The Peerless Kobold - Chapter 7
“Gyauuh!!”
As if hit by a giant hammer, the young kobold struck by the Gray Bear was flung away, spraying blood in the air as its flesh was rent by its claws.
“Woru, woruoooon!!” (The trees, climb the trees!!)
When I roared and hurriedly climbed a nearby tree, my little brother and sister started to climb the nearby trees as well. It should be noted that Kobolds are not good at climbing trees but because my sister used to imitate me when we were training, she became used to climbing trees and jumping on thick branches all the time and was able to smoothly move up the tree this time as well, but… My brother who often slacked off on training wasn’t used to it and was slower than expected.
“K-kyua…”
Perhaps because he was in a hurry, or perhaps out of fear, my brother suddenly lost his footing while climbing the tree and fell. But before he even touched the ground, he was immediately caught in mid-air and crushed by the Gray bear’s jaws. My outstretched hand had not even reached him before his life was taken away.
“Guuruuh!!” (Dammit!!)
“Kyu!? Kyuuuah!”
I looked across and shook my head in response to my sister’s gaze which seemed to ask whether we could still save him.
“Auu, gyuaa” (No, we can’t save him anymore.)
I, along with the other young kobolds, quickly dispersed and ran away like baby spiders. With the two mothers serving as a diversion beneath us, I jumped nimbly from tree to tree towards the direction of the settlement. Shortly after, I saw my sister also determinedly chasing after me, and both of us were able to safely escape back to the settlement.
Unfortunately, due to an error in judgment, three young kobolds lost their way and fled deeper into the forest instead of heading towards the settlement. In the evening, one of them returned covered in blood, but his wounds were too serious so he died soon afterward.
Needless to say, the mothers in the pack were very sad that day. The fathers looked resigned, perhaps because they were feeling the harshness of nature. As a result, the young kobolds in the village were reduced to about half and only 6 were left, but perhaps it was a relief that there were no couples who lost all their children.
This day became a turning point for me as I resolved to train my peers who survived the ordeal. From the next day onwards, those who opposed me were reined in by force and were half-forced to train.
Since I was originally the strongest among the young kobolds, the training of my peers who were more or less born in the same season went favorably.
“Wafa…… (Uwah……)”
“Gauh, gagauh!!” (Stand! Stand up!!)
I scolded the weakest pup who had become winded in the middle of a push-up and stepped on his fluffy tail mercilessly.
“Kyan!?”
“Uorua kuruauuon, guaoouh!” (The enemies will always come after the weakest guy, you want to die!?)
The training I devised was quite spartan, but because the memory of losing our friends was still fresh in everyone’s minds, they were eager to do it. Nevertheless, I was still worried that the adult kobolds might think that we were acting strangely and would try to stop it, but that seemed nothing more than a groundless fear.
To begin with, the Kobold’s way of life was formed around a hierarchical society, so even if we started sparring right after doing push-ups, they probably thought that we were just playing pretend duels for ranking among ourselves.
“Kukyuaan! “ (Ei!)
With a cute roar, my sister caught her opponent’s arm between her knees and elbow as he tried to strike at her, delivering a straight punch without a moment’s delay.
“Gyann!?”
Failing to react to the presence behind her, she turned around and received a backhand blow.
“Woaouu, wofu!!” (You are unable to hide your killing intent, dear sister!!)
“Gyafunn!”
My sister glared at me with teary eyes as she whimpered while holding her nose.
“Fuuuh!! (Fuuuh!)”
“Kyuau, kuaoru gaoua” (Sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you in that spot……)
Our days of training continued even when our mothers became pissed at us because of our occasional injuries, and before long, we had turned to become praiseworthy two-year-olds. The growth rate of the Kobolds is so fast that at two years old, we had already come of age.
