Ashes of the Tally

In the scarred republic of Veridia, a low-level election official is found dead in the counting vault hours after a disputed vote. Five witnesses—each with a stake in the outcome—offer irreconcilable accounts of that night. As a weary magistrate peels through their testimonies, he uncovers not a single killer, but a system whose bureaucratic arrogance has turned truth into a casualty, and tragedy into a routine.