Chapter 22: The Kill Ledger
Three nobles had questioned your right to rule.
Three old names.
Three ancient families.
Three pieces of a world that would no longer fit in your empire.
And one by one, they would fall.
I. Lord Genric of Stormwatch – The Auditor's End
He moved first.
Calling for your estate's "full inheritance review" at the Royal Chamber — trying to stir doubt among peers and plant a court-accepted replacement heir from a cousin line.
But you moved faster.
Your Countermove:
You paid off the scribe who kept his bloodline genealogy
Revealed a buried bastard scandal — proving Genric himself was illegitimate
Quietly leaked it to his enemies in the Duchy of Grayspire
He fled his estate in shame, attempting to cross the Ironwood Pass.
But an "ambush" by highwaymen — ones you funded through off-book ledgers — ensured his records burned… and so did he.
[Target Eliminated: Lord Genric]
✅ Stormwatch absorbed
✅ Royal Auditor Seat revoked and reassigned — to you
II. Dame Sorcha Velwyn – The Border Blade
She rallied troops, claiming "protective drills" along your land's edge.
But she forgot one thing:
Her soldiers were paid in gold, and gold is slow to move, easy to trace… and corruptible.
Your Countermove:
You intercepted her supply trains
Replaced her gold payments with counterfeit marks from a dissolved mining company
Sparked a mutiny inside her command structure
Then — a "loyalist" commander under your payroll publicly executed her on charges of war profiteering and rebellion.
The borderlands pledged fealty the same week.
[Target Eliminated: Dame Velwyn]
✅ Her province divided into three guild-controlled territories under your oversight
✅ Military power neutralized
III. Archbishop Elverein – The Last Judge
The churchman spoke openly, labeling you "a child of unnatural ascent."
He underestimated your reach into the faith economy itself.
Your Countermove:
You quietly bought half the temple grain stores during the famine
Then redirected donations from nobility to a rival bishopric under the guise of "relief"
When Elverein attempted a sermon against you, the crowd heckled him.
When he tried to reclaim his influence, his ledgers were leaked — revealing embezzlement and blackmail of temple widows.
He was arrested by his own clergy.
The body was found two days later. Suicide, they said. You didn't argue.
[Target Eliminated: Archbishop Elverein]
✅ Church loses power in political affairs
✅ You gain silent control of religious grain flow
IV. A New Coin for a New World
The three nobles were gone.
The opposition silenced.
Now, you did what no noble had dared in a thousand years:
You killed gold.
The Currency Reform:
At the next Royal Trade Council, you arrived with a proposal backed by three dozen merchant guilds and foreign banks you secretly controlled.
You called it:
"The Promissory Note Act"
A new standard for commerce:
Lightweight
Numbered
Secured by Guild Vows and Noble Vaults
Backed by your own conglomerate's assets, not gold
In other words: Paper money.
There was outrage.
There were shouts.
But no one could argue with the truth: everyone already owed you.
[System Notification – Silent Mode]
✅ Paper Currency System Unlocked
Bonus: "Control the Flow"
Adjust inflation
Redirect regional wealth
Create artificial scarcity
Track large transactions globally
New Title Gained:
The Coinwright