“Wafi, gauao woruoaaaan~, garuau!” (Why is it this busy as soon as I wake up? My head hurts too!)

Shiro, who collapsed right after receiving a shock to the brain from the purple lightning earlier, was left unattended because his external injuries were not serious and his treatment was of low priority, had naturally awoken a few moments ago…

It hadn’t been long since he and the other injured Kobolds were carried into the vicinity of the south entrance of the Goblin village that had been destroyed, but the scene he awoke to was him being surrounded by his injured brethren and the white fluffy Kobolds busily running around and attending to the wounded.

In other words, the scene he woke up to was the “aftermath of the battle”, and Shiro was also dragged away by his packmates to start healing the injured as soon as he woke up.

Moreover, since his packmates judged the wound he received on the forehead from the throwing knife was just a light injury, Shiro healed it himself and attended to the seriously injured Kobolds who could not be treated with the Healing Magic of his subordinates.

Some of the critically injured Kobolds would take a while to heal so it was expected that it would cause some disturbance with their daily lives, but since these warriors who were injured for the sake of their packs were given the best treatment, their conditions stabilized to the point that it could be manageable after a while.

However, nothing could be done for the Kobold warriors who had fallen during the battle.

“Wogauru kuoruaaoon… Garuu kuauwaooan.” (All of the other packs are in a similar state… but there have also been numerous casualties.)

“Waon, vorufau kuruuo…” (I see, then I have to give my thanks to these brave warriors…)

I remained silent for a while and prayed for the souls of those warriors who had risked their lives for the future of their packs and families. During this time, their corpses were being carefully buried by their comrades at the bases of trees with their own hands…

Living in this harsh nature is a struggle, but if we avoided strife, then we would eventually lose our shelter and die from hunger, so it is unavoidable to fight back at some point in our lives.

The same is true for the Goblins who have been abandoned in the woods, and it could be said that they too were serious about surviving. Since they can’t reproduce without kidnapping and attacking the females of other humanoid species, it can’t be helped that they are looked down upon in many ways…

(It’s hard for them too, I guess… After all, having no females and being born male was the price they had to pay to gain the evolutionary ability to reproduce through cross-breeding.)

It also reminded me of what my old Mercenary Captain, Weld, once said, “maybe everyone’s just fighting for themselves, so there may be no right or wrong in these situations,” so I also said a little prayer for the souls of the unfortunate Goblins who perished in battle.

“Wafioua garuaauu, gauon…”  (Archer, I’m sorry for disturbing you while you’re deep in thought, but…)

In response to Silva’s call, I followed her gaze and saw three Black Elf women who had just been released from the Goblins’ confinement cells and one Adventurer girl who had just returned from the riverside after cleaning her body.

Apparently, there was one more Adventurer woman, but she had killed herself after being mistreated by the Goblins after they cut the tendons in her legs once she tried to escape.

(As always, it’s depressing after getting down from the highs of battle…)

This was the same even during my days as a mercenary. That’s why when everything is settled, we can fool around with our friends and reminisce about the comrades who died before us… But for now, it was important to think about how to handle these girls who survived.

I took out the Mithril mask that had been sitting in my pouch for a while. I then pressed it against my face and the mask adapted to fit my face.

“Buh, wafioaaan.” (Pfft, what the heck is that?)

“…Guorufaou.” (… It doesn’t suit you at all.)

(Even if it did, I don’t like it either.)

Blau laughed when he spotted me with my mask on, while Silva had a complicated look on her face as I faced the girls who were surrounded by Kobolds on all sides.

“Kuarukua garuowan, vorua auooo.” [I don’t understand Elvish, so I’ll just communicate this way.]

Suddenly, the telepathic message I sent also resonated with my brethren, so they gathered around us, making me a bit uncomfortable as I spoke to the Elf girls whose healthy wheat-colored skin peeked from the tears in their clothes.

“Urufauoau voruaaaan.” [I’ll help you get back to Elfast.]

“Diseltos.” (Thank you.)

“Uu, u-ulrekto?” (Y-you’re going to help us?)

In contrast to the elven girls whose faces gradually lit up in joy with the news, the remaining Adventurer girl raised her voice in a panic and clung to me with tears in her eyes.

“U-um, what about me?”

If one were to think about her reaction, aside from the Elves who couldn’t speak the Kobo language but could interact inter-racially, for the human girl, the Goblins and us Kobolds are the same as other monsters…

“Garuu… aruva, gaoaruu worun?” [Hmm… Silva, can you accompany the Human to the humans’ village?]

“U~ waoaan… woaruo garua gaoorufa.” (Hnn, we can… but I don’t see why we have to go till there.)

When I saw the curious expression on her face, I realized that my thinking was closer to a human’s, but… I knew it was going to bother me if we just left the human girl in the forest to die. While I was thinking about what to do next, Hasta spoke up from behind me.

“Wafuruou guorufaon, aruva… guruo gauoaan.” (Silva, it doesn’t matter what the reason is… these girls are our responsibility after all.)

“Kuuorua vaa aruu aoooan.” (We do owe the young sage, so let’s do as he says.)

I was very thankful to Hasta and the other black-and-white Kobolds who possessed a strong sense of duty at that time… Like me, he was also quite injured, but even if his wounds had already been treated with healing magic, the blood he lost was too much and he looked slightly anemic.

After we worked out a few details about the treatment of the human girl, we also managed to come up with a conscientious solution for handling the other prisoners we freed from the Goblin’s village. Moreover, if I accompanied the black Elf girls, we would be able to smoothly pass through the Forest of Wandering and get back to Elfast together!

A few hours later, a search party sent by Aristia which included Lenaide wandered in by following the footprints left by the group of Kobolds who passed through the forest.

There was some commotion with their arrival, but we stayed the night in the Goblin village after it was smoothed out. The next day, I said goodbye to my brethren whom I had fought together with and started my journey back to the Elven Kingdom with the Elves who came to pick me up.