What Is Going On Here…

"Big brother!"

"Big brother Matthew!"

"Wake up wake up! It's already morning!"

This is the second time that Matthew heard a familiar voice interrupting his much-needed sleep. Since it was not the first time, Matthew had already had a guess who woke him up despite his body still in sleep mode and didn't have any plans to wake up yet.

To confirm his guess, Matthew looked at the entrance of his house and saw the familiar wolf puppy head standing right in front of the cloth door, coming in inside his house without knocking or whatsoever.

Matthew kept his eyes close and pretended that he heard nothing, but instead of giving up, the first kobold kid's voice became louder and it penetrated deeper inside Matthew's head causing him to almost jump out of bed and stuff the first kobold kid's mouth with straws from his bed to make him shut up.

However, Matthew wasn't able to say anything or give any excuses on why he would be dead tired in the morning since the first kobold kid might suspect something and argue that Matthew is cheating and nullify their bet yesterday.

With that being the case, Matthew dragged his body that hasn't been fully rejuvenated and forcefully fought against the somehow intense gravitational force that the bed has that kept him laying on the bed and finally stood up from his straw bed.

Out of habit, Matthew rubbed his eyes and did some very light stretches that usually helps him to wake up slightly easier, but due to the lack of sleep, even the morning stretches wasn't as effective as it used to be and Matthew started to think about options such as pretending to pass out to get more sleep.

But before he could do such things, the first kobold kid grabbed his hand and drag him outside the house saying,

"Brother, let's check out the result of our bet right away! I know you're also excited to know the answer as soon as possible right!?"

"Ah…yes, yes, you're right. Very-very excited." Matthew replied as he practically dragged his words and eyes still half-open.

Although Matthew's response was quite bland, he really is excited or at least looking forward to finally being able to wrap up the bet then catch up on some sleep that he is currently lacking.

'But this kid is overly excited about it, did he think that he already won the bet? Well, it's true that he might have made his own speculation and thought that he already got it in his bag the moment he accepted the bet with the extra conditions that he added before confirming the bet.'

Matthew glanced at the first kobold kid that was going all gung-ho with exaggerated movements, doing large steps, and his eyes beaming with a smile.

'I'm sorry kid unless you're able to look into the future, sometimes even having a genius mind is just not enough. But with this experience, he will be several times more careful in the future though. So it's not exactly a bad thing to give him this kind of necessary experience earlier in his life. And it's not harmful at all for him, so it's good? I think.'

"By the way, no need to rush. We will be going together with the hunting team just like yesterday, there's no need to go there on our own earlier." Matthew said to calm the first kobold kid down.

Hearing this, the first kobold kid didn't tone down his excitement at all and just agreed to Matthew before continuing to walk alongside him.

"Brother, please wait a minute, I will be calling the twins first before departing."

Matthew nodded before walking around the village searching for Nass to tell him that he will be coming along with his team again for today.

—

I woke up earlier this morning, not because I couldn't sleep, but because I slept with excitement the night before. It carried on until the next morning causing me to wake up full of vigor.

Why am I excited if you ask?

It's because today is the day that grandpa will be giving up pestering me to learn magic!

How did I do that now even though I failed to do it for the past years?

It's thanks to brother Matthew!

I already know that the two had made some kind of deal and grandpa had asked brother Matthew to help him ask me to learn his magic. And if grandpa knew that brother Matthew had also given up, then there's a pretty high chance that grandpa will also give it up!

Brother Matthew had made an unreasonable bet with me where there's practically no chance for him to win, doesn't that mean that he's also supporting me and taking my side instead of grandpa's side?

I mean…It's not like I hate magic. I actually find it quite fascinating. But, I still like being a kobold warrior better! From my deceased father and even with brother Matthew, both of them fought strong enemies head-on and they always win! Well… except for that one time where the humans ambushed my father…

But that's only because the humans used an underhanded method, there's no way that father would lose to those guys if they had fought from the front without using any tricks!

I know that I need to be stronger to be able to be like them, to be able to lead the others from the front and protect them, I need to be stronger. And recently, brother Matthew told me that he would be willing to train me and the twins! I noticed that brother Matthew's way of fighting is slightly different and I am quite excited to see how strong we would become later when we reached level 15.

Will we evolve to kobold warriors or will we evolve to a completely different race? That question excites me as I think about the possibilities that exist to make me stronger! Well, it's not like it's really the only way for me to get strong though…

Even though learning grandpa's fire magic might make me stronger, it is contradicting my goal to protect others and lead them, even if brother Matthew who is very strong and my grandfather said that I will be a very good, and talented kobold mage, I don't have any plans to give up my main goal.

The twins also knew that I don't like being forced to do something that I don't want. So even though I know that they are also somewhat hoping that I will be willing to learn magic that they said was "So Cool!" I still can't bring myself to do it. But if it was the twins, I don't have to worry about anything since I know that they will always be on my side whatever I decide to do in the end.

"Kid, you're awake?"

I heard grandpa's voice from his bed,

"Yes grandpa, I've been awake for some time."

Aside from pestering to learn magic and his tendency to threaten people with his walking stick, grandpa is a kobold that is worthy to be admired at the level of my father or even brother Matthew! And that is a given since he is the village chief. At least being that awesome is the minimum requirement for being the kobold's village chief!

"Grandpa, I will be going over to brother Matthew's place to wake him up." I said to grandpa before doing some 'morning stretches' that brother Matthew had told me to do since he said that it is beneficial for the body and after that, I ran outside the house and went straight into brother Matthew's house.

Just like yesterday, I tried calling him from outside the house, but I didn't get any response from him, so I once again excused myself and went inside the house to wake him up directly.

After calling his name a couple more times, brother Matthew had finally woken up from his sleep. I don't know what it was, but I think I saw some sort of resentment in brother Matthew's eyes while he was getting up very slowly from his bed as if his body was suffering from just the act of getting up.

We then went outside and I told him that I wanted to go as soon as possible to check on the circle that we marked yesterday and see the result of our bet! I know that brother Matthew wanted to finish this stuff as soon as possible so that I and the twins could focus on our training, but unexpectedly, brother Matthew told me to wait for the hunting team and depart together with them just like yesterday.

Well, it doesn't really make any difference for me, so I will just wait until then and play with the twins for the time being.

Why do I only play with the twins you ask?

It's because I can't even communicate properly with the other kids! There were only two cases when I tried playing with them. Either they couldn't understand what I'm saying or I'm the one who is confused about what they are doing. I've tried many times to get along with them, but the twins are the only ones that I can comfortably play with.

They didn't talk much either, but I understand them and they also understand me!

I drag along the twins to brother Matthew so that we will be ready anytime the hunting team departs.

I knew the twins also wanted to become stronger, it's not like I'm the only one who lost my parents. The twins are also in the same boat as I am. I was quite shocked, but also really happy that they refused brother Matthew's offer to train them first today, and they decided to start training the same day as I am.

With the hunting team ready, we all then depart with exactly the same member as yesterday. Brother Matthew had instructed the kobolds to bring an extra pair of spears each because he said that they would be useful later, the kobolds, of course, complied and strapped the other spears onto their bag using a rope that they tied to their body.

We walked through the forest with brother Matthew leading the way by walking right on the very front of the group and we went straight to yesterday's location.

I walked with excitement and vigor and even a 40-minute walk only felt like a short 5-minute stroll.

But when we finally got there, I was speechless and not a single word came out of my mouth.

Not only was there a boar that was 'inside' the circle that had suddenly turned into a hole, but there's also 3 other boars roaming around that hole…

What is going on here…