Going back before the human army arrived, at early down inside the kobold village, an anxious kobold kid had already woken up from his sleep which could barely count as sleep as he kept on waking up every 30 minutes, tossing and turning on his bed, before falling asleep for a while only to wake up again soon after.
The first kobold kid couldn't help but worry for the whole night as he expected that this morning, the humans would come and destroy their village and kill all the kobolds inside the village.
As a kobold himself who held an extreme pride inside his heart, even though the village encountered a crisis such as an extinction of the kobold race from the forest, the first kobold kid knew that running away was never an option.
The first kobold kid had gotten himself a promise of help to fight back against the human army, but if he was honest with himself, he is still not sure if it would be enough.
Not that the first kobold kid didn't trust Matthew, seeing Matthew was capable of defeating the dangerous beast alone and came out almost unscathed is a fact that he had seen with his own eyes and didn't have a sliver of doubt about Matthew's capabilities.
And the fact that he met Matthew by pure coincidence when he already steeled himself and prepared to be eaten by the dangerous beast if the beast chose to completely ignore his request and just interested in getting a free snack, is a fact that made his heart even more certain that he was right when he asked Matthew for help.
But the first kobold kid still had doubts inside his heart on whether Matthew alone will be able to change the situation around.
The first kobold kid had seen the humans' army for himself as the first day when they had come to taunt the kobold village and succeeded in making the kobolds chase after them, but only to be ambushed by even more humans from all directions and the kobold army was wiped clean.
Even the kobold warriors that he knew were very strong compared to himself, couldn't do much when being besieged by comparably strong humans from all sides. The twins' parents, who are also excellent kobold warriors that frequently fight alongside his own parents, also failed to fend off the humans.
All the kobold warriors, which is a very powerful existence in the first kobold's eyes, died in the humans' unexpected ambush. And that includes even the strongest kobold warrior in the village, which is his father.
Both of the first kobold kid's parents are kobold warriors, and although his mother was an excellent kobold warrior that is even stronger than the average kobold warrior, his father is still the one that all kobold warriors looked up to, but even he was powerless against the humans.
And when the first kobold kid hear the news that the kobold warriors that were pursuing the human army had all been killed, he didn't even react until about 12 hours later he wailed so loud at night and had woken up almost every single kobold that lived around the house that used to belong to his father.
And he only stopped after the village chief, his grandfather had come and comforted him as the old kobold accompanied the kobold kid cried to sleep.
The first kobold kid was still shocked by the news of his parent's death, but the next morning when he opened his eyes, he heard another commotion in the village and he saw the humans had come again.
And this time, they came in great number as they circled the village and the remaining kobolds tried to retaliate but they failed as the main force of the kobold village had already been taken care of the day before and some of the humans which are equal in strength with the kobold warriors had also come and siege the kobold village.
But even after succeeding in killing even more kobolds on the second day, the humans didn't barge into the village and returned back to the forest just like that.
And the same thing happened the next day, making it the third consecutive day the humans had come and attacked the kobold village. And that is also the day where the first kobold kid realized that if the humans come again tomorrow, with the remaining kobold inside the village and a few kobold warriors left, there's nothing that the village could do to turn the situation around except if they had a trump card.
The first kobold kid of course knew about the mysterious and mystical power that his grandfather had, the ability to summon and control fire. How wouldn't he know, his grandfather had been trying to teach him the same thing not too long after he had only reached level 5.
But the first kobold kid also knew that the old kobold was an old kobold. Even an old kobold warrior will have their power dwindled, let alone a kobold mage that could magically summon fire out of nowhere, it must've been more burdening to the kobold's old body to make something so mysterious happen.
So he decided to take the matters into his own hands and gambled with his life to ask the dangerous beast of the forest for help, but he was actually fortunate enough to meet Matthew instead of the bear.
But now that the fourth day had already come, the first kobold kid still had some thoughts that plagued his mind.
'I'm so powerless and wasn't capable of doing anything when the despicable humans came and attacked the village as they pleased… If I had learned the thing that grandpa had been wanting to teach me, would I have been able to do something to change the situation? Will mom and dad be able to stay alive if I did so?' The first kobold kid asked himself.
But even though such thoughts appeared inside his head, and there's also the fact that he was actually very interested in the mystical power, the first kobold kid had always wanted to become a kobold warrior and fight alongside his father which is the main reason why he didn't want to be something different from his father.
His father used a spear to fight and protect the village and hence why he also wanted to use a spear, not the mysterious yet amazing fire-controlling thing that his grandfather had.
But now that the situation is getting worse, the first kobold kid is starting to question his own choice of rejecting to learn the mysterious power.
And that is only one of the things that muddled his head, many other things, especially regrets and sadness filled his mind and it had become fuel to his worry and anxious heart and had been bothering him for the last few days and prevented him from getting a good night's sleep.
But after the fourth day, and the fact that he also knew that the humans will probably come again today, he decided that he will help Matthew, help his village to fend off the humans no matter what.
And with that conviction in mind, he closed his eyes again and focused to save his energy as he knew that he still had more time to sleep and recover his stamina.
Alas, his sleep was soon interrupted again. And this time, it's not because of the tossing and turning nor the sorrow filling his heart, instead, a commotion was heard inside the kobold village.
And the first kobold kid who is still sleeping is abruptly woken up by the shout of the people of his village,
"THE HUMANS HAVE COME! PREPARE YOURSELF FOR BATTLE! ANYONE WHO HAD THE STRENGTH TO PICK UP A WEAPON, HURRY UP AND DO SO! AND GATHER HERE TO STAND OUR GROUND AND PROTECT OUR VILLAGE!"
Hearing the shout, the first kobold kid jerked his eyes open and stood up abruptly from his bed, and started running outside the house.
The first kobold kid then hurriedly searched for any bone tools that were lying on the ground, picked it up, and started to gather around the shouting kobold earlier, which turned out to be one of the few remaining kobold warriors.
The kobold warrior told everybody to line up facing the entrance and wait until the humans charge first and when the humans come inside the village, the kobold will exert everything they have to take down as many humans as they could along with them.
The first kobold kid joined the line with the bone axe that he found earlier and he looked to the woods where he saw the humans started to come out of the woods one by one and started to line up themselves on the clearing near the village.
The first kobold kid was ready to also risk it all and swung the axe in his hands as many times as possible before he couldn't do so anymore, but just right after he joined in the line, the kobold warrior saw him and went up to him,
"Go back kid, you will help us by doing something else and that is by not being here."
The first kobold kid was puzzled and didn't understand what the kobold warrior had said to him when he first heard it, but after thinking about it, his smart head quickly catch on what the kobold warrior meant and he immediately answered,
"What do you mean elder brother! As a kobold of this village, I also want to protect it until the last of my breath!"
The kobold warrior looked at the first kobold kid for a second, sighed a little then said,
"No. You will stay at the village's chief's house and follow his directions." The kobold warrior said with a stern tone to make sure the kobold kid understand.
"All the kids who haven't reached level 10 should go back and gather at the village's chief's house and then follow his directions!" The kobold warrior shouted loud to make his voice heard despite the commotion in the village.
"But elder brother, I want to…"
"No." Before the first kobold kid finished his sentence, the kobold warrior had stopped him and quickly sent him back.
The first kobold kid couldn't believe that he had just been kicked out of the defense line,, but he still kept his calm and thought about what he could do to help the village fight off the human army.
'Come to think of it, where is big brother Matthew?' The first kobold kid looked around left and right, front and back, but he couldn't spot the unique-looking kobold anywhere.
'Don't tell me he is still sleeping…'
The kobold kid then ran as fast as he could to the house that he had given to Matthew last night to rest. But after he arrived there, he found that there's no one on the bed and the house was clearly empty.
'Where did he go…? Where did brother Matthew go!?'
The first kobold kid ran around the village searching for Matthew, but even after he circled the entire village, he still couldn't find Matthew. He glanced at the clearing not far from the village's entrance, the place where the humans gathered and he could already see a lot of humans lining up and there's also humans riding horses starting to also come out of the woods.
Seeing this, the first kobold kid picked up his pace and ran around the village even faster to find Matthew.
'Where is brother Matthew?'
'Why can't I find him anywhere inside the village??'
Then suddenly the doubts and worry inside his heart started to creep up onto his head and he suddenly thought of something,
'Don't tell me… Did… Did brother Matthew run away…'
'Did he abandon us…'
His mind became muddled as even more bad things appeared inside his head and the first kobold kid couldn't help but clench his hands as he started to feel his whole body suddenly tremble.
He also heard a voice, one that he didn't recognize. A voice of a human that was currently standing in front of the other humans and shouting incomprehensible words.
The first kobold kid didn't know what to do, the savior and the person who had promised him to not abandon him and save his village had suddenly disappeared out of nowhere and the enemy was right in front of his village's door.
The first kobold kid then gritted his teeth so hard until his gums starting to hurt, before he suddenly ran towards the village's entrance once again with the axe in his hands as he decided that the most he could do right now is lay his life down to protect the village as it was also the last thing that his father did.
The human that stood at the frontmost of the humans then raised his sword up high, then followed by the sounds of tens of swords coming out of their scabbards as the human soldiers also drew their swords out.
From the kobold village, the first kobold kid had already sneaked inside the back of the kobold's defense line and he watched the events unfold, he kept his mouth shut tight and he also kept his teeth pushing against each other to forcefully push aside the feelings inside his head as he readies himself to battle.
The human that had drawn his sword first and raised it up high in the sky, shouted other words that the first kobold kid didn't understand as he brought his sword down.
The moment the sword almost pointed at the kobold village, a scream was suddenly heard.
The kobolds looked at themselves and they knew that none of them had actually screamed. The kobolds then turned their sights to the human army as they saw that a human at the edge of the formation suddenly screamed as he clutched his leg that was now colored blood-red.
The kobolds were confused as well as the first kobold kid who didn't know what just happened, but soon other screams followed up from the human army as blood start to splurt out of the humans that had screamed and one by one, randomly, the humans' army began to fell into chaos as more and more soldiers screamed before blood gush out of their body.
"What is happening…" The first kobold kid muttered.