Chapter 368 - 362: Nocthar’s Report

Territory of the Veiled Church

Serapha drew the lamp closer and unfolded the letter beneath the Valdris procurement accounts.

The accounts were neatly copied though the letter was not.

Lord Othran, the kingdom's finance minister, had written the final lines with enough pressure to tear the paper beneath his quill.

The documents are enclosed. Please confirm that my next supply has been arranged.

Serapha glanced at the spy's accompanying report.

Lord Othran was hesitant about supplying us with the procurement papers. He called them state secrets and asked whether something else would suffice. I withheld his next allotment. One night without the pills, and he was grovelling at my feet, begging for a dose. The papers arrived that morning.

A quiet chuckle escaped her.

She examined the enclosed accounts before entering the confirmation beside his name.

Months earlier, the pills had helped Othran work through his exhaustion. Continued use had allowed their concealed demonic curse to bind itself to his mind and mana. His resistance to the handler's instructions had weakened, while attempts to stop taking them brought agony he could not endure.

The pills relieved that suffering and strengthened the binding with every return to them.

Othran could still examine an account, challenge an inflated price, and manage the kingdom's treasury. He understood what he was surrendering. His intelligence had survived the loss of his freedom.

Serapha approved his next allotment, then added a warning against repeating the withdrawal test unnecessarily.

A minister who began collapsing during council meetings would attract physicians. A careful examination by a sufficiently skilled mage might uncover what an ordinary restorative appeared to conceal.

She needed him healthy enough to remain in office.

The supplier's name appeared on the next page. He operated a private practice and had no public connection to Nocthar. The pills reached him through an intermediary who dealt only with the selected agents.

That separation was essential.

The Church's strained relations with the other powers would make any public interest in their ministers unwelcome. Ordinary priests knew nothing of these deliveries. Among the recipients, each bound official knew his own handler and the demands made upon him.

The wider operation remained within a small circle.

Serapha set the letter aside and examined the accounts Othran had surrendered.

Elarion's offers were clearly listed: leFH artillery, Warhounds, rifles, and machine guns.

There was nothing newer.

She checked the attached correspondence. It contained prices, quantities, and proposed delivery terms. No manufacturing drawings accompanied it.

Othran could surrender documents passing through his ministry. He could not provide drawings Lucien had never offered his government.

Serapha suspected that Elarion's workshops were developing more than the catalogue revealed, but the reports gave her no confirmed route to those projects.

She wrote her next instruction beneath the list.

Identify the officials who receive Elarion's offers. Establish whether anyone has been invited to demonstrations of equipment outside this catalogue, and report what access those visits actually provide.

Valdris already intended to buy weapons. Its soldiers had genuine reasons to want them, and most people handling the purchase were unaware that their finance minister had been compromised.

She authorized Othran's handler to let the approved payments proceed.

Delaying every transaction would make Valdris an unreliable customer. She wanted one government to preserve a working relationship with Elarion while pressure developed elsewhere.

The second name in the Valdris report was General Kesvar.

He supervised the central reserve camps and had authority over the training conducted there. He could arrange proper trials of weapons assigned to his formations, although he could not demand entry into Elarion's workshops.

Serapha instructed his handler to have him prepare an accurate account of the equipment's performance and submit any requests for improvements through the usual military channels.

Useful feedback might give Valdris a reason to be consulted again. Whether Lucien would allow closer access remained to be seen.

Asterion's packet lay beneath the Valdris papers.

Minister Dervan and Captain Rovan remained under control. Dervan's authority over royal household purchases supported the delivery arrangements, while Rovan controlled the watch at several service entrances.

The latest case had reached Hesk.

There was no mention of an inquiry, but Serapha knew how little that proved. The agent could account for the wagon and its contents. He could not account for every conversation inside the palace.

The Royal Guardian had distrusted Nocthar for years.

She left the existing deliveries unchanged. The king and crown prince were to either remain untouched or little unidentifiable contact, as were the rulers of the other states.

Dervan was also to report any requests concerning official visits to Elarion that passed through his office.

Rovan could confirm the identities of departing escorts when those duties fell within his command. Neither man was to search restricted rooms or follow the Guardian.

Serapha had spent too long securing them to lose both because someone confused a palace appointment with authority over the entire palace.

The Concord's report brought her back to the question of political pressure.

Treasurer Belran administered the coalition's common fund. Assembly Secretary Mereth handled correspondence and prepared the business placed before its delegates.

Mereth had enclosed an account of a recent argument about dependence on foreign weapon suppliers.

Several delegates worried that their armies would become reliant on ammunition and parts they could not produce themselves. Others argued that refusing effective weapons would leave their soldiers at a disadvantage.

Serapha read the names recorded beside each position.

Those concerns offered a better opening than a hostile declaration from Nocthar.

She instructed Mereth's handler to have the secretary place the existing proposals for supply guarantees before the assembly. Belran could prepare the requested financial estimates using real figures.

Neither man controlled the votes. The delegates would still debate, and some would probably oppose additional restrictions.

Serapha wanted the resulting positions reported accurately.

If enough kingdoms supported those terms, their negotiators could ask Elarion for greater technical access as part of a wider agreement.

She would first examine the delegates' support for those terms. Lucien might refuse them, and she could not assume he needed their purchases more than they needed his weapons.

The Maritime League's report concerned trade.

Harbor Commissioner Tervan could hold merchant vessels for inspection. Naval Stores Superintendent Rellan had identified suppliers who also dealt with customers outside the League.

Their handler wanted to know which shipments Serapha wished them to watch.

She spread the enclosed cargo lists across her desk.

The lists named the next ports of call, but many cargoes would be sold on arrival. They did not establish whether Elarion was the final buyer, much less whether it depended on a particular shipment.

Nor did the report account for goods carried in storage rings or moved through magical transport.

A commissioner could delay a vessel. That did not mean he had stopped everything its owner could send elsewhere.

She requested the identities of the final buyers and the routes supplying them, including any alternatives to shipping.

Tervan was to obtain the relevant records through his normal duties. Rellan would examine the suppliers dealing with his department, where he had a legitimate reason to ask questions.

Serapha took a drink of tea and grimaced at its temperature.

The Ironpeak packet was thicker.

Minister Ormund, responsible for state forge contracts, had provided copies of several requests for maintenance work on imported equipment.

Most concerned ordinary wear, damaged fittings, and requests for spare components.

Serapha examined the drawings. One showed a replacement bracket, with dimensions and the material required. It told the receiving smith how to make that part, without explaining the rest of the machine.

Ormund could direct government work toward particular forge houses and examine the accounts submitted with it. The requests therefore identified smiths with genuine experience of Elarion's exported equipment.

She approved an investigation into those existing relationships. Her agent was to establish who received technical instructions from the seller and what those instructions contained.

A copied component would still require the right material and workmanship. Enchanted parts might also depend on knowledge absent from an ordinary drawing. Serapha wanted her agents to identify those difficulties before claiming they had acquired something their own forges could reproduce.

The final substantial report came from Aetheris.

Minister Sevran, who oversaw civil administration, remained responsive to instructions. His office controlled public building contracts, transport arrangements, and work on roads and bridges.

He had no authority over the senior court mages.

A separate note mentioned that court mages were examining imported equipment. Serapha marked that entry for observation. Sevran had no legitimate reason to interfere with their work.

She requested the civil agreements concerning Elarion that his office already held.

They might reveal a useful dependency or an ordinary arrangement with no value to her. She would decide after reading them.

The Sylvan Dominion and Beastman Clans offered no confirmed officials. Their reports contained contacts and proposed introductions, which Serapha kept separate from the names of people already bound.

Solaria remained excluded.

Its Church governed the country, and holy energy was used by its knights and mages. The chance of exposing the demonic binding made an attempt there unacceptable.

She closed the register as the evening bells began.

She intended to narrow Elarion's choice of partners while preserving a friendly approach through Valdris. Whether that would influence Lucien depended on the agreements her agents had yet to examine and the support their proposals gained.

The compromised ministers could open discussions and act within their offices. Their rulers still had the authority to overrule them.

Serapha arranged her replies by territory.

The Church's name would appear in none of it.

She returned Othran's copied accounts to the folder marked Elarion and sealed the instruction approving his next supply.

For now, the finance minister would help complete the weapons purchase his government already wanted.

If Lucien later chose Valdris as a customer for something newer, Serapha intended to have her people waiting in the offices that received the offer.