Red Monster
Chapter 79: The Situation Is Getting Out of Control
Red tried to remember, but he could not recall whether he had a conflict with his warrior or not. The only ones that might hold a grudge against him were the Shaman and the kids of his generation.
That quickly clicked, the hobs was one of the kids from his generation. If that was the case, he was surprised how quick this one evolved into a hob. He remembered that most of the kids from his generation were failures.
"Silent!"
The Matron, who sat in the middle, interrupted, "How dare you speak when the Chief doesn’t ask you to! This is a contempt of the Chief!"
The hob paled when the Matron interfered. She was not wrong, though, but maybe evolving into a hob made the kid think he could do something like this.
"We will talk about your behavior later!" The Chief made his decision, pending the hob’s punishment. He knew there was something that needed his immediate attention: the kobolds.
"I do have some suspicion too. How can you kill so many kobolds? If you claim to kill a few kobolds, then I understand, but more than twenty by yourself?"
The Chief shook his head, "Do you have proof that the many kobolds truly trespass into our territory?"
"As I have mentioned to Matrons, I brought equipment from the kobolds the day after yesterday. You can send someone to check them, Chief."
The Chief nodded, "I have checked it, and they are indeed something you can get from the kobolds. But it’s less than you claim. It’s less than ten kobolds of equipment."
Red was confused, trying to understand where the conversation led. Why would they think he was lying? What would it be for him to lie? Maybe they thought he was lying, so he could get the respect and honor for killing many kobolds? That sounded so stupid.
"I can’t bring back anything from yesterday because there are so many kobolds scouring the jungle, Chief. If I am under suspicion, then I can bring a few with me to check it out. There’s no reason for me to lie since we can confirm it easily."
The Matron on the right raised her hand, "May I speak, Chief?"
The Chief nodded.
"If you are not lying, they could just attack our village with their number. They could easily destroy our village, yet they just hunted our food. That doesn’t make sense!"
Red frowned, looking at the Matron in the eye. That was the same accusation the Matron threw at him yesterday. He already told her the reason why, and he thought it was convincing enough. So why did the Matron accuse him again? Right in front of the Chief, who was actually capable of delivering the punishment to him.
But why? He glanced at the hob that accused him earlier. Then he remembered why the Matron changed.
’Is it really just because I interrupted her dinner?’
He realized this was just a continuation of what happened yesterday. She took the chance when the hob accused him of lying as well. She thought that with the hob’s accusation, he would be punished.
"That indeed doesn’t make sense," The Chief’s gruff voice filled the hall, agreeing with the Matron.
"Again, Chief. I can lead a few warriors to confirm my information. You will find out soon whether I am lying or not," Red responded calmly, "As for why they don’t attack the village? I don’t know, but I have two speculations as to why they don’t attack."
"Speak!"
"First, it’s because they don’t know Chief is not in the village. They don’t know the absence of our warrior. They don’t have that information. Second, they don’t know that the Shaman is missing. I believe they are wary of the Shaman, considering what the Shaman is capable of with magic."
Red just repeated what he told the Matron yesterday. There was an urge in him to snitch on the Matrons. He already told the Matron about his speculation, just to put the blame on them. However, he had good restraint, and maybe Levelheaded was triggered as he didn’t act on his urge. There was no reason for him to draw more aggro on him.
"But as the warrior said. It doesn’t make sense that a weakling like him could kill so many kobolds. He’s lying to himself, so he becomes a warrior while he’s merely a hunter! If he truly killed that many kobolds, he should have evolved by now! He’s lying!" The Matron on the right stood up, pointing her finger at him.
Now Matron mentioned it. Why did the kids of his generation already evolve into a hob while he didn’t? That was a good question that he wanted to know the answer to as well. But again, while he didn’t evolve, he’s getting taller. It was proven that he was now taller than most hob.
Red massaged the space between his eyes, didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to openly offend the Matron, no matter how angry he was right now. This old hag never even said thanks for his contribution to bring food, protecting the village. Now he was trying to get him punished over a trivial issue.
"I don’t know how I am supposed to prove it. I killed them and left their equipment behind, and I already absorbed the cores as well." That was all he could say.
"You can show us how you kill them!" The Matron responded with glee, then she pointed at the hob that had accused him earlier, "Show me how you fight against him!"
Red turned toward the hob. The hob had a smug look on his face, as if he was already winning. He didn’t agree to it because the one with the power to make the decision was the Chief. He looked at the Chief.
"You can do that. Show us how you fight!" The Chief agreed with the suggestion.
The hob raised his hand before Red could say anything.
"What is it?" The Chief asked.
"I want his woman if I win the fight!"
Red’s eyes grew cold the moment the hob mentioned Darla.
"Of course, you can take his woman if you win the fight. The loser will die anyway."
The Chief didn’t even bother to consider it. To him, a female human was meant to breed, nothing more. It didn’t matter who owned the woman. An important note was that in the last part, they were allowed to kill each other. The Chief expected it.
Red thought the Chief wanted no casualties since they were close to war against the kobold. The situation got out of hand.
He wanted to say that he might accidentally kill the hob if the Chief wanted him to show how he killed many kobolds. That was unnecessary now since he must kill the hob. Not just because the Chief told him so, but because this hob wanted to take what belonged to him.
’No one could take what is mine!’