The First Kobold Kid's Hesitation

Noticing the conflict happening on the first kobold kid's face that had gotten worse right after the old kobold mentioned practicing hard on magic, Matthew decided to ask,

"What's wrong with you kid?" Matthew said as he snapped his fingers in front of the first kobold kid's face multiple times to get his attention.

"Umm...Nothing…" The first kobold kid said as he turned his face the other way opposite to Matthew's.

"Come on kid, just from your face, I can see that you have something going on even if I only got half of my brain left."

"It's really nothing important, big brother. Don't worry about it." The first kobold kid said as he kept his face facing the other way.

Matthew's experience from living as a human for a little bit more than 2 decades told him that there's definitely something that's bothering the kobold kid, but those 2 decades of experience also told him that if a person didn't want to share their problem then he shouldn't be pursuing it even if he got good intentions in doing so. So Matthew just left him alone and got his focus back onto the old kobold.

"Mutt, can I try it one more time?"

"Sure." The old kobold then once again threw his staff to Matthew.

Matthew grabbed the staff with ease as he already expected the old kobold will be careless once again and just threw the magic staff as if it was really just a beating staff that he used to beat the kobold children when they're being a brat.

Matthew already knew that he would still fail even if he try it again for dozens of times as he didn't even qualify to say the chant because he was not a kobold in the first place, but he just wanted to put on a show as if he didn't know what is wrong with him that caused him to be unable to use magic.

And the second reason is Matthew kind of guessed that the first kobold kid problem got something to do with magic as the kid's face gave strong reactions when the old kobold talked about it. And Matthew wanted to see if his guess was correct.

Matthew then got up from the floor and started to get into the exact same position as the old kobold when he used magic. He brought the staff in front of him and held in with his two hands.

And as Matthew was doing the movement, he noticed that the first kobold kid that had been avoiding his gaze, now looked in his direction, particularly at the wooden staff that he is holding right now.

Matthew then once again closed his eyes to make it seem that he is really trying to succeed in casting magic. Matthew then commanded the system to change the language that came out of his mouth once again before he said the chant earnestly,

"Through the fire authority that was given by the gods to the kobolds, hereby I command the fire elements to bend for my will and realize my desire."

Matthew kept holding onto the wooden staff, waiting for a reaction that he knew would never come. After waiting for a decent amount of time, Matthew then opened up his eyes, put up his best act as he sighed

"I guess I'm really not talented at this," Matthew said as he shook his head disappointingly.

Matthew then brought up the staff with his right hand and moved it to the first kobold kid direction as he said,

"Why don't you give it a try kid? I think you will be good at it or you will at least be better than me. You don't mind right, Mutt?"

"Of course, go ahead and try it!" The old kobold said.

Hearing Matthew's unexpected offer, the first kobold kid looked startled for a moment before the same face that is filled with hesitation that Matthew saw earlier appeared again as the first kobold kid was frozen in place.

"Come on kid, I want to see you do it." Matthew tried encouraging the first kobold kid because he thought that the first kobold kid is actually very interested in magic, but he is too shy or rather too scared to ask for Mutt's permission to teach him magic.

And what Matthew is doing right now is trying to give the little kobold a boost of motivation and an opportunity to try doing magic without needing to face the grumpy old man on his own.

The first kobold kid then slowly started getting up from the ground as he tried to reach out his hand and grab the wooden staff that Matthew was offering to him.

But as his hand was about to touch the wooden staff, the first kobold kid suddenly retracted his hand and said,

"No thank you, I'm not interested in becoming a mage!"

The first kobold kid then turned 180 degrees back towards the cloth door and said,

"I will be preparing dinner, big brother Matthew must be tired from fighting the beast earlier and he must be hungry!"

The first kobold kid then opened the cloth door and got out of the village chief's tent before the twins soon followed him saying that they wanted to help. And with that Matthew is now alone with the old kobold.

"Thank you Mutt, I guess I'm not that talented in using magic," Matthew said as he handed back the wooden staff

"By the way, if it's okay to ask. Why is the kid like that? Did you scare him so much that he is afraid to ask you to teach him magic?"

The old kobold gave Matthew a stare while bringing up his wooden staff to hit Matthew and said,

"Heck! Who said that! I even coaxed him to learn magic several times already!"

Seeing the wooden staff is about to hit his head, Matthew decided to just let it happen as he knew that his crocodile scutes can just take the hit without even a scratch.

But the expected hit never came as the old kobold seemed to have brought the staff back to his side.

'This old man never really used his staff to hit people! I think he just used it to threaten people or maybe the staff is actually fragile after being used to cast spells a lot of time.'

The old kobold then heaved a sigh as he continued to say,

"That kid is so stubborn! I know that he will be an amazing kobold mage if he really tries to do so!"

"So, he is the one that's refusing to learn to use magic even though you already offered to teach him?" Matthew asked as he doesn't understand why that would be the case.

Since Matthew kind of realized that the first kobold kid seemed to be very interested in magic as the kid literally peeled his eyes open the moment the old kobold used his magic as if he didn't want to miss a single detail and his eyes even sparkled when seeing the fireball suddenly appear out of thin air.

And when the old kobold molded the fireball into an arrow, Matthew could even see the first kobold kid's mouth gaping a little. Even with little to no knowledge about body language, Matthew could even see that the kid was excited when he saw his grandpa doing magic.

"But why did he refuse when I told him to try using the staff? Why did he refuse to be taught magic?" Matthew asked the old kobold.

It just doesn't make sense to Matthew why would the first kobold kid ever refuse to be taught something that he is interested in.

"It's because of his father." The old kobold replied to Matthew.

"His father was once the strongest kobold warrior in the village, he could even hunt a boar alone without so much of a scratch on his body. All the kobolds in the village respected his father and even the kobold warriors looked up to him. And just like any son that has a cool father, that kid wanted to be like his father more than any other thing in this world."

"That ungrateful child even refused to touch the wooden staff because he said that being a kobold warrior is way cooler than being a kobold mage like me!" The old kobold said while sighing.

"That kid is different from the others, even at his current age, his intelligence is already on par with the adult kobold warriors. And he would even be smarter than me if I didn't evolve into a kobold mage and if I wasn't this old and had seen many more things than him."

"He would make an amazing mage as he got the trait of a mage even before he evolved into a kobold mage! But he just refuses to learn even a little. Even after his father was caught up in the humans' ambush and fall, he still strongly refused ever learning magic."