Preparing A Celebration

The first kobold kid ran towards the front of the kobold defense line and went past them before going straight to Matthew while opening his arms and hugging Matthew's scaly body.

Matthew threw away the sword in his right hand as he didn't want to accidentally hurt the first kobold kid who is currently hugging him tightly.

"Big brother, thank you very much for saving this village." The first kobold said to Matthew while his face was still buried in Matthew's chest.

Matthew could faintly hear what the first kobold was saying although the first kobold kid's voice wasn't quite clear as the kid was half-crying and the fact that half of his face is on Matthew's chest.

Matthew didn't say anything at first and just rubbed the first kobold kid's fur as he tried to calm him down. Matthew didn't expect at all the first kobold kid would have this strong of a reaction as he thought the first kobold kid was the most mature of them all and even the old kobold said that the kid was somewhat smarter than an ordinary kobold.

But what Matthew didn't think of is that because the first kobold kid was more intelligent, he realized how dire the village's situation was earlier, and how much Matthew had done to get them out of that situation. The first kobold kid had been having nightmares and couldn't sleep soundly at night because his mind couldn't help but think about a lot of things at once.

His village's destruction, his parent's death, and the helplessness he felt where he was powerless and couldn't do anything about the situation and he could only wait and pray for his village.

And now that Matthew had successfully defended the village and without even losing even one of the kobold's lives, the first kobold kid felt a huge burden had just been lifted off his body and his mind. While there's still things that plagued his mind, the imminent danger that he was powerless about was now gone and he didn't have to see more deaths of his kin.

Even though the first kobold kid's brain is more developed than the others while he was still young, the fact that the first kobold kid is a kid that's still emotionally unstable is sometimes forgotten even to Matthew.

But after seeing the kid was crying his eyes out on his chest, Matthew then remembered that the kid had been through a lot and he was probably holding all his tears and frustration inside for the past few days.

'You're amazing too, kid.' Matthew said while he kept rubbing the fur on the kid's head.

While Matthew was still trying to calm the first kobold kid down and let him release his pent-up emotions, he heard another familiar voice from the kobold village.

"Matthew, is that you?"

The old kobold's voice was heard from behind the kobold's defense line and behind the old kobold were other kobold kids that had been under his protection ever since the humans had first arrived.

There were not many kobold kids as there were only 9 of them, and the twins were amongst them, following behind the old kobold obediently.

The old kobold also walked through the kobold's defense line that was made up of the remaining kobold warrior standing at the front and the adult kobolds standing behind them and each of them carrying their own bone weapons.

Although the old kobold's body was not as big as the kobold warrior due to him being a kobold mage, he was still an adult kobold and it is hard for him to slip through the others kobolds like the first kobold kid and hence why the other kobolds opened up a path so he could walk through the opening.

Unlike the first kobold kid who went straight for a hug, the old kobold just stands between Matthew and the kobolds of the village. Matthew already waved his other hand and smiled when he first saw the old kobold start walking towards him, but he didn't know what the old kobold was doing standing right in front of him while looking straight at him.

'Did I mess something up? Should I have let him know first about my plans?'

Matthew was quite worried that he might do something wrong and the old kobold would bonk his head again with the magical wooden staff that basically functions more like a beating stick at this point.

But Matthew didn't expect that the old kobold would suddenly bow down his head and his voice could be heard loud and clear to all the kobolds present saying,

"Matthew, thank you very much for saving this village and for protecting my kin from being wiped out by the humans."

Not all of the kobolds inside the village know of Matthew as only some of them had seen Matthew yesterday and only a few even know why he was there. So when the first kobold kid hugged and thanked Matthew, not all the kobolds understood what the first kobold kid meant when he thanked Matthew and why the kid acted so close with him. As some of them only knew Matthew was the one that defeated the humans, they didn't know that Matthew did so in order to save them.

But after seeing the eldest kobold in the village and their village chief bowing his head to Matthew, the other kobold soon followed after him and bowed their heads towards Matthew.

Matthew was dazed for a while when the old kobold suddenly bowed his head to him, and when he finally came back to his senses and wanted to lift the old kobold's head up, he saw the other kobolds had also bowed down their heads to him. Matthew didn't want to offend any of them just because he felt slightly uncomfortable, so he just stood there while still holding the first kobold kid and just let the other kobolds bow to him.

All the kobolds didn't say anything else and just kept bowing until finally, the village chief lifted up his head after a full minute of lowering his head to Matthew. The other kobold then also followed after him and also lifted their heads up, but now Matthew was different in their eyes as they now know that the unique-looking kobold in front of them is really fighting against the humans for them, to save their village.

The kobolds eyes are starting to fill with admiration as they looked at Matthew, especially the kobold warriors who had seen and fought them themselves and they knew that the humans aren't weak and some of the humans are evenly matched with them, but Matthew had kicked the humans away with their tails tucked between their legs without even a little scratch on his own body.

Seeing that everybody had given their respect and thanks to Matthew, the old kobold soon shouted, "Kobolds, don't just stand there, hunt the deers and the boars, and prepare the campfire because tonight we will have a feast!"

It didn't take long after the old kobold closed his mouth, the kobolds began to scatter as some of them go into several groups of 10 and went into the forest to hunt for deers and boars, while some of them gathered more firewood and gathered them in the middle of the village to create a huge campfire almost half as big as the kobold's houses. And the rest of them brought out tables and placed them some distance away from the campfire.

Berries that Matthew had seen all the time due to the boars and deers eating them and even some types of fruits that he had never seen before are brought out onto the tables. And even though Matthew didn't know what it was, he saw pouches that looked like water containers were also placed on top of the tables.

'Is that water? But they already had a well in the village, why are they storing them in those small pouches rather than buckets?'

Matthew was curious, but since he didn't want to bother the kobold's preparation he decided that he would check them out later.

After the old kobold declared they would be having a feast tonight, he told the first kobold kid to get back with him first and let Matthew get some rest since the old kobold thought that Matthew must be tired after the fight against the human army. And although fighting the bear is more tiring for him since the stakes are higher compared to the powerless humans who can't even do anything to him, Matthew wouldn't refuse a rest after doing some exercise for his body and he walked back to the house that the first kobold kid had given him the night before. After laying on the grass bed, Matthew started to ponder about some things that had been popping in his head.

One of the things he thought about was the fact that he didn't really feel that guilty when he slashed and severed the human's legs and unintentionally killed them in the process.

'Am I always like this? Has it been really this easy to kill other humans?'

'Come to think of it, I have never hesitated to kill other living beings ever since I've been born into this world. Has something in me changed after I've been reincarnated as a chameleon?'

But after thinking about it more, Matthew didn't necessarily think that it's a bad thing because that mindset had brought him this far and he had survived quite well so far living in this entirely new world and also a completely different way of living compared to his life when he was a human.

And although Matthew didn't feel any guilt when he accidentally killed the humans, he still felt quite weird when the thought of eating the humans to get bionutrients and possibly the humans monster data which he didn't know exist or not since the name is 'monster' data and Matthew wasn't sure if the humans are also considered as a monster in this case.

'Should I try eating one if I had the chance next time?' Matthew wondered.