110 Tim's Wish

Arriving at Tim's workshop, Matthew had learned from his last experience and just went straight inside without knocking or popping his head first.

Just like yesterday, a lot of kobolds are busy with their own projects that they either don't realize that Matthew had entered their workshop or they do hear someone enter their workshop but decide not to care. Either way, Matthew just walked without bothering anyone and searched for Tim's whereabouts.

It didn't take long for Matthew to see that Tim is currently shaping a tree trunk into a long rectangle block that Matthew guessed is the support for the monkey bars.

Matthew approached the old kobold and called out,

"Hello Tim!"

Matthew's voice should be loud enough to be heard even in the midst of knocking and sawing sounds that the kobolds make when they are working with their wood, but it looks like Tim was focused on his work and couldn't hear his name being called out.

Matthew tried calling him once again, but this time he used more power in his voice,

"Hello Timm!!"

Still no response.

'Should I use the wolf's aura ability to enhance my voice…?' Matthew had thought for a second but quickly decided not to do so since he thought that he hadn't used his full power yet.

Matthew then took a few deep breaths, putting both of his hands beside his mouth before shouting,

"HELLO TIM!!!"

Matthew was ready to apologize if by any chance Tim was startled because of this, but he certainly didn't expect that Tim would shout back with a voice that is not any weaker than his shouting voice,

"SHUT UP, I SAID I CAN'T FIX YOUR TOOLS YET DAMN IT! I'M WORKING ON SOMETHING RIGHT NOW SO GO AWAY!"

Tim's angry shout that came out of nowhere caught Matthew off guard and he reflexively jumped a half-step backward and prepared himself to apologize for whatever made it is that made Tim angry.

But before Matthew was able to utter his words of apology, Tim looked at his way and realized that it was Matthew that actually called out to him. Tim quickly stopped working and said to Matthew,

"Ah, it's you, Matthew! I'm sorry, I thought you were some other annoying kobolds that asked me to fix their broken tools. I've told them a lot of times already that the other kobolds here are also capable of doing that, but some of the kobolds insisted that they want me to work on their tools because their tools felt better after being repaired by me."

Matthew felt a slight self-praising in Tim's apology, but he didn't say anything about it and just told Tim that he was okay and he didn't need to apologize.

Tim then told Matthew about the progress of the equipment and had said that he will probably finish all of them slightly faster from his initial estimate because the parts are pretty easy to make and a lot of the parts are identical, so after getting used to doing it, he said that his efficiency gets better and his speed will increase.

"So, anything I can help you with for today?"

"I actually want to know if you have finished making the wooden pole first because I want to finish making one of the equipment first since the kids will be starting their training tomorrow."

"The wooden poles? Ah, I've made them first since they are the easiest to make."

Tim then pointed at a corner of the workshop and there lay 2 wooden poles about 25 cm in diameter and their surface had been sanded and now had a smooth surface.

Matthew took a closer look at the two wooden poles that are about as tall as himself on the ground, Matthew couldn't help but feel admiration from seeing Tim's work.

Although it was only simple wooden poles, their height is the same, or at least the difference between the two is so miniscule that it can't be noticed by naked eyes. Their size is also the same even though they maybe come from either a different tree or a different part of the tree. The wooden poles surfaces' were smooth with no bumps or wavy parts from top to bottom. And when Matthew ran his hand on it he couldn't feel any edges or sharp parts that may cause a splinter.

The skills and experience to create wooden poles with that kind of quality can't be taken lightly.

'The earlier self-bragging is justifiable if this is the case…' Matthew thought to himself.

"Well, how is it? Is it to your liking?" Tim asked.

"Of course! It's completely way above my expectations! This level of craftsmanship is just awesome!"

"Hahaha! I've been doing this even before I got my name. I'm glad that the village's hero is amazed by my work! But these ones are created by the help of the two young kobolds over there" Tim said while pointing at two kobolds that are currently working on making something that looked similar to the old kobold's open cabinet.

"There's no way that I could finish creating two of them alone in a day. These old bones of mine are limiting me and I can't do too much hard labor these days. Those two helped me chop the wood and shape the rough outline. I only did the final finishing touches and slight adjustments. They will surely be as good as me or even better with more experience."

Matthew could feel a slight sense of pride from Tim's tone of voice when he talked about the two kobolds.

"Are they your disciples?" Matthew asked curiously.

"Well, you can say that everyone here is my disciple since my generation of carpenters had left me for a while now. But those two are my sons. Just like me, they have played around here ever since they were kids and when they are old enough and able to hold the tools properly, they started asking me to teach them how to do woodworking. It's great to see that they are already better than when I'm at their age now.

"I'm happy to see that they didn't stop improving each and every day. And someday, those annoying kobolds would even prefer their tools to be created and fixed by them rather than me when I couldn't hold my tools anymore. I hope I can see that day coming."

"Don't worry about it Tim, I'm sure they will surpass you soon. You don't need to think that far off in the future, you are still very amazing at your work and it will take years or even decades for your strong bones to even crack! You can even compete with them later on when they are as good as you and show everyone yourselves that they have indeed surpassed you." Matthew said while holding Tim's shoulder.

Tim nodded at Matthew's response and smiled while seeing the two kobolds are completely immersed in their work while ignoring their surroundings just like him.

"Well then, can I bring the poles outside to do the final touches to finish the punching bag?"

"Of course, do you need help carrying it outside?"

Matthew then brought up one side of the wooden poles and hugged the log horizontally with both of his hands around the log and bringing them up just like how the strongman competition back on earth compete lifting logs above their heads, but Matthew didn't put the logs above his head and kept it at his chest so that he could carry it properly.

"No need, I can manage it, somehow," Matthew said as he started bringing the logs out of Tim's workshop one by one.

After that, Matthew thanked Tim before going into the kobold group that managed the beast's parts to ask for 6 sheets of beast skins.

And of course, with Mutt's verbal permission and his contribution for the last 2 days bringing 8 boars for the village, Matthew could get those without a problem and the team even gave them away with a smile for Matthew.

Matthew then created paddings that will be attached to the wooden poles by using the beast hides and straws. Matthew stitched the beast hides together and stuffed the straws inside them, making three of them with different amounts of straws inside.

The first one was stuffed with a lot of straws, the second had less padding while the third one had barely any straws in them. The difference in the thickness of the padding is to make the kids get used to punching the wooden poles and as their fists get tougher, Matthew will use the lesser padding before removing the padding completely to make the kids' fist maybe even stronger than Matthew's.

Matthew spent his whole afternoon creating the paddings and in the middle of it, the kids came over to him and decided to help him because they didn't have anything much to do.

The paddings then finished in only a few hours and when Matthew was about to fit them into the wooden poles he realized that the wooden poles were still laying on the ground.

'I need to make them stand. And to do that I need to plant them into the ground...Which means that…'

'More digging…'

'Ah Sh*t, I'm not doing this again without a shovel!'

Matthew cursed internally before going into the village's field to borrow several bone shovels and asked the kids to help him finish the boring menial labor quickly.

—----------

The human camp that was recently quite gloomy and vacant after their complete defeat against the kobolds is now back to its original state full of humans, even livelier and more crowded than before.

The cause of this is the main army of the second prince's expedition had finally arrived at the campsite.

And now, in the same tent in the middle of the village, General Dio who used to sit in the big chair is now on the other side of the table while kneeling bowing his head to the other person who had now taken his seat.

"Is that true, general? The troops had been completely overwhelmed and your lieutenant had been killed?"

"I'm ashamed to say this, but that is true my prince. I apologize for this embarrassment, please punish me!" Dio said without lifting his head up.

"General, I know you are someone capable and I trust you. There must be a reason why the troops were suddenly defeated after you won the skirmishes right? Please tell me the full story."

General Dio then told the second prince about the report that the survivors had given him. About the invisible enemy that assaulted the army out of nowhere, the swords that flew on their own, and the moment where their lieutenant was killed in the middle of the horsemen's encirclement without them being able to retaliate at all. And in the end, after the lieutenant was killed, all the horsemen heard a hoarse voice telling them to retreat immediately and tell them to not set foot on the kobold village ever again.

The second prince calmly hear General Dio's story without doubting any of his general's words and after the general finished his story, the second prince stayed silent for a moment as if thinking about something before saying,

"Invisibility is it? Then we will need to make several adjustments here."

He said without even a trace of fear or worry in his face nor in his tone of voice.