Chapter 108: Evil Kobold

Chapter 108: Evil Kobold

「Master, over there. Lots of people.」

『It looks like they’re heading towards Barbra.』

「But... Bit off somehow.」

We spotted a few carriages along the road on our way back to the city.

That in itself was totally normal. Today was the day of the Lunar Banquet, and we were only about an hour away from the city. I wouldn’t be surprised in any which way if the carriages contained villagers looking to have a good time in town.

We were still pretty far away from the aforementioned carriages, so we couldn’t actually see it in all that much detail. We could, however, still tell that something didn’t seem quite right. I could’ve sworn that I heard a scream or two.

『Hmmm... I think they might be getting attacked by magic beasts.』

Drawing a bit closer led me to realize that my prior guess had hit the mark spot on. The carriages were being chased and attacked by kobolds.

『Urushi, fly over there as quickly as you can!』

「Woof!」

Dashing through the air allowed us to get a much better view of what was going on. That is, four adventurers were currently fighting off the kobold onslaught with all they had.

「Don’t give up Dregg!」

「Keep it up! The villagers will be screwed if we mess up here!」

「Don’t let these damn things past even if it costs us our lives!」

「I know! I know already! There’s no way in hell I’ll let em pass me till the carriage is far away enough!」

「That’s the way!」

The adventurers had leapt off the carriages in order to better stall their assailants by facing them head on. All four of them were clearly risking their lives in hopes of letting the five carriages they accompanied escape. None of the four seemed like they intended to back off or run away despite the fact that a few of them had already suffered several heavy injuries.

Damn, they be manly as hell.

「Will help.」

『Go ahead. The enemy’s leader should be... that one over there.』

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General Information

Species: Evil Kobold

Demonic Beast (Evil Being)

Lv 20

HP: 139

MP: 72

STR: 66

VIT: 71

AGI: 78

INT: 28

MGC: 41

DEX: 54

Skills

Intimidation: Lv 4

Commander: Lv 3

Claw Techniques: Lv 3

Claw Arts: Lv 3

Leap: Lv 4

「Om nom」

「You look so adorable! You’re just like a squirrel! Here, have another.」

「Nom om nom.」

The older ladies we were sitting with praised Fran in a bit of a shrill voice as they watched her stuff her cheeks.

Yup, they’ve got good eyes. Fran’s super cute.

Riding Urushi would’ve made this whole trip a mere ten or so minutes, but Fran looked like she was enjoying herself. That, combined with the fact that they ended up telling us about all sorts of interesting, festival-related stuff, made riding the carriage well worth it.

The villagers were planning on staying in Barbra for a total of three days. Apparently, heading towards the city around this time of year was fairly common practice for anyone that lived in a village in Barbra’s immediate vicinity.

One of the main reasons that they had such a practice was because they wished to sample the cooking contest’s products. Unfortunately, they as villagers weren’t exactly what you’d call rich. They didn’t have much money or time, so they could only afford to visit a maximum of four different stalls.

Apparently, traders and messengers had already informed all of the thirty or so villages nearby of the first round’s results despite the fact they’d only just been announced yesterday. The villagers themselves had also already figured out which of the four they wished to visit; they’d sorted it all out ahead time in the interest of efficiency. The swiftness and excitement contained within their actions really served to testify the event’s grand scale.

「It seems that Dordoros, last year’s winner, isn’t going to be participating this time around.」

「That’s because he got hired by the Kingdom of Norland. He’s now working as their royal chef.」

「Either way, we’re definitely going to go to The Dragon’s Table. They managed to win second last year, so they’ve gotta be good.」

「Yeah, but don’t be forgetting about Jeff’s Meaty Steakhouse.」

「We’re obviously going to The Seafood Skewery too. You can’t get stuff like that back in the village no matter where you look.」

「And of course, it goes without saying that we’ll be visiting Barbra’s Orphange too, right?」

「Barbra’s Orphanage?」

Fran raised a question in response to the final item they listed. It didn’t really seem to make sense or fit in with the rest.

「Yup. The orphanage’s chef, Io, is really well known around here. They don’t really use any fancy ingredients, but their dishes are still really delicious. They tend to leave you feeling really relaxed.」

「We want to show the orphanage that we’re supporting their actions, so we visit their stall every year.」

「You really have to hand it to the chef. I don’t quite know how they manage to make their dishes taste so good!」

「Right? I think the orphanage managed to come in fourth last year too.」

And so they went on and on and on.

I was pretty content with learning about the contest’s more famous participants, but, I couldn’t help but feel vexed that they’d already decided where they were going ahead of time. They weren’t the only ones either, apparently their mentality was pretty normal. In other words, newcomers to the competition like us were at a pretty big disadvantage.

That said, it wasn’t like we were really in that bad of a spot. Curry bread was an amazing product. It could be stored for a couple days on end without any issues, and it didn’t even need to be reheated seeing as how it was still good even when cold. We should be able to appeal to people looking for a snack or two between meals.

「Also participating in contest.」

「You are? Really?」

「Nn. Master entered. Helping out.」

「Are you working at that place called “The Black Tail?” I think I remember the chef’s name being Master...」

The Black Tail was the name I randomly came up with on the spot when they gave us our registration forms. It seemed to fit, as it reflected a property shared by both Fran and Urushi.

「Yup.」

「Nice. What kind of stuff are you guys selling?」

「Curry bread.」

「Never heard of it.」

「Master’s own recipe. Really tasty, even when cold. Lots of spices. Ten Golde each. Can be carried around easily. Good for snacks.」

The older ladies hopped right on Fran’s advertisements and immediately took her words to heart.

「Can they last a few days without going bad?」

「Yup. Works well for gifts.」

「Oh great! That means we’d able to buy a bunch and take them back for everyone in the village.」

「That sounds like a great idea. We’ll make sure we stop by your stall too then.」

「Nn. Will welcome with open arms.」

Yay for more customers!