I went outside the village the other day with Maria and Finia, and the sense of openness is still different from inside the village, which has a closed atmosphere.
And if sweet and sour fruits await ahead, it is no wonder that the children's feet are light.
In no time at all, they reached the target tree, and the pickers began to climb up it.
'Wait a minute!'
'You can climb too, right Nicole chan? Come on, come on!"
A little miffed at the boy who calls out to me provocatively like that, I quickly start climbing the tree.
I quickly make my way to the end of the branch and am about to reach for the fruit when...
Then I noticed a shadow moving at the edge of my vision.
It was moving across the western meadow in a concealed manner, closing in on the village.
'Was that - Kobold?'
Kobolds, the weakest monsters in this world.
It looks like a bipedal dog, but its essence is close to that of a wild beast.
And yet it has the same level of intelligence as a stupid human, which makes it bad for the danger it poses.
Would it be understandable if we said that they are dogs with the temperament of a brutal killer and the dexterity of a human?
Such monsters were approaching the village in packs.
The monsters are only dangerous enough for an adult to be able to drive them away without any problem. But the problem is that they are not much bigger than children.
Usually, even if they enter the village, they only cause damage to the extent of destroying the vegetables in the fields and under the eaves.
But if we were just kids - we'd be dangerous enough.
'Oh no, it's Kobolds! Everybody let the adults know!"
The high vantage point of the tree tops allowed us to spot them, otherwise we would have been taken by surprise.
The village has the ultimate weapon, Lyell, so it is unlikely that any serious damage would have been done. But that is limited to the inside of the village.
We don't have the ability to get rid of those Kobolds now.
Hearing my words, the children in the village are running out of the village in a fit of bubbles.
If it were true, I would doubt whether it is true, but in this village, the risk of monsters is a danger that we are exposed to all the time.
There is nothing to be gained by telling these lies.
'Uncle, they say there's a Kobold out there! Go and get Master Lyell!"
Although this is a little outside the village, it is still close to the village.
If you drive for a while, villagers frequently come and go.
I heard a child calling out to the villagers.
But I haven't climbed down from the tree yet. The Kobolds are clearly trying to avoid our eyes.
If we lose sight of him, we could be in trouble.
'Ni, Nicole, let's get the hell out of here.
'No, O--I'll stay here and keep an eye on things. You run to the village as fast as you can."
' 'No, you can't do that!
One girl among the children stubbornly refused to evacuate, saying.
I don't know if she meant that she couldn't abandon her friends or if she was afraid of my parents, Lyell and Maria.
But she had decided to stay for me.
That's an extra determination for me, to be honest.
' Tsk'.
I clicked my tongue in a small way so that the child below - the girl - wouldn't hear me.
This is outside the village - the closest place to Kobold.
If Kobold were to attack her, she would be the first to be attacked as she waits under the tree.
'Can you climb this tree?'
'Uh, yeah--'
'Then get up there as fast as you can. It's not safe for you down there.'
Kobolds have inherited their canine nature.
He is unable to climb trees because of his inability to get his claws in and out. It should be safer than being down there.
The girl starts to climb the tree with a frightened gesture.
But in response to the children's voices, the Kobolds seem to have noticed us. Forgetting to hide any longer, they rush towards us with a yell.
Quickly!
Well, wait ...... I'm not a good tree climber."
'The enemy won't wait for us!
If we don't do this, we won't have time for her to make the climb.
If we don't stop the Kobolds, she'll be dead.
'Keep climbing!'
I called out to her and jumped down through the branches to the ground.
The deep undergrowth cushioned my jump and did no damage.
I'm an aspiring hero, after all. Abandoning the girl here is not an option.
With my current body, it would be impossible to defeat even a kobold.
But there is no need to forcefully defeat her. If you buy time, Lyell and even Maria will come.
The lack of weapons makes me uneasy, but I had brought a small knife because I was going to pick berries. With this, we should be able to fight, somehow.
Kobolds arrived before the villagers did.
They attacked us with drool and tongues hanging from their mouths.
There were three of them. Behind them, two more.
The girl in the tree screamed at the kobolds she saw up close.
The kobolds behind her seem to have noticed, but they have no way of getting there.
'So that means if I stick around, you guys won't be able to do any damage to the village.
Remembering the death rays before I was born, I lift the edges of my mouth and sneer.
Almost simultaneously, the lead Kobold attacked.
With my current physical strength, I can't even catch the Kobold head-on, so I duck to the side and run my knife across its neck.
However, due to my weak grip, I am unable to cut through the hard fur.
Even so, it seems he wasn't unharmed, and Kobold writhes in pain and screams.
In that moment of fright, it responds to another one.
When the first Kobold was ducked, it dodged away from another Kobold, so there was a time delay in its attack.
He took advantage of the gap and swung his knife at the other one.
The attack still cannot cut through the fur.
Still, it can buy time. That's what I'm after now.
But there are five of them. This one is alone. There is a limit to how much time I can buy.
We are already half surrounded.
I adjust my position so as not to create a blind spot while using the cherry trees.
The Kobolds were also hit unexpectedly hard and were unable to attack.
'Grrrrrrrr ......'
Kobolds roar threateningly.
Even this staring contest is gratifying to me. Already my limbs are starting to go numb from moving beyond their limits.
At this rate, I won't last long.
Although, I have to make it last longer if I can't. ......
Not missing one that dropped low in its stance, it kicked up the grass underfoot, crushing its vision. The deep grassy vegetation worked in my favour.
I use the opportunity to dash towards the opposite corner.
With this, I broke through the enemy encirclement, and the plan was to drag them around to buy time and wait for reinforcements.
But my plan collapsed in an instant.
I was too young and small to push the Kobold down.
I bounced back and rolled on the ground.
The Kobolds were not so foolish as to miss that opportunity.
While I was unable to regain my position, the kobolds rushed at me.