The Peerless Kobold - Chapter 1
It’s not always, but I sometimes find myself wondering what the purpose of life is.
I wonder if it’s because of my profession?
After all, in the mercenary industry, you wouldn’t know when you’d just die somewhere by the roadside.
That’s why when that time comes, I don’t want to have any regrets.
But why do I work as a mercenary?
Well, the answer is obvious: it’s just a relatively better way of life.
Athos, my beloved country, may be a desert kingdom that’s 40% desert, but it boasts an inland sea that connects it to the nations to the west. Its coastal plains and forested areas are also rich in natural resources so the main industry is farming which means there is no shortage of food.
However, the occasional famine comes every few years, and an obvious societal gap between the rich and the poor exists. As a result, during the years when famine comes, a child born to a poor household would be abandoned and left on the doorsteps of the Heavenly Moon religious sect… and as fate would have it, I am also one of those children.
It’s not like the organization would just accept all the orphans that came to them though; as soon as a child reached about 12 years old, it was normal to be driven out of the institution. It might seem cruel to some, but I can’t thank them enough for taking care of me up to that point.
Since there was no shortage of orphans, the environment I grew up in was not something one could use to survive and I often went hungry after leaving the sect. It was during those times that the captain of the mercenary corps had picked me up from the streets.
Because of my history, I felt a bit conflicted as I held out the longsword that had become familiar in my hands. I wonder if they would be tough enough to live on their own if they lost their mother now…
In front of our camp, two Kobold pups stood between me and their Kobold mother after I had kicked her away and they dashed out from their hiding spot among the bushes to shield her.
“Ki, kyuun!”
“Kukyuuh!”
One of the pups was clearly shaking while its tail was tucked between its legs but it didn’t run; instead, it stood firm while cutely barking. Meanwhile, the other one bravely approached and gnawed on my shin pads.
“… What’s this, they’re so cute.”
“Did you get the others taken care of, Sakura?”
A black-haired beauty who wore light armor stepped next to me and avidly watched the Kobold pups.
“Looking at them now, it seems these pups were just born a little over two months ago. At first glance, you’d think they were ordinary puppies.”
“… Looks like they’re the only ones left.”
Eric, our resident mage, and Gaston, our scout, also appeared from the side. It seems that while I was being held back by the young heroes here, my companions had defended against a group of Kobolds who had attacked under the cover of night to steal our food. Kobolds are a kind of subhuman race that is also known as the dog people, and are just one of the common and weak creatures in this world.
Although the puppies are gnawing frantically at my shin pads, they’ve done no damage and only managed to cover my equipment in drool.
“Kuauh!!”
“Ukyuu!?”
When the puppies realized that they were surrounded by the four of us, they tucked their tails between their legs and drew back to hide behind their mother. It seemed like the mother wanted to escape as well, but the presence of her pups held her back.
“So, what’re you gonna do, Rex? I’ll get mad at you if you kill them.”
“… Sakura, didn’t you just kill a bunch of Kobolds earlier?”
She was holding a weapon from the Eastern nations called a katana which was still dripping with blood.
“Well, haven’t we already beat the others back? Killing them now just doesn’t make sense.”
“……………….”
From my periphery, I could see that Eric and Gaston were making shocked faces that seemed like they wanted to say, ‘That’s rich, coming from you.’
I’ve challenged Sakura to mock battles before, but she never accepted defeat even if she’d experienced getting beaten before. According to her, there was no such thing as surrendering in a warrior’s vocabulary… Murderers sure are scary.
She did have a point in saying that it was meaningless to kill the Kobold mother though.
”If we surround them like this, they won’t be able to move, won’t they？Stand back.”
As my companions and I all moved away slowly from the Kobold mother and her cubs, she hurriedly gathered her children in her arms, turned on her heel, and disappeared into the darkness of the forest.
“Nn, I kind of wanted to pet them a little,” Sakura said a little regretfully as she watched the Kobolds retreat into the forest.
At that time, I never imagined that I would also become like those fluffy creatures in a faraway land, but that’s a story for later on. After that encounter, our journey was uneventful and we arrived safely in the capital.
Hi, Seimei here! I was curious about the LN, so I purchased a copy and translated the only chapter that was not included in the WN (The LN runs up to chapter 46 of the WN, but it is condensed into 26 chapters). It gets a little addicting once you get to read a good story, and I was sad to see it not get updated for a long time…
Anyway, I figured this fits the story since it falls right before chapter 1. It’s a long chapter, so it will be divided into several parts. For the rest of the story, I’ll be retouching the old version (the original translator was kind enough to let me use her translations) and releasing it once done, so stay tuned!
Also, please allow me to *shamelessly* plug my ko-fi lol
