Red Monster

Chapter 76: Bringing Back Bad News and Gifts

Red’s smile got wider and wider as he found out that he had almost maxed out his attributes for Level 8. One more hunt, and he would reach Level 9 and have more surplus to his attributes if he got the same amount of cores as this one.

In fact, he had maxed one attribute, Mind. It would be easier to max out the Magic Attributes. He wished that the next loot would have more Might Core than Magic Core.

Then his eyes were on his pouch. There were two more Might Cores inside. The thought of absorbing the core crossed his mind, and he quickly threw the idea away. Two Might Cores would not change anything. Unless he needed two more cores, he would max out his Might Attribute, then he would use it without hesitation.

He kept the two cores for Darla, then he looked up. It was time to go back. There was an urge inside him to continue the hunt, given how close he was to the next level. The urge was getting stronger and stronger until he suddenly calmed down.

[Levelheaded (Passive) has reached level 19!]

"No. It’s enough for today."

Red didn’t want to take the risk. It was not like he would get anything special by reaching level 9. Unless there was a hidden reward, there was no need to take the risk. He decided to leave and started to make his way back to the village.

He encountered two more groups on the way back to the village. A group of sixteen and a group of fifteen. He was calm enough not to hunt them down and returned to the village.

"Does the hunter bring anything back?" He asked the two goblins on guard.

The two goblins exchanged glances, and both shook their heads, "We don’t know. We just got here for our shift."

Red left with no more questions, but he added one more place to visit before going home. The first place he visited was the village hall, where the Matron was.

The three Matrons were inside, and they were currently eating. It displeased one of them that he disrupted their dinner.

"Can you wait until we finish eating our dinner?"

’I am so hungry that I went hunting without going back in the afternoon to eat.’ That was what he said in his head.

"It’s urgent, and I think you want to know this as soon as possible." He remained respectfully on the outside.

"What is it?" The matron was still annoyed; her response was sharp.

"It’s about kobolds’ movement. They are sending more kobolds, more groups, and bigger groups. Eleven kobolds were the smallest group I encountered. There are more with fifteen and above in a group."

The three matrons’ expressions changed, realizing the gravity of the situation they were in.

"Are they coming to our village?"

"That’s the problem. They don’t come to our village."

"It’s good if they don’t come to our village. What do you mean it’s a problem?"

"It’s because they are hunting our food. They swept the Rabbon, Dire Lupus, and encroached on Marget’s territory. If they keep doing it for another two or three days, we have nothing to hunt."

The three Matrons’ faces got uglier. That was indeed a problem, a big problem.

"But why don’t they attack us? It should be easier for them to destroy our village with those numbers."

The matron who displeased Red grew suspicious of the report. The village would be run over and destroyed if his report was true, but why did they take their food instead? It didn’t make sense.

Red remained calm even though the Matron was close to accusing him of lying, "I also don’t know, but I have a guess why they don’t attack our village."

"What is it? Don’t need to be afraid to speak your mind here." The Matron in the middle remained neutral.

"First, they don’t know our Chief is away right now. If they know our Chief is not in the village, they will not hesitate to attack our village."

The Matron sat in the middle. The kobold might not expect the Chief to leave so soon after the village was attacked by the dire wolf.

"What’s the second reason?"

"They don’t know our Shaman is missing."

Red was being careful with his words to avoid suspicion. He didn’t say the Shaman was running away or dead, as it could lead to suspicion on him.

The Matron wasn’t suspicious of him, but they were convinced by his guess. The look on their face was enough to tell him they believed him. But that also made them realize how dire their situation was. They needed their leader, the Chief, to return.

Red had the same sentiment that they needed the Chief. He was confident in hunting, but a war was completely different. If his task was to protect the village, he could not do hit and run anymore.

"We will send a messenger to the other villages and the King’s tribe."

The Matron then paused, looking Red in the eyes, "How many kobolds do you kill today?"

That caught Red off guard, but then he didn’t need to panic, "More than twenty... maybe twenty-four... I don’t really count."

He answered with a half-lie. Twenty-four was a lie, but it was true that he killed more than twenty kobolds. He wiped out three groups, meaning he killed more than thirty. He didn’t know how they would if he told them the truth.

"HOW!?"

The Matron, who was suspicious of him, questioned him. It was not out of anger, more like shock. She believed Red was lying to them. The other two Matrons were also in shock, but they kept their composure.

Red showed his bow, "I managed to find a good bow from the kobold. I don’t engage them in a fight, shooting them from a distance instead. You could check the kobold’s weapon and armor in the storage; their equipment is quite good. I brought back some yesterday."

"Then why don’t you bring more today? Since you killed more than twenty kobolds, there might be a lot of equipment to bring back."

Red didn’t understand why this matron didn’t seem to like him. Was it really because he interrupted her dinner? Even so, he remained calm even though he was annoyed deep inside. However, it was hard to get rid of his annoyance. He risked his life outside there, trying his best to delay the kobold, and this was how the Matron treated him for something trivial.

"I can’t. As I said, there are a lot of kobolds roaming in a big group. Bringing the equipment back will slow me down, even expose my position to them. I can kill them one by one from a distance, but fighting them head-on is suicide."

"Why are you getting irritated out of nowhere? Calm down."

The Matron in the middle called the angry Matron, then he turned toward Red, "Good job outside there. Do your best to reduce their number. I will update you on the situation once we receive a response from the King’s tribe."

"You can leave now."

Red nodded and left the hall. This encounter dampened his mood slightly. He wished for good food to raise his mood back up again.

But he still stopped by the storage to get more arrows, even it out to thirty arrows. Then he went to the food storage. Thankfully, the hunter managed to bring back something, one Marget and six Rabbon. Only then did he return home.

Darla’s smile raised his mood, and she seemed to have prepared a snack because he didn’t return for lunch in the afternoon. She called it bread with cheese inside.

He didn’t know what cheese was, but he knew bread. He picked out and put a whole piece of bread into his mouth as he dropped his bow, blade, quiver, and armor. Two scrolls fell over when he took off the leather armor.

Only then did he remember about the two skills and two Might Cores. He took out the core from his pouch, then the scroll, before calling her name.

"Darla! Darla! Darla!"

She panicked slightly when her name was called, thinking something had happened. She rushed out of the kitchen and saw Red waving two scrolls and two red cores.

"Skill... core... for you!"

Darla’s eyes went wide, from shock to delight. She rushed over and looked toward the scroll and cores, then she looked up at Red again.

"F-fo-for m-me?"