"You must always be strong. Never show another kobold weakness or kindness unless you trust them with your life."

The words of his mentor, Aggel, rung somewhat more hollow today. The fogginess of his previous life didn't remove that core teaching of being kind to others, after all.

"But Aggel, how can you unite kobolds if you don't act kind? I know you can lead through strength, but-"

"My prince," she interrupts, unusually strict and sober in tone. She waits for him to stop entirely in his line of thought before she crosses her arms. "When you get older... you'll see it. Kobolds aren't all like me. Most kobolds are-"

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"Monster!"

The words were mixed into a gurgle as Akort clutched his neck in one hand and tried to swing his hatchet in the other. Baik parried with his dagger due to how little strength the weapon carried before bringing his club down and finishing the fight with its loudest bone-cracking crunch yet. Akort crumpled beneath the strike and the kobolds began to break and run behind him. The wolf immediately dived on top of one of them and began rending it from behind.

The only two left were the scout and his apprentice Roktok. The latter was fearfully gazing back over his shoulder whilst the elder scout kept the knife at-the-ready on Celinus' throat.

"No kidding," he grumbled, watching the corpse of his previous leader for a moment before fixing his gaze on Baik. "A real monster to kill him that efficiently. It's a shame you can't do the same to us with your precious woman in my possession, right?"

Celinus doesn’t dare anger him or try to resist; her role in the convoy was as a guide and a backup mage due to her requirement to bind a creature being difficult, ultimately leaving her the least combat capable. Unlike Renia who could at least use a sword at a mediocre level, she lacked any real combat skills. It’s what made her excellent bait, but also the worst of his slaves to be taken hostage. Roktok and the scout were no match at all for him, but losing her wasn’t worth possibly acquiring two kobolds and whichever ones he could find that ran. The tribe was testing him but raising ranks and challenging them meant bringing his humans to the table unharmed and of-use.

”You think I won’t kill you the moment you hurt her?”

The scout doesn’t waiver, pulling her hair to better expose her throat and show off the knife resting against it. “I think you would’ve killed me sooner if this was just about killing. You killed the boss… which means you want us to become your underlings, right?”

Smarter than the average kobold. He knew his boss was dead and planned ahead. He probably knew I was here, too.

”Wondering how I knew? If so, it’s because I smelled more than one human.”

Baik’s eyes dim as his battle instincts recede, relaxing his stance and sighing. “So you have an enhanced trait. Smart with a keen sense of smell, but you’re a scout for some nobody? Why?”

Roktok turns and almost speaks, but the elder of the duo hits him on the back with his tail.

”Does it matter? I’m free to follow whoever I want. Unless I’m to believe you’re a King, that is.”

Declaring himself Kobold King wasn’t an option, especially with far too little forces to call his own. It was a trap this kobold likely used on more uneducated members of the species like Akort. Baik sheaths his dagger but keeps his club in hand, resting it over his shoulder with the relative safe distance between them more secure for him than the duo. If they attacked, one of them was guaranteed to die... and given the older of the duo's ability to negotiate, it was becoming more and more obvious why this kobold was using verbal traps and quick to swap sides.

"That kobold is your son," Baik concludes and states simultaneously, not terribly shocked. "So, what? You want your son to go free with her and continue your genetic line? That sort of stuff doesn't matter to a kobold... is that why you're an outcast? If you really think it'll play out favorably for you without being so for me, you're a fool."

Roktok flinched and the other kobold remained silent, knowing he had failed to obscure it. It was a hard-to-fish thing without the tells, particularly his abilities yet still being as capable as he is. The name for a kobold who pursued their own lineage over the overall survival of tribes isn't pleasant and much less is the treatment of them. Being outcast with his son likely meant he taught the young kobold to have his line of thinking, effectively dooming them from tribal life and risking them the most dangerous outcome of travelling in packs. If this man was truly looking out for his son, then he had a critical weakness.

Baik felt the humanity of his past life whittle underneath his kobold life's relishing of this moment, the smirk and glint of his eyes coming together to make the father flinch harder than his son.

"Here's my deal: drop the knife or I'll club him to death after I paralyze you. After all, you said it, didn't you? If I wanted to kill you-"

The kobold's knife clatters to the ground, hitting one of the stones of the faded road and echoing in the opening. He backs up and Celinus immediately pulls away, running to Baik and falling to her knees at his feet. Baik sets his free hand on the back of her head to try and calm her, yet inevitably ends up using it to try and keep her from hugging him too tightly at the waist. She cries and squeezes her arms around him a bit too tightly, particularly ignorant of just where her head-level is while cowering.

"My prince," she cries in her kind's language, sniffling whilst he groans and tries to stay focused. "Thank you! My life belongs to you until the day I die!"

None of the kobolds in this incident were talking: Roktok was in awe at how completely submitted to the Prince she was, but the scout looked as if he felt sorry. It was impossible to tell she had been used as bait willingly in a situation like this. Baik was annoyed at both her and his body for its reaction to just how close she was. If it wasn't for his sash, this would certainly have been a lot more awkward. But at last, he gets her to pull away and finally meet his gaze in a meaningful manner.

"Celinus, enough. I don't care if you think that but now isn't the time."

His use of the human language surprises the two kobold, but the older of the scouts quickly buries it beneath a different emotion: focus. Baik turns his attention back to them, ignoring Celinus calling for the wolf in the stranger dialect she had yet to teach him.

"Now with that done with... I know your boy's name, but I don't know yours. Since I have my woman back, I have no reason to kill either of you. But in exchange, I have to make you both loyal. So first, your name. Then..."

Baik kicks Akort, the size and strength differences in their bodies instantly shown as the corpse rolls back across the distance between them and lands a few feet shy of the pair.

"You will both eat him. His things will be given to my subordinates, but I have no use for making such a weakling a meal. In contrast, you both likely haven't eaten in a while. After you do these two things, I will make you another offer. Both of you must do the first two, but after that it will be up to you. Sound fair?

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Father and son share a glance but Roktok's answer is obvious; he nods whilst the other kobold turns his attention back to Akort for a moment.

"... I will, but only if I may get something back from Akort. My first mate gave me a ring and-"

Baik lowers his club from his shoulder and the man stops out of instinct, the prince aiming its bloodied end at the pair.

"Just the ring. And if it seems like you're trying anything, you both die."

He nods to the condition without any extra words, quickly moving to Akort's corpse. He rolls the body onto its back and reaches into his shorts' pockets, pulling out a thin band of crude iron. It was a sign that told Baik that this pair either had a grand tribe or this previous mate wasn't a kobold. It was even possible that he had been outcast from Baik's own tribe given the status associated when defying laws and traditions. Weakness made manifest and visible within a culture was hard to find, yet now he had more information to negotiate with than either of the kobolds could muster. It was a position of leverage that would let him finish things cleanly.

"Now... Roktok will stay here and you will go gather some of the other kobolds. Most should be hiding nearby if they weren't chased."

The man scowls and lowers his head in submission. "I understand. If he's dead when I get back-"

"Then you'll kill me?"

Baik's smirk hadn't faded but now it grows. This man of principle was good enough, but this sense of revenge was even better. Casting a kobold like this out was the mistake of a prince with a limited view on other cultures, perhaps better highlighting just how good it was that he was raised in a prosperous tribe and held a previous life with ample amount of interaction with cultures unlike the kobold-kind. While he may not have kobold traditions, his weakness was a tool that allowed perfect control over him... and one that gave a prince a valuable asset capable of momentarily gaining the negotiated edge against another Kobold Prince.

Now more than ever, Baik wanted him and any of these other kobolds. While his friends were amply skilled and trusted with his life, this was someone who could be used sacrificially if needed. This was the type of person that his tower and efforts would require to catch Bai's eye and show just how much they could trust him.

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Akort had been quartered and split among the few kobolds that the scout rounded up. The kobold's roasted cuts were spread and distributed to them while the wolf had its fill of its kill. Baik sat on the furs with Celinus at his side, watching over the group while she cut fruit for him.

In total, there were five kobolds brought back out of the surviving seven. Two of them getting away wasn't that bad, of course, since they wouldn't ultimately pose a threat to him. At best they would warn others of him and bring him greater challenges... or end up dead if they met his tribe. At worst it would get out that he had captured a human woman, but that was well within his expectations; Celinus had made it a show of treating him ever since they got back, so for all intents and purposes these potential recruits would be able to corroborate that he owned her.

She was the one slave he was fine exposing if needed since she was the only one who could survive being used as female slaves are in his new species' culture.

Roktok sat near him on the path cross-legged and with his own cooked skewer of Akort, watching the prince while his human woman fed him by hand.

"So... have you and her mated yet, Prince?"

The question makes Baik roll his eyes, meeting Celinus halfway on the next slice to take it from her. This time he waves to stop her, his focus shifting fully onto the young male.

"if I had, would it change anything for you? This woman isn't yours. And she can understand some of your language, so it's best not to give her any ideas."

Celinus' face reddens and she turns away, albeit the blush is something hard to decipher for anyone who wasn't human. Roktok simply laughs at the idea, though. "Of course, Prince! I would hate to imply that I'd want your woman! But a trophy that can speak our language is-"

"Enough," his father chimes, approaching at last with one of the last pieces of Roktok. He sits in front of Baik and to the side of his son, all of the other kobolds looking over nervously from their meals at the same time.

It made sense. Eating their previous boss with the one who killed him nearby was a sign of just how confident Baik was. He didn't partake in eating Akort because of his own desire to fight off the instincts in him, but to a kobold he was offering someone he beat to his lessers as a sign of denoting how pointlessly lesser Akort was to him. It was a two-sided gesture that served well for gaining their attention as well as making them all cautious; recruits who were afraid of him but certain of his ability were the best kind to start off with. They needed to be kept in line if he was going to introduce them to his slave conditions and manner of doing things... and the best way was to start off with a dominating position beyond their ability to fight back. Killing one of them with his tail had ultimately been a power move to assert dominance before he even truly thought of how many he wanted to keep.

"Your father is right, Roktok. The time for talking about my woman or what I plan to do with her isn't now."

Baik reaches past Celinus' next piece and instead grabs the fruit from her hand, lifting it up and taking a bite from the soft fruit on its own. She pouts for only a moment before she sits back and eats on the remaining piece... until Baik pushes the piece into her lap and wraps an arm around her lower back, pulling her into his side and putting that smirk from before back on.

"Now that you've eaten, it's time to answer me Moxli: do you all join me... or do I kill you all to the last?"

Moxli, the father and now-leader, keeps looking at him despite the domineering aura Baik gives off. Celinus quivers and stays still in his hold, but Roktok squirms uncomfortably beneath the powerful kobold prince.

I haven't had a chance to truly live with others who weren't my friends... but I get it now. This is what Aggel meant.

Baik's tail strikes the ground behind him hard enough that the furs between him and the ground momentarily lift up, making Moxli's own tail flatten and lay out behind him. A kobold prince was more human-like but at the end of the day he was still larger than them... and in size, he also had strength.

"If it is your mercy, Prince... then I will lead these kobolds in your name. We are mere outcasts, but-"

"Outcasts no more," Baik interrupts, looking over the others before his view focuses back on Moxli. "As you're now part of my order... you will have new station. A second chance. You will uphold the laws in a way I allow. For example, you and your way of helping your son will be allowed."

All of the kobolds seem shocked, particularly the duo in front of him, but he quickly raises his right hand.

"But in exchange, you must do so on the condition that you will enforce a new clause on the second law under my rule. In particular, this reasoning is that it will ensure our survival in low numbers to prioritize a single child... but you may only do this if you have three children. Given your age, it's obvious you've had more than three. And Roktok must surely be your last."

Although the age of a kobold isn't one someone normally sees, it was obvious that Moxli had physically matured and been that way a long time to acquire his knowledge. It was comparable to the elites of his tribe which meant he had been alive for years now... and all tribes prioritized giving a kobold a mate within a year of becoming physically mature. Roktok, on the other hand, was likely only a few months or so older than Baik and his friends.

"In this light, you will uphold my law. It's only fitting you prioritize the survival of kobolds through your own means, not just the tribe. But if it comes to the survival of the tribe, you will be expected to sacrifice him. He is of age and you cannot protect him forever."

This additional explaining makes many of the kobolds quiet down, whilst Moxli shrinks somewhat in defeat. His head bows to Baik at last.

"I will."

"Good. In exchange... I will promise Roktok a mate if he survives the year. Whether he can claim or convince them to be his will be up to him. As for you and the others, all kobolds who follow me are expected to serve me with their life. In return, each of you will be given a place to eat and rest. My group is small but-"

"There are others?"

One of the kobolds in the back is stunned at this, but it's Moxli who raises one of his brows in confusion.

"Wait... you weren't a lone prince?"

They... thought I was alone?

Baik is uncertain what to make of this; shouldn't it have been obvious, after all, that he had others? A lone prince being able to capture and feed a woman isn't that far-fetched, but to have the courage to face a group this so large meant that he had to be better than a mere solitary prince in his mind.

If that's truly what they think, then this might bring more trouble than I originally thought. If others discover news of a solitary prince, won't they come to kill me?

Although he recruited them without additional bloodshed, the priority now was to get them back to the tower and do so with as little tracks left behind as possible. Seven extra kobolds joining him would allow them to do a lot, especially with the food surplus the tower was building, but getting caught before showing them what they earned by joining him would risk losing them in battle.

Right now he needed as much of this muscle brought back as possible.