A Sincere Thanks

"YOU SON OF A B…est kobold warrior in the village…"

Matthew couldn't help but almost curse after knowing the reason the kid had been so calm even after losing the bet and was practically half-forced to learn magic that he had been avoiding for the past years.

'But at least, it's a step forward Matthew, take it slow. Just be patient since the first step has been taken, it will be easier to go to the second, the third, and the next steps…' Matthew said to himself to remind himself that he had indeed won the bet and there's no need to be so worked up over being tricked by the first kobold kid.

Since Matthew didn't have any other thing to say to the current situation, he jumped down to the hole by grabbing onto one of the spears that were still stuck onto one of the boars' bodies and pierced the spear even deeper into the boar's body and incapacitate the poor boar by the sheer shock of a spear piercing through its body and coming out from the other side.

Face to face with the healthy boar that was lured by the berry and fallen into the trap that he had prepared, Matthew didn't give the boar any room to move and quickly tore apart its neck using his claws.

Matthew then finished his job by putting the other boar that still had its body function as a spear rack out of its misery by also tearing apart its neck since it was still the quickest, most painless, and the most efficient way to kill that Matthew has in his repertoire of killing methods.

Now that the two remaining boars are dead, the group still needs to somehow bring the two boars out of the hole and drag them back home to the village.

Luckily, Matthew had already thought of a way. He told the kobolds to throw him the ropes that they use to tie their extra spears to their bodies and throw them to him who is currently still inside the hole.

Matthew then tied the ropes together to make a longer rope before tying one end to one of the boar's legs really tight and the other end to himself as he climbed out of the hole and asked the other kobolds to help him pull out the immensely heavy boar from the hole.

With the help of 3 other kobolds including Nass, the four of them succeeded in pulling out the boar with slight difficulty.

Seeing that Matthew was about to repeat the same process, the first kobold kid said to him,

"Brother, why don't you drain the boar's blood first so that it will be lighter when we're pulling them out?"

"Ah… Yeah right… If I said that I wanted to workout earlier, would that make sense?" Matthew replied.

"Workout?" Surprisingly, the second kobold kid is the one who asked Matthew.

"Ah, don't worry about it since you'll be doing them yourselves tomorrow when you start your training," Matthew said before diving back into the hole, drained the boar's blood before tying the rope again to the boar's body, and once again pulled the boar out of the hole by utilizing team effort.

Just like yesterday's routine, using the same method as yesterday where 2 kobolds will drag one boar each except Matthew, the group started their one-hour-long journey back to the village. The first kobold kid also helped Matthew this time, but somehow, Matthew felt like the boar today is heavier,

'Or this kid is putting in less effort as a type of silent protest…'

The group then finally arrived at the village, bringing yet another full group of boars for the village. Unlike yesterday where they wanted to see Matthew hunt solo, today, the group finished their job early and they were able to get more free time for the day as they continued their own activities.

The kids had asked Matthew to start training right away as it turns out their excitement is bigger than their fatigue after walking for one hour straight while dragging the boars back home.

But Matthew dismissed them and told them to play to their heart's content as this will be the last day that they would be able to. Because Matthew's training will start tomorrow and Matthew didn't plan it to be an easy one.

The first thing that Matthew does is report back to Mutt to share with him the happy news that he had been waiting for for the last two days and to ask his permission about the details of the training that he would be giving the kids.

As usual, Mutt is inside his tent after doing rounds in the village making sure that everyone is doing fine and if there's anything that he can help with.

Matthew called Mutt from outside the tent a couple of times before hearing a reply from Mutt telling him to go inside on his own.

When Matthew walked inside the house, he saw Mark is sitting on the chair behind his desk while his hands are currently carving a wooden stick that looked similar to his beating- walking stick that also serves as his magic staff.

Looking at Mutt, who is still focused on his work and his schedule which is totally free, Matthew decided to wait for Mutt to finish whatever he is doing first before telling him the good news.

Matthew observed Mutt closely and after some time, he finally realized that Mutt is currently making another magic staff! One that is slightly smaller and shorter than his.

Mutt carved the exact same pattern from his magic staff to the wooden stick and as time passed the magical symbols also covered the whole wooden stick making it look like the lite version of his magic staff.

Although Mutt carved the staff on his own, it didn't look like a poor imitation of the original magic staff. It had the same mystical look that the original staff had and Matthew didn't doubt even a little that the staff would also function properly just like the original one.

Mutt then carefully placed the new magic staff onto his bed before putting his own on the side of the bed before finally noticing that Matthew had been looking over him for quite some time now.

"So Matthew, how is it? The kid will really learn magic starting tomorrow morning right? You don't have to rush it, just make sure that he will really do it. Even if it takes another week or another month, just do it surely and slowly so that he won't be running away again." The old kobold said to Matthew with expectant and hopeful eyes.

Without even Mutt telling him what he is currently feeling right now, Matthew could see from his actions that the old kobold is currently beaming with joy and couldn't help but feel giddily excited that his grandson will finally learn the magic that he really wanted to pass down for years already.

Matthew held the old kobold's shoulder and said,

"Don't worry Mutt, he has agreed to it and he will be starting tomorrow just like I said yesterday."

Hearing Matthew's answer the old kobold's happiness level increased several times and Matthew even felt that the old kobold had become visibly younger for a few seconds there.

"Matthew… I really thank you. From the bottom of my heart, I really thank you…"

Matthew smiled and couldn't help but feel warmth in his heart as he saw the old kobold sincere thanks that felt even more heartfelt when the old kobold thanked him for saving the village.

"You're welcome, Mutt. I'm glad that I was able to help."

"But just for your information, the kid is still denying it somewhat by saying ' I promised to learn it not to use it!' So I will be saying sorry in advance if that betrays your expectations…"

"Not at all Matthew, even wanting to learn it is a very huge step that I wasn't able to make him do it. Once again, thank you, Matthew." The old kobold said once again while bowing his head.

Matthew hurriedly propped up the old kobold's head as he didn't feel like he did that much to receive that bow.

Matthew then proceeds to have small talks with the old kobold before informing him about his plans to train the kids by asking his permission to use a couple of facilities of the village for the training and also the permission to use a few pieces of the beasts' hides to make training equipment.

"You can just ask the person in charge of them and tell them that I have given you permission to intrude on them a little. However, make sure that the kids won't be impeding their work too much and affect the whole village's livelihood." The old kobold said to him.

"Of course! I won't be ruining the fields or anything like that. I will just tell the kids to help them do their work to develop the kids' muscles."

After hearing Matthew's confirmation that he wouldn't be doing anything destructive for the village, the old kobold gave him verbal permission and told him to inform the people in charge of the field today so that they won't be surprised tomorrow when three kids suddenly popped out of nowhere and invaded their working place.

Matthew then left Mutt's house and quickly walked around the village to find the kobold that is in charge of the village's garden and the kobold that is in charge of woodcutting to inform that he had gotten permission from the village chief to make the kids work with them tomorrow.

The two kobolds who are in charge of their respective place welcomed Matthew with open arms and told him that they are willing to cooperate with him to help with the training for the kids.

'Now that, that is done. The only thing left to do is to make the training equipment.'

Although Tim had told him that it might take 2 and a half days for him to complete the design that he had requested him to make, Matthew wanted to just come over and say hi while checking the progress of the equipment.