Their journey on their way back to the overthrown Goblin outpost was slightly less interesting and not that much exciting as the travel on the wagon - which had stayed by the wyvern's hiding spot at the ashen undead knight recalled her zombie horses and got away on the wyvern of the green undead knight.
Even though Zombie and Cranberry could enlist the help of their flying beasts - and although they did travel on them, each on their own, Cranberry on the blue griffin Blueberry and the blue undead on the red dragon Baron - they did not get straight back.
After all, two weeks away is two weeks away - they promised that they will return only after the group of adventurers led by Xavi - or how she was more widely known as, Banana - would arrive and settle in, allowing for the currently residing there Dandelions to move around again.
The outpost itself was an important strategic point and it would be silly to just abandon it - especially considering the apparent worsening relationship between the human kingdom and the monster city.
After all, it seemed like monsters - the more intelligent ones at least, were amassing the army under the banner of the ruler of the monster city - that apparently had become a sigil monster - and therefore it was safe to assume that the army will not be just for show.
Honestly, it was extremely surprising to learn about a monster that had not turned into a raging killing machine that did not bother about such trivialities like enemies and allies - usually, together with the strength, the monster was given such a massive boost to their self-esteem that they would all turn murderous with the drop of a figurative hat, mostly because that was what their base instinct was telling them.
But the ruler of the monster city seemed to be different from that stereotype - although considering the gathering army, in their case it was simply that their hostility was directed at the intelligent races.
That made Zombie think.
What the pollution of the Eternal actually was - up until that point he thought it was simply something sinister that once sipped through the seal would poison the minds of monsters making them crazy, like some sort of overpowered magic rabies - but with recent monsters... was that actually the case?
How did the ruler of the monster city fit into that category then?
It honestly looked like the Eternal's pollution didn't just force the monster to go into a power-drunk hostile frenzy, but rather brought up the beast's inner desire.
The only problem was, that desire was, more often than not, a killing spree to appease a bloodlust.
The more the blue undead knight had thought about it, the more reasonable explanation it was.
The first sigil monster that he met was a centipede who wanted to their hunger, the bicorn went into a frenzy because it was hurt... even Monty before it joined the blue undead's party, was actually just wanting to take revenge on humans that caught and imprisoned it.
Even the newest one that Zombie and Cranberry encountered while accompanying the ashen undead knight - the six-armed giant at the tetra arm outpost - it seemed to have held a grudge against its former colleagues and straight-up taking revenge for some past injustice...
...and it wasn't even that hard to imagine something like that happening...
Then, once again, Zombie's thoughts turned towards the ruler of the monster city with his obviously hostile but not straight-up aggressive actions.
Whatever monster they were, they didn't hate their fellow beasts, and they actually managed to hold back their hatred for the members of the intelligent races just enough to not hear the masses of monsters up to the border without any preparations whatsoever.
"Hey, Cranberry, you said that you don't know who that priestess the remnant of Love was talking about - and you were worried about the lack of that information - then, does that, by any chance implies that you actually know who the monster city ruler is?"
The kids...
The red dragon and the blue griffin were busily moving around the forest, successively destroying the local hostile wildlife, while the blue undead and the red-haired girl were enjoying themselves in a different way.
"Haa... yes. I do. Though originally in the game the ruler was never actually that important of a character - it was something like a looming threat on the horizon - most likely a setup for a sequel or something, made by the original game developers, that was left in place by the careless god that created this world for fun."
Cranberry shrugged her shoulders while concentrating very much on the shape of Zombie's abs as she was sitting on his lap, facing the blue undead with a serious expression.
"You do seem to be changing a subject. That whole leader, who is it?"
Zombie smirked and asked after shaking his head slightly.
"I wonder, you can figure that out - we have met him in our first playthrough actually, and we killed him too, but the message for an essential character didn't pop up for us because, as I just said, the ruler of the monster city isn't an important character."
Cranberry responded absentmindedly while tracing each and every separate muscle whit her fingers, entranced by the magnificently chiseled torso of the blue undead knight.
"That is not really helpful, we killed a lot of monsters and humans back then."
Zombie rolled his eyes and scoffed.
"Haa... Yes, but if I told you who it actually was you would want to go to the monster city to kill them, but currently you are too weak to do so, and there is no need to waste your time and energy on a pointless revenge quest."
The red-haired girl sighed and admitted, before looking up at her grumpy undead and smiling.
"That makes the list smaller but not by much... is it the phoenix...? No wait, that's not a good guess. The phoenix is a remnant and therefore it is important..."
Zombie frowned and asked but then immediately answered to himself with a scoff.
"...haa... Will you listen to me, and stop thinking about it if I do this?"
Cranberry sighed, shaking her head before she leaned in and kissed the blue undead knight.
"Hmm... this might not be enough, I am a very stubborn, single-minded individual after all."
Zombie smirked and went for another kiss himself.
"Skwee...! (Baron, Baron, look...!) Skwee...! (Mommy and daddy are kissing....!)"
Blueberry screeched excitedly while pecking on Baron's leg that she was using as a cover.
"(Yes, they are. What about it?)"
The red dragon shrugged his wings indifferently while watching the pair from a distance just as keenly as the blue griffin by his side.
The two of them had already thoroughly dealt with any and all monsters who roamed the woods and were on their way back but decided to stay away for a little bit longer and give the pair a little more private time...
...while observing them...
"Skwee? (Why do humans kiss?)"
Blueberry looked up at Baron and asked curiously.
"(I am not sure. To show affection and love, would be my guess.)"
The red dragon glance at the much smaller griffin and answered after a short consideration.
"Skwee...! (Oooohhhh...!) Skwee! (I see!)"
Blueberry nodded her head in. Understanding, even though she didn't really seem to be understanding all that much.
"Skwee? (Hey, Baron, do you want to kiss?)"
She suddenly looked up at him again and screeched, fluttering her wings with excitement as if she came up with the greatest idea ever.
"(...)"
Baron glanced at her in silence before turning back to the pair in the distance.
"(No.)"
He ended up responding.
"SKWEE?! (EH?!) SKWEE?! (WHY?!)"
Blueberry gasped, spreading her wings in shock and screeching loudly.
"(Shhh.)"
*squash*
"...skwee...! (...ughyaa...!)"
Baron shushed the rowdy griffin and pushed her down with one of his wings, making her let out a funny squeaky screech.
"Skwee...! (Baron, you bully...!)"
Blueberry complained, turning her head around and pecking at the scarlet wing.
"(First of all, you might have not realized, but we cannot imitate humans, if I tried to imitate them, you would end up without a head.)"
"Skwee? (Eh, Baron?)"
To the blue griffin's great surprise, the red dragon didn't drop the subject and after a few moments started explaining his reasoning.
"(Second - and most important one - you are a pigeon. That's it.)"
"SKWEE?! (HEY, WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!)"
Baron thought and caused Blueberry to start furiously struggling to break free.
"Skwee! (Baron, you're a bully!) Skwee! (Stupid lizard!) Skwee! (I hate you!)"
The blue griffin screeched out, flapping her wings in an angry fit while also pecking at the dragon's wing.
"(Yeah. I hate you too, you selfish pigeon.)"
Baron laughed and mover his head towards the struggling griffin, his red split tongue showed up for a second, and licked the side of Blueberry's beak, before the red dragon stood up and released her.
"(Master has spotted us and is waving for us to return - let's go.)"
"..."
Baron motioned at the blue undead and the red-haired girl in the distance with his chin and started walking, while the blue griffin was left in place, frozen in shock.
"(You're going or not...?)"
The red dragon turned around to check up on the unusually silent griffin, but then...
"SKWEE! (MOMMY, DADDY!) SKWEE~! (BARON KISSED ME~!) SKWEE~! (BARON KISSED ME~!)"
The blue griffin passed him with great speed as she frolicked towards their masters while screeching, absolutely ecstatic.
"(Wha...?! N-no I did not!)"
Baring suddenly got embarrassed and took a step back...
"(NO, I DID NOT! DON'T LISTEN TO THE PIGEON, MASTER! LADY CRANBERRY!)"
The red dragon used wide-range telepathy and called out.
"Skwee! (Yes, he did!) Skwee! (He totally did!) Skwee! (Aha - I knew that he likes me too!)"
Blueberry laughed and skillfully dodged Baron's attempt to catch her.
"(THAT DOESN'T COUNT!)"
"Skwee~! (Yes, it does~!)"
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