In a corner of the woods along the side of the road, we dug up a hole on the ground and carefully placed the dry firewood, twigs, and leaves we found on it, and finally placed the slightly tall rocks in the four corners of the pit.

“Guaou, waon.” [Sister, please light a fire.]

“Ruuoa kuanooh.” (Light it up, Foxfire!)

A scarlet flame appears between the Kobold Dagger’s hands and burns the top of the firewood, twigs, and leaves as soon as it touches it.

But before the fire became stronger, I placed some flat stones on top of them and waited for them to warm up. I think we’re going to need four more of these according to the number of people, but I wonder if it’ll be enough to cover the whole surface?

“Kuruaoou varuooau, gurua.” (I’ve already cut and quartered it, Boss.)

“Waoa, garuuah.” [Then I’m going to start grilling.]

This is the so-called stone grilling. I had Lancer and Dagger prepare the three prairie rats we caught, while Ax and I prepared the stone grills for cooking.

“Hey, don’t get too close!”

“Okaaay.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Not far from us, Selena, the girl from Wyald village, warns the children who were abducted from the Royal Capital not to get too close to the fire while she grills the juicy rat meat on sticks over the stone grill.

“Oh, here are some bread and walnuts from the carriage, please have some.”

“Why, thank you.” 

“Waoan.” [Thank you.]

“～～♪”

I took some bread and walnuts from the small hands of the young cat girl whose tail was wagging and patted her on the head. When she and the other children finished distributing the food and nuts, they returned to the stone grill where the two Royal Coachmen began to grill the meat.

On the other hand, my companions, who can enjoy the delicious taste of raw or extremely rare meat, already started devouring the lightly grilled rat meat.

“Wauh, kyuaoon♪” (This meat is delicious~♪)

“Uoruua gaoou wauuh, guruu kyuaooon.” (Meat that has been lightly seared on the surface is definitely the best for me.)

“Guruoa, kuwauuru wafuru kuaaann.” (After all, fresh meat is better than dried meat!)

Additionally,  meat is also typically smoked when being stored for long periods of time.

It is a part of the preparations where people devotedly make smoked meat during autumn as preparation for winter when crops cannot be harvested… Just like the Kobold packs who single-mindedly pick up acorns, a staple food during the winter, from the forest floor before the cold months arrive.

(…We are already able to make charcoal, so maybe we could smoke some meat in the settlement next time.)  

Well, there’s a limit to how long it could last, so when you eat it, you’ll have to use a knife to remove the parts where it has started to rot, or where mold has grown. By the way, if you will only be keeping it for a short period, then you can freeze it using ice magic, but the taste will be lost either way.

The best thing to do is to keep it alive though, so it is necessary to secure hunting grounds. Hence, Nobles manage their hunting grounds so that they can have fresh meat anytime… 

“Kuu, kuao… vuua, gaaruu.” [Mm, this is delicious… go on, you should eat too.]

Once the rat meat was sufficiently cooked, I skewered some of it on wooden sticks and offered it to the mysterious Elf. With the stone grill between us, we faced each other in an attempt to communicate properly.

“Yes, I shall. Thank you.”

“… Voruaah, kuaruguo woruoonn!!” [… Wait a minute, so you can speak the common language!!]

Silently, the fair-skinned, silver-blonde Elf nodded.

“Garuwau guruaun, kuaaruu.” (I can also speak the Kobold language, but only a little.)

“Woann!?” [What the heck!?]

“…But it’s impossible for me to use it for everyday conversation.”

This Elf is amazing… It made me kind of frustrated for some reason. While I was still stunned, she continued.

“If I think about what happened last night, it seems like you have saved me, doesn’t it?”

“… Gaurukuaru guoauru.” [… It just happened because you were there when we rescued the Werecat mother and child.]

“But still, thank you, Sir Kobold.”

“Vuoon… guruuou Aavaa, gaaruau?” [Don’t mention it… My name is Archer, what’s yours?] 

Not meeting my gaze, she momentarily closed her jade-colored eyes and hesitated, but laughed dryly as she introduced herself in a self-deprecating manner.

“My name is Stia… I was a fool who incurred my people’s wrath and was caught by the slavers after, fufufu.”

This person somehow seems like the type to be difficult to work with…

“Woruaon, garuoaau…” [To be honest, I’m not really the type to care about such things…]

After introducing ourselves, I told her over lunch that my companions and I will be returning to our home in the forest after we deliver them to the Selkram Royal Capital. 

“Is that so… By the way, I don’t know much about the dog people outside the Ancient Forest, but have you always interacted with the Werecats and the Humans?”

Stia glanced over at the scene of the three races eating together around us and slightly tilted her head.

“Gaufuo wooa kuruuoaaaru, vano guruouua.” [We have more or less mingled with the Werecats several times, but we’re still a little distant with the Humans.]

“But it seemed like those Coachmen earlier were respectful towards you earlier…” 

“…Voaruu.” […It’s just mere happenstance]

She narrowed her jade eyes quizzically…

(And to think that we’re only fighting because of the difference in our skin color… Is it because we’re the same race that we can’t overlook minor differences?)

Her thoughts speed up even during their sparse conversation.

(…Paradoxically, it’s not about the essence, but basically, it’s the imbalance of power relations created by the accumulated consciousness of my people which means the skin color is just kind of like a flavor, isn’t it?)

Sinking deep into thought, the Elf girl let out a heavy sigh. She started to doubt whether she should have sought a change in the public consciousness first rather than rushing to get results and imposing reforms from her place of power instead.

Seeing that she had become lost in thought during our conversation, I began to finish my lunch and made one last confirmation.

“…Va, guruo kuorugaaruu varuan, kuruua wafuoaaan?” (…We are going back to the Easteria Forest after this, but what about you, Stia?”

“Well, I was wondering whether it would be alright if I stayed with your group for a while… As thanks, I could grow the seed of the World Tree in your possession if you want?”

And just like that, she beat me to the punch.