Chapter Fifteen: A Blonde Girl

“Little Ash, eat some more! Eat as much as you can! We have so much meat, it’ll just go to waste if we don’t finish it—it would be a real shame!” Jia Zhengjin took a big bite of the fragrant roast meat, then turned and called out to the little kobold chief.

The little kobold chief immediately grabbed a chunk of roast meat and darted into a crevice. Though still wary of Jia Zhengjin, he’d grown a bit more comfortable than before—at least now he dared to peek his head out and secretly watch him.

“With all this good food and drink, you still haven’t warmed up to me?” Jia Zhengjin raised his middle finger in mock disdain. “I was hoping to train you into a hunting dog and take you with me on hunts!”

The kobold chief couldn’t make sense of his gestures, nor could he understand Jia’s words. He simply retreated into the gap and gnawed furiously at his meat.

Of course, Jia Zhengjin knew the little creature couldn’t understand him, so he turned back to focus on devouring his own meal. These days, he feasted daily on fatty meats, everything cooked to a greasy perfection. It made him miss the white rice from Earth—how much better would this roast taste with a bowl of steamed rice?

“Wait a minute!” Suddenly struck by inspiration, he clapped his hands and looked at the kobold. “Little Ash, there have to be plants like rice in this world, right? If I could just find some seeds and make myself a hoe, I could start farming! I mean, it’s just like a game—the crops here probably grow super fast!”

The kobold ignored him, diligently polishing off his meat.

“Maybe not after all!” Jia Zhengjin reconsidered. “Without fences or walls, wild creatures keep wandering in. Those mushrooms are the worst—they’d ruin my fields for sure! And the forest is crawling with all sorts of bizarre giant insects from this world. If my crops attract them, I don’t think I could defend myself right now. Don’t you agree, Little Ash?”

The kobold was still utterly focused on his meal.

“Hmm… I’d better concentrate on mining, upgrade my buildings and equipment first. Once I’m able to keep the monsters and creatures out, I can start planting crops. Guess I’ll have to make do without rice for a while…”

With Little Ash unable to understand or answer, Jia Zhengjin found the conversation tiresome.

At last, he finished off his meal, feeling satisfyingly full. He let out a belch, grabbed his iron pickaxe, and headed out to continue gathering iron ore.

Suddenly, a great flock of birds burst into the sky not far away, beating their wings in a noisy cloud and flying off into the distance.

A terrified scream rang out, mingled with words Jia Zhengjin couldn’t understand. Alongside these shouts came the yelps of kobolds—howling calls that sounded less like mindless noise and more like some kind of plea for help. Could it be humans from this world? Even if not, they must be some kind of intelligent creature.

Since arriving in this strange world, Jia Zhengjin had seen nothing but corpses of other intelligent beings. Now, for the first time, he heard signs of living ones. Judging by the sounds, someone might have been captured by kobolds.

Curiosity piqued, he quickly put away his pickaxe, took out his wooden bow, and hurried in the direction of the commotion.

He soon reached a vantage point and spotted the source of the noise. As he suspected, a band of kobolds was passing near his home!

There were about twenty-five or twenty-six of them—a formidable group. The squat creatures were carrying a being who looked, outwardly, no different from a human. Other kobolds, wielding wooden clubs, circled the group, glancing nervously around as they went.

The captive was thin and frail, with golden hair falling to her waist, dressed in a black garment resembling a dress. Judging by her figure and clothing, Jia guessed she was a young woman. Her hands and feet were bound with vines; apart from her desperate cries, she was helpless.

The kobolds may have been dim-witted, but they knew how to use clubs as weapons and vines to bind their captives. This surprised Jia Zhengjin—perhaps it meant they had the potential to evolve intelligence, given enough time.

Now he faced a dilemma: should he intervene to save this otherworldly human?

To be honest, Jia Zhengjin didn’t know if she was a shipwreck survivor like himself. If so, why had she only just been caught by the kobolds? Or perhaps she’d stumbled here by accident, but in such a perilous, deserted forest, how could she have ended up in this place?

His mind swirled with questions, making it difficult to decide. Twenty-five or so kobolds were no joke. At least until he had a full set of iron armor, they posed a significant threat. With those numbers, if they saw him alone, they’d definitely attack first rather than flee unless seriously outmatched.

A direct confrontation would leave him badly outnumbered.

But could he really abandon this otherworldly human? She looked no different from him—how could he stand by and do nothing? After so many days alone in this completely unfamiliar world, this was the first living person he’d seen. Even if they couldn’t speak the same language, she was still better company than the dim-witted Little Ash at home. Though he couldn’t see her face clearly from this distance, her disheveled golden hair and impressive figure certainly caught his eye.

It would be a shame, he thought, if a curvy, golden-haired girl like her ended up as a kobold’s dinner.

After a moment’s thought, Jia Zhengjin decided to help. But he had no intention of fighting head-on. Instead, he observed the kobolds carefully and came up with a plan.

The kobolds were heading in a direction that would bring their left flank near his trap zone. They were taking a different path, but if he could get ahead of them, he might be able to use his bow to ambush their group, throwing them into chaos and forcing them toward the traps.

If more than half of them fell into the traps, the rest would be easy to handle.

It was a risky plan, though. He couldn’t be sure whether the kobolds, once ambushed, would turn and run into the traps or simply charge straight at him.

If they charged en masse, he’d be in real trouble—he wasn’t a martial arts master who could take on ten at once in close combat.

If things went south, he’d have no choice but to abandon the rescue and run for his own life. With his mushroom cap disguise, he still had a chance to escape by blending in as a mushroom.

Once the plan was set, Jia Zhengjin crept ahead with his bow, quickly circling to intercept the kobold band. He hid himself among the bushes, nocked a poisoned arrow, and drew the bow.

Thwack! With no real archery training, his shot missed completely. The arrow thudded into a nearby tree and quivered in place.

Feeling embarrassed, Jia Zhengjin rubbed his brow.

Unfortunately, the kobolds had spotted him and rushed toward him with fierce howls.