Tim The Carpenter

Hearing the loud-sounding voice that Matthew had almost mistaken as a threat telling him to scram away, Matthew then woken up from his daze and properly went inside the building.

But Matthew was still standing at the entrance of the building and it is still a few distances away from where the strong-voiced kobold is sitting, the kobold then shouted once again,

"Come here if you want to say something, I can't see nor hear you properly from that distance!"

Matthew then slowly walked towards the old-looking kobold and made sure to not disturb any of the kobolds working on their own wood as he was afraid that all the kobolds here had the same temperament as the old kobold sitting in the middle of the room.

When Matthew was finally only a few steps away from the old-looking kobold, the kobold finally opened his eyes and said loudly,

"Wait, You must be the savior of our village! You're Matthew right?"

"Umm…Yes…? I am.." Matthew replied softly as the kobold's strong voice is still leaving a strong impression in his heart.

"I'm sorry I didn't recognize you earlier, I didn't evolve into a combatant kobold race hence why my senses are not that good in this old age and they didn't give a sign of stopping their deterioration."

"There's not much of them, but there are a few kobolds who weren't patient enough and bothered me a couple of times a day asking if their tables or chairs were finished being repaired. I thought that you were one of them when I saw a head pop out of the door. But after properly seeing your figure, there's no way I would have mistaken you for someone else." The old kobold said while looking at Matthew's body up and down.

While Matthew was still a distance away from the old kobold, Matthew's wolf head that seemed like a blur definitely looked just like any other kobolds, but when the old kobold got close enough to see Matthew's body, his unique-looking features are standing out and there's not even a slight chance the old kobold will mistake Matthew from other kobolds.

"It's okay sir… I was just slightly surprised."

"Ah, please just call me Tim."

'Wow, that's a totally normal-sounding name.' Matthew thought while nodding his head to Tim.

"So what can I help you with?"

"Umm… So I'm thinking of making some training equipment."

"Hoo? Can you please explain to me more about it?" Although Tim was excited from the very start when talking with his village's savior, now that Matthew had said something that he didn't know, his interest grew and he became genuinely interested in hearing Matthew's request.

Tim had never heard of training equipment before. He knew what training meant, and equipment is also something that is very similar to him since he used tools every day to do his woodworking.

But the concept of training equipment, a tool that is used for training is a first to his ears. So he asked Matthew to explain to him the details of the so-called training equipment that Matthew wanted to build.

Matthew first started his explanation by telling Tim about what training equipment is, which is tools that are specially made to help people, or in this case, the kobolds to train.

He told Tim about his plan on training the kobold twins and what is the purpose of the equipment that he wanted to make.

There's a lot of things that came to Matthew's mind while thinking about training equipment like dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, rig machines, leg press machines, and many other things that he could find in a typical gym.

But since he's living in a world that has a medieval setting and some of those kinds of training are less efficient compared to doing some other menial labor that is beneficial for the village, Matthew decided to only request two types of equipment for Tim to make and for the other training, he had found some interesting tasks in the village that will help the kids develop their overall muscle strength.

The two types of training equipment that Matthew had requested Tim to make are the monkey bars and a punching bag.

He explained to Tim about monkey bars, which are essentially just bars that are parallel with each other that are positioned above our heads and supported by pillars that are sturdy enough so that we could hang on them.

Matthew explained the shape of the monkey bars while drawing it on a sheet of parchment with a piece of coal that he could find on the table behind Tim.

Without waiting for Tim to ask 'What's the use of just hanging on bars?' Matthew continued his explanation,

"By repeatedly pulling our bodies up over the bar, we will develop our back muscles which will enable us to gain control of our body when we're in a hanging position, and by going from bar to bar, we will be able to simulate swinging from tree to tree in the forest!"

"I've tested it myself and I can guarantee you that if you have mastered the arts of moving and jumping through the branches of the trees, you can travel much faster compared to the plain-old running on the forest ground!"

"For the punching bag that I told you, it is really simple. It's basically only a wooden pillar that has some padding around it so that the kobolds would be able to punch and kick them repeatedly to improve the toughness of their fist and their legs."

Tim Listened to Matthew's explanation with great interest and nodded his head every once in a while holding his chin as if he had already imagined how he would realize Matthew's concept. And by the time Matthew finished his explanation, Tim had already started to draw some shape on an unprocessed wood block using the same charcoal that Matthew used to write earlier.

While Tim was busy doing his thing, Matthew heard Tim muttered words such as,

"I see, then it should be cut into a few pieces first and trimmed to make the bar comfortable to grip."

"But the wood's width is limited so I should pre-portion them properly before starting then…."

After a few more sentences that Matthew didn't really pay much attention to because it seems that Tim didn't need any input from him as he figured out the details on his own, Tim finally turned to Matthew and said,

"I understand what you want to make. I will probably need about 3 and a half days to finish it, is that okay? And just to be sure, you've already told Mutt about this right?"

"Of course! I've asked for Mutt's consent and he happily agreed to it. Thank you, Tim!"

"It's my pleasure, Matthew. I'd be happy to help you make anything that you wanted. But knowing that you wanted to make something to help the village, I'm even more eager to make it now."

Matthew nodded and thanked Tim once again before saying,

"Let's make a rocking chair next time Tim, you will love sitting on it."

'Well according to a graph I've seen somewhere, most elders love sitting on them.'

"A rocking chair? What is that?"

"Well, It's a chair that's constantly rocking back and forth while you're sitting on it. It's a really wonderful feeling to sit on a rocking chair while enjoying the sunset. And the rocking motion helps you calm yourself down and relax."

Matthew didn't know if it's only his imagination or not, but the light on Tim's eyes seems brighter compared to when he explained to him about the training equipment that will help improve the kobolds' overall strength.

"Then, after I made the equipment, can you tell me how to make that rocking chair?"

"Umm… Of course, I can even draw you a rough sketch now if you want."

"Please! I mean wait! Let me focus on the equipment first, I will finish them in 3 days… No…2,5 days!"

"It's okay to take your time Tim, we want it to be safe for all the kobolds to use after all."

"Don't worry about the quality and just trust me! And after that, please tell me how to make the rocking chair!"

"I mean, I don't really know the details either, but I know how it generally looks, so you'll have to figure out a lot of things on your own to make it."

"It's not a problem!"

"Alright Tim, see you later."

Matthew then saw the elderly kobold began grabbing some pieces of wood and Matthew even heard him mumbles,

'How does a chair move back and forth on its own… Shouldn't the people sitting on it become dizzy if it constantly moves? Why is it relaxing? Did Matthew also know how to use magic like Mutt…?'

Matthew heard them all and thought,

'So that must be what Mutt means when he said that Tim needed something that piqued his interest to get some extra motivation…'

Matthew then walked out of the carpenter's workshop and decided to explore the village more to find the task that the kids could do to train their bodies.

He found a field where the kobolds plant their vegetables and fruits, he also found the warehouse where the kobolds store their firewood. Seeing those two things, Matthew had already found the two exercises to train the kobold kids' strength with.

Matthew made a reminder to ask for Mutt's permission for the kids to work on those fields later because now, he had something crucial that he needed to do.

"Alright now, let's make sure I win the bet tomorrow."

Matthew said to himself before he ran towards the forest, climbed on top of a tree, and started jumping and swinging away towards the designated location that he and the first kobold kid had agreed before.