Moment Of Silence

Although the old kobold is still capable of walking on his own without any support, he still uses his magic staff as a walking stick. His appearance might have looked like any elderly person as he walked slowly taking each step without any hurry using his walking stick.

But after Matthew met and talked with the old kobold yesterday, he knew that the old kobold still had a lot of energy in him, enough to break a skull open with his walking stick if he wanted to.

'Is that a gimmick to make himself seem more wise and dignified?' Matthew wanted to shout and ask the old kobold what he was doing walking like an old person like that, but in the fear of getting his head bashed with a wooden stick in front of so many kobolds, Matthew decided to keep his mouth shut.

While talking with the kobolds earlier, one of them asked Matthew a question,

"Brother Matthew, why are you naked? Is it related to why you are so strong?"

Matthew had forgotten the fact that even the ordinary kobolds wore clothes made from animal hides or plants to cover their lower body parts.

Matthew was only aware of this fact when he first arrived and he even felt a little shy and awkward when the kobolds all looked at him when he first walked in the middle of their village, but after having the conversation with the old kobold, seeing magic for the first time, and the battle against the humans, Matthew had totally forgotten about that.

Although some of the kobolds had seen him yesterday, not all of them had seen him yet. And for many of them, the first time they had seen Matthew was when he deactivated his aura ability in front of their village entrance right after kicking the human army away. And even Matthew was still naked without wearing anything at that time.

The kobolds were all awed and revered him at that time and they didn't really pay much attention to the naked and unique looking kobold that had saved their village, all they had on their minds is that the kobold in front of them is the one who saved them and he deserved their thanks and hence why they didn't notice this trivial detail when they bowed their heads to Matthew.

But after everything died down, they eventually began to realize that Matthew is naked. And another shocking fact is that they couldn't see anything on the lower parts of Matthew's body. Something that should have been there is nowhere to be found.

But all the kobolds kept this question for themselves inside their heads and didn't ask Matthew about it. But some of them were still curious and finally, one of them tried asking Matthew in the most polite way possible and that is by asking,

'Why are you naked?'

Hearing that question, Matthew was frozen for a couple of seconds as he thought and reflected about his actions so far where he proudly walked all around the village and talked with the kobolds comfortably, all when he was naked.

'They didn't think that I had a weird fetish or something right…'

Matthew clearly had gotten too comfortable living his life as a beast in the forest that the concept of clothes had been swept away to the corner of his mind and in the process of being forgotten.

After thinking about it, Matthew realized that he actually didn't need to cover his lower body part because Matthew jr wasn't there, because his body is based on a chameleon, that part was located on the base of his tail. But still, being the only one who is completely naked among people who wear pants is something that Matthew's conscience can't take lightly.

So in the end, he told the kobolds that he lost his clothes when he lived in the forest and he asked them if they got any spare cloth for him.

Turns out the kobolds had a lot of cloth to spare after their recent decrease in population and they gave some of the cloth for Matthew to use. And finally, after wearing the piece of cloth to cover his lower body part, Matthew looked slightly more like the kobolds.

The kobolds asked all sorts of questions to him and a lot of them asked about where he came from. Matthew wanted to say that he was born in the forest a couple of weeks ago and he really was about to say that if they asked him yesterday when he had just arrived in the village, but now that he knew that there are no other kobolds in the forest beside the ones that were living in this village, Matthew had to make up another story.

With his fair improvising skill, Matthew told the kobolds that he came from the outside of the forest to train himself and it's only been about a month that he lived inside the village.

Although his reason was quite vague and Matthew also didn't know many details about it, the other kobolds accepted his reasons without asking further as they didn't want to be rude to their village's savior.

The old kobold had stopped walking and he stood a few meters away from the huge firewood tower.

About 15 boars and deers on sticks were circling around the huge campfire, the hunting team had brought 5 deers and 4 boars back, and the rest was brought out from the kobolds reserve to be eaten in the night's feast.

The old kobold raised his wooden staff and all the commotion died down as all the kobolds in the area put their attention on the old kobold who is also their village chief. The old kobold who looked like a grumpy old man yesterday was nowhere to be seen as he now looked like a dignified and bonafide leader of the village.

'His vibes do look different compared to yesterday when he threatened to bonk the first kobold kid and the twins' heads with his magic staff.'

After all the kobolds turned their heads towards him, the old kobold then lowered his staff before saying loudly,

"We all gather tonight not only to celebrate our victory against the humans. We're here to thank one of our brothers, Matthew who single-handedly dealt with the humans, and without him, we might not be able to gather here all together on this occasion."

"But that's not all."

"We're also here to remember our fallen comrades that had laid down their lives protecting this village, protecting us. Their bodies might not be here with us, but their names and their sacrifices will always be remembered in our hearts."

While saying the last sentence, the old kobold put his right hand that was holding onto the staff onto his left chest, then he looked down while closing his eyes.

All the other kobolds and Matthew followed him as well by putting their right hand onto their chest while looking down and closing their eyes to respect the fallen kobolds.

Matthew could see the old kobold was slightly shaking as he said the last words, then he remembered,

'The first kobold kid's father is the old kobold's son… His grief must've been no less than the first kobold kid…'

But soon, Matthew realized that not only the old kobolds but most of the kobolds could also be seen shaking as they held their fist tight and kept themselves from crying as they remembered that some of their comrades wouldn't come back even though they had won and defeated the humans.

The moment of silence stayed for about a minute before the old kobold tapped his wooden staff onto the ground. The loud noise wakens up all the kobolds and they all lifted their heads up, looking at the old kobold.

"Don't let grief consume you. Just remember to always put them inside our hearts and live our lives to the fullest so that their sacrifice won't be wasted on us."

"And now, let the feast begin!" The old kobold shouted.

Along with his shout, the old kobold put his left hand together with his right hand, holding the staff with both hands as he got into the spellcasting position that Matthew had seen before.

The old kobold then closed his eyes and began chanting the command words to activate the magic kobold's magic. Right after the old kobold was done with his chant, a small fireball as big as Matthew's palm was floating in front of the old kobold.

The fireball floated steadily in front of the old kobold as if it was waiting patiently for the old kobold's command. After the fireball appeared, the old kobold opened his eyes before releasing his left hand from the staff.

Using his right hand, the old kobold waved his staff left and right and the fireball followed the movement of the staff precisely.

The old kobold then raised his magic staff high and the fireball followed by going on top of the wooden staff. The old kobold then swung his staff downward as he pointed it towards the firewood tower.

The fireball then was released from the staff as it flung towards the firewood tower with incredible speed, only slightly slower than an arrow.

The fireball soon crashed against the firewood tower and a minor explosion happened as the fireball touched the wood.

But it didn't stop there as the old kobold once again started moving his staff left and right.

Matthew wondered what would happen next as this was only his second time seeing someone use magic and he didn't know what to expect.

But what he saw next caused him to stare without even blinking even though his eyes started to feel dry.

Every time the old kobold swung his staff, the fire moved along with him. The initial fire that only started on one point of the campfire, started to spread as the old kobolds swung his staff, and lines of fire started to appear on the firewood tower and it didn't take long to make the firewood tower fully on fire.

Matthew was about to gulp when he saw the amazing power of magic, but as he thought that the performance was over, he saw 5 lines of fire separating itself from the main body of the fire.

The 5 lines of fire then went straight towards the deers and boars as it swallowed the deers and boars from inside and out before retreating back into the fire main body before going back to swallow another 5 of the deers and the boars.

By the time the fire retreated from the initial boars and deers, Matthew saw that the sticks that were used to impale the boars and deers were still intact and not even a spark of fire remained on the boars and dears.

The meats were already cooked properly as he saw the slight char on the outer layer of the meat.

'Are the insides properly cooked as well?'

The other kobolds moved fast as soon as the fire retreated from the boars and deers, a group of kobolds would move out the cooked boars and deers from the campfire by using thick gloves made out of animal hides and plants then put them right onto the table that had been prepared before.

Matthew walked towards the table to see up close whether the meat was cooked evenly. He used a bone knife that was on the table and opened up the boar's belly.

The bone knife easily penetrated the meat and as Matthew cut out a portion, he saw that the bloody red meat had turned brown with a tinge of red here and there.

'The meat wasn't burnt and it was cooked thoroughly…'

Matthew then gazed back at the huge pillar of fire behind him and he couldn't help but feel amazed and heartbroken that he couldn't use magic.

'Wait a minute…'

'If the old kobold could use this kind of magic and his control was good enough that he could cook the boars and deers without scorching them…'

'COULDN'T HE WIPE OUT THE HUMAN ARMY ON HIS OWN!?'