Chapter 36 - 35: The Move That Changed Everything
Elsewhere in Ginip...
The Artificer’s quarters were carved from stone and brimmed with gears, levers, and half-finished constructs. A mechanical sparrow clattered to life on a windowsill before dropping dead again, smoke trickling from its beak.
He stood by the window, smoking something pungent, eyes narrowed like he was watching a battlefield.
A lanky apprentice stumbled in, clutching a message scroll.
"Spit it out," the Artificer growled, not turning.
"H-he filed the claim, sir. With the Trade Registry. It went through."
A long silence.
The pipe froze in mid-air. "Claim? What claim?"
The boy swallowed. "Article Twelve, sir. Independent foreign merchant classification."
Then, slowly, the Artificer turned. His voice was flat, but dangerous. "They approved it?"
Article Twelve. That old piece of bureaucratic rot? No one used it anymore. No one even remembered it.