The southern district began beyond a low ridge where the farmland gave way to workshops, timber yards, and small mining settlements. Subin Vans and his companions reached the district office shortly before noon, carrying copies of the false freight authorization and the records recovered in Redbrook.
The office maintained permits for temporary workshops, independent traders, and small-scale metal purchases. Its clerks were accustomed to merchants moving between settlements, but an expired permit connected to an unclaimed shipment had prompted the regional authorities to send notice ahead.
A registrar named Vardon received the team and reviewed their documents.
"The permit was issued to a man registered as M. Daren," he said. "The address was a rented workshop outside Redbrook. The permit allowed him to purchase and process a limited quantity of treated iron, but it did not authorize him to operate as a freight company."
"Was the permit revoked?" Ara asked.
"No. It expired naturally. There was no complaint against the holder at the time." Vardon turned another page. "The original application lists a guarantor who lived in this district. That may help establish the applicant's identity."
He found the guarantor's name in the record: Tomas Vey, a retired metalworker living in a village called Brookstead.
The registrar provided a copy of the application and confirmed that the district office would preserve the original. Subin thanked him, and the team left for Brookstead.
The village lay along a narrow road between grazing fields and a wooded slope. It had a blacksmith's forge, a mill, and several houses built from stone and timber. Tomas Vey lived in a modest house near the forge, where a pile of firewood stood beside the entrance.
He was an elderly man with a stiff left hand, but he answered the door himself. When Subin explained the reason for their visit and showed him the permit application, Tomas studied the name for several seconds.
"M. Daren," he said. "I remember the application. The man called himself Marek when I met him."
"How did you know him?" Subin asked.
"He came to the forge looking for a guarantor. He said he wanted to buy treated iron for small equipment repairs. I agreed because the district office checked his identification and the purchase was limited. I wasn't guaranteeing his later business dealings."
"Did you know him before that?"
"No. He paid me a small fee for helping with the application, and I signed the form. I saw him twice afterward, both times when he came to collect paperwork."
Ara asked whether Tomas remembered the man who had visited the rented workshop.
Tomas frowned. "I saw another man with him once. Older, grey-haired, dark coat, metal clasp near the collar. They spoke outside the forge while Marek waited for his papers. I assumed the older man was a customer."
"Did you hear their conversation?"
"No. They moved away from the entrance. I only remember the older man telling Marek that a delivery had to be made before the end of the week."
The statement was useful, but Tomas could not provide a name or explain what was being delivered. He also confirmed that Marek had left the district several days earlier and had not returned.
"Did he say where he was going?" Yerin asked.
"He mentioned the old mining road. He wanted to find a place where he could work without paying the rent on a full workshop."
"Did he have a cart?"
"Not when I last saw him. He carried a travel bag and a small metal case."
Subin thanked Tomas and left him a copy of the contact information for the district office in case he remembered anything else. They had established that Marek had used a shortened name and that the older visitor had known him before the shipment was arranged. They still lacked the details needed to connect the man to the iron in Eastbridge.
Back at the district office, Vardon checked the old mining road's permit records. Several abandoned work sites lay along the route, but only one had recently been registered for temporary use: a small repair shed near the disused Grayridge quarry.
The registration had been submitted under the name Marek Vey.
"That could be the same man," Ara said. "He used M. Daren for the iron purchase and Marek at the workshop. Now he has registered with the surname Vey."
"Or he borrowed Tomas's surname because it made the paperwork easier," Liu Wei replied. "We should verify the address before deciding."
Vardon agreed to notify the local patrol and provided directions to Grayridge. The shed was several hours away on foot, along a road that had fallen out of regular use after the quarry closed. Subin's team left immediately.
The route passed through a shallow valley scattered with abandoned equipment. Rusted rails emerged from weeds, and old carts stood beside collapsed loading platforms. The area was quiet, though the ground showed signs of recent wagon traffic.
Near the quarry entrance, they found a narrow track leading uphill toward a stone building partially hidden behind a stand of trees. Smoke rose from a short chimney.
Subin approached the shed openly. A man carrying a bucket stepped out, saw the group, and stopped.
He was in his late twenties, with dark hair and a narrow face. A small scar crossed his right cheek. When Ara called him Marek, he did not deny it.
"Who sent you?" he asked.
"We're investigating a freight authorization used to arrange storage in Northfield," Subin said. "Your name appears on the documents."
Marek placed the bucket beside the door. His eyes moved from Subin to the others, then settled on the papers Ara held.
"I didn't steal anything."
"We haven't accused you of stealing," Subin replied. "We want to know who authorized the shipment and why the declaration was incomplete."
Marek was silent for a moment before stepping aside.
"Come in. I'll tell you what I know, but I won't take responsibility for things other people arranged."
The shed contained a workbench, a small furnace, several metal tools, and a narrow cot. A travel bag rested beside the wall. There were no crates or large quantities of iron, though a few finished fittings lay on the bench.
Marek explained that he had bought treated iron through Redbrook Industrial Supply for a private customer. The customer had paid him to acquire the material and prepare several components, but the order had changed before he finished the work.
"Who was the customer?" Ara asked.
"I knew him as Corlan. He came through the southern district and said he represented a buyer who needed the iron quickly. He paid an advance and provided the details for the purchase."
"Did you meet the buyer?"
"No. Corlan handled everything. He told me where to buy the material, then arranged for the unused bars to be moved after I finished the work."
"Was Corlan the grey-haired man?" Yerin asked.
Marek shook his head. "No. Corlan was younger. The older man came to the workshop after the order changed. He told me the finished components were no longer needed and that the remaining iron had to be sent elsewhere."
"Where?"
"Northfield, at first. The crates were supposed to be stored there until a new destination was confirmed. I didn't arrange the freight myself. Corlan gave me the authorization, and I passed it to the agent."
Ara placed the false authorization on the workbench.
"Redbrook Industrial Supply says this document was never issued by the company."
Marek stared at it, then picked it up. His expression changed when he examined the stamp.
"Corlan gave me this. He said the company had approved the transfer."
"Did you check?"
"No. I had already bought the iron, and he told me the paperwork was just for moving the unused stock. I thought the authorization was genuine."
"Why did you leave Redbrook?" Subin asked.
"Because the order was cancelled, and I had no reason to keep paying for the workshop. I moved here to finish a few private repairs. I wasn't trying to disappear."
His explanation matched several pieces of the record, but it raised another question: why had the grey-haired man visited the workshop after the order changed, and why had the iron been moved through a freight arrangement using a false authorization?
Subin kept his voice even. "Can you identify the older man?"
"I don't know his real name. Corlan called him Master Veyr, but I don't know if that was a title or a surname. He carried a walking stick and wore a dark coat with a metal clasp."
The name was new. It gave the team something more concrete than a physical description, though they still could not establish whether it was genuine.
"Where did he go after visiting you?" Liu Wei asked.
"He left before I did. Corlan told me not to contact him directly. If there was a problem with the shipment, I was supposed to speak through the freight agent."
"Did Corlan give you another address?"
Marek reached into a drawer and produced a small receipt. It listed a payment for the workbench rental and the purchase of additional tools. At the bottom, someone had written a meeting place beside the old quarry road: the broken weigh station.
"I was supposed to meet Corlan there after the crates reached Northfield," Marek said. "He never came. I waited until the next morning, then returned here."
"When was that?"
"Four days ago."
Subin examined the receipt. The date was consistent with the period when the shipment moved through Northfield, but the note did not prove that Corlan had ever used the meeting place.
"Will you provide a statement to the district office?" Subin asked.
Marek hesitated. "I don't want to be charged for something I didn't arrange."
"Giving an accurate statement is the best way to establish your role. The authorities will decide whether you violated any permit conditions. We won't promise an outcome, but hiding information will only make matters worse."
After a moment, Marek agreed. He packed the receipt and his purchase records into a folder, then accompanied the team back toward the district office. The local patrol met them on the road and escorted him the rest of the way, where Vardon arranged for his statement to be recorded.
Marek was not arrested, but he was instructed to remain available while the district office reviewed his permit and the freight documents. The authorities would also contact Redbrook Industrial Supply to verify the iron purchase and determine whether the material had been used as declared.
Outside the office, Ara looked over the new information.
"We have a customer called Corlan, an older man using the name Master Veyr, and a meeting point at the broken weigh station. Marek's statement explains how the false authorization reached Halric, but it doesn't establish who created it."
"Then we check the weigh station," Subin said. "If Corlan expected to meet Marek there, someone may have seen him."
The broken weigh station stood on the old quarry road, roughly an hour north of the district office. It had once been used to check ore wagons before they entered the mining settlements. The roof had partially collapsed, and the weighing platform was cracked, but the main stone building remained intact.
The team arrived before sunset. No one waited at the station, and the ground showed only old wagon tracks mixed with newer footprints. A narrow trail led toward the quarry, while another followed the road east.
Subin examined the area around the building. Near the rear entrance, he found a small metal fitting pressed into the dirt. It was shaped like a broken piece of a clasp, with a narrow angular design cut into its surface.
Ara compared it with the mark on the treated iron bars in Eastbridge. The patterns were not identical, but both used sharp lines and a similar arrangement of angles.
"We shouldn't assume they're from the same source," she said. "But this is worth recording."
Subin handed the fitting to her, and she wrapped it in cloth before placing it in her pack. They searched the station's rooms and found no documents or stored goods. Whatever had happened there, the meeting had not left behind an obvious record.
They returned to the road as daylight faded. The district patrol would secure the fitting and include it in the investigation, while the commercial officers in Eastbridge and Redbrook would compare the new statements with the shipment records.
The next morning, a message arrived from Vardon. Marek's purchase records confirmed that he had acquired treated iron, but the quantity was smaller than the shipment found in Eastbridge. The difference meant that additional material had been introduced somewhere along the freight route, or that the two lots were unrelated.
Vardon had also received a report from a quarry worker who remembered a man called Corlan visiting the broken weigh station several times during the previous week. The worker could not provide a full name, but he remembered that Corlan drove a dark wagon with a distinctive brass lantern mounted near the front.
It was a practical lead, and the patrol would follow it. Subin's team had no reason to remain at the district office while local authorities handled the records and witness statements.
Before leaving, Subin sent Garrick a summary of the new findings. The original iron dispute in Windscar remained unresolved, but its shipment was still secure. The Eastbridge cargo had been independently detained because of an incomplete declaration and a false authorization. Marek's statement explained part of the freight arrangement, while the identities of Corlan and Master Veyr remained unverified.
Subin folded the report and secured it with the other documents.
"Where next?" Jae-hyun asked as they prepared to depart.
"Back toward the quarry road," Subin replied. "The patrol will check the wagon lead. We can continue to the next settlement and see whether Corlan registered there."
Yerin adjusted the strap of her spear. "At least this time we have a name and a vehicle to look for."
"And a broken piece of metal," Liu Wei added.
"Which may mean nothing," Ara reminded them.
Subin smiled slightly. "Then we won't treat it as proof."
They left the district office and headed north, following the road toward the quarry settlements. The investigation had finally produced a witness willing to explain how the freight arrangement began, but the person who had directed it remained beyond their reach.
For now, the next step was to find Corlan and determine whether the false authorization had been his work—or whether he had been carrying out someone else's instructions.