Curiosity

"Ah… no meat, you say?" the barbarian said, still with the accent.

"I've got fire-roasted roots, sweetroot and stone carrots, fresh from the ground. Big mushrooms, with wild herbs and a splash of berry glaze. A bowl of forest greens, tossed with crushed nuts and honey from the mountain hives."

He hesitated for some seconds before continuing:

"Oh, and ash-baked flatbread with a thick seed paste. Simple, but hearty."

The players said what they wanted to eat with smiles on their faces. They all were starving, and seeing this random dude giving out all this free speech with the intent of feeding them was simply exciting.

The barbarian's 'kitchen' was just at the table, where Drahon had earlier met him. And so he started selecting the meats which were still sort of hot, as he had been warming them in the fireplace while he went outside to hunt for any 'eatable' animal.

The players ate the meat without even thinking if it was harmful or not. None of them ate the badger though, as they just couldn't think about it.

Devon ate bread and some veggie stew, and from the look on his face, he was satisfied with it. The other players were satisfied with theirs too.

If not for the barbarian, they would probably be sleeping hungry, as there was no other way to eat.

Drahon joined them, although a bit afraid of the barbarian now because of the info he had seen from the quick scan.

Nevertheless, he remained calm and acted like everything was fine as he ate with them. The players ate meats they thought were normal and had some bread (stuff that felt likely to break teeth).

The barbarian followed too, drinking some weird liquid from a cup which the players rejected when offered.

Drahon looked at the barbarian as they ate and discussed irrelevant stuff.

Drahon noticed the barbarian didn't say anything about his life or daily routine. All he spoke of was how he could lift a bear or wrestle a lion and pin it. Just silly things, something Drahon found strange.

He was expecting the barbarian to talk about how the world worked and things like that, but he never did. He simply talked about what he could do and what he couldn't. That made Drahon wonder if he was truly an NPC and this was just what he had been programmed to say.

But then, the profile scan had seemed to suggest more than that. Normally, a profile scan on a person wasn't actually possible. Drahon couldn't just scan a player in the Dragon Game and see the type of dragon or equipment they had. A profile scan only worked on monsters.

Drahon couldn't scan Devon's dragon and see the stats. Same applied to the others.

But then, he tried scanning the barbarian and a profile came up, only it was vague. Although it showed the type of sword the player had, it actually didn't mean much, as that was already obvious.

It was a sword, and one could guess the name too.

But the barbarian… the… barbarian!

[Information is limited. Subject does not match any existing player or registered entity. Proceed with caution.]

The words rang in Drahon's head like a damn bell.

Subject does not match any existing player or registered entity.

That was what baffled him the most. The fuck did his system mean by that?

He had just gained some information though—he discovered, actually.

So people that got into the game-like world were registered. By 'registered' it meant they were put to notice. Documented, and if any of the players were to die, the game world mechanics would take notice and announce it (or something like that).

But what if a player wasn't to die?

Like… just vanish… the game might discard the person as dead or missing.

Drahon's mind was filled with questions, questions no one there at that moment could answer.

Soon they were done eating, all of them bloated from the meat and bread they had. Devon felt full too, and they all extended their gratitude to the barbarian, who nodded with a smile.

His attitude felt strange in an unexpected way.

From being stern when they first met, to reluctantly agreeing to provide shelter, then becoming friendly and trying to be funny with the accent, offering food, and now, water.

Drahon felt the urge to stroke his beardless chin and think about all this.

The players were starting to yawn and stretch their arms.

"Time we sleep," a player said, plodding over to the corner where the pile of furs was. It looked pretty nice to sleep on, and comfy too.

Another player followed, stretching as well. Drahon looked at the barbarian with intensified curiosity. The barbarian didn't look back with the same energy though. He seemed calm and reserved.

Drahon was about to casually ask a question when the barbarian stood up and said:

"I should be thanking you all for coming. Life's been boring. I haven't eaten and discussed with people I consider friends in ages."

Devon grinned as he found a comfy spot (to him) to lay on.

"But you were grumpy when we first met you."

The barbarian smiled.

"I was just being cautious, that's all. I'm normally not like that, as you guys have just witnessed."

Drahon softly sighed away the question he intended to ask the barbarian, but as seconds passed, he couldn't hold it in any longer and decided to start lightly:

"So how did you get to this part of the… um… place? Grew up here?"

The barbarian looked at Drahon blankly for a few seconds before yawning with a long stretch.

"We'll talk tomorrow. Today's been rough, hunting and all. Haha." the barbarian said and looked away. He walked over to the shelf where he brought out a candle, which he lit and dropped on the table, taking off the much brighter light that had lit the place.

"Good night, everyone," he announced before trudging to a corner where a pile of soft furs lay.

Drahon, still curious, slept behind the wall where some soft furs were.

He noticed something about the barbarian though. When he asked question earlier, he saw nervous look..., something surprising.

[A/N: There seems to be furs everywhere!]

---

Morning came in the blink of an eye. The light from the sky shimmered into the windows, illuminating the room.

Drahon woke up from the touch of Devon.

"Hey, wake up," Devon called softly.

Drahon fluttered open his eyes and looked at Devon, confused.

"What?"

"The barbarian guy is gone," Devon said.

Drahon was astonished.

"We've looked everywhere for him, even outside, and yet we can't find him," Devon explained.

Drahon looked at the faces of the other players. They wore worried and terrified expressions.

He stood up, gazing fixedly at the corner where the barbarian had slept.

"Perhaps he went to hunt?" Drahon said. "You know how they do, wild and fierce. Maybe hunting is a morning exercise."

A female player spoke now.

"Well, that's what we thought too, until we saw a note."

Drahon opened his eyes wide…

"A note?"