"Why? Why would you want to help us?" The old kobold asked Matthew.
After hearing the old kobold's question, Matthew stayed silent and pondered for a while.
'Why do I really want to help them though? It's not like I owed the kobolds anything nor do I have something against the humans that made me want to go against them.'
Matthew lowered his head and thought about the question in his head, repeating it again and again in hopes that it will help him find the answer by doing so. Matthew then looked at the first kobold kid who is currently looking at him with eyes that are filled with curiosity as if he also wondered why Matthew wanted to go along with him and decided to help in the first place, but Matthew also saw a tinge of worry and fear from the first kobolds' eyes.
The kobold kid feared that because of that question Matthew might change his mind and decided to abandon him and the village to the mercy of the humans.
Looking at the worried kobold kid, Matthew smiled at him before he raised his head and looked at the old kobold before he said out loud,
"I've been alive for quite some time now, but so far, I haven't really had a clear goal in mind. The feeling when you are working really hard to achieve something, I've only felt that kind feeling once in my life. And when I was still on the first step of achieving that goal, something happened and it was taken away from me without me being able to do anything to it."
"And with that clear goal in mind taken away from me, I've only left with a vague goal that I don't even know whether it could be considered a real goal or not. And so far, it didn't give me the same will and determination that I had back then. This vague goal only gave me a sense of wonder and left me wandering everywhere without a clear goal to achieve."
Matthew took a deep breath and lifted up his head as if he was pondering about something before he continued to say,
"But that sense of wonder is the only real thing that I got going on in me that kept me from being even more lost than I already am."
"If you ask me why I decided to help the little kid and the village, you can say that most of it have to do with me trying to wander around in the search for my real goal. The other reason that convinces me even more is that I really appreciate the little kid's struggles and effort to do something to save his village."
Matthew looked at the first kobold kid and the twins at the back, before looking back at the old kobold and said,
"From talking with the kid, I know a little bit about his condition and the twins. Both of them just lost their parents, but despite that, they're still able to think of ways to save their village first rather than drowning in despair. Even if that means that they had to go into a beast's nest and beg for its help even though there's a high chance that they will fail and be eaten, they still decided to try."
Matthew patted the first kobold's kid head before saying,
"I might not be able to do anything when my life and dreams were taken away from me, but if I can at least help the little kid to keep his, then I would be very glad to do so."
Matthew then ended his sentence with a smile and giving a thumbs up to the three kobold kids who had met him and accompanied him here.
Now that the old kobold had heard Matthew's determined and sincere answer, he smiled back at Matthew before saying,
"Sorry for being on guard against you, you can understand me if suddenly a powerful help just suddenly appeared in the most crucial times, you would surely have some doubts about it. But after hearing your answer, I understand what makes you decide to do it." The old kobold then nodded his head to Matthew at the end of the sentence.
The first kobold kid and the twins also smiled at Matthew and replied to Matthew's thumbs up with their own while also smiling back at him.
"Now speaking of which, can you please tell me in detail regarding the kids going into the beast's nest?" The old kobold said while eyeing the three kobold kids with his sharp kobold eyes.
The first kobold kid was about to do a 180-degree turn and ran towards the door, but the old kobold was faster and before the kid was able to turn his body, the old kobold already had the kobold kid's neck in its hand.
The kobold twins already opened the cloth door and were ready to dash away, but after seeing that their comrade had been taken hostage, they decided to also give up running away and stayed to tell their story about going into the beast's nest.
The three kids then retold their story to the old kobold, while the one who is actually telling the story is the first kobold while the twins only added a few words and sounds here and there to compliment the story.
"And that's why I asked big brother Matthew for help! I thought that it must have been fate that we met brother Matthew instead of the beast today!" The first kobold exclaimed to the old kobold, while the kobold twins also showed their support by nodding their head fervently while the second kobold also added another support by saying,
"That's true village chief! It's fate!"
Hearing the three kids' story and conclusion to the story the old kobold could only rub and shook his head. He then looked at the second kobold kid then said,
"Do you even know what fate is, kid?"
The second kobold kid then looked at the third kobold kid only to see that she shook her head left and right before he looked back at the old kobold and said,
"I don't know, but if that's what the first brother had said, then it must be true!" he said while giving the first kobold kid a thumbs up.
The first kobold kid then replied the gesture by giving the second kobold kid his own thumbs up while smiling and looking proud of his friend.
Seeing this, the old kobold couldn't help but to massage his forehead before slapping the first kobold kid right in the center of its head with enough strength so that he wouldn't forget the slap.
"Alright, I understand the story now, so you guys essentially decided to go into the beast's territory to ask for its help, but when you arrived, you saw Matthew instead standing near the dead beast's body?"
"Yes, that's right!"
"But you didn't see how Matthew fought the beast right? Matthew, is it true that you defeated the beast alone without any help?"
"Yes sir, I defeated the bear alone."
"Don't call me sir, just call me Mutt or old man Mutt. I don't really care about the customs here since you are not from here."
"Yes si... Mutt."
"What level are you Matthew? I believe the beast is at least around level 20, to be able to defeat it alone, are you also above level 20?"
"No sir, I'm sure that I'm still below level 20. Wait, let me see precisely what my current level is."
"I will give you some space, if you want to check out your level, come kids, don't bother him while he's trying to meditate."
The old kobold was about to bring the kids outside to let Matthew meditate to see his level, but before the old man even move from his spot, he heard Matthew's voice,
"No need sir, I already checked it and I'm currently level 18."
The old kobold then jerked his head towards Matthew while half-shouting,
"That fast!? You don't even close your eyes for a second! How did you even do it with your eyes open!? "
"Kid, how are you able to go into your consciousness that fast?"
Matthew was still looking at the basic info tab that was opened after he gave the system the command, but after hearing the old kobold's agitated voice and then seeing his confused face, Matthew then looked at the old kobold with an even more puzzled face,
'Why do I need to go into my consciousness to see my level? I only need to do that if I want to evolve right?'
"I don't Mutt, I only gave the sys…"
'NOW I REMEMBER THAT THESE GUYS DIDN'T HAVE A SYSTEM! I only needed to tell the system to open the basic info tab, but how do these guys even access their info tab to see their levels?'
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BASIC INFO TAB
Name: Matthew
Race: Chameleon Chimera
Level: 18
Bionutrients: 782
Monster Data Collected:
-Common Wandering Spider (100%)
-Brown-Tailed Deer (100%)
-Lupus Wolf (100%)
-Scrofa Boar (12%)
-Porosus Crocodile (100%)
-Boa Dendroaspis (100%)
-Macaque Monkey (100%)
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