Soldiers lined the front of the Grayden Military Supply Depot.
The moment Kael stepped down from the carriage, he counted them.
Twelve.
Four at the main gate, six along the depot wall, and two at the rear transport route.
That was too many to guard an empty depot. The soldiers were not watching the depot. They were watching Kael.
Today's mission here was not to guard supplies. It was to find out who came looking for them.
And, if necessary, make sure that person could never knock on the same door again.
"Young Master."
Rowan spoke in a low voice.
"There are three times as many as yesterday."
"Quite popular for an empty depot."
Mira looked up at the depot roof.
"People gather around expensive goods. Even in a place they said was empty."
Kael walked toward the depot's main gate.
The two soldiers before it crossed their spears.
"Entry is prohibited."
"Whose order?"
"A temporary order from the Military Supply Office."
The soldier said it as though reciting a familiar sentence.
He was frightened. His face showed that he had nothing to trust but orders.
"The temporary order."
Kael held out his hand.
The soldier could not answer.
Instead, a fat man emerged from inside the depot. The buttons of his Military Supply Office uniform strained desperately across his belly.
"You must be Young Master Riorden. I am Pollen Brick, temporary superintendent."
"There are many temporary things."
"The situation is complicated."
"Complicated situations require documents."
Kael held out his hand again.
"The order prohibiting entry."
Pollen's smile stiffened.
"It was a verbal order."
Rowan spoke seriously.
"If it is verbal, should you not be stopping us with your mouth?"
Mira lowered her head.
Her shoulders shook.
Pollen looked at Rowan, then turned his gaze back to Kael.
"It is an instruction from the Military Supply Office. Until the reinspection of the supplies inside the depot is complete, access is to be restricted..."
"Outsider."
Kael cut him off.
As though he had been waiting, Edric took out a document.
"Confirmation of temporary vesting of Riorden's collateral rights. Signed by Matthias Ron. Witnessed by Allen Berg, agent of House Seradin."
"That is a Temple document."
"That is why there is a second one."
Edric held out the next sheet.
"Request for a cross-check by the Military Supply Office. In the Temple's name. The subject is Eastern Relief 7-B and access to the Grayden depot."
Pollen did not take the document. The moment he took it, it would become harder to pretend he did not know.
"Superintendent."
Kael said,
"If you will not accept the documents, write a confirmation of refusal."
The back of Pollen's neck turned red.
"Young Master. A military supply depot is not a baron's grain store."
"I know."
"Then why are you forcing the matter like this..."
"Because a baron's grain is inside."
Pollen stopped.
Kael took out a third document.
"Prepurchase agreement. Twenty-seven bottles of fever-reducing distillate, three crates of dried medicinal herbs, and twelve sacks of flour. A partial advance deposit has been paid."
Mira raised a finger.
"The deposit has already been paid. The goods inside are not only old military supplies. They are goods that can be sold."
Pollen glared at Mira.
"A merchant has no authority to meddle in matters concerning a military supply depot."
"When money has gotten involved, merchants do not stay out of it."
Kael looked toward the rear transport route.
Beyond where the two soldiers stood, deep wheel tracks marked the ground. Traces of a wagon passing through. There had been more than one.
[Recent Removal Traces]
[Quantity: At Least Three Wagonloads]
[Record Status: Unrecorded]
[Removal Destination: Private Warehouse Southeast]
The corner of Kael's mouth slowly rose.
"Pollen Brick."
"Yes."
"Three wagonloads came out of an empty depot."
Pollen's face stiffened.
"I do not know what you mean."
"Then all the better."
"It is easy for someone who does not know to keep records."
Rowan walked over at once.
The two soldiers tried to stop him, but Rowan did not push their spears aside. Instead, he crouched before the wheel tracks and rubbed the dirt between his fingers.
"The earth is wet. They passed through after dawn today."
Mira looked beyond the transport route.
"The wagon wheels are wide. They must have been carrying something heavier than ordinary grain."
"Crates of medicine."
Kael said.
Mira's eyes flashed.
"The fever-reducing distillate?"
"Part of it."
Pollen spoke in haste.
"The depot's supplies can be relocated."
"The relocation records."
"They are currently being organized."
"Removal before organization."
Kael nodded.
"Good. It keeps getting cheaper."
Pollen gritted his teeth.
"What you are saying, Young Master, insults the Military Supply Office."
"It is not an insult yet."
Kael took a document from Edric.
"It is a demand."
Pollen instinctively took a step back.
Kael liked that reaction.
People could avoid a blade when they saw one. But until they read a document, they did not know where it would stab.
"First. An inspection of the supplies inside the depot. Second, sealing of the removal route. Third, a temporary hold on supplies related to Eastern Relief 7-B. Fourth, submission of a list of supplies already removed."
"Young Master!"
Pollen did not smile any longer.
"This depot is under the jurisdiction of the Military Supply Office."
"Then answer in the name of the Military Supply Office."
"I do not have that authority."
"Then a confirmation of no authority."
Pollen took out a handkerchief and wiped his forehead.
Just then, the sound of a wooden crate scraping came from inside the depot.
Screeech.
Everyone looked that way.
The blood drained from Pollen's face.
Kael smiled.
"An empty depot makes sounds too."
The soldiers at the main gate averted their eyes.
The orders remained, but there were fewer faces that believed in them.
Instead, there were more frightened faces. Fear opened doors faster than orders did.
"I hereby give notice. By Riorden's collateral rights in Eastern Relief 7-B, Riorden demands the temporary sealing of the supplies in the Grayden depot."
Pollen said in a low voice,
"Who says anyone will comply with that demand?"
"What matters is not the person who hears it, but the person who records it."
Kael slowly looked around at the soldiers.
"Everyone who was here today is a witness."
The soldiers' shoulders stiffened.
On a battlefield, you might live if you ran. In a document, your name remained.
Then the sound of hoofbeats came from the rear transport route.
A single black horse.
The man riding it wore leather gloves.
The crest of House Seradin. It was the same one Kael had seen in the Underground Offering Chamber yesterday. But it was not the same person.
He was a tall, thin man. His pale face bore no trace of a smile.
He spoke from atop the horse.
"That is enough."
Pollen lowered his head as though almost relieved.
Kael looked at the man.
"Another coincidence?"
The man's eyes met Kael's.
"Ramun Kael. I am with House Seradin's Accounting Office."
"There are many agents."
"Places with many debts need many people."
At those words, Mira's eyebrows rose.
Kael did not smile.
This man was different from Allen.
Allen wrapped his words gently. Ramun held them out like a blade.
"Open the depot."
Kael said.
Ramun looked down from his horse.
"You must have received an invitation."
"I did."
"Is there any need to make this into a disturbance before a depot when it can be discussed at House Seradin's Accounting Office?"
"There is."
"What is it?"
"A depot has no words, but when it is emptied, it shows."
Ramun's eyes moved ever so slightly.
"You do not know what you are touching, Young Master."
In his past life, Kael had heard similar words.
You do not know what you are calculating.
And three days later, the supply line on the eastern front was cut off.
It was a face that had not existed in his past life. Yet it was a line he had heard in his past life.
The future was not repeating itself exactly. Someone else was moving as well.
"Ramun Kael."
Kael called his name.
"Who taught you that line?"
For the first time, an expression appeared on Ramun's face.
It was a very small crack.
"What do you mean?"
"Good."
Rather than answer, Kael folded the demand.
"Then let us do this."
He spoke to Pollen.
"Open the main gate. I will not inspect all the supplies inside, only those related to Eastern Relief 7-B."
"Even that..."
"You may refuse."
Kael looked at Ramun.
"But then the one refusing will be Ramun Kael of House Seradin's Accounting Office. The reason: a demand for prior contact under the invitation from House Seradin."
Ramun's eyes turned cold.
"That wording will be attached to the request for a cross-check by the Imperial Eastern Military Supply Office."
Silence fell. Pollen could barely breathe properly.
Ramun dismounted.
Slowly.
"Open it."
Pollen looked up in surprise.
"But..."
"Open it."
Pollen finally gestured to the soldiers.
The bar across the depot's main gate was lifted.
Creeeak.
When the heavy doors opened, the smell from inside pushed outward.
The smell of dry grain. The smell of old wood. And the smell of medicine.
Mira gritted her teeth.
"It is here."
The depot was not empty. Neither was it full. That made it worse.
Only some of the crates remained, while drag marks left in haste stretched across the floor.
[Supplies Related to Eastern Relief 7-B]
[Remaining: 9 Bottles of Fever-Reducing Distillate, 2 Crates of Dried Medicinal Herbs, 5 Sacks of Flour]
[Missing: 18 Bottles of Fever-Reducing Distillate, 7 Sacks of Flour, and More]
[Removal Record: None]
Mira swallowed a curse.
"Nine out of twenty-seven bottles."
Kael walked toward the crates.
An old seal was attached to one of them.
A Temple seal. A Military Supply Office seal. A small black seal at the edge. Seradin.
Ramun said,
"Is the inspection over?"
"No."
Kael placed his hand on the crate.
"Now I seal it."
"It is already sealed."
"That seal did not protect the goods."
Kael held out his hand to Edric.
Edric took out a red cord and Riorden's small seal.
The Riorden seal was old, but unbroken.
Kael wrapped the red cord around the remaining supplies.
Pollen spoke in haste.
"Putting a private house's seal on Military Supply Office supplies is..."
"An exercise of collateral rights."
Kael answered shortly.
"It is limited to the remaining supplies in Eastern Relief 7-B. If you oppose it, write a confirmation of opposition."
Pollen closed his mouth.
Kael pressed Riorden's seal into the wax.
A small crest was stamped into it.
[Temporary Seal Established]
[Riorden Rights Made Visible]
[Recoverable Assets: Partially Secured]
It was small.
Nine bottles out of twenty-seven. Five sacks out of twelve.
But it was the first time. The moment Riorden's name was stamped not as a knot in debt, but as a seal that guarded supplies.
"Nine bottles can be sold. But the rumor has to spread first, or the price will fall."
"What rumor?"
"The rumor that Riorden opened the depot."
"Today, the soldiers are our billboards."
Ramun did not change his expression.
"The Accounting Office is waiting."
"Waiting is free."
"Young Master."
Ramun's voice lowered.
"Lord Viktor does not dislike capable people."
"Is that an offer?"
"It is closer to a warning."
"Both come with price tags."
Ramun spoke very slowly.
"You do not know what you are calculating."
Kael's hand stopped.
The air inside the depot chilled.
Mira looked at Kael.
Rowan's hand returned to the hilt of his sword.
It was a line he had heard in his past life. But it was not a line that should have been spoken yet at this point.
Ramun smiled faintly.
"If you did not understand, we will explain it to you at House Seradin's Accounting Office."
Kael looked down at the Riorden crest on the sealed crate.
[Unregistered Variable Detected]
[Opponent Information: Unknown]
[Risk Cost: Increasing]
Kael slowly raised his head.
"Good."
A smile touched his lips.
"I will charge dearly for that explanation."