The council chamber filled before sunrise, though nobody inside possessed enough certainty to call the gathering a victory council.
Royal clerks occupied three tables beneath the cracked windows, comparing ward reports against hospital admissions and burial notices. Didi moved between them with her sleeves rolled above both elbows, correcting district names whenever frightened witnesses had used an older royal designation.
Vella sat beside the patient ledger, one hand resting over each page before she approved a classification.
Hajin stood behind the chair everyone kept offering him and refused to sit in it.
"The southern infirmary listed twenty-one willing priests," Vella said, tapping one careful finger against the page, then continued, "Seven carried possession scars older than their employment contracts, so those seven belong under coerced hosts."
"Their names cannot enter the public cult register," Hajin said, leaning over the same column, then continued, "Move the evidence under sealed medical testimony and publish the conduct without identifying the patients."
The senior clerk swallowed; "Your Grace, the council intends to announce the avatar’s destruction before noon. Must every disputed name be settled first?" he asked.
"The dead will remain dead after noon," Hajin said, meeting the man’s exhausted eyes, then continued, "The living should not become collaborators because celebration needed a shorter document."
Three days had passed since five Rings opened around Hajin’s right forearm and the Hunting Avatar died inside its chosen vessel. The capital had used every hour counting what the battle left behind.
Forty-seven occupied ward bodies had survived severance, eleven people had died before Vella reached their circulation, and thirty-four others remained under observation. Two districts still lacked stable water wards, while five bridges required mundane supports before royal mana could safely return.
The willing vessel’s private records supplied names, payments, hidden treatment rooms, and orders bearing the First Prince’s authorization; Hajin released every record that established voluntary service to Dominion.
He sealed the names of healers coerced through possession, debt hostages, or threatened patients, despite three councilors arguing that secrecy looked like weakness.
One column concerned people who had entered the choir willingly before trying to escape. Vella separated their later injuries from their earlier choices, while Didi insisted that attempted withdrawal still mattered even when it did not erase prior harm.
Hajin ordered both facts preserved beside each other, denying the council an easy category that would transform a complicated person into a convenient symbol.
The damaged ward ledger demanded equal patience; Royal engineers wanted every collapsed structure listed beneath the avatar attack, yet Ferra identified two bridges whose neglected braces had failed under ordinary evacuation loads.
He kept those failures in the public record as well, because divine violence did not excuse mortal officials from maintenance they had postponed; Didi stopped beside the nearest councilor.
"If you need somebody powerless to punish before breakfast, I can find you a mirror," she said.
The councilor lowered his gaze and suddenly discovered urgent interest in the casualty totals.
Vella closed the final ledger after midday, then guided Hajin into an adjoining treatment room. Her pale fingers traced the scarred pathways beneath his right forearm while Spirit mana followed the five dormant circuits.
The inspection reached his shoulder before she finally released him; "The burned branches have recovered enough for ordinary rotation," Vella said, folding his sleeve down again, then continued, "Your reserves are naturally restored, and I found no concealed fracture. Allocating those held points will not refill anything you spend afterward."
"I understand," Hajin said, calling the waiting system panel into view.
Five unassigned points remained beneath the Fifth Ring entry, unchanged since the battlefield. Hajin placed three into Mana and two into Stamina, following the balance his newer pathways already survived.
Warmth moved through the relevant channels without replacing a single measure of energy, and Aria immediately recorded the closed ledger.
[Ring Five Allocation Complete]
[Mana +3]
[Stamina +2]
[Resource restoration: None]
The panel vanished while the room remained stubbornly ordinary, without altering the agreed sequence.
Aria recalculated his five-Ring endurance using the new values and stored the estimate without presenting false precision. The strengthened pathways raised his workable ceiling, but injuries, artifact strain, and hostile authority could still shorten any manifestation.
Hajin approved the conditional record, refusing to let a larger number become an excuse for careless rotation.
"No thunder?" Didi asked from the doorway, carrying another bundle of corrected lists, then continued, "I thought five Rings might demand thunder whenever you finished arithmetic."
"The clerks have already suffered enough," Hajin said, taking half the bundle from her.
Hans’s scheduled report arrived before they returned to the chamber; the communication crystal showed his tired face above a precise written summary.
The Sixth defenses remained intact, the Gold Mountain mine stayed sealed, and Uriel’s Flint administration had kept settlement routes open. Remaining war patients were stable, although none of the difficult cases had vanished because their lord fought elsewhere.
"Ash approached the refusal socket once under Lana’s supervision. He produced no readable signal, no second stable halo, and no movement beyond his usual reach," Hans added.
"Keep the same distance rules," Hajin said, studying the attached diagram, then continued, "Nobody asks him to answer the mountain, especially while I am absent."
"Already enforced," Hans said, allowing himself a brief smile, then continued, "Your territory has not mistaken your absence for permission to become foolish."
Marrick’s attached household note proved equally practical, while every assigned support remained intact. Grain reserves remained adequate for eleven weeks, three northern roofs needed repair before heavy rain, and two visiting merchants had attempted to use Hajin’s new Ranker status to avoid inspection fees.
Taren charged both merchants the proper amount and added penalties for insulting the gate clerk.
Hajin approved the penalties, then requested that the roof timber receive priority over any ceremonial purchase proposed in his name.
The connection closed as footsteps crossed the outer gallery without the measured escort rhythm of foreign envoys. Eirwen entered alone, wearing travel leathers beneath an Alder cloak and carrying no staff of witnesses.
Twelve Shards remained quiet around her, yet every clerk straightened as though a forest had entered the room.
"Your delegation is missing," Hajin said, setting down the casualty page.
"I dismissed them for the morning," Eirwen said, approaching the crowded table, then continued, "I wished to discover whether five Rings had changed your behavior when no court surrounded me."
Hajin glanced toward the public register, where three names remained disputed between victim and collaborator categories.
"You found me losing an argument about patient privacy," he said.
"You are winning very slowly," she said, and warmth softened her composed expression, then continued, "That answer is more useful than a ceremony."
The foundation trail remained open beneath the First Prince’s authorized western wing, guarded by royal surveyors who refused every request to descend alone. While Didi arranged the next inspection, Aria unfolded a quieter panel beside Hajin’s vision.
[Soul Selection Available]
[Cooldown requirement satisfied]
[Access conditions met: Five Rings / Fragment Recovery 25.00%]
One entry pulsed beneath the notice, yet its impression divided whenever Hajin focused upon it. Two different animal souls occupied a single linked choice, their frequencies mirrored without becoming identical.
"The entry contains two non-humanoid souls," Aria said inside his thoughts, her voice carrying unusual caution, then continued, "They are distinct individuals, but the selection mechanism cannot separate their anchors safely."
Hajin looked from the hidden panel toward the stair descending beneath the palace. The city had finished counting one hunt, while another path waited below its oldest foundation.
He dismissed the offered victory chair; "Prepare two conversion circles," Hajin said.