Chapter 10 #2
This time, the response was immediate and dramatic.
The page blazed under his touch. Not metaphorically.
Actual light, bright enough to make Lynara step back, illuminating alterations so extensive they looked like scars across the paper.
Entire sections had been magically erased and rewritten.
Dates shifted by weeks, not days. Names replaced.
Amounts changed so drastically that the original figures were barely visible beneath the concealment magic.
Someone had tried very hard to hide this.
They had not tried hard enough.
"Merciful gods," Bernard breathed.
Valerius turned the page. More of the same. Worse, even. One entry showed signs of three separate alterations, each layered over the last like a palimpsest of corruption.
Leon had moved closer, staring at the glowing pages. "That's not normal administrative error."
"No." Valerius's voice had gone cold. "That's deliberate, systematic falsification."
He set the log down and reached for another. The same pattern appeared—heavy tampering, magical concealment, alterations so extensive they suggested not opportunistic theft but long-term coordination.
"How many clerks had access to these logs?" Valerius asked.
Bernard consulted his list. "Four primary handlers. Two backups for when the primary clerks were unavailable."
"Names."
Bernard read them aloud. Hadlin Crosse. Merrin Vey. Osric Thane. Perrin Dall. And the backups—Kerra Wist and Jory Lenn.
Six names. Six potential conspirators.
Valerius examined three more logs in quick succession, his light magic revealing the same sickening pattern across all of them. The alterations weren't random. They followed a rhythm. Coordinated timing. Shared methodology.
"They were working together," he said.
Lynara had moved to stand beside Bernard, reading over his shoulder. "For how long?"
That was the question.
Valerius reached for the oldest log in the archive—dated five years prior. He opened it carefully, the binding cracking slightly from age and disuse.
His light magic touched the page.
Alterations bloomed across the yellowed paper like old bruises. Faint. Subtle. But present.
Five years.
At minimum.
The room had gone very quiet.
Valerius closed the log slowly. "This didn't begin with Lord Montrose."
Bernard looked up sharply. "Your Highness?"
"The pattern extends back years." Valerius gestured to the shelves of archived logs. "Long before Montrose would have had reason to cultivate contacts here. This network existed before he arrived."
"Then he didn't create it," Leon said. "He used it."
"Yes." Valerius set the old log aside. "Which means someone else built this structure. Someone who understood the district office well enough to corrupt it systematically over years without detection."
The implications settled over the room like weight.
Lynara said, very quietly, "My father never noticed."
"No," Valerius agreed. "He did not."
She looked around the archive room—at the shelves of falsified records, the evidence of institutional rot that had flourished in plain sight for half a decade or more.
"How many people were involved?"
"At least six clerks directly," Valerius said. "Possibly more. And someone coordinating them."
Bernard's expression had gone grim. "Someone higher."
"Someone with the authority and access to manage a network this extensive," Valerius confirmed. "Someone who could direct the clerks, ensure their cooperation, and protect them from scrutiny when needed."
Leon crossed his arms. "Do we know who?"
"Not yet." Valerius looked down at the glowing documents, the light magic still illuminating every lie and alteration. "But the pattern will tell us. Corruption this structured leaves traces."
He turned to Bernard. "I need personnel records for the six clerks we've identified.
Hiring dates, who brought them into the office, disciplinary history.
But more importantly—" He tapped the altered logs.
"I need every document these clerks touched in the last two months.
Travel authorizations, fund transfers, seal usage.
Anything connected to Lord Montrose specifically. "
Bernard nodded. "Focusing on recent activity."
"Yes. The broader corruption gets documented and handed to Crown auditors when they arrive. That's not our concern." Valerius's expression hardened. "Our job is Silas Montrose. These clerks helped him flee. I need to know how, when, and where they sent him."
"Understood. I can have the recent records compiled by evening."
"Good."
Valerius looked at Leon. "Begin isolating the six named clerks. Quietly. I want them separated from each other and from the rest of the office staff. No one speaks to anyone else without supervision."
"Understood."
Edric spoke for the first time in an hour. "If they realize we're moving on them, someone will run."
"Let them try," Valerius said. "Every man who runs confirms guilt. And we already know where runners go when they're frightened."
Leon's expression sharpened with understanding. "Montrose."