A few weeks of living with humans originally seemed impossible. Countless obstacles both personality-wise and logistics-wise had left Baik uncertain about his decision. That changed during that first week of prying the humans and trying to converse with them.

The first task had been trying to decipher their language; comparing the kobold tongue that felt as fluid as his prior life's language to theirs, it was like the differences between English and Chinese. The kobold language was simple but relied on tonal and body language to properly convey it, such as using their feathers or tails.

The human language was almost entirely complex organization of sound with structure. Using hands and the face came into play, of course, but their complex language aptly removed a large requirement for it and only needed light tonal influence to properly convey things such as questions or not.

Baik, thankfully, had lived his prior life like a human and understood the basics of it. Humans evolved similarly, it seemed, and relied on raising the inflection of their voice to suggest questions and carried much of the same emotion.

"I... see." Baik grumbled.

He sat with the healer - Renia - whilst the two men continued their work on the garden. Among the humans, the two males had been able to do basic labor; Ango used them for carrying carcasses and processed goods, while the other female was assigned to help Nehlka and Hanaya prepare their food stores. Renia had proven to be the most friendly of them despite nervously sweating the entire time Baik spoke.

The uncomfortable human merely smiles, dragging charcoal across a piece of thickened bark.

Learning the language verbally would take too long, so Baik had resorted to reading and writing primarily. Although he couldn't pronounce words that well, he had already begun identifying various pictures and objects through similar methods as flash cards.

It was sloppy but allowed them to speak well enough.

Her bark rose: Kobold worried?

"No," Baik hissed in their tongue. "Kobold... deal... with kobolds."

Keeping the humans secret during this time had been difficult but doable so far; the first visits from his hometown had been uneventful thanks to Nehlka's secret measure. Rather than simply hide them in Baikan, They worked to create a scent-free zone and an earthen pit to hide in, allowing the humans to slip into the pit and easily make their smell vanish.

But Reina was worried; the humans had been so far amenable but forcing them into a hole was steadily wearing down the patience of the mage that Baik crippled. She had so far been keeping him in line, but the constant visits from curious kobolds had made it harder for the wounded human to maintain his energy.

Killing him was an effective solution to removing the risk of him acting out, but it wasn't certain yet whether or not the other male Virm would try to resist. Renia cared for the mage but her assisting Baik had made it obvious that she understood her situation. The threat from Celinus was also absolutely zero.

At this point, Baik had a hunch that the scared human girl had lived a life similar to this. Even with Hanaya's grimaces and scowls, she worked well picking herbs and carrying goods for Nehlka. At the rate it was going, she may end up being a prime pick for either his own wife or Ango's second.

Renia drags the charcoal again: If kobold keep Art happy, humans work hard.

You're too easy to control, woman. You may be a healer but don't you understand how precarious things are for your friend?

Baik's eyes turned, watching Ango return and toss the corpse of another pig into the clearing. It was the time of day that he used the sole word Ango had learned in the human tongue as part of his homework to learn the language.

"Clean!"

Virm and Artherias look over from carrying new stones to the fields, yet only Virm rushes to aid him.

"Renia... do... human know why... Baik no kill?"

The woman blinked, processing Baik's question while the two of them watched the trio of males deal with moving the most recent kill to the cleaning pit. She did look away once it was set-up, however, since Ango removed his knife and dismissed the pair to start properly cutting and preparing the carcass.

Unlike before, she didn't write. Instead, she shook her head. "No."

"Humans... worth."

Baik turned his eyes to her, sliding his tail across the ground and reaching up to tap the tip of one of his ears. "Not elf. Not demon... human. Human... teach."

Renia furrowed her brows and fully turned to look at him. It was painfully obvious to Baik why; this wasn't the first time he brought up teaching, yet it was the first time he phrased it like this.

"Human teach. Baik no kill so human teach. Elf and Demon? No teach. But... human do more than teach. Human show."

The healer turned the bark she had been using over and slid it across the table. "E-Explain?"

Baik had a good picture to describe the situation, even if she wasn't fully following. Elves and demons, from his teaching, had reasons to outright kill kobolds. Elves saw the forests as theirs, whilst the demons viewed kobolds as worthless slaves.

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Humans, however, hunted kobolds. It was like a human viewing a bloodthirsty wolf to a dog; the dog might be dangerous but it's no threat nor as reviled as a wolf. Kobolds are like dogs in more ways than their fur to humans, particularly after he learned that they had been part of an order trained to hunt them.

Kobolds are dangerous but the average human soldier could handily kill multiple kobolds alone. The threat of kobolds only came from highly aggressive groups that bordered humanity and constantly waged war or attacked their groups. In a way, Baik was eventually going to become a problem... but the solution to this was to use the human's willingness to avoid conflict and their lack of animosity as a crutch to bridge relationships with humans. Kobolds may be hunted but using their own kind as envoys in the future seemed more and more promising.

Baik was going to use his captured humans to teach more than just the kobolds of Baikan. So long as the day never came that he was forced to turn them into hostages, their work ethic and the growing ability to communicate on both party's parts had meant these weeks were successful.

Finished with his drawing, he slid it back and let her gaze over it before getting to his feet. Renia seemed dumbfounded at the image, looking between the bark and Baik's back as he made his way to the tower.

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"Celinus! Not there!"

Nehlka's whining met Baik's ears when he opened the door into their tower, looking at the all-too-common sight of his magically gifted friend pointing her staff at the top shelf.

This was another great use for the much-taller humans; Baik no longer had to put or take things down from shelves so long as the trio had one of the humans nearby.

"Yes?" The woman spoke hushedly with an accent, making her kobold speech rough. Despite her efforts so far, she had a hard time making her sentences sound as anything but questions. She pulled a clay jug out of the lower shelf and set it on the one that Nehlka pointed to. "Here?"

Hanaya chuckled but Nehlka was relieved. "Yes, Celinus! Thank you!"

Baik figured now was a good time to interject, clearing his throat so that the trio looked his way.

"Is everything okay in here?"

"Yes?" Celinus put on a smile but Baik's experience with the girl told him it was merely trying to hide her cowardice. "Greetings Baik?"

Hanaya looked at the prince, crossing her arms. "Why are we teaching this one our language? I thought you wanted us to learn their language?"

As much as he wanted to enter and sit at the table, he needed to stay in the doorway for now so he could keep an eye on the two men.

"She's useful. Cowards are easier to control and predict. And I obviously want you both to get along with her since I suspect those hips will make her part of our community one day."

Hanaya scowled at the implication of the human joining them but Nehlka broke the tension by expertly pointing her staff to the nearby chair. Celinus nodded and hastily moved to sit.

She sat down at the side of it on her hands and knees, bowing her head for the grumpy huntress while Nehlka sat down and turned her attention toward the prince.

"Stop teasing her Prince. These past few weeks have been tense as is and the humans did help us create farming plots... but my brother is far from accepting or trusting. Not to mention that the only ones among them so far to show any hope of working with us are the two women. The larger male is too hard to read and the magical one glares and curses under his breath whenever you're in view."

All of them hear the man spit and curse as if on perfect cue, followed by Renia talking in their language and scolding him.

Baik ignored it. "We all knew he probably would until his final breath. But killing him isn't an option with how things are. We need them to make sure we can keep our production up. Besides, all of you picked through those weapons; with the iron we have now, keeping the humans on our side will be necessary to ensure they help us produce traps."

The solution to their winter had finally come with all the weapons; after sorting through and picking out the usable or modifiable weaponry, there were a few scrap-quality among the bunch that worked for creating higher-quality scissor traps. It might not have been very high-quality but turning sword blades into bladed vices had increased their production. The only issue is that making those traps required someone just as strong or stronger than Baik to help; preparing all the tension in the trap needed more than he had.

So far, Virm had been providing that aid... and if they could get even Celinus to do more than basic clerk work and slave-like duties for Nehlka, they might be able to finally have a use for three of the four.

If only I could convince Renia to have Artherias write explanations for his spells. We've not been able to get either of the two to use their magic, yet even just Renia's healing would greatly expand our combat power. The threat of humans and other tribes only grows the longer Bai lets us stand independent.

Weeks of this had left him growing anxious... and was exactly why he came to visit the two females.

"Hanaya, I know Nehlka believes Celinus to be trustworthy enough for more uses by now, but I want your opinion. The honest one, not the angry one."

The confirmation earns him a scowl, but for once the kobold's ears slink back and she averts her gaze. Hanaya understands that his tone is serious, flicking her tail in annoyance but answering sternly.

"I agree." The female reaches out, grabbing the human by her hair and inspiring a terrified whimper. Hanaya releases her and sits back just as quickly. "You've trained her to respect us enough that merely touching her makes her think she might get hit or killed. If I or Ango yelled at her, she'd fall in line. Do you think she can help us hunt, too?"

"... No. I believe she can be more than that."

Baik turned his gaze outside, recalling the most important thing he learned in the past few weeks of talking and peace.

For all the kind treatment and cautionary guarding that they had pushed on the humans, they had leaked a lot more information. Renia and Artherias' roles and gifts were obvious, but Virm's handiwork had been something they learned in the second week of captivity. Celinus' specialty had been conveyed in images for a few weeks but he understood it after the talk today. Celinus had been hired by the human order with a single purpose: to turn the local animals against the kobolds.

She was a beastmaster, albeit a coward. The best explanation Renia could give is that it's a form of magic; the concept is effectively like giving her mana to a creature and overwhelming its mind while it's drugged or heavily injured. As horrifying as it sounds, the technique hardly works against anything more intelligent than a dog; kobolds sometimes fell to the effect but it ended after drugging, which means that most beastmasters end up bonding with a creature of lower intelligence. After enough time, that bond allows them to control the beast at command without the use of mana.

Learning her magic isn't an option, but Baik could use her skill to tame one wolf. Even one would be a huge help, but a single wolf was the only amount worth the risk.

"I want you to take her out with Ango next time," Baik sighed. "I'm going to have Renia draw a message for her and I want you to give it to her. The three of you are going to corner and help her make a wolf fight for us."

Nehlka blinks in disbelief but Hanaya understands, merely shrugging and looking to Celinus.

"Fine... we'll take her next morning."

"Good."

Baik turned and started to leave, only for Celinus to clear her throat.

"Prince?"

Baik turned, looking at the paling woman's grim expression. He waited, letting the silence be his answer and making her squirm.

"Nn... I am loyal? Do not hurt Celinus? Celinus... be prince's woman if want?"

The blue-scaled kobold rolled his eyes and turned.

"No need; just be useful, Celinus. If you're useful, we keep feeding you."