The Grayden Military Supply Depot was half a day's carriage ride from the Riorden estate.
The road was poor. Every time a wheel sank into the mud, the old carriage shrieked, and Edric clutched the confirmation of access to the depot that Orban Gray had issued them.
A single thin sheet of paper.
Because of that one sheet of paper, Riorden had not been seized today.
If the depot was empty, yesterday's victory was nothing more than a one-day reprieve.
If they found nothing here today, Marco would return with a smile.
Orban would say it had been a mistake.
And the empty crates in front of the Riorden estate would be filled again.
"Young Master."
Edric spoke cautiously.
"There is a good chance the depot is empty."
"If it is empty, we will verify that."
"Even if it is not empty, there is still a problem. Most old supplies will be unusable."
"If people say so, do the ledgers say so too?"
Edric could not answer.
Rowan Kale gave a short laugh.
"Scrap will do for me. Even a rusted sword has a hilt left."
"Are you hoping there are swords in the depot, Sir Rowan?"
"Swords would be good. If there are none, I can at least grab the depot keeper by the collar."
"Do not grab him."
Rowan fell silent. His eyes were smiling.
The carriage stopped.
The main gate of the Grayden Military Supply Depot was tall, but it had no dignity. Rust covered the iron gate, and instead of a crest, only an old number remained faintly visible.
Warehouse No. 3.
Kael remembered that name from his previous life.
It was where provisions and medicine headed for the eastern front passed through. By the end of the war, it had become a hole erased from the ledgers.
"Who goes there?"
A potbellied middle-aged man came out of the guard post beside the main gate. His cap sat crookedly, and a ring of keys hung from his belt.
He looked Kael's party over and snorted.
"The depot is closed. If you are here to request supplies, go to the government office."
Edric produced the confirmation.
"We are from the Riorden Barony. We have a confirmation from Treasurer Orban Gray of the Eastern Administrative Office."
"Riorden?"
The man's expression twisted.
"Ah, that family drowning in debt."
Rowan's hand moved to the hilt of his sword.
Kael spoke first.
"Say that one more time, and I will put your name in today's written record."
The man looked Kael over, clicked his tongue, and snatched the confirmation from Edric.
"Go in and take a look. There is nothing worth seeing anyway."
"Your name?"
"What?"
"The name of the person in charge of the depot."
"Barik. Barik Holden."
"Good, Barik. From today onward, you will guide us."
"I only have to open the gate."
"The confirmation says access and inspection. Opening the gate does not end your duty."
Barik's face stiffened.
He read the confirmation again, then twisted his lips as if swallowing a curse.
"Follow me."
The gate opened.
The smell came out first.
The scents of old grain, wet wood, and rusted iron rushed out together.
The depot was dark. Part of the ceiling had caved in, and slanting shafts of light fell through it, with dust floating beneath them like snow.
Barik waved a hand.
"As you can see, this is the state of it. Anything useful was sent to the capital long ago. All that remains is awaiting disposal."
What he said was half true.
At a glance, it really did seem that way.
Split sacks, carts with missing wheels, medicine crates with warped lids, iron parts rusted a dark red.
Edric's shoulders sank slightly.
"Young Master."
"I know."
Kael began to walk slowly.
His vision changed.
Red letters surfaced amid the dust and smells.
[Claimable]
They hovered above a split sack.
The sack held old flour. Half of it had hardened, and the other half had been eaten by insects.
Anything anyone would call useless.
But the red letters did not hover over the flour. They hovered over the leather straps binding the sack.
[Military Waterproof Leather Straps: 48 Bundles]
[Condition: Reprocessable]
[Linked Record: Eastern Supply Route Carriage Repair Request]
Kael picked up one of the leather straps.
The outside was filthy, but the inside was intact. It was military equipment treated with oil.
"This is not scrap."
Barik snorted.
"The flour has spoiled. What are you talking about?"
"Not the flour. The straps."
"Straps?"
"Military waterproof leather straps. They are used to secure wagon covers and cargo. Their price rises when rain begins to destroy the eastern supply route."
Barik's expression went blank.
Edric came closer and examined the leather strap.
"It is true. They are old, but the oil treatment remains."
For the first time, doubt had vanished from his voice.
Edric took out a blank inventory sheet. Before Kael even spoke, he was dipping his pen nib in ink.
Kael walked to the next crate.
It was a medicine crate.
Mold covered its lid, and dried leaves crumbled inside it.
Barik spoke first.
"Those cannot be used. You can tell from the smell alone."
Without answering, Kael opened the lower compartment of the crate.
Small glass bottles lay inside, wrapped in cloth.
[Fever-Reducing Distillate: 27 Bottles]
[Preservation Status: Good]
[Unprocessed Request: Medicine Supply for Caldran Border Fortress]
Kael's fingers lifted one of the glass bottles.
The liquid was clear.
He remembered late spring from his previous life.
A fever had spread through Caldran Border Fortress. Before they could die at the hands of the enemy, soldiers withered away in their beds. The supply officer had reported a shortage of medicine, and the capital had answered that there was no budget.
At the time, the ledger had recorded it this way.
Failure of local procurement.
But the medicine was here.
Under the dust.
Neglected by someone.
"Is this scrap too?"
Barik did not open his mouth.
Rowan murmured in a low voice.
"Medicine."
"Yes."
"Can we sell it?"
"We can sell it, or use it to settle a debt. Once a fever begins spreading in Caldran, each bottle will be worth the life of a soldier."
Edric said,
"We cannot take all of this with us."
"We do not need to take it. First, we draw up an inventory."
"Will an inventory alone be enough?"
"An inventory is the beginning of a right. If we record what we saw, its condition, and who guided us, the depot can no longer claim that these things did not exist."
Scrap did not speak.
But scrap listed in an inventory bore witness.
Kael looked at Barik.
"Is that not right?"
Barik's Adam's apple bobbed.
"I only guided you."
"Yes. That is why your name matters."
Kael went deeper into the depot.
Red letters continued to rise amid the piles of scrap.
Carriage axle retaining pins.
Iron repair tools.
Waterproof canvas fragments.
They looked like discarded things, but they were all items that would gain value as war drew closer.
Kael called them out one by one, and Edric wrote them down.
At first, his hand moved slowly. But after the third entry, his eyes changed.
"Young Master."
"Speak."
"This is not merely a collection of supplies."
"What does it look like to you?"
"It is an inventory deliberately mixed in to look like unusable goods. Leather straps atop spoiled grain. Distillate beneath a moldy medicine crate. Retaining pins beside broken carts."
"That is the advantage of a disposal ledger."
Kael said.
"If you write that you threw something away, it no longer counts as theft."
Edric's pen stopped.
Barik looked away.
Rowan was no longer smiling.
The air in the depot had changed. A space that had smelled only of scrap now felt like a crime scene.
Kael walked to the inner wall.
There stood a large empty shelf. Dust lay thick across it, but one area of the floor was clean.
Something had recently been moved.
"Barik."
"Why are you calling me?"
"What is behind that shelf?"
"A wall."
"If it is a wall, then there is no problem with moving the shelf."
Barik's face stiffened.
"It is dangerous. This is an old depot. It could collapse."
"Rowan."
Rowan stepped forward.
Barik took a step back.
Rowan gripped the shelf and pushed. With a creaking sound, it slid to the side.
It was not a wall.
Old wooden planks were revealed. The seal of the Military Supply Office was stamped on them.
The seal bore traces of having been opened once and sealed again.
[Hidden Ledger Chest]
[Opening Record: Missing]
[Claim Target: Discrepancy]
[Payer Record: Deleted]
Kael reached out.
Edric held his breath.
"Young Master, it is a sealed object."
"It has already been opened."
"Even so..."
"We were granted inspection rights."
Kael removed the wooden planks.
A small iron chest stood inside.
The insignia of the Imperial Army was stamped upon it. Beneath it was another emblem, very faint but unmistakable.
Scales encircled by the sun.
The Imperial Temple's notarial emblem.
Rowan asked,
"Why is there a Temple object in a military supply depot?"
"It is not an object. It is a record."
Kael opened the iron chest.
Inside was a bundle of thin specification sheets.
At the top of the first page were the following words.
Provisional Relief Supply Manifest for the Four Eastern Territories.
Relief.
On the surface, the supplies were aid goods. Food and medicine sent to starving territories. The Temple notarized it, the Imperial Army transported it, and each territory would repay the cost later.
Kael opened the middle of the manifest.
Red letters spread across it.
[Payment: Unpaid]
[Claim Target: Four Eastern Territories]
[Actual Payer: Record Deleted]
[Notarizing Authority: Imperial Temple]
[Guarantor: Imperial Eastern Military Supply Office]
Kael's hand stopped.
The final ledger from his previous life.
It had the same smell as the red words he had seen on the execution platform.
The territories were listed as the claim targets.
But the one who should have paid was erased.
The territories had become debtors who had received relief, while the name of the one who had provided the supplies disappeared.
Edric asked in a trembling voice,
"What is this?"
"A document that created a debt."
"A debt the eastern territories owe the Temple?"
"On the surface."
"Then in truth?"
Kael looked at the red letters.
Record Deleted.
"Someone used the names of the eastern territories to fill a hole in the Empire."
Rowan frowned.
"That is difficult to understand."
"It means they wrote that they were giving bread to starving people, then demanded payment for that bread from those same people later."
"Is that not a debt?"
"The problem is that someone else gave the bread. And that person's name was erased."
Kael turned another page of the manifest.
The names of four territories appeared.
The moment he saw one of them, Edric let out a low groan.
Riorden.
The Eye of Settlement drew a red line beneath the name.
[Collateral Claim Link]
[Same Series as Unpaid Supply Claim]
[Additional Claim Possible]
Riorden had not fallen simply because it had incurred too much debt.
It had taken on someone else's debt in its place.
Then the sound of hoofbeats came from outside the depot.
Not one.
Several.
Relief flickered across Barik's face for an instant.
Kael did not miss that expression.
Rowan placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Guests are arriving."
"I did not invite them."
A strange voice rang out beyond the door.
"Cease the inspection of the Grayden Military Supply Depot at once!"
It was the voice of the government office.
But it was not Orban.
It was a younger, firmer, more dangerous voice.
A man in a gray cloak stood at the entrance.
The silver-thread crest of House Seradin was embroidered on his breast.
It was not Victor Seradin himself. Not yet.
But his hand had finally reached into the depot.
Kael pushed the manifest bearing the Temple's emblem deep into the inside of his coat.
The red letters spread across his vision one last time.
[First Hidden Debt Discovered]
[Related Factions: Temple, Military Supply Office, Seradin]
[Warning: Attempted Interference Expected Before Recovery]
Kael slowly raised his head.
An abandoned depot did not contain only scrap.
It also held the first corpse the Empire had hidden.