Chapter 20: The Weight of a Crown
Rain continued to fall over Yggdrasil.
The storm had lasted for days.
Gray clouds covered the mountain.
The city felt colder.
Heavier.
As if everyone was waiting for something terrible to happen.
Kai stood on a balcony overlooking the streets below.
Even from here he could see the tension.
Merchants packed up earlier than usual.
Guards traveled in larger groups.
Citizens avoided empty alleys.
Fear was becoming normal.
The door behind him opened.
Akshay stepped outside.
The king looked exhausted.
Again.
Kai was beginning to think the man simply never slept.
"Couldn't sleep?"
Akshay asked.
Kai shook his head.
"You?"
Akshay laughed.
A tired laugh.
"Not for three days."
The two stood silently for a while.
Watching the city.
Eventually Kai spoke.
"Do you think you'll find them?"
Akshay didn't answer immediately.
Instead he stared toward the distant districts.
"I don't know."
That answer surprised Kai.
The king usually had something to say.
A plan.
A theory.
A complaint.
This time he sounded honest.
And tired.
"I keep chasing shadows."
Akshay admitted.
"Every lead disappears."
"Every witness vanishes."
"Every clue reaches a dead end."
The frustration in his voice was impossible to miss.
For the first time, Kai saw not a king.
Just a man trying to stop something he didn't fully understand.
A knock interrupted them.
A servant appeared.
"Your Majesty."
"What is it?"
"The council is waiting."
Akshay groaned.
"I hate the council."
The servant wisely said nothing.
"Tell them I'll be there."
The servant bowed and left.
Akshay looked back toward Kai.
"Want to know the worst part?"
Kai nodded.
"The attacks aren't my biggest problem anymore."
Then the king walked away.
Kai frowned.
That didn't sound good.
Curiosity eventually got the better of him.
Several minutes later he found himself near the council chamber.
The doors weren't fully closed.
Voices drifted through the gap.
"...the city is losing confidence."
"...people are scared."
"...we need stronger leadership."
Kai frowned.
Stronger leadership?
The discussion continued.
"The king has failed to stop the attacks."
"He is doing everything he can."
"Is he?"
The room fell quiet.
Then another voice spoke.
Commander Jack.
"The king has worked tirelessly."
Kai blinked.
Jack was defending him.
"Blaming His Majesty helps nobody."
Jack continued.
"Our enemy wants division."
"We should remain united."
Several council members nodded.
The tension eased.
The discussion moved elsewhere.
Kai stepped away from the door.
Confused.
Everything Jack did made him look loyal.
Every single time.
Which somehow made Kai even more suspicious.
Later that evening, Kai visited the archive district.
The place contained countless records.
Maps.
Military reports.
Trade manifests.
Historical documents.
He wasn't looking for anything specific.
Just trying to understand the city better.
An elderly archivist eventually approached him.
"You've been staring at that shelf for ten minutes."
Kai blinked.
"Have I?"
"Yes."
The old man pointed.
"Either read something or move."
Kai awkwardly grabbed a random document.
The archivist wandered away.
Only then did Kai notice what he'd picked up.
A transportation record.
Normally he would've put it back.
Then a name caught his attention.
The warehouse destroyed during the first sabotage attack.
Kai frowned.
He continued reading.
The shipment records were recent.
Very recent.
Only a few days before the attack.
Something about them felt wrong.
The quantities didn't match.
Large amounts of cargo had entered the city.
But there was no record of where they went afterward.
The paperwork simply stopped.
As if part of the report had been removed.
Kai immediately sat down.
Now he was interested.
He searched through additional records.
More inconsistencies.
Missing pages.
Incomplete manifests.
Altered signatures.
Not many.
But enough.
Someone had been manipulating city records.
Carefully.
Methodically.
For a long time.
Kai's pulse quickened.
This was the first real lead he'd found himself.
Then he noticed something else.
One name appeared repeatedly on documents connected to missing shipments.
Not as an owner.
Not as a recipient.
As an approving officer.
Kai stared at the signature.
Trying to remember where he'd seen it before.
Then it clicked.
One of Jack's officers.
The same man Kai had seen standing beside him several times.
Kai immediately stood.
The chair nearly fell over.
For the first time since arriving in Yggdrasil—
He finally had something.
Not proof.
But a thread.
And somewhere else inside the palace—
Another report quietly disappeared before it could reach Akshay.