"They make for a satisfying read."
At Kael's words, the unfamiliar man's smile thinned ever so slightly.
That one sentence laid Allen's dignity bare before the ledger did. The people gathered here were no longer reading documents, but the expressions on people's faces.
He descended the stairs. A black coat, silver buttons, and gloves bearing the crest of House Seradin. That crest alone was enough to make the junior priests lower their heads.
Matthias Ron swallowed.
Mira did not move away from the ledger.
Rowan's hand still rested on the hilt of his sword.
The man spoke first.
"I am Allen Berg, Lord Viktor Seradin's agent."
Kael tilted his head.
"An agent."
"My coming here today is a coincidence."
"That sort of coincidence is expensive."
Allen's eyes narrowed.
"Jokes are cheap. What you said just now was an appraisal."
Mira gave a small cough. It was a cough meant to hide a laugh.
Allen glanced at her once, then looked back at Kael.
"I understand why Riorden is interested in the ledger. However, old relief records are tied to the reputations of many houses."
"Whose?"
"Everyone's."
"A convenient word."
"When too many people are hurt, the one who struck them disappears."
Allen did not answer.
That silence was enough.
In his past life, Kael had seen much of this sort of silence. Those responsible always offered silence first.
Kael asked,
"Does Viktor Seradin know this ledger?"
Allen smiled gently.
"Many ledgers pass through House Seradin's Accounting Office."
"Then this must be one among those many ledgers."
"That is correct."
"Good."
Kael looked at Mira.
"Write it down."
Mira blinked.
"Now?"
"Now."
Kael spoke slowly.
"Allen Berg acknowledged that Eastern Relief 7-B was one of the ledgers that passed through House Seradin's Accounting Office."
Allen's smile stopped.
"That twists the intent of my words."
"Then say it differently."
The Underground Offering Chamber fell quiet.
Mira waited with the tip of her pen poised over the paper.
Rowan looked at Allen with a serious face.
After a moment, Allen smiled.
"You are more particular than I expected, Young Master."
"That is not a compliment yet."
"I cannot say this ledger is directly related to House Seradin."
"Then say it is not directly related."
"That has not been confirmed either."
Mira murmured under her breath.
"In a merchant's terms, that means you saw the goods but never bought them, and there is no receipt proving you did not buy them either."
Rowan nodded.
"Suspicious."
"Very suspicious."
For the first time, Allen looked at Mira for a long time.
"You are the daughter of Belka Supply Trading Company."
Mira's fingers stopped.
"There are still people who remember that name."
"You were a good trading partner."
"Do good trading partners pay money and then have their names erased?"
Allen did not answer.
Mira's eyes turned cold.
"Then I suppose we were bad trading partners."
"Allen Berg."
"Speak."
"Riorden will take this ledger out today."
Matthias hurriedly interjected.
"The original cannot be removed."
"The original will stay here."
Kael answered at once.
"Instead, I will obtain a confirmation. Original ledger inspection. Traces of deleted payer entries. The Seradin accounting seal. Temporary vesting of Riorden's collateral rights. A request for a cross-check by the Military Supply Office."
Matthias's lips went dry.
"To document that many items at once would require the Temple's internal procedures..."
"Procedure is what lets you live."
"Or shall I write that an agent of House Seradin came to stop the Temple's procedures?"
Matthias's pen stopped over the form. The paper that had been a sacred record just moments ago had, in an instant, become a blade for choosing who would be held responsible.
Allen slowly removed his gloves.
"You are making an enemy too difficult to handle, Young Master."
"I have not put you down as an enemy yet."
"Then what do you intend to put us down as?"
"A debtor candidate."
Allen gave a short laugh.
"You intend to make Seradin a debtor?"
"More precisely, someone who left a debt hanging."
Kael opened the final page of the ledger again.
"There is a proxy signature from House Seradin's Accounting Office here. The payer disappeared, and Riorden's collateral rights were bound. The ledger is in the Temple, and the guarantor is the Military Supply Office."
"Complicated."
"That is why it is good."
Kael smiled.
"Cowards hate complicated debts, and those who know how to calculate buy them."
Allen's gaze wavered. It was not anger, but interest.
Seradin was not strong because it had won. It was strong because it chose only the games it could win.
Kael spoke.
"You said you wanted to handle this quietly."
Matthias raised his voice in haste.
"That is what I..."
"Good. Let us set the price of quiet."
Allen's eyes narrowed.
"Is what you ultimately want money, Young Master?"
"Money is the result."
"Then what is it?"
"Flow."
"There should be a military supply depot accessible through the Riorden collateral rights bound to Eastern Relief 7-B."
Matthias's shoulders stiffened.
Allen's expression did not change.
But his eyes moved once, slowly.
He had hit the mark.
"Riorden will exercise its rights over the remaining supplies in that depot and part of the advance deposit."
"The Grayden Military Supply Depot is under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Military Supply Office."
"That is why I need a request for a cross-check in the Temple's name."
"I do not know whether the Military Supply Office will accept it."
"Then make it accept it."
"Who will?"
Kael looked at Allen.
"The person who wants to prove that this ledger is not directly related to House Seradin."
Allen's smile vanished.
Mira stopped her pen.
Rowan gave a low exclamation.
"Ah."
"Do you understand?"
"Yes. To show that there is no connection, he has to help as though there is one."
"The wording is strange, but that is right."
Mira gave a small laugh.
"Sir Knight, you are using more ledger talk."
"It is not a good sign."
Matthias had no leisure to look at the two of them.
He was looking at Allen.
Allen was silent for a long time.
Then he said,
"Have the Temple draft the confirmation."
Matthias's face stiffened.
"Mr. Berg."
"I did not come to obstruct anything. I came to reduce misunderstandings about old records."
Kael laughed inwardly. The words had changed. When words changed, documents followed.
Matthias finally took out a Temple form.
The words written on it were no longer prayers. They were a price.
Confirmation of original ledger inspection. Confirmation of traces of deleted payer entries. Confirmation of the presence of the Seradin accounting seal. Confirmation of the temporary vesting of Riorden's collateral rights. Request for a cross-check by the Military Supply Office.
With every line Matthias wrote, the air of the Underground Offering Chamber changed.
Mira checked each letter one by one.
"Here."
She pointed to a line.
"If it only says confirmation of temporary vesting, it is ambiguous. You have to state what rights they are."
Matthias gritted his teeth.
"The right, in Riorden's name, to access the depot and inspect its supplies."
"Good."
Mira smiled.
"It smells like money."
Rowan looked around.
"I still smell only medicine."
"That is because the money is still in the depot."
Kael looked at the final line of the document. Beside Matthias Ron's signature, the witness field was blank.
Kael held out the pen to Allen.
"Witness it."
Allen looked at the pen.
"I have no reason to sign it."
"Then you have no reason to be here either."
"I told you it was a coincidence."
"All the better. An accidental witness."
Mira nodded.
"It is quite useful in the market too. People who happened to see something have a lot to say."
Allen looked at Mira, then finally took the pen.
He wrote his name in the witness field.
Allen Berg.
Agent of House Seradin.
[Witness Effect Activated]
[House Seradin: Cost of Denial Increased]
[Riorden Collateral Rights: Likelihood of Exercise Increased]
It was a small victory. Small victories were the keys that opened the next door.
Edric held the confirmation in his hands and looked down at it for a long time.
"Young Master."
"Speak."
"This document will not become money immediately."
"I know."
"But it can call money to us."
Edric spoke very slowly.
"That lasts longer."
In his past life, Edric had held onto the family ledgers until the end. He was someone who knew that documents moved before money did.
"Can we move today?"
Mira interjected.
"We have to. Documents like this must be sold while they are hot."
Rowan tilted his head.
"Does paper get hot?"
"When people are afraid."
"Then it is hot now."
Mira looked between Allen and Matthias.
"Very."
That evening, steam rose in the dining room of the Riorden estate for the first time in a long while.
It was not an impressive meal.
Watery soup and thin bread, with a little dried meat.
But the servants carried the bowls more carefully than usual. A steaming meal was rare.
Just a few days ago, the table had held nothing but dry bread and cold tea.
Today was different.
The soup was watery, but it was hot, and the bread was thin, but it could be shared. That difference changed the voices within the house.
"Brother."
"Eat."
"This..."
"It is a debt."
Ria's eyes widened.
"But this time, it is not a debt we will repay. It is a debt we will collect."
Edric stood at one side of the dining room, holding the document.
"The right to access the Grayden depot has been provisionally opened. It is not all of it, but the first inspection of the supplies will be possible tomorrow morning."
Rowan looked at the soup and spoke.
"Then is this soup from the depot's supplies?"
"No."
Kael said,
"This is a deposit."
Mira dropped into a chair and spoke.
"I sold it first. I used rights that will sell as collateral to bring in what we would eat today."
Rowan looked down at the soup with a grave expression.
"Then is this soup the depot's shadow?"
"Sir Knight."
Mira raised her spoon.
"Just eat it while it is hot."
Ria smiled carefully.
At that one smile, the old walls of the dining room looked a little less old.
Ian held his spoon but did not eat.
"Why are you not eating?"
"I was wondering whether it is really all right to eat it."
The table fell quiet for a moment.
Whether he could eat it. While a child asked that question before his evening soup, the family had already been ruined quite badly.
"Eat. This has not been put on the bill yet."
Mira stopped as she raised her spoon, then laughed.
"A family discount?"
"A tax-exempt item."
Rowan nodded seriously.
"A good system."
Ria smiled very faintly as well.
That smile lingered longer than the steam above the table. It was profit without loss.
Edric said in a low voice,
"Young Master. There is one more thing."
Kael swallowed his soup.
"Speak."
"An invitation has just arrived from House Seradin."
The laughter at the table stopped.
Edric held out an envelope.
A white envelope.
Black wax.
The Seradin crest.
For an invitation, the wax was too hard; for a summons, the handwriting was too beautiful.
Kael took the envelope.
[Contact Request]
[Name: Viktor Seradin]
[Purpose: Conciliation and Price-Setting]
Mira set down her spoon.
"The bill has arrived before we have even paid for the meal."
Kael opened the envelope.
Inside was a short sentence.
`The young master of Riorden is invited to the House Seradin Accounting Office.`
Kael smiled.
"Good."
Ria asked anxiously,
"Will you go?"
"I have to."
Kael folded the invitation.
"When the person who owes you invites you first, it is easier to add interest."