"Nolnist! Nolnist mirst kah-"

Baik silenced the human with a dismissive swing of the sword, watching them crumple back and fall against the nearby tree.

That was the last one.

By his account and through some torture of one of the humans a while back, he had been able to get a count of their group. Of the fifteen — that the woman he interrogated — he had spared four. The trio at the camp and the whimpering female behind him would be enough to properly execute his plans, albeit it wasn't exactly honorable by his old world's standards. He pulled the woman by her wrist-bound chains, ensuring she nearly fell at least a few times while crying over her slain comrade.

It had to be done. I can't risk these humans telling them I exist. That leader of theirs had said kobold, I'm sure... but the way the ones who didn't flee reacted means he must have understood I wasn't someone basic.

The deduction had to be right or he may have just butchered the cowards for nothing.

As the pair approached the camp, he wasn't surprised to find the healer still holding her magician friend in her lap. The other figure had sat up and leaned back against the cart, cradling their mask in their palms and whispering prayers. It was another human of course but unlike the pair, this third member was a calm man with strange runic tattoos under his eyes. His pale skin was shades lighter than the mage, perhaps hinting that he was from a more studious background or from a place with colder weather. Either way, he was at least composed.

Baik approached the man and grabbed his chain, securing and binding it with the fourth member before clinking it into the binding lock on the wagon's metal brace. Unlike the other woman, her hair was naturally cut short and a fiery red... but she had the same dark skin he had seen their commander sporting. And unlike the healer, her figure was far harder to hide beneath the cloak; she was an older woman with proportions best for raising kids, whilst the healer was likely to have some issue in an era not as advanced as his old world.

Although he was assessing them, however, it wasn't for the idea of indulging himself in the thrills or pleasures a kobold was entitled to by law. If that had been his plan, he'd have spared more of them to increase a harem. Taking care of so many people wouldn't have been just problematic but far too stressful for Baik since he came from a world where this sort of savagery wasn't even remotely present. If it weren't for having seen death before and his slaughter of the wild pigs — who could squeal and cry in far more blood-curdling ways than the almost silent deaths he inflicted on the humans — then just having a total victory like this would have been too much to bear. Right now, Baik had to think rationally and in numbers that could be handled by him and his friends. Not only that but if he needed a bargaining chip with Bai, it was likely that another human woman would be fairly valuable.

With all four of them shivering and coping with the death, the prince shoved all the facts aside and set about to gather the human bodies. The hand-wagon could pull a lot of weight if it were operational but right now he needed to assess what was worth it and what wasn't...

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Artherias continued whispering death at the kobold, watching him drag Korten by his ankle and set him down... then threw Jarn over him.

I'll kill this monster... if it wasn't for him... if it wasn't for him...

Renia caressed and coaxed his vision back up to her face, forcing his seething rage to retreat and submissively revert to his sorrowful state. "It's okay, Artherias... I know how you feel."

The healer gently reached one of her bound hands as far as the chain allowed, just barely grasping his finger. The healing magic thrummed through his ring digit and stimulated its dulled sense of touch, forcing the young man to immediately clasp for her.

How can you... watch him do this to everyone so calmly?

Though his voice had betrayed him, his lips still moved. It was enough for the blonde-haired woman to decipher his question, smiling and fighting back tears.

"Because... h-he spared us. Artherias, a kobold like this... has never been known to exist. H-He... actually... let me save you."

She was right and Artherias wished she wasn't; the blue bastard had acted like no kobold or kobold prince ever recorded in the Order's entire history of hunting the bastards. Korten died because he tried to fight and the others were likely hunted down when the kobold was gone. The sword he had taken with him and carried in his free hand was stained from slaughtering but it was impossible to know if he hunted down each of them. Korten squad had been so large but now was down to its last four members. Using magic in his state would be next to impossible, Renia's mana had been spent healing them, Virmilax was whispering prayers in his hometown's runic-speech, and he had brought back a bruised and beaten Celinus. Their spirit to fight was too far gone even if they had been physically and magically fit for a fight.

But taking prisoners, especially when he had nearly killed the short fucker, was very rare in kobolds. Especially in a race other than their own, by all accounts. This demonic creature had defied everything they knew and even now was gathering the dead around the campfire and setting them on their back. It was a very methodical act, yet the kobold wasn't any taller than a teenager. If this was a Prince as Korten had indicated, it wasn't even very old; very likely, their assailant had only been alive for ten years or less. Accurately judging how old it became even more difficult due to its tail; mutations are an entirely demonic race attribute and only a few creatures naturally could undergo it. In the case of this prince, it was most likely that it obtained it from surviving a bite from the local chimera.

I hate it but...

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Artherias turned his head, waiting until Renia moved her hand and started brushing his hair to study the intelligent beast.

This thing... why is it so... like us?

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"Hm."

Baik had covered the faces of the slain humans but otherwise had stripped much of their supplies. Oddly enough, he found their equipment quite useful. Though a few cloaks were torn and beyond worth recovering, six of them were in good enough condition to appraise. His normally strong sense of smell didn't detect any trace of scent on them... as if they were completely void of one. Whether it was magic or not wasn't possible to tell but such material was invaluable if he ever had to face kobolds. It had formed the first pile of things to take with him.

Next was their armor choice; most of them wore an iron breastplate and no other pieces, yet the breastplates were slim and well-made. It was armor built to guard against smaller weaponry and cutting edges, yet most likely failed to help against blunt force. It was probably why he was able to inflict damage through sheer overpowering. Furthermore, they were so thin that it was unavoidably the creation of magic; his time in Daesal hadn't been long but it was enough to know that most laws of how things were created still existed here. If armor was designed like this back in his world, it would have been very easy to bend or damage; this armor had enough resistance to not fold from brute force and enough to take experimental taps from his dagger. If he included the ones his hostages wore, there were five he could use... but that was more than enough. All of it was carefully settled beside the cloaks with each one turned so that its curvature linked and made it a clean stack.

And lastly was the weapons. Although he had used his dagger all this time, their larger weapons were far different from the back-up tool. They all carried either personal weapons — such as the mage's axe and buckler — or swords and spears. The only weapons he could really make use of were the spears due to kobolds being able to easily adjust them... but he had bundled his captive's weapons as well. Though they weren't going to be trusted fighting as his side, they most likely had a sentimental value that could help get them to help him.

All in all, his findings made four packs... and each one was bound with a chain to keep it shut. Opening them would make too much noise... which made it a good anti-theft measure and a way to force the four to carry it for him.

Baik approached the group once he was done, all the bodies lined up behind him, and set the packs down.

"All of you," he pointed.at them. Then down at the packs. "Carry."

The mage was silent but the healer grew extremely nervous. The rune-eye didn't acknowledge him, but the highly attentive traitor leaped forward to grasp her pack. She fumbled with the chain for a few seconds before his tail cracked the ground. Her reaction was to immediately drop it, recoiling and cowering from the blue-scaled prince.

Baik sighed, setting his hands on his hips. "Don't open it. Carry! Carry!"

This language barrier is difficult... but I have to get through to them somehow. Ango might listen to me and not put his hands on them... but if we have kobolds visit us and they're not behaving...

The prince moved over and grabbed the bag, approaching the cowering woman and simply putting it in her lap. She peeked out, shivering whilst he walked over to another back and grabbed it by its chain. He made sure the human watched him lift it... and then moved it toward his back.

"Carry. Understand?"

This time it got through; although bound, she clutched the pack tight to her breasts and gave more than a few nervous nods. Baik didn't enjoy seeing humans in such a state but this was unavoidable right now. The sooner they understood and fell in line, the less trouble they would cause.

The kobold thrust the pack into the whispering man's lap and snapped him out of his chanting, glaring at him and then pointing at the woman from before. He looked at her and the two shared their strange language's words before he understood. Although the mage wasn't in good condition, the healer took their packs and set it in their laps.

"Good," he smiled. "Now... let's go."

Walking over to the wagon base and pulling their chains free, he shook it and was immediately rewarded with the tattooed man and their cowardly fourth stand but the healer didn't. She spoke to the mage and he was silently moving his mouth in a conversation... and it occurred to him what was going on. Baik took the bundle from the man and then pointed at the mage.

"Carry."

Spaced out from having been in his own world, his deep voice questioned Baik fruitlessly. The kobold looked at the woman and shook her chain, instantly getting her to speak in her hushed tone. All three of the vocal ones began speaking amongst one another but Baik didn't interfere further. It took them no time to deduce the best way to fulfill his request; the man lifted the mage up onto his back, the healer took two of the bundles, and the second woman took on the final bag with an apologetic bow.

They're smart. They'll be useful once they calm down and realize their situations.

Admittedly, there was an issue in the normal fetishization of other race females in kobolds: Baik may have been reborn and understood he had to kill, but he didn't need to force himself on others. The two women here likely had little idea that he wouldn't do such a thing... but until that faded, he couldn't make use of their gifts. Only the runic-faced man was in a state that seemed to imply he might be useful anytime soon. It was quite possible that he would be forced to kill the mage if his anger never calmed but taking more lives, for now, wasn't important.

Baik turned and grabbed a torch from the campfire, tossing it onto the grass beside their comrades. The humans averted their gaze as all eleven bodies were engulfed in flame.

I can't let these bodies be found in too good of a shape. I'll burn them so that it should slow down the rate at which they get scavenged away if they don't burn out entirely. It will also help muddle their identities since I discarded all of their masks, which should hinder any attempts to accurately search for these four.

He tugged the chain and started leading the three and their wounded ally. The walk back to Baikan was going to be long but the graphic scene and the forest's natural tendency to hide trails would keep them from doing anything to locate them.

Four humans and four kobolds living in the same tower would be cramped, but their larger frames meant that they could also be driven to bolster their workforce and do things that Baik has had to personally do. Additionally, it was possible that they could educate not only him but also the others about human tactics and skillsets. Bailaka had farms but they were still fairly primitive and archaic compared to how even ancient-era humanity farmed. If these humans were similar to those from the medieval ages, as most fantasy worlds tended to be, then they would be even further advanced.

Bringing numbers together takes either a massive amount of time and little resource growth, or massive growth and little time. They may be weak, but their uses could easily grant me a method to pursue the latter path. No matter what I do, I can't let them escape or be taken until I can extract everything I can. Defending my reason for keeping them should be easy with Bai, but humans are high-valued among kobolds. Doing this task may assist Bailaka in letting them hold their Trials yet it paints a big target on me to Totaina.

The first thing I must do is learn their language. Then I determine exactly just how big the risk of keeping them is.