Our loot consisted of the following items:

Weapons: 1 x Long Sword 

 1 x Spear

 1 x Set of Bow and Arrow

 2 x Daggers

 1 x GreatSword 

 1 x Battle Axe

Armaments: 4 x Leather Armors 

 2 x Shields

 4 x Cloaks  

“Kyuunn,”  (First,)

“Kuauu, kuaruoauooruaon!”  (Hey, you! Don’t lick the spear tip!)

One of the guys who had just come to know the taste of iron had an indescribable look on his face. Don’t tell me you don’t know how to use a weapon … That’s not food, my friend… Well, the Kobolds in the settlement use spears made out of obsidian strapped to a wooden stick, so he should be fine, I reasoned.  

Anyway, we returned to the nearby forest and I decided to show them how to use the different weapons during a regular hunting session.

“Guruu, kuan.”   (It went over there.)

“Wafuh, guruuah!”   (Yeah, leave it to me!!) 

Soon my companions cornered a boar, I attacked it from the side with all my might and sliced down at it with the Long Sword.

“Buoaa! Buooh…… Oooh.”

The boar tried to stand up despite the huge wound on its gut, but it eventually lost too much blood and slowly fell to the ground.

“Kuaaaan”  (Thanks for the meal♪)

“Kyua♪”   (Yay♪)

Everyone approached me with a squeal of joy, but before dividing the meat, I distributed the weapons first. Getting in between the food and my companions who were extremely faithful to their instincts, I raised the Long Sword and pointed the tip at the boar’s open wound.

“Kuu?”  (Hnn?)

Having done that, one of them noticed the sharp cut and took an interest in it.

(Yes, yes, you’re doing great!)

Returning the sword to its scabbard, I handed the weapon to that guy. Taking the Battle Axe next, I cut off the dead boar’s legs to show off its cutting power, and, just like earlier, handed it to another guy.

“Uu, kuuaou”   (Uu, how dangerous)

Shocked that the boar’s legs had been cleanly cut off, he gingerly handled the Battle Axe. In the same way, I picked up the Great Sword and tested the blade, and handed it to the male who had the best physique in my generation. 

“Ofa…”   (It’s heavy…)

Lastly, I used the daggers to slice and clean the rest of the boar’s carcass, and we ate dinner together.

“Kyuu~”   (I’m so happy~)

“Kuaaan”  (I’m so full.)

I scolded my childhood friends who had laid down happily after eating the boar’s meat.

“Guruo, gurugaouaah!!”  (You guys, don’t lose your energy now!!)

I wasn’t done teaching them about the equipment yet, and it was necessary to have them try on the armor next. However, even I, a former mercenary, felt an indescribable discomfort with the leather armor I wore, so I was anxious to know how the others would respond to it. 

(I’ve only worn a straw skirt until now…)

Be that as it may, I needed to steel myself.

I made the Great Sword guy, a.k.a. Buster, stand up and punched him in the chest.

“Gurua, garuouh!?”  (Chief, what are you doing!?)

Even though he complained of pain, I forced Buster to wear the Leather Armor and punched him in the chest again. Buster braced his body for the impact, but…

“Kuu, wafon?”  (Hmm, it doesn’t hurt?)

After making sure that Buster, who had tilted his head as he looked between me and the Leather Armor, understood the importance of it, I lightly punched my younger sister on the chest like earlier to make her understand the meaning of it as well.

“Wafaa!? Ku, kuoonn!!” (It hurts!? B-big brother!!)

Because I was relatively soft on her, my sister was somewhat confused by the punch, so I made her wear the Leather Armor without saying anything and punched her in the same place again.

 “Wu, kuuwafon?”  (Oh, it doesn’t hurt much?)

And like that, they were able to understand the importance of wearing armor.

Further, I made the Long Sword-wielding Blazer and the Battle Axe-bearing Axe equip the Shields, and taught them how to use it properly by making them repeatedly block my punches in the form of combat training. 

Lastly, I gave the cloaks to the two females, which included my sister, and to Blazer and Buster, thus making our composition as follows:

Name: Buster (male)

Race: Kobold

Weapon: Great Sword

Armament: Leather Armor

Auxiliary: Cloak

Name: Dagger (Female: Sister)

Race: Kobold

Weapon: Dagger (main) Dagger (auxiliary)

Armament: Leather Armor

Auxiliary: Cloak

Name: Blazer (Male)

Race: Kobold

Weapon: Long Sword

Armament: Shield

Auxiliary: Cloak

Name: Ax (male)

Race: Kobold

Weapon: Battle Axe

Armament: Shield

Auxiliary: None

Name: Lancer (Female)

Weapon: Spear

Armament: Leather Armor

Auxiliary: Cloak

Name: Archer (Male: Me)

Race: Kobold

Weapon: Bow and Arrow (main) Short Sword (auxiliary)

Armament: Leather Armor

Auxiliary: Cloak

So why did I choose a bow, you ask?

Because no one could use it!

Although, I don’t think that I’m good enough to hit a bull’s eye with it either…

“Garuwooon! Guruau wuuoon!!”   (The bow is just for show!! The higher-ups don’t understand that*!!)

… I  really need to practice more rather than say these stupid things.

This way, we were able to acquire armaments, and, in addition to hand-to-hand combat training, we also carried out training with the obsidian knives, wooden swords, and wooden spears. In between, I practiced with the bow and arrow by myself and managed to improve my skills to a point where I could handle it properly.

And so, 2 months after procuring the weapons, I stood out among our pack of 30 Kobolds for achieving great success in hunting, and, along with 5 of my excellent companions, I stood at the top of the other Kobolds in the settlement. Next in rank was Buster, who had recently emerged as a force to be reckoned with, followed by my younger sister, Dagger.

At that time, we were already two years and two months old.

Still, no one in the pack knew how long the Kobold race’s lifespan was. This is because some, if not most, disappear or don’t return from hunting when their strength waned with age. Aside from that, these days, even the Kobolds that are about 3 to 4 years of age have also begun training independently.

Along with their help, my friends and I were stationed to protect the youngest Kobolds, ranging from newborns to those about a year old. We aimed to improve the standard of living and defense capabilities of the village.

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Translator’s Notes :

*The bow is just for show! The higher-ups don’t understand that!! – may not make sense to most readers, but the original text, which is [弓なんて飾りですッ！ 偉い人には分からんのです！] (Yumi nante kazari desu! Erai hito ni wa wakaran no desu!!), is a parody of a popular line from the Gundam novel series (https://dic.nicovideo.jp.a/ジオング整備士#h2-3).