The Peerless Kobold - Chapter 8
Standing in front of me was a group of strong kobolds who took pride in their well-trained, steel-like bodies. No, correction, since my sister and her friend were both females, they are more supple and muscular rather than steel-like.
We hadn’t encountered any Gray bears since then, but despite frequent attacks by other monsters, none of us had gone missing until we all turned two, and because we had struggled through our predicament, we were able to set ourselves apart from all the other kobolds.
However, not everything had gone well, and during the last year, my father had suddenly disappeared.
One day, after going out on a routine hunt with the others he never came back…the bodies of kobolds that managed to return had large claw marks that looked like they had been slashed up. I don’t know if it was the same Gray bear that ate my brother, but I had vowed to hunt it down eventually.
It was fortunate that my sister and I, who were both 1 ½ years old at that time, were already able to hunt. Therefore, the loss of our father didn’t place a very big burden on mother, and I was also able to improve myself by practicing while chasing prey.
And so, now that I had gained a certain amount of ability, I led my friends on an expedition through the forest. In order to defeat the Gray bear, the weapons that I am currently using like the spear which I made by combining obsidian stone and a rod, an obsidian knife, and throwing stones were not enough. Appropriate equipment was necessary but since we cannot make them ourselves we had no choice but to steal them from the adventurers who came into the forest even though doing this was somewhat painful for a former human like me.
Our targets were those who had been driven away from the collection spots when they had encountered their fellow adventurers who had also come to collect medicinal herbs used in making medicine to treat wounds, so I already had a rough idea where they were likely to visit. They probably accepted a collection quest meant for beginners at the adventurer’s guild. For adventurers of that caliber, it was possible for us to neutralize them and take away their equipment.
“Wauo? Gauoaoo “ (Got it? Killing is forbidden.)
“Waonn, kuon” (Okey-dokey, big brother.)
“Wawooon, gurua” (Leave it to us, chief.)
After carefully warning my companions that a bounty would be placed on our heads if we gravely injured the adventurers, we hid in the bushes and stealthily approached the four boys and girls who were armed and collecting medicinal herbs.
With a roar, we jumped out of the bushes all at once.
“Eh!? What, a macho kobold!?”
“That’s no longer a kobold, isn’t it!?”
I quickly subjugated the young swordsman who hurriedly tried to pull his sword from the scabbard at his waist by holding him down while his hand was still on the hilt of his sword.
“Eh! Don’t be careless, guha!!”
And just like that, I gave him a body blow that made him unconscious.
“Dammit!!”
Beside me, my sister kicked out the dagger that the thief girl used when she tried to slash at her. Slipping close to her confused opponent’s chest, she fired a palm strike to her chin that instantly knocked out her opponent who was too slow to even react.
Checking the situation around moments after our scuffle, I found that my other companions had already defeated the spear-equipped warrior as well.
“Hiii, m-mister monster, I, I won’t taste good if you eat me you know!?”
The remaining priestess was so scared that she fell on her behind and slid backward as she collapsed on the ground. There was no equipment that could be taken from the girl, so we left her to take care of the unconscious adventurers.
(It’s not safe to sleep in this kind of place after all)
As an ex-mercenary, I felt somewhat guilty for ambushing the adventurers so I had drawn a clear line against the taking of human lives to keep myself from acting like a beast.
Even if it was no more than just hypocrisy, I gave them that small amount of consideration and we retreated into the forest after quickly divesting them of their equipment. After that, we did the same to a few other groups of stray adventurers until we had six sets of equipment.
