When I woke up from my nap, I glanced at my total number of spell points to see how many I had recovered. Sadly, the nap didn’t give me more than a few spell points. Any recovery of spell points was good enough since I had mainly gone to sleep because the stress of battle had made me tired. I couldn’t imagine fighting for hours upon hours day after day in a real war. Of course, it could have something to do with my age.
I was tempted to go back to sleep, but my stomach complained so I struggled upright. I frowned at my belly and gave it a glare. “All you do is complain,” I said. That undead feat was starting to look better and better. Still, I flew over to the table and started gobbling down the food. “Hmm, goblins gobbling,” I said between bites of…something. It was probably better not to think about it. Instead, I tried to think of a joke about goblins that gobble.
That didn’t last long since I soon grew bored of that. Once I finished the food, I flew down to the floor and opened the door. Then I waved to the maid and started flying to the bathroom pits. Kobold toilets were a lot like medieval castle garderobes. I did my part for kobold society by feeding the worms, which was definitely not the dried jerky in my bag that I had been snacking on earlier.
As soon as I left the bathroom pit, I took a deep breath, but then regretted it since I was still too close. Not wanting to linger there any longer, I started flying towards the side entrance tunnel to see what had happened over the last few hours while I was napping. Once I arrived, I noticed that the invading soldiers hadn’t chosen to advance into the tunnels at all. Needless to say, the other kobolds had taken advantage of that time to undo every gain the soldiers had made previously.
I was a little confused that the soldiers had given us the time to get ready. Were they that incompetent? If I hadn’t known before, now I was sure that whoever was in charge of the expedition was an idiot. More than likely, someone in the top had suggested that they wait for reinforcements. Either that or someone who knew what they were doing.
Seeing that we were safe, I checked on Alsvartr but discovered that she was sleeping. That didn’t surprise me since she was a bat and preferred nighttime over the day. I was starting to feel like a bad pet owner. I barely saw or talked to my familiar at all. Then again, I did give her a “companion,” although she might actually hold that against me. I certainly wasn’t missing Hyggiandi though. Later, I would need to reward Alsvartr with something for taking one for the team.
The hidden exit wasn’t too far away, so I decided to use the Invisibility spell to see if I could gather any new information. While I really didn’t expect to learn anything, I could be wrong. Either way, I didn’t have a lot to do so I might as well try. As long as I didn’t get caught, it couldn’t hurt.
After casting the spell, I started flying toward the commander’s tent. However, immediately after landing on top of the tent, an alarm went off. Before the others could cast a spell to detect me, I took off once again and flew back the way I had come. With the alarm going off, some spellcaster was bound to look for me. After not finding me, I could imagine the spellcaster casting the Detect Invisibility spell. I even knew a spell to detect invisible enemies, the Faerie Fire spell.
Realizing I wasn’t likely to accomplish anything after all, I circled around the encampment looking for some way I could cause some trouble. A few minutes later, I noticed a few young men lounging around on a hill overlooking the coastline. Considering they were well dressed and surrounded by a group of soldiers, they must be important. More than likely, they were the children of some noble. Curious, I flew closer and found a spot close enough to overhear them talking.
“I can’t believe how incompetent these peasants are,” one of the teenage nobles said.
“I know,” one of the other teenage boys said. “They aren’t even able to defeat kobolds. How are they able to call themselves soldiers?”
“Things would be different if we were in charge,” a third boy said. “How much money do you think Baronet Daufi was paid by that fat merchant to launch this attack?”
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“Who knows? I feel sorry for Lord Gamall though,” the first boy said while shaking his head. He then picked up a rock and threw it into the distance.
The third boy asked, “Why is that? He was just following the baronet’s orders.”
“Do you really think the baron will forgive the death of his younger brother? Mark my words, when he returns, Lord Gamall will have to explain why he is alive and Baronet Daufi isn’t,” the second boy said.
“Yeah, I bet the merchant is going to leave before the baron arrives,” the third boy said. “He has to be the reason why the Baronet Daufi would bring the dregs of the castle instead of waiting for the real soldiers to come back from the campaign.”
One of the guards couldn’t help but glance at the noble teenager before glancing away. Obviously, he wasn’t happy with what the boys were saying but also wasn’t willing to complain. Curious, I decided to use my telepathic gift to hear what the guard was thinking.
The teenagers continued to talk, but the conversation turned to what they wanted for their birthday or which maiden in the castle looked the best. Since I didn’t really care about such things, I concentrated on the guard who apparently was still annoyed and couldn’t stop thinking about what they had said previously.
“They aren’t dregs, you spoiled brats,” the soldier thought. “They are new recruits who haven’t finished training yet. If the baronet hadn’t been greedy and overconfident, this could have been avoided. I can’t believe I have to guard these brats. Now the castle is barely defended.
“I knew that obese merchant couldn’t be trusted. The kids are right though, Knarrar will leave as soon as he hears about what happened to the baron’s brother. As soon as the baron returns with the veteran soldiers and spellcasters, that merchant and the kobold tribe will pay.
“As for Lord Gamall, he’ll be in the same boat with them. Unfortunately, we might be in that sinking boat. The man hasn’t ever been in a battle and is now in charge of invading the kobold tribe. If he wasn’t related to the baronet, he wouldn’t be trusted to lead the way to the dining hall.
“And Baronet Daufi was even worse. I haven’t seen him pick up a sword in years. He spent all his money years ago on wine and women. I even heard rumors that he doesn’t have a single copper left to his name anymore. I have to wonder if the baron’s enemies might have lured out most of the remaining soldiers with the intention of taking advantage of the situation in some way.
“I just hope the castle is still there when we return. In fact, we should forget this stupid invasion and go back to where we are supposed to be. We are supposed to be guarding the castle, not raiding a kobold village. What do these little rodents even have worth fighting for?
“As for the little turd that killed the baronet, he is going to get roasted alive once the baron returns. Even if the baron decides it isn’t worth his time to invade their village, he’ll send an assassin or a wizard after the kobold. Hopefully, the baron will come back early. I can’t imagine how much damage Lord Gamall could cause now that he is in charge for the next month or two.
“By the gods, I'm hungry. These popinjays get to eat well while us soldiers are rationed food. I guess it’s better than being a peasant though. I heard the harvests haven’t been good lately.”
After the guard started daydreaming about how the old cook was still looking good despite her age, I decided that was the perfect time to stop listening to his thoughts. While I was happy that he had referred to me as male, I was annoyed that he had called me a turd. What was more disconcerting was the fact that an assassin might start looking for me within the next month or two. What was also annoying was that both times I had read someone’s mind, they had insulted me. After a moment, I dismissed it as a coincidence.
Then I waited around for a few more minutes. However, nothing else was said that was worth listening to. I was tempted to take out the group, but then shook my head. While they were humans, and even worse, nobles, I didn’t want to start killing kids even if I was technically a kid myself. Because of this, I started heading back to the tunnels while thinking about what I should do.
I wasn’t really worried about the assassins. In another month or two, I could probably raise my level high enough that I could take care of the assassins. However, I did find it annoying to have to be on guard for a shoe that might never drop.
What worried me more was the fact that we had been fighting recruits that hadn’t even been fully trained yet. When the real soldiers returned from wherever they were fighting, we might have to worry about a real invasion. Hopefully, they would choose not to invade or at least rested for a month or two before starting the invasion.
While we had been able to fend off the low-level recruits and spellcasters, I could already tell that when the veterans returned with experienced spellcasters, our tribe would be in trouble. That meant that we might face an invasion within a month’s time, or even sooner if the veterans returned early. I was worried. How would we survive? What could we do to prepare?