Thumbs Up!

Matthew gestured to the kobolds to lead the way back to their village and the kobold trio then got up and lifted their heads after doing a final bow to Matthew. The trio then turned their bodies and started walking the other way.

Matthew was about to follow after the trio, but then he suddenly remembered that there's a huge asset of bionutrients and an important monster data for him just lying on the ground without being protected and he was just about to leave it there, out in the open forest.

Matthew then facepalmed himself then thanked the sudden feeling that reminded him of them before saying,

"Kids, before we go, can you boys and girls help me with something? I forgot about it and I need your help since it will be difficult to do it with my fatigued body alone."

The kobold trio then hurriedly looked backward and went over to Matthew.

"Whatever it is, big brother, please just tell us what you wanted us to do."

"Don't be so tense, I just need a little help to push that bear body into that hole over there," Matthew said as he pointed his finger to the bear's burrow.

At first, Matthew wanted to ask the kobolds trio to bring them back to the village since he will be going there right now, but after thinking about it,

'I think it would be cruel and too troublesome to ask for that when I can just go back here after I rest a little in the kobold's village. Besides, I don't want to take advantage of child labor.'

The kobold children then nodded their heads and started to walk over to the bear's side and Matthew followed after them. When the four of them were right beside the bear's body, Matthew instructed them to put their hands together on the big bear's body before counting down so that they could push it together.

"In the count of 3, 1...2...3! Push kids, push!"

When Matthew asked for the kobolds children's help, he only thought of getting a little boost to help move the bear and he will still have to bear the heavy work by putting in a lot of effort and exerting a lot of strength using his already tired body. But he didn't expect that when the four of them worked together to push the bear, Matthew didn't feel the immense weight of the bear.

With the combined strength of 3 kobold children, one is only a level away from being an adult, while the other two are also not far from there and Matthew's own strength. Matthew only felt as if he was pushing a deer back when he was still level 10.

Although it still required effort, it wasn't a huge stress to Matthew's tired body. And only after about more than a minute did the bear's body had finally been pushed down back to the bear's burrow.

To keep the body slightly protected, Matthew told the kids to help him gather some long tree branches to cover up the burrow's entrance, then Matthew put some leaves and more dirt on top of the tree branches to completely cover up the entrance's hole.

The whole process only took him about 5 minutes with the kobold children's help which is very fast compared to if he has to work alone.

Matthew then wiped the nonexistent sweat on his forehead that was covered in scales using his right hand before thanking the three kobold children for their help.

'I guess I could understand why having subordinates could really help you and the feeling of working together just feels a little different compared to working alone. The task seems to be easier and less burdensome in mind when people properly work together to do it.'

As a solo indie artist, Matthew had to do a lot of stuff on his own. Although that means that Matthew had to learn many things on his own and that is a good thing for his own improvement, he just felt lonely sometimes and a company to share the burden seems nice to have.

'And thinking about teamwork… those school days ah... Alright, it's not the time to think about those things. I remember that giving positive encouragement to children is good for their development so…'

"By the way, you guys are so strong for children! I didn't even break a sweat from pushing that overly fat bear with your guys' help."

Hearing the compliments, the first kobold only smiled and nodded slightly to Matthew, while the second kobold's smile is even bigger than the first kobold and his chest is slightly puffed up when hearing Matthew praise him. On the other hand, the third kobold has the most different reaction by giving a slight smile and shyly lowering its head.

Matthew noticed the third's kobold reaction then remembered that the third kobold is supposed to be a girl despite their look and build is practically the same with each other.

'Giving extra encouragement so that she would be less shy is okay right?'

"Especially you, you are really strong for a girl," Matthew said as he looked at the third kobold while giving her a thumbs up.

But the reaction that the kobolds gave him is not what he expected them to be. Instead of lifting her spirits up, the kobold seems to be a little confused after hearing Matthew's extra compliment. She then looked at the other 2 kobolds, but they also looked confused hearing what Matthew had just said.

Matthew of course, noticed their confused look then thought, 'Wait a minute, did I mess up? Wait… A girl wouldn't like to be called strong or something, right? Right…? Maybe I should have called her cute or beautiful or a more subtle word like independent rather than strong… But do the kobolds in this world even have that kind of mentality!? Anyways, I should just ask them!'

"Is there something wrong?"

The first kobold then answered Matthew's question,

"It's nothing big brother, we just didn't understand what showing both of big brother's thumbs means and we also didn't understand why being a girl is considered special when it comes to strength. Can big brother please tell us what both of them mean?"

"Umm… This is called a thumbs up." Matthew said as he put both his thumbs up once again and showed it to the kobold trio.

"Giving someone a thumbs-up means that that person is doing an incredible job and you want to show them that you appreciate what they have done. So me giving you guys a thumbs up means that you guys have done an excellent job and I thank you for that!"

"I see… Thank you for the knowledge, big brother!" Then the first kobold awkwardly lifted both of his hands to his chest before replicating Matthew's movements by bending four of his fingers while keeping the thumbs up before showing them to Matthew.

Matthew replied to the gesture by giving them another thumbs up before continuing,

"And for your second question, I just wanted to say that even though she's a girl, she doesn't fall short in terms of strength from you guys, not that I meant that you guys are weak boys though!"

"Why should she be weaker than us big brother?"

"Eh?" Matthew looked at them confused.

"The girls usually have a different physiology than the boys right? Well like the hormones and stuff are different so they tend to have a generally weaker body compared to the boys right?"

"What? I never heard of hormones and pyhisiogoly that big brothers had mentioned. And I don't know if that is true from where big brother had come from, but in our village, the men and women are exactly the same in terms of strength. The only thing that differentiates between the men and women are their, you know… their…"

"What? What is different? Oh…Genitals?"

"Akhem… Big brother is right. Other than that part, the rest is the same."

"So who cooks and hunts in your village?"

"Anybody who is good at them is trusted to do them for the village regardless if they are a woman or a man."

"I see, that's a really fair system actually!"

"Alright then boys and girls, is your village actually far away? We better start going because I need to rest soon as my body is not really in its best shape right now."

"It's not that far, big brother, don't worry we won't even see the sun move if we walk fast enough."

"Ummm… Okay then, show me the way please."

'Won't see the sun move? Is that like 30 minutes or something? Should I make a clock or something for them? But I didn't know how...'