The Duchy of Valois didn't smell like death; it smelled like copper and wet ash.
As the white-and-gold carriage of the Academy crossed the provincial border, the vibrant greens of the forest curdled into a sickly, translucent grey. The trees stood like skeletal fingers clawing at a sky that had forgotten the color blue.
Inside the carriage, the atmosphere was even more suffocating.
Kaelen sat by the window, idly flipping through the Sovereign's Ledger. Opposite him sat Alaric. The former Hero was dressed in a simple, dark tunic, his eyes fixed on his own hands. There was a faint, pulsating black vein running from Alaric's wrist up into his sleeve—the physical manifestation of the Judas Contract.
"You look well, Alaric," Kaelen remarked, his voice smooth. "The fresh air is doing wonders for your complexion."
Alaric didn't look up. "I can feel it, Kaelen. Every time you have a dark thought, my chest burns. It's like drinking liquid lead."
"That's just the weight of my genius," Kaelen replied. "Think of it as character building."
[WARNING!] [Entering High-Density Miasma Zone.] [Karma Sink Detected: 2.5 Miles Ahead.]
Kaelen tapped the roof of the carriage. "Stop here."
He stepped out into the mud of a dying village called Oakhaven. It was a place of low eaves and shuttered windows. The only sound was the rhythmic tolling of a bell from a small, dilapidated chapel.
Elara stepped out after him, her hand immediately going to her throat. "The light here... it's being eaten. Kaelen, I can barely feel the Sun's grace."
"That's why we're here, Elara," Kaelen said, his eyes scanning the village.
Above every house, the Sovereign's Ledger was going haywire. The numbers weren't just red; they were decaying.
Villager 1: -50 (Infection: 80%). Villager 2: -110 (Infection: 95%).
But it was the figure standing by the village well that caught Kaelen's attention. It was a girl, no older than sixteen, wearing a tattered black dress. She was tossing small, silver coins into the dry well.
Kaelen squinted. Above her head, there was no number. There was only a flickering, golden icon of a Balance Scale.
"A Regressor," Kaelen whispered, his pulse quickening.
The girl turned. Her eyes were a startling, unnatural violet—the color of a bruise. She didn't look at Kaelen's face; she looked at the space above his head, exactly where his System interface lived.
"Oh," she said, her voice high and melodic. "A Trillion-Pointer. I thought the Bank had liquidated you people years ago."
Kaelen stepped forward, his cane clicking on the stones. He felt Alaric tense up behind him, the Judas Contract vibrating with a sudden spike of Kaelen's sudden, cold aggression.
"And you are?" Kaelen asked.
"I'm Livia," she said, skipping toward him. She ignored Elara and the Paladins entirely. "I'm the Interest Collector. I was sent here to harvest this village, but it looks like you've brought your own 'Hero' to do the heavy lifting."
She looked at Alaric and giggled. "A Proxy? That's so old-fashioned. Why pay your taxes when you can just make someone else suffer, right?"
"Livia," Kaelen said, his voice dropping an octave. "This territory is under the protection of the Holy Academy. This Karma belongs to the Saint."
Livia stopped three feet from him. The air between them began to warp. On one side, Kaelen's fake, brilliant white light; on the other, Livia's swirling, chaotic violet shadow.
"The Bank doesn't care about titles, Saint," Livia whispered, leaning in. "They care about efficiency. This 'Plague' is a crop, and I'm the scythe. If you want these souls, you'll have to out-bid me."
[NEW QUEST: THE AUCTION OF SOULS] [Objective: Purify the village of Oakhaven before Livia 'Harvests' it.] [Livia's Progress: 12% Harvested.] [Your Progress: 0% Purified.]
"Elara," Kaelen said, not breaking eye contact with Livia. "Start the Great Cleansing Rite. Use the Heart-Light. Don't hold back."
"But Kaelen, if I use that much mana here, the backlash will—"
"I will take the backlash," Kaelen lied, his voice thick with heroic resolve.
He glanced at Alaric. The Hero's face twisted in sudden, agonizing pain as the System prepared to shunt the spiritual damage of a High-Tier Rite directly into his soul.
"Go," Kaelen commanded.
As Elara began to chant, her body erupting in a pillar of pure, blinding gold, Livia's smile vanished. She pulled a jagged black dagger from her belt.
"Fine," the girl hissed. "Let's see whose debt is heavier."
Kaelen gripped his cane, the Breaker's Omen ring glowing with a dull, hungry light. He wasn't just fighting for the village. He was fighting for his market share.