Hans pinned the inventory manifest beside the depot scales while Marrick counted grain sacks and Hajin checked the district seals. The factor's draft demanded the valley's copper mines for ninety-nine years in exchange for reopening House Seliza's grain support again.
"Ninety-nine years?" Hajin flicked the draft with one bandaged finger. "Is she buying copper or buying my grandkids?"
"Both, by the look of the margins," Marrick muttered, laying the rejected mortgage beside the advance-paid contracts.
Hans read the factor's attached letter aloud, "Discretionary subsidies and medical credit suspended, they still honor deliveries already paid in native coin, but nothing beyond those contracts."
Marrick turned the sheet and showed Hajin where the factor tried sneaking a new seal line beneath the signatures.
His handwriting stayed neat on the tally, though anger whitened his knuckles around the paper's edge.
