"A K-kobold Lord?! What is that?!"

Leonze stomped his foot while staring at Alecsia.

"We just decided to call it that, since we have never seen or heard of one before… My party then tried to attack the camp with the Kobold Lord, but…"

Alecsia looked away as she grabbed her own elbow and held it tightly.

"They all got killed…"

Brittanya stared at the ground as she finished Alecsia's sentence.

"Hey… Are we really just going to accept this? If this is true, why didn't she just tell the people of Equasulle about it?"

Leonze looked at Jaegar and the others.

"I did… There were some adventurers who believed me. But one party after another, they all got ambushed and killed by the kobolds. It seemed that they expected us the subsequent times we went here… After a while, people in town stopped believing in me."

Alecsia bit her lip as she had her head bowed down.

"So, tell me… The reason you joined us and took us through here was to test us?"

Jaegar stared at Alecsia. His voice was calmer than it was earlier.

"Yes… I've been doing it for a while now. If anyone invited me to go to Mount Havenero, I'd take them through here. Just to see if they could help me stop the kobolds…"

Alecsia clenched her fist tighter and tighter without looking at anyone among them.

"You do realize that you've basically killed a lot of people—"

"Of course, I do! But if I don't do anything, more people would be dead! A whole town filled with innocent people would be killed by those monsters! In order to save those people, I don't care how I do it! Even if I have to trick adventurers and endanger their lives! It's… it's all that I can do…!"

Alecsia stared back at Jaegar. Her eyes were on the verge of tears, and yet she managed to hold it in. Her face turned red with a pained expression.

"Let's go back to town. We'll help you convince them that the kobolds are here."

Leonze turned around and walked toward Equasulle.

"We'll get rid of this Kobold Lord and their camp."

Jaegar kept his gaze firmly on Alecsia. Her eyes widened as she heard Jaegar's words.

"That's right. We'll get rid of the Kobold Lord—"

Leonze stopped walking. He suddenly realized he said something absurd and turned around again to face Jaegar and the others.

"What, wait, no! What are you talking about?! We don't have to do this ourselves! There's a town full of adventurers back there! They can surely get this done with their numbers! We're only five people!"

Leonze shouted near Jaegar's face as he pointed toward Equasulle.

"Did you really just include yourself in our party's fighting prowess?"

Brittanya smiled at Leonze.

"That's not the issue here!"

Leonze glared back at Brittanya.

"We'll get rid of that Kobold Lord ourselves. Let's go. Lead the way."

Jaegar glanced at Alecsia as he started to walk. She then looked at Brittanya and the others.

"That's what he's decided. There's nothing we can do about it."

Brittanya turned her smile toward Alecsia and then winked at her. Brittanya then started to walk after Jaegar.

"This bow… is really… sturdy…"

Kryllo held his Diamede bow in his hands and stared at it as he also went after Jaegar and Brittanya.

Alecsia then turned her gaze toward Leonze, who had slapped his hand on his face.

"A-are they sure about this...? They are stronger than the parties I've been with before, but this seems…"

"Once you're with them, you get stuck with their unlucky streak of meeting strong monsters. You'll get used to it, I guess."

Leonze let out a sigh as he slowly walked toward Jaegar and the others.

"Alecsia! Please tell us the way! We don't know where to go!"

Brittanya called out to and waved her hand at Alecsia, who was the only one left behind. Alecsia then placed her clenched fist on top of her chest and nodded. She then went after Jaegar and the others.

---

After walking through the forest toward the deeper parts, they finally saw a clearing. The party hid behind trees as they observed the wide clearing that had a flowing river beside it.

There were a lot of kobolds running around while carrying stacked clubs with spikes. Others were cooking something inside a boiling pot over a big flame. There were also small huts that were used as some sort of storage for their weapons and other supplies.

On the far side opposite where the party was hiding, there was a large throne made of wood and bones. Small skulls adorned the armrest and backrest.

There, a large creature was sitting down. It was twice the size of the kobold chief. It had the features of an ordinary kobold such as the canine parts and scaled skin. But this creature had a furry chest that ran across its front body. It also had two large fangs protruding from its upper mouth.

Near its right hand, a large blade rested beside the throne. It was about two feet wide, with a pointed tip at the end. The hilt was made of fur-like cloth and was directly attached to the shoulder of the blade itself.

"There are a lot more kobolds than I expected… It's a good thing I don't see a kobold chief anymore. We can get rid of those kobolds easily before we kill that Kobold Lord."

Jaegar kept his gaze toward the kobold camp.

"So, what's the plan?"

Brittanya stared at Jaegar.

"I think we really should head back to town. That Kobold Lord is really strong…"

Alecsia furrowed her eyebrows as she looked at everyone.

"Hey, Leonze. Get out there and lure the kobolds toward town."

Jaegar pointed at the kobold camp as he looked at Leonze.

"W-what?! You want to use me as bait?! No way! I'll get killed!"

Leonze glared at Jaegar.

"You want to be useful to us in other ways, right? This is the only use for you I can think of."

Jaegar smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

"And didn't you want to ask for help from the adventurers in town? This is a great way to do it!"

Brittanya smiled at Leonze.

"Plus, your only impressive skill is running away. Put it to good use. We'll take care of the Kobold Lord while you drag most of the kobolds with you."

Jaegar squinted his eyes at Leonze.

"If that's how it's going to be… Then I'll just run away now without them seeing me! Goodbye!"

Leonze stood up from his hiding place and started to quietly run away from the party. When he made some distance between himself and the party, Kryllo suddenly threw a large rock at Leonze's position. The bushes beside Leonze rustled loudly. The kobolds near the forest all looked toward Leonze's direction.

"I'm here… Chase me… kobolds…"

Kryllo somehow was able to project his voice as if it came from Leonze's position.

"How are you able to do that?!"

Leonze screamed as he glared at Kryllo. 

The kobolds near Leonze then started to howl and pointed at him. All the other kobolds in the camp stopped whatever they were doing and turned their attention to Leonze. Then almost every kobold started to run toward Leonze.

"You'll pay for this, I swear!"

Leonze then ran away as fast as he could toward town.

"Good thinking, Kryllo! I didn't know you could do that."

Brittanya slapped Kryllo's back repeatedly.

"Ok. Now let's get rid of that Kobold Lord."

Jaegar went out of his hiding place and walked toward the clearing. There were very few kobolds left in camp. They then howled as they saw Jaegar walking inside their camp.

"What is that guy doing? He'll be seen by the Kobold Lord!"

Alecsia looked at Brittanya, who was crouched beside her.

"I guess being sneaky isn't part of his vocabulary. Oh well, it's more fun this way."

Brittanya stood up and dusted off her skirt. She then quickly followed Jaegar into the clearing.

"Wait… for me…"

Kryllo then followed suit and went out of hiding. Alecsia just stared at the three who were now standing inside the camp.

"Are you all idiots?! It's like you want to be killed or something!"

Alecsia grasped her clothes tightly. She then shook her head and ran toward the three.

"You shouldn't have showed yourself. Now they know you're here."

Jaegar quickly glanced at Alecsia before glaring at the Kobold Lord, who was still seated at its throne.

"There's no need to worry about me. You need to worry about yourselves from here on out."

Alecsia stood behind Jaegar and the others.

The remaining kobolds then ran toward the party and attacked using their clubs. Kryllo and Jaegar were able to fend them off easily. Upon seeing this, the Kobold Lord stood up and grabbed its giant blade with its right hand. Then, suddenly, the large beast dashed toward the party and swung back its blade.

Jaegar, Brittanya and Kryllo all jumped toward their right, opposite where the Kobold Lord held its blade. Alecsia didn’t move from her spot. The large monster then swung down its giant sword diagonally toward Alecsia. The blade hit the ground and a large cloud of dust erupted. Jaegar then screamed loudly.

"Alecsia!"