Inside a dimly lit room, a middle-aged man with blond hair and a scar carved across his cheek sat alone at the head of a lavishly set dining table. His name was Jimmy the leader of the Bounty Hunter Group in Blueish City.
Once a rare Tier 2 Beast Hunter from the perilous New World, Jimmy had relocated to the Aldaria continent after suffering a devastating loss: his beast companion had been killed during his Tier 3 advancement. Though he survived the ordeal, the experience left a lingering shadow in his heart a reminder of how narrowly he escaped death.
Determined to rebuild, Jimmy returned to Aldaria with a singular goal: to accumulate enough wealth to acquire a new beast. Only then could he challenge the monsters of the New World once more and continue climbing the tiers of power.
Upon settling in Blueish City, he founded the Bounty Hunter Group a mercenary guild with a simple rule: anyone could post a bounty, and if the payment was right, Jimmy's hunters would take the job. Under his leadership, the group flourished, gaining a reputation for efficiency and ferocity.
Yet even as the scents of roasted pheasant and rich wine filled the room, Jimmy's eyes didn't linger on the meal. They drifted to the flickering candlelight, casting shadows on the wall. Shadows that reminded him of the beast he'd lost.
It had been a creature unlike any other: a Stormback Vyral, bonded to him during his youth. Agile, intelligent, and fiercely loyal, the beast had carried him through the chaos of the New World's warfronts. But in the trial of Tier 3 advancement, the Stormback was torn apart by a Riftborn Leviathan. Jimmy had survived only because his companion chose to protect him, sacrificing itself in a final burst of elemental fury.
That moment haunted him still.
Just then, hurried footsteps echoed through the corridor. A man in coarse, dirt-stained clothes burst into the room, breathless and wide-eyed. Jimmy barely glanced up he calmly sliced a piece of pheasant breast and brought it to his mouth, chewing with deliberate ease.
The intruder dropped to one knee, head lowered in respect, but his voice betrayed the panic beneath his composure.
"Master Jimmy," he stammered, "Rat is dead."
Jimmy paused mid-chew. The rich taste of pheasant vanished from his senses, replaced by a sharp chill that lanced through his spine. He lowered his fork slowly, his eyes narrowing not with surprise, but with grim clarity.
"Dead? How did he die?"
Jimmy's voice carried the chill of steel, but the subtle tension in his brow betrayed something more. Normally, the death of a subordinate was a footnote in his line of work but Rat was different.
Rat had been his most trusted scout, a man Jimmy once considered bringing to the New World. Thirty missions, each completed with flawless precision. He never overreached, never boasted. Rat had a gift he chose bounties well within his capabilities and mastered them through relentless observation. Before taking on a target, he would lurk silently, gather intelligence for hours, sometimes days, never making a move until he knew every shadow and weakness.
Which is why Jimmy couldn't fathom his death.
His eyes narrowed as he asked again this time in a low, icy tone that made the subordinate flinch.
"Which bounty did he take?"
The man quickly unfurled a worn poster, his fingers trembling slightly.
"Master Jimmy, this is the one. His name is Aaron the abandoned son of the Goldvien family."
Jimmy studied the illustration. The boy's eyes were calm. Too calm.
The subordinate continued, urgency pressing his words.
"Rat took the assignment yesterday. He was just beginning to scout the target. But two hours later, we found him in an alley… throat slit. Clean. No signs of struggle. No blood trail. Just emptiness."
He paused, unsure whether to continue, as if the silence around Jimmy had grown heavier.
Jimmy remained silent, eyes fixed on the poster. Aaron's calm expression felt calculated, more like someone observing the world than reacting to it. The kind of gaze a predator would wear while pretending to be harmless.
He slowly rose from his chair. The clink of cutlery against porcelain was the only sound in the room as the pheasant sat untouched on the plate.
"Rat knew how to vanish into crowds," Jimmy muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "He was a shadow with ears, no one ever saw him coming, and no one ever noticed him leave."
He walked to the window, staring out at the flickering lanterns of Blueish City.
"For someone to kill Rat so cleanly..."
Jimmy turned back, his voice stripped of emotion but heavy with decisions.
"We're dealing with someone who doesn't just sense danger... he invites it."
He reached into a drawer and pulled out a small brass coin engraved with the seal of an internal hunt.
"Send this to Cora. She'll know what to do. And get me everything we have on Aaron bounties, affiliations, childhood records, anything. I want to know what kind of ghost we're dealing with."
The subordinate nodded and hurried out, leaving Jimmy alone once more with the silence, the shadows... and the unmistakable feeling that something had shifted in the city.
Cora, a core member of the Bounty Hunter Team with refined telekinetic abilities, was resting in her quarters when a sudden knock interrupted her silence. Opening the door, she found a guild runner holding a brass coin engraved with Jimmy's seal. Her eyes narrowed.
Without a word, she slipped on her gear and headed for the Bounty Hunter House.
Inside the room, she found Jimmy awaiting her, seated behind a heavy oak desk, shadowed by a flickering lantern light.
"Master Jimmy," she asked, her voice steady but curious, "why have you summoned me?"
Jimmy leaned forward, his tone bleak. "I have a task. One I hope only you can handle."
He tossed a wanted poster across the table. It slid to a halt before her: Aaron—cold-eyed, expression unreadable.
"I want you to find him... and kill him."
Cora's gaze locked onto the face on the poster. Her pupils constricted. Fear swept across her expression.
"Master Jimmy," she whispered, "are you certain this man is still alive?"
Jimmy frowned, suspicion crawling into his voice. "What do you mean by still alive?"
Cora hesitated, then spoke with quiet urgency. "I killed him. Four days ago. I fulfilled the bounty myself and I received the payment."
Jimmy's expression darkened, the lines on his face deepening. "You're sure?"
"I remember it clearly." Her voice trembled now. "I used my telekinesis to draw his dagger from its sheath and drive it into his heart. He looked... confused. Not fearful. Just... startled. I confirmed his death checked the body myself before leaving."