Chapter 964: Ash Ledger Kin
Chapter 964 – Ash Ledger Kin
Zavros shrugged slightly. "Rumors. Burned records. Half-legends. Kaelmor buried his past well. I can only tell you what survived."
A voice came from Lux’s side.
"Yes, that’s what I know too."
Corvus stood beside Lux’s desk.
The raven hacker appeared as a sleek black-feathered figure perched on the back of a chair, crimson eyes glowing faintly.
"I found the same," Corvus said. "Ash Ledger Kin. Oath custodians. Debt witnesses. Very boring name. Very dangerous function."
Lux didn’t look surprised.
At this point, his room had become a midnight council of questionable creatures.
Zavros looked at Corvus through the mirror. "You."
Corvus dipped his head with exaggerated politeness. "Lord Zavros."
Zavros’s eyes narrowed. "Still making trouble?"
"Professionally."
Lux rubbed his temple.
Then something wobbled on the desk.
A small translucent jelly creature, ancient and absurd, rose from behind a stack of papers.
Zehar.
The ancient jelly slime frowned.
Or tried to.
It was hard to tell because his face was mostly a squishy blob with offended eyes.
"Excuse me," Zehar said.
Lux slowly looked down.
Zehar wobbled indignantly. "You mean me? Literally the one who told Lux that information first?"
Corvus turned his beak. "Hey, I also knew."
"You knew after I knew!"
"I verified."
"You stole."
"I curated."
"You feathered fraud."
Corvus fluffed. "At least I have feathers."
Zehar wobbled harder. "At least I can fit through sealed archive cracks!"
"At least I don’t look like expired pudding."
Zehar gasped.
Actually gasped.
Lux closed his eyes.
Zavros stared through the mirror. "Is that a jelly on your desk?"
Lux answered without opening his eyes.
"An Ancient Lord from Shadow Corridors. Somehow he turned into jelly so he could fit in the mortal realm."
Corvus hopped down onto the desk, wings half-spread. "I am saying my data network confirmed it independently."
Zehar bounced once. "Your data network was built on records I led him toward!"
"You led him toward a rumor."
"A valuable rumor!"
"A sticky rumor."
"I am sticky with wisdom!"
Corvus cawed. "You are sticky with residue."
Zehar launched himself. A tiny translucent body flew across the desk like offended gelatin.
Corvus flapped backward. Papers scattered.
One system window flickered.
Lux did not even blink.
[Desk Disturbance Detected]
[Threat Level: Embarrassing]
Zehar landed on Corvus’s head.
Corvus shook violently. "Get off!"
"Apologize!"
"Never!"
Zavros slowly leaned closer in the mirror. "Are you going to stop them?"
Lux lifted one hand without looking.
[Telekinesis]
Both Corvus and Zehar froze mid-scuffle.
Then floated upward.
Corvus still had Zehar half-draped over his head like a translucent hat.
Zehar’s tiny arms, if they counted as arms, were wrapped around Corvus’s beak.
Lux held them both in the air beside his desk and kept reading the system window. "I’m working."
Corvus’s muffled voice came out. "He started it."
Zehar squeaked, "He disrespected my contribution."
Lux’s eyes moved across the screen. "Both of you are valuable."
They froze.
Zehar blinked.
Corvus tilted his head.
"So..." Lux flicked his finger and separated them, placing Corvus on the chair and Zehar on a paperweight. "Do not make me revise downward."
Both went silent.
For three seconds.
Lux turned back to Zavros. "Continue."
Zavros looked amused now, which Lux found personally offensive. "The Ash Ledger Kin had another rumored ability," Zavros said. "They could make debt feel voluntary even after it stopped being fair."
Lux’s expression hardened. "How?"
"Language preservation. Memory reinforcement. Emotional loop. Gratitude repeated until it becomes identity."
The first elf’s words echoed in Lux’s mind.
Let me pay the debt we owe.
Until he says it is enough.
Lux’s jaw tightened. "That fits."
Corvus hopped closer, carefully avoiding Zehar. "I found a phrase in burned fragments."
Lux looked at him.
Corvus lifted one wing, projecting a small black-red text window.
[Fragment Recovered]
[Source: Burned Pre-Royal Registry]
[Text: "When gratitude becomes root, the tree shall not flee the gardener."]
Lux stared at it.
His face went cold.
Zehar wobbled softly. "That sounds like the elf."
"More than that," Lux said.
He enlarged the text. "Gardener."
Zavros’s eyes sharpened in the mirror.
Lux tapped the window.
"The first elf called herself mother of the roots. The elven race came from roots. The Ash Ledger phrase says the tree shall not flee the gardener."
Corvus nodded. "So the contract may frame the demon bloodline as the gardener who saved the roots from fire."
"And the first elf as the tree," Lux murmured. "Or root. Or forest mother."
Zehar made a disgusted squish sound. "That’s ugly."
Lux smiled without humor. "That’s contracts."
Zavros said, "Careful, Lux."
Lux looked at his father.
Zavros’s expression was serious now.
"If Kaelmor’s claim is built on inherited symbolic authority, challenging the contract means challenging his hidden foundation. If he senses you pulling at that thread—"
"He’ll move faster."
"Yes."
Lux leaned back in his chair.
"If he caused the fire," Lux said softly, "or his ancestor did..."
Zavros’s face darkened. "Then the debt is fraudulent."
Corvus’s eyes glowed.
Zehar wobbled in excitement.
Lux’s smile slowly returned. "Exactly."
Zavros watched him. "You found your angle."
"I found an angle."
"Do you have proof?"
"Not yet."
Lux looked at the system.
"System, prioritize volcanic causation. Search not only natural eruption records. Search for demonic residue, ash manipulation, old fire pacts, eruption timing, and Ash Ledger presence before the disaster."
[Command Accepted]
[Priority Shift: Volcanic Disaster Manipulation Hypothesis]
[Estimated Completion Adjusted]
[Deep Search Progress Recalibrating...]
Corvus flapped his wings once. "I can dig through InfernalNet hidden archives."
Zehar bounced. "I can search more info in the Shadow Corridors again."
Zavros’s amusement faded slightly.
Then, quieter, he said, "You look tired."
Lux looked back at the screens.
"I’m fine."
"No, you’re functional."
Lux paused.
Zavros continued, voice low. "There is a difference."
For one second, the room became too quiet.
Corvus stopped moving.
Zehar stopped wobbling.
Lux did not answer.
Then he picked up his coffee.
"It’s late."
Zavros looked at him for a long moment.
"Yes," he said. "It is."
Lux drank.
The coffee was cold.
He drank it anyway.
Zavros sighed softly. "Send me the next sigil layer when your system completes the search."
"I will."
"And Lux?"
Lux’s eyes lifted.
Zavros looked at his son through the mirror.
"Do not underestimate Kaelmor’s shame. Demons will kill for power. But they will burn worlds for the past they buried."
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