The man who had been unconscious for an entire night finally stirred awake.
"You're finally awake," Bard said with a relieved sigh, immediately fussing over the dazed man. "We found you by the river. You really took your tradition of not eating from strangers a bit too seriously, huh?"
There was light teasing in his voice, but the warmth behind his words was real.
Bard had met a few such people during his travels — tribesmen who claimed their gods forbade them from eating food prepared outside their homeland.
These people were so loyal to their ways that they wouldn't flee their villages even when monsters came knocking on their doors.
And now, perhaps, he had another such man in front of him.
He gently helped the man sit upright, adjusting the pillows behind him.
"But first," Bard said, pulling out a small notebook, "I need your name and age. Standard protocol."
The man blinked at him with clear exhaustion and suspicion.
