The Count's Little Black Ledger

“Ah, Miss Rumi, I trust your hunt for my ruby pendant has been going well,” the carefully handsome count of Lascaudi opened his arms as his new maid ushered in his guests, the charming young Rumiera and her intimidating companion Theos.

The investigator bowed her head with a demure smile as the maid closed the door as she departed; and, the count preened in satisfaction at the act of deference, though he had to hide a frown at Theos’ complete refusal to acknowledge him.

“I have a strong idea of where your pendant is, my lord,” Rumiera answered, the rhythmic and gentle cadence of her words soothing his ruffled feathers.

“I should hope so, Miss Rumi,” the man chuckled, hiding his discomfort well. “I’m glad the 20,000 I paid you for coming all the way here is already paying for itself.”

“I just had a couple questions for you, my lord, if that’s all right?” she inquired, her clear brown eyes as unclouded as the winter skies in Night Kingdom.

“Of course, my dear, ask away, and feel free to take a seat,” he gestured to the plush armchairs positioned opposite his massive desk.

Rumiera gracefully sat down, though Theos remained standing, moving to stand beside her, like a shadow made manifest, his hawk-like gaze like both a blade and a stone in the count’s chest. The older man crossed his arms, trying to erect any barrier he could between himself and the young bodyguard.

“Just to reaffirm,” Rumiera spoke up, flipping through a worn notebook, “you believe your previous maid Felia to have taken the pendant as you caught her with stolen silverware, yes?”

“That’s right.”

“And you searched her quarters but came up with nothing?”

“Also correct.”

“And you relieved Miss Felia of her duties because of this?”

“Yes...”

“And how much is the insurance on your pendant, my lord?”

“I don’t quite like where this conversation is going, Miss Rumiera,” the count stated, uncrossing his arms and sitting up.

“I’m simply looking for your pendant, my lord,” she continued to smile, either unshaken by the mounting tension in the air or oblivious to it. “Is that not what you paid me to do?” Rumiera asked, tilting her head, the light in her eyes shifting slightly. Unshaken then.

“So you should be out looking for my pendant, not sitting here accusing me of--”

“Of what?” the investigator interrupted, the gentle glow of her eyes abruptly freezing over. “I don’t believe I’ve accused you of anything, Count Klaudus. Have I, Theos?” she glanced at her companion who returned her gaze, a fond smile overtaking his features for a moment.

“No, you didn’t, my lady,” he said in a voice like thunder rumbling over the distant horizon, rumbling in the depths of the count’s chest.

“What exactly am I accusing you of, lord?” Rumiera asked pleasantly, interlacing her fingers and placing them over her knee.

The count quickly sifted through how Rumiera and Theos could’ve possibly gleaned that he hadn’t lost his pendant. He was sure Felia would keep her mouth shut, what with all the repercussions he threatened her with. Even if she did say anything, it was her word against his, a maid accused of theft against a well-respected humanitarian.

The count grimaced, caution and tension overcoming his senses. He glanced between both of them, weighing his options. If he summoned his servants, he could kick the two out of his house; and, if he made a call to the local police captain, he could get them tossed in the prison for whatever trumped-up charge he could think of.

Theos looked strong, sure, but there was only one of him and at least two dozen servants on this floor alone. Even if these two accused him of insurance fraud and all that, who would even defend him? He owned half the countryside anyhow.

He took a deep breath, a feeling of calm settling in. He could handle this. Klaudus smirked as he pressed his security button beneath his desk.

“Your reputation doesn’t do you justice, Miss Rumiera, but I’m afraid I can’t have you poking around my business any further,” he smiled.

His guests simply stared at him expectantly, and a slow welling of dread filled the count’s chest at the answering silence outside his office. He pressed the button again, the dreadful buzzing of panic filling his head. The still quiet of the air seeped into his brain, and Klaudus kept pressing the button feverishly, his gaze flickering between his visitors and his door.

“I’m afraid no one is coming to save you,” Rumiera said, the softness of her features suddenly hardening like ice, shifting from a naïve openness to something older, wiser. Crueler.

“What have you done?” he asked, standing, his hands shaking slightly.

“Sometimes it’s as simple as money,” Theos spoke up, glaring at the count, freezing him in place, the weight of his heavy stare sinking into Klaudus’ limbs.

“We paid every single person in your estate to leave the second we stepped into your office,” Rumiera said conversationally.

“Y-You what?” the count paled, calculating how much it would cost to pay off three-hundred people, and how she even did that in the week she had been in Night Kingdom.

“Not important, let’s talk about you, Count,” Rumiera leaned forward, those big eyes glinting like metal.

“What do you want from me?” he demanded, angry at himself for not keeping any weapons in his office.

“Normally I would threaten you, pull out a folder of all the crimes you’ve committed with witness accounts, bank statements, and all that, but you’re in luck, Count Klaudus!” Rumiera beamed, as if she were offering an all-expenses paid trip to Glacier and not threatening him with incarceration.

“Why?” he asked warily, as tense as a bow, looking between the two, waiting for one of them to just vault over his desk and knock him out.

“You have something I want,” she answered. “And I don’t necessarily want to, but I will harm you to get it, Count Klaudus.”

“Harm me?” he almost cackled in disbelief. “I don’t know who you think you are, you lowly child, but do you really think you could hurt me without consequence? I own the entire countryside!”

“Pop quiz!” she clapped her hands together. “Who do the corrupt elite in the East fear most?”

“Wh-What’re you--?” the count’s voice died in his throat at the cold realization. “You... What, you’re saying you’re the Phoenix of the East?” his eyebrow arched in disbelief.

Rather than explaining how she was the single force in the East that had been cleaning up corruption and driving the fear of persecution into the dark-hearted for the past two years, Rumiera lifted her hand and white flames erupted in her palm, like shimmering flowers that illuminated the room in their luminescent glow.

The count felt his whole world drop before him. He had spent the last twenty years of his life networking with the other higher-ups in his side of Night, bribing judges, blackmailing other nobles, making friends with the other aristocrats to build his own sanctuary at the top of society.

And in the last couple years, many of those friends had been exposed by the light of the elusive Phoenix of the East.

“Y-You can’t be the Phoenix! You’re just a child!” the count floundered, trying to compose himself.

“Not at all,” she mused, playing with the fire, shaping it into a figurine, dancing like a ballerina. “What’s more harmless than a puppy-eyed teenage girl?

“So, let’s keep this simple,” Rumiera said, the fire slipping away into nothingness, the sudden darkness of the room sweeping into the count’s eyes. “Give me your ledger and your entire estate won’t be burned to ash.”

“H-How do you know about my ledger?”

“I followed your paper trail, Count Klaudus. Took me two years, but I got there in the end,” the girl said, her gaze predatory, cat-like. “Look, lord, I have other places to be, so if you could just hand it over, I’ll be on my way,” she held out her hand.

“You really think I’ll just give you something that important without a fight?” the count put on a brave front, but it all evaporated when he caught on fire.

The count screamed in surprise as the flames blazed white all over him, then shrieked in pain as the flames turned red and blistered across his skin. The fire scorched him inside and out, down his throat, in his ears, an inhuman wailing erupting from him as the fire burned so hot it froze.

And as quickly as the fire came, it vanished, but the pain remained. Every sensation hurt, the rubbing of his clothes --somehow untouched by the flames-- on his blemish-less skin, the air inhaled through his nose and exhaled from his mouth, the air itself now too cold and cracking at him.

He gasped, trying to speak, tears flowing freely down his cheeks, agony still ripping through his body, and his guests stared at him, waiting.

“We can keep doing this, Count Klaudus, until you give me your ledger," Rumiera sighed. "I can keep burning you alive as long as you like.”

“You won’t die from it, and your body will never betray that you’ve been harmed,” Theos said, arms crossed, shoulders back. “So, will you make this easy or difficult?”

“F-F-Fine,” the count managed to choke out, pointing at the portrait he had on his wall, telling them about the safe behind it and its combination.

Theos moved to open the safe, and he cracked open the door to reveal files, cash, jewels, and the ruby pendant that got Klaudus in all this trouble in the first place. Theos reached in and took a single little black notebook, worn and aged, filled with all the dirty dealings that Klaudus had been involved with for the past two decades. He handed it to Rumiera who took it gingerly.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” she said, quickly taking a photo of the insides of the safe with a camera she pulled from a bag. “Bye bye, Klaudus!” Rumiera waved, the veneer of the bright and wide-eyed girl from when he had first met her back on her face.

“Good luck,” Theos stated dryly as he closed the door behind him, leaving the count alone and wheezing in pain, shame, and fury. “Where to next, my lady?” the bodyguard asked, his entire being softening as he spoke with her.

“First the police station to drop off my files on Count Klaudus,” she answered, pointing at the thick set of folders bound together with twine in her bag as she slipped the photo of the ruby pendant inside one of the folders. “There’s a detective there who can make sure he is held accountable for what he’s done. Arresting Count Klaudus should also fix Miss Felia’s reputation.”

“How upset do you think Klaudus will be when the police come to bust down his door?” Theos chuckled.

“I only promised not to burn down his estate,” she huffed with a smile as she leafed through the ledger, scanning for a certain name. “Ah!” she pointed, then broke into a sprint.

“Found him?” Theos immediately took off after her, keeping pace with her as they darted off the estate and down the wide, bustling cobblestone streets of Lascaudi.

“Yeah,” Rumiera affirmed, her eyes blazing like the sun shining straight above them. “After we stop by the police station, we’re going straight to the Seasurfacer.”

“He’s in the West?” Theos remarked in surprise.

“Mountain Kingdom,” she nodded with a brilliant grin. “Watch out, Tylas Dezeraux, I’m coming for you next.”