The four kobolds that Baik had enlisted were named Ango, Leik, Nehlka, and Hanaya.

Ango's was fairly average for a kobold; he was pale-green with darker-green fur, still carrying the torch with a waist-wrapping length of wolf pelt. Compared to Leik and Baik, he was smaller. However, where he lacked in physical might he made up in innovation; it had been his idea to use the torch to fend off the wolf, so he would act as a support for the group — whenever Baik was occupied — and in charge of defending the girls. Baik had broken the skull of the wolf after they finished wiping the bones down, using its still in-tact upper skull as a shield.

Unlike him, however, Leik was big; his father had been a warrior and it was evident he would be too. He was dark brown with black fur, wearing a similar set of pelt with one of the wolf's paws dangling off a vine necklace. His size and strength meant he upgraded to the biggest femur in the wolf's leg for a weapon.

Nehlka was a sister to Ango, so she was small and green. Her fur, however, was blue and her hair was kept in a high-ponytail. She wore a pelt dress, with bone splinters run through straps to give it more stability. Whilst the other males were oriented on warrior work, she had been the one fashioning the rope from vines and would continue that job.

Hanaya wasn't much bigger than Nehlka, but the yellow-green kobold's head of messy black hair made her look bigger than both her and Ango. She had opted for a two-piece pelt arrangement; Hanaya needed more mobility as she performed gathering both vines and local food around what had been their camp. Until they were safe, however, she would be an emergency-fighter.

All of them had been given bone knives that were chipped and heated to clean. Each had been sharpened into points primarily for stabbing, given the reduced durability would make them primarily for one hard attack. Their weapons were far from ideal, yet arming the girls meant that if pushed into a corner they could all fight as a team. Ango kept his torch on his own vine belt for now; they had reapplied new fats to give it a better burn and replenish its life, but using their only source of strong flame would be incredibly foolish. Leik had shown himself able to start a fire with very little nesting in little more than a minute, so they still had the chance to light it once they left their camp.

Baik didn't get any new clothing from the wolf, but he made use of the vast majority of the pelt to make a double-sided bag. Without a way to do more than rinse the pelts off in pond water near the wolf, they had cleaned it down, cut a smaller pelt, pulled it through cut holes in the pelt, and made a simple bag with vine. It wasn't light but they had roasted slices of meat to store inside it. As the leader, all of the other kobolds voted for him to carry the food.

Yet the true prize was that one of the wolf's ribs had been sturdy and thicker than the others used for their knives. Leik had sharpened it since he was stronger, but Ango split and smoothed two pieces of wood to reinforce its sides. It took them most of the day for the pair of them to complete the total work while Baik managed the other weapon construction. Vines had been tightly coiled and wrapped around the top and base, with a wolf fur wrapping to act as a grip on the exposed bone.

Although the weapon was incredibly primitive, they had constructed a bonewood club. It was likely to shake itself loose after two or three hits, but the weight of the club and its single edge meant it could deal immense damage with a direct hit. Baik couldn't underestimate any kobolds; even the young ones had been educated and seen the weapons of their fathers enough to construct mimicry of it.

It's hard to believe we spent an entire day preparing all of this...

The prince looked over as the four ate some meat skewers, knowing full well that he should expect at least one or more death in the near future. Of them, the ones he needed to keep alive were Ango and Nehlka; both of the siblings had intelligence and skills that he could use, whereas the other two could perform the same jobs as him but better. In the morning, their formation would place Leik at the front, Baik behind him, Nehlka in the middle, Hanaya behind her, with Ango behind her. It would have been better to place himself at the back but having quick reaction time was necessary; at the front, he'd see it coming just behind Leik.

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The group set-off with high morale thanks to the slain wolf; Baik used the moss within the forest to directionally orient them to the north. None of them had been awake when they were abandoned by the warriors, so the chance of using their village as a landmark wasn't possible. Instead, the effort was aimed to try and find anything they could use: the river near their village or the Bailaka plains, for example.

Among the many places one could get reincarnated, though, Bailaka Forest was considerably less hostile even for the high fatality-rated kobolds; the group made great progress during their northern push without coming across any signs of additional wolves. They moved for two hours at a time before taking a short rest to gather food and eat, keeping themselves from straining too hard while simultaneously giving themselves recharges. Kobolds matured faster but being children meant that the five still needed to avoid overworking themselves; pushing anyone too far could cause irreparable damage or a wound that could slow them down.

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"The moonlight sure is helpful." Ango said from the rear, studying the leaves overhead. "This was a good idea, Prince Baik."

"It may be useful for us now but we can't let down our guard."

Leik glanced over his shoulder momentarily, yet it was ultimately a confused Nehlka who asked. "What do you mean?"

"For starters," Baik sighed, setting his free hand on his hip while tapping the pack dangling behind him. "Wolves are nocturnal. They actively hunt during the night... but since we rubbed mud and fruits onto our pelts, it should help hide our scent. All we need to do is not be too loud or too visible."

Fighting more than one wolf would be impossible in the dark, too.

The young prince turned his attention on what lay ahead rather than on the whispers of the girls behind him, for now. The canopy had been going on and the moonlight's dimming meant it was almost morning. Although their spirits were high, he felt tired. A warm fire and some rest would definitely help everyone, whether they'd admit it or not. Kobolds and their harsh lifestyle meant it was likely they could endure more... but none of them had even felt it sink in just how close they came to death.

"Hold on," Leik whispered, raising his bone club in both hands. "I see something!"

Baik raised his weapon and heard both of the girls shuffle closer. Ango raised his shield and back-peddled into the rearguard, keeping a sharp eye.

They follow instructions perfectly; the formation isn't hard to keep while walking but they all knew exactly what to do.

He slowly crept up and beside Leik, looking past the kobold at the trees ahead. The brush was mostly high around them, but the bushes ahead were lower or simply broken down. Additionally, the scent of blood wafted in from ahead of them.

"Leik, you and I are going to investigate. Follow closely."

Baik stepped around him and slowly pushed ahead. The other kobold hesitated as if to complain, but ultimately the footfalls behind Baik let him know that he was coming.

The brush gave way and the forest parted; ahead, a large dirt road running through the clearing. They were at a bending fork, a path coming in from the east and splitting off toward the northwest and north. Even Aggel's map hadn't included something like this, yet more strange was the tall roadsign in an impossible to decipher the language.

"This road is bad," Leik whispered. "Humans made it, I think!"

It's possible, but I should ignore him; demons and humans alike are supposed to share borders with us. Assuming we went north... it's very likely we're near the demonic territories. The symbols of the language don't appear too geometrical; Aggel didn't know about them but Baik told me that demons often used geometric symbols to imbue magic into things. Humans, in turn, supposedly wrote things in more random or broken symbols...

Baik studied the bend, eventually spotting a corpse in the middle of the road. It was a humanoid person lying facedown in a puddle of blood. Black robes and a split mask lay nearby, whilst a snapped blade was buried in his back.

Looting a human is too good to pass up.

"Leik, wait here." Baik pushed out of the brush and hastily ran to the nearby body.

"Wha- Prince!"

The kobold boy cursed but not loud enough to be heard. Baik jogged over to the humanoid and, for the first time, had a true gauge for how he might have stood up in this world. The person was definitely human even if their face was disfigured, beaten and caved in from immense blunt trauma. He grabbed snapped sword's hilt and jerked it free, tossing it aside before grabbing the body and rolling him over.

The front of his body carried an iron cuirass that couldn't possibly fit Baik anytime soon; its design was simplistic but made thick for a maximum guard. Even still, whoever killed this human had even gone so far as to beat a five-inch-wide dent into its metal surface.

Baik looked down at the main's waist, however, and tried to ignore the damage for a proper necessity. Baik set his weapon down and pulled free his knife, plucking a pouch off the belt and then snapping and stealing the belt itself. Inside the pouch was a gold ring that he quickly put on his thumb, then the belt within the pouch.

If we cut it slowly, we can use the belt to replace our vine belts, the ones on my weapon and hilt, and possibly have a few extra leather strips for something else.

Next, he moved to remove the man's boots; what he found were two ugly feet and a leg-strapped dagger. Leik let out an excited gasp at the sight of it and nearly came running over. Even though kobolds were primitive, it was likely that the Prince who led them carried looted weapons. A broken sword was no big deal, yet a dagger such as this for their size was more like a shortsword. Baik removed the bootstrap and cut the large band shorter, twisting it into a belt loop for now.

"Sia'i ares Mosae?"

Garbled language to Baik, an older masculine voice filled his ears. The kobold hastily turned and grabbed the club from the ground, yet saw no one.

I can't take any chances! I have to hide!

His tail whipped out and Baik bolted; he made a mad dash toward Leik and dived for the brush. The larger kobold boy reached out and grabbed him, pulling him back into the bushline mere seconds before the sounds of hooves beat into their ears. Baik looked over his shoulder and the two hunched lower, watching an honest-to-god horse trot into view. A man with a featureless white mask rode on its back, dressed similarly but his cuirass was painted gold and bore a white cape over his shoulders.

"Mosae? Lokorisn!" The way he said the first with inflection and directness likely meant it was a name. "Fina roka..."

The man hopped down from his horse, moving over and kneeling down. Leik pulled on Baik's toga, leaning in close.

"Prince, we need to get back to the others. What if there are more of them?"

"... You're right," Baik concluded, turning his gaze from the figure. "Come on."

Although they had been able to loot the man, Baik wished he had more time to search his possessions. This world's humans weren't native to the forest so looting their things was unlikely to be common occurrences. However, there was a burning feeling in the back of his mind that these masked figures were more dangerous than some bandit who was slain in the woods. Even if there were five of them, instincts screamed out that the man would kill them without wasting even motion.

I've not been in this world long enough to fight. Before this world, I... I lived a peaceful lifestyle that had exposure to violence but using a weapon on someone is different from a wolf.

Baik looked back and saw the man stand upright, peering up at the early morning sun rising above the treeline.

Whoever these people are, I need to prepare.

The man turned his head, time slowing as Baik's eyes flashed crimson; his body felt killing intent being slowly directed outward, putting his tail's fin into a big flare.

I need to run!