"Why did you think that I was getting kicked out of the villages because of my name?" Misho asked with a dumbfounded look on his face.
"Your name sounds weird. Naturally, people would not like you in their village. They probably think that you are a bad omen," Gerald replied with an understanding smile on his face.
"..."
Misho was speechless. He silently reminded himself to change his name when he got to the city…
"You don't have to worry. I don't believe in something like that. Besides, you already informed us that there might be green goblins in the surrounding forest. I trust that you are not a bad omen," Gerald explained as he smiled even more kindly.
"I-I see. Thank you," Misho said and lightly bowed his head to him.
As Misho lowered his head, he couldn't help but think about these NPCs. They were so realistic. If he didn't know, he would never have guessed that they were not real people.
They even noticed and judged his name. There was only one possible reason. All of them were living AIs.
But living AIs were supposedly very expensive to run. They require a lot of power, and there were a lot of villagers in this village. Were they powering it using the sun?
Misho raised his head and looked at the smiling Gerald doubtfully.
It was still impossible to send solar panels to orbit the sun to harness its power to this day. Then, were they using fusion energy? The one where they merge two hydrogen atoms into helium?
"What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"
Gerald touched his face and looked confused when he discovered the way Misho was looking at him.
"A-Ah! It was nothing. I was just surprised that the two of you are so kind," Misho replied and smiled at him.
Maia noticed the odd look on Misho's face, and she became curious about what was on his mind.
"Well, then eat a lot! The two of you deserve it after traveling so far," Gerald said and extended his arms outwards as he exaggerated.
"Thank you for the food," Misho said before grabbing and eating the food on the table with his hands.
"Thank you for the food," Maia followed after his words.
The roasted bird almost tasted like chicken, but they were hard to chew through. It was almost like he was chewing rubber. Misho couldn't help but smile wryly.
He wanted to stop, but the smile on Gerald and Kea's faces stopped him. In the end, he finished a whole roasted bird. He wondered to himself how his stomach would digest those…
Then he focused his eyes on the bread. He was curious about what bread tastes like in this world.
He pinched off a small piece and ate it.
"This is amazing!" Misho exclaimed.
It tasted like wheat bread. It was hard and coarse. If this were any other VR game, they wouldn't have been able to taste these foods.
Misho then picked up the fruit that looked like an apple. It was pale yellow and felt like a pear to his touch.
He bit into it, and it exploded with sweet juices that filled his mouth. Misho's eyes widened, and he bit into it more.
"Wow!"
Gerald and Kea smiled wider when they saw how happy he was eating.
"We're glad you liked it," Gerald said to him.
"Mm! I will definitely do my best tomorrow," Misho said.
They planned to half-ass the quest tomorrow, but these foods made him change his mind. Even if they were NPCs, he would treat them as real people.
Suddenly, Maia leaned to his ears.
"Misho, what do you think will happen if I tell them about the outside world?" Maia asked in a whisper.
"We might get banned!" Misho shouted quietly.
"Really? But I want to try it," Maia replied.
"If you get banned, I won't talk to you again," Misho replied and frowned at her.
He didn't want to risk any of them getting banned. He liked her company in this unfamiliar world.
"Okay…"
Maia nodded her head sadly.
"We can look at the forums later. There might be others that already tried it," Misho said to comfort her.
"Ohh! Okay!"
Maia's frown turned to a smile, and she sat straight on her seat again.
Gerald and Kea simply smiled when they saw the two of them whisper to each other. In their eyes, they were a married couple. They ought to get their privacy.
Misho and Maia spent almost an hour eating and talking with the married couple.
They learned about a lot of stuff. Like how the continent they were on was called the Inceptor Continent, the kingdom was also called the Icasara Kingdom. It was the major wheat distributor for the neighboring kingdoms.
They also learned that there were caravans that traveled the kingdom. If they could chance upon one, they could go to a city by paying a fee without being an Essence Sea cultivator.
As for how much, Gerald and Kea didn't know as they only heard about it from the other villagers. Misho would have to ask the villagers that met a caravan before.
And most importantly, the most shocking thing they learned was that all kinds of races were accepted in this continent. As long as they were intelligent and looked humanoid, the general populace would accept them.
Those were good news for Misho and Maia. That would mean they didn't need to worry about hiding their races from the humans.
After finishing dinner, Misho and Maia returned to their rooms. The two of them were amazed at the detail of this world.
It was as if this game was really a real world. The developers must have had spent a lot of time tweaking these things.
"Misho, what were you thinking earlier? You looked very serious as you stared at Gerald in a daze," Maia asked curiously.
"It may sound weird, but I find it unbelievable that they could run so many living AIs," Misho answered.
"What do you mean?" Maia asked as she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.