Chapter 54 – The Calm Before The Storm

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 care…

“Sorry, bud, you’re dinner.”

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.

whizz

“Uukuh!? U… kuu”

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.

“Kua, guruaaon…” (Now then, let’s drain you of blood, shall we…)

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.

“Wafaa~!” (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.

“Wauh!”

“Kuan♪”

“Kyan!”

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.

“Kuuh!!”

“Garuu, gururuu… woan.” (Hmm, alright… leave it to me.)

… he took the disc and fully twisted his body to gain more strength in his throw.

“GURUAAOOOOOH!!” (HERE IT COOOOOMES!!)

And so, using his whole body as a fulcrum, he half-turned and threw the disc with a roar!

fwoom!

“Kyuuh!?”

“Kuah!?”

crash

It spun and flew at a tremendous speed, eventually hitting a tree in the outskirts of the village and shattering it.

“Waofauh…” (Really now…)

“Kuruau.” (Sorry.)

Amused, Blazer walked over to the tree to collect the broken shards of the toy.

(I really don’t know what he’s trying to do sometimes… anyway, it’s 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.

“Hey there. We finally meet, Mr. Silver High Kobold.”

“Guruu…” (Who are you…)

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 pack’s 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.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Ernesta Elballard! You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?”

After hesitating for a bit, I nodded.

“Good, you pass the requirement…”

After mumbling, she smiled mischievously and declared out loud,

“We’ve already surrounded you; it’s useless to resist.”

At that moment, the wind, which had been calm for so long, came roaring back to life.

“G-guruah!” (L-leader!)

“Guruah!!” (Chief!)

“Guruooah!?” (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.

“Kobolds have a good sense of smell, you see. So I stopped the wind from flowing in this area.”

“Wofaon!” (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 it…

I threw a sharp gaze at the girl in front of me.

It’s terrifying how I do not sense the strength of the magic coming from her…

“Now, 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. It’s fine if you want to put up a fight, but aside from being Knights, they are also Mages, so they’re stronger than you.”

The woman called Ernesta proudly declared.

“Wafuu…” (Haaahh…)

Sighing, I took out the slate pencil from my pouch.

“… It’s just like the documents said. You don’t need that anymore, I made this for you.”

She took out a silver half-mask from the leather satchel on her waist.

“If you wear this, then you can communicate telepathically. It’s made of pure mithril though, so there’s only one for you.”

… 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, but…

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 mask…

“Hurry up and put it on, you can’t speak, can you?”

I hesitated to put it on after I got it from her, but she pressed me to wear it immediately.

“Gauh.” (Tsk.)

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.

【Title Added：Kobold Mask】

… 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.

“Garuoan?” [How’s this?]

“Yes, that’s fine. I can understand you now.”

Depending on how one sees it, this half mask might be quite useful…

“Now, I actually need to ask you a favor, but… I’d be in a lot of trouble if you refused, so I had to subdue you first.”

“Guoa garuoa guoooan…” [This is no way to ask for a favor though…]

My muttering sounded like a low grumble.