Cold sweat ran down Helden’s back. In front of him, there was a table made of dirt. Despite the material of the furniture, it looked like it belonged in the kitchen of royalty. Intricate designs were carved along the side of the table, and the edges were lined with a thin layer of gold. On top of the table, there were a few plates made of ice, something the humanoid dragon had conjured out of thin air with a wave of his hand. On the plates, there was a lavish display of food, none of which had ingredients that could be found in the nearby forest.

Helden watched as the humanoid dragon, Vur, ignored the chopsticks and picked up a piece of sushi with his bare hands. Vur shoved the piece of rice and fish into his mouth and chewed twice before swallowing. His brow furrowed, causing Helden to gulp. “You’re supposed to dip the sushi”—he pointed at the plate of food Vur had retrieved the sushi from—“into the soy sauce.” He pointed at the small bowl placed in front of Vur. “If you want it to be spicy, you can mix the wasabi, the green paste, into the sauce.”

Vur dropped a wad of wasabi into the soy sauce and mixed it with his finger. When he was done, he licked his finger clean. His eyes brightened, and he exhaled out two jets of smoke from his nostrils. He nodded to himself and picked up another piece of sushi. He dipped it into the sauce and shoved it into his mouth. After he finished chewing and swallowing, he glanced at Helden. “Not bad.”

Helden exhaled. “I’m glad you like it. I can make this for you whenever you want.”

Stella flew down from Vur’s shoulder and landed by the bowl of soy sauce. She dipped her finger inside and retrieved a droplet. She put it in her mouth, and her eyes widened. “It feels like my face is on fire!” She wrinkled her nose and shivered, trying to send the uncomfortable sensation away to no avail.

Vur ignored Stella and munched on the sushi. The rest of Generis Squad was standing around, not daring to make a sound as Vur ate. When he was done with the sushi, he moved on to the next plate. He grabbed a bowl of cloudy liquid off of it and glanced at Helden. “What do I eat this with?”

“That’s miso soup,” Helden said. “There’s no special way to eat it. It’s consumed like regular soup or stew.”

Vur downed the bowl in one gulp. “A little bitter,” he said and smacked his lips. “I think Tafel will like this.”

“Vur!” Stella flew over and poked her head into the bowl, but it was completely empty. “You didn’t save any for me!” Before Vur could respond—or eat any more—she flew to the next dish and hovered over it, keeping herself between the bowl and Vur.

“Those are ramen noodles,” Helden said. His face twitched when Vur shoved his hand inside the bowl and pulled out a few strands of noodles. “You’re supposed to use the chopsticks to…, never mind.” He wasn’t going to tell a humanoid dragon how to eat. If the dragon wanted to be a barbarian, he was going to let it be a barbarian.

“Ooh,” Stella said. She licked her fingers clean. “This is pretty good.” Her eyes shone as she stared at Helden. “You can take food out whenever?”

“I have an inventory skill,” Helden said. “It lets me store items into a subspace. These dishes were cooked by me earlier; I just took them out of my inventory now.”

“Oh, so it’s like Tafel’s portal trick,” Stella said and nodded. She glanced at Vur. “Should we keep him around as a chef? I might not have eaten too much human food, but I can tell his techniques are out of this world.”

Vur rubbed his chin. Although the meal didn’t taste as good as eating a whole behemoth bear, it was pretty close. “Let’s see what Tafel thinks,” Vur said and nodded.

“Vur, are you sure it’s a good idea to let this man near Tafel?” Sheryl asked from the sunlike rune on Vur’s shoulder. “He doesn’t seem trustworthy around women.”

Vur glanced at Helden before shrugging. “If he tries to do anything, Deedee can squish him again.”

***

Tafel stared at the red traces in the air and marched ahead. From the corner of her eyes, she could she dozens of shadowy people following after her. However, she knew if she turned to look at them, they’d disappear. As such, she focused on the red lines, letting them guide her forward.

“Are you lost? Do you need any help?”

A shiver ran down Tafel’s spine. Other than the shadowy figures, there were also the creepy voices belonging to half-formed people. She had a theory about what they were. The land she was in clearly suffered from some kind of catastrophe—most likely the aftermath of Grimmy’s experiment. The shadow people and the discombobulated voices must’ve been the natives who couldn’t escape in time. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like they could hurt her; all they could do was creep her out. Just in case, she kept a ball of phoenix flames revolving around her body. She wasn’t going to take any chances. Her theory could be completely wrong, and the shadow people could’ve been an illusion spell casted by a strange creature living here. Perhaps it wanted her to drop her guard before stabbing her in the back.

“Are you hungry? I caught a deer, but it’s too much for me to finish on my own. I don’t have enough salt to preserve it either. Why don’t you come have some with me?”

Tafel ignored the person that suddenly appeared out of the mist. However, she couldn’t ignore it when she felt a hand grab her left shoulder. She let out a scream and jumped while sending the ball of phoenix flames in the direction where she suspected the person who had grabbed her to be. Her neck cracked as she turned her head to the side; however, she couldn’t see anyone. For a long time, she stood in place, debating whether or not she should portal the heck out of there.