Chapter 2

"Roar!!"

As if struck by a giant hammer, the young Bolt was flung away, his flesh torn by the sharp claws of the Gray Bear, scattering blood in the air.

"Woar, Woaroon!! (Trees, climb the trees!!)"

I roared loudly and quickly climbed the nearby tree. Seeing this, my younger brother and sister also began to climb. However, kobolds are not particularly adept at climbing trees.

Still, my sister had always imitated me and climbed trees, jumping around on thick branches, so she smoothly moved to the treetops... but my inexperienced brother struggled.

"Kyaa..."

Perhaps out of panic or fear, my brother slipped while climbing and fell. Before he hit the ground, he was crushed by the large jaws of the Gray Bear.

Death always comes unexpectedly, and no matter how much you stretch out your hand, it never reaches.

"Gurrr!! (Damn!!)"

"Kyuu? Kyuuuah!"

Shaking my head from side to side in response to my sister's gaze, which seemed to be asking why I wasn't going to help.

"Auu, Kyaa... (It's no use, he's already gone...)"

I fled, scattering like spiderlings, along with the other young Bolts of my age, while two Mother kobolds kept the Gray Bear at bay. I leaped from tree to tree toward the village. After a moment, my sister also made up her mind and followed, and we safely reached the village...

However, three young Bolts, who had made a wrong decision in the heat of the moment, fled deep into the forest away from the village and went missing. One of them returned to the nest in the evening, covered in blood, but died shortly after.

It goes without saying how sad the Mothers of the group were that day. The Fathers, who seemed to understand the harshness of nature, had a resigned look on their faces.

As a result, the number of young Bolts in the village was reduced to six, about half of the original number. The fact that no one had lost all their children might have been a small consolation... From that day on, I decided to train the surviving young Bolts of my age, even if it meant using force.

From the next day, I began to train them, using force against those who resisted. Since I was already at the top among the young Bolts, the training of my contemporaries went smoothly.

"Waah... (Ugh...)"

"Gau, Gagau!! (Get up, get up!!)"

I noticed that the weakest young Bolt had collapsed during push-ups and mercilessly stepped on his fluffy tail.

"Kyaa!?"

"Woar, Kuraowoon, Gaooh!! (The enemy targets the weak first, do you want to die!?)"

Although I was being a bit harsh... everyone was working hard because the memory of losing their friends was still fresh in their minds. I was worried that the adult kobolds might stop us, thinking we were doing something strange, but it turned out to be a groundless worry.

Kobolds form a hierarchical society, so when we started sparring after the push-ups, the adults probably thought we were just having a mock battle to establish our ranks.

"Kkyuan! (Hey!)"

With a cute roar, I caught the arm of the opponent who was attacking me with my knee and elbow, and immediately delivered a right straight punch.

"Kyaa!?"

Reacting to the presence behind me, I turned and delivered a backhand punch.

"Waoaoo, Wof!! (You're not hiding your killing intent, sister!!)"

"Kyafun!"

My sister, letting out a strange cry and holding her nose, glared at me with teary eyes.

"Huff!! (Huff!!)"

"Kyau, Kaur Gaoa... (Sorry, I hit you in a bad spot...)"

Despite occasionally getting injured and being scolded by the Mothers, the training continued, and eventually, we grew into fine two-year-olds. Kobolds mature quickly, so by two years old, we were quite capable.

In front of us stood strong kobolds with bodies like steel, honed by training. Well, to correct that, my sister and her friend were females, so they had more supple muscles.

We hadn't encountered the Gray Bear since then, but despite repeated attacks by monsters, we had managed to survive until we were two years old without losing anyone. This set us apart from the other kobolds.

However, not everything went smoothly, and during this year, the Father disappeared.

One day, he didn't return from a hunting trip... The bodies of the kobolds who fled back to the group had large claw marks, as if they had been gouged. I don't know if it was the same Gray Bear that ate my brother, but I vowed to hunt them down someday.

Fortunately, at one and a half years old, my sister and I were already capable of hunting. So, even without the Father, we didn't burden the Mothers too much and continued to hone our skills while chasing prey.

With a certain level of skill, I led my companions into the forest.

To defeat the Gray Bear, the obsidian-tipped spears and knives, and the slings we were using were not enough. We needed better equipment, but since we couldn't make it ourselves, we had to take it from the adventurers who came to the forest, which made me feel a bit guilty as a former human.

We knew where they might appear because our companions who went to gather medicinal herbs for healing had encountered and been driven away by them. They were probably beginners, taking on herb-gathering quests from the adventurer guild, but we could incapacitate and take their equipment.

"Waoo? Gaoau (Got it? Don't kill them.)"

"Waon, Kwon (OK, bro)"

"Wawoon, Gura (Leave it to me, boss)"

To avoid being targeted for bounty hunting if we caused serious injuries, I carefully instructed my companions before stealthily approaching four armed young men and women who were gathering herbs, hidden in the bushes.

Then, we burst out of the bushes with a roar.

"Huh!? What, muscular kobolds!?"

"More like, they're not even kobolds anymore!!"

I stopped the young swordsman who was frantically trying to draw his sword from its scabbard, pressing his hand down on the hilt.

"Huh!? Can't draw, ugh!!"

I then delivered a body blow to knock him out.

"Damn!!"

Nearby, my sister kicked the hilt of the short sword held by the thief girl who had attacked her, dove into her guard, and delivered a palm strike to her chin, knocking her out with a delayed reaction.

After a brief exchange, the other companions had already taken down the spear-wielding warrior.

"Ah, m-monster! I-I'm not tasty, you know!?"

The lone remaining priestess girl collapsed to the ground, crawling backward. There was no equipment to take from her, and she needed to take care of the unconscious adventurers.

(If they stay here, it's dangerous...)

As a former mercenary, I drew a clear line in the exchange of life to avoid becoming a beast, and I felt some guilt about attacking adventurers for our own convenience.

Even if it was just a pretense, I made sure to take minimal care of them, quickly took their equipment, and retreated into the forest. We did this again to another group of novice adventurers, and we managed to equip all six of us.

Even if it's just a pretense, it's part of goodwill... the weapon acquisition is complete ('◇')ゞ

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