7:02 A.M.

February 16

Frostmonth 18

The Unusual Huntress, Limeroom, Veotera

Gary arrived in front of the tavern in the bright morning air. He was surprised at the unusual warmth of the day even this early and felt he was right to wait until today for this. It was a date. He wanted to call it anything else, but this was clearly a date. As he looked around he spotted Deliliah looking out of one of the windows of the tavern and upon seeing him see her she gave him a little wave and walked out of view towards the door. She quickly moved up to him, letting Gary take in her outfit.

Obviously the flirty tavern wench clothing was gone in favor of a much more conservative long-skirted dress in an earthy brown dye cinched with an outer corset laced up in the front made out of a dark and nearly black leather. A hip-length off-purple mantle cloak completed her outfit that he could see at the moment. Honey blond hair spilled out of either side of the hood around her face and her amber eyes looked at him in silent anticipation.

“Good morning, Delilah. Are you ready?”

“Good morning! I’m ready to go!” With that, he offered her his arm and she entwined it with both of her own. They walked towards the gate in companionable silence broken mostly by her humming a few notes here and there of some nameless tune as she delighted in her little escorted journey. Once they got past the gate and outside the city, Gary freed his arm from her grasp to her confusion. Gary had opted for one of his thicker outfits and didn’t have his armor on under his crimson cloak. The weapons at his waist barely made any noise as he simply scooped her up in a princess carry. That earned him a startled squeak that made him smirk happily at her.

“Sorry for the treatment, but I have a spot I think you’ll like. It’ll take too long for you to get there walking, so I’m going to go quicker. Better hold on.” Understanding he meant to move at speed, she quickly hugged onto him as he crouched a little bit and took off at a great velocity. The startled squeak from before was replaced in his cheeky memory with the higher-pitched yelp as he moved at a greater speed thanks to his Agility and Constitution letting him maintain a much higher pace than he could have hoped for on Earth pre-System.

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8:15 A.M.

February 16

Frostmonth 18

Date campsite, Limeroom, Veotera

Gary slowed down to a reasonable jog once within sight of his chosen location, allowing Deliliah to catch her breath and try to get her heart under control. She’d had a deathgrip on him for the whole trip, and he wasn’t unhappy about that. Now that he’d come out of high speed her head turned to and fro as she took in the scenery of nature around her.

The site he’d chosen was one that he’d come across ahead of time. He’d found this spot on one of his contracts and liked the view of the area it gave. It sat on a small hill overlooking the splotchy forest cover the area around the city had, with a singular oak tree spreading branches wide over the campsite. The young green leaves would provide a dappled sunlight effect once the sun was higher, but that wasn’t all the hill boasted.

Gary had come ahead yesterday and set up his tent on the spot. The cream-colored two-layer fabric housing was firmly in place and nothing had gone wrong in the intervening night. Cresting the small hill, Gary finally set Deliliah down on her feet and stepped back a pace with his hands on his hips. The young woman spun around slowly and took in the vista before her with what he could see was a growing radiant smile. She stopped her turning to face him with her hands clasped at bosom level as she excitedly spoke.

“I love it, Gary! Thank you for bringing me here!”

“Glad to be of service. Now while you look around I’m going to get that brazier lit.” She turned back towards the tent and saw that he was referring to a metal construct. It was simple in design: a wide and shallow bowl of iron about the depth of his fist with a circumference of a forearm and a half supported by three stubby canted legs. There was no embellishment or decoration, though there was a point where it could clearly be hooked to a hiking pack, and notches for holding small sticks angled towards the fire along the rim. He’d gotten it from one of the other blacksmiths in town since he’d been bugging Warren too much lately for his own tastes, and he liked the way it worked like he wanted it to. The height was roughly the top of his ankles and that was more so he could keep the fire off the ground to counteract damp ground later on.

He’d stacked a bit of wood previously and was pleased that it was dry enough to work. As Deliliah wandered in the periphery and explored this tiny corner of the great outdoors a flint was struck a few times before the tinder he supplied caught aflame. A few moments of nursing the thing and quickly the wood caught up and began to radiate a nice heat, banishing the rest of the warm morning’s chill. The blond wandered over to the lit fire and held her hands near it to warm her fingers as she smiled aimlessly at the situation.

“I figure we can use this as a base camp, and go exploring in a direction that you want to. Or sit here and let the sunlight warm things up first? I’ll let you decide how you want to do this.” As she stood there half-crooked over the brazier and gently curling her fingers towards the heat, Delilah gave the ideas some thought and looked over to him standing there awaiting her.

“Let’s wait a little for the sunlight. I need to warm up still from that run you did. The wind was pretty cold!” He nodded and leaned into the tent’s confines, pulling free a woolen blanket which he provided to her. She thanked him with a nod and flung it over her shoulders to add to her cloak’s warmth as she sat down on the grass pretty close to the brazier. Gary was already warm from the light run, and to his surprise he wasn’t sweating at all. The System’s alterations to his body must have been to blame for that and his lack of fatigue. Normally the distance he’d traveled and the pace he’d done it at should have been something to leave him sprawled out gasping for air. Then again, he had gone slower than he thought he could go to accommodate his passenger.

He sat beside her and gave her something to lean on as they watched the flames crackle merrily. The silence came back but he felt her left hand sneak out from under the wool blanket to entwine with his right hand. The gesture was wordless but he gently rubbed the slightly-cold fingers between his own to try and help warm them. Out of the corner of his eye he could see her mouth turning up into a contented closed-lip smile.

“I had my doubts about choosing this spot,” Gary admitted as he held his left hand towards the brazier for a few moments as he rubbed his fingers together a little bit. “It’s a bit further away than I would have liked for your safety, but the other spots that aren’t up in the foothills either have Limeroom in the viewline or are filthy with Ripper Rabbits.”

“I’d rather not deal with monsters today, thank you kindly.” The comment from her was clearly one with an amused tone, which earned a small upturn of his own lips. “But in all honesty, I didn’t want to see Limeroom. I don’t want to see anyone else apart from you today. This is our time together, and I don’t want it spoiled!”

Gary quirked a brow as he turned his head a little to regard her with a sideways glance. She was looking up at him slightly with a determined look on her face. Her cheeks were puffed out a little bit and it ruined the fierce look she was giving him, but when he poked her nearest cheek with his left index finger the cheek deflated with a puff of air and a tiny giggle. The way she was being adorable while she was in her blooming womanliness made him hate himself even more for the cruelness of this situation.

She poked him in the cheek back as he blinked in surprise at her. The look was back as she focused on his eyes. “None of that, Gary. Don’t feel guilty; I want this.”

He sighed as she shifted her hand to cup his cheek and he leaned to put his head on top of hers, getting his other cheek pressed against her warm honey-hued locks. “I know, Delilah.. I just can’t help feeling like I’m betraying you, and that’s something I don’t like the feeling of.”

“This is my dream, silly. You’re innocent in all this. You always will be.” They lapsed back into silence as they waited for the sun to get high enough and warm the air so they could explore without being too cold. Once that point was reached, Delilah shed the blanket back into the confines of the tent and the two embarked on a wandering tour of the area. Gary allowed himself to be led around by the hand as the city girl got her fill of exploring the great outdoors. She probably got her hands on wild plants for the first time in a while and as the time went on and they went at her pace the giggles, then laughter, then happy grins before returning to giggles kept up unabated.

Wildflowers were scarce this early into the year, though Gary noted some either too-early or hardier breeds were poking out in places from the ground. Delilah swooped in here and there, gathering a bloom here and a small cluster there until Gary ended up carrying the two-handful load of small flowers as he trailed behind her. Nearing midday, she called a pause to the exploration and they returned to the tent and brazier. The fire was crackling away slowly and Gary placed more wood on it to ensure the heat would be ready for their needs.

She retrieved the blanket she’d used earlier and spread it out on the ground before pointing commandingly beside her on the woolen surface. “Flowers here, please.” Without complaint he deposited his cargo at her side and noted she started going through them as he retrieved a container from the tent and opened it to reveal a set of kebabs he’d prepared. He noted the ice in the bottom of the container separated by a wooden partition he’d made quickly and that had cost him a decent amount of money was still pretty well solid, and prided himself on the decision to make something comparatively simple and to source a way to keep it cold until he was ready for it.

As he moved back to the brazier Delilah looked up from her project between her fingers to observe the food curiously. Gary waved them gently at her before speaking up. “I went with something a tiny bit fancy, but still simple. Didn’t know exactly what you liked so I have some with just meat and some with cuts of vegetables. We’ll have to make due with just some salt as seasoning, though.”

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Those are really interesting-looking,” she said as she leaned in to look at the skewers he was securing to the holders in the rim of the brazier. The angle they were at would let the meat and vegetables get a nice roasting, flavoring the latter with juices from the former. “What are they called?”

“It’s known as a kebab. It came from far away from my hometown, but it’s gained immense popularity because it’s simple to make and eat. It’s literally ‘put meat and vegetables on a stick and cook over a fire’. I would have soaked the meat in some sauces to get even more flavor but I didn’t know what you liked, so I went with plain just to be safe.” The food now in position to start cooking Gary looked back at her and found Delilah was in the process of making a flower crown. The stems had looked a little long to him when she’d gathered them and now he understood why. She was watching him watch her and a light rosy color tinted her cheeks as she went back to her weaving.

He was content to let her do what she wanted as he settled close to watch the food cooking. She happily hummed some wordless and to Gary’s admittedly untrained ear slightly off-key reproduction of a tune that was floating around Limeroom by roving minstrels and musicians trying to make a quick bit of coin. The aroma of cooking meat and veggies finally distracted her enough that she paused again in his peripheral vision and he heard a little grumbling growl. He turned his head to glance at her, she looked him dead in the eye, and Gary belatedly realized that both of them had had stomach noises at the same time.

An amused snort came from him as she embarrassedly worked on finishing her flower crown as Gary brought a couple of the just-meat kebabs over to her after letting them rest away from the heat for a minute or two so they were a mouth-safe temperature. The ones with the veggies weren’t done yet so he watched them even as he bit into his and watched her set the crown on her head to free her hands up. An offered skewer in each hand led to her bracing the tip of the wooden stick against a half-occupied finger on the other hand before taking a big bite. Her eyes closed as she chewed; her brow unwrinkled as she clearly enjoyed the food.

“I take it milady approves,” Gary said with a smirk as he nodded his chin towards the ring of wildflowers on her head. She nodded with a wordless smile before really working on her kebabs. Poor thing probably hadn’t eaten this morning, making Gary both applaud his choice of food and kick himself for being such a dunce at to not check in with her about that. He could see his mistakes as they were revealed. To be fair to himself, though; this was his first date. A perfect score was unrealistic on his very first attempt with an effectively spur-of-the-moment arrangement.

About the time they finished their first bit the ones with the vegetables were finally ready. As Gary pulled them off and retrieved a small container of salt to sprinkle over them she spoke up again. “Why aren’t we just eating it immediately? You set the first ones aside like that, too.”

“Two reasons,” Gary said as he judged it’d been long enough and gave Delilah her portion. “One, they’re just flat-out too hot to eat without burning your mouth and tongue. The second is a thing discovered by cooks in that you let cooked meat rest for a little bit once you take it off heat it lets the juices on the inside soak back into the meat properly. Less juice leaks when you bite into it and it holds more flavor.”

“Huh. I’ll have to try that one. Your hometown sure knows a lot of things, and I’m happy you learned them!”

“Me too,” Gary said ruefully as he worked on the second half of his meal when he saw her approvingly bite into her second round of kebabs. As opposed to simply closing her eyes, he could see them roll upwards under her eyelids a tiny bit as the addition of veggies and salt seemed to hit the spot. Gary finished first though, and went back to the container to pull free a clay jug with a cork stopper. As he returned to her side with a pair of cups as well she clearly recognized the jug for containing more of the apple juice from the other day.

Having been alerted to the fact it existed, he swiftly hunted down the other tavern in question and had acquired three of the owner’s remaining vessels of juice. Gary was miffed at the price he’d paid, but he had silly amounts of funds and understood that scarcity drove up price and thus harbored no ill will to the man. Cups were filled and he once more got to watch Deliliah’s throat move in interesting ways as she swallowed the lightly sweet drink. She lowered her head and opened her eyes to find him watching her which triggered the re-emergence of the blush and a fluttering of lashes over amber eyes.

Gary felt his own cheeks heat just a touch as he drank his own cup a little heavier than he’d intended and lowered the thing to find her staring back at him the way he’d been staring at her. Her blush deepened a little and he felt his do the same by a wider margin. Goddamn, teenage hormones were a potent-ass drug. The tension shifted as she began giggling at his reaction and he found himself chuckling a little. The moment ended up being infectious and they devolved into fits of laughter that took a pleasantly long time to die down.

Wiping her eyes clear from the tears of mirth, Delilah spoke up first. “It’s good to know you really are human. I haven’t laughed like this in a long time, and over something so silly as drinking apple juice!” She leveraged herself up onto her feet and moved to the lightly-leaved oak tree with a strut that Gary could have chosen to take a number of ways but decided to go with ‘playful flirting’ as his final answer. Her slender fingers ran across the bark of the tree and she slowly began to circle it as she moved around the trunk and out of his view. A few moments passed and she leaned over from the other side; hair askew, crown threatening to fall off her head, and a wistful smile on her face.

He looked at her with a smile on his lips and a curious squint to his eyes. She vanished back behind the trunk and reappeared on the side she’d come from with her crown affixed a little better on her head and a slightly broad toothy grin on her face. This time she gave Gary an exaggerated wink and crooked a finger as she slid back behind the trunk again. He rose to his feet as he understood the assignment. Before she could emerge from the far side of the tree again, he covered the distance to the trunk and triggered 「Leap」, springing up into the branches of the oak tree and circling the trunk with a predator’s stalk.

He had a fantastic angle to look down her generous cleavage as she poked her head around the far side again and he could barely see the confused look on her face from this angle. As she began to draw a breath to call out to him Gary dropped down behind her and just as she started reacting to the thump he wrapped his arms around her waist to snugly hold her against him from behind.

A startled shriek issued from her as she struggled against his might-as-well-be-iron grasp on her torso for a few moments before daring to look back at her attacker, only to find Gary with a toothy grin on his face as she panted in his grasp. The right hand that reached up to go over her shoulder and slap him on the forehead was caught quickly by his own right hand raising from her waist to catch it in a firm but loving grip; his palm on her back of the hand. He gently held the entwined limbs against her bosom as he leaned in to whisper in her ear.

“Cheeky girls get snuck up on,” he breathed into her ear. The way he’d spoken made her blush immediately go full-face and down towards her chest. Her rapid breaths from the moment of panic were calming down a bit as she placed her left hand against his left on her waist to gently press the grip into her. “Now why would a lovely young woman like you do something so silly as to be cheeky?”

“I.. You..! That was cheating,” she protested a little too weakly. Her right hand slipped out from his hand then atop it. Delilah pressed his hand very knowingly into the soft flesh of her left breast, and Gary felt his hand instinctively flex its fingers once as she held his touch against the fabric-shielded mammary. “See? Can’t you feel my heart racing from you startling me,” came a breathy secondary ‘protest’.

“You know,” he said as he hugged her very snugly to himself by the waist and as widely as she let him with his right hand. “That’s not where your heart is. It’s a little more this way.” He shifted his grip a little towards the center of the chest and she made a tiny noise. “Right about there, behind this lovely flesh. But I apologize for making your heart race that way. I think this is the more appropriate way, right here.” She turned her head a tiny bit more and he leaned down and around to plant a firm kiss on her lips.

Gary decided at this point. He was beyond caring. Uncle Thomas could scold him all he wanted when he found a way home. He’d repent at every church he could find between here and that day. This was too good a feeling for him to ignore; too damn right to fulfill a fleeting fantasy here where there was nothing to stop him but some stupid dress and his own hang-ups. The goddamn hormones had won this battle, and he’d deal with the fallout later.

They stood there in the dappled shade of the oak for a time; embracing unbroken until they had to come up for air. Once that occurred he let her slip from his grasp and she took enough of a step so that she could turn around and look at him head-on. Not once did she let his right hand go from where it was on palm-flat pressed into her bosom, and even through the deep blush he saw her glittering amber eyes

“Please,” she said simply as she looked into his eyes. Her eyes said yes, her body said yes, her voice…

“Won’t that make it hard for you to-?” She placed her left index finger on his lips to shush him and somehow the blush reached incandescence as she set her features into a goofy grin.

“I told you I don’t care. This is my only chance, and I’ll say this as many times as I have to: I want you. I want you to want me. I want to be a greedy woman and have you remember me. I want to be with you. I want you to be with me…”

Gary took a very deep breath; chest expanding as he drew in that statement and the implications within. If giving her this dream was a fundamental wrong, denying her at this point was unremitting evil. He’d regret it for the rest of his days if he said no. He’d regret it for the rest of his days if he said yes. Finally, the slow exhale against the finger she still had on his lips signaled his decision.

“I understand.” He took that part-step in that she’d claimed, prying his right hand loose finally as he did so. A slight stoop allowed him to lace his hands under her buttocks to brace his lift against the upper back of her thighs as he stood up to his full height and carried her back towards the camp, the brazier’s heat, the tent that had taken on a measure of that warmth, and bittersweet memories in the making.

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The day trip turned into an overnight one. Womanly flesh had been beautifully smooth under his touch, and slender fingers had made their caress known on his athletic form as well. The activities they had engaged in would be engraved into his mind for a very long time.

Only his modern education, cultural osmosis, and a sneaky glance at a few manuals of a certain kind had been able to ensure the moment wasn’t a blunder. Judging from the way she lay in sleep-grinning disheveled glory told him he’d been correct in some assumptions. The tent was surprisingly warm once the flaps were closed and was the reason she was sprawled out in the larger bedroll he’d gotten to accommodate his height, covering half off to reveal a hefty bare bosom with what he knew to be delicious pale skin in the wan moonlight that managed to barely filter in through the dual-layered fabrics.

It was barely enough light to see by. He sat in the dark without speaking, without disturbing her by moving. A heaviness was on his heart from this, and even though his body felt pleasantly numb from the attentions of this beautiful creature asleep beside him Gary couldn’t help but feel like a monster.

He was going to leave. He was going to be gone to God only knew where and do God only knew what; and this young woman was going to go back to that tavern and every smile she gave anyone for the rest of her life was going to be tinged with a grain of sorrow. Her eyes were going to lose that tiny bright innocent sparkle because he’d stolen it. Gary had gotten arrogant, and this was the result. Dark thoughts directed towards the System but kept circling back to himself. Had it known this was going to happen? Was he a Plunderer not because he wanted to steal its secrets, but because he was to steal innocence like this?

Another glance to Delilah revealed the wan moonlight showing flecks of wildflower embedded in her honey hair. Despite his own misgivings he had to admit she gave as good as she got. He had to respect her because she knew what she’d wanted and was willing to exhaust herself to the bone to get it. It still made him feel like a cad.

What was done was done. All he could do at this point was hope it stayed merely bittersweet…