Chapter 2 – The First Six

“Gyauuh!!”

As if it was hit by a giant hammer, the young Kobold struck by the Grey Bear was flung away, spraying blood in the air as its flesh was gouged by the bear’s claws.

“Woru, woruoooon!!” (The tree, climb the trees!!)

When I roared loudly and hurriedly climbed a nearby tree, my little brother and sister saw me and started to climb the nearby trees as well. It should be noted that Kobolds are not good at climbing trees. However, because my sister used to imitate me when training and was used to climbing on trees and jumping on thick branches all the time, she 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 took more time 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 his grip slipped as he started falling, and before he even touched the ground, he was unfortunately caught mid-air and crushed by the Grey 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 and 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 Kobold who had become winded in the middle of a push-up, as I mercilessly stepped on his fluffy tail.

“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 the children were acting strangely and 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 the children were just playing pretend duels for ranking among themselves.

“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 in two years, we had already come of age.

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 Grey Bears since then, however, despite frequent attacks by other kinds of 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 the group of Kobolds that escaped back had large claw marks that looked like they had been gouged out. I don’t know if it was the same Grey 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.

Thus, now that I had gained a certain amount of ability, I led my friends on an expedition through the forest. To defeat the Grey Bear, the weapons that I am currently using like the spear, that 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, and, even though it was somewhat painful for a former human like me, we had no choice but to steal them from the adventurers who came into the forest.

Our targets were those who had been driven away 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 had received a collection quest meant for beginners at the adventurer’s guild. For adventurers of that caliber, we could neutralize them and take away their equipment.

“Wauo? Gauoaoo “ (Got it? Killing is forbidden.)

“Waonn, kuon” (Ok, 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 injured the adventurers gravely, 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 took away his consciousness.

“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-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. No equipment 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 placed restrictions on myself by drawing a clear line against the taking of lives to prevent myself from becoming 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 adventurers who had run away and prepared six sets of equipment for all of us.