Here's a short transitional chapter before we get into the final stages of the Ancient Wyvern arc. Once it's dead, we'll have a chance for slice of life moments and "mini-quests", which I'm very excited for. Wanted to update this story and give you all something to read over the weekend.
Happy Super Bowl, if you're into that. Other than that's please enjoy this chapter!
Once the party had managed to cross through the forest, just north of where the observation tower was, they once again found themselves in an open plain of sorts. Unlike the fields that were located just past the shores of where they had dragged their dinghy through the sands of the beach, the blades of grass they were traversing over were thinner and more sparse in comparison.
Walking along the side of where a stream of rushing blue water was head back to where the sea was, the flat-rocky terrain of what appeared to be an ancient battlefield at one point was full of decayed remains of military structures that looked far less elegant that anything else they've seen on the island thus far. Thinking back to the holographic recording he watched of the lone surviving mercenary from a bygone era, Goblin Slayer recalled seeing the look of despair within the mercenary captain's eyes, as they passed by the hollowed remains of wrecked mecha units, and the destroyed husks of faded-green tanks that appeared to have been scrapped of their valuable components.
Even though they were so close to reaching the source of where the Ancient Wyvern's energy was radiating from, Goblin Slayer had allotted for time to allow Hero to explore the cobblestone built fortresses that were once protected by the rotting remains of the wooden barricades, that laid in brittle-splintered pieces on the dirt. Joining her with Kaguya resting on his shoulder, Goblin Slayer walked beneath the crumbled archway leading into one particular fortress that led into a spacious courtyard in the center of its ruined walls.
From tattered pieces of aged fabric that were scattered on the ground, to the large brass shell casing that was once part of the ammunition used in the advanced cannons that were mounted near the battlements on top of the fortress' surrounding walls, everything seemed to be aged. And just like the remains of the mecha units and armored vehicles that were left to rot, all the valuable components within the left over pieces of heavy artillery, including the firing mechanism, had been stripped long ago.
Even the insides of the main cobblestone stronghold had been cleared out of anything that could have been remotely useful, with the only things left inside the barracks being ruined furniture; all of which had a thick layer of dust and cobwebs over their surfaces. Despite there being absolutely no loot to speak of, the sightseeing of the historic landmark alone was worth the endeavor, and the secured area meant that Goblin Slayer and Hero had somewhere to rest their legs for the final trek of their journey.
With the blade of Hero's light sword illuminating the darkness within the abandoned stronghold, they were able to safely ascend up the wooden staircase inside of the stronghold's tall sentry tower. Once they reached the top of the flight of stairs, Goblin Slayer climbed up the old ladder leading up to the hatch to the top of the ceiling, and was the first one to crawl out onto the battlement of the sixty-foot tall structure. Trying to hold the hatch door open for the younger adventurer, Goblin Slayer heard Hero snickering the moment he accidentally tore the rotting piece of wood off its rusted hinges.
"Pffftt! Smooth moves, Eren," Hero teased sarcastically, as she took his hand before being hoisted up on the wooden floorboards that he was kneeling down on. Walking past him as he rose to his feet, Hero slid her sword back into her leather scabbard before raising her arms to stretch; letting out a deep yawn as she walked over to the cobblestone remains of the parapets at the edge of the battlement.
Glancing from the corner of his eye at Hero, who raised one leg up to begin stretching her calves, Goblin Slayer turned his attention away from her to look at the broken hatch in his hand. "… This entire structure looks decrepit… It all makes me wonder whether or not there's even any people left on this landmass," Goblin Slayer mused aloud with a thoughtful look in his scarlet eyes, as he tossed the wooden hatch door onto the floorboards beneath his leather boots.
Switching her legs by raising her other foot and digging her heel into the top of one particular rectangular parapet, Hero gazed out over the ancient battlefield; her apricot eyes taking in the aftermath of what she could only assume to have been a long drawn out bloody battle. "All of this stuff reminds me a lot of those ancient civilizations Sage's talked about: apparently, they all had this impressive technology and crap back in their era, but none of them are around anymore to give their stories, nor are there really any legible documents and stuff to go off of, so the smart people just collect whatever they crud they can find and make their own theories based off of their findings," Hero said with her back facing towards Goblin Slayer, who was walking over the stone parapet that were on the other opposite where she was stretching.
"Is that so? And what sort of ancient civilizations do you know of?" Goblin Slayer asked loud enough for Hero to hear him, as he used Kaguya's telescopic vision to zoom in on the massive one-hundred meter tall stone-fortress that was built on the top the nearby Eastern high-plateaus; the front of the large-encompassing architectural masterpiece, appearing geometric in structure and resembling the stair-case shaped sides of a pyramid.
Smirking at the question, Hero's mind once again thought of the smartest woman in her group of close friends. "Heh… That's a question you should ask Sage when we get back to Vesteria; she's really into history and all that nerd stuff," Hero said with a slightly saddened twang in her heart, as she couldn't help but to miss her two best friends; thinking about their adventures together, while she overlooked the grassy fields of ruined structures and machines.
"Anyway… Uh… They're all referred to as "ancient civilizations" because that's just the blanket-term used to address those who lived a long time ago, I think? Uh… Sage told me something about them being the ones alive during the "Dark Ages", or some time period like that, um… S-Sorry, I'm not really all too knowledgeable about history," Hero apologized with a shrug, as she put her leg down while rolling her neck to pop it. "Oooh… That felt weird," she muttered with an amused grin on her face, as she turned around to face towards where Goblin Slayer's back was. "By the way, whatcha looking at, Eren?" Hero asked curiously, as she walked over to her crush before wrapping her arms around his body, while she leaned forward to rest her chin on his shoulder.
Keeping his hands resting on the top of the parapet he was standing in front of, Goblin Slayer couldn't help but to smirk at how upbeat and positive Hero was being with him, as she held on tightly to him. '… She reminds me a lot of Bethel… I wonder how she's doing right now— I haven't written to her in a while, she must be worried about me,' Goblin Slayer thought to himself; his smile fading, as the solemn wave of missing Cow Girl made his heart sink deeper into his chest. "… I was doing reconnaissance on the fortress that's on top of those flat-mountains over there; it's where we'll be heading," Goblin Slayer finally replied, as he raised the other arm that Hero wasn't resting her chin on to point towards the direction of the fort he had been scoping out.
Leaning her body against his back and putting all her weight on him to carry, Hero blinked a few times before narrowing her eyelids to try and make out where he was pointing to. "Ahhh… I THINK I know what you're pointing at… Might need to get closer~," Hero purred out with a flirtatious tone in her voice; her blushing and grinning like a schoolgirl, as she leaned in even closer until her lips were brushing up against the back of Goblin Slayer's ear. "… Over there, right… E-Eren~?" Hero asked an excited tone in her voice, as she purposefully raised her up to "accidentally" rub arms with the raised limb Goblin Slayer was using to point over at the massive fortress in the distance.
"Correct," Goblin Slayer said in a flat voice; ignorant at first to Hero's advancements on him. Seeing her champion being clueless once again, Kaguya face palmed herself with a small rabbit paw. "It shouldn't take us any longer than a few hours to reach it, now that we've had our fill on sightseeing," Goblin Slayer approximated with a perplexed look in his narrowed eyes, as he lowered his arm while feeling Hero wrapping her arm around his, before interlacing her fingers between his fingers.
"Scarlet… Is there a particular reason why you're being so… Affectionate, right now?" Goblin Slayer asked with a raised eyebrow, as he felt Hero's other arm cocking back while she seductively grabbed the side of his waist.
Biting down on her bottom lip as she subtly reached underneath Goblin Slayer's shirt, Hero's breathing began to grow more rapid and heavy as she shamelessly started to rub her palm and fingers all over the young man's toned abdomen muscles. "Mmm…~! Didn't think I needed a reason to get this up close and personal with you, now that you're pretty much my boyfriend," Hero growled with her mouth beginning to drool, as she reached up further up underneath Goblin Slayer's shirt; cupping her hand over his right pectoral muscle, while her other hand slowly inched closer to slipping past the waistband of his black cargo pants.
Frowning slightly while his cheeks were getting flustered, Goblin Slayer averted his scarlet eyes as he felt the platinum adventurer groping his chest; her mouth opening up as he felt her teeth gently sinking down on his earlobe. "I… I didn't think we were even dating yet… I was under the assumption that you and I were going to remain only as party members, until after we slayed the Ancient Wyvern," Goblin Slayer said quietly with an uncomfortable voice; shuddering as he felt Hero beginning to suck on his earlobe, while her fingers started to dig into his chest.
"Oh Eren~…! Why wait that long, when you and I can just make love right here and now~…?" Hero moaned out in an extremely aroused voice, as he proceeded to kiss the side of his neck, while sliding her hand into his pants to begin rubbing her palm and fingers around his growing erection. "See~? You want this as much as I do~! So drop the act already, will ya~?"
Having had enough of seeing her champion getting molested by the hormonal girl, Kaguya stepped into action. "Get a hold of the situation, Goblin Slayer! Time is of the essence, and we've gotten too close to our goal to get complacent now!" Kaguya scolded, before climbing over Goblin Slayer's head to leap onto Hero's face; punishing the horny adventurer by biting down hard on the tip of her nose.
Accidentally leaving deep enough scratch marks on Goblin Slayer's already scarred chest as she recoiled, Hero let out a comedic cry of pain as she ripped her arm out of the young man's shirt; pulling away and stumbling backwards as she reached up to try to pull the vicious rabbit goddess off of her face. "OKAY, OKAY— I'LL STOP, I'LL STOP!!! I'LL FREAKIN' STOP!!!" Hero screamed out with a panicked voice, as she wrestled Kaguya before finally pulling her off of her scratched up face. Letting out another cry of pain the moment Kaguya proceeded to bite her finger, Hero immediately let go of the rabbit goddess. Coming to rescue his horned rabbit, Goblin Slayer caught Kaguya midair, putting her back on his shoulder, before lowering his gaze down at where Hero was sitting down on the floorboards.
"Scarlet, you mustn't allow yourself to get distracted by any of your hormonal urges. We've already spent too much time sightseeing; we can't afford to stop right now, not when we're so close to finally slaying this monster," Goblin Slayer said in a stern voice, as he scolded Hero for attempting to engage in an activity that he saw as a waste of their valuable time. "We must conduct ourselves accordingly if we are to make progress while we still have daylight. After all, all liabilities in this world are born from the inadequacies we find in ourselves; you do your best to remember that."
Frowning, Hero shot Kaguya a dirty look before turning her attention back to Goblin Slayer. 'Well… At least I'm not horny anymore,' Hero thought begrudgingly to herself, as she rolled her apricot eyes at him. "Tch, what are you, my dad now or something…?" Hero muttered sassily under her breath, and crossed her arms while sitting hunched over with her legs crossed.
Stepping forward to offer the bitter teenager his hand, Goblin Slayer let out a quiet sigh as he tried his best to remain patient. "All good things come to those who wait, Scarlet," Goblin Slayer said with a small smile, and did his best to ignore the way Hero was childishly mocking him under her breath as she reluctantly reached up to grab a hold of his outstretched hand.
"Tch! I don't know about that, Eren; I've already been waiting a long time to get with you… Not sure how much longer you're gonna keep me waiting," Hero shot back with a half-joking voice; making sure to make it extremely obvious to Goblin Slayer that was growing impatient about beating around the bush with him.
Giving her an acknowledging nod, Goblin Slayer pulled Hero back on her feet, dusting her legs off before signaling for her to follow him back down into the hole where the rotted hatch door once was. "… Like I said, all good things come to those who wait," Goblin Slayer repeated himself with a playful wink; a gesture very much unexpected out of him, and one that immediately reignited the fire in Hero's loins.
'… Gods, his cock was so freakin huge— I wonder how I'm gonna shove it all inside of me,' Hero thought pervertedly to herself, all while flashing him an innocent and sweet smile that hid her colorful imagination, as she felt her thighs tingling at the memory of how his manhood felt in her hand. "If that's what you say so~!" Hero said with an optimistic and determined look on her face, and waited until Goblin Slayer's back was turned to her to begin ogling at his backside; immediately and inconspicuously averting her gaze the moment she saw Kaguya glaring back at her.
Stoicism caused by a childhood full of suffering and psychological trauma got a Platinum-Ranked MFer acting up.