Red Monster

Chapter 88: "Carri"

Red played his part, dropping the weapon and armor at the gate. He made another round trip since it was impossible to carry them all at once.

The guard on duty was not part of the Chief’s squad. They respected Red for his contribution and obeyed the order, scrambling to carry the extra weapon and armor with them.

He left for the village hall to check. All he heard was that the other hobs cheered for Grob and Kork. He entered and reported that he had brought the usable weapon and armor from the first two groups.

Red observed the reaction, and he could tell that Grob and Kork omitted his contribution. They didn’t look as excited. If it were before, he would be upset, but not anymore. In the end, their acknowledgment didn’t really matter. A trivial slight, and the acknowledgment was gone.

He could argue that this was a rare case, just for the Matron. But that didn’t change the fact that there were still hobgoblins targeting him. Maybe later, Grob and Kork would come for him because of their jealousy.

There were so many scenarios in his head that he might get targeted no matter what he did. So yeah, he had to gain the village’s recognition. What mattered was the people who actually close and care for him.

He scanned the hall and found the three Matrons. One of them was still giving him the venomous glare. If staring could poison people, he would have been poisoned by now, or even died.

Red returned the glare with his, calm and cold. He didn’t mean to challenge the Matron, but that was a response that he was not going to back down so easily.

He left the village hall since there was really nothing happening. There was no talk about the potential war or what happened to the courier they sent to the King’s village.

He wanted to check on Darla. The incident seemed to shake her.

The first thing he noticed was a nice smell from the kitchen. He could hear the crackling fire, which was followed by the smell of smoke from the firewood.

Red hurried his step, stopping at the kitchen door. He saw that Darla was busying herself in the kitchen, grilling something on the stove, then she made something in the pot, stirring it. Beads of sweat piled on her forehead as she wiped them with the hem of her clothes.

Darla didn’t notice him coming back as she poured the orange-colored carrot first, followed by the potato, and followed by the mushroom later. She moved efficiently, moving toward the grilled Rabbon. She sprinkled something on it, something like dust.

Unknowingly, Red leaned on the frame, watching her "battling" in the kitchen. Then she moved again to the third stove with a pot on it. The pot kept releasing the hot steam. She opened it and scooped something out from the pot, something white.

For some reason, the scene was calming. It helped to ease his tension.

That was when she noticed someone watching her. She went with "Oh", saying something in her language. The only thing he caught was that she was telling her to wait. She was no longer as scared as before. Maybe cooking food distracted her from fear.

Red put on his leather armor, bow, and arrow. He brought the leftover metal ball, practicing with his shaping. He started with Mana Smelting, then he started to shape it. The first thing that came into his head was the arrowhead.

After having two days of experience with a bow, he fully picked up the bow as his main weapon for now. Another reason for choosing Bow was his new skill, Bow Mastery.

He started to feel different with and without the skill. It increased his fire rate and accuracy. That was the biggest difference he felt from the skill. Hitting a moving target was easier now.

The drawback was the arrow. He noticed that the arrow most likely broke in three uses, the crack on the shaft, and the arrowhead chipped. It was fragile, especially if his target was wearing armor.

This was why he practiced making the arrowhead. He must create his own arrow, the strong one. This was the first step, creating the arrowhead.

The melting metal started to take shape, but he failed in his first attempt. It was uneven, the left side was wider, and the surface was rough to his liking. He repeated the process while ensuring that he used as little mana as possible.

His second and third attempts failed again. It gave him a throwback when he made the spiky ball. He tried to get the arrowhead symmetrical, but he kept failing. It wasn’t until he remembered about Mana Repair.

Each time he used Mana Repair, there was this weird blueprint that would appear in his head. The blueprint that would help him repair the weapon or arrow. He had used Mana Repair on an arrow before; he had an arrow blueprint in his head.

Red tried to recall the blueprint, and to his surprise, the blueprint. He used the blueprint as a guide, trying to shape the arrowhead in a similar shape to the blueprint.

He failed even with the blueprint. On the fourth attempt, he barely achieved the symmetrical shape, but it was too thick. Much thicker than the one in the blueprint.

His fifth attempt also went south; it was now too thin and too wide. He could imagine that the arrowhead would chip in the first shot if he had to shoot a kobold with plate armor.

His sixth attempt went well, barely symmetrical, a little bit thicker than he liked it, but that was the best one so far. The issue was that when he tried to form the hole for the arrow shaft. It was supposed to be a round hole, but the hole was swirling weirdly.

He tried to amend it without smelting the arrowhead from the start again, but failed. He ended up ruining the shape of the arrowhead.

Red was about to continue with his seventh attempt, but Darla came out with the hot pot. He didn’t need to see what was inside the pot to guess what it was. It was her signature soup, but he stopped the difference. The aroma was richer and stronger.

He put aside the toy and, as his fingers tapped the table excitedly. That caused Darla to smile. Then she went back, bringing out the grilled Rabbon.

She said something, "Sorry" was the only thing he understood, and he didn’t know why she felt sorry.

Then lastly, she brought two steaming bowls, and that was something new.

"Rice! It’s called Rice!" Darla pointed at the bowl filled with white things and a spoon.

Red got closer to the bowl, sniffing the white thing. He didn’t smell anything from nothing, nothing like the soup or grilled Rabbon. He frowned, but he didn’t shy away from trying a new thing. He scooped some rice with his index finger and gave it a taste.

The texture was weird, and there was no taste. It was not totally tasteless; there was this faint sweetness, not the same sweetness as the carrot.

"No, you eat rice like this."

Red looked up, and Darla got from the chair and scooped out the soup. That was when he found out the soup was different from the usual soup. The soup broth was thicker, and it was dark brown with carrot, diced potato, and diced meat. She poured it into the bowl, on top of the rice.

She then scooped the rice along with the thick soup, eating them together. She mixed the next spoonful with the meat and rice.

Red joined in, following Darla’s instruction. Since his bowl was bigger, he poured the soup three times. The first chew, he nodded, trying to taste a bit of it. The consistency was certainly different from the regular soup, and there was a spiciness that kicked in after.

He didn’t dislike it, but that didn’t mean he liked it. The taste grew in him in his second bite, getting used to the texture. This was the first time he ate rice, and this was the first time he ate the thick soup. It was like the gruel, but also not a gruel.

’Do I have to taste the soup with rice? Can I eat it without rice?’

Red tried it, just meat and the carrot. He was nodding, tasting everything in his mouth. There was a difference; something was missing. Even though this was his first time eating rice, he felt like the soup was lacking without the rice. That was the weird part because the rice didn’t really have any special flavor.

His fourth bite was the carrot and rice mixed in his spoon. He nodded approvingly. This was the right way to eat the soup. He later found out the name of the soup.

Darla denied it as a soup and called it "Carri". He weirded with the texture at first, but he ended up finishing the pot with three bowls of rice.

It was another good dinner, and what was more important was that Darla looked fine after the whole incident. He saw her getting punched in the gut, but it seemed she was fine.

It wasn’t until later, when they slept together, that he found out the redness on her belly. When he touched it, she flinched, her face soured in pain. She tried to tell him she was fine and told him to continue, but Red didn’t continue.

They ended up sleeping together, topless. The incident truly got her, constantly being alert and in fear exhausted her. She quickly fell asleep in his embrace.

Red planned to work on his arrowhead, but then he decided to stay in bed. He wished the next day were better. That was what he thought before sleeping.

Unfortunately for him, Lady Luck was not on his side again. He was woken up by the scream from outside. Some screams got closer to his house before they faded, but the screams were getting louder and louder. Then it was followed by the sound of a bell.