The Eastern Temple Branch stood between the market and the Eastern Administrative Office.
Those who prayed and those who made contracts alike came to the Temple.
The mother of a sick child and a merchant seeking to have a debt notarized climbed the same steps.
The Temple spoke of Heaven, but earthly money always changed hands at its threshold.
Kael paused at the foot of the stairs.
The white stone building gleamed cleanly in the morning sunlight. Above its entrance was carved the emblem of scales encircled by the sun.
Mercy and justice.
Kael had seen that emblem countless times in his previous life. On Treasury Office debt guarantee certificates, war relief manifests, and the final ledger.
The emblem had always been clean.
Only the figures written beneath it had been filthy.
"Why did you stop?"
Mira asked beside him.
"Are you going to pray before we go in?"
"No."
"That is a relief. Prayers are usually paid in advance."
Rowan muttered from behind them.
"Can you say something like that in front of the Temple?"
"Man with the sword, the Temple understands talk about receiving money better than anyone."
"I rather like that."
Edric cleared his throat softly.
Kael climbed the stairs.
They had brought four things today. Aldren's confirmation, the Grayden inventory, the External Transaction Proof, and the final three digits of a Temple notarial number.
"There are four documents, but only one purpose?"
"Yes."
"It is like bringing four keys to open one door."
"Because someone locked it from the inside."
The purpose was simple. To open the Temple ledger and inspect it.
To learn whether Riorden was the debtor, or whether someone had dumped an invoice on the Riorden name.
It was quiet inside the Temple Branch.
The scent of incense hung low in the air, and on one side, thin soup was being handed out to the poor.
Kael headed for the notarization counter.
A Temple clerk with a gaunt face sat behind it. Ink stained his fingers.
"What business brings you here?"
"I wish to request inspection of a notarial ledger."
The clerk's hand stopped.
"The notarial ledger is not open to general inspection."
"It is not a general inspection. It is an interested-party inspection."
Kael held out the confirmation.
An interested party. A person whose name was written on the invoice.
The clerk examined the seal and signature.
Aldren Riorden.
"The Riorden Barony."
"That is correct."
"I understand that the Baron is confined to his sickbed."
"He is alive."
"Do you have verification of his survival?"
Kael set down the second document.
It was the confirmation Edric had organized through the night. Edric Valen and Selena Riorden had witnessed it, along with the time of signing and Aldren's condition.
The clerk scanned the document.
"This is an internal confirmation from the house."
"There is External Transaction Proof as well."
Mira stepped forward as though she had been waiting for the moment.
"Mira Belka. I represent the Belka Trading Company."
The clerk's gaze turned toward her.
"I understand that the Belka Trading Company is no longer a formally registered company."
"Just because it is collapsing does not mean it disappears from the register. The tax notices still arrive without fail."
The clerk's face hardened.
Mira produced the contract.
"This is proof of a transaction granting a priority right to purchase twenty-seven bottles of fever-reducing distillate from Warehouse No. 3 of the Grayden Military Supply Depot. We need to inspect the ledger to confirm the rights involved."
"A commercial transaction is not grounds for inspecting a Temple ledger."
"Then are you telling us to trade without confirming the rights to supplies bearing a Temple notarial number?"
"That is the responsibility of the parties involved."
"Fine. Then we will write into the contract that the Eastern Temple Branch refused to verify the notarial number, delaying the transaction, and that the resulting losses may be claimed later."
The clerk's lips pressed together.
Mira smiled.
"I did not say I would make a claim. I said that I could write it."
Kael set down a small slip of paper.
"I have the final three digits of the notarial number. The Provisional Relief Supply Manifest for the Four Eastern Territories. Riorden is one of the four."
The clerk's expression disappeared.
"Where did you see that document?"
"Warehouse No. 3 of the Grayden Military Supply Depot."
"Are you saying you found a Temple-notarized manifest in a military supply depot?"
"Yes."
"The original?"
"It was resealed in the presence of the depot supervisor and a representative of House Seradin."
The clerk's eyes wavered.
"House Seradin?"
Kael did not answer.
That silence was answer enough.
The clerk looked down at the documents again.
"Please wait a moment."
When he went through the inner door, Mira spoke quietly.
"If a Temple clerk falters at the name Seradin, it is one of two things. Either it is a name he knows, or one he is not supposed to hear."
"Both, no doubt."
Edric watched the inner door with an uneasy face.
"Young Master, if we push this too far, we will be confronting the Temple head-on."
"Not head-on yet."
"Then what are we doing?"
"We have merely taken hold of the doorknob."
After a while, the inner door opened.
This time, the clerk was not alone.
A middle-aged priest in white vestments with a gold-threaded sash emerged with him. He had a round face and a gentle smile, with a small rosary wound around his hand.
"Young Master Riorden. I am Matthias Ron, the notarial priest of the Eastern Temple Branch."
Kael looked at him.
The name was not in Kael's memories of his previous life. But his voice belonged to a familiar type. The sort of man who wrapped rejection in politeness.
"I hear that you have requested to inspect a notarial ledger."
"That is correct."
"Unfortunately, notarial ledgers are internal Temple preservation records. Inspection requires strict procedure."
"The procedure has been met."
"You have met some of it. These are interesting materials that merit careful consideration. However, inspection of the ledger requires confirmation from the Central Temple."
"How many days does Central Temple confirmation take?"
"Ordinarily, fifteen days to a month."
"In the meantime, supply prices will change and the deal will die."
"The loss of the transaction is regrettable, but Temple procedure takes priority."
"Do procedures feed people?"
Matthias's smile stiffened slightly.
"Please refrain from such expressions in the Temple."
"People curse procedures like that in the market as well."
Kael looked at Matthias.
"Show me the clause that says Central Temple confirmation is required."
"Pardon?"
"Words are not enough. Show me the clause."
"Temple notarial ledgers ordinarily..."
"Not ordinarily. The clause."
Kael did not raise his voice.
Yet the people around the counter turned to look at him.
When people gathered, the Temple had to watch what it said.
Matthias knew that too.
"Clerk. Bring the notarial inspection regulations."
The clerk brought over a thin booklet.
Matthias turned several pages and pointed to a clause.
"Inspection of a notarial ledger, in principle, requires approval from the Central Temple or discretionary approval from the branch head."
"Discretionary approval from the branch head."
"That is correct. However, the branch head is currently away."
"When will he return?"
"That is undetermined."
"A convenient absence."
Matthias's smile stiffened.
"That is an excessive remark."
At that moment, red letters appeared over the regulations.
[Reason for Denial of Inspection: Insufficient]
[Alternative Procedure Available]
[Authority of the Branch Notarial Priest: Limited Inspection May Be Approved]
Kael narrowed his eyes.
Limited inspection. A procedure for verifying only a specific range of notarial numbers rather than the entire ledger.
Matthias had not mentioned it.
"Limited inspection."
Matthias's fingers stopped over the regulations.
Mira looked at Kael.
"What is that?"
"A procedure for verifying only a specific range of notarial numbers."
Kael looked at Matthias.
"It is possible under the authority of the notarial priest."
"Young Master, where did you learn of the Temple's internal regulations?"
"It is in the regulations, is it not? Turn the page."
Matthias did not move.
Mira spoke from beside Kael.
"Shall I turn it? Merchants read quickly. Especially the lines people are trying to hide."
Matthias finally turned the page.
A clause in small print appeared.
A branch notarial priest may, when there is concern that harm to an interested party will spread, issue a confirmation of the results of a ledger comparison for a specific range of numbers only.
Kael read the clause.
"Concern that harm will spread."
He laid out the transaction proof, the supply inventory, and Aldren's confirmation.
"There is an external transaction, a blocked right of recovery, and the signature of an interested party who is alive."
Kael looked at Matthias.
"I request a limited inspection."
The hall fell silent.
"The final three digits of a notarial number are not enough to specify the range."
"Seventh Supply Order of the Eastern War."
"That alone is still insufficient."
"Provisional Relief Supply Manifest for the Four Eastern Territories."
Matthias's fingertips trembled ever so slightly.
Kael added the last words.
"Warehouse No. 3 of the Grayden Military Supply Depot."
At that moment, red letters appeared before Matthias's chest.
[Recognition Record Exists]
[Related Notarial Ledger: Eastern Relief 7-B]
[Payment: Unpaid]
Eastern Relief 7-B. The name Kael needed had appeared.
Matthias spoke quietly.
"The ledger concerning Eastern relief is an old record."
"Can you find it?"
"I need time."
"How much?"
"Three days."
Mira spoke at once.
"One day."
"That is not for a merchant to decide."
"Then who is going to move in three days? Riorden? Seradin? Or will the ledger walk out on its own?"
Matthias did not answer.
Kael said,
"Compare it today."
"That is impossible."
"Then issue a receipt of request today. Write the request number, the name of the target ledger, the requested inspection range, and the name of the priest in charge."
Matthias's face hardened. Only now had he realized that was Kael's true demand.
It did not matter if they could not see the ledger today. With a receipt of request, the Temple could no longer pretend that the request itself had never existed.
Mira spoke softly.
"Nice. Another piece of paper."
"Paper gains weight when it piles up."
After a long silence, Matthias called to the clerk.
"Prepare the receipt of request. Put my name down as the person in charge."
The clerk began to write the document with a pale face.
Receipt of Request for Limited Inspection of the Eastern Temple Branch Notarial Ledger.
The target was Eastern Relief 7-B. The requester was the Riorden Barony. The external transaction witness was Mira Belka. Matthias Ron was in charge.
As that sentence was written, red letters appeared in Kael's vision.
[Request Received]
[Target Ledger Identified: Eastern Relief 7-B]
[Hidden Debt Tracking Stage Updated]
Kael accepted the document.
The paper was thin, but it was the hardest thing he could obtain today.
"When will the inspection be?"
"Tomorrow at noon."
"Where will the ledger be until then?"
"In the Temple storage room."
"Who is responsible for its custody?"
Matthias's eyes turned to Kael.
"I am."
"Good."
Kael folded the receipt of request.
"Then tomorrow at noon, we will examine it together with the ledger."
Just then, a soup bowl fell somewhere in the hall.
CLANG.
A young boy swayed in front of a junior priest. His face was pale, and his lips were blue.
"Please... just one more healing. Yesterday, you said it would be possible."
The boy's mother choked out the words.
The junior priest looked troubled.
"The grace allotted for today has already..."
He stopped speaking.
Kael's vision wavered above the boy's wrist.
[Cost of Healing: Pending]
[Payer: Undetermined]
[Alternative Billing Candidate: Poor Relief Account]
Kael's hand stopped.
The Temple did more than notarize contracts.
Miracles kept ledgers too.
And in those ledgers, a nameless payment owed by someone was already standing in line.
Matthias said to Kael,
"Today's business is over, Young Master."
Kael did not take his eyes from the boy's wrist.
It was not over.
Another ledger had merely opened.