When I opened my eyes, I was enveloped in light-brown fur. Maybe it was due to the warmth and the fluffiness, but it had the sense of security of being in a bed.

I’m pretty sure I died on the battlefield in the desert country of Athos, but…  

“Kyuu, kyuuaoon?”  (What in the world is happening?)

Wh-what? I can’t speak!?

I guess it responded to my agitation, but the little fluff next to me woke up and gave me a playful bite.

Stop it, you bastard, where do you think you’re licking!?

Not that place, what the hell are you thinking!?

“Kuua, kuua, kuaaann!”  (Bastard, stop it, aaaaaaah!!)

Even the other small fluff on the opposite side joined in the fray as I frantically fought against the sudden threat to my chastity. 

”Ukyuu ♪”

”Kukyuuu!?”  (You too!?)

I respond with violence to the fluff who climbed on me from the side.

“Kuh, kuwawafuh!”  (Kuu, eat my fist!!)

‘Pofu*’

“Kyuh, kyuaauuh!?”   (What, it’s not working!?)

My soft paws buffer the shock of my punch, as I belatedly noticed my small and fluffy hands.

“Kh, kyuukyuah!? Kukyuh”  ‘(Wh, what the hell is this hand!? Eei!)’

Pofu, pofu, pofu-pofu, Pofu-pofu-pofu-pofu-pofu

“Kyu, kyuaaaan ♪”

“Ku, kuruan! Kyuou?”  (Hey, why are you happy!? Are you an M!?)

 Even though I desperately tried to resist, my breath caught, and I lost my strength as the two fluffs tried to lick me greedily until I was covered in drool…

“Uu~ (Uu~)” 

 Just when I had half given up and let them do as they pleased, the huge fluff that had been enveloping us unexpectedly stirs. Looking up, I saw a humanoid, dog-type beast, which could not be mistaken as anything but a ‘Kobold’… I instinctively understood what I was now.

(Wha!? I’m a Kobold!?) 

Amid the shock and confusion, I was wrapped up in my canine beastman mother’s arms, and my exhausted puppy body was unable to resist the drowsiness as I was lulled to sleep.

This is how I was born as a Kobold, a dog-type beast that lives in the woodlands. Living with four others in my family in a dark, underground lair at the back of the forest. There are several similar lairs in the vicinity, and all in all, about 30 Kobold live in the area.

As soon as I was able to crawl, I popped my head out of the burrow to scout, but my mother gently picked me up and brought me back to bed.  

 “Kyu, kuun, kuaaan”  (Fu, mother, I get it already.)

Curiosity killed the cat… Yep, that is apt for the current me.

By the way, my little sister also imitated me and crawled to the exit, but was brought back immediately. In this fashion, as my mother looked at us satisfied and nodded, I suddenly felt a presence behind me.

 “Hapuh.”

“Kyan!?”

 Quicker than I could turn around, my little brother bit my tail. Kuh, this guy attacks me from the back when I’m not careful, oi!?

Pofu, pofu-pofu-pofu

Haa, haa… I wasted energy again…

I should mention that I do not know the order in which I was born, and referring to my siblings as my younger sister and brother is merely subjective. And since I feel older, I didn’t participate in the rivalry to be beside my mother and left it to them instead.

Sometime later, my first test came as I was being weaned off.

“Kyuou, garuoguaoaaan!?”  (Father, are you telling me to eat this!?)

“Wafu, uoau”  (Yes, that’s right.)

The thing placed in front of me was a rabbit with its neck ripped off. Of course, its wild flavor was overflowing because of the dripping blood.

”Kyuun…”

I hesitated as I saw it and climbed up on my mother’s knee to try begging for milk, but I was immediately picked up and returned to the dead rabbit’s side. 

“Kyuu ♪”

“Wafuh!”

 Tsk, my little sister and brother are already greedily eating, these damn beasts!!

Whatever.  I get it, if I don’t eat this, then I’ll only starve to death later!

Chomp

Nn, it is delicious!?

(Is it because my sense of taste is that of a Kobold’s?)

And so, my siblings and I ate the food that father hunted…

……………

………

…

The growth of a Young Kobold is quite fast.

At six months, my siblings and I were able to walk on our two legs. With our recent growth, my mother has allowed us to go out and wander around the area where other Kobold burrows are located.

And as I began to meet other Kobolds aside from my parents and siblings, I began to realize a crucial fact.

There were no elderly within the Kobold, and perhaps, even the oldest of them only lived to about 10 years at the most. It seems that the survival rate of the Kobolds, who are at the lowest level in the monster hierarchy, is very low. Maybe not as low as an ordinary wild dog, but the odds of dying before they reach the end of their natural life span seems to be very high.

The Dog man’s basic lifestyle was just a repetition of sleep→ wake up→go out to hunt→eat→sleep, with no other elements. What I’m trying to say is, they haven’t even thought of making better weapons or training themselves to increase their rate of survival!

As it stands, I’ll most likely be killed by another monster or human, and my second life will end prematurely. I refuse to be like that, and I still haven’t forgotten the “regret toward my useless self” that I harbored on my deathbed during my previous life. Even if Kobolds were weak monsters, I wanted to have the strength to die while smiling proudly without a shred of regret this time.

Therefore, I decided to train myself as much as possible, and push my Kobold body to its limits. We have no choice but to do our best every day because we don’t know if and when we will lose our lives. 

And because it was better to have more friends I could rely on, I recruited my siblings to train as well. My sister, who is attached to me and is willing to share in my activities, would do push-ups, sit-ups, tree climbing, and stone-throwing without even understanding the meaning behind it, but… my little brother immediately got tired of it. I thought that I didn’t need to force myself and my siblings at that time, but I would regret later on that I should have trained harder. The law of survival of the fittest was tough…

And so, every day, we ran till we were exhausted to cultivate our basic physical strength. While as children, the results of hand-to-hand combat training continued to pile up, and we had become the strongest out of our generation of eleven Kobold pups that had been born this spring. Consequently, there may have been some pride in our parents.

As the seasons progressed, it was almost time for me and the other young kobolds to gradually explore outside the settlements. By then, the mothers in the pack had stopped meddling and only followed close to their children.

One day, as my friends and I were strolling through the forest like always, I suddenly felt the presence of something huge stirring in the bushes, and an indescribable chill ran down my spine. 

“Wauu!!”  (It’s an ambush!!)

At the same time as my warning sounded, something emerged from the bushes. Standing before us was a terrifying creature with large jaws that devoured its prey to the bone, huge paws, and hard claws that tore through trees with ease. This was the worst monster in the area – the Grey Bear! 

“Guruuuuh…… Gaaaaah!”

Growling, it raised its stout arms as it roared and reached for the nearest kobold pup with a swing of its arms, hitting it with a heavy sideways blow!! 

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Translator’s notes:

*Pofu (ポフッ) – onomatopoeia, depicts the sound of a punch hitting something soft