Cleverness and stupidity

Old Gold Tooth pursed his lips and did not answer immediately.

While waiting, Ruger recalled the images of scaled Kobolds that had once surfaced in his mind. Those must have been Dragonborn Kobolds. For a moment, he also thought of Half-Man, the headless Wizard who could not move. Since he had said he could help Ruger escape the limitations of a short-lived species, it was reasonable to guess that Half-Man probably possessed some treasure capable of transforming him into a Dragonborn Kobold.

As a powerful Wizard, he surely would not use some worthless junk. And when it came to the best results, nothing could beat dragon blood.

Ruger had read in Ka Liu's diary that, besides tinkering with scrolls, Wizards loved making all sorts of bizarre potions. Could Half-Man have a potion made from dragon blood? Wizards considered using or consuming raw ingredients directly an utter disgrace and an enormous waste. Refining them through intellect was the superior choice.

A commotion broke out among the Kobolds in the distance.

Aisijin immediately got up to see what was happening. Old Gold Tooth was not going to die just yet, and she no longer looked so miserable.

To Ruger, the two Kobolds seemed rather like a father and daughter, or a grandfather and granddaughter.

Of course, ordinary Kobolds, with their loose sense of family, would not share such a special familial attachment. They only gathered into tribes because they were too weak on their own. Before Ruger appeared, Aisijin and Old Gold Tooth might have been the only Kobolds each could communicate with, which explained their close bond. In their eyes, the other Kobolds probably seemed more like wild beasts than their own kind.

Aisijin came running back with long strides.

She looked first at Old Gold Tooth, then turned to Ruger and said, "The Gray Longneck Saint Lord is back! Then, then they found out Master Black Claw was gone! There's so much blood there! So much blood, outside the sacred cave! It covers the ground in front of the cave..."

With every sentence she spoke, Big Silly Hum's broad shoulders gave another shudder.

Once their initial surprise passed, the Gray Longneck Saint Lord's return seemed to have little effect on the Kobolds present.

After a long silence, Old Gold Tooth finally spoke.

"They taste too much alike..."

The old Kobold seemed drained of strength by that single sentence.

"I'm not like you and Aisijin. Most clever Kobolds aren't like that. We became clever while undergoing the transformation into Dragonborn Kobolds... Though I didn't become a Dragonborn Kobold, I did grow a little taller."

"Before that, I was the smallest in the tribe, and the stupidest. All the Kobolds in the tribe bullied me. I almost never got enough to eat. Then one day, they brought me food and watched me eat. I was happy. I ate in big mouthfuls... Whenever I finished, they brought me another piece. It was the fullest meal of my life... I kept eating... until my belly was about to burst..."

The old Kobold's tone did not change noticeably, but the Light Threads growing from his body trembled more and more violently as he spoke.

"It wasn't until much later, when I was being transformed into a Dragonborn Kobold and my mind suddenly became clever... that I realized I had eaten my Insectfolk friend, bite by bite..."

"My friend had been cut into many pieces. Stupid as I was, I didn't recognize him..."

At this point, Old Gold Tooth twisted his mouth as though he were telling a dull story.

Several thoughts flashed through Ruger's mind. He had originally thought Old Gold Tooth would know what those Fat Meatworms really were. That hope had apparently been in vain. Still, he had learned one thing: the meatworms tasted much like the Insectfolk Tribe. That reminded him of the Little Crybaby Bug who had never left a name.

And then there was Aisijin. She was the truly rare, naturally clever Kobold. He was only an impostor.

"Let me tell you something else interesting."

A strange expression appeared on Old Gold Tooth's face.

"I might be Kobold royalty." He paused, watching their expressions, then said, "According to legend, a long, long time ago, all Kobolds were clever. They wore beautiful clothes, had enormous cities, and possessed civilized nations of their own. They were even stronger than those pointy-ears."

"But later, they did something wrong and were cursed. In the blink of an eye, their civilization vanished and their nations collapsed, leaving them as they are now. The stronger a Kobold's royal blood, the stupider they became." As he spoke, he glanced at Big Silly Hum. "Especially ones like this. Big and stupid—that best fits the royal traits in the legends. The ordinary Kobold bloodlines, which hadn't been so clever or brave before, ended up bearing less of the curse instead. Their descendants might still produce a few clever Kobolds."

While the three of them chatted, time passed.

The Kobolds in the distance were already preparing to go out and hunt for the Gray Longneck Saint Lord.

Aisijin turned to look at Old Gold Tooth, looking eager to go as well. Ruger could tell at a glance that she did not want Old Gold Tooth eating random things again. And since the old Kobold would not eat insect meat, her only option was to go hunting with the tribe.

"Don't go out just yet. Eat this. I only need one claw tip for a weapon."

He took out the large black claw, barely managed to cut into it with his beast-fang dagger, then tore at it with brute strength.

By now, Aisijin could hardly fail to recognize whose claw it was. Watching Ruger cut up the Saint Lord's claw, her expression changed several times.

Big Silly Hum was even more hopeless, shrinking back again and again in a display that thoroughly lived up to his royal heritage.

Ruger left the meat and departed, reminding Aisijin that even if she kept her distance, she must not stay around Old Gold Tooth all the time.

Though he still wanted to discuss a few things with Old Gold Tooth, the old Kobold was clearly exhausted.

After several twists and turns, he returned to his secluded little den.

Sitting quietly alone while maintaining the Stinking Skin Spell actually made him feel safer.

He took out the Black Book, ready to begin learning new runes. All the changes around him gave him even more motivation. There was also the map in his mind. He believed the legacies of those Wizards would not disappoint him, though, of course, that was still only the little Insectfolk's side of the story.

A wave of drowsiness suddenly washed over him. Before he could eat anything, he fell into a deep sleep.

He slept especially soundly.

Between sleeping and waking, he saw that tree again, that incomparably sacred tree he had glimpsed once while making Foul-Smelling Skin permanent. Back then, he had seemed to travel an immense distance before catching a distant glimpse of it. This time, however, he saw it from another angle. He drifted around the enormous tree like a wisp of fluff.

Suddenly, he felt that it was not a tree. Once that thought arose, the resemblance grew stronger the longer he looked.

It was a hand, a hand buried from the lower half of its palm down. Its five thick branches were five fingers.

As for its pure white color, that was actually because it had no flesh. It was a skeletal hand stripped of flesh.

The sacred thing was white bone.

As he came to understand all this, the scene before his eyes suddenly shuddered.

He woke.

The first thing he noticed upon waking was that the Stinking Skin Spell seemed somewhat different.