Scream echoed from the isolated hut, which was followed by a grunt. It could be seen that a silhouette wriggled inside the hut. It was like someone enduring extreme pain.
It continued like that for ten minutes; only then did the groaning stop, and the silhouette stopped moving.
Red's ears perked up, twitching for a moment. After making sure that the shadow watched him disappear, he let out a sigh of relief.
That was right, the scream and the groan were just acting. He was woken up when he heard steps approaching his hut. When he opened his eyes, he saw a shadow outside his hut.
The shadow was short, and it didn't have a clear shape, meaning that the person was wearing a robe. Another thing he noticed was that this shadow was holding a staff in his hand.
There was only one person who would come and have that kind of appearance. It was the Shaman. He didn't expect the Shaman to visit his isolated living area. That was why he pretended to be in pain.
If he didn't pretend to be in pain, he would have found out that he was lying about his hunt. He recalled how he would be punished if he took one prey for himself.
He could not imagine what would happen if they found out he hunted 17 marget and only brought back something that was worth 4 marget.
Red pretended to lie down in his hut for a while. He waited for a while before going out, bringing his broken spear in his right hand.
The Shaman didn't give up on killing him, even though he had proven his worth to the tribe. He thought that with his success in the first hunt, the Shaman might change his mind. He would be a useful friend who would bring food for them.
It seemed the Shaman didn't change his mind about killing him. That gave him a wake-up call. He must get stronger and kill the Shaman before the Shaman decided to kill him.
When his life was in danger, it helped him forget most of his concerns. The thing that bothered him last night also didn't bother him as much. In his head, he just wanted to go out and hunt the monster to get stronger.
Red didn't immediately head out, moving toward the main kitchen. He met the old goblin in front of the kitchen.
"You can only have one bowl, but you can eat extra once you bring back more food for us!"
Red nodded and entered the kitchen. The kitchen was empty aside from two adults who slept at the corner of the table. He headed toward the counter where the same female human he met last night was.
She looked tired, but she was more alive than anyone he had met inside the cave. An idea popped into his head. He looked around to make sure the old goblin was still outside, and no one could hear him.
The female human placed a bowl and a steaming fruit? The fruit was half of his palm, and it was steaming with its brown skin cracked. The bowl contained a similar gruel to last night.
"What is this?" Red pointed at the steamed fruit and asked. He never saw one, let alone ate one.
The female human stared at him for a while, then she replied, "P-O-T-A-T-0! Steamed Potato!"
Red furrowed his brow, "Potto?" To his surprise, the female human smiled, chuckling. Seemed to be amused by him even though he didn't know why.
The female shook her head, "Not Potto! P-O-T-A-T-0! Steamed Potato!"
"Po— Potato? Stem Potato?"
The female human nodded and said something he didn't understand, "Be careful. It's hot."
As the female human was about to go back to the kitchen, he reached the female human's hand. She almost screamed, but his hand was faster, covering her mouth.
"Don't scream. I don't want to harm you!" He didn't know if the female human understood him or not, so he tried. After a while, he released her, and she was visibly relieved.
"Do you understand me?" Red pointed at his mouth, asking whether she understood him or not.
The female human looked confused, staring at his mouth.
He repeated the words and his movement, but it seemed she didn't understand him. She thought she was asking for more food. She pointed at the bowl and the potato on the table.
Red was disappointed because the female human didn't understand him. He let out a sigh and grabbed the steaming potato. He was curious about this new food.
The female human was surprised to see him grab the potato with his hand. It was hot, but not something he could not endure. He took a big bite, and half of it was gone in one bite.
It was soft and sweet, totally different than his favorite salty gruel. He was surprised and enjoyed the new taste. Then he swallowed the rest in the second bite.
He was about to ask for more, but he remembered what the old goblin told him. He clicked his tongue and grabbed the bowl, chugging it down, leaving the meat in his mouth.
Red put the bowl on the counter and left while chewing the four pieces of meat. He was surprised to find four pieces of meat inside. Last night, when he ate five bowls, each bowl only had three pieces of meat.
He glanced at the female human, but she had her back to him as she carried the bowl back. He left the kitchen with a frown, thinking he might overthink it.
Red left the tribe with his broken spear, and he stopped right outside the tribe. It was still morning, and most of the goblins were still sleeping.
When he passed the huts of the other kids of his generation. He noticed most of them were still sleeping. That meant the hunting group was for himself.
The most reasonable choice was to go back to yesterday's route since he was familiar with how marget fought. However, he didn't have the bait. He could not repeat yesterday's success unless he had a bait.
'I should have kept one dead marget for my bait.'
Red realized his mistake for not leaving one marget behind to be the bait for today.
"I don't think that will work…" He muttered, quickly realized that might not work because the meat might go bad by now.
Another realization sank in, it was the fact that he didn't encounter any kids on the left side. He didn't go that far; if there was anyone who went to the left side, he would meet them, yet he didn't meet anyone.
'Why? Why does no one go there?'
He asked himself as he glanced at the path he took yesterday.
It looked like the kids avoided that place. It didn't take him long to figure something out. They knew something he didn't know, which was why they avoided that area.
That meant he was supposed to hunt in the middle and right path, not the left path. That was his conclusion, even though he didn't know the actual reason.
The kids were still asleep, meaning they would not bother him. That was when he made a decision to take the middle path. If things were not going as he expected, he could just return and go hunt the marget again.