“Garuwaoa, guanoa garuoh!” (Then, I’m leaving the hunting party to you, Buster!)

“Woooh, gurua!” (You can count on me, Chief!)

The black armed, hulking Kobold grouped the young Kobolds into hunting parties with four members each. After instructing each group to head in a different direction, he led the groups and disappeared into the forest. 

I had to be with the three Werecats during their stay, but we also needed to provide food for the settlement, so I had placed Buster in charge of the hunting group and saw them off. 

“Guru, guruoaon…” (Now then, we should head out as well…)

We led the two Werecats with the Blacksmith and the Carpenter jobs down to the river in the south. Meanwhile, the Werecat with Farmer job Joseph, stayed at the settlement and planned to make a small potato field in one corner of the village which had been cleared to some extent.

Joseph said that he would have to burn the dead trees and fallen leaves and mix the ashes with the soil to fertilize the area, so he had to go separately to pick up what he needed. I assigned two armed Kobolds to go with him as escorts just to be safe.

I expected that we would be carrying clay soil and iron sand back to the settlement, so I recruited several of the 1-year-old Kobolds and Knuckle’s group of floppy-eared Kobolds to come with us.

“Alright, first, let’s pick up some quartz.”

(Quartz? Weren’t we taking some clay?)

Wondering what he was going to use it for, I tugged on Grimer’s clothes and took out the slate pencil from my pouch after clearing the ground of rocks and crouching down. Grimer followed suit and also crouched down to read what I wanted to say.

“What are we going to use quartz for?”

“Quartz can be found rolling in the riverbanks, but that stone is excessively hard, you know? If you strike it against other rocks, then we can break those down and process it.”

… We had also processed obsidian before, but we did not care which material was best to use for it and just pounded it with the stones around here. I wonder if it would be easier to work with if we did it with that material instead?

“So I was thinking of making a Stone Axe since I don’t think the tools I brought would be enough… I’m sure Barrack is more adept at this than I am though.”

He searched by the riverbank for a bit and picked up a fist-sized piece of quartz and a flat basalt. While everyone’s attention was focused on him, he used the quartz as a hammer to crush and scrape the basalt rock into shape.

Tonk! Tonk! Tonk!

The sound of hammering echoed in the surrounding area, and after a while, a sharply carved hatchet was in Grimer’s hands. 

“… You’re a hell of a lot better at it than I am, Mr. Grimer.”

“Ga, gauo! Guruguaan!!” (A-amazing! It looks so easy!!)

One of the small, floppy-eared Kobolds looked very excited, his eyes shining after seeing Grimer’s creation. It seemed like he also wanted to try making it by himself, so he ran to the riverbank in search of a suitable stone after watching the completion of the Stone Axe.

“Hmm, like this, I guess? Try using it for a  bit.”

Grimer handed me the boomerang-shaped* Stone Axe.

One half of the boomerang-shaped Axe was the handle, while the other half was the blade, which was thinned out and sharpened along the edges. The whole thing was decently balanced and looked like it had great cutting power.

I looked at it from the right and left angles and pointed it at a thin tree nearby that was about 8 centimeters in diameter

“Wafuh, wauuh, kuan.” (Hey Ax, come and cut that down.)

“Wauan, guruukuan…” (I knew you were going to call me for that…)

Yes, when it comes to felling trees, Ax is the only suitable choice.

Ax took the Stone Axe from me and walked up to the tree I specified and hacked it down with his expert hands.

“Wauaaann!!” (Heave-ho!!)

After he had cut the trunk of the tree considerably, he used his body weight to break it using the principle of leverage. Holding it with both arms after it broke, he twisted the trunk to sever it from the stump. This was an impressive feat for someone who had worked daily from dusk till dawn cutting trees to make a clearing for the plaza.

“Wafuh, gaoauooon?” (How is it? Do you think you can use it?)

“Wann waon!!” (Yes, I can!!)

“I can’t understand what you guys are saying, but… I’m relieved that it doesn’t seem to have any problems.”

Grimer smiled as he received the Stone Axe from Ax when he returned.

He was pretty muscular for a Carpenter, but this cat-eared guy had an odd freshness to him…  

As I thought about it, I heard the similar “tonk tonk tonk” from earlier. I turned to see the floppy-eared Kobold dexterously hammering away with the quartz to make a Stone Axe.

“Oh, that’s great, Mr. Droopy ears. Then, can you make five more of these?”

“Wau?” (What?)

The floppy-eared Kobold stopped what he was doing and tilted his head. I pointed to his unfinished Stone Axe and bent all five fingers in my right hand. By the way, I learned from Ax that they also used the same hand signs and counting system that we had.

“Waon, gurua.” (Got it, Boss.)

The guy nodded and went back to work. After watching him go at it enthusiastically, I secretly named him Smith (temporary), but that name would be bestowed on him the next day…

“Now, we can’t dig the clay by hand, so let’s cut some logs to a suitable length and use it to dig up the soil…” 

Barrack reached out to take the Stone Axe from Grimer and grabbed the end of the felled tree and lifted it. Using the stump as a platform, he placed the part of the tree that he wanted to cut and swung the Stone Axe down.

“Ah, Barrack, while you’re at it, can you sharpen it to make wooden stakes?”

“Sure thing!!”

The Werecat Blacksmith used his skilled hands to dexterously shave off and sharpen the end of the log that he had cut into a reasonable length. Soon after, he had finished making a wooden stake.

“Kuruaaon, Gurua.” (They’re pretty skillful, aren’t they, Boss?)

“Waaon, kuan.” (They are, aren’t they, Big brother?)

“Gurua garuoh!” (Alright, let’s make them too!)

“Wafu!?” (EHH!?)

It was necessary for us to move and actively participate in what they were making too, as there would be no sense in just watching them make things for us. In that regard, Smith (temporary) was a guy who had good prospects!

Barrack stopped making wooden stakes after several were finished, and gestured that he would be digging up clay. I then pointed at myself and then at the pile of logs nearby.

“Ah, you want to make it too? Go ahead.”

I accepted the proffered Stone Axe and began processing the wood. After a while, my other companions followed suit, and numerous wooden stakes were completed in no time. During that time, I also discovered that my sister Dagger was surprisingly skilled.

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Translator’s Notes:

*Boomerang shaped – The original was “くの字型” (ku no jikata) or shaped like the hiragana letter く (ku).