Chapter 1: Visitors from Afar

Summer weather is like a child's face, changing without warning. One day it was scorching hot, then a torrential downpour followed. By nightfall, the rain had stopped, but a thick fog had spread across the city.

The air was stagnant and heavy, as wet as if it had substance, and it also brought a bone-chilling chill. If a pedestrian walked in this fog, he would probably be soaked all over.

On the gray streets, street lamps stood quietly on both sides. At 8 o'clock every night, the magic devices installed in the street lamps automatically ignited, and balls of magical flames suddenly appeared, happily devouring the lamp oil in the nearly rhombus-shaped lamps, and then burned steadily.

The fog struggled to block the light, creating a glowing orange core centered on the streetlight. A warm, orange halo rippled outward like water, gradually diffusing and weakening in the mist, transforming into a series of fluffy, white circles around the periphery.

These round, hazy orange balls of light, with a strange grayish-white halo, floating faintly in the fog, combined with the equally hazy black iron lampposts, resembled tall, upright dandelions. And this fog-shrouded town was like a quiet, eerie forest.

Click, squeak, click, squeak...

A strange sound that gave people goose bumps came rhythmically from the misty fog. Gradually, a black square shadow appeared in the fog.

A moment later, four chestnut horses emerged from the mist, pulling a black iron carriage. The horses' hooves struck the cobblestones one after another, making a crisp clicking sound; the wheels turned and creaked.

The carriage drove through the long street and stopped in front of a vacant house. The driver, dressed in black leather and a bird-beaked doctor's mask, jumped down from his seat, opened the door of the black iron carriage, bowed respectfully, and raised his hand.

A hand, completely covered in a black glove, reached out from the darkness of the carriage and rested on the driver's raised hand. A figure, shrouded in a black hooded robe, emerged from the carriage, using the driver's force. The figure raised their head and looked toward the other side of the street. The hood tilted back slightly, revealing... a silver-white mask.

In the gray fog, the warm light shining through the window of the house across the street was so eye-catching that the hooded man involuntarily took a few steps in that direction until he bumped into the closed gate and saw the two signs hanging on the house:

[Master Yu's Brewing Workshop] [The best delicacy in the Principality of Huntington! Maybury Huntington]

"Ha!" the hooded figure sneered. "The most delicious food in Huntington? That's it? Maybury is getting more and more confused."

The man swung his sleeves, turned around angrily, and walked back. On the way, he kicked the driver and said, "What are you standing there for? Get back to work!"

"yes!"

-------

The noisy sounds outside were completely blocked out by the tightly closed windows. Inside, a skeleton lay upright on the wooden bed, its two bony claws crossed on its ribs, sleeping like a typical corpse.

If it weren't for a snot bubble floating lightly in front of its nostril, growing bigger and smaller, growing bigger, and then shrinking again in response to the rhythm of its breathing, people who didn't know what was going on would probably really think that there was a corpse lying here that had turned into bones.

The white bone bird lying on its head suddenly raised its head, and two small soul fires lit up in its little skull. It looked out the window thoughtfully, shook its head, and tucked its head under its bone wings.

The light in the pupils dimmed again, and the only thing left in the room was the candle on the table in front of the window, still burning quietly on the candlestick, emitting warm light.

A black cat with two tails patrolled past the half-open door, suddenly stopped, jumped onto the table, and blew out the candle.

It landed lightly on the ground again, crawled out of the room, and continued its duties of patrolling the house and guarding its territory.

——With the guardian spirit here, no mouse or cockroach in this house will be able to see the sun the next day, absolutely not!

-------

For decades, Aunt Wolf, Melon Ho Talia, had woken up at six in the morning. Wearing a round nightcap, she sat up in bed, yawning dazedly. It took several minutes for her to finally wake up.

She stretched out in a standard downward dog pose, shook out her hair that was messy due to her bad sleeping posture, and made herself fluffy again.

She changed her nightcap into a big bow, picked out a pink dress from the closet, put on her favorite pearl necklace around her neck, and finally cleaned her sharp teeth with tooth powder... Aunt Wolf looked at herself in the mirror and nodded with satisfaction.

From today on, she will no longer work for Jiangyou, but will go to help Holly.

Of course, for a retired teacher of her age, she doesn't work for money, but simply to find something to do and add some fun to her life.

Helping out at Jiangyou's place, I can eat all kinds of delicious food, chat with the guests, and hear all kinds of gossip, which is really relaxing.

However, the brewing workshop's food was so popular that when the number of customers increased, her old bones seemed unable to keep up. For the sake of her own health, Aunt Wolf decided to quit her job and spend half the morning strolling over to Holly's place, helping him with his accounts and running the business. In the afternoon, she would return to Jiangyou's workshop as a guest, tasting the food and listening to the gossip.

Hey, when she thought about it, she felt that life was wonderful!

She happily opened the door. The fog from last night had dissipated, and the air was much fresher. She took a deep breath and saw Jiang You coming out from next door to collect vegetables. "Xiao You~ Good morning!"

"Good morning~" The Skeleton Lich lifted his skull and gave her a rather unorthodox hat-off salute: "Auntie, are you going to Holly's today? Say hello to him for me~"

"Okay!" Aunt Wolf grinned, greeted the Haf driver, and got on the unloaded carriage.

The driver was still settling the bill for today's meals with Jiang You. While Aunt Wolf was waiting, she boredly lifted the curtain in front of the window and looked at the scenery outside.

"Huh?" She suddenly noticed someone in the vacant store across the street. "Did someone buy that store too?"

When this area was prosperous, it was also a bustling commercial area. Shops with front-storey shops and back-rooms were interspersed with residents' houses. If you wanted to buy something, you only had to walk a few steps outside. It was extremely convenient.