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Chapter 24: Huge Bounty

“Not so bad, huh?” Ryan said as he glanced down at the Giant Buck’s corpse, and looked at the brown Kobold who stood at his side.

“Ryan!” Joan shouted from behind.

She was with the three other young men and four other Kobolds. All of them ran to check on him.

All of them had been worried sick that Ryan would endanger himself, fearing for his safety. However, when they finally found him, they were taken aback to see him standing nonchalantly with one of the Kobolds.

“You’re safe!” Joan quickly placed her dagger aside and engulfed Ryan in a tight hug. She didn’t even care about the other men seeing them. The inly thing that mattered was the relief that coursed through her chest after seeing Ryan safe.

“Yeah, the Kobolds obviously had traps meant for threats such as this one. I only needed to lead it in this direction,” Ryan said and hugged her back. “Sorry for letting you worry.”

“No, I should have been more careful and saved you myself,” Joan said. “I failed you. I’m a disgrace…”

“Don’t say that. We didn't expect the Giant Buck to show up, and really, your line of work is more on serving me and protecting me from human threats. I don’t think dealing with monsters and animal threats are part of your job description.”

“Still…” Joan protested weakly.

“It’s alright. Things turned out fine.” Ryan kissed her forehead and patted her head. “I’m not so completely helpless am I?”

“No you’re not.” Joan agreed.

Meanwhile, Doran, Spike, and Tom stood in front of the corpse of the Giant Buck. True to the Kobolds' trap craftsmanship, the animal's entire body was impaled and skewered by enormous spikes.

“Then the… Kobolds saved our lives?” Doran asked in disbelief.

“They really did,” Spike said in a bewildered tone.

“Master Ryan must have thought this far ahead when he tamed the Kobolds,” Tom said and glanced at Ryan comforting Joan with a look of awe and respect.

The five Kobolds stood near Ryan, ready to defend against any potential threats. One of them, however, was also throwing stones at the Giant Buck's corpse to assess its condition.

"Great work, everyone," Ryan said once he finished consoling Joan. "We have acquired a new variant of crop to serve as our main crop, and we've also come across this giant buck. I estimate it to be around 3,000 pounds of meat if we can salvage it all. However, with our current group, I don't think we can carry that much."

Tom, Spike, and Doran glanced at the giant buck's corpse with awe.

"We'll do our best to carry as much as we can, Master Ryan!" Tom said.

"We can't let this much meat go to waste," Spike agreed.

"We can only take from this corpse once, Master Ryan. Once we leave, other animals will likely come to feed on it," Doran added, "But we'll do our best to take as much as we can."

"Don't worry about such things, we have some extra help right here," Ryan said, glancing at the five Kobolds who looked up at him. 'That reminds me, let's give it a try, Builder.'

'What do you mean give it a try, Master Ryan?' the Grimoire asked.

'Let's upgrade these Kobolds. You can use the 50 Grimoire Points on each Kobold. If Goblins can evolve into Hobgoblins, let's see what these guys would upgrade into.'

“Alright. I'll do that,” the Grimoire said.

Without warning, all of the Kobolds suddenly glowed dramatically, and they let out confused ‘Kriees’.

Ryan shielded his eyes with one hand and extend his free arm to reduce the light's impact to the others.

“Master Ryan! The Kobolds are—”

“Don’t worry, it's my doing.”

Once the glow vanished, the two-to-three feet Kobolds had grown taller. Now, each one of them were between five to six feet tall.

All of the Kobolds looked at each other in amazement and pointed at one another.

One of them even slapped themselves in the face and there was a Kobold that pinched its brother and got smacked as a result.

“Kriee?”

“Kriee!”

“Huh. I was kind of expecting that they’d be able to talk to us. I guess it was only a size upgrade,” Ryan muttered underneath his breath. “But that’s at least five figures who can carry the meat. Joan, Spike, and Doran, you guys don’t need to carry anything. Just hold onto your weapons. I’ll carry the book again, Tom. You and the Kobolds will carry the meat for us, while we do our best to protect you guys in case any other predators come around.”

“Yes, Master Ryan!” they chorused.

“Krie!!”

“It’s easy to get blinded by all of this meat, but we’ve traveled at least two hours deep into the forest and two and a half hours from the base we started with to the Stonefall Village. We need to be reasonable with what we can carry and also ensure our safety,” Ryan said.

'You truly are taking care of everything—even the logistics,' the Grimoire said with a hint of awe.

“That’s impressive. And here I thought you were just an exiled Prince.”

‘I am far more knowledgeable than you can imagine, Builder. I’ve only done my best to lay low. Being too much of a genius will attract greedy people who would want to take advantage of me. In fact, I need to find myself a genius to exploit—er, use.’ Ryan thought. ‘For now, I’m doing everything on my own, but I'll need a reliable person to take over soon.’

— — — — — — —

The trip back to Stonefall Village was a lot slower due to the weight of the deer meat.

By the time they finally arrived, the sun was ready setting. On the entrance of the village, Old Man Albert stood with a group of young men, who all seemed prepared to leave the village.

“We’re back!” Ryan called out.

“Master Ryan!” Old Man Albert said in relief as he looked at him and the rest of the people. But then his eyes widened. “K-Kobolds ?!”

“Be at ease, Mister Albert and everyone. They’re now my people.” Ryan said.

He then proceeded to tell them what he told others. Even though it took some time, the situation was finally cleared.

“Forget about the Kobolds. We’ve brought back some meat, grandfather!” Tom said.

“Yes. Tonight, Stonefall Village shall have a feast!” Ryan announced.

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