“A head-on battle is only a good idea when your forces outnumber theirs, or when there’s no other option. The best outcome is to avoid combat altogether—and if that’s impossible, to halt their advance before the two sides meet. If it comes to that, one should aim to ambush the enemy and overwhelm them before they have the chance to recover.”
“I dunno if a knight should be talkin’ like this...”
“It’s the truth—and I knew you’d be upset with me if I told you this during training,” Gaius said, looking back down at his work with a small smile on his face.
＊
“...and all of these traps can be made from materials found in the forest.”
Gaius stood before a group of kobold men, teaching them how to make the traps he’d showed Emon. They nodded, eager to set about making them right away.
“All right! Let’s get started!” One cried out, but Red Eye held up a hand.
“Wait. First, we should scout out the best spots to set them. It’d be fastest to make the parts back home and carry them out to the forest once we know where they’re going.”
Right on cue, the village elder scoffed. “You’re all a bunch of simpletons, buying into these pea-brained human schemes.”
Sashalia did her best to avoid any more argument by ignoring the comment. “That’s right, Red Eye, the forest is so vast that we can’t just set them anywh—”
“Listen, I’ve had it up to here with you,” Rain Grass cut her off to point an angry finger at the elder. “How many times do we have to tell you to shut it?!”
It seemed he still burned with anger over his last confrontation with the older kobold. Since the others had stepped in between them that time, he hadn’t been able to vent all his anger, and it flared back to life now at the elder’s latest derisive remark. He marched forward, pushing those in front of him out of the way, and delivered a swift punch to the old kobold’s jaw.
Or, at least, that’s what he’d set out to do. With surprising agility, the elder stepped out of the way and countered with a swift left jab into Rain Grass’s stomach. The blow sent him tumbling backwards, and he crashed to the ground at Gaius’s feet. No one had ever seen the village elder move like that.
“You old piece of—I’m gonna—!” Rain Grass sputtered as he scrambled back onto his feet.
“Still learning how to use your words, little pup? Just try and hit me again!”
Gaius grabbed Rain Grass by both arms before he could act on whatever threat he was trying to verbalize. He picked the kobold up, sat down cross-legged and set him down in his lap. He then began to vigorously pet and scratch Rain Grass’s arms, belly, and cheeks, all the while murmuring, “There, there. Who’s a good boy?”
Rain Grass tried to wriggle free, snarling “Let me go! Get off me! I said let me go...!” Before long, his struggling grew more and more languid, and his growls turned into murmurs of satisfaction. He settled into Gaius’s lap, his foot occasionally kicking and twitching.
Gaius massaged and kneaded his face, gently pulling at the excess skin on his cheeks. Not only had he managed to completely dispel Rain Grass’s anger, the kobold himself was practically melting into a puddle before everyone’s eyes.
“Oh, wow...”
“That looks...kinda nice...”
“Yeah, I wanna go next!”
“How’s it feel, Rain Grass?”
“Yeah, tell us!”
Rain Grass murmured, “...like a bride just after her wedding night.”
“Eww!”
Everyone who had been leaning in immediately backed away like oil being parted by water. Sashalia, who had been standing off to the side with a strange expression, tried to dispel some of the discomfort with an awkward, unnaturally loud cough.
“R-Right, so about those traps...”
Once again, she was interrupted—this time, by a terrified voice shouting at them from the distance.
“We’re in trouble!”
Everyone turned in the direction of the shout to see a young kobold running at full speed toward the village square; she was one of the lookouts on duty that day, and even before she reached them, everyone knew what her presence meant. Even Rain Grass, a puddle of contentment just moments before, snapped to attention with a grim look on his face.
“Humans! There’s a group of humans in the forest!”
＊
Many, many years ago, at a time when fully equipped armies were a rare sight...
After suffering several crushing losses at the hands of the neighboring kingdoms, Igris’s royal family devised a last-ditch effort to bolster their defenses. They gathered their most elite soldiers from domains throughout the kingdom, outfitted them in chainmail armor, and sent them off to battle. This new unit went on to achieve one glorious victory after another, and thus, the Knights of the Chain was born.
As time went on, the Knights lay the chainmail to rest, instead choosing to wear jacks, leather vests interwoven with hundreds of small metal plates. A jack was less durable, but easier to make and maintain. It was also easier to put on and take off, which could mean the difference between life and death when tending to a comrade’s wounds on the battlefield. One could also decorate their jack, and they made the wearer look somewhat less intimidating—both of which made them an ideal choice of armor, as the Knights were constantly seen going to and from the king’s castle.
...Unfortunately, they tended to smell rather unpleasant, as they were impossible to wash.
Gaius, Sashalia, and Darke were busy outfitting themselves in their knight’s armor, helping each other fasten ties here and clasp buckles there. Each wore a jack, leather guards, and gauntlets.
Darke had also put on her brimmed cap and had thrown a mantle over her shoulders. “I believe we’re ready to get into formation. Shall we make for the village square?”