Everyone was in utter shock from my declaration. After all, for a weak race like them it sounded ridiculous in their ears. But seeing me brimming with confidence, they started to believe that maybe it didn’t sound too impossible to achieve. After contemplating on what they should do, some of them started to speak up with the three stooges going first.

  “I admit the idea of getting stronger does sound appealing…”

  “I would feel safe knowing I could at least fend for myself…”

  “…. If the weirdo of our group could grow so str-”

  One of them covers his mouth before finishing their comment, hoping I wouldn’t notice which I did but I decided to ignore it. Next one of the goblins spoke up, sounding unsure in their voice. “D-do you think it will be possible for even us to grow strong sir?”

  I smirked in response, standing proudly in front of the goblin as I answered his question, “Wouldn’t it be exciting to find out minion? To push yourself to new heights of power?!~”

  I then adjusted my gaze at the rest of them, both kobolds and goblins. “That applies to all of you, don’t you want to gain more power and to no longer be regarded as a helpless prey?!~” The way I voiced my question made it come off as genuine and it seemed they all picked up on that as the familiar looks of awe was slowly building across their faces.

  Soon enough everyone started to cheer for me, motivated by my words they were definitely ready to begin. To start off with in preparations for their training, the first step would be to find out what types of weapons they should use. To help solve that problem I used some extra materials to make some [Wooden Sword], [Wooden Spear], [Wooden Dagger], and [Wooden Bow] which came equipped with some basic [Wooden Arrow]. I had everyone try out each of the weapons and help determine which ones felt the most natural to them.

  Some managed to find a weapon or two that seemed to suit them, while others still struggled to figure theirs out, so I’ll have to help them practice each of them till they find out. Afterwards I created some [Wooden Dummy] to give them a target to practice on. It’ll be important to first give them some time to get used to the feeling of holding and using their weapon.

  And after the first session it was…. rather pathetic to say the least….

  Their swings had such a weak force behind them, their thrusts were barely able to stay straight let alone hit their targets, and their aim was just terrible. There was a lot of work in store for us, but I wasn’t planning to give up any time soon. These were MY minions after all, and I plan to improve their usefulness. ~

  So, I put all of my attention on training them, though my lack of experience as a trainer does hinder me but that’s just going to be an obstacle I’ll have to overcome, I’m sure I’ll be up for the challenge.

  *

  For the next few days, I started them off by a repetition of swings, thrusts, and shots. The idea was to have them familiarize themselves with their chosen weapons until it becomes second nature to them. There were some complaints from some of them here and there, mostly about feeling sore and exhausted from the constant practice though I was sure I gave them some decent breaks. Still, I needed to change tactics a bit. So, I started to rotate them between several groups of both training and resting.

  While it did help calm them down a bit, it only lowered the number of complaints by bit. There was just no getting around it I guess; we are known as one of the weakest species after all. At the very least none of them seemed to show any signs of giving up. They must really wish to gain strength, and I am all for encouraging them.

  The new rotations seemed to happily be working, as their training was starting to look less well…. pathetic. It definitely was going to take a long time before they’ll be ready for a fight but at least I know it would be possible.

  And you might be asking why I didn’t ask the orcs or Mordred to help me in the training. Well…. I had multiple reasons why that wasn’t going to be an option.

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  First off, they were all rather intimidated by them. I get it though, having faced them myself. I still remember how much willpower it took just to quell my own instincts to run from them when I first faced them.

  Second, I need them to act as defenders to the place and the wolves are already busy hunting for meat to provide for everyone. While there was plenty of prey to hunt back in the caves, that was more for our big eaters. The rest of us still needed our own supplies of meat on top of the other fruits and vegetables that the forest around us provides.

  And finally…. They are just too damn aggressive to be even considered as trainers! I mean seriously, it’s crazy what those orcs find as entertainment is to violently spar with their bare fists without an ounce of restraint! Which always leave them a bloody mess afterwards! They’re lucky they have a good regeneration to keep up with it.

  As for Mordred…. I tried getting him to train them on the second day as a test run but not only had he had all those problems I listed, he was like some crazy task manager! He actually wanted to give them less breaks, thinking that toughing it out would be a good idea.

  I think he was trying to impress me, that look in his eyes as further evidence, to show quick results to get the desired strength I had wanted….

  It’s becoming increasingly apparent each day that fierce loyalty of his towards me is becoming more of a liability for me rather than a boon…

  Well at least he’s still useful for a fight, and I honestly can’t stay mad at him. After all, he’s still mine and everything he does seems to be toward my benefit, and I can’t fault him for trying. Though I must make sure to remind myself of his strong desire for a rematch, even I must admit I still wouldn’t have a chance to beat Mordred in a straight up fight.

  Then after a few more days of training, I finally started to see real progress. The goblins were showing significant increase on the power and speed of their swings and shots on their chosen weapons. In comparison my fellow kobolds, while not as strong compared to their goblin brethren, showed a lot more adaptability by practicing more proficiency for multiple weapons.

  With that I figure it would be time to move on from the basics and on to real techniques. To do so I had them switch from facing the [Wooden Dummy] to face each other instead. I had made sure their weapons were more dulled out so as not to cause too much harm for them all. It was there where I saw their familiar nervousness of getting hurt like ever the weaklings I’ve come to get used to.

  To try to alleviate their worry I took the initiative by taking a [Wooden Sword] and took a battle stance, facing them with intent in my eyes. “If you have any sense of worry of receiving pain then come at me with all you got if you can! I shall not strike back!!”

  They were all surprised over my declaration, even one of the goblins started to question my decision. “B-but Mr. Vlad sir I don’t think it’s a good idea…. I mean if we all go after you at once without you fighting back won’t we risk hurting you too much?”

  Upon hearing their statement I couldn’t help but laugh loudly, while giving a large smile. “VEEHAHAHAHA, I like that you think you can cause real harm to me but don’t worry. I am still quite prepared to endure whatever you got~”

  One of the kobolds responded, remembering about an earlier event. “I mean…. He did endure quite a lot from that crazy fight with the orcs…”

  “Y-yeah that was insane…. I’m still surprised he survived all that….”

  As the kobold’s fall silent reliving that event, the goblins were shaken in surprise. “R-really? That’s amazing…”

  With that confirmation they all became a bit more motivated, readying their wooden weapons and beginning their attack.

  With my own weapon at the ready, I began to defend myself as two of the kobolds began to charge at me. One clashed their sword with mine, locking us both in place which one of them thought to take advantage of by thrusting their spear in my blind spot, not a bad strategy if I say so myself but nonetheless easy to predict so with little effort I jumped back, dodging the thrust and causing the one with the spear to fumble and accidentally crash into the other.

  Next came a small group of the goblins, they decided to outnumber me, circling around me each with a sword at the ready. They all closed in on me, intending to limit my movement. But unfortunately for them they were out of sync, running and swinging at different speeds, that left multiple openings which I quickly took advantage of to maneuver around most of their attacks. Though to my surprise a few of them managed to get a few nicks at me.

  It seemed to be just what they needed as more of them; kobolds and goblins both began joining in on the mock fight, which ended up limiting not only my movement but theirs as well, making it difficult for them to use their weapons properly, I applaud their enthusiasm. I can’t deny that, but there is still so much to work with.

  Afterwards, everyone was on the ground exhausted while I was only slightly bruised. “Alright everyone, that’s enough training for today, Good job.”

  That seemed to have perked them up a little as they tried to catch their breath. With enough time they should be able to fight on their own. But after this there was one glaring problem that I noticed that I would need to rectify as soon as possible.

  I’ll have to find a professional trainer because I clearly am not good at this!!