Before noon, Kael arrived in front of the Temple.
He had barely slept through the night, but the fatigue did not show on his face.
A tired creditor looked weak.
An angry creditor made the other party wary.
And a quiet creditor made the other party uneasy.
Kael chose the third.
The same scent of incense as yesterday drifted across the Temple's white steps. Two junior priests stood guard before the doors.
Mira said softly,
"What a warm welcome."
Rowan replied,
"That is warm enough. At least they are not holding swords."
"This is a Temple."
"That is why they are more frightening. They will hold documents instead of swords."
Kael did not interrupt them.
At times, a joke made the tension stand out more sharply.
He took the receipt of request from inside his coat.
Receipt of Request for Limited Inspection of a Notarial Ledger.
The target was Eastern Relief 7-B, and the person in charge was Matthias Ron.
As Kael climbed the stairs, one of the junior priests blocked his way.
"General notarization services have been postponed until this afternoon."
"Good."
"Pardon?"
"I am not here for general notarization services."
The eyes of the people waiting at the foot of the stairs turned toward them.
A trading company errand boy, the wife of a fallen noble, and a farmer all looked over.
They did not know who Kael was. But they knew well enough that it was not a common sight for a priest to block someone's way at the Temple doors while that person raised a document.
The Temple was strongest when it was quiet.
So Kael made a small blemish in that silence.
"Priest Matthias is briefly..."
"He said we would meet at noon."
Kael held up the receipt of request.
"It was the Temple that made that promise. Are you going to make me wait at the door?"
The junior priest's lips hardened.
When there was a document, words grew fewer.
That was the advantage of documents.
A moment later, Matthias Ron walked out from inside.
He was more immaculate than he had been yesterday.
When neatness went too far, it looked like a defense.
"Young Master Riorden."
"It is noon."
"I know. However, a small problem has arisen."
Mira gave a very small laugh.
"A small problem."
Kael did not look at Mira.
"Is the ledger absent?"
Matthias's smile stiffened.
"It would not be correct to say it is absent."
"Then what?"
"The ledger chest seal requires inspection."
"Good. Then write this down."
"What shall I write?"
"Eastern Relief 7-B could not be inspected at noon because its ledger chest seal required inspection."
Matthias's expression vanished.
Kael continued.
"And the person responsible for its custody is Matthias Ron. You said so yourself yesterday."
"Young Master. This is not something you should state so definitively."
"Then do not state it definitively."
Kael took a step closer.
"Write that the Temple could not immediately determine the ledger chest's whereabouts."
One of the junior priests swallowed.
Matthias lowered his eyes.
"This is a Temple."
"Which is why documents matter even more."
"Do not insult the Temple's procedures."
"I am not the one who insulted the procedure."
Kael took out the scrap of torn envelope he had found behind the apothecary the night before.
"A transfer order moved before its receipt confirmation was complete."
Matthias's gaze fell on the scrap of paper.
For a brief instant.
His pupils wavered.
It was a reaction that did not require the Eye of Settlement to see.
Mira whispered,
"The price just went up."
Rowan asked,
"The price of what?"
"That paper."
"How much?"
"About as much as Priest Matthias's composure?"
Matthias said in a low voice,
"It is dangerous to pressure the Temple with a scrap of paper whose origin cannot be verified."
"The dangerous thing is not the scrap of paper."
Kael unfolded the receipt of request.
"It is the fact that, after a receipt of request was issued, the target ledger chest was moved in the middle of the night."
"No such fact has been confirmed."
"Then confirm it."
"Procedure is required."
"Good. Let us proceed by procedure."
"First, the Temple received a request to inspect the Eastern Relief 7-B ledger."
The eyes of those in the Temple hall turned toward them one by one.
"Second, it promised inspection at noon today."
Matthias's jaw hardened.
"Third, at the time of inspection, the ledger chest's whereabouts are unclear."
"I cannot accept that wording."
"Then bring the ledger."
Silence.
That brief silence was Matthias's answer.
Kael smiled.
"Fourth, part of a transfer order whose receipt confirmation was not complete was discovered outside."
"Stop."
"Fifth. We will prepare a written confirmation of the ledger's absence, recording these facts, now."
The air in the hall turned cold.
Many people demanded documents from the Temple. But few demanded that the Temple write a document unfavorable to itself within its own walls.
Matthias looked Kael straight in the eye.
"Young Master, do you want to inspect the ledger, or do you want to disgrace the Temple?"
"If I have to choose only one, the ledger."
"Then wait."
"Waiting is what debtors do."
Kael's voice lowered.
"I came here today as a requester."
Matthias let out a long breath.
"Come to the limited inspection room."
Kael raised a brow.
"Did you not say the ledger was absent?"
"The original ledger chest is under inspection. You may examine a comparison copy instead."
"A comparison copy."
"It is a confirmation copy that transcribes part of a notarial ledger's contents."
Mira crossed her arms.
"You cannot show us the original, so you are offering us a copied note instead."
"That is not an appropriate way to put it."
"That is what merchants usually call it."
Kael thought for a moment.
It was not a complete victory.
But it was enough to open the door.
"Fine. But write the reason for inspecting the comparison copy."
"What shall I write?"
"Priority inspection of a comparison copy because the original ledger chest is under inspection."
Matthias's mouth stiffened.
"Young Master, you truly do not spare your wording."
"I have seen wording kill people."
The limited inspection room was behind the main sanctuary. It contained nothing but a long table and chairs, and a low bookshelf with iron fittings.
A junior priest took a thin copy of a ledger from the bottom compartment of the bookshelf.
A gray cover bound with a red cord.
Small letters were written in the middle of the cover. Eastern Relief 7-B.
Kael's fingertips moved almost imperceptibly.
At last.
Matthias placed the copy on the table.
"The inspection range is limited to entries directly related to the Riorden Barony."
"That is enough."
"Copying is prohibited."
"What about memory?"
Matthias looked at Kael.
"There is no way to prohibit that."
"That is fortunate."
The cover opened.
The smell of old paper spread through the room.
To ordinary eyes, there were only rows of numbers, names, and dates. But Kael could see the edges of scraped-out names and claims that had been assigned in the wrong direction.
[Eastern Relief 7-B]
[Original Claim Target: Four Eastern Territories]
[Actual Payer: Deleted]
[Guarantor: Imperial Eastern Military Supply Office]
[Collateral Treatment: Temporary Vesting of Rights in Riorden's Name]
Kael's eyes stopped.
Collateral treatment.
Temporary vesting of rights in Riorden's name.
That one line mattered.
Riorden had not simply been put into debt.
Someone had made the relief costs for the four eastern territories pass over Riorden's name, and in the process bound rights in Riorden's name as collateral.
What had been bound could be unbound. What could be unbound could be claimed.
Kael looked at the next lines.
[Alternative Billing Candidate: Temple Healing Account]
[Partial Diversion of Relief Supplies]
[Payer Mismatch]
Kael slowly lifted his head.
"Matthias."
"Yes."
"This is a relief ledger, correct?"
"It is."
"Then why is the Healing Account attached to it?"
Matthias's eyes hardened.
"When patients arise during relief operations, the Temple's healing support is provided as well."
"If it is support, it should not be billed."
"The Temple expends resources too."
"Who paid for those resources?"
Matthias did not answer.
Kael pointed at one of the lines in the copy with a finger.
"The payer has been erased here."
"It is an old record."
"Names do not disappear just because a record is old."
"The ink may have faded."
"The ink faded, but only the erased portion is clean."
Mira said softly,
"Very diligent ink. It only aged where it needed to."
Rowan asked earnestly,
"Does ink like that exist?"
"No."
"I see."
Matthias's face hardened.
Kael looked at the ledger again. The Eye of Settlement read the pressure left in the margin of the final line.
[Accounting Seal Trace Detected]
[Affiliation: House Seradin Accounting Office]
Kael's heart gave a low beat.
Seradin.
That name was no longer a coincidence.
The cost of maintaining the hidden passage behind the apothecary. The ledger transfer order. An accounting seal in the relief ledger.
The lines connected.
Matthias carefully opened his mouth.
"Have you inspected enough?"
"No."
"We have confirmed only one thing."
Kael removed his hand from the ledger.
"Riorden is not the end of this debt."
The room fell silent.
"What do you mean?"
"It means Riorden is not the one who must repay it. It is the one who must ask who paid in its stead."
"That is an excessive interpretation."
"Then correct it."
Kael placed the receipt of request and the scrap of the torn transfer order on the table.
"Bring the original."
Matthias's lips stiffened.
"The original is..."
"Under repair?"
Matthias did not answer.
"Under seal inspection?"
Silence.
"Or has someone not yet completed receipt confirmation?"
At those words, the blood drained from Matthias's face.
Kael was certain.
That man knew. Even if he did not know everything, he at least knew where the ledger had gone.
"Matthias. It is today, not tomorrow."
"What is?"
"Inspection of the original ledger."
"That is impossible."
"Then write a confirmation of impossibility. Put this down as the reason."
Kael's finger pressed down on the scrap of the torn transfer order.
"After its inspection request was received, the original Eastern Relief 7-B ledger left its storage location without receipt confirmation."
"I cannot write that wording."
"Then bring the original."
Silence again.
This time, it lasted longer.
Hurried footsteps came running down the corridor outside. The door opened, and a junior priest entered.
He stopped when he saw Kael.
"Speak."
The junior priest looked at Matthias.
Matthias gave a very slight shake of his head.
But it was too late.
Kael's gaze had fallen on the small note the junior priest held.
[Ledger Chest Arrival Report]
[Recipient: Blank]
[Temporary Location: Underground Offering Chamber]
The Underground Offering Chamber.
Kael smiled slowly.
"You found it."
Matthias's eyes turned to him.
"What are you talking about?"
"The ledger."
Kael rose from his seat.
"Now we will go see the original."
"Outsiders are forbidden from entering that place."
"An outsider?"
Kael held up the receipt of request.
"My name is already in your ledger."
He looked down at the copy of the ledger.
Eastern Relief 7-B. Bound inside it was not Riorden's fall, but the first right Riorden had to reclaim.
And at the end of that right, Seradin's shadow had been stamped.
Kael said to Matthias,
"Open the door."
His voice was low.
"We need to go to the room where the borrower is hiding."