”Well why don’t you introduce yourselves and if I may ask, what are you guys doing around here?” Logan asked.

“Yes, of course. My name is Dax and this is my brother Pax. We are hunting game for the village.” The man on the right spoke again. He seemed to be doing all the talking. Pax had yet to say a word to Logan.

“Oh? There is a village nearby. How interesting. I should pay them a visit.” Logan said pretending he didn’t already know. “How far away is it from here?”

“We would be honored if you would visit. It’s only about an hour’s walk form here. We were just about to pack up and head there. You are welcome to join us.”

“Yes. I’d love to.” Logan needed information on the land, the people, and how magic is supposed to work in this world so he wasn’t going to turn them down.

Dax and Pax spent the next five of minutes quickly packing up their tent and gathering their supplies. Logan was playing a magnanimous mage so he offered to help but was told that they could handle it. Everything was loaded into two big packs and loaded behind each of the brother’s backs. Logan carried nothing. With everything ready the group was on their way.

Pax and Dax didn’t talk much Logan had tried to start up some small talk but Dax would give a quick answer and shut down the conversation.

From what he could get out of them he learned that the village population was only 53 people. They had no mages, but did have a small-time alchemist.

He also learned that almost the entire yield of crops that the village had grown had been eaten by wild boars. These animals had eaten almost everything in one night and then disappeared. The food supply shipment they had bought from the city had been stolen by bandits some time ago and now the village had started to run low on food.

They had tried trading with some of the neighboring villages, but they had had the same problem with both the boars and bandits and couldn’t spare any. They tried hiring some men to hunt down the thieves but the village had hardly any money and was way too far from the city for anyone to care.

The town had been rationing and hunting for food in the forest. They had wanted to hunt and eat some of the wild boars but they couldn’t be found. They had been forced to hunt rabbits and squirrels. Deer had been known to graze in and around the forest but they hadn’t seen any recently. The forest hadn’t yielded much but it was better than nothing.

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Listening to Dax talk about food had made Logan hungry. Seeing as this was the perfect time to show off, he waved his hand and a small cloth napkin appeared in his hand. Inside it was a large burger. Logan took one whiff of it and his mouth started salivating. Logan had tried to imagine the best burger he had ever eaten and re-create it here. What had surprise him though, was that the burger was still warm.

When he could wait no longer he finally took a huge bite.

'So good'

The burger was juicy and warm like it had just been cooked. It was just how he had imagined it should be.

Pax and Dax now realized that Logan was basically eating a feast before their eyes. Due to the rationing in there village they hadn’t eaten there fill for some time. They also didn't understand where he had gotten the food from. When they first saw him he wasn't carrying anything with him. But now he was eating a large piece of food wrapped in a cloth napkin. Where had he pulled it out of?

“What is that?”

While Dax was primarily interested in where the food had come from, it was Pax who was more interested in what the food actually was. It looked good sure, but it was the smell that compelled Pax to say his first words to Logan.

“This?” Logan held up his hand with the food in it. “This is a burger. Don’t tell me you’ve never had a burger before.”

Both brothers shook their head simultaneously.

“Well we can’t have that. Everyone in the world has to have at least one burger before they die.”

Logan wrapped up his burger and put it in his jacket pocket. He then waved his hand and a burger appeared in each hand. He handed one to each brother then went back to eating his own.

Dax was awestruck that the mage could make food appear with a wave of his hand. Pax however quickly got over it when he held the burger in his hand. He immediately dove in for his first big bite. Pax was someone who had come from a poor village where the food he was given was few and hardly had any kind of spices. So when got to have a large portion of the tastiest food he had ever had, Pax felt like he had died and gone to heaven.

Dax too started eating a few seconds after Pax.

They all set out again. For ten minutes no words were spoken. They all just kept moving and ate there food in peace.

After they were all finished Logan asked if they liked it.

“Are you kidding? That was the best ever!”

“I’m glad you liked it. When we get to your village I’ll show you even better food.

Pax seemed to have a personality change now that he’d tried the food. He was now talking more than Dax. He asked about all kinds of food and what they were made of. Logan did his best to answer. He was no chef but he knew the basics.

The trip ended up taking an hour and a half, but at the end of it they finally arrived at the village.