In Aurethra, nothing is free.
Not strength.Not mercy.Not even death.
Every choice leaves a mark on an invisible balance known as the Ledger.Steel records bloodshed.Coin records betrayal, trade, and truth sold cheaply.
Most people live their entire lives without ever knowing how much they owe.
Some learn when it's too late.
Vael remembered dying.
Not the pain—there hadn't been much of that.Just the weight.
The suffocating realization that his life had ended with too many unresolved accounts.
In another world, he had been a financial analyst. A man who trusted systems more than people. If the numbers aligned, outcomes followed. If risk was calculated, loss could be minimized.
That belief had followed him into death.
And then—into this world.
The battlefield was quiet.
Not peaceful.Quiet in the way a ledger closes after debts are settled.
Vael Ardyn walked between shattered shields and cooling armor, his steps measured. Iron Creed banners still stood upright, planted in mud and blood alike. Victory belonged to them.
Steel had spoken loudly here.
Coin had decided everything days ago.
Above the fallen, lines of invisible balance shimmered—debts overlapping, credits dissolving, consequences spreading outward like ripples. Vael saw them as clearly as he once saw market trends.
This world didn't call it fate.
It called it accounting.
He stopped beside a dying soldier. The man's chest rose weakly, fingers locked around a sword he had barely used.
Unpaid wages.Broken supply contracts.A commander who promised honor instead of food.
Vael knelt.
"You were paid late," he said.
The soldier let out a cracked laugh. "They said… dying was worth more."
Vael said nothing.
The Ledger shifted as the man exhaled his last breath.
No judgment.No glow.
Only settlement.
Cheers erupted behind him as Iron Creed knights celebrated. By dawn, merchants would arrive—buying scrap steel, land claims, and survivor stories. In his past life, Vael had learned this truth too late:
Wars aren't won on battlefields.They're finalized long before—by Coin.
His hand brushed the object at his waist.
A coin.
Smooth. Unmarked. Refusing every mint in Aurethra.
It had been with him since the moment he reincarnated. The first thing he noticed wasn't magic or monsters—it was that this coin never obeyed probability.
Vael flipped it.
The coin spun.
The Ledger flickered.
Not his.
Someone else's.
The coin landed on its edge.
Vael's breath caught.
That wasn't possible.
Somewhere beyond Coin and Steel, a new entry was being written—one that didn't belong to the world's balance.
For the first time since his rebirth, Vael understood the truth.
He wasn't given a second life.
He was brought here to count the cost.
And whatever force had summoned him…
…was still watching.