“Uncle!”
“Uncle Gaiuuus!”
“Hahaha. Were you good, you two?”
“You came back like you said you would!”
“Of course I did. I promised, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, but you promise me souvenirs when you go shopping, and you forget sometimes, right?”
“Hmm. I guess you’re right about that.”
“Fluff!” Blossom poked disapprovingly at her cousin.
“Hahaha.” Gaius pet the two children, showing them that he wasn’t bothered.
Fluff panted and shook his head to escape, then jumped down from Gaius’s knees and climbed back up again, pressing his head against the back of Gaius’s hand to demand more. Did he want to be petted or didn’t he? Maybe he was just too excited to know what he wanted.
“Hey, you big lug, when are you gonna let me down?” A hand reached out from behind him and smacked him on the top of the head. It was the elder.
“Oh, old-timer. Sorry about that.” Gaius reached around and took off the rucksack, brushing some of the kobolds out of the way to place it on the ground.
“Not a considerate bone in your body, is there?”
“Hey, Grandpa, don’t be so rude to the king!” Hopping Rabbit scolded the elder after he climbed out of the bag.
The old kobold scoffed. “Ahh! It was cramped and dark and smelly and I kept bouncing and falling and biting my tongue and hitting my head and being swung all about! That was the worst ride of my life!”
“Grandpa!” Hopping Rabbit’s fur was practically standing on end.
“I really caused you a lot of trouble, Elder. I appreciate everything you did for me today.” Gaius bowed his head.
The elder scoffed again. “...So, work on making it more bearable for the next time I have to ride inside.” He turned around and waved his hand dismissively, rubbing his hip as he hobbled away.
The Kobold King gave another deep bow to the old man’s back.
“Sir Gaius.” Sashalia appeared next, leaning on her cane, as the king continued to be mobbed by his people. “Welcome back. I knew you would make it.”
Gaius nodded.
“I took the liberty of preemptively informing our captives of the guildmaster’s death and releasing them one by one near the river. As expected, they got into contact with the forces on the other side, and now all of our enemies are retreating.”
Night was approaching, but it still seemed a little hasty of them to retreat without confirming the death of their commander. It was evidence of just how low the enemy’s morale had fallen.
“Red Eye and Rain Grass are currently commanding our forces to retrieve the wounded and capture those enemies who have surrendered. Darke should be returning soon.”
Gaius smiled at the girl, whose eyes still sparkled even with how exhausted she must be feeling. “Thank you, Miss Sashalia. We only won because of you.”
“Th-Th-Th-That’s not true! I don’t deserve such praise! I just did everything I could!” Sashalia waved her arms in front of her and her face turned bright red. She’d dropped her cane without thinking, so the housewives rushed over to hold her up.
“The king is right, Sashalia!”
“Yeah, yeah!”
“The kids were all safe because of you!”
“Take pride in yourself!”
One of the housewives gave Sashalia a pat on the butt and the fledgling general reddened even more. She looked like she’d start steaming if you poured water on her.
Gaius gave her one of his peculiar smiles and put his hands around her waist. “Hup.” He sat her on his shoulder and stood up.
“Gyaaaaa! Too hiiigh!” The half-elf screamed, clinging to Gaius’s grey head.
Gaius held her in place with one hand and laughed, looking out over the crowd around them. “C’mon, everyone!”
A chorus of kobold voices came in response.
“Long live the general!”
“You did it, little lady!”
“Three cheers for Miss General!”
“Ooh, let’s give her a cooler name!”
“Yeah! We’ll all think of one!”
“Stooop iiit! You’re embarrassing meee!”
That got everyone going. Then came a new voice:
“Mmm, a splendid idea. Something really evocative, like ‘The Red Reaper’ or the ‘Flame Demon General.’” The speaker was the pale-faced, smirking Darke, who had been sent back from the front lines early due to her injury. A splint was tied to her right arm, which she’d hurt in her battle with Wyatt. A sling tied around her neck held the arm up against her chest.
“So you’re back...you idiot.”
“Heheheh.”
Gaius mussed up Darke’s black hair with a massive hand. She stood there for a moment with an expression she’d never normally wear on her face before looking up. “I’ve returned, Lady Denan.”
“Welcome back, Darke.” The general on Gaius’s shoulder replied, and the two shared a smile.
“Well, the truth of the matter is, you defeated a huge army with a small force, Lady Denan. That’s an important achievement when you consider the future of the Kingdom, so we might need to spread the word some.”
“Ugh.” The military commander could only make an uncomfortable face when presented with such a sound argument.
“Well, I’ll tell our captives all about you, and I’ll make up a few things to go with it. Worry not, Lady Denan!”
“Nooooo!” Sashalia clutched her head atop Gaius’s shoulder.
“Actually, I think the people outside the forest will probably give you a nickname on their own. It might even be something as embarrassing as ‘the Black Rose of Igris’! Keheheh.” That hurt the Kobold King more than anything he’d been through in the entire battle.
“...Say, Darke. I’ve been thinking.”
“Hwha? What about?”
“Will you stop calling me ‘Lady Denan’ already?”
“Hunh. You prefer ‘Flame Demon General’?”
“That’s not what I meant!” Sashalia shouted and lost her balance. She hurriedly clutched at Gaius’s head, prompting the king to yell “Not the hair!” Righting herself with the noble sacrifice of a few strands, she sighed and said, subdued, “...Just use my name, why don’t you?”
“Whaaat? But ‘Sashalia’ is long and hard to say.”
“Whoa, you really don’t pull your punches, do you?” She sighed again, then after hesitating for a moment: “...Fine, then... ‘Sasha.’”
“What?”
“...It’s what my close friends used to call me when I was a kid.”
“Hunh... So you had friends besides me, Lady Denan.”
“O-Of course I did! Like any normal person! As a kid!” Sashalia was still clinging to Gaius’s head with one arm and waving the other one around in protest, but she quickly caught on to the implication in Darke’s words. “...You’re such an idiot.” She looked away from Darke to hide the embarrassed look on her face.
“If you want me to call you by a kid’s name, then you can be ‘Sally’ from now on.”
“That’s not what I said!”
“...Yeah, over there, keep going.” Dwaemon arrived just then, interrupting the dispute between the two. Bandages covered him from head to toe as he was carried over on a stretcher. Fluff had gone to his big brother’s side at some point and was wagging his tail furiously next to him.
“’Ey, yer back, old man. Good to see ye too, Sis!” Emon greeted them, moving only his hand to give them a wave.
“Back at you,” replied Darke. “And hey, you’re looking a lot manlier than I remember, kiddo.”
“Aww c’mon, don’t tease me, Sis.”
“...I wasn’t teasing.”
“Wha?! Really?! Ye think the ladies’ll be all over me?”
“I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Well then, what’s the point...?” Emon grumbled.
Darke laughed and gave him a flick on the forehead. “Don’t push yourself, Emon. Just rest.”
“Yeah, yeah, old man. I’m fine. I’ll be right as rain with a good night’s sleep.” Barely any time had passed since he’d sustained his injuries, but he was completely lucid now.
“Frankly, I’m surprised you’re alive with injuries like those, but they won’t heal if you don’t take it easy.”
“Huh? Yer takin’ the vitality of a dwarf lightly. Don’t ye remember what I told ye before? Ye can cut a dwarf’s ’ead off and it’ll stick back on if ye put it back fast enough.”
“Err... And how fast is ‘fast enough,’ exactly?” Sashalia asked, sounding mildly disgusted.
“’Round three days, I hear.”
“What the heck...? Even cockroaches give up faster than that.”
“Hey, that was uncalled fer!”
The square erupted with laughter, kobolds slapping their knees, putting their arms around each other’s shoulders, and wiping the tears in their eyes. It was like they could all finally breathe again after holding their breath through the fear and worry all this time.
...Thus, the defense of the Kobold Kingdom came to an end.
On the adventurers’ side, out of the three hundred thirty-one fighters they started with, one hundred fifty-eight died, went missing, surrendered, or fled, and many were injured. Including the guildmaster Wyatt, three of the five knights on the expedition died in battle. Many of the adventurers who survived retired or quit because of their injuries, and the Ryburgh Adventurers’ Guild rapidly lost its ability to function as such.
Meanwhile, on the Kingdom’s side, they suffered thirteen losses, which was about a third of their original fighting strength of forty-six, and some fifteen fighters were injured. From the shameless standpoint of pure tactics, these were incredible military gains for minimal losses, but that fact comforted neither the commanders nor the commanded.
Their losses had been great. What they sacrificed would never return to them. Nothing could make up for the tragedy of their deaths. Some found themselves unable to celebrate their victory.
Still... They’d joined forces, and forged a future for themselves. Their friends standing next to them now and their children had all survived. The kobolds embraced and gave thanks for that fact through their tears.
All those who had returned to the stars...this is what they had fought for.