Red Monster

Chapter 54: Kobold

The moment Red reached the entrance of his village, the guards quickly approached. As Tob told him, the guards told him that the Matron was looking for him, asking him to meet them as soon as he returned.

Red headed to the Chief Hall’s direction, but he didn’t immediately come to meet the Matron. He stopped by his house and dropped the fish. Darla was still in the main kitchen, but she would see the fish on the kitchen counter when she returned.

Only after putting his dinner in a safe place did Red go to meet the Matron. He didn’t see the wounded or corpses on the way, but he figured out that they were executed and thrown away, or they might succumb to the wound. Without the Shaman, no one could heal them.

Did he feel bad for the wounded? Not really. If the position were switched, these goblins would laugh at him in his last moment. While they feared him now, it would be different if he were dying. He believed they would laugh and spit on his corpse.

The red-skinned monster shook his head, throwing away the useless thoughts. The guards in the Chief Hall bowed slightly at him. Some of the guards and hunters respected him for his strength, a genuine respect.

The three remaining Matrons were seated below the Chief’s seat. They wore a somber expression as they beckoned their hands toward him, telling him to come faster.

"The Kobold has trespassed into our territory! Do you know what it means?"

Red looked at the Matron, who was seated in the middle, trying to process the question.

"It means... I have to kill them?"

"You are making things more complicated than necessary. What do you expect from a kid who is just a little over a year old?" The Matron to the right quickly chimed in. Instead of asking him questions, they started to tell him about the kobold.

Red heard about the Kobold from the warrior, but that was not much to mention. He only knew Kobolds existed, but he didn’t know what the Matron tried to tell him.

The Matron started to fill him with information about the Kobold. They were not the same as the monster he had faced so far, or even the Dire Wolf.

The Kobolds were similar to them, living in a settlement, having their own tribe, and a chief as well. They added unnecessary information, like how the Kobold disgusted them, revealing their hatred toward the Kobold. That was not really useful to Red.

Red wanted to know how strong they were, their average level, or how they were compared to the goblin that remained in the village. However, the Matron said nothing about it, or more precisely, they didn’t know anything about it.

While the goblin and the kobold were hostile, they were currently in a truce. This was when he found that the Chief was not the strongest goblin. There was another goblin that was stronger than Chief, living in a bigger settlement. The true of all goblins, the Goblin King.

Their village paid tribute to the Goblin King. It was not just food but also the female human and the weapon. Now it made sense why the village was quite stingy, even though their storage was half-filled with food. More than half of it was tributes for the Goblin King.

In exchange, they gained protection from the Goblin King. Their village was safe from the Goblin King’s settlement and also from the other goblin village.

Apparently, the Goblin King made an agreement with the Kobold that they would not attack each other. There was no specific time for how long it would last, but the agreement had lasted for quite some time. Until today, when the Kobold entered their territory.

The information was quite vague, and Red only understood half of it.

"Go find them, but don’t fight them. Your duty is to watch them, find out how many of them entered our territory, and what their goal is for coming here!"

Red was surprised by the Matron’s order. Based on their hatred toward the Kobold, he was confident that they would order him to kill the Kobold.

"This is just a speculation, but I think it might be they who drove the Dire Wolf King to our territory. The timing of the Kobold intruded into their territory after the Dire Wolf King’s attack is too impeccable for it to be a coincidence..."

Red left the Chief Hall after receiving the order and heard their discussion. While it was merely speculation, it was a possibility. From the information he knew about the Dire Wolf King, it was looking for its children. The Kobold might be the one who used the Dire Wolf King’s children, so it attacked the goblin village.

He didn’t immediately depart for the jungle, heading toward his home to retrieve his Slingshot. The Slingshot was not as deadly as his spear-throwing, but it was easy to use. He could shoot it while moving.

There was not much left of spiky metal. He only managed to recover six of them, so he pocketed the smooth metal ball that he had been using to train his skill. It was less deadly, but better than a stone.

After gearing up, Red headed to the main kitchen. It was lunchtime. The menu was the usual gruel with the Rabbon’s cured meat.

Red finished five bowls before leaving. He usually could eat up to ten bowls, but he limited himself to five bowls. Being too full might hinder his movement. One time, he ate twelve bowls before leaving to hunt. His stomach was quite uncomfortable during his hunting. Since this was more serious than just hunting, he didn’t want to repeat the silly mistake again.

After having his share, he returned to the Chief Hall. He forgot to ask the Matron where they found the kobold. He needed a general direction to find them.

The Matron was blinded by their hatred toward Kobold and forgot to tell him the vital information.

The Kobold appeared in the center part of the jungle and closer to the right path than the left. That was more than enough.

He was glad that they appeared in the middle path instead of the right path. He was more familiar with the left path and the center.

Red searched through the area closer to the village, slowly making his way to the deeper part of the jungle. He wanted to make sure that the Kobold was not close to the village.

He was relieved that he didn’t find the Kobold near the village. The Chief was still away; if another fight broke out, he was not confident he could defend his village by himself.

The Kobold was not close to the village and found them after scouring the jungle for more than four hours.