A Chronometric Defect

I was quite surprised when Aitos came to see me personally. Apparently, one surprise was nowhere NEAR enough! He handed me some documents showin' all kinds of things the mayor was up to. The one on top? That he was havin' intimate relations with my daughter, Charlisa.

She's a bright girl, and she can make most decisions herself. I put her in charge of one of my branches. She was doin' mighty fine 'til about five weeks ago. So, when I looked at the dates, my heart dropped.

I can easily take away her merchant responsibilities. Not just because she's my employee and daughter, but because she's in an apprentice position, too. I mean, she asked for more responsibility. I said 'no!'

She ain't got the full load of an adult 'cause she's a child. I can't make her work that hard. So, when I found out the mayor put his hands on her, and THEN some, I wanted ta' WRING HIS NECK!

And that's not all— the fact these documents exist in the first place. Why? What kind of bastard records his own criminal activities? Does he look at them later to gloat or... No, I don't even wanna know.

All I know is, the dates match up. Every single one. Even the secret meetups. Even a few I didn't know about, but was able to verify. Which means this is NOT a forgery.

This jackass mayor was actually documenting his crimes.

And worse?

He put SO much detail into his records of my poor Charlisa. He even wrote poems and essays about when he...

I shake my head.

Agh.

What in the hell have I done to my daughter?

She can sink her whole branch for all I care. So long as it'll help get her through this, I won't rescind her apprenticeship. She seems to need that right now more than she needs my meddlin'. What do I know? I'm a man.

Still, I need to keep an eye on her. I'm also her father. After this, I owe her my attention. MORE of my attention. I gotta make up for my mistake.

Even if it takes me the rest of my life.

I worriedly watch her studyin' the log book with much vigor.

"Sweetie, you're goin' over the audit logs for the seventh time, aren't you?"

"I just— I know there's something I'm missing."

"You want my help lookin'?"

"No, I want... Wait."

She stuffs her face into the log book like there's a hidden page. Haagh.

I look out the window.

"Well, if you want my help, sweetie, all ya gotta do is ask. Remember that."

The biggest surprise came when Aitos spoke to me. He sounded more like a creature who'd crawled from the depths of hell than the man I knew and loved. Worse, his freakish voice was so flat and emotionless.

That strange voice told me Aitos was dead. Then, the voice claimed to be the dragon who destroyed half of Haitos. Finally, the voice said somethin' like 'My name is Pure Evil, but I hope you'll remember what I did for you all, rather than solely the mistakes I made.'

I was too confounded to process halfa that and too dumb to understand the rest. But I think I get what he means. After seein' these documents? He's tellin' me Aitos was hurt by the mayor, too. Aitos wasn't killed by him, but by the mayor. I can kinda see how.

"Dad, I found it."

I look back to my daughter.

"Hah? What'd you find, sweetie?"

"I found where the mayor sent the city's money."

Boy, she really is stuck on what he did.

"Sweetie, the mayor doesn't do any business with your branch. Not y—"

I stop.

I don't wanna remind her he was usin' the trade deal's negotiations as an excuse to...

As I mentally trail off, she points at the log book.

"No, look here. He's been funneling money through the main branch over to this merchant house. There, they break it into three sums and shuffle it over here—"

She turns several pages, then points.

*shup-shup*

"— where it gets turned into seemingly random merchandise. Then, that gets shuffled here—"

She turns back one page and points.

*shrup*

"— where it's one now lump sum, but within my branch. After that, I send it onto its destination: Kaifalos. I knew it was strange the figures seemed so similar. They aren't exact, but, there's always two similarly valued shipments within the same trading period, one in and one out."

She turns to me, then continues.

"The mayor's been using us as a fence, father. I'll bet just about anything that this Kaifalos shipment is dirty money."

Ah, gods. I'll take a look at the figures. I just hope she's not fixatin' on the mayor.

I grab the log book and turn the pages.

*shrp*

...

*shor*

*shrip*

...

*shup*

...

As I examine the pages, I see the patterns. They're well-hidden, alright, but she's onto somethin'.

*shrp*

*shrup*

*shup*

...

The hell? What's with this timekeepin'?

Is this not the right cart, or—

I flip to the tallies.

*shp-thop*

...

Wait just a damn minute. Kaifalos is the destination, but the travel time for that cart is longer than all other Kaifalos carts. That driver records an extended break on every trip.

Is he not goin' to Kaifalos?

"Sweetie, what do you think 'a this?"

I point to the cart's weird log. Her eyes widen.

She bolts up and races to the bookshelf. She grabs a book, a ruler, a protractor, and a magic pen. Then, she races back to the table and plops down the book.

*thud*

An atlas. Hah?

She turns to the index.

*shup-thop*

Then to Shridenia, topographical.

*shup-thip*

*shup*

*shup*

Surroundin' us are several minor villages and towns. Then there's the cities. Achiton to the south, Tengerii to the east, Kaifalos to the northwest. Finally, a nasty mountain range seperatin' us from the Shridenian capital, Fridellia. It's more or less to the northwest beyond Kaifalos.

She places down the protractor on its hinged base. She spins it, so it flips to one side. After gettin' the angle proper, she slaps down the ruler with gusto next to the protractor. She then draws a line directly on the atlas.

*skf*

*thap*

*skrrrch*

Ahk, I'll clean the pages later.

She moves the ruler and writes somethin' next to the line.

*shhf*

*skth*

*skhh*

*skkh*

It looks like she's addin' up sales but I'm not sure why. I didn't teach her whatever she's doin'.

She adjusts the protractor, moves the ruler, and draws a longer line next to the first one.

*skf*

*shhf*

*skrrrch*

It goes way past Kaifalos but won't reach the capital, never mind those mountains. What's that supposed to do?

She looks consternated for a moment, then picks up the protractor and slaps it down near a road about three fourths of the way to Kaifalos. Again, she spins it and slaps down the ruler. This time, she draws a perpendicular line followin' the western road.

*thap*

*skf*

*thap*

*skrrrch*

She once more begins addin' up sales.

*skth*

*skhh*

*skkh*

Her face whitens.

Finally, she looks up at me.

"It matches up perfectly. We don't—"

She motions to the longer line, goin' west.

"— sell to Eritromi, because they're blacklisted for evil magic and dragon experimentation. See, if you calculate distance and time, averaging over the various trips to account for delays, it matches up with this city in Eritromi; Venifiera. They leave from this road here, veer over the border, then deliver their cargo of laundered currency in Venifera."

Huh. Lemme check her reasonin'.

"Why not a town, sweetie?"

"It can't go anywhere but a city; this is way too much money for a town to deal with. Plus, the money's already laundered. The mayor has no reason to split it up again or use a town's coffers to disguise the money. He runs Haitos, meaning the guards here can do his dirty work. He wouldn't have as much control over what happens in some random town."

Alright, that's pretty good! I'm glad I taught her how to spot hot goods. She's puttin' it to good use.

I lean down to look over what she's written. Distances, times, and route difficulty estimations based on elevation, plus a small error margin for each. I know this math, but had not a clue it could be used this way. I see it all adds up.

I look glowingly at all the work she's done. Dang!

My daughter's amazin'.