“Fret not, young one. Giving an old man with not much time left one last chance to shine is just part of that... what was it, ‘elder care’? Whatever the little lady spoke of. I’ll take over this time, eh?” The elder winked at him and the young kobold slowly nodded, yielding his position to the old man. “...We’re all in agreement, then. I’ll ride in that thing. What say you, King?”
“The kingdom’s most skilled shaman will be accompanying me. Nothing could be more reassuring.”
The two of them stared at one another for a few seconds, then bared their teeth at each other in a grin.
“You’re all right with it as well, little lady?”
“Any sudden changes are inconvenient, but...this seems to be for the best. Come here, Brown Turtle. I’ll assign you a new post.”
“Y-Yes, ma’am!” Clearly relieved, Brown Turtle obediently made his way over to Sashalia.
The situation resolved, the housewives and other kobolds all set about returning to their various tasks. All that was left was for everyone to perform to their utmost at their own assignments.
...And just like that, the soldiers had their final rest, finished their preparations, and left the village to meet the adventurers in combat.
This was the Kobold Kingdom Army’s first sortie.
＊
Were they a regular army, the battalion would have had mages capable of deflecting arrows in its ranks, but unfortunately, no such magic-users were registered with the Ryburgh Adventurers’ Guild. Of course, people who could use real “magic” were extremely rare in the largely human southern territories, and were much more skilled than the “sorcerers” who manipulated the magical elements inside their own bodies to merely mimic the miraculous. The truly powerful mages were kept close by royals and nobles, and would likely never fall to the status of a lowly adventurer.
This was why Wyatt and his men were forced to rely on a much more practical method than divine miracles to deal with the kobolds’ arrows, which had caused so much confusion last time. Obviously they had neither the time nor the connections to hire a mage, but another reason they could not hire one was that many of the adventurers used bows or crossbows themselves. Arrow-deflection magic needed to cover large areas and last a long time, so it would neutralize the arrows being shot by their allies as well as any incoming missiles.
With their limited time, the countermeasure the Adventurers’ Guild had thought up and implemented was to carry large but thin wooden shields. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to describe them as nothing but boards with a handle attached to them; they were crude and offered little protection, but it was unlikely that the kobolds’ thin, short arrows would be able to penetrate them. In any case, Wyatt had had very few options when it came to things that could be prepared and outfitted to each and every adventurer in his army.
The solution was laughably simple but ended up being the correct one, as the adventurers found when they entered the forest and their new shields protected them from the terror of the arrows. What proved even more effective was that the equipment could be repurposed for use in their encampment the night before the battle. Those who had participated in the previous assault had been forced to flee not only the kobolds but the setting sun as well. This time, knowing the risks, the adventurers decided to make camp in the Greatwood for the night in order to have as much time as they could for fighting the next day. Of course, this forest was the kobolds’ territory, and the veil of darkness was no friend to humans. Spending a night there would be the same as lying down with their vulnerable flanks exposed and shouting, “Come and get us!”
That was where this equipment came in. The humans entered the forest with caution and deliberation, using their many shields to create a dense circle. To those with military knowledge, they resembled a “tortoise formation” used by ancient infantrymen, all of them protecting one another with their large shields. Thus protected, they could leave some soldiers lying in wait for an ambush while others could rest in shifts. That was how the adventurers made their camp for the night.
The adventurers’ instant shield walls, while almost resembling the kind of “fortress” a child might build, successfully defended them from the kobolds’ raids. In fact, if the kobolds had launched a full-on attack, they would have been met with a sound counterattack. The only thing the guild hadn’t been prepared for was the thoroughness with which the kobolds launched their harassment (and only harassment) all throughout the night. Every so often, they surprised the adventurers by shooting arrows into their shields, and prevented them from resting with hair-raising cries, eerie laughter, or panic-inducing yodeling. Even if the kobolds weren’t attacking outright, the adventurers could get no rest by the time dawn came.
Mentally and physically exhausted, the adventurers were now trudging wearily up the riverbed. They were drowsy and hadn’t recovered from any of yesterday’s fatigue. Exhaustion dominated their minds and bodies.
Still, most of the adventurers were cocky. They simply had an overwhelming advantage in terms of fighting strength. Everything that Guildmaster Wyatt had explained to them, that the previous attackers had told them, and that those captured and released by the kobolds reported backed up their confidence. The kobolds were poor fighters, and there weren’t many of them in the first place. The arrow attacks that had caused the humans so much confusion last time were nullified by the shields they’d brought with them. There were two skilled humans among the kobold fighters, but any intelligent human who realized how outnumbered they were would surely not engage them. If anything, the most dangerous things the attackers might encounter on their march would be the magical beasts that lived along the edges of the Greatwood. With their numbers, though, they could handle as many as a dozen of the sort of beasts found in the area.
Some of those who had joined the group had done so in the hopes of finding valuable goods and making off with them on their own. For most of the adventurers present, this mission was nothing more than a profitable job with all expenses paid by the guild. The only people who didn’t think that way were the six knights who were coming along, including Wyatt, and those adventurers who had participated in the last disastrous attempt and had still come along for a second try. Some of the newcomers even laughed at the “cowardice” of their leaders for demanding strict caution from them. Wyatt couldn’t condemn the new participants for their confidence, of course. He was hampered by his own gag order about the details of this mission, including the presence of the Black Rose of Igris. That gag order was the reason for the stark difference in attitude between those who knew what they would be facing and those who didn’t know what to expect from the mission.
So, most of the adventurers were under the assumption that the puny beast-men were simply incapable of putting up anything but the most laughable of resistances...until the kobolds cut into the rear of their company. How could they have known?