Void System: Every Heroine Makes Me Stronger

"I’m not counting a price we don’t know."

Marienne stood at the west strongroom table with the treasury key resting against her fingers. Morning had reached the high window, but not much farther. The open field case sat in a stripe of pale light, iron corners bare, waiting for money.

Severin glanced into it. "Then don’t guess."

Her eyes lifted to his. "A startlingly responsible answer. Keep going."

Severin ignored the bait. "500 Stellar Gold. That’s the ceiling."

Marienne nodded to the senior clerk. "You heard him."

The senior clerk opened the chest and moved Stellar Gold across the table under Marienne’s eye, stack by stack. Alicia held the verified invitation against her chest with the same 2 buyer papers tucked beneath it.

She watched Marienne recount the last stack.

"Marienne counts money like it’s trying to run away, Master."

"Money does run away," Marienne said. "It simply prefers handsome assistance."

Severin looked at her.

Marienne’s mouth curved. "Did I name anyone?"

The clerk shut the field case. Marienne checked the lock herself before sliding it across the table.

"500. Company money."

"You’ll get the receipt."

"I’d also enjoy seeing some of the coin come home."

"Greedy."

"Treasurer."

That was fair.

The lower-road note stayed on Alicia’s wardrobe shelf. The invitation and buyer papers went under her arm. Severin took the case, and they crossed into the south court where the carriage waited.

Tressa arrived while a groom tightened the last strap on the harness. Saelith came through the service gate soon after, dust pale along the edge of her boot.

Tressa’s eyes went straight to the case. "So we’re really doing it this morning."

"Yes."

"If they dosed her again?"

"You check her once she’s out."

Tressa caught his sleeve before he stepped past, more practical than hesitant. "And if she can’t walk?"

"Then she doesn’t walk."

Her grip loosened. "Good. That’s all I wanted."

Saelith looked past the courtyard gate toward the road. "The old sheds still give the cleanest view of the side lane. The wall hides the near stretch, then it opens."

"Take it. Watch the back route too. Don’t chase anyone unless I tell you."

"I won’t."

Her gaze stayed on his for a quiet beat before she turned toward the carriage.

Alicia moved closer to Severin.

"And me, Master?"

"With me."

"Yes, Master."

The carriage carried them north through a Greycross morning that had no interest in what waited beneath the lime yards. Wheels hammered shallow ruts. A baker’s boy nearly lost a tray to a passing wagon and shouted after the driver. Smoke drifted between roofs in flat gray bands.

They stopped before the buyer gate came into view.

Tressa climbed down and looked at Severin through the open carriage door. "Bring her out breathing. Preferably without making me earn my breakfast."

"No promises about your breakfast."

"Terrible man."

She closed the door herself.

Saelith had already turned toward the sheds. She lifted a hand without looking back, then disappeared behind the lime-stained wall.

Severin took the field case. Alicia took the papers.

They walked the rest.

The counting-shed man recognized them before Alicia fully opened the invitation.

"Morcant-Valcor."

"You expected us," Severin said.

The man checked the office mark, then the 2 company papers. His eyes dropped briefly to the iron case in Severin’s hand.

He kept his hands on the papers.

"Buyer stairs," he said, returning them.

Alicia tucked them back under her arm. "This way, Master."

The counting-shed man opened the gate.

They crossed the short yard and descended beside the old kiln. Lamp smoke hung under the low ceiling. Damp stone cooled the air. Somewhere behind a partition, someone coughed hard enough to retch, then went quiet.

Alicia stayed just behind Severin’s right shoulder, listening to the timber walls and the stair behind them.

The route hadn’t changed enough to matter.

The lower hall was already working. A clerk bent over a ledger. A buyer argued softly near the rail. Men moved papers, keys, and people with the same bored efficiency.

The heavy inner door remained shut at the far end.

A factor in a dark vest stepped away from the ledger counter as Severin approached.

"Morcant-Valcor. Your return was cleared."

The field case hung from Severin’s left hand. "Nyra Vask. Price?"

"480 Stellar Gold."

Within Marienne’s ceiling.

"What does that buy from your side?"

The factor studied him, then answered.

"Immediate handoff to your company. We clear the restraint attached to the lot and record the transfer."

"Bring her."

"You don’t want to bargain?"

"No."

The factor gave a small shrug and signaled toward the inner door.

Metal shifted from the far side.

Nyra came out between 2 handlers.

The bruise that had darkened Nyra’s jaw days ago was gone. The skin near her cuffs held only faint, dry traces where the iron had rubbed it raw before. Her smoke-black ears stood tense above her hair. Her tail hung low, controlled rather than limp.

Nyra’s gaze went first to the field case in Severin’s hand, then the papers under Alicia’s arm and the distance to the stairs. Only then did she meet his eyes.

Alicia’s tail flicked and stilled. Then she turned her attention back toward the stairs.

Nyra stopped near the counter. The handler on her left tried to drag her another pace with the waist tether.

Her stance checked, shoulder pulled back.

"Don’t," Severin said.

The handler looked over. "She’s still on our chain."

"And you’re about to be paid. Stop yanking what you’re selling."

The man’s jaw tightened. "She’s trouble."

Nyra’s eyes shifted to him, flat and unimpressed.

The factor sighed through his nose. "Enough. Keep her in place."

The handler gave the tether another hard tug anyway.

Severin put the field case on the ledger counter with his left hand.

His right palm opened beside it.

Glamour Mantle answered.

Dense black mist poured over his fingers and spilled across the counter’s edge. It rolled low around his boots, then climbed the iron corners of the case in slow coils. The lock, the papers, and every face around him remained clear through the mist.

The factor’s gaze sharpened. The handlers watched Severin standing in the middle of their hall without a trace of hurry. The buyer at the rail stopped pretending not to listen.

A faint drain touched Severin and disappeared almost at once.

He looked at the handler. "Do that again."

The man’s hand loosened on the tether. His eyes stayed angry.

The factor snapped, "Leave it."

This time, the handler obeyed.

Severin closed his right hand. The black mist folded inward with the motion and vanished, leaving bare stone around his boots.

"Count it."

The factor checked the invitation again. The clerk checked the company papers. Then Severin opened the field case.

At the factor’s nod, the clerk counted 480 Stellar Gold from the case onto the market side of the counter. He pushed the remainder back toward Severin. 20 Stellar Gold stayed inside.

The clerk pulled a narrow receipt sheet from beside the ledger and began writing while Nyra remained across the counter in chains.

He turned the receipt around.

Nyra Vask. Morcant-Valcor Company. 480 Stellar Gold. Immediate handoff recorded.

Severin read the lines that mattered and passed the paper to Alicia.

She slipped it into the packet. "Got it, Master."

The factor looked at the handlers. "Visible iron off."

The handler on Nyra’s right frowned. "Here?"

"They paid here. Do it here."

The handler turned a key in Nyra’s wrist cuffs. He removed the iron, the short chain, then the tether from her belt. Metal struck the counter with a hard clatter.

Nyra didn’t rub the faded marks.

She looked at the clear floor ahead of her.

Then at Severin.

He closed the field case around the remaining company money.

"Walk."

Nyra shifted her weight.

Her right boot crossed the gap in front of her.

Her body stopped before the left could follow. Her left boot never left the stone. The stop came too hard for hesitation.

Her shoulders locked. Breath cut sharp between her teeth. Both ears flattened, and her tail went rigid as she caught herself on the foot she’d planted.

Severin stayed where he was.

"Don’t force it. Still held?"

"Yes."

The factor’s expression barely moved, but the handler’s eyes jumped toward the heavy inner door. Nyra followed the glance.

"What did they leave on you?" Severin asked.

Her breathing steadied. "Not the iron."

She glanced at the restraints lying on the counter.

"That was for buyers to see. Something else is still connected."

Nyra looked at the factor. "Then why can’t I move?"

The factor stepped closer. "The handoff is recorded. The remaining adjustment is handled after-"

"Open the door."

He stopped.

"That section isn’t part of buyer access."

Severin looked from him to the closed inner door.

"You took 480 Stellar Gold. She can’t cross your floor. Fix that."

"We don’t clear that part on the buyer floor."

"Then open the door and clear it where you do."

Nobody at the ledger counter answered him.

Behind Severin, Alicia’s ears turned toward the stair.

"No movement behind us, Master."

He didn’t look back.

"Open it."

The factor held his gaze, then gave a short signal toward the door.

Nothing answered at first.

Then metal scraped on the far side.

A bolt began to draw back from inside.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!