“Is… Is that so, Miss Mage!?”

Maril could not help but repeatedly confirm the astonishing facts Muriel had just shared with them.

Certainly, out of the other beastmen tribes, the Cat people’s tribes were the most human-like in appearance with only cat ears and a tail as their distinguishing features. Rather than classifying them as beast kin, they should rather be called a sub-class of humans due to their ability to understand human language and customs along with their almost human appearance.

Their race was the only one who could speak the common tongue of humans and thus facilitate negotiations, marking them as demihumans so they were treated as such, while Kobolds were treated as magical beasts, much like the goblins due to their inability to understand and interact using words.

“Please calm down. We have to tie up the bandits first. Mr. Silver Kobold over there, we are going to tie the bandits up, but could you cooperate with us and make sure that they do not resist?”

“Garuu, guruo, varuoaan.” (Of course. Everyone, let’s contain the bandits.)

“Guoann, gurua.” (Roger, Boss.)

Everything is going just as planned!

I kept my bow trained at the bandit leader while my comrades approached the rogues to disarm them.

“Nnngh, ugh… amazing, they really communicate with gestures.”

“Rivas, how are your injuries?”

The vigilante who was injured with the spikes from the ball of the flail let out a pained groan and an awed remark while squatting to stem the flow of blood from his abdomen.

Upon seeing the situation, Muriel approached the man called Rivas and knelt beside him, and placed her hands over the man’s hands that were pressing down on his abdomen to stop the bleeding.

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

“Aah…… Thank you very much, Miss Mage.”

“Now that you are healed, can we restrain the bandits?”

“Yes! Maril, is it alright to use the rope in the village storehouse?”

“Ah, yes, please do.”

As we prevented the bandits from resisting by disarming them, two of the village vigilantes ran into the village. I could hear the rogues muttering as we watched them from behind.

“Haah looks like we ran out of luck… This Kobold understands human speech and helps the village? Usually, they’d be on the attacking side, won’t they?”

“Even their coordination earlier wasn’t like a regular Kobold’s pack’s either, it seems fishy to me…”

Later on, ropes and scissors were brought out, and the vigilantes tied up the bandits. Their hands were tied from behind, and the rope was connected to another one of them as a chain to keep them from moving away easily. 

“Alright, then I’m going to release the bandits from the spikes, okay? O creator, return things to their ideal state…Dispel!”

“G-guah!!”

“Nnngh!”

With Muriel’s cancellation magic, the numerous spikes piercing the bandits’ legs turned into sand and crumbled away. As an added effect, it also caused healing magic to be applied to those who were badly bleeding…for her to heal even the bandits, such a benevolent girl.

After confirming that the bandits had been tied up properly, I lowered the bow and arrow I had at the ready.

“Guruaau wauu, kuuau guouru gaoruaa!” (Buster, Ax, and Lancer, please gather and retrieve the weapons!!)

“Woaanh.” (Understood.)

“Wann.” (Okay.)

“Gurua guruonn guoruoaan…” (Blazer and I will keep watch just in case…)

With some hand gestures, I convinced the vigilantes and the village girl to leave for a bit and asked my three companions to gather the weapons that were laid by the bandits’ feet like the War Hammer, Slingshot, Short Sword, Long Sword, and other items in one place.

Next, I asked them to strip the bandits of their possessions by collecting the leather bags containing small items from the bandits’ waists and retrieving the leather armors and breastplates they had on. In the middle of our operation, there was some trouble loosening the ropes that bound them, but we got what we wanted.

Some of the light armors were pierced by Blazer’s Long Sword, while some of the abdominal armors were cut by Buster’s Great Sword, but…

The loot we acquired from the 19 bandits was quite a lot……

I slowly approached so I would not startle the girl called Maril who stared at me with great interest. When the vigilante brought the rope out earlier, he checked with her… so she must be the village chief’s daughter.

“Hyah,”

She hid behind Muriel who stood beside her.

“It’s fine, Miss Maril. It does not seem like he has any ill intent towards us.”

“B-but!”

If you are that frightened, then my Kobold hunting instincts will suddenly start tingling due to your fear, you know. Maybe I should try to control it or it would cause problems for me later…

I crouched in front of the two and took out the stone that I have recently begun to carry around, and wrote on the ground.

“I’m sorry if I seem to be demanding a reward for helping you, but I would like to take those with us.”

“Eh!? This Kobold can write letters!! Th-that’s…”

Maril, who had crouched down with Muriel, looked at the letters I wrote on the ground and checked it over and over again with a look of astonishment on her face.

“I’ll make sure to return it, so please lend us your wagon.”

Maril pondered for a while, looking a little unsettled.

From the situation, it was true that these mysterious Kobolds saved the village, and Maril herself was saved by the tall, skinny Kobold who was standing not far away.

“… Very well, the village has a common hand-pushed wagon, so I’ll lend it to you. Mr. Zeno, can I ask you to lend it to them?”

“Yes, I don’t mind lending it to them either.”

After he said so, the middle-aged vigilante returned from inside the village, pulling a beat-up, hand pushed wagon. 

“Thank you, village maiden.”

“I-it feels so strange to be thanked by a Kobold, isn’t it…”

Without delay, I instructed my companions to load all our loot into the cart.

And with this, we finished what we came to do in Viel village… The residents who tried to flee the village earlier were starting to gradually return, so it might be a good time for us to retreat.

I beckoned to the red-haired mage girl and said goodbye.

“This is where we part ways…Muriel has really helped us. Thank you.”

“… Yeah, it has been a valuable experience for me too. When I become an adventurer strong enough to travel safely, then I’ll come to see you again, okay?”

She replied in a whisper and I lightly nodded to her as I stood up and stomped my foot to wipe out the message on the ground, and we left Viel village.