"So that's why… I understand now." Matthew said while nodding his head.
After hearing the old kobold's story about the first kobold kid's father then it just makes sense to him why the kid is like that. Even Matthew himself will probably be like that if he had such a cool father that everyone looked up to.
'No offense my human father, you're not too bad yourself. You're just lacking in the charisma and communication department.' Matthew thought to himself.
"Alright then Mutt, let's have dinner, shall we? And is there any temporary place that I can use to sleep tonight?" Matthew said as he started to turn away towards the cloth door.
"Wait, Matthew." The old kobold stopped him.
"Is there something else Mutt?" Matthew said as he looked back to the old kobold.
"For the battle that might happen tomorrow, I thank you once again for wanting to help out, but can I please ask you for one more favor?"
"Whatever it is, I will try my best to accomplish it," Matthew said firmly.
"I'm sorry if I doubted your strength, but if tomorrow the worst comes and you fail to hold out against the humans' attacks, then can you please take my grandson and my staff and go far away from here. I and the rest of the village will hold out as long as we can to give you time to run away" The old kobold said with determination in his eyes.
"You see, if I fell tomorrow, then there will be no more kobold mage in this forest. I don't know where you came from Matthew, but my grandfather said that there are no other kobold villages in this forest besides ours. Unlike the goblins that had a very high birth rate and they are scattered throughout multiple villages in this vast forest, the kobolds didn't have that luxury, and the remaining kobolds inside this village are the last remaining kobolds that are living in this forest."
"So, if we happen to fail tomorrow, I hope that at least one of us can continue living and since you can say the chants properly, can you please teach him how to say it. Even if he didn't want to become a kobold mage right now, that might change in the future and I want him to be able to become a kobold mage if he ever decides he wants to do it."
"That wooden staff and magic are passed down from the kobold ancestor living inside this forest and I don't want it to end with me. If the humans decide to ravage the forest, can you please take him outside and get him to another kobold village? Maybe onto the village where you come from or any other village in the world where he can continue the kobold bloodline from this forest."
The old kobold suddenly stood up from his chair and bowed down his head to Matthew and said,
"Please."
Matthew didn't expect that the old kobold would suddenly bow down and the surprised Matthew took a step back and just stood there without saying anything for the next 5 seconds until his mind finally processed what was going on and he hurriedly brought the old kobold's head back up and said,
"Don't be like this Mutt, we still don't know what will happen tomorrow. And don't give up just yet. Even though I may not be the strongest kobold in the world, I'm at least still way stronger than that dangerous beast in the forest. You can place a little hope on me and I don't mind carrying it." Matthew said as he gave the old kobold a smile and a thumbs up.
"Let's grab dinner, Mutt. Although it is still in the early evening, I can use some extra hours of sleep, I really need it."
"Thank you, Matthew, you can find the kids near one of the campfires and you can eat as much as you want as an early thank you gift for your help tomorrow."
"As for your lodging, you can just ask the kids to lead you to an unoccupied house, we got plenty this time around." The old kobold smiled wryly as he said that last sentence.
"Alright, thank you Mutt!"
Matthew then went out of the cloth door and started walking around searching for the three kobold children. As Matthew was walking around, he started to think about the old kobold's favor.
'How stupid are you Matthew, how can you take this matter lightly!' He said as he gave himself a slap on his head.
At first, Matthew decided to promise the first kobold kid to help because he was amazed by the kid's determination and he really did want to prevent the kobold village from being wiped out by the humans.
But at first, he thought that he would just give it a try and do as best as he could and didn't really think about it thoroughly. But after he heard the old kobold's last favor, it finally sinks into Matthew that he will be putting the whole village's life onto his hands.
Hearing the old kobold's plea to save his only grandson and take him somewhere safe so that the kobolds of The Forest of Firia could continue their bloodline, Matthew didn't even know what to say when he heard the old kobold was asking him for such a favor. And he could only come up with a half-assed answer to just trust him.
The remaining tens of kobolds, the last of its kind that is living inside this particular forest, their lifes are now in Matthew's hands because he promised that he would help them.
Matthew continued his train of thoughts and he made sure that he understood and remembered the urgency and exactly how important the matter he had promised to help with.
As he was starting to get lost in his thoughts and his body went on autopilot walking around the entire kobold village until one loud voice finally called out to him,
"Big brother Matthew! Come here! We got some roast deers and boars for you to eat!"
Matthew could hear the first kobold kid's voice calling out to him and it took him out of his autopilot mode and cleared his mind a little.
Matthew gave himself another slap to his face to clear his thoughts and reset his mindset, 'Alright then Matthew, all you need to do is to not mess things up. And one more thing that you really need right now is a proper rest.'
"I'm coming!" Matthew replied while he started to walk towards the campfire where he could see the three kobold kids and some other adult kobolds talking while eating roasted deer and boar meat.
The campfire was quite big as there were several big chunks of meat cooked all around it, and circling around the campfire were the other kobolds that Matthew didn't recognize, but there were also some familiar faces besides the three kobold children sitting there while one of them is munching on a big roasted boar thigh.
"Come sit right here Matthew!" A familiar voice called out to Matthew.
When Matthew turned and looked at the kobold that was speaking, it turned out to be the kobold patrol that he met earlier today when he first arrived at the kobold village.
'If I remember correctly his name is…'
"Gus?"
"Yes? What is up? Come here and take a seat, which do you prefer? Belly, thigh, or ribs? Boar or Deer?"
"Any will do, I'm not particularly a picky eater."
Gus then stood up and grabbed a roasted deer leg from the roasted deer in the middle and passed it to Matthew,
"Since you've said anything, then here is my recommendation, a boar's thigh! It's slightly tough and chewy, but the flavor is very good!"
Matthew received the boar's thigh and opened up his mouth to take a bite.
'Come to think of it, this is the first time that I ate cooked meat ever since coming into this world. I wonder if my palette will change after getting used to eating raw meat.'
Matthew opened up his mouth and took a bite out of the huge boar's thigh and flavor started to spread all over his mouth.
'This… is actually not bad at all! While raw meat is easier to chew, the trade-off I get from getting a quite flavorful meal is definitely worth it! Did the kobolds season the meat first or something?'
After savoring the meat, Matthew finally swallowed the meat and then he saw the usual written notification on the side of his vision,
-Bionutrients Consumed-
'Hoo? So I still got bionutrients from eating cooked meat? Well, at least I know now that I don't necessarily need to eat raw meat to gain bionutrients. Maybe I could even have a personal chef in the future to cook all my meals… But where the h*ll can I find such things in a forest! I need to travel to the humans' territory someday if possible.'
Matthew then continued eating the boar's thigh clean, leaving the long white thigh bone clean of any leftover meat and a notification also popped up after he finished eating the boar's thigh,
-Data about Scrofa Boar Collected (13%)-
'1% increase? Well, that's a nice bonus.'
While eating, the kobolds asked him to tell them the story about how he defeated the dangerous beast in the forest, but Matthew had to decline them and promised that he will tell them another time because he really wanted to maximize his rest since his aura reserve is practically empty right now and he wouldn't be able to do much without them. And so far, Matthew didn't know any other way other than sleeping to replenish his aura reserve.
After bidding his goodbye, Matthew asked the first kobold kid to take him into an unoccupied house for him to borrow and sleep in for the night.
The first kobold kid then leads Matthew to one of the houses on the outskirts of the village where one of the kobold warriors used to live but is now unoccupied and Matthew is free to use it.
While walking together, Matthew noticed the first kobold kid's restlessness as the kid didn't talk much and he walked while looking down at the ground. And just like before, the first kobold kid's face tells a lot about the emotions he felt inside as Matthew could see the worry on the kid's face.
After they arrived at the house, Matthew said his thanks to the first kobold kid, patted his head, and said,
"Don't worry too much kid, I'm pretty confident that we'll be able to fend off the humans tomorrow."
"I'm plenty strong myself you know, don't you see that even after defeating the dangerous beast I don't have any wounds on my body?" Matthew said as he told the kid as he showed his body that was free of any wounds.
"If even the dangerous beast can't do much, let alone the humans!" Matthew said while giving the first kobold kid a double thumbs up and a wide confident smile on his face.
The first kobold kid then smiled as if a small weight had been lifted off his mind as he said once again,
"Thank you big brother Matthew."
"Yup, I will be sleeping now. If you hear or see anything regarding the humans, just come and wake me up if I haven't woken up on my own."
The kobold kid then waved goodbye to Matthew and went back to the campfire.
Matthew then opened the cloth door and soon found the bed that was made of simple wood and grasses that were dried and piled up to become the bedding.
If Matthew was a car then his gas indicator was already blinking for quite a while and needed a recharge soon. He then found himself already searching for the most comfortable position on top of the bed and in the next moment he blinked his eyes, he already fully went to sleep.
Matthew slept throughout the evening, pass through the early night, and finally, a little past the middle of the night, he was woken up early because his stomach is rumbling and asking for nourishment as the boar thigh that he had earlier didn't even fill up anything since he could probably eat 1 and a half big crocodile from last time in one sitting.
Matthew then quickly got up from his comfortable bed, did a little light stretch before using his aura that is already 3 quarters filled to use the chameleon ability, and sneak out of the village without anyone knowing since he didn't want to cause a scene in the middle of the night.
'I certainly can't fight with an empty stomach so, wait for me a little as I quickly gobble up that brand-new monster data and bionutrients-packed meal!'