This all began when I, Maril, the village chief’s daughter, cried in pain when I was hit by the bullet from the slingshot.

If only I followed my mother’s advice and ran away with the villagers. Then I would have only regretted my actions. If I died like this, then the last thing I would have seen of my mother would be her angry face… and that saddened me.

“Ugh…”

My vision blurred as I bore with the pain, but I saw that one of the bandits was aiming their slingshot at me. It seems he had gotten around his companions and placed me within his sights. I knew it, and he was getting ready to take a shot at me again.

“……”

I closed my eyes tight and prepared to endure the pain that would follow a while later.

But that moment never came.

… Did he miss?

I opened my eyes thinking about it and saw that the bandit aiming for me had a blade protruding from his chest.

“Eh!?”

Stunned, the vulgar man fell to the ground and died, and standing behind him was a tall, and lean dog kin.

“A Kobold? But it’s pretty tall…”

Things moved in a blur after that.

As I, the bandits, and everyone stared at the Kobold, a howl suddenly echoed from behind the bandits and somehow evoked an instinctive fear within me…

A silver Kobold, who was probably the one who howled, placed its hands on the ground and howled again, causing the ground beneath the bandits to sprout spikes made of earth and pierced their legs, halting their movement.

The bandits who were lucky enough to avoid the earthen spikes were attacked by a  blue and a black-armed Kobold who were both at least 190 cm tall, and in an instant, they had brought down two bandits each.

While our attention was on the two large Kobolds, a spear-wielding Kobold charged in. That Kobold was closer in size to the normal Kobold we know, but it swiftly pierced the pitiful bandit through the chest without missing a beat… and then, I noticed the tall and skinny Kobold from before cut down another bandit.

The coordinated assault by the Kobolds worked against the formation of the bandits and neutralized them in no time.

“A-amazing…”

While I was overwhelmed by the sight, I remembered a time in my childhood when the village huntsman brought home a puppy he picked up near the forest.

I was very fond of that puppy at that time and often went to visit the huntsman to play with it, but…as I was playing with it one day, the puppy suddenly stood and walked.

Yes, it wasn’t a puppy, but a young Kobold.

Eventually, the huntsman had to return the young Kobold to the woods so I was sad for a while, but I’m sure the decision to return it to the forest was correct.

After all, Kobolds are…frightening when they become large.

I wonder if the child from that time has become like this now?

“Nnngh, I don’t know what just happened, but that was a close call!”

“Rather, hasn’t our situation become worse!? The Kobolds are scary!!”

Even while the four village vigilantes were being indecisive, they pointed their dull weapons to the suspicious-looking Kobolds. 

……………

………

…

Hmmm, even after the bandits threw their weapons on the ground, the villagers glared and pointed their weapons at us. Additionally, the flaxen-haired maiden who seemed out of place couldn’t hide her fear either.

“Guofa, gaooauh” (Crap, we overdid it.)

They were obviously on guard. That was when the bandit leader unnecessarily butted in.

“Hey, silver doggy, aren’t you going to fight them too? I don’t think we’re the only ones who should be getting hit!!”

When the vigilantes heard this, they became more alarmed.

“Gurua, gaooon?” (Chief, should we fight them too?)

“Gau, kuuaouu.” (No, we don’t need to.)

Let’s leave them for her to explain later.

“Awooooooo….”

I did not mean anything with it, I just used my howl as a signal.

While everyone’s attention was focused on us, I heard the sound of footsteps gradually coming in from the village’s northwestern entrance, a short distance away from us. As the wary thieves and villagers momentarily turned away from us, the red-haired mage appeared.

“…I just happened to drop by Viel village in the middle of my trip, but what’s going on here?”

Muriel slowly approached the villagers so she would not alarm them. As she did so, she did not forget to show off her “mage” insignia in a grand manner. A mage graduating from a reputable magic academy was one of the guaranteed ways of earning public trust, after all.

“It’s a mage…”

“Oooh!!”

With her appearance, the vigilantes’ gazes turned from suspicion to eyes filled with hope. Conversely, the bandits looked quizzically at her.

“I wonder if this is how bandits feel like when they barge in on villages.”

Muriel, the red-haired mage, spoke to the flaxen-haired village girl who was hiding behind the vigilantes.

“Y-yes! Miss Mage, these bandits demanded that we hand over our food and valuables to them…”

“And what about those Kobolds?”

“W-well they just appeared suddenly and took the bandits down.”

Muriel stared at me, and once again, all eyes were turned to me.

It was kind of uncomfortable…

“…Everyone, that silver dog kin is a High Kobold.”

“High Kobold?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s the first time I’ve heard about it…”

Questions were raised by both the village girl and the bandits. Their cries turned to surprise after they heard Muriel’s next words.

“As a mutative variant of the Kobold; this one “has high intelligence and could understand human speech”.” 

Well, I do not know if there is another High Kobold who understands this continent’s common language aside from me, but…just as we planned, Muriel had come up with such a thing under the guise of a bona fide third party.