In a state in the southern United States, the land was vast and sparsely populated. On the seemingly barren wasteland, countless Gold-Eaters scurried through the dirt.
These were 2X-danger-level Fantastic Beasts, with appearances somewhere between pangolins and giant beetles. They could gnaw through ores and other relatively hard substances. They had little value as Potion Ingredients; the only useful thing they produced was the armor plating on their bodies.
That plating was excellent at warding off physical attacks, and many Alchemists used it to make thread for Wizarding Robes.
It could even be turned into armor by threading a rope through the tiny holes that formed naturally in it.
Gold-Eaters usually lived in places with little rain, because they were especially prone to attracting lightning. When lightning struck, it could kill a whole swarm at once.
This was clearly an ideal place for them to live. At night, they could be seen everywhere.
But anyone who ventured among them to take a closer look would notice that the Gold-Eaters deliberately avoided a spot in the middle of the wasteland, where a range of hills stood.
On those hills stood a castle, invisible to the naked eye and shrouded in magic.
The crest of the Goyle family, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight pure-blood families, hung above the castle's gates.
"Ah~~~"
Goyle cried out and jolted awake in the soft bed, staring blankly at everything unfamiliar around him.
A moment later, a middle-aged witch came rushing in like a madwoman, holding a candlestick. She stared intently at Goyle. "Child, you had a dream, didn't you? What did you see?"
Goyle wiped the sweat from his brow and looked at her in terror. "Mum, I don't know why, but I've been having nightmares so often lately. Could I please stop drinking those awful