The Peerless Kobold - Chapter 216
Duke Ferias had mentioned in advance that we would be departing today, so I stood in the corner of the plaza waiting for Ares and Muriel, but…
“Kuon… Gaogauru kyuafa~n” (Brother… it won’t stop itching~)
Snugly tucked into the leather bag that hung from my belt, the little fox held onto her nose while hitting me with her other paw out of spite.
(I did tell you yesterday and the other day that you didn’t have to come along though.)
Anyway, now that I think about it, my sense of smell isn’t faring well either. It’s because we’ve been helping out the duke and Muriel with the preparations for the past two days.
As to what we’ve been doing, we have been going into the city outskirts and buying cold-resistant herbs such as lavender and rosemary and collecting similar herbs in the forest.
According to Muriel, herbs and other aromatic herbs contain insect repellents and certain poisons to make them more difficult for insects to eat as a means of self-preservation. Well, that’s great and all, but… being exposed to different aromas around the clock did a number on my sister’s sensitive sense of smell.
(I didn’t expect that the sensory dulling from my humanization has its advantages too.)
However, I was also affected since I still maintain a reasonable sensitivity to smell, and I unconsciously half-turned my head to the several horse carts carrying large amounts of straw and herbs nearby.
At that moment, I caught sight of Ares and the others approaching me from a side street.
“Hey, still not feeling well?”
“Nah, it’s better compared to yesterday.”
While waving and responding to Ares, I also waved to Riberto who had been walking alongside him and Muriel who was walking behind them.
“Good morning, Archer. We’ll be counting on you during the campaign.”
“N, we’ll be in your care.”
“Sure, I’ll do my best…”
“Kuruu!” (Me too!)
Do you want to join in? It was interesting to see my sister, who was being self-assertive, respond to them even if she didn’t understand the language. I cracked a small smile and checked how many adventurers had gathered, and saw that among them, I could also see knights who were organizing the units in the city square.
“Captain Eldric, the preparations for the second platoon have been completed.”
“The third platoon is also ready to go.”
“Preparations for the horse carts and other personnel are… still underway. Grace!”
In response to the call, the female Magic Knight that I saw at the tavern last time stopped taking count of the adventurers and her blonde hair which was tied up in a side ponytail with a red ribbon swung softly when she turned around.
It caught my attention so I turned in their direction, but I couldn’t hear what they were talking about from here.
The command line of the adventurers who are members of the guild is independent from the soldiers, so Grace was informed yesterday that she would be in command of the adventurers as she is a Gold rank. They’re probably talking about marching formations and the distribution of personnel during the battle.
As I narrowed my eyes and observed them, I felt Muriel’s presence beside me.
“Grace is so cool. She’s so strong and pretty!”
“Yeah, I guess so…”
“But I haven’t seen her in a commanding role before… I wonder what’s up?”
Ares’ question was valid since the adventurers’ unrestrained nature means that even if a high-ranking adventurer had the right to lead those underneath them, it still does not mean that there is an established chain of command. Well, if it were me, I wouldn’t want to be in-charge of that group of people either.
(I guess the difference between adventurers and mercenaries is that we’re used to being ordered around and carrying those orders out…)
But now that I think about it, in the kobold’s ecology where hierarchy is valued, the loose chain of command is more suitable to my nature. While I was lost in thought, I turned to Ares who had his doubts about the Magic Knight and shared my theory with them.
“There’s no point in pushing a free-willed adventurer to do this and that, so they’ll probably let them move freely with the people they work with on a daily basis.”
“Hmmm, but isn’t that inefficient?”
“But even so, it’s a more practical approach.”
You can’t expect to command them like a platoon without regular training. Unlike soldiers, adventurers have huge variations in their individual abilities, so the only way to make it work is to group them with people whom they are familiar with and work with on a daily basis.
While I was discussing this with Ares and Riberto, a bell rang from the cathedral building near the city square announcing the time.
