The High Hall of Valerius was designed to make men feel small. Its pillars were sculpted into the likenesses of the Seven Primes, their stony gazes looking down with impartial judgment. Today, however, the hall felt even smaller. The air was frigid, the torches flickering as if the shadows themselves were trying to retreat from the man standing at the center of the room.
Remiel, the Junior Auditor, was not sitting. He was reading his ledger, his grey-mist eyes scanning lines of destiny that no mortal could perceive.
Kaelen entered the hall with Elara a step behind him. He no longer leaned on his cane. He walked with the measured, terrifying grace of a predator who had just realized the cage was unlocked.
[SOVEREIGN'S LEDGER: ACTIVE] [Scanning Target: Remiel (Junior Auditor)] [Processing... Warning: Target is a High-Density Entity.]
The numbers above Remiel's head were not red or gold. They were a shimmering, metallic silver.
Remiel: +1,200,000 (Divine Obedience). Hidden Debt: ??? (Information Encrypted).
Kaelen felt a sharp throb behind his eyes. The Ledger was struggling to "tax" a celestial being, but it was giving him just enough. Under the silver numbers, a tiny, flickering line of text appeared: [Inconsistency detected: The Auditor has misplaced 400 years of "Mercy".]
Kaelen's lips curled into a microscopic smile. Even the accountants of heaven skimmed a little off the top.
"Saint Kaelen," Remiel said, not looking up from his book. "Your recovery was... efficient. Most mortals would have spent a decade rebuilding their soul after touching an Apex Stone."
"I have a very pressing schedule, Lord Remiel," Kaelen replied, stopping ten paces away. "And a very large debt. Lying in a bed doesn't pay the interest."
Remiel closed the ledger with a sound like a guillotine blade. "Indeed. Which brings us to the discrepancy. You paid your interest, yes. But the 'Source' of your power during the miracle... it was inconsistent with your recorded Rank. The Bank does not like inconsistencies."
Elara stepped forward, her voice trembling but brave. "He saved the city! Is that not enough for your 'Bank'?"
Remiel finally looked at her, his gaze so cold it seemed to frost the air. "The Bank does not deal in 'enough', Saintess. It deals in 'balance'. And your Saint... he is balanced on a needle's edge."
Kaelen raised a hand, silencing Elara. He stepped closer to Remiel, entering the Auditor's personal space—a move that made the Paladins at the door gasp.
"You're looking for the 'Void', aren't you?" Kaelen whispered, his voice too low for the others to hear.
Remiel's mist-eyes sharpened. "If you admit to using forbidden catalysts—"
"I'm not admitting to anything," Kaelen interrupted. He focused the Sovereign's Ledger entirely on that flickering silver line above Remiel's head. "But I am curious, Remiel. When the Great Bank does its yearly 'Internal Review', how do they feel about Auditors who 'lose' souls? There's a gap in your record. Four centuries ago, during the Fall of the Sun-Kingdom. You were the assigned Auditor. You reported a total liquidation of the royal line... but the Karma didn't add up, did it?"
The silence that followed was absolute.
The mist in Remiel's eyes stopped swirling. For the first time, the celestial being looked... human. Or rather, he looked like a man who had just realized he was standing on a trapdoor.
"How do you know that?" Remiel's voice was no longer a vibration; it was a hiss.
"I have my own ledger now," Kaelen said, his eyes glowing with a faint, predatory violet. "And it tells me that you've been 'borrowing' Karma from forgotten souls to cover your own mistakes. If I'm a debtor, Remiel, then you're an embezzler."
Kaelen leaned in until his nose was inches from the Auditor's.
"Now, here is the deal. You are going to sign off on my 'Miracle' as a pure, light-based event. You are going to grant me 'Exemption Status' for the next three months while I 'recover'. And in exchange... I won't report your four-hundred-year-old deficit to the Senior Auditors."
Remiel's hand tightened on his ledger until the leather groaned. He could kill Kaelen right now. But the "Regression Tax" was a system even he couldn't bypass. If Kaelen died, his soul—and his memories—would be processed by the High Court. The secret would come out.
"You are a monster," Remiel whispered.
"I'm a businessman," Kaelen corrected. "Now, do we have an agreement? Or should I start praying for a Senior Audit?"
Remiel didn't speak. He opened his ledger, his quill moving with a violent, jagged speed. He slammed a seal onto a page and tore it out, shoving it into Kaelen's hand.
[NOTIFICATION!] [Contract Signed: The Auditor's Silence.] [Benefit: 90-Day Interest Freeze.] [Bonus: Rank 'Saint' officially verified by the Celestial Bank.]
"Get out of my sight, Debtor," Remiel said, his voice shaking with suppressed rage. "But remember... the three months will end. And I will be the one waiting for you at the finish line."
Kaelen tucked the paper into his robe and turned around, his face instantly shifting back into a look of humble exhaustion.
"Thank you for your blessing, Lord Auditor," Kaelen said loudly, bowing to the room.
He walked out of the High Hall, Elara hurrying to catch up. As soon as they were in the corridor, she grabbed his arm. "Kaelen, what did you say to him? He looked... terrified."
"I just reminded him that even the Heavens have a bottom line, Elara," Kaelen said, looking toward the Academy gates.
He had ninety days. No interest. No Auditors breathing down his neck. Ninety days to turn the Valerius Academy into his personal Karma factory.
Time to go see Alaric, Kaelen thought. I think it's time the 'Hero' learned how to work for a living.
Kaelen has blackmailed a celestial being and bought himself three months of freedom. Now, he plans to use Alaric—the imprisoned Hero—as a tool for his next scheme.