side effect, but waking up after a deep rest is always refreshing, isn't it?"
"Haaah..."
A bizarre sensation of liquid pulsing and surging into my body. Shivering violently at a feeling I had never experienced in my entire life, I lost consciousness and fell into a deep, heavy sleep.