There was a Great Horned Rabbit at least 50 meters away from my hiding place among the trees where the gentle sunlight filtered through.
It greedily munched on the wildflowers without careâŠ
âSorry, bud, youâre dinner.â
With my left hand, I smoothly held the bow at an angle and pointed it at my target.
And then I nocked an arrow and pulled back the bowstring.
The arrow I silently fired cut through the wind as it flew, hitting the Great Horned Rabbit in the flank. The 1 meter-long animal tried to crawl and escape, but it was fatally wounded and unable to move.
I went beside the dying rabbit and stabbed it to end its suffering.
âKua, guruaaonâŠâ (Now then, letâs drain you of blood, shall weâŠ)
Before rigor mortis began to set in, I bled it on the spot, and after I tied its limbs with a linen rope and carried it on my shoulder, I walked back to the settlement.
A few moments after I came back from hunting, I sat on a tree stump in the plaza and watched the young Kobold pups play as I prepared the Great Horned Rabbit with an obsidian knife.
âWafaa~!â (Here it comes~!)
Ax, who seemed to be in high spirits because things have been calm recently, lightly tossed a decently-sized wooden disk made from the cross-sectional cut of a tree.
The kids chased after it and scrambled to get it with all their might.
While it seemed like they were just playing a game, it was actually part of their basic strength training.
The biggest pup in his generation of younglings caught the wooden disk and handed it to Buster who was nearby.
âGaruu, gururuu⊠woan.â (Hmm, alright⊠leave it to me.)
⊠he took the disc and fully twisted his body to gain more strength in his throw.
âGURUAAOOOOOH!!â (HERE IT COOOOOMES!!)
And so, using his whole body as a fulcrum, he half-turned and threw the disc with a roar!
It spun and flew at a tremendous speed, eventually hitting a tree in the outskirts of the village and shattering it.
âWaofauhâŠâ (Really nowâŠ)
Amused, Blazer walked over to the tree to collect the broken shards of the toy.
(I really donât know what heâs trying to do sometimes⊠anyway, itâs rather calm today too.)
It was odd that the wind had not blown since this morning. We had a hard time finding our prey because no scents were flowing around.
But we were too careless and naive. By the time any of us had noticed it, a small, deeply hooded figure in black robes had appeared in the middle of the village straight out of nowhere.
âHey there. We finally meet, Mr. Silver High Kobold.â
âGuruuâŠâ (Who are youâŠ)
When they removed their hood, their silver hair flowed out and shone in the sunlight. The hooded figure was a silver-haired, blue-eyed girl.
While the packâs attention was on the human girl who suddenly appeared, I faced her, making sure that Blazer slowly placed his position so that he could get behind her.
âNice to meet you. My name is Ernesta Elballard! You understand what Iâm saying, donât you?â
After hesitating for a bit, I nodded.
âGood, you pass the requirementâŠâ
After mumbling, she smiled mischievously and declared out loud,
âWeâve already surrounded you; itâs useless to resist.â
At that moment, the wind, which had been calm for so long, came roaring back to life.
âG-guruah!â (L-leader!)
âGuruooah!?â (What the heck!?)
The wind blew in and carried the scent of numerous people and iron, and Armored Knights emerged from the trees one by one, herding the remaining Kobolds of the settlement into the central square.
âKobolds have a good sense of smell, you see. So I stopped the wind from flowing in this area.â
âWofaon!â (An anti-wind barrier!)
How could I, who was a former desert inhabitant, not notice it!?
The Anti-Wind Barrier is one of the spells that was created in the desert country of Athos, which extinguished the wind to protect the city from being damaged by a sandstorm. However, it was not a spell that could not be cleverly deployed by blending her magic power with nature to keep me from detecting itâŠ
I threw a sharp gaze at the girl in front of me.
Itâs terrifying how I do not sense the strength of the magic coming from herâŠ
âNow, do you understand your situation? There are over two hundred Magic Knights from the first army battalion of the Riastize Kingdom surrounding you right now. Itâs fine if you want to put up a fight, but aside from being Knights, they are also Mages, so theyâre stronger than you.â
The woman called Ernesta proudly declared.
âWafuuâŠâ (HaaahhâŠ)
Sighing, I took out the slate pencil from my pouch.
â⊠Itâs just like the documents said. You donât need that anymore, I made this for you.â
She took out a silver half-mask from the leather satchel on her waist.
âIf you wear this, then you can communicate telepathically. Itâs made of pure mithril though, so thereâs only one for you.â
⊠You want me to wear this?
Surely, even a Kobold like me could wear a mask if it only covers the upper half of my face, butâŠ
There was no way that I would recklessly wear something handed to me while we were surrounded, but rather than that, it was a depressing and painful sight to imagine myself wearing such a maskâŠ
âHurry up and put it on, you canât speak, can you?â
I hesitated to put it on after I got it from her, but she pressed me to wear it immediately.
Against my better judgment, I decided that it was better to obey and press the mask to my face while my packmates were gathered in the square and surrounded by the armed men. The half-mask made of mithril reacted to my magic and changed to fit my face.
ăTitle AddedïŒKobold Maskă
⊠I had such a bad feeling about it that I removed it immediately, but it came off without a problem. Apparently, there was no such thing as it being unremovable once I put it on.
âGaruoan?â [Howâs this?]
âYes, thatâs fine. I can understand you now.â
Depending on how one sees it, this half mask might be quite usefulâŠ
âNow, I actually need to ask you a favor, but⊠Iâd be in a lot of trouble if you refused, so I had to subdue you first.â
âGuoa garuoa guoooanâŠâ [This is no way to ask for a favor thoughâŠ]
My muttering sounded like a low grumble.