The King had barely finished breakfast when the first report arrived from the western district.Hector read it standing beside the table. Lucian sat opposite him, a cup of water within reach, while the King listened from his chair.The report contained little. The district office had confirmed that Darius Venn had once served there as deputy administrator, but his employment record ended several years ago. No dismissal had been recorded. No death certificate had been filed. The space for his next appointment was blank.“He left without a destination,” Hector said.“Or someone made sure his destination wasn't recorded,” Lucian replied.The King held out his hand for the report.“Send a formal inquiry to the district office. Ask for his personnel file, salary records, and the names of the officials who approved his transfer.”Hector nodded. “I'll send the order.”“Not yet,” Lucian said.Both men looked at him.“If someone has been removing records, a formal inquiry will tell them exactl

The treasury clerk arrived at the barracks shortly after the morning shift changed.He was a narrow-shouldered man in his fifties, dressed in the formal grey coat worn by senior accounting officials. He carried a leather satchel and looked distinctly uncomfortable at being summoned to speak with the King in person.Hector met him at the entrance.“Your name?”“Martin Pell, General. Senior records clerk in the royal treasury.”“Were you told why you were summoned?”“Only that His Majesty required records concerning payments and administrative transfers from the previous reign.”“Did you bring them?”Pell opened his satchel and produced a sealed packet.“I brought the surviving copies. The originals are kept in the treasury vault, but several volumes are undergoing restoration. I was instructed not to remove them without written authorization.”Hector examined the seal before allowing him inside.The King was waiting at the table with Lucian. He had slept poorly, and the physician had r

The first report arrived shortly after noon.Hector was in the barracks courtyard when a messenger from the city watch brought it to him. He read the page once, then again, before folding it and returning it to the messenger.“Who supplied this information?”“The watch commander at the eastern gate, sir. He received a description of the dead man from the chapel and compared it with the missing-person records.”“Did he find a name?”“No, sir. Not yet. There is, however, a report of a man matching the description who was seen near the old market three days before the attack on the palace.”Hector looked at the messenger.“Where is the report?”“The commander has sent a copy. He said the original was entered in the district ledger.”“Bring me the original as well. I want the name of whoever made the report and the names of anyone who questioned the witness.”The messenger saluted and left.Hector remained in the courtyard for a moment, considering the dates. Three days before the palace

The search for the boy began before sunrise.Hector divided the city watch into small teams and sent them to the messenger stations, market stalls, and lodging houses along the northern road. The description was limited: a boy of fourteen or fifteen, with a scar near his ear, who had carried a folded message to a man in a grey coat.It was not much to work with. Boys carried messages throughout the capital, and a scar was hardly unusual. Still, the lodging-house keeper had remembered the boy clearly enough to distinguish him from the other children who visited the courtyard.Hector instructed his men to ask questions without making accusations. If the boy had been paid to deliver a message, he might have done nothing more than earn a few coins. Frightening him into silence would serve no purpose.By midmorning, the first team returned with a name.The boy was called Niko. He lived with his aunt in a narrow street behind the old cloth market and sometimes carried parcels for merchants

The first reply concerning Marek Doss came from the western district.It was brief and unhelpful. Doss had been employed as a temporary document courier by the royal household, but his service had ended several years earlier. The district office held no record of his arrival, and no subsequent appointment had been entered against his name.The second reply came from the city watch.A man matching Doss's description had once rented a room near the southern gate, but the lodging-house keeper had closed his establishment before the date could be confirmed. No forwarding address had been left.Hector read both reports in the King's presence.“We know he received the token,” he said. “We don't know whether he returned it, lost it, or gave it to someone else.”The King tapped the dispatch book with one finger.“And we don't know whether the token found near the northern gate was the original.”“The locksmith believes it was made to the same pattern as the household tokens. The number matche