Balancing the Books and Auditing Them

After the Sacred War Reconstruction Institute's first planning meeting ended, the orders finally passed from the Inner Fortress's leadership to those responsible for carrying them out.

Several quartermaster recorders carried heavy ledgers toward the Quartermaster Office's accounts room.

Convoys came and went around them, cart after cart pushing barrels full of supplies into the warehouse district.

An older recorder tucked a copy of the orders under his arm and read aloud as he walked: "Three master registers, one consistent standard, clear responsibility."

Someone beside him scoffed. "Easy for them to say."

Another shook his head. "Does that little lord from Blackpine really think Tear Knight City is like his handful of tiny territories? Being good at war doesn't mean he can manage accounts. The Quartermaster Office's records aren't nearly as simple as he makes them sound."

Only Gran, the Quartermaster Office's deputy outer-warehouse manager, walked at the front without a word.

He had spent more than a decade in the Tear Knight Defense Line's supply system. One meeting was hardly going to rattle him.

Back in the accounts room, the heavy wooden door closed slowly, shutting out the noise outside.

Gran draped his coat over the back of a chair, picked up the new forms issued by the Reconstruction Institute, and read through them carefully.

The forms really were far clearer and more detailed than the ledgers the Quartermaster Office usually used.

They required not only the number of the warehouse releasing the supplies and the recipient's signature, but also the transport team's number, the supplies' intended use, and the roster corresponding to each transfer.

After a moment's silence, Gran said, "It's a good system. But young people always like to think things are simple."

He had nothing against Shien. A new official lighting three fires on taking office was