"Who am I supposed to receive it from?"
Theo Varan's question was far too out of place in the Audit Office.
No one in that room asked questions like that. They spoke of verification and procedure.
But Theo said he had come for medicine. He asked who he was supposed to receive it from.
It was so simple that no one could answer.
Auditor Vernon was the first to recover his senses. "This is a closed-door temporary audit. You cannot enter without identity verification."
Theo unfolded a crumpled outpost roster. Its corners were torn, and the writing had run in the rain.
"Theo Varan, supply sergeant of Eastern Outpost No. 7. Forty-two soldiers. Six horses. Two wagons. Twenty-nine boots."
"The medicine?"
Vernon's brow moved.
"What medicine are you referring to?"
"Fever medicine. They told me I would receive it here, so I came."
The eyes in the Audit Office turned to Kael.
Dorne Havel spoke.
"I had him summoned. Young Master Riorden requested a representative from the Eastern outposts, and Theo was the closest supply sergeant."
Vernon's expression soured.
"No formal application for a witness has been filed."
"He was not summoned as a witness. He was summoned to confirm the receipt of medicine."
Kael spoke.
"An audit with no one to receive the medicine is a joke."
Vernon closed his lips.
The marquess smiled gently.
"Very good. Voices from the field are valuable. But this is a place with procedure. Answer the questions asked of you."
Theo looked at the marquess.
"Who are you?"
The air in the Audit Office shifted. Rowan lowered his head, and Mira covered her mouth.
The marquess's smile remained, but the corners of his eyes stiffened.
"I am Viktor Seradin."
"Ah."
Theo gave a short bow.
"If you are a marquess, are you the one who gives out the medicine?"
This time, no one laughed.
The marquess did not answer at once, either.
Theo did not understand the meaning of that silence.
Kael pushed his chair back. "Theo Varan."
"Yes."
"How long did it take you to get here?"
"Four hours, changing horses."
"Why did you come yourself?"
"I received orders. They said they needed the name of someone who would receive the medicine."
Theo held up the boot.
"And they told me to bring this too."
Vernon frowned. "Why is a boot necessary?"
"I do not know either. I sent it before to say that we did not have enough food, and they said they needed it again."
Dorne Havel spoke low.
"There are numbers written on the sole. They show the shortfall at Outpost No. 7."
Vernon looked at a clerk. "Confirm it."
One of the clerks reached to take the boot.
Theo did not release it.
"Be careful. If you grip it too hard, it will tear. It can still be worn."
At those words, the Audit Office went quiet again.
It can still be worn.
In the Treasury Office of his past life, they would have entered such an item as `usable residual property`.
The clerk carefully took the boot. On the inside of its sole, numbers written in charcoal remained.
42. 29. 13.
Six horses.
Two wagons.
No medicine.
Mira spoke in a small voice.
"Harsher than a ledger."
Edric's face hardened the instant he saw the numbers.
The marquess was still gentle.
"Sergeant Theo, I have heard of the situation at Outpost No. 7. Seradin is preparing sponsorship as well. Six bottles of medicine will be issued."
"When is soon?"
"As soon as the procedure is complete."
"How long will the procedure take?"
Vernon answered in his stead.
"The medicine must be examined, the recipients confirmed, and the distribution order issued."
Theo started to count, then stopped. "Then it will not be today?"
"We will hurry, but we cannot state an exact time."
"Tomorrow?"
"By procedure, we cannot guarantee that."
"The day after tomorrow?"
Vernon did not answer.
Theo nodded.
"Then one person will die."
The air in the Audit Office stopped. He said it so easily that it did not sound like a lie.
Kael looked at Theo.
"Who is it?"
"Nelson."
Theo answered at once.
"Nelson Pike. Twenty-two. He cannot hear well out of his right ear. He has had a fever for three days."
"The army doctor said he can hold on with one bottle of medicine."
Vernon lowered his eyes.
"That judgment must be submitted with a medical certificate."
"The army doctor cannot write."
"That cannot be."
"He injured his hand."
Mira swallowed a curse.
Vanessa's face hardened as well.
The marquess lightly opened his hand.
"It is a tragic matter. That is why we must avoid emotional judgment. Sponsored supplies must be delivered through procedure."
Theo listened to the marquess until he had finished.
"Is procedure faster than medicine?"
The marquess's smile thinned.
Theo was not asking to attack him. He was asking because he truly wanted to know.
That question was stronger than the marquess's sentences.
"How many bottles are needed at Eastern Outpost No. 7 right now?"
"One for Nelson. If we can split bottles in half, two more people."
"Names."
"Karman. Julie. Karman coughs up blood, and Julie cannot swallow water."
"Three people in all."
"For today, that is all."
"The other soldiers?"
Theo looked down at the roster.
"The other soldiers are still standing."
"Still."
"Yes. Still."
That word fell to the floor of the Audit Office.
In the field, the word still was consolation and reprieve.
"If they are standing, are they all right?"
Mira asked.
"They are not all right. But if they are standing, they move down the list."
"What list?"
"The list of who receives medicine first."
Theo answered plainly.
"If they are lying down, I put them farther up. If they are coughing blood, farther up still. If they cannot speak, I put them at the very top."
The smile vanished from Mira's face.
Kael asked,
"Where is Nelson on that list?"
"At the very top."
"Perrin was at the top before him, but I crossed him off last night."
One of the clerks dropped a pen.
Vernon spoke low.
"We will omit that expression from the record."
"Why?"
Theo asked.
Vernon did not answer.
"I crossed him off because he died."
Theo said.
"I did not mean anything else by it."
Rowan lowered his head.
No sword could bring an erased name back to life.
"Tomorrow?"
Theo closed his mouth.
"I do not know. The numbers always change after a night passes."
The numbers changed.
Kael had heard that every day in his past life. The number of soldiers, the amount of food, the number of deaths. The numbers changed.
Back then, he saw only the numbers.
Now, he was looking at the mouths that spoke them.
Vernon cleared his throat.
"We understand the hardship in the field. But this is not a supply meeting for one particular outpost."
"Then what kind of gathering is this?"
Kael asked.
"It is a fact-finding proceeding concerning sponsored supplies for the East."
"The East is here."
Kael pointed to Theo.
"The person who is to receive the sponsored supplies is here. If this is still not a supply meeting, what exactly are you auditing?"
All warmth left Vernon's face.
The marquess quietly cut in.
"Young Master, the harsher your words become, the farther away a resolution will be."
"Has it ever been close?"
"I have made an offer. The distribution of six bottles, additional sponsorship, and the inclusion of Riorden's name."
"Who is the recipient for the immediate distribution?"
The marquess looked at Theo.
"It would be best to issue them to Sergeant Theo."
The air in the Audit Office eased slightly.
It looked like a good ending.
Kael immediately shook his head.
"No."
Theo looked at Kael in surprise.
"Why not?"
There was resentment in that question.
Kael did not evade it.
"If the bottles are placed in your hands, the people here will write that the distribution is complete. Even if they break or arrive late on the way, the record will say that you received them."
Theo's face hardened.
"We cannot use a system in which the recipient becomes the responsible party. It gives the appearance of providing medicine while shifting responsibility onto you."
Vernon spoke.
"That is an excessive interpretation."
Edric stepped forward for the first time.
"No, it is not. If the distribution record does not distinguish the recipient from the person responsible for transport, any later loss becomes the field's responsibility."
Mira spoke quietly to Theo.
"Put simply, once you receive it, even if it breaks, it becomes your fault."
Theo's eyes wavered.
"Then should I not receive it?"
"You should."
Kael said.
"But you must not receive it alone."
He looked around the Audit Office.
"The recipients' names for the six bottles must be entered on a treatment-recipient list. The responsibility for distribution must be recorded under Seradin and Hyrun, and the responsibility for transport under the checkpoint and the Temple's preservation officer."
Vernon spoke sharply.
"Shared responsibility is excessive."
"Shared sponsorship is acceptable, but shared responsibility is excessive?"
Mira said.
The marquess smiled.
"The term shared responsibility must be used with care."
"Shared sponsorship should have been treated with care too."
Kael replied.
Theo looked at the two men, then down at the boot.
"I do not understand well. I do not understand sponsorship, responsibility, or whether it is shared."
"But we have never paid money."
No one interrupted.
"We must have paid taxes. They deducted clothing costs, our wages came late, and our food was reduced. We have never paid money for medicine."
Theo looked at his hands.
Black grime was lodged beneath his fingernails.
"But something keeps being taken."
He said.
"At first, they deducted the cost of boots. When we protested that we did not have enough food, a temporary ration fee was entered into the records. But only half the rations came."
Vernon lifted his head.
"That matter is for a separate supply audit."
"I do not know whether it is separate either. To us, it all comes out of the same pocket."
At those words, Vanessa spoke for the first time. "The payment of wages at Eastern Outpost No. 7 is not under Hyrun's authority."
Her voice was calm. But the defense came too quickly.
Kael looked at Vanessa.
She knew that she had been too quick as well.
The marquess still did not look at her.
Mira spoke low.
"No one has said Hyrun yet."
Vanessa's lips closed.
Theo lifted his head.
"Then why do we have to pay more every time we receive something?"
His voice was not loud.
"Have we paid money?"
Theo looked at the marquess, the auditor, and finally Kael.
"Or did we pay with our lives?"
The air in the Audit Office changed.
His words were not polished.
That was why they struck deeper.
Red letters spread before Kael's eyes.
They began at the sole of the boot Theo was holding.
42. 29. 13.
The numbers rose like charcoal dust. Then a thin line connected them to the Temple account documents on the table.
[Clothing Shortfall: Eastern Outpost No. 7]
[Substitute Claim: Soldier Wage Delays]
[Healing Account Replenishment Fund]
[Claim Target Mismatch]
Kael's breath caught briefly. The numbers on the boot and the numbers in the Temple Healing Account were on the same line.
The lack of boots, the delayed medicine, and the delayed wages were not separate, scattered accidents.
A single ledger was fleecing people again and again. At its end, the name was still blank.
Kael slowly reached for Theo's boot.
[Unpaid Survival Costs]
[Temporary Payer: Soldiers of Eastern Outpost No. 7]
[Actual Debtor: Record Pending]
Kael lifted his head.
Auditor Vernon's face was set. The marquess was smiling.
But that smile could no longer cover the entire room.
Because Theo Varan had brought a boot.
And the Temple's account was embedded in the sole of that boot.