When records waver, people start looking to voices again.
Who stands higher.
Who is stronger.
Who bears the more prestigious name.
Who can silence more people.
Records exist to prevent that.
And yet the authority seal of the Records Office assistant had been stamped onto a forged record.
At that moment, records, too, began to be viewed with suspicion.
Clarisse Rain stood before the ledger.
Her expression was the same as usual.
Her lips were closed, her back straight, a pen in her hand.
But the tip of her pen did not move.
She looked at the trace of the seal bearing her own name.
Just as I had looked at mine earlier.
[Authority Seal of Records Office Assistant Clarisse Rain.]
That single line turned Clarisse from a witness into an interested party.
It took away the voice of the person who kept the records.
Clarisse spoke.
"I will defer making an independent judgment from this point onward."
Arsene Berhardt immediately asked,
"Then who will keep the record?"
A good question.
Also a bad one.
There were not many people here who could make a record.
Clarisse was an interested party.
I was the named party on the forged record.
Liana was the target of the coercive document.
Seria had requested to be present for Eloise's testimony.
Eveline had an emotional interest in openly protecting me.
Adela was a clothing consultant, but she had just become involved in the incident.
Arsene belonged to the victim's house.
Kaiden was too significant, as a prince.
A voice that was too powerful did not create records.
It created conclusions.
Clarisse fell silent for a moment.
Then she said,
"I propose a temporary distributed record."
Kaiden narrowed his eyes.
"Explain."
"I will only provide procedural guidance. I will not make judgments. A third party with little interest in the matter will transcribe each statement, and each speaker will verify their own statement. Multiple people will separately record observations of the physical evidence. Afterward, both the original and copies will be submitted together to an external auditor."
Arsene said,
"We need a third party, then."
"Yes."
"Someone from House Berhardt—"
"Rejected."
She was quick again.
Arsene's eyes turned cold.
"Quick to the very end, aren't you?"
"For the same reason. A record from the victim's house may serve as reference, but it cannot guarantee the independence of the initial temporary record."
Kaiden gave a low laugh.
"Then whom should we appoint?"
At that moment, Liana cautiously spoke.
"What about Candidate Martin Gray?"
Everyone's gaze turned to Liana.
Martin Gray.
A scholarship candidate recommended by a merchant guild.
The male student in the gray vest who had asked the first question during the public inquiry in Chapter 37.
The one who had asked how to stop a higher-ranking candidate from speaking in his place.
Liana continued.
"Candidate Martin applied these principles himself today. And he has no personal relationship with either me or Teacher Cart."
Eveline asked,
"Can we really have a scholarship candidate write down nobles' statements?"
The question was blunt, but necessary.
In noble society, records were authority.
Having a commoner or a scholarship candidate recommended by a merchant guild write down the statements of noble candidates could seem disrespectful to some.
Liana knew that.
She answered at once.
"That is why official permission is even more necessary. If we make Candidate Martin write without permission, it could put him in danger."
Good.
She could see even the danger in her own proposal.
Kaiden tapped his chin with a finger.
"Summon Martin Gray."
Clarisse instructed an assistant from the Records Office.
The assistant ran off.
While we waited, the corridor was strangely quiet.
Arsene did not speak.
Neither did Kaiden.
Eveline started to crumple her handkerchief, then stopped. Seria reread the purpose clause in the ledger, while Adela narrowed her eyes at the seal mark.
I looked at Clarisse.
"Are you all right?"
I regretted asking a little after the words left my mouth.
Asking whether someone was all right often forced an answer.
It made people who were not all right say that they were.
Clarisse looked at me.
"I defer my answer."
"Understood."
She looked back at the ledger.
"What must be done now is not to assess my emotions, but to identify the source of the seal."
Precise.
The usual Clarisse.
Yet her words sounded a little heavier than usual.
A short while later, Martin Gray arrived.
He stopped, breathing hard.
He had been nervous even when noble candidates surrounded him in the Academy Central Corridor, but now he looked even more tense.
A prince.
The eldest son of a marquess.
An assistant from the Records Office.
And four young ladies of noble houses.
It was understandable. He had been called into the middle of all that.
Martin bowed his head.
"Martin Gray, scholarship candidate recommended by a merchant guild. I came in response to the summons."
Kaiden said,
"Martin Gray. Can you take on the temporary transcription of the record?"
Martin's face froze.
"Me...?"
"Yes."
"I do not have the authority to record the statements of noble candidates."
Good.
He knew his limits.
And he stated those limits first.
Clarisse said,
"Temporary authority can be granted. However, you may refuse. Any disadvantage resulting from refusal is prohibited from being entered into the record."
Martin looked between the ledger and us.
"If something I write becomes a problem later..."
Eveline stepped forward, then stopped.
She had probably intended to say, I will protect you.
But that, too, could become another form of pressure.
Grinding her teeth, Eveline said,
"If you don't want to, say you don't want to."
Martin looked at her in surprise.
"Pardon?"
"I'm not speaking for you. I'm only saying that you are allowed to refuse."
Clarisse wrote it down.
"Lady Eveline Rosette confirms the temporary transcription candidate's right to refuse."
Liana also spoke.
"If Candidate Martin accepts, we must first confirm that we will not use our status to pressure him over his record."
Seria added,
"If one wishes to challenge a record, one must point out errors in its contents. One must not attack the recorder's status."
Adela said,
"And the handwriting must remain consistent. Candidate Martin, have you ever kept a merchant ledger?"
Martin nodded with a dazed look on his face.
"I wrote inventory sheets when I was a merchant apprentice."
"Good. Inventory sheets are stricter than a noble's whims."
Martin could not respond.
Neither could I, for a moment.
Adela had said it in complete sincerity.
Kaiden smiled.
"Temporary transcription authority is granted. Martin Gray's record will be written under Clarisse Rain's procedural guidance, and final authority of judgment will rest with an external auditor."
Martin closed his eyes briefly, then opened them.
"I accept. However, may I ask again about anything I do not understand?"
"Permitted."
Good.
Martin had secured one more right for himself.
If a recorder wrote down words they did not understand as they were, the record would quickly become a noble's display case.
Clarisse started to hand Martin her own pen, then stopped.
She took out a new pen instead.
"My pen is an item of interest. Use this one."
Martin took the pen.
His hand trembled slightly.
But he did not drop it.
The temporary record began.
Clarisse explained the procedure, and Martin wrote.
Eveline reconfirmed the prohibition on using violence, and Martin wrote.
Liana confirmed that she would place her own testimony later in the order, and Martin wrote.
Seria again explained the temporal contradiction in the purpose clause, and Martin wrote.
Adela again described the differences in the signature and ink.
Martin asked once in the middle.
"Lady Carmion. Does 'pen pressure' mean the force used to press the strokes?"
Adela nodded.
"Yes. And it is a good record-keeping habit to ask that. If you pretend to know words you do not know, records rot."
Martin was flustered for a moment, but then he wrote.
[Need to clarify unfamiliar words.]
Eveline gave a small laugh when she saw it.
Distributed record-keeping was slow.
Very slow.
But because it was slow, we could breathe.
Next came the source of the seal.
Clarisse pointed to the red mark in the ledger.
"This trace resembles my authority seal. However, an authentic correction seal leaves both pressure and heat. This trace has pressure, but the heat marks are faint."
Martin asked,
"Then is it not an authentic seal?"
"It may be a copy."
Adela nodded.
"Rather than being stamped directly onto the wax, it may be an impression taken by pressing against a seal that had already been stamped."
Arsene asked,
"Is copying a seal that easy?"
Adela looked at him.
"Making an official seal is difficult. But leaving a trace convincing enough to make people suspicious is not difficult. Especially if the viewer has not seen the real thing often."
Clarisse added,
"My authority seal is not disclosed externally. However, temporary cards and restricted cards bear a simplified stamp."
At those words, a chill ran down my back.
Temporary cards.
Restricted cards.
I slipped a hand into the inner pocket of my coat.
It was empty.
Ah.
The speech restriction card I had received that morning.
The card I had held in my hand during the public inquiry.
The card bearing Clarisse's simplified stamp.
The card that said a candidate could speak only one sentence when requesting assistance.
It was gone.
I checked my pocket once more.
Then my other pockets.
Nothing.
Eveline noticed immediately.
"What is it?"
I said,
"The speech restriction card is gone."
Clarisse's pen stopped.
No, Martin was the one holding the pen now.
Martin's hand stopped.
Clarisse asked,
"When did you last confirm that you had it?"
"During the public inquiry in the Academy Central Corridor. I did not check it afterward."
Seria asked,
"Did that card bear the assistant's simplified stamp?"
"Yes."
Adela spoke quietly.
"And it would have had Teacher Cart's name as well."
"Yes."
Liana's face hardened.
"Then someone may have obtained both Teacher Cart's name and Assistant Clarisse's seal from that card."
Precisely.
A system window rose before me.
[Lost Item: Speech Restriction Card]
[Included Information: Leon Cart's name / Clarisse Rain's simplified stamp / restriction clause]
[Possibility of connection to forged record increased]
Eveline's eyes turned fierce.
"So it was stolen."
"Do not jump to conclusions."
Clarisse spoke immediately.
Eveline gritted her teeth.
"It was lost, and someone may have used it. Is that how I should say it?"
"Yes."
"Then write it that way."
Martin wrote quickly.
His hand was still trembling, but his handwriting remained steady.
Arsene spoke from the end of the corridor.
"Teacher Cart. You lost an important card."
Accusation.
A justified accusation.
Losing the card was my mistake.
No matter how crowded it had been, no matter how chaotic the public inquiry had been.
I had failed to keep track of a card bearing my name and a seal.
I said,
"I bear responsibility for its safekeeping. Record it."
Martin looked at me.
When I nodded, he wrote.
[Leon Cart acknowledges responsibility for safeguarding the speech restriction card.]
Eveline looked frustrated.
"Why admit that?"
"Because it is true."
"That puts you at an even greater disadvantage."
"If we remove inconvenient facts, favorable facts will not last long either."
Eveline closed her mouth.
She had already learned those words.
Write down the unfavorable facts first.
That had saved us several times.
It had to be the same this time.
Kaiden smiled quietly.
"Good. Now we must find the card's path of movement."
Clarisse said,
"We need to return to the Academy Central Corridor. If the card was lost, the most likely time is immediately before or after the end of the public inquiry."
Adela added,
"And if the card was used for copying, there may be wax or impressions on its surface. If we find the original card, we can determine the method of forgery."
Seria said,
"The question is not who picked it up, but who picked it up and how far they used it."
Liana spoke in a low voice.
"And who made it impossible for the person who picked it up to say so."
Good.
That was important.
The person who found the card might be the culprit, but they might not be.
They might have found it and hidden it out of fear.
Someone might have taken it from them.
A higher-ranking candidate might have told a lower-ranking candidate, I will take care of this.
Questions had owners.
Cards had paths of movement too.
We headed back to the Academy Central Corridor.
This time, Martin came with us.
The temporary transcriber.
An awkward position, but a necessary one.
The corridor was noisier than before.
As we returned, all the candidates' gazes gathered on us at once.
The four lines were still posted on the bulletin board.
Beneath them remained the mark where the coercive document had been.
Clarisse stopped before the bulletin board.
She would not make a judgment.
Only provide procedural guidance.
"We will begin examining the area around the bulletin board."
Martin wrote.
Adela looked beneath the board.
Seria watched the expressions of the candidates nearby.
Liana did not take her eyes from the spot where her name had been written.
Eveline clenched and unclenched her fist.
I felt the emptiness in my pocket again.
Then Martin spoke very quietly.
"Wait a moment."
Everyone looked at him.
Martin pointed to a gap in the wood at the lower-right edge of the bulletin board.
"There... I think there is something like the corner of a card."
Adela lowered herself.
She did not take it out herself.
Clarisse gave procedural instructions, and Martin recorded the location.
Only then did the assistant remove it with thin tweezers.
A white card.
A folded corner.
A red simplified stamp.
It was my speech restriction card.
But one additional sentence had been written on it, one that had not been there before.
Small, thin handwriting.
As though someone had added it for amusement.
[Those who can speak learn silence.]
And beneath it.
A very small fifth line.
[The record keeper is no exception.]
The air in the corridor froze.
Clarisse looked at the sentence.
Martin's hand stopped.
Kaiden did not smile.
Neither did Arsene.
I looked at the card.
The record keeper is no exception.
Our opponent was reading our principles.
Not merely exploiting them.
Rewriting them.
And now it was clear.
This was not a simple forgery.
It was someone's answer sheet, inserted into our lesson.
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