Be that as it may, I needed to see where these three are headed to!

I approached Archer who is accompanied by two other Kobolds, to discuss my future plans.

“Uh, umm, Archer, mmmph!? (y-your paw is…!?)”

Using my right hand, I covered the mouth of the red-haired mage Muriel, who approached me with a light jog. I did it because food had just appeared right in time for dinner.

I made eye contact with the Kobold Dagger (my sister) and gestured with my left hand.

‘There’s some prey over there.’

‘Yeah, I got it, big brother.’

A hand signal came from Buster as well.

‘Chief, I’ll go around it.’

The huge, black-armed Kobold kept himself low and moved carefully so as to not make any sound, and moved diagonally across the serow* who was munching on the grass. Similarly, Dagger unsheathed her two daggers, crouched low, and moved diagonally in front of the prey while keeping her distance.

And like this, the prey was locked in a pincer attack position between Buster and Dagger. From that position, the two ducked as low as possible and carefully approached the Serow.

I left Muriel who immediately realized the situation and quieted down in one place, moved up to the prey’s side, knelt on one knee, and nocked an arrow. My arrows were pretty much the main attack weapon and Dagger and Buster were there to guarantee the kill.

“Wofu, garuva” (O wind, heed my call.) 

I had the idea of wrapping the arrow with wind magic, thus enhancing its power and then releasing it.

“Gii!?”

The arrow, enhanced by magic, did not miss its target, and pierced the serow’s belly, causing it to collapse. 

“Waau, waau, gauuwau!” (Food, food! It’s dinner time!)

As usual, my sister put an end to the prey and drained its blood on the spot before rigor mortis** set in.

“Gurua, woruau guruuofauuo” (Chief, recently I haven’t been able to do anything.)

Hmph, I’m not a Kobold who just swings his Short Sword, you know.

Basically, we did a lot of close-quarters fighting, so I was usually fighting with my short sword except making the first shot with my bow, since there were lots of preparations to be made in fighting with a bow and arrow, like nocking the arrow and focusing on the target.

“A-amazing, this is the first time I’m seeing Kobolds on a hunt! Hmm, but perhaps it’s more appropriate to say that it’s my first experience as a biologist (apprentice)?”

For some reason, the redhead mage Muriel was excited. It seemed like Dagger was done draining its blood, so Buster carried the serow and we changed locations, as the majority of monsters and creatures drawn to the smell of blood are high threat level ones.

Once we found a place to settle down, Dagger swiftly prepared the serow using her daggers. Usually, Dagger is placed in charge of processing meat because out of the six of us, my sister has gained quite the experience when it comes to handling daggers.

Muriel stood by and watched, giving instructions on how to cut certain parts of the carcass. By the way, ordinarily, women are not very good at this kind of thing, but there are many female adventurers who don’t mind it at all.

“All things considered, Dagger sure is adept at preparing meat, huh. Ah, by the way, a serow is not deer, but is actually related to cows.”

“Wafiaaon? Garuwauan” (What are you saying? This is meat.)

I was able to hear some parts of their conversation. It seems like my sister could make out some of the words, but she probably doesn’t know what it means…

Anyway, it was time for dinner, and after taking a bite of the water-rich fruit we found on the road while moving to a campsite, I gave Muriel the same thing.

“Ah, this is a Kuremia pear, right? Thank you.”

She divided the pear with a knife and brought the small, bite-sized pieces to her mouth little by little, like a small animal.

And for tonight’s main dish, we had the serow meat. It was one of the finest pieces of beef in the broadest sense of the word. 

“… Sorry, I can’t eat it like that.”

It’s so bloody that the wild flavor is overflowing, huh…However, we are the only ones that don’t feel awkward eating it raw.

“Woaoon” (Maybe I should use that.)

Using a nearby stone, I dug out a hole, and in there, I placed a bundle of twigs tied in ivy from the tool bag on my waist. Furthermore, I also tossed in some wood chips I made beforehand, and tinder which I made from collecting finely torn, dried grass, into the hole. After throwing in some more dry leaves from nearby, I held the flint we obtained from the adventurers.

*click, click* 

“Guh, guruoufa woruo wauoah.”  (Nnngh, It’d be better if we had other materials aside from flint.)

It’s not quite catching fire…

“Kuon, wafian?” (Big brother, what are you doing?)

“Gurua garuuo woruaufu…”  (I don’t understand what Chief is trying to do…)

Nnngh, the looks Buster and Dagger gave me are painful to bear.

I struggled and worked hard for a few minutes, but the fire still wouldn’t start. Just as I paused to think about what to do next, Muriel placed her hand over the firepit from beside me!

“Eii, fire!”

Wh-what!?

At the moment I withdrew my hands, the redhead mage, Muriel, invoked the most basic fire magic, “fire”, and lit up the tinder, woodchips, and twigs.

“Garuaau voru guruaou!!” (If you can do it, then say so earlier!!)

“Kyah!”, The startled Muriel cried out.

I was not able to light up a fire with the flint, but it seems a fire was lit within me… nnngghhh if only I could use fire magic!

“Kuaan…” (Serow……)

Huh!?

“Ofu, ofauofoh” (Wait, wait, sister!)

“Kyuu!?” (It’s hot!?)

I was a step slower, and Dagger reached her hand out to the fire, which caused light burns.

“Gurua, gaon?”  (Chief, what’s this?)

“Woann” (It’s fire.)

I showed Dagger’s burns to Buster, told him about the danger of fire, and showed them how to grill the serow meat over it, and let them eat. By the way, even with Kobold taste buds, grilled meat is tasty in its own way.

“Gurua, guaugaruou kuruaah” (Chief, let’s do this again sometime.)

“N, kuruauu” (Mm, delicious!)

Was what they thought, and seems like Muriel did not think it was bad either.

“It’s quite tasty, isn’t it? I wonder if it’s because it’s related to cows?”

Many things had happened, but finally, everyone, including Muriel, was able to have dinner together.

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Translator’s Notes:

Serow (カモシカ / kamoshika) –  is a Japanese goat-antelope, an even-toed ungulate mammal. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_serow

Rigor Mortis – the state in which the body becomes rigid several hours after death. 

Source: https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=40573