Chapter 85 – The 3 Kobolds, Hunting Prairie Rats

“…Uu?” (…Nnu?)

Something felt uncomfortable around my stomach, so I opened one eye and looked at what was causing it.

“Mmmnn… Mr. Doggy… zzz…”

Turns out, the young Werecat girl used my stomach as a pillow and slept soundly on top of it. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her mother Esther lightly bow in my direction.

With the way the sunshine filtered through the trees, I guess it’s about time to wake up… but just as I pondered what to do next, I heard the sound of rustling grass beside me.

“Fuwaa~~n, wofan.” (Yaaaawn, that was a nice nap!)

The big, blue Kobold slowly got up, and lazily stretched as he let out a huge yawn. Reacting to the movement, Lilia’s small body stirred and she opened her eyes.

“U? Miu~ Gummornin’…”

“Kyu-n, garuvoan…” (Oh sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you…)

“…Kuu, kuruoaan.” (…Nnn, is it time already?)

“U~ kurua woau…zzz” (Ehh~, let’s sleep a bit more…zzz)

It seems Dagger (my sister) and Lancer have begun to stir as well, and I cannot keep on lying down forever either.

After I slowly got up and lightly shook my head, I approached the tall, skinny Kobold Blazer, who leaned back against a nearby tree while holding onto his black Longsword.

“…kuao, garuukuaan.” (… Thanks Blazer, I was able to rest properly thanks to you.)

“Wau, woaan… kuo, guruu kuaaaonn.” (Oh, don’t mention it… Now it’s my turn to rest.)

After sleepily blinking, he first checked the carriage we rode from the Royal Capital for any occupants before entering… After a late lunch, he probably decided to rest inside the carriage until we had to go.

So he’s getting ready for the next night watch by sleeping from noon to evening… I’m impressed.

“Mr. Archer, I have already had my lunch, so I am also going to sleep in the carriage to prepare for the next night.”

“Guu, ruauonn.” (Alright, I’m counting on you for tonight as well.)

With a fluttering wave of his hand, the black-haired Werecat gentleman also joined Blazer in the same carriage, but… it seems he was kicked out as I expected, so he slept next to the coachmen resting in the next carriage.

(… Well, that guy doesn’t allow himself to be bothered by anyone but our packmates, after all.)

Glancing around to check my surroundings, I see that the White Elf has left the carriage and is resting under the shade of the tree with us, while Lilia rubbed Ax’s fur as Esther looked on smiling…

“Gauaru, guruo, gauruoruaan?” [Esther, has everyone had their lunch?]

“No, it seems everyone was not able to sleep last night either, so they have been sleeping until earlier.”

As I listened to her response, I glanced at the carriage that was holding the five captured Slavers.

“Ah, and the Slavers have not eaten yet either.”

It’s still going to take a day-and-a-half till we get back to the Royal Capital, so I guess it’ll be alright if we just give them water until we arrive, but… Well, if we had enough spare food in the rations, then I guess it’ll be alright to give them some light meals too.

During my mercenary years, my commander said that “you may think you can do anything to your prisoners, but if you go down that road, then your heart will be rotten”… he was a pretty ruthless guy on the battlefield, though.

The words of the commander who was a father figure to me ever since he picked me up from the streets as a kid still stayed in my head up to this day… and it’s a little distressing. Anyway, whether we could feed our prisoners or not still depends on how good the hunt goes today!

“Wau, kuaaooo–nn!” [Now then, let’s go hunting!]

“Wan, kuruaoo—n” (Alright, I’m hungry~!)

“Wofa, uooru voruaaann.” (We’re going to the grasslands, so we can run, right?)

My sister walked over to us, her fox tail swinging back and forth. The Spear-wielding Kobold followed not far behind, carrying her long weapon over her shoulders.

“Guru~a” (Bossuu~)

I turned towards the miserable voice and found that Lilia had perched on Ax’s lap as he sat down and clung to his torso as she started to fall asleep again.

The Werecat race is a species that sleeps well, especially the children…

Ax’s huge frame doesn’t make him fast on his feet, and the camp also needs someone to guard over it while Blazer sleeps, so I’ll have him stay here with the Coachmen.

“Gaouuauonn.” [I’ll need you to keep watch over here.]

“Waon, uooon.” (Alright, leave it to me.)

As we left the guy who responded in a mild manner the three of us proceeded to the river that flowed some distance away from the road, and from there, we went upstream.

Luckily, we caught the scent of our prey about an hour later, and as we lowered ourselves to crawl while we approached our targets from downwind, we found about four 50cm long prairie rats that were edible despite being considered rodents. They must have a den nearby.

(They’re just the right size… if we had killed a 2-3m ferocious Byrox bull monster instead, then we would have had a problem carrying it back.)

[※Normally, Byroxes are the ones who kill Kobolds instead.]

Big brother, shall we take them down?

Of course.

After we exchanged a quick hand-sign, I went and stayed in position as I held my mechanical bow and nocked two arrows with my right hand. Meanwhile, Dagger (my sister), and Lancer split and went around the left and right sides of the prairie rats, and waited for the right timing…

(It’s about time… I’ll take a shot!!)

After waiting for an ample amount of time, I pulled the string and released the arrow! Without waiting to see if I hit the target, I nocked another arrow in rapid succession and fired it at another prairie rat without pause.

“Kua!?… K-kuuh…”

“Kuuh, hh…”

“Kuuh!!”

“Kuouh”

The first arrow reached the prairie rat in the stomach when it stood up to see what was happening, while the second arrow hit another one in the leg as it tried to flee.

But the other two split up in different directions and got away…

“Kuauh!” (I got it!)

【Activated：Leg Strengthening (Medium)】

“Uuuh!?… kuahh….”

The other prairie rat who went near Lancer’s position was pierced through the torso by her Slashing Spear as she flew in to attack it from the side, and lifted it with her weapon.

However, the last one was able to skillfully evade the ambush attack and disappeared among the bushes in the grassland, but the result of our hunt wasn’t so bad.

Meanwhile, even though the prairie rat who was pierced by my arrow through its leg tried to escape, my sister swiftly cut it down with her daggers, so all in all, we were able to capture three of them.

“Waoa, guruoua～♪” (I’m going to drain this, okay～♪)

My sister deftly handled her daggers and made quick work of our prey before rigor mortis set in, while Lancer tied their limbs with a hemp rope to make it easier to carry.

(… This should save us a bit of the food and other supplies Glen sent with us.)

It seems we could spare the Slavers some food with this as well, and we returned to the encampment as I thought about our food situation.