The Peerless Kobold - Chapter 104 - Follow The Merchant’s Caravan!

With that thought in mind, the moment I looked at Wallace while stroking my mithril mask, I had a flash of inspiration.

(No, this is… it’s possible.)

Deep inside, I praised Ernesta who made the mask out of pure mithril.

This was a magic tool that conveys one’s thoughts to an opponent or another person. In other words, even if you wear the mask, you would still be unable to understand the other party unless you know the language that they use.

However, we kobolds do not have to use it.

For example, let’s say that I made Wallace wear the mask and made him hold an apple.

And then, he would stick out the hand holding the apple and say,

“This is an apple.” [Wou kuauru.]

(If this Mithril mask is used in such a way, then the other kobolds could be efficiently taught the common language of this continent…And as long as we have one mask for a teacher, then there would be no problem.)

Unfortunately, our vocal cords do not allow us to be able to pronounce the words of the common language, but there is another way for us to communicate: the written word. They could learn to read and write eventually, but when they do, they would have to listen first…

The question is if there are any of my brethren who are willing to learn it. At the very least, I would like the 5 others who were born at the same time as I was to learn it…

“Hmm? Is something the matter?”

“Guu, wafaon.” [No, it’s nothing.]

Wallace is suspicious of my sudden silence, but I subtly distract him.

Now, let’s listen to him.

“Voaru, guovoruon?” [Rather than that, what is this urgent matter of yours?]

“It has only been a month since we were attacked by the Goblins, but another problem arose… several days ago, a young mother and her child who went to fetch water together never returned.”

Hmm, it would only take a few minutes from Lucua village to get to the nearest tributary of the Sherna River. For a moment, I had thought that the mother and daughter had been attacked by a monster or something, but I do not understand how that would cause Wallace to go to the Royal Capital.

“There were bloodstains by the riverside, so at first I thought they were attacked by a monster. I went with the village Warriors to look for them, but.. We could not find the mother and the daughter, and neither did we find their remains.”

“…Vangaru.” […So they were spirited away.]

Wallace shook his head.

“No, the way I see it, it was not caused by spirits, but humans. The day the mother and child disappeared, a merchant’s caravan came to the village… At first, they would seem like they were just selling their wares, but looking back, there were a lot of guards that I thought they were slavers posing as ordinary merchants.”

“Garuoooan woruoon?” [So you came all this way pursuing them?]

He came all the way to the Royal Capital… That’s an awfully long journey, but we’re not one to talk either.

“Yes. Well I also stopped by the town of Wyald, but even there, it seems one of the town’s girls also went missing after the merchant’s caravan left.”

The dark-skinned Knight, Glen, who had been quietly listening up to now, raises an eyebrow in response to the information.

“Mr. Cat, there have also been some reports that several children who have lost their parents to the Bleeding Disease are missing. It might be possible that the cause is the same, as it seems that there was a group of twenty merchants who left the Royal Capital for the Wilm territory at this time yesterday.”

“Guan, vangaruo guruoaoon?” [Glen, can’t you send a Royal Guard unit to chase after them?]