"Big brother Matthew! Please! Wake up! Quick!"
"Please hurry up brother! There's a human right outside the village!"
Matthew quickly got up from his bed and asked the first kobold kid,
"How many humans are there?"
"Just one brother"
"Just one? What did he do?"
"He just stands there as if waiting for something and doesn't do anything else. One of the guards said that the human shouted something but none of us understood what he is trying to say."
"Alright, you stay back. I will go and meet him."
Matthew then quickly went outside the house and walked towards the village entrance.
On his way there, Matthew saw that the other kobolds had also woken up from their sleep and even some of them had already got a hold of weapons in their hands.
Seeing this, Matthew quickened his pace to meet the one human that caused the unrest of the whole village.
'I hope they learn from the lesson and don't try to do anything bothersome.' Matthew silently thought to himself.
When Matthew finally arrived at the entrance of the village, he saw that Mutt, Nass, and the other kobold warriors were already standing in front of the other kobolds, right in the opposite direction of the one human who was also standing straight and looking ahead without any shred of fear in his eyes.
The man was about 1 and a half head taller than Matthew and the other kobolds. With short black hair and a square face, he gave an aura of an army person. And not only that he is tall, but the human also has a huge body covered in full body armor just like the human commander that Matthew killed the last time.
But with his sharp eyesight, Matthew was able to see the full body armor that the man was wearing has more details on it and from seeing the design, Matthew guessed that it was more unrestrained at the joints parts and gave the user a higher range of movement compared to the full-body armor that he saw last time.
"Did he do anything else?" Matthew asked Mutt who was standing in the middle of the kobold warriors.
"He shouted something again, but none of us understood what he was saying," Mutt answered without averting his gaze from the man while holding his magic staff in the middle of it rather than the usual way of holding it from the top as if it was a walking stick.
"I will try to ask him what he wants." Matthew declared before he started walking to the front of the kobold warriors.
'System, please change the words I'm speaking into human language.'
Right after giving the command, Matthew waited a few seconds before walking closer to the human and said,
"What do you want, human?"
The man who had a stern look on his face finally had a change of expression for once as he saw a unique and different-looking kobold speaking human language.
The man then raised his eyebrows and looked at Matthew and said,
"I assume you're able to understand what I am saying?"
"Yes, I do. What are you doing here?"
"Greetings, my name is Dio. I'm a general from the Felidae Kingdom. May I know your name?"
"My name is Matthew. What do you want, human?"
"I'm here to give you an offer, Matthew."
"What is it?"
"I assume you were the one who repelled my army away, am I correct?"
Matthew wasn't sure whether he should be honest and say that he was the one that drove out the human army at the risk that the human will be more cautious of him. But considering that he wanted to keep the humans away by intimidating them, Matthew decided to answer the man.
"Yes, that was me. So can you humans not come back here and hurt the kobolds again? I don't want to repeat what I did last time. And if you humans did decide to still do it, I will make sure that there will be fewer people coming back with their limbs intact." He said while showing off his claws that looked longer and thicker than the ordinary kobolds.
"Relax Matthew, that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about."
"I'm listening. What is the offer?"
"I'm sure you don't want the humans to ever come back here again and I also don't want to lose any more of my men. But you see, after what you did to the army, I can't just let it go as if nothing had happened. I lost many men and I can't return just like that. Not only won't my kingdom accept such an outcome, but I also won't be able to forgive myself if I do retreat after such embarrassing defeat."
"That is none of my business. You are the ones who suddenly came here and started slaughtering the kobolds as you pleased."
"I tried taking them in and not killing them, you know? But they are so stubborn that they won't accept any outcome other than death. It's not my fault that I resort to using such measures. And my choice was right if I might say. We only needed a slight push and we'll be able to completely defeat the kobolds. But suddenly someone came in out of nowhere and ruined all of my hard work and preparations. Wasn't it quite a rude thing to do, Matthew?"
Matthew didn't answer and just kept on staring at the man in front of him.
"See what I mean when I talk about being rude?" The general said.
"Well, Matthew, what I want to offer you to make this situation fair for both sides is a duel."
"A duel?"
"Yes, a duel between me and you. If you defeat me then I will promise on my name that we will entirely stop going into the kobold's village. I already told my subordinate that if I don't make it back by afternoon, they will report back to the kingdom that this area is guarded by a fearsome beast and expeditions are off-limits, how does that sound?"
"And what if you win?"
"There are 2 choices. 1, I will spare your life and you have to promise me to help us talk and be an intermediary with the kobolds. And the second choice is, I will have your life since the kobolds can't do anything without you in the first place."
"And what if I refuse?"
"The last time we came here is not the full extent of our army. We will come back here again, this time with our full strength, and with nothing to lose, we will bring each and every kobold down with us."
"So, what will you choose, Matthew?"
Of course, Matthew didn't trust what the general was saying right away as he didn't know anything about the human's circumstances. He doesn't even know if the man in front of him is really someone that is considered important in the human kingdom. But given the choices he had, he knew that taking the offer would be the most beneficial for him since he was quite confident in defeating the general.
'I will fight him without using my invisibility and I would use it as my trump card. And if that also somehow didn't work, I would use the wolf's aura ability and just brute force it. In the worst-case scenario, I can use the invisibility to retreat and warn the kobolds in advance.' Is what Matthew thought about when weighing his options.
In the end,
"I accept the offer." He answered the general.
"I know you're a smart one, Matthew. Please follow me, I don't want us to fight here. It will be disadvantageous for me if the kobolds suddenly start interfering with the duel right?"
"I understand, please wait a moment."
Matthew then walked back to the village entrance and the kobolds started asking him questions,
'System, please change back to the kobold's language.'
"How is it Matthew, what did he say to you?" Mutt's voice entered his ears.
"He offered me a one-on-one duel and I decided to take it."
"Why did you agree to it? Won't we have more advantage if they ever come back again?"
"No Mutt, the last army was not all of their strength, they still have more men. I'm sure they will be prepared this time and I'm sure I wouldn't be able to take them by surprise anymore by doing that. And also, that man said that they will come back with a nothing to lose mentality and charge straight through, bringing as many kobolds as they can before they fall. I don't know how many of them are left, but I won't take any chances. If I win the duel, they promise that they won't be coming back. And just in case he lied, the humans will lose another one of the commander's lives. I don't think they will be able to recover quickly after that."
"And I also prepared for the worst, as I was quite confident in my ability to run away just in case of danger," Matthew added in the end.
Mutt and the other kobold warriors who heard what Matthew just said turned silent and contemplated in their minds. They know that they already owed Matthew so much and with this, they will owe him even more even though they hadn't even paid him back yet for saving their village once. But they also didn't have many choices and Matthew also said,
"Trust me, I will get this done quickly and get back to the village before afternoon comes."
Despite the fact that they were reluctant to place even more burden on Matthew's shoulder, the kobolds couldn't say anything much as Matthew was the one who accepted the duel right away.
They finally let Matthew go saying,
"Be careful" and
"Come back safely brother Matthew!"
"If anything were to happen, we will always be with you!"
"Thank you guys, I will be back soon!" Matthew said before going towards the general.
"Thanks for waiting. Let's go." Matthew said as he followed the general walking deeper into the forest.
—-------
"Come on you two, we need to follow brother Matthew!"
"Why should we? Even the village's chief and the kobolds warriors are staying here."
"Don't you remember what the humans did last time? They trapped our parents and defeated them using cheap tricks! I won't let brother Matthew fall to such dirty tricks!"
"Then first brother…Why don't we tell the kobold warriors and tell them to go along with brother Matthew?"
"We can't do that little sis, the adult kobolds won't let us go if they know that we're trying to follow brother Matthew. Just like last time, we need to sneak out again!"
"I don't like being scolded, but I will follow you, first brother!"
"If the first and second brother is going then I will also go…"
"Alright then, you two, follow me quietly, we'll use the same exit as last time."