"Are you crazy!? Do you even realize what you've just said earlier? Asking the bear for help? You will be the one who is helping the bear by being its food!"
"Don't the adults have warned you not to go here? They're telling you that for a reason! And what if the bear is still alive and kicking right now? You will get no help at all and you will be adding more mental burden to your parents if you suddenly disappear into the bear's stomach!"
Matthew decided to lash out and reprimand the kobold children in front of him because of their crazy idea. Matthew does realize that the first kobold is surely smart if he could think of the situation inside his village and he could make a conclusion based on the circumstances even though the adults are not telling him the truth.
But Matthew thought that although the first kobold's plan was brilliant to ask for help to change the fate of the village, how would he do it? They don't even know what methods they will use to communicate with the bear, let alone asking the bear for help.
And why should the bear help them? For food? By going near the bear's burrow, they've already become the bear's food themselves!
Matthew was about to blurt out more words to scold the kobold children to think more about their actions, but before Matthew was able to say it, the first kobold opened his mouth and exclaimed loudly,
"BUT WE HAVE NO OTHER CHOICE!"
"I know that going here is not a smart idea, but what better plan could I do? Tell me big brother! Our parents won't even worry if we ended up in the bear stomach, you know why? Because they're already gone in the first place fighting the humans!"
"Our parents are included in those half of the population that had perished from holding out against the humans! But even when we know our parents died just like that, we still can't do anything besides watching! And grandpa still says that everything will be alright? Other kids might have believed him, but I don't!"
"Sooner or later, we will either die from fighting against the humans or it will just be a slaughter from the humans without us fighting back, what difference would it make if I ended up in a bear's stomach!?"
"I rather die trying something stupid and have a very slight chance of succeeding rather than dying without even trying at all!"
Both Matthew and the first kobold stayed silent while looking each other in the eyes.
The kobold then decided to open up his mouth once again to break the silence,
"And besides, we met big brother here instead of the beast, and coincidentally big brother is the one who had defeated the beast just before we wanted to meet it, there must be a reason why this happened. So can you please help us, brother, please!"
Hearing the kobold's story and plead, Matthew knew that his earlier scolding was unnecessary and just adding another wound to the kobolds' already battered mind. He didn't realize what the kobold children had been through when he decided to just blurt out random nonsense to them about the forest's dangers.
'Of course, they already knew about how dangerous the forest is, they've lived here all their lives! I don't know how old they actually are, but they are surely older than me who was only a few weeks old. It's stupid for me to remind them about the dangers of the forest. The only thing that could make the kid do something like this is because he must be very desperate.'
After listening to the kobold's reasons, Matthew finally decided to speak up.
"I'm sorry that I talked way too much earlier, I didn't mean to berate your effort to save your village. I might be able to give you a little help."
"But I don't know if I would really be helpful enough to save your village from destruction. From your story, I concluded that the humans have an army and they were strong enough to suppress your village for three whole days without rest, which means that their army is not weak either."
"I don't know how strong the kobolds in your village are nor the strength of the humans that attacked you, but even if you get the bear's help, will it be enough to hold out against the humans? I don't think the bear is even strong enough to be a game-changer in a war like that."
The kobold was glad that Matthew had given him a positive response and willingness to help out, hearing Matthew's doubts, the kobold then said,
"Grandfather said that it would take at least tens of level 15 kobold warriors if we want to defeat the beast. But even with that many kobold warriors that we didn't have, we would still suffer huge losses and hence why the kobolds can't afford to do anything to the beast although the beast was dangerous."
"Wait, level 15 kobold warriors that you didn't have? How many kobolds warriors are there and how high are their levels?"
"About the exact numbers, I'm sorry I didn't know big brother, I need to ask grandfather about it. But we didn't even have much in the first place. While we kobolds will at least reach level 10 without doing anything other than growing up, it is very hard for us to level up further."
"The adult kobolds can evolve to kobold warriors when they reach level 15 and fulfill some conditions to become a warrior. And our village only consists of about a hundred kobolds before and now, about half had been killed by the humans. And the few kobolds warriors that we have had were killed by the strong humans. The highest leveled kobold in our village is my grandfather, but he wasn't a kobold warrior and we didn't know what kind of kobold he had evolved to."
"But don't worry big brother, I'm sure that big brother is able to be of much help. I don't wish for the kobolds to win the battle and kill all the humans, I only wish the humans would back off and we would have more time to either run away or relocate our village."
"Big brother is able to defeat the beast alone, that must mean that big brother is even stronger than the beast. If big brother lends a little help to give the village more time, then I will be really thankful for big brother's help and I will remember it for the rest of my life!"
Matthew contemplated hard on his head about what he should do. While it's true that he might be able to give the kobolds a little help and might buy them some more time to decide the best course of action. But if he does this, then he will be putting himself at a very huge risk.
First, Matthew didn't know how powerful the humans are and if there was a chance that he would be killed by the humans if he decided to intervene in this matter. Second, Matthew also didn't know if the kobolds would even accept him, although the kids had asked for his help, well they are just kids. If the people of the village didn't want any of Matthew's help, then he would just be wasting his time and breaking the kid's heart by promising to help.
And the third and final reason is whether he could really help the village. Although the kobold kid has said that the bear is as strong as at least 10 level 15 kobolds back in his village, would 10 level 15 kobolds really matter that much when fighting against a human army?
Matthew continued his train of thoughts about whether he should really try and help the village, he weighed the consequences, his losses and gains, and more importantly, whether his heart is willing to do it.
Seeing Matthew's hesitant face, the kobold decided to ask once again, "Big brother…? Are you willing to help us? Please big brother, please just help us so that we can survive tomorrow morning. I beg you!" The kobold ended his sentence with another bow, followed by the other two kobolds bowing their heads as well.
Before answering the kobold's question, Matthew took a deep breath, sighed, then said,
"Alright, I won't promise you anything, but I will try."
What led Matthew to this decision is not from the losses or gains that he will incur by participating in the kobolds fights. The one thing that makes Matthew choose to help them is himself.
Matthew didn't really have something in mind that he wanted to do in this world. All he had in mind so far is to enjoy his life while searching for his own meaning of happiness since that's the last goal that he etched in his mind before he died back on earth and then transported here. But other than that, he felt that his life in this new world is lacking something. Some minor goals like revenge on the crocodiles and other animals that did him wrong only served as a distraction for him.
And although his first meeting wasn't with a human, this is actually the first time that Matthew had talked to someone other than himself after he was transported into this world. Even though the topic of the conversation is not in any way pleasing or cheerful, Matthew actually finds it quite enjoyable to finally be able to communicate and interact with someone else.
Then he thought to himself, 'Since I don't have any goals myself, regardless of the consequences I don't mind giving a little help to someone who had also been treated unfairly by life. And what the kid said might be true, if I had decided to rest today and fight the bear tomorrow, I might never meet and know the existence of kobolds at all.'
"For now, let's go into your village first and meet the other people of the village. If they happen to really have a plan in mind then we should discuss with them first about my involvement tomorrow."
"Thank you so much, big brother! I will remember it for the rest of my life and I will try my best to repay this favor to you!" The first kobold said before the other two kobolds followed his lead and also bowed their heads while saying thank you to Matthew.
Matthew then nodded his head and gestured to the kobold kid to lead the way back to his village.
'Well let's just see where this would take me.'