The door creaked. Slowly. As if someone were announcing "I am here," the iron door was pushed open from within. Alicia couldn't move from behind the shelf. She held her breath, her back pressed against the spine of a ledger. Calculation sheets lay scattered across the floor. In the candlelight, the numbers were starkly visible. (This is bad——) It was too late to hide them. Too late to pick them up. Light spilled in. The orange glow of a lantern. "……Alicia?" It was Valton Leon. The voice was low. Surprised, yet calm. Alicia slowly emerged from behind the shelf. Standing in the doorway was Valton Leon——Alicia's step-brother and acting head of the Valton household. A lantern hung from one hand, the other resting against the door frame. His golden hair gleamed softly in the flickering light. His pale blue eyes moved between the parchment scattered on the floor and Alicia's figure surrounded by shelves. At twenty-two, his face held a mixture of confusion and concern. "In the ledger vault, at this hour……" His words trailed off. Alicia took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the shelf. She brushed the dust from her knees while gathering the scattered parchment. It was the look of resignation——like the time in her past life when her boss had caught her working overtime at the trading company. "……I'll explain." She said it briefly, then walked toward the reach of the lantern's light. Leon entered the vault. Their footsteps overlapped on the stone floor. --- Leon listened in silence. Alicia spread three ledgers across the floor. The repair expenses column. The asset inheritance column. The year-by-year changes in figures. Each time the candle flame flickered, the rows of numbers seemed to dance. "Every year, it's recorded as repair expenses. Three years ago. Five years ago." Alicia traced the line with her fingertip. "But when I look at the next year's ledger, it's not carried over as an asset. If repairs were done, the asset value should increase. The building's worth. The water channel equipment. And yet——it's zero." Leon knelt down to peer at the ledger. The distance between them narrowed in the cramped vault. Their shoulders brushed slightly through their clothes. (He's close.) Alicia was aware of it for just a moment. A faint scent of grass and soap came from his leather jacket. The solid warmth of a body trained in swordcraft transmitted to her. She tried to focus, returning her gaze to the numbers. "Here." She placed her finger on the figures. "Repair expenses from five years ago——eight hundred silver coins. But the next year's ledger has nothing." Leon leaned closer to the ledger. "……Not eighty silver coins?" "Eight hundred." There was a beat of silence. Leon looked up at Alicia. "……That's one digit too many." "Yes. Eight hundred silver coins." "Eight hundred……that's more than fifty times a farmer's annual income." "Exactly." Leon placed his hand to his forehead. His expression was indescribable——a mix of shock and a hint of exasperation at himself for not noticing sooner. Alicia felt herself deflate slightly, a small wry smile crossing her face. (People bad with numbers always start by misreading the digits.) She had a memory of a similar boss from her past life. "I'll continue." --- The explanation took longer than she'd expected. Alicia pointed to each calculation sheet she'd copied, explaining the pattern of fraud. Inflated repair costs. Work that was never done. Assets that vanished the next year. Leon didn't interrupt, only listened. Each time the candle flame flickered, their silhouettes loomed large on the wall. The angle at which they bent over the ledger brought their faces close at moments. As Alicia traced each line with her finger, her fingertip passed through Leon's line of sight. When concentrating, Alicia had a habit of biting her lower lip slightly. She was doing it now——though she didn't notice, Leon did. There were moments when his gaze was drawn more to her profile as she explained than to the numbers themselves. (I've always felt something was wrong.) Leon thought. Every time he'd tried to check the ledgers, Galbert had said "there are no problems." When he'd asked his father, he'd said "I've left it in his hands." With his inability to read numbers, there was nothing he could do. Yet the step-sister before him had done it in a single night—— "That concludes it." Alicia looked up. "At minimum, over the past three years, more than four hundred silver coins have disappeared. It likely continued for much longer." Silence fell. Leon stared at the ledger for a while. Only the sound of the flame flickering and wind howling somewhere in the corridor could be heard. Eventually, Leon looked up. His pale blue eyes met Alicia's directly. "All those years——the unease I felt, it was all here." His voice was low and quiet. "The people's lives don't improve. Roads fall into disrepair and repairs don't progress. The harvest is declining but I couldn't find the cause. It all connects." Alicia said nothing. Leon continued. "I can't do this alone. Numbers——honestly, I can't manage it. But if you're here, we can investigate. ……Will you lend me your strength?" To be needed. Those words struck deeper than she'd expected. In her past life, Alicia had worked as an accounting department clerk at a major trading company for five years. She'd produced numbers. But she rarely remembered being thanked. More often, she'd heard "of course you would." Even when she'd finished monthly statements through the night, the next morning's briefing prioritized other topics. A person who produced numbers was always a replaceable part. But here—— (They're actually seeing me.) "Understood." Alicia nodded. "However, the ledger verification needs to be systematic. Random checking will take too long. We need a plan, setting priorities as we go." "I'll leave it to you." "And——" She was about to continue when it happened. As they both reached to put away the ledger, their hands extended simultaneously. Their fingers overlapped. Alicia's fingertips met Leon's left hand. For just a moment——truly just a moment——they remained in that position. Something jumped in her chest. She couldn't quite put it into words. Her heart beat once, strongly. Despite it being such a small thing, a warmth spread from her fingertips, and Alicia had to suppress a sound from escaping her lips. Leon cleared his throat and withdrew his hand. "……Sorry." "No." She answered while maintaining composure, but her voice cracked slightly. Leon's gaze had left the ledger. The tips of his ears were tinged with a color other than the lantern's orange——a faint red. Silence stretched for several seconds. Alicia's and Leon's gazes crossed for a moment. Alicia was the first to look away. Her hands closing the ledger were slightly awkward. (Calm down. Numbers. Focus on the numbers.) In her past life as an office worker, she'd been trained to suppress such feelings. But her seventeen-year-old body's reason couldn't quite keep up with itself. Then——a sound came from the corridor. Footsteps on stone. Leather shoes. Slowly. One step. Then another. Regular and steady, approaching the vault. Alicia tried to stand, but lost her balance. Her knee caught on the ledger. Leon's hand shot out reflexively. He caught her shoulder. Alicia's forehead bumped against Leon's chest. Through the fabric——his heartbeat transmitted to her. It was fast. Much faster than Alicia would have expected. (Leon is nervous too.) The thought crossed her mind in an instant, and she realized her own cheeks were burning. (This is bad. This is really bad.) But her body wouldn't move. Leon's arm remained on her shoulder, and neither could speak. They dimmed the lantern flame and held their breath. The footsteps drew near. They reached just outside the vault door—— And stopped. Silence stretched. Then, slowly, the sound receded. Alicia didn't move. Leon didn't move until the corridor sounds completely faded. His arm's grip seemed to tighten slightly——a protective kind of strength. When the stone footsteps finally disappeared, they quietly separated. Without a word. Alicia straightened, holding the ledgers. The heat in her cheeks wouldn't fade. Leon stared at a point on the ceiling. "……Those footsteps." "Probably a servant on night patrol. They make regular rounds at this hour." Leon's voice was calm. But to Alicia, that composure sounded just slightly forced. "I see." The two said nothing more. --- The next morning, as Alicia spread the calculation sheets across the study desk, she noticed immediately. One was missing. She checked each copied sheet one by one. Three years of repair expenses. Asset inheritance records. Embezzlement estimates. Everything was there——no, it wasn't. (The one from five years ago is gone.) Something cold ran through her mind. The five-year-old sheet was the most important. It contained the core numbers needed to calculate the total embezzlement amount. She'd definitely copied it last night. She'd calculated from the ledger and recorded it on parchment. She'd laid it out on the floor with the others. Yet now it was simply gone. (Those footsteps were——) Leon had said it was a servant on night patrol. But Alicia couldn't accept that judgment so easily now. Why would a regular patrol stop right outside the vault? Someone had entered. They'd slipped a single sheet of parchment through the door gap. Then left as if nothing had happened. (The enemy is already moving.) Alicia leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling. Galbert had been arrested. But the fraud wasn't Galbert's alone——the underground commercial network called the Felgrant Guild, mentioned in the world's background, supported the flow of embezzled funds. Its members spanned five southern territories, and the identity of its leader, called the Account Master, remained unknown. That organization was aware of Alicia's movements. All of that had been proven in a single night. Morning light streamed through the study window. Alicia took a small breath and stood. The warmth from last night——the sensation of that rapid heartbeat transmitted from Leon's chest——seemed to linger in her fingertips. She pushed it away, reorganizing numbers in her mind. (I can't afford to move leisurely anymore.) Evidence was disappearing before she could gather it. If that was the case, she had to change her approach. The stage of investigating ledgers alone had ended last night. She needed to tell Leon. They needed to move together. Even if that made them "accomplices"——Alicia was fine with that.