This chapter is mostly a fluff chapter between Goblin Slayer and Kaguya. After this chapter, expect the next arc to immediately begin, in which Goblin Slayer discovers new civilization, as he traverses across the unexplored areas of the Frontier.
Hero will soon join Goblin Slayer in hunting down the Ancient Wyvern. Expect her to join his harem too. Expect there to be a lot of character bonding in this fanfic, which will eventually have romance-themed lemons, but over all this isn't a smut fic.
Without further adieu, please enjoy this chapter!
UPDATE: 19 JANUARY 2023: Made Kaguya less willing to open up completely to Goblin Slayer at first. He's gotta earn more relationship points before she reveals her sins to him fully.
What felt to him as though he was being brought back from the dead itself, the more of Goblin Slayer's lethargic mind that could begin to make out the vast black abyss of twinkling white stars in front of him, the more he felt alive. Having expected to wake up back at the farm, or at least somewhere indoors, the last place Goblin Slayer expected to find himself laying down on was the glowing-white surface of what looked to him to be the moon itself; as he could see nothing but an empty crater-ridden horizon for as far as his scarlet eyes could see.
Sitting up slowly from the smooth surface that he had laying on, it didn't take long for Goblin Slayer to take notice of the big-blue planet that he could see partially swallowed up in space, from where the light of the distant sun wasn't able to reach it. 'None of this seems real, but at the same time… Everything feels realer than real; this must be what lucid dreaming feels like,' Goblin Slayer thought confusingly to himself, as his scarlet eyes lowered down to see that not only was he naked, but his body was glowing just like the surface of the moon was.
That was when he saw a strange yet familiar white-haired figure sitting down in the near distance of where he was standing up on his own two feet. "That's… Kaguya," Goblin Slayer said aloud with a mystified look on his face, and attempted to take a step toward her. However, it was then that Goblin Slayer found himself floating in the low-gravity environment of the moon.
"W-What is this…?!" Goblin Slayer muttered out with a genuine look of confusion and worry on his face, as he attempted to move his arms and legs in a way that one would do while swimming. Raising his bare feet up while flipping himself up-side-down, Goblin Slayer dug his fingers into the soft and sandy surface of the moon as he drifted forward from the momentum of his first step; almost immediately losing his grip the moment his fingers slipped through the grainy moon sand below. Spinning around-and-around, while getting motion sickness from how the starry sight of the solar system looked to him, Goblin Slayer was flailing his arms and legs while trying to recompose himself.
Fortunately for him though, his low-gravity tumble was halted when Kaguya made her way over to him, so she could catch him. Cradling him in her arms while staring down at him with her pale white eyes and her singular black and red sideways eye on her forehead, Kaguya furrowed her snow-white eyebrows as she stared confusingly down into his scarlet gaze.
"Goblin Slayer? Why, and… H-How are you here with me?" Kaguya asked with a perplexed tone in her alluring voice.
Staring up at her while blinking rapidly as he was slowly getting back his bearings, Goblin Slayer had a mild look of wonderment in his curious eyes. "I don't have an answer for either of those questions… I just woke up here a few moments ago, and saw that you were sitting over there by yourself… So, I tried coming to you for answers, but then…" Goblin Slayer trailed off, as he gestured down toward the white glowing moon dust that his fingers were coated in.
Finding Goblin Slayer's cluelessness of how to navigate within a low gravity environment to be expected, the way he said with a slight bit of embarrassment in his voice was still endearing to Kaguya; someone who was more than experienced with the way physics worked in space. Smiling softly, Kaguya carefully placed the gray-haired adventurer down on the surface of the moon on his own two feet, all the while holding onto his hand so he wouldn't accidentally float off again.
"I see… Why don't we walk and talk? How about I start off by teaching you how to walk here? It's really quite fun, once you get used to it," Kaguya offered with a slight bit of nervousness in her voice, as it had been a very long time since she had done anything that could have been seen as recreational.
"… That's fine," Goblin Slayer replied in a slightly anxious voice, due to him still feeling overwhelmed with the amount of questions he had inside of his head. "Kaguya, are we… Are we actually on the moon?" Goblin Slayer asked curiously, while looking up and over his shoulder toward Kaguya's gaze, as she began to slowly demonstrate to him on how to tread in low gravity.
Needing a moment to think about how she would answer Goblin Slayer's question, Kaguya's byakugan-eyes lowered down past his scarlet gaze and towards his feet, as to make sure that his slow steps were matching hers. "Hmm… Yes, we're on a moon, but it's not the particular moon that you're familiar with. You and I are in one of the six dimensions that I have dominion over; all of which are located inside of my mind" Kaguya replied, while smiling proudly at how fast Goblin Slayer was picking up on how to walk on the moon. "Excellent, just like that… Try to move your legs, like you would when you're skipping; like you would do if you were walking underwater."
"I… I see. Like… Like this?" Goblin Slayer asked with an uncertain tone in his voice, although it was apparent to Kaguya from the way he was smiling that he was getting enjoyment out of walking beside her on the moon.
Nodding her head with the same excitement a mother would have seeing their child riding a bike on their own for the first time, Kaguya let out a happy chuckle as she slowly let go of Goblin Slayer's hand. "Exactly like that! Now jump! Jump, and let's see how high you can go!" Kaguya cheered on, and watched with bated breath as Goblin Slayer crouched down before pushing himself off of the glowing white surface of the ground.
Reaching thirty feet into the air, the feeling that Goblin Slayer was experiencing could be best described as the excitement one feels when riding a rollercoaster for the first time; the slight bit of worry he felt overshadowed the sheer amount of thrill he was experiencing. For the first time since he was a child, Goblin Slayer found himself smiling wide and letting out an amused and nervous laugh, as he slowly descended back down to the moon's surface.
Even though he didn't need to shoulder-roll in order to break his fall, Goblin Slayer chose to somersault along the glowing white ground anyway for the fun of it; kicking a thick cloud of moon dust into the air, while continuously rolling across the ground until he finally came to a slow skidding stop on his back. Filled with endorphins caused by simple pleasures that he hadn't felt before in over a decade, Goblin Slayer couldn't help but to think back to his childhood; back when his sister was alive, and everything was good in his world.
Memories of making snow angels with Cow Girl and his older sister came to mind, and the sense of nostalgia he felt in his heart from thinking back to those simpler times both pained him, and comforted him at the same time; leaving him with the feeling of catharsis. Being brought back down from his momentary dopamine rush, Goblin Slayer slowly rose back up to his feet and turned around to where Kaguya was levitating toward him, wearing the same white kimono that he saw her with when they first met.
"… You said that this moon was in a "dimension", and that it wasn't the one I'm familiar with. Tell me, what did you mean by "six dimensions"?" Goblin Slayer asked, while wanting to get back on track with asking the many questions he had for the mysterious celestial being.
"Imagine if you will that where you are is somewhere akin to a different plane of existence… The concept akin to that of a dream, but with the exception that everything around us is as real as you and I," Kaguya explained as easily as she could, as to give Goblin Slayer a comprehensible understanding of how her dimensions operated. "The form you're taking as of now has been constructed by your consciousness, as how mine is as well… That's why I'm able to take on this form you see before you, and not that rabbit body I have to be in."
Although he couldn't quite wrap his head around all of the theoretics of how Kaguya's enigmatic mind operated, Goblin Slayer was able to grasp the basics of what she was saying to him. "I see… I've never met anyone who's capable of performing such powerful works of magic before," Goblin Slayer said in a methodical voice, as he thought more about what he could remember from what Kaguya said during her brief introduction with him. "So this is actually happening right now… Kaguya, you said you weren't a witch when I met you, and you told me when I saw you as a rabbit that you've been alive for eons, however long that actually is… So, please enlighten me: who and what are you, exactly?"
Having already known that it would have only been a matter of time before Goblin Slayer became curious enough to ask about who she was, and what her past was, Kaguya braced herself as she took in a deep breath, before letting out a calming sigh. "I… I am a celestial being… I've gone by many, many names before," Kaguya answered with a small smile on her lips, as she put one pale hand over her chest. "The Rabbit Goddess, The Demon, The Progenitor of Chakra, The Mother of Chakra, The Disgrace of the Ōtsutsuki Clan… God Almighty, Herself: these are the names I've earned for myself, after I was finally able to free myself of my clan's hold of my very soul," Kaguya said with a mystique in her voice; making it very apparent to Goblin Slayer that she very much reveled in those titles.
"... You see young man, I was once the goddess who everyone prayed to when they were saying grace, and when they needed me to pull through whatever tragedy they were going through," Kaguya reminisced, as she thought about how loved by all she once was; getting temples and momentums built in her honor. "Forgive me, I'm… I'm getting ahead of myself. Allow me to explain. Long ago, in the world where I was sent to by my clan, my entire purpose was to be sacrificed, in order to grow what's known as a "God Tree". The purpose of it was to provide my clan with a powerful fruit known as "chakra fruit", and that was to be harvested by another higher ranking member of my clan who was sent to that world with me…"
"I… I knew what they were going to do with that much power at their fingertips, and out of a fear of my own life, as well as wanting to know more about the planet they sent me to, I… I betrayed the Ōtsutsuki clan by killing the higher ranking member that came with me to sacrifice me, and ate the chakra fruit for myself," Kaguya said, while thinking back to that fateful day where she became the powerful being that she would later be hated for. "The chakra fruit gave me powers beyond that of what mortals knew was possible. There was so much war on that planet between mankind when I got there, and I hated it; hated how many people died over absolutely pointless reasons… So with my new power, I personally traveled across the world, and put a stop to every single conflict in their existence. It was because of me that their kind finally knew what world peace was."
Digesting the information that Kaguya was explaining to him, Goblin Slayer had his arms crossed over his bare chest, all while nodding slowly while picturing Kaguya as being similar to the "Supreme God" of his world. "I see… Sounds to me as though you were loved very much as a benevolent goddess."
Upon hearing Goblin Slayer's compliment, Kaguya's proud expression wavered, as a solemn smile formed on her red lips. "I… I thought that once as well… I did everything I could for humanity," Kaguya explained, as a gloom look of remorse and guilt came over her. "But... Things never go the way you hope for sometimes. Life is unusually cruel... Though, I suppose that can't be helped."
Sensing that there was more that Kaguya wanted to talk about, Goblin Slayer felt prompted to inquire more about her past. "I suppose so... Did you want to talk about it? It seems to me as though you've got a lot on your mind," Goblin Slayer asked, while pointing out the way Kaguya seemed distracted as she looked back at him.
Opening her mouth to give an immediate response, Kaguya paused for a moment with her red lips parted. Catching herself from revealing more than she already had, Kaguya lowered her gaze down momentarily, before softly sighing as she shook her head with a small smile. "I'm particularly in the mood to dive into my past at the moment, I'm sorry. It's long, messy, and quite frankly, it's hard for me to talk about, so... I'd rather spend our short time together enjoying the moment while we have it; can't imagine it'll be much longer until one of us wakes up from this," Kaguya said with a shrug, as she grabbed him by the the hand.
Before prompted to sit down beside her, the Goblin Slayer sat with his legs crossed while Kaguya scooted up closer to his side. Gazing up at the manifested image of the faux blue planet before them, Goblin Slayer found the sight to beautiful, but compared to how fascinated Kaguya looked as she stared up past the planet while stargazing, he couldn't help but to wonder what was intriguing her so much. "Kaguya... Is there... Is there something in particular that you're looking at?" Goblin Slayer asked; squinting his eyes over to where he saw Kaguya looking.
Still caught in her own thoughts, Kaguya still found herself caught of guard by what she heard coming out of Goblin Slayer's mouth, that she looked away from the alignment of stars that had caught her attention. "Young man… Are you… Are you not familiar with what star constellations are?" Kaguya asked softly, while still sounding still distracted to Goblin Slayer, as he felt her lowering her head on top of his.
"I've heard about them, but I've never studied them nor had the time to partake in anything having to do with stars," Goblin Slayer replied, as he vaguely remembered stargazing being one of his older sister's favorite pastimes.
Nodding her head while finding herself getting drawn to his presence, Kaguya was fighting with herself as she tried bringing herself to raise her arm up to wrap it behind Goblin Slayer's back. "Oh, that's… That's understandable. As the name suggests, I imagine you're more into slaying goblins then staring up longfully onto the night sky…" Kaguya said with a disappointed voice, and was about to retract her arm away from Goblin Slayer, when all of a sudden he reached back to pull her arm up and over his shoulder for her.
Having sensed that she was seeking his affection, the last thing Goblin Slayer wanted for Kaguya was to believe that all she deserved was to be alone. So, he decided to cuddle her and rest his head against hers as well, smiling gently as he stared up at her blushing face. "I would be honored if you were to teach me about them. That is, if that's fine by you," Goblin Slayer said with his usual and seemingly stoic voice, while faintly hearing the sound of Kaguya's heart beating faster in her pale chest.
"I-I… Y-Yes! Yes, but of course; I would love to tell you about constellations! Here, umm?! L-Let me show you some of the ones I saw the world I came from, that left the deepest impact on me," Kaguya stuttered out with a giddy grin across her red lips, as she raised a hand up to begin rearranging the stars themselves; manipulating them until they took the form of one of Kaguya's most favorite constellations.
"This one is called "Tamamo-no-Mae": she's one of Konohagakure's oldest kitsunes; legends of her attempting to marry into the throne and kill the emperor have been around long before I came to their world," Kaguya explained with a fascinated look in her otherworldly eyes, as she pointed over to a cluster of stars that, to her, looked like the beautiful kitsune woman of legend.
Although Kaguya's imagination allowed for her to paint the image in her head of what the constellation was supposed to represent, all Goblin Slayer could see were just a bunch of white dots in space, which vaguely looked like an incomplete stick figure to him. "Huh… I see," Goblin Slayer said with a still intrigued tone in his voice, and continued to engage with Kaguya, as she kept rearranging the stars to create more and more constellations, until eventually Goblin Slayer's consciousness slowly faded out of her dimension.
When Goblin finally reawakened from his latest near death experience against the Ancient Wyvern, he found himself stripped of all his clothing, just like how he had been when he was stargazing in Kaguya's dimension. However, unlike before, he wasn't resting on any celestial body, but instead was laying down on his own bed.
Except he wasn't alone, not in the least bit. Laying naked down beside him on his left was Priestess, who was softly snoring with her head resting on his shoulder; her slender arms and legs wrapped around his entire left arm. And on his right side, Goblin Slayer could feel Sword Maiden's hot breath against the nape of his neck, as she too had cuddled up against him during the entire night, with her bare body nonetheless.
All of it was very reminiscent of the first time Goblin Slayer had to sleep next to a naked holy woman, just in order to enact the Earth Mother's restoration ritual. All of it was practically the same as before, except for the fact that it wasn't just Priestess and Sword Maiden who he had awoken naked with.
Laying underneath him with her strong arms wrapped around his lower waist was Cow Girl, who was snoring loudly with her face pressed up against the back of his head full of gray hair; her muscular body was able to support the combined weight of Goblin Slayer, as well as High Elf Archer, who had fallen asleep on top of his body with her flat chest pressing up against his. With High Elf Archer's face buried in his collar, Goblin Slayer immediately could tell by the warm wet spot on him, where she had been drooling all over him during the entire duration of the night.
Thinking that he was only sandwiched by four beautiful women, the moment Goblin Slayer tried adjusting his legs it soon dawned on him that there was a fifth girl who had slept with him. Doing his best to look over High Elf Archer's bareback and over her petite bottom mounds, it took Goblin Slayer a few moments before finally realizing that Guild Girl had chosen to fall asleep with her stomach and breast resting against the tops of his legs; her blushing face being dangerously close to Goblin Slayer's morning erection, as she slept with her face buried in his crotch.
'… I'm starting to wonder whether or not having no clothes on is an actual necessity for this ritual to work… Or, if it's just simply a choice of preference," Goblin Slayer thought to himself, as he let out a sigh as he stared back up at the ceiling, thinking of a way how he could wiggle himself out of the warm pile of beautiful-naked woman that he was buried in, all without waking any of them up in the process.