Rain thinned above Ironwood Gate while Hajin laid the registry seals beside the true account and its exposed false counterpart. Korvin knelt beneath the canopy with his two assistants, while the disarmed guards waited past Cassie's blade beside their weapons.
Hajin scooped the three official stamps away from their owners while the gathered travelers craned toward the table, "Mine now."
"Your seals stay here, your offices end here, and your hands leave the registry service of this province, so nobody collects another damn toll in my name, got it?"
"We followed the frontier council's orders," Korvin pressed his palms into the mud, eyes darting toward the stolen coin boxes, "my lord, please, we weren't allowed to question what they demanded!"
Hajin hooked the dropped cane out of the mud with his toe and caught it one-handed.
