Warhammer: Empire Reboot

Grassi looked at Lawson again, lowering his voice by half an octave, deliberately creating a sense of intimacy as if he were willing to willingly hand over dirty things.

"The ledger is a standard ledger used by the Terra Internal Affairs Department for auditing. Every entry into the warehouse, every depreciation, and every scrapping has a number, a signature, and a stamp. It's so clean you could use it to wipe an imperial statue."

"The other set is the actual inventory."

Lawson's finger stopped on the table.

Two sets of books.

Grassi was pleased with the pause.

He continued, "The figures on the standard ledger are about 12% to 15% less than the actual inventory. Every year, a portion of the tithe-taxed goods that are put into storage disappears from the books under the guise of transportation losses, storage depreciation, substandard quality scrapping, or expired sealing."

"The actual supplies will not be destroyed."

"They will be transferred to a separate, hidden inventory system."

Von Kreissing finally couldn't hold back any longer.

"Grasi, shut up!"

Did I say something wrong?

Grassi turned his head.

"Von Kreissing, from which batch of worn-out aristocratic equipment did you get the marble floor in your office? The entertainment facilities in your dormitory could burn out three shots a day for a Lyman Ras. And that plate of candied fruit and dried fruit on your desk—real fruit products—how many commoners in the dark side of the Empire have ever seen them?"

He then looked at the other deputy general managers.

"Laville's modified laser pistol, Engel's high-grade paper, the batch of scrapped ceramic steel beams from the Facilities Maintenance Department, and the thirty-two heavy trailers that vanished into thin air from the Transportation Department."

His smile returned.

"Don't look at me like that. When you're eating meat, no one complains that my hands are oily."

The office was deathly silent.

Grassi turned back to Lawson.

“My Lord, I have been in charge of Val-Syne’s finances for twenty-three years. I know best where every ton of refined gold, every box of shells, every unit of promethium, and every bag of officer’s rations has gone.”

He puffed out his belly: "The access to the hidden inventory is only mine. The key isn't in the safe, the archives, or any mechanical data column."

He raised a finger and tapped his temple.

"Here."

At this point, he finally revealed his true intentions.

“You need the planet’s actual inventory, and you also need someone who understands the structure of the Ministry of the Interior’s accounts to dig these things out of the dead books for you. Von Kresing only knows how to recite the articles, Engel only knows how to stamp documents, and Laville only knows how to pay the guards.”

“And I know every secret door, every fake scrapping line, every loophole that can bypass Terra’s audit.”

Grassi looked at Lawson.

“My Lord, you have just taken over a storage world. You will soon discover that all three hundred-plus Ministry of Internal Affairs distribution centers have the same structure. You can kill everyone here. Of course, you have the ability.”

"But killing someone won't make the ledger open by itself."

Lawson looked at him.

What do you want?

This is exactly what Grassi was waiting for.

His lips curled up, and the folds of flesh made his eyes look even smaller.

"Safety."

"Position."

"And a reasonable level of authority."

Von Kreissing looked at him in disbelief.

Grassi ignored him.

“I can serve you. Val-Synn, and even the entire world of warehouses, can be managed by me. You need someone who knows the rules, Your Excellency.”

He glanced at Er Gou and San Gou, a hint of contempt flashing in his eyes.

"An empire doesn't operate by brute force; it operates by ledgers, seals, authority, and procedures. You can arrest all the officials here overnight, but the next day, the warehousing system will be paralyzed."

“You are a giant on the battlefield, Your Excellency the Seal Bearer. But even a giant can be tripped up by a thin thread in the ledger.”

No one dared to breathe in the office.

Grassi, however, became increasingly composed as he spoke.

He has put himself back at the negotiating table, no longer in the position of a prisoner.

"If you are willing to let me continue as the treasurer, I can restructure the Val-Synn accounts for you, making all material releases appear legal, clean, and impeccable. Even if Terra reconnects with the Dark Side in the future, the auditors will only see a beautiful set of accounts."

"Otherwise?" Rosen asked.

Grassi's smile faded slightly.

The threat has finally shown its teeth.

"Otherwise, every shell that the Seal Master took away today will be recorded in the Terra archives as an illegal misappropriation of the Imperial Tithe's strategic reserves, and every ton of refined gold will be recorded as the warlords seizing the Ministry of the Interior's assets. Even if the communication in the Great Rift is restored to a crack, the Ministry of the Interior, the Audit Court, and even the Tribunal will receive a complete record."

He spread his hands: "Of course you are powerful, you can say you'll kill them one by one. But if you want to govern the dark side of the empire, you can't just kill everyone who wields a pen, can you?"

Grassi spoke slowly, as if he were teaching a boorish man to understand civilization.

“I have no doubt that you can kill me.”

"But if I die, the key will be gone, the hidden inventory will be automatically frozen, and it will enter the destruction protocol after 72 hours. The core ledger will send anomaly alerts to eight external backup points. You will get a warehouse world, a bunch of locked doors, burned ledgers, and enough evidence to make Terra come after you in the future."

He bowed slightly.

"So, I'm not going against you."

"I'm reminding you that I'm more useful alive than dead."

Lawson stared at him for a long time.

"Are you done talking?"

Grassi's Adam's apple bobbed.

"Master of the Seal, I was just..."

Lawson stood up.

"You are threatening me."

Grassi's flesh ring finally stopped shaking.

Lawson walked up to him.

The two were very close.

Grassi was fat and broad, but standing in front of Lawson, he still looked like a bag of ledgers stuffed with grease.

"The frontline Astragalus troops crouch in trenches counting bullets. Hive worlds are eating human flesh, agricultural planets are burned into mushroom forests by orcs, and naval fleets are dismantling old cannons to repair warships."

Lawson pointed to Grassi's stomach.

"Put the ammunition in the warehouse, lock it up, and wait for Terra's requisition order, which will never come."

"Then, you scrape 15 percent off of it."

Grassi's lips moved slightly: "That's what the Ministry of the Interior tacitly approved..."

"Shut up."

Lawson said coldly, "You stole the blood of the Empire, and now you want to use the stolen ledgers, the hidden keys, and the forged procedures to exchange for an official position with me."

Grassi finally broke out in a sweat.

“Master of the Seal, I said I could cooperate. The key is in my mind, the hidden inventory…”

"In your head?"

Lawson nodded slightly.

"very good."

Grassi sensed something was wrong.

He suddenly took half a step back.

"My Lord, you'd better think this through. Without me, you can't open it..."

"Then leave your brain behind."

The bomb entered Grassi's jaw and exited through the top of his head.

The obese body leaned back and crashed onto the marble floor, causing the entire office to tremble slightly.

Blood spread from the back of his head.

The officials shrank back simultaneously, and two of them immediately collapsed to their knees due to weakness in their legs.

Lawson tossed the gun to the three dogs.

"The Imperial traitor Grassi embezzled strategic materials from the Imperial tithe by abusing his position, set up hidden accounts, transferred refined gold, promethium, ammunition and military supplies under the guise of scrapping, and attempted to blackmail the person in charge of the core accounting system to obstruct wartime investigations."

"Execute him on the spot in accordance with the Imperial Wartime Law."

The cornerstone sequence has been moved forward.

Lawson continued, "Scan the brain residue to extract hidden inventory keys, backup point coordinates, destruction protocol trigger conditions, and all account interfaces."

Grassi thought that keeping the key in his mind would be safe.

His brain is now evidence.

Lawson looked at the remaining people.

"Who else has the key in their head?"

Engel practically threw the safe key out.

"The master key for the archives, the audit backup code, and the access to the encrypted ledgers over the years are all in the safe. All I can think about is the catalog, and so can the Master of the Seals."

Another authorized clerk chimed in, "The third-level warehouse master control code is with me. I'll enter it now, I'll enter it now."