— The Emperor’s Imperial Record, Entry No. 12 —

  I’d gotten the equipment for the traps from Big Randy.

  It only took two days, but he was right about the quality. I made sure to keep them in a special bag that he gave me.

  The forest surrounded me as I walked through it, moving to the same place I had caught the previous beaver. I hoped to catch more there. It would make it an easy job. I’d get all the beavers I could, and take as much silver from Azul as I could wring out.

  I bent down right next to my old trap, the one that had caught the beaver last time, intending to replace it with fixings from the equipment I had gotten.

  But it was bloody and broken, with fur and ligaments strewn across its edges.

  Something had taken my catch.

  I got up, looking intensely around me for any clues, before I examined the ground.

  ‘How did I not notice?’ There were footprints on the ground, claw marks on the trees. It must have been a bear.

  The beavers had definitely left now. All of them. The moment they started getting hunted by predators, they’d move to find a new spot.

  The reason I was able to do it was because I just kept a trap in the ground. Judging by the fact that there was a trail of muddied blood leading from the lake and deeper into the forest, I was guessing that the bear didn’t just take one.

  Sighing in frustration, I walked around the lake. Maybe I should have left, but I wanted to know the full extent of the damage. There were two little tracks that followed the larger one. Occasionally moving off only to come back again.

  A mother bear and her cubs. They must have been preparing for winter. Stocking up on as much food as they could before there wouldn’t be any.

  There was no way the beavers would be coming back to this spot.

  “Damn it.” I had already promised Big Randy and Azul I’d be able to get them the beavers they wanted. If I didn’t get them, then Azul would have all the more reason to look down on me.

  Even if I didn’t care much for his thoughts, he was still a large source of my income.

  Not to mention, I had only just started the partnership with Big Randy. Failing to deliver like this, especially when he had already given me the equipment for the traps, was unacceptable.

  Now, I had to find a new spot. Fast.

  I left the place quickly. I may have had deals to fulfill with Azul and Big Randy, but I still had to keep wild animals out of the grain fields. Even though in the past few days, I had made sure to hunt extra so it didn’t seem like I was shirking my work, the overseer wasn’t pleased at how little I was in the fields.

  If it wasn’t for the fact that I had actually caught more animals than usual over these past few days, I was sure he would have removed me from my position, or at least increased his percentage of the cut.

  But I made sure to check my other traps as I was leaving. At the very least, they should have caught something.

  It was a waste.

  Two of my traps had been tampered with. They were near the ruined beaver site, so it was probably the bear.

  The others were all empty. Either nothing had wandered in, or the animals escaped.

  Today was not shaping up to be a good day.

  If I wanted to avoid angering the supervisor more than I already had, I’d have to hunt down the damn animals myself.

  By the time I was heading back, the wheat fields were already stirring with early workers. Huo Qianlei wasn’t here yet. He’d been working less these past few weeks, and I could tell his back was thanking him for it.

  A few farmers waved to me.

  That was good.

  A smile lit my face as I thought about it. I was glad that so many people saw me in a good light. Huo Qianlei’s advice was working. Not only had I avoided making enemies, but I even had some people who were friendly towards me on the fields.

  If it kept going on like this, then that could mean more opportunities for me.

  I made my way to Azul’s tannery. I was going to settle on a part of the deal we’d made earlier about wild animals in the forest, and the best places to catch them.

  There were already some spots in my mind I had taken note of to check later. I had a decent idea already, but more information wouldn’t hurt, especially if I wanted this done as soon as possible.

  I’d already tried going to Tarig, the butcher, but he wasn’t much help. He only knew about butchering animals, not where they lived. He told me he spent his whole life in the city and didn’t have much reason to care.

  But Azul? I was sure he knew something. His workshop was outside the gates of the Silverscale district, and he hung around a lot of fur traders and hunters.

  If anyone had information about where I could quickly find some beavers, it was him.

  ###

  I knocked on Azul’s door once. Then again.

  I didn’t know it before, but it turned out that Azul didn’t live at his tanning workshop.

  His apprentice answered the door, blinking sleep from his eyes.

  “Where is your master, Azul?” I asked.

  The boy answered with bleary eyes. “He’s not here, I’ll get him.”

  He offered me some water, which I declined before locking the door and hurrying away, so I waited.

  A few minutes passed, and Azul still wasn’t here

  Then ten.

  Then an hour and neither the boy nor Azul had come to meet me.

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  It took till the sun had fully risen before Azul finally appeared. I could feel the heat rising in my chest now. This was definitely intentional.

  “What do you want?” Azul asked, his expression blank. His apprentice stood beside him, red-faced, clearly embarrassed by his master’s uncaring attitude.

  “I had a few questions,” I said. “We had a deal about you telling me some information. Something happened at the spot where I caught the beavers last time.”

  Azul’s brow twitched. “Huh? What happened? You can still get the required quantity, right?”

  “That depends. Do you know of any good lakes or ponds?” I crossed my arms. “I need to find new trapping areas, and it would be best if I don’t waste time searching blindly.”

  Azul scoffed. “What makes you think I’d know?”

  “Tarig told me you work with a lot of hunters and trappers. I figured you would.”

  “Hmph.” Azul rolled his shoulders lazily, glancing at his apprentice. “If it’ll help your search, then I have no problem. I have a few maps of the area, courtesy of some hunters I’ve done business with. When you do good work, people notice, eh?”

  He gestured, and his apprentice hurried off, “You know, I’ve been hearing a lot about you lately. Mingling with other peasants. You must fit right in.”

  At this point, I was starting to get a little tired because I had woken up earlier than usual. I yawned, looking for a bench to sit down on.

  “All that talk of you being the best hunter, and look at that. You still need me and my expertise.”

  Another yawn. Jabs like that were normal for Azul. If I responded to all of them, I would never leave his tannery. His apprentice returned a few moments later with the maps.

  Azul took them without looking and threw them over to me like he was tossing scraps to a beggar.

  “What happened, anyway?” he asked.

  “A bear,” I said. “A mother, with cubs. She must have been looking for food and destroyed the beaver habitat. They all left.”

  Azul laughed. “Look at that! The big talker over here can’t even get what he promised?” His grin widened. “I guess after all this time, you still haven’t gotten to know our forests around here, eh? Should I be surprised?”

  My grip on the maps tightened as heat rushed through my face. *Tch* I was starting to have enough of this man, but I kept calm. This wasn’t enough to make me lose control of my emotions.

  My father had done his best to beat that out of me. It wasn’t any help when you were face first with a wolf.

  “I made a deal with you,” I said, voice even. “And I’ll keep it.” I straightened. “But if you’re just going to mock me, I’d rather leave now.”

  His face contorted, surprised that I would keep talking back to him. “You think we are equals? I make you more silver than anyone in this backwater dung heap of a city. Make sure to remember that next time you speak to me.”

  ‘What is wrong with this man?’ As far as I knew, even with all his connections, he was still a peasant like me. “You only pay me so much because I bring you the best quality. I’ve seen the carcasses of the other hunters. Don’t pretend like you’re doing this out of some misplaced goodness in your heart.”

  I turned around to leave, map in hand. No matter how annoying he was, he was still right about the silver. “I’m going to fulfill the deal we made. If you can’t close your mouth for a while, then let me know. We can break off this deal right now.”

  Azul shrugged. “Go ahead. I should have known better than to expect anything from a foreign peasant like you.”

  A pause.

  Then, under his breath, he muttered: “Fán Zhǒng.”

  I froze.

  It was an old phrase. Dead language, even by the time I wrote this record. Mortal Breed.

  It meant ordinary. Less than ordinary. Insignificant. But more than that it was a phrase meant for men with deformed ethereal bridges. For people like me.

  How did he know? Who had told him?

  I clenched my teeth. The maps hit the floor with a flutter that sent a sharp slap through the silence. His apprentice flinched.

  For one of the few times in my life, I shouted.

  “How dare you!” I got close to him. I wasn’t that tall, but I was muscular and lean. “Don’t make me force you to take back that statement.”

  Azul barely reacted. He just looked at me, like he was looking at a child throwing a tantrum.

  It was a look of impotence. My impotence.

  My blood burned. I almost raised a hand to hit him, but I held myself back. ‘That wouldn’t do.’

  I stormed off.

  Maps be damned.

  They had been out long enough for me to see a good chunk anyway

  I’d figure out the rest myself.

  Azul watched Khan’s back as he stomped away. Not caring in the slightest. “At least that boy knows his place now.”

  His apprentice stuttered a response, “Master, why do that? He’s one of our best suppliers, and–”

  “Quiet.” His apprentice immediately turned his gaze to the ground, “What do you know? Hunters like him must know their place. Otherwise, he’ll keep treating me like one of his equals.”

  The apprentice kept silent, but Azul could see that he still wanted to respond. “Go ahead, say what you want to say.”

  “E-even if he brings us the best hauls? Aren’t you afraid of losing such a good supplier?”

  Bah! Azul waved his hands like he was batting away a fly, “If I really need to, I’ll find another supplier and pay more. Weren’t you the one who told me? He’s a Fán Zhǒng. He’ll only live half as long as us anyway with those deformed ethereal bridges.”

  He took some sort of plant from a box, then started chewing on it. Spitting it out only a few moments later.

  “Even if we won’t ever become cultivators, we still need qi to live, so what about him? Especially as a hunter? One day, he’ll get old enough, and his strength will suddenly give out somewhere while on a hunt. We can’t depend on him.”

  My chest heaved as I stormed away from Azul’s house, my fists clenched so tightly that my nails dug into my palms, drawing tiny beads of blood.

  The words bit harder than anything else Azul had said.

  Fán Zhǒng. Mortal Breed. A man of the mud. A man who could never cultivate.

  The streets of the district blurred as I marched through, my vision clouded by a shameful rage.

  I didn’t stop until I reached the edge of the grain fields. There, the trees loomed like silent sentinels. The knife at my belt felt heavier than usual, and the bow and arrows I carried seemed to pulse with a promise of violence.

  The forest was quiet, save for the occasional rustle of leaves and the distant call of a bird. My breathing slowed as I ventured deeper, and my mind churned with thoughts of promises I couldn’t escape. My father’s face surfaced in my memory—stern, weathered.

  He was drunk, husks of cheap ale strewn around despite my best efforts to clean up after him.

  It was one of those rare few times my father had let me see through that jolly mask, “This old bastard is simply a dog trying to father a tiger,” the old man had once said, his voice heavy.

  Jaw tight, I pushed the memory aside. My father had been wrong. He wasn’t a dog. He wasn’t just some lowlife.

  It was my duty to make his legacy mean something.

  I straightened. The knife felt cold in my grip as I moved through the underbrush, my eyes scanning for signs of life. The thought of the bear who had stolen my beavers crossed my mind, but I dismissed it.

  ‘Let it come.’ I wasn’t afraid.

  Stopping for a moment and leaning against a tree to catch my breath. I took a moment to pay attention to my senses. The forest was alive around me, crickets chiming in the dark and the familiar sounds of owls hooting as they swallowed down their prey, but I felt disconnected from it, as if I were an intruder in a world that didn’t want me.

  But it didn’t matter. I moved deeper into the forest, my senses sharp, my eyes scanning for any sign of beaver activity. The knife in my hand felt like an extension of myself, a tool of survival and vengeance. I would find what I was looking for, no matter how long it took.

  The forest held its breath as I sank into its depths, and my knife gleamed in the fading light.

  A branch snapped in the distance, and my grip tightened on the bow.

  The hunt had begun.

  I moved through the darkness like a ghost, my bow in one hand, and my arrow notched in the other.

  Hours had passed, and the forest had grown darker. The sun had disappeared behind the trees, leaving the world bathed in twilight. My frustration grew with every step.

  I had found nothing—no tracks, no gnawed branches, no signs of beavers. It was as if they had completely left the forest.

  Stopping by a small stream, I knelt down to splash water on my face. The coldness of it shocked me, pulling me out of my thoughts for a moment. I stared at my reflection in the water, barely recognizing the man who looked back at me. My eyes were dark, my face hard and unyielding. I looked like a man on the edge, a man capable of terrible things.

  And maybe I was.

  The thought scared me, but also excited me. I had always been in control, always careful, always calculating. But now, I felt something else—a raw, primal energy that demanded release. I wanted to lash out, to destroy, to prove to the world that I was not to be underestimated.

  I was Khan, and I would make something of myself, no matter what it took.