As the weeks come to pass, Scott's questions just keep coming, and Harrington tries his best to answer them patiently.

"I've been meaning to ask this, but do you NPCs really have hunger tendencies?" Scott queries bluntly as he watches Harrington stuff some pork chops into his mouth. "Aren't you all just virtual bodies? Why would you feel hunger? Isn't that weird?"

Harrington replies with a huff, "We were created to have hunger tendencies, lad. We need food to survive. It's like one of those real-life simulation games, you know?"

When Scott looks at him with more confusion on his face, Harrington sighs internally. I can tell that this guy doesn't play any games at all...

"I told you, didn't I?" Harrington continues on. "This world was created to match reality as close as possible. The food here is only edible to us NPCs. You players don't need to eat."

Scott frowns at that. "That's both boring and unfair for us players."

"If you care about eating so much, you can email a suggestion to the developers themselves," Harrington tells him with a smirk. "However, if they do implement that in this game, players would never log off."

Scott nods, seeming thoughtful for a moment as he peers closely at Harrington. "Hey, do you guys ever die?" he asks candidly.

Harrington chokes a bit at the casual inquiry, then nods eventually. "NPCs can definitely die and disappear from this world. We can either be killed or die from old age. But the thing is, due to the time difference between your world and ours, NPCs have a considerably slower aging rate. It's why, even if you players log off for a long time due to emergencies, we're all still here looking pretty much the same age," he explains.

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"Cool," Scott says aloud, his eyes now twinkling with interest. Harrington finds that he does not dislike this innocent side of Scott. "You're all like vampires then?"

Harrington has to cover his mouth to muffle his boisterous laughter. "Vampires? I thought only teenage girls would mention that term. You, my boy, are truly different from the others." He affectionately ruffles Scott's hair, causing the latter to look at him in surprise from the unexpected action.

So he's also got a cute side to him. He really is just a boy, Harrington thinks to himself fondly.

"You haven't answered my question," Scott speaks up, breaking the momentary pause in conversation.

"Ah, right. Well, vampires are immortal, lad. We're definitely not immortal. We age, but very, very slowly. It helps maintain the game if NPCs just die off due to unfortunate causes like illnesses or crimes. And there haven't been many of us since the Rogue incident."

"Rogue incident?"

Harrington stops eating. The sudden somber emotion on his face quells the undying curiosity in Scott.

Scott's voice is quiet. "Should I not have asked?"

Harrington seems to quickly snap out of his trance and waves a dismissive hand. "No, no. Sorry, I got lost in memories..." He unconsciously grips the side of the table with his free hand, an action that does not go unnoticed by Scott's observant eyes. "You see, a long time ago... there was an NPC who went insane and killed many people⁠ — both players and NPCs⁠ — in this game."

Silence greets him as a response. Harrington takes this as a sign to continue.

"His name was Damian. Damian Blackzone. He was one of the kids I looked after for a while when I was volunteering at an orphanage many years ago. He was really cheerful and friendly. Popular with his classmates, too.

"He was also talented at swordplay. He kept on practicing at the nearby dojo as he grew up, and soon he became one of the best NPCs who could fight like a real player.

"Unfortunately, one day... after he was hired to be an elite Guard for Aucalytha Fortress, the physical domain of the developers themselves in this game... he changed. Drastically."