Note: Muriel’s dialogue is placed in bold to distinguish her from the Kobolds in Archer’s POV.

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“Guruah!!” (Chief!!)

“Kuon!” (Big brother!)

Dagger and Buster became more vigilant as the Mage girl approached. Well, it was only natural…neither of them understood the common language of the continent that this red-haired girl was speaking after all.

“Guoruh, uoau garuku vorufa” (Wait, it doesn’t seem like she has any ill intentions.)

“Kuu, kuon!” (But, big brother!)

My sister was baffled when the human stood in front of her, but she said she would heal her with magic, so I gratefully accepted her offer.

“Wafah!?” (Ouch!?)

“Ah, s-sorry. Does it hurt?”

Big brother, can I hit her?

Dagger scowled not at the girl but at me and gestured, but I slowly shook my head and let the girl check her injury.

“Hmm, I think I can manage this much… May thou who are tormented by pain be soothed by the light, Healing Light.”

The red-haired girl invoked her magic as she pressed her hand over Dagger’s swollen ankle. A warm, milky white light appeared and instantly disappeared as if it were sucked into the affected area.

“Wu, wufon?” (Huh, it doesn’t hurt?)

“Alright, you’re fine now.”

The girl let go of Dagger’s foot and stood up.

“And you! I’m going to come over there, so don’t get angry, okay?”

And so, she cautiously approached Buster and reached out her hand towards his abdomen.

“…Gurua”  (…Chief.)

“Woofu, guruaa” (At ease, Buster.)

In the end, the red-haired girl held her hands over the cuts and bruises on Buster’s abdomen.

“… May thou who are tormented by pain be soothed by the light, Healing Light.” 

“Wofuh…… Kuruuu.” (This is…… So warm.)

“And with this, both of you are fine now.”

I faced her and bowed. The red-haired girl made a surprised face as she saw me do so.

“A-are you thanking me? You’re very clever, aren’t you?… Ah, you helped me too, so we can call it even.”

Alright, I’ve already expressed my thanks as a Kobold.  Now, all that’s left is a speedy retreat!

I’m about to run out of magic power…The magic capacity of the dog people sure is small.

“Gaoon, guruah” (Let’s get going, you two.)

“Won, kuon♪” (Okay, big brother♪)

“Wafuh” (Okay.)

We hurriedly left the place, but the red-haired mage followed behind us as if it were a natural thing to do so.

Rustle Rustle Rustle Rustle Crunch

When we stopped walking, she stopped too.

“Gaofuau” (Please go ahead.)

I made a gesture with my hands and told her to go ahead.

However, the red-haired girl refused and shook her head from side to side. Tsk, if this continued, we would have no choice but to take her with us until the settlement… should we just shake her off?

“Wonn!!” (Run!!)

Coordinating our timing, we dashed away at the same time. It was no trouble at all to give the female mage the slip.

“W-wait a minute, if you leave me in this place then I’ll die!!”

I could hear her panicked voice calling out from behind.

“Waaaiiiiit, uwah!?”

Crash

Looks like she tripped again…

“…Guh.” (Tsk.)

My guilty conscience made me stop in my tracks.

“Woonn, gurua?” (Are you sure, Chief?)

“Gofuu, wofu guaoauu.” (It’s alright, she did take care of my sister anyway.)

Sighing, I went back in her direction and crouched in front of the red-haired mage.

“Ah…”

Picking up a moderately sized stone that conveniently lay nearby, I carved the letters of the continent’s common language into the ground.

“I am the Kobold Archer”

“Huh? N-no way, you can write!? And in the continent’s common language too!”

I point my palm towards the astonished red-haired mage and urged her to introduce herself.

“Ah, okay.”

She took my hand and squeezed it tightly, and tilted her head cutely.

“…Guruooah Ukyaah!!”  (…That’s not what I meant!!)

Shaking my hand away from her hold, I wrote more letters on the ground.

“What is your name?”

“Ah, so that’s what you meant… I am Muriel Vest, a mage and biologist.”

After hearing that, I stood up and held out my hand to Muriel who sat on the ground.

……………

………

…

I took the furry hand that the wolf with the dull silver fur offered me. Nothing makes sense anymore as the action soundly shattered my common sense.

A Kobold who can write? I don’t know how he did it, but…If he can write, then he can probably understand human speech.

Anthropologically, after verbal communication, hieroglyphics, and other forms of writing were invented, while developmentally, children also learned to speak first before learning how to write.

As I thought about it, I followed after them as I did earlier.

“…At any rate, these three sure are advancing into different class variants.”

I’m guessing the silver one is a High Kobold of the mutative variant, while the one with the long tail and the well-developed arms is a subspecies of Warrior Kobold. As for the one with the injured foot…hmm, I don’t know that one.

“In the first place, I don’t even specialize in Kobolds.”

I don’t know if any biologists specialize in them, but maybe it’s a good opportunity to explore that field… Ha!? Now is not the time to be distracted.

I checked the direction with a compass and sketched a rough path on my map as I followed the dog men.

The so-called Kobold “settlement” was located in the shallow part of the forest, and if I continue, I will be able to arrive at the outer edge of the forest. The area seems like there wouldn’t be too many monsters with high threat levels since they took up residence in it.

If I can get there, then I may be able to reach Grau village using my compass, map, and some Distance Vision magic…… but it seems like we’re still a ways away.