The Austrian Kingdom was one of the two largest human nations on the Gaobo continent. To its north lay the Arles Mountains, a natural barrier blocking most passages between the kingdom and the Silvaria Great Forest. The peaks were home to the rare but formidable Great Ghost Clan and ancient elves, standing like an impregnable wall. Only in the northeastern corner, where it bordered the Goss Empire, did the kingdom directly touch the Ghoul Forest.

Though occasionally harassed by highland tribes descending from the Arles Mountains, the Austrian Kingdom remained far more peaceful than the Goss Empire—which shared its entire northern border with the Silvaria Forest.

Right in that northeastern corner stood Fort Posein, the kingdom’s largest fortress. A sizable town had grown around it, with the fort anchoring its northern edge. Roughly two thousand elite soldiers—handpicked from the kingdom’s army—were permanently stationed there. Their duty: halt Corpse Eaters spilling south from the Silvaria Forest before they could ravage the kingdom’s lands.

The town itself, home to over ten thousand residents, had flourished under the fort’s protection. Buildings clustered south of Fort Posein, sheltered by its walls and the expanded fortifications radiating outward.

North of the town gates—beyond the fort and its defensive walls—lay the Hunter Settlement. Though this area bore the brunt of ghoul attacks on the fort, it had still grown into a substantial community over recent decades. Only two kinds of people lived here: destitute border prospectors too poor to rent even a town inn room, or Ghoul Hunters supremely confident in their ability to survive any assault.

After a catastrophic incident twenty years prior—when a Corpse Eater corpse reanimated as an Undead within town limits, causing massive destruction—the settlement now banned intact ghoul corpses from entering. Consequently, the northern settlement had become the primary site for initial processing of ghoul and monster materials. Frontline artisans dissected carcasses and conducted preliminary trades here before transporting parts into town for further refinement.

Indeed, the town thriving around Fort Posein relied on two main industries: the so-called "ghoul industry"—crafting weapons, armor, and Magic Tools from forest monsters like Corpse Eaters—and entertainment for the kingdom’s frontier troops, including brothels and taverns.

Master Dwayne’s shop belonged to the former category. After the town-wide chaos triggered by the reanimated ghoul corpse twenty years ago, he’d abandoned his career as a Ghoul Hunter. Partnering with a female artisan whose workshop had been destroyed, he opened a weapon store. Today, his shop ranked among the town’s largest. It forged weapons from ghoul materials and sold armor and Magic Tools crafted from other monsters.

Yet despite his commercial success, Dwayne still preferred personally sourcing materials at the northern Hunter Settlement each week, leaving his shop in the hands of his business partner—and second wife.

For Master Dwayne, his greatest worry wasn’t business. It was his son’s refusal to inherit the shop. Instead, the boy insisted on pursuing the town’s most dangerous profession: Ghoul Hunter.

Today, as usual, Dwayne visited his settlement branch store to buy materials from hunters—and to check on his damn hunter son, Lem.

"Old man! Big business today!"

Speak of the devil. No sooner had Dwayne opened his shop than his troublesome son arrived with three other hunters, dragging a massive Corpse Eater carcass toward the processing annex.

This time, however, a little girl trailed behind Lem.

"Thank you all for looking after my son," Dwayne greeted Lem’s companions before rounding on his son. "Damn it, Lem! I sent you to study in the Royal Capital so you could kill ghouls? You’re hopeless—zero talent for hunting!"

*Here we go again.*

Lem’s partners exchanged identical looks. Experience taught them that intervening in this father-son feud only invited trouble. They stayed silent, waiting for the transaction to end.

Ignoring his father’s scolding, Lem declared, "Cut the crap. Check the ghoul outside. I lured it from deep in the forest using knowledge from the Royal Capital—killed it myself. A large Near-Ancient specimen. I waited five days just for you to buy it. Be grateful, old man!"

Dwayne stepped outside. He examined the ghoul strapped to a wooden sled, measuring its length. "Over four meters tall? Barely qualifies as large. Three gold coins for the whole carcass. Deal?"

"Stop lowballing, you old bastard! That’s not even the main event. Give us a proper offer!"

Dwayne ignored his son, turning to the other hunters. "What do you think of three gold coins?"

"Strong foes to Marn, trades to Lem—that’s Rule One for our team," said Kes, one of Lem’s partners. "Lately, I’ve even been making Lem cook and mend my clothes."

"Hmm. We leave all decisions to Lem," added Marn, the ex-mercenary and strongest hunter in the group.

"Just wrap this up. I plan to unwind all day at the Pleasure Quarter in town," said Kadin, detached.

"And you, little girl?" Dwayne pressed, turning to the silver-haired child behind Lem.

"Same," she replied in a high-pitched, slightly slurred voice.

"Fine. Four gold coins—one for each of you. Agreed?" Dwayne pulled coins from his pocket. "But any future large Near-Ancient kills go to me first."

Lem immediately agreed. He took the coins, split them evenly among his four partners, and watched the other three hunters leave. Marn likely headed to reunite with soldier friends; Kes was dragged off by Kadin toward town revelry.

"Now then," Dwayne ordered apprentices to haul the ghoul carcass inside before facing Lem. "Judging by your tone, there’s more."

"Exactly." Lem dropped a bundle on the table, pointing to the silver-haired girl wrapped in ill-fitting bear-fur clothes. "This girl—Alice—led us to it. We found these inside a hollow tree deep in the forest’s southwest."

"Let me see!" Dwayne began rummaging through Lem’s haul.

"A dozen adult Hornrabbit horns. Decent." His hands paused. His eyes widened. "Is this... Ashfire Bear pelt? Those are tougher than most Corpse Eaters. And this?!"

Dwayne stared dumbfounded at three crimson-red, tennis-ball-sized stones. Lem grinned, savoring his father’s shock. "Not a trick of the light, old man. Three Firebear Crystals. Only one in ten Ashfire Bears carries one. Three of them. Speechless, huh?"

"Hah! You’ve stunned me. Thirty gold coins for everything here. Deal?" Dwayne shifted instantly into merchant mode.

"These aren’t mine to sell. Alice must agree." Lem lifted the girl onto the table to face Dwayne.

"I want clothes and weapons for these. And the stones—I’ll only sell two. Pay the rest in silver coins." The girl fixed Dwayne with a shrewd, businesslike gaze utterly unlike her age, her words still slightly blurred.

"What a remarkable child. Damn kid, did you kidnap her somewhere?"

Lem ignored the question. He gently brushed aside the girl’s silver bangs, revealing a short, blunt horn on her forehead—crooked, as if broken. "See this unnoticeable horn? Looks broken, right? But I checked secretly yesterday. She was born this way. Just like Mom. You know what this means."

"Half-breed Ghostkind." Dwayne, the ex-hunter, understood instantly.

This silver-haired, crimson-eyed girl resembled his first wife—the Ghostkind hybrid who’d died in the riots twenty years ago. *No wonder Lem cares so much about her,* he thought.

"She first spoke in the Great Ghost Clan’s dialect. I believe she’s a hybrid born to Arles Mountain dwellers. To them, mixed blood is taboo—something to be exterminated. Her mother probably abandoned her near Fort Posein with these valuable materials to save her. Irresponsible parents. Even after the Ghostkind riots here twenty years ago, local hunters still despise hybrids."

"Her family must have been utterly desperate. The world forces impossible choices on people—things a brat like you couldn’t possibly grasp." Dwayne stroked the girl’s silver hair.

The crimson-eyed child, lost in the adult conversation, repeated earnestly in halting human speech: "I hunted all that. Truly. I’m not lying."

"Ah, child. You might handle Hornrabbits, but an Ashfire Bear? Impossible for someone your size." Dwayne’s hand remained gentle on her head. "Listen carefully: never let anyone see that horn on your forehead. And keep your Ghostkind blood a secret. From today on, you’ll live with me."

"No one’s handing her to you, old man!" Lem snatched Alice back, cradling her protectively as he glared fiercely at Dwayne. "She’s a born hunter. My three partners and I have decided—we’ll raise her while hunting together. In ten years—no, five!—she’ll surpass even Marn, our strongest."

Clutched in Lem’s arms, Alice looked bewildered. But flushed crimson with shyness, she stayed silent.