Red always woke up at the same time every morning ever since moving up to the new place. It was earlier compared to when he was still living in his shabby hut.
The first thing he did was to check up on his weapons, cleaning them up, and counting the metal balls in the pouch. He had lost one metal ball; now he only had twelve metal balls left.
He needed to be more careful because no one in the village could do metal work, let alone make a thorny ball like this.
After everything was ready, he dressed up and left the house. He lived with the other hunters. There were not many hunters in the tribe.
There were only seventeen hunters before him, and the children of his generation joined. There were twenty-nine now, including eleven kids of his generation who were appointed as hunters, and him.
He was the only one who had woken up as he made his way to the kitchen. He could hear the loud snores from the house he passed.
Darla was the only one in the kitchen this early. The old goblin in charge of overseeing the kitchen was not around, not even outside the kitchen. This was the reason why he came to the kitchen this early.
"Morning!"
He greeted her in human language.
Darla turned around with a bright smile, and Red was not used to that. She always looked exhausted and in fear before, but it started to change two days ago.
It was not like he didn't like her smile; in fact, her smile was pleasant to look at. He just was not used to it.
"Good morning, Red~," She raised her finger at him, "It's not ready yet, but it will be ready in a moment."
He could understand the first part. That was the way the human responded to the greeting. The second part was still fuzzy. He understood nothing at all, but he got the intent. She was telling him to wait.
Then Darla started to talk, telling him a story that he understood nothing at all. He didn't stop her because it helped him to understand the human language. Later, he would ask her the word he remembered.
From that story, he noticed two words that kept being repeated by Darla. The word kept getting repeated, and it stuck in his head. Those two words were Father and Son.
Each time she mentioned those two words, he could feel her emotion in her words. By the time she finished cooking, she brought a bowl of piping hot gruel and the same potato again.
"Ask," Darla made a gesture toward him.
He understood a few words, and most of them, he understood the intent behind her words. They didn't really communicate properly, yet he understood her. She was telling him to ask the daily question about the human language.
"Father. Son."
He tried to mimic the word, but it was hard in his tongue. He got it in a few tries.
Usually, Darla would try to explain by making gestures or something. She performed an act just to explain to him the morning greeting. But not this time, she looked troubled and sad, and her smile disappeared.
He didn't know why she reacted like this since he didn't know what the word meant. Even if he knew the words, he still would not understand her since the concept of father and son didn't exist in the tribe.
Darla opened her mouth, trying to say something, and he was waiting. However, she closed her mouth, unsure what to say. Without realizing it, Zara broke into tears.
Red was surprised and also unsure what to do. He didn't understand why she behaved like this. The tears streamed nonstop from her eyes. That made him forget to stuff the hot potato in his hand.
He just stared at her, and she cried in front of him. Out of nowhere, he reached her head and patted her a few times. He didn't know why, but that just moved naturally.
He was surprised by himself, and so was Darla. She stopped crying, her eyes widened in surprise. She acted weird again as she suddenly broke into a smile.
Red furrowed his brow, pulled his hand back, and put the potato into his mouth. As he munched the potato, he was surprised again. There was a new taste in his potato, a taste that bit his tongue. He didn't dislike it.
He still stared her in the eyes, waiting for the explanation about the words of the day.
"I am not in my right mind right now, and I think it will be hard to explain it to you." Darla wiped the tears as she broke into a chuckle, shaking her head, "I am sorry. I can't!"
Red frowned. He didn't understand the words, but he understood the intent. She couldn't explain the word. This was also the first time she refused to explain the word.
He nodded and drank the gruel, chewing the meat. Since she could not explain the words: Father and Son. He was thinking of another word, but he didn't really remember the other words.
Red put the bowl on the counter. "Second?"
She taught him that word if he wanted an extra meal. Usually, he was not allowed to have a second serving in the morning, but she relented for the first time.
"Just this once, okay? Don't tell anybody about this, or we will be in trouble!"
Darla gave him a second serving, and Red smiled in delight as this was the first time he got a second serving in the morning. He was about to say goodbye and leave for hunting until a bell rang.
Red and Darla exchanged glances. This might be the first time that they heard the bell ring like this. She looked terrified.
Red stood up and pointed at the kitchen, "Stay here!"
He didn't say that in human language, but it seemed she understood him as she nodded. He left the kitchen to check out what happened.
That was when he was surprised to see the warriors running in a hurry toward the bell. He was confused about what happened until one of the warriors pointed at him.
"Why are you standing there like a fool? Follow us!"
Red didn't know what happened and followed them. They arrived at the entrance of the tribe and were surprised to see the Shaman. This was the first time in a while he saw the Shaman, and there was a grim look on his face. The Matrons were also here, and they also didn't look good.
He finally found out what happened. Three goblins in leather armor were heavily injured. Two of them lost their hands, and the third one was lying dead on the ground.
The way their hands were missing was weird. As if their hands were forcefully pulled apart. He could see their bones as blood kept flowing out.
The Shaman stepped forward and raised his staff at the two wounded goblins. The Shaman did something as he could see the staff produced a green glow, sending it to the wounded goblins.
'Magic!' That was the first thing that came into Red's mind. He didn't know anything about magic, but could tell that it was magic right away.
Red tried to see what happened to the wounded, and that was when he realized the three goblins were not from this tribe.