“Wauu, waoan?” [Ax, are you alright?]

“Uuu~, waoau kuaan…” (Uuu~ It hurts everywhere…)

The big, blue Kobold Ax was hunched over while rubbing his abdomen as he approached.

“U, guuvaa kuruukyuan~♪” (Ah, but if I eat some honey, I might get better~♪)

“Vo woruou… kuruua, wauukyuaou.” [That’s the most unbelievable thing I’ve ever heard… Stia, please treat Ax.] 

“Wauu, gauruaaau.” (Come here, Ax.)

The jade-eyed elf beckoned the big blue Kobold and pressed her hands against his chest while invoking a spell that was a mix of earth and holy magic.

“Olkretorze matel gaias aura…” (May the earth mother bless her children…)

The life force from the earth’s veins enveloped her and Ax and bathed them in a faint blue glow for a moment.

Ax’s scrapes and bruises were instantly cured with ‘Earth Heal’, which is a spell that is mainly cast by the White Elves who possess both earth and holy attribute magic.

This spell is a combination of both earth and holy magic and is known to be more effective than the red-haired mage’s ‘Healing Light’ as it shares the life force of the earth and at the same time boosts the metabolism of the person being healed.

As I watched the big blue Kobold get healed, I borrowed a dagger from my sister and walked towards the ceramic platter lying nearby.

I then knelt and cut a few pieces out of the beehive on top of the platter and brought them to Ax who happily accepted them after finishing his treatment.

“Kyua~~n♪” (Yummy~~♪ )

“Kyuu, kuruuo~” (Big brother, me too~) 

“Kuua, va woruaruo kururuuau…” (Didn’t you already lick the honey that stuck to your hands earlier?)

“Uu~” (Eeeh~)

While ignoring my sister’s complaints, I turned and observed Buster. He didn’t seem to be seriously injured, but… he was thinking about something.

“… Guuvoruo, woruguruuau wauua?” [Was that attack earlier aimed at me and not at Ax?”

“Guu, gauoru… woauru gurua oaau.” (No, that was probably for both of you… I guess we need to be more careful of where we are positioned next time.)

On a real battlefield, you never know what could kill you, and even if you take all possible precautions on all sides, there will always be a chance that something will get through… But even so, certain battles are unavoidable in life, and in the end, you have to become stronger to overcome them.

(… Especially since we are Kobolds.)

If you go out hunting, you may encounter various risks like unexpectedly meeting a stronger monster, or being chased away by the Adventurers. Even for the human race, it is not uncommon for Goblins and Orcs to attack villages and towns on the frontier and causing extensive damage, while places like the Royal Capital where the surrounding area has been developed are not spared from these attacks either.

Staying alive is a challenge in itself, regardless of race.

(Well, it looks like we won’t be having a hard time finding tonight’s dinner though!)

From the corner of my eye, I spot the two boar-type monsters that the Goblins had been riding earlier. Their limbs and bellies may have been pierced by the earthen clods, but they were still weakly struggling.

“Wofuh, kuoruaaann!” [Sister, go secure our dinner!]

“Kuoru, aaaaan♪ “ (I’m coming for you, dinner♪ )

Wagging her tail from side-to-side, my sister picked up the mechanical dagger by the blade tip and spun it in her hand as she walked towards the struggling boar monsters.

“Kyuauooonn.” (Thanks for the tasty food.)

“Buwooo!? G-guoo…hooo…h”

Dagger in hand, my sister slashed the boar monster’s neck and bled it until it died. One boar was enough to feed all of us tonight, but it was obvious that the other one was mortally wounded and would not survive, so we eased its suffering as well.

We then quickly processed our catch and threw the necessary amount of meat chunks into Ax’s jute bag. While we were doing this, I had Buster and Stia watch out for other beasts or Goblins that may become attracted to the smell of blood as the sunlight poured through the trees from the west.

(… The sun is about to set, we should head back to the water source and set up camp soon.)

After a while, we left the battleground without any other encounters and headed back to the river that we originally followed to get here.

Currently, I just finished washing the cloak that had been processed as a piece of cloth and laid it over Smith’s platter and crudely cut up the beehive with my dagger.

I could smell the meat cooking right next to me, but I have to endure… I had to take care of getting the honey from the hive first.

“I’ve always eaten honey, but I didn’t know you had to crush the hive to extract it.”

Stia peeked over my shoulder in interest as her beautiful, silver-blonde hair touched my shoulders.

“Wau, kuuvorugu, kurukuaruu woaruou.” [Yeah, you have to crush this finely, place it in a cloth, and hang it over a tree branch.]

As I explained the process, I crushed the hive into smaller sizes, wrapped it in the cloth, tied the corners with some hemp cord to make a cloth bag, and walked to a nearby shrub while carrying it on the platter.

I placed the platter at the base of the tree to serve as a honey receptacle and tied the extra hemp cord on the bag that contained the crushed beehive to a branch. 

“So if you do it that way, the pure honey from that bag would accumulate in the dish while we’re camped out…”

The Elf girl who followed me nodded.

We did aim for a rather large hive, so we would be able to collect a good amount of honey from the platter tomorrow… After that, I just need to transfer it into my leather canteen and I’ll be able to secure the Golden Bee Honey.

“Gau, kuoruaah!?” [Now, shall we eat!?]

“Yes, let’s!”

As we were heading back to the others, I suddenly picked up the sound of leaves rustling. We were upwind so I could only detect their approach through hearing.

“L-lady Aristia! You’re safe…”

As we warily looked in the direction of the intruder, a short-haired Elf girl with lightly pigmented skin and jade green eyes emerged from the darkness.