Debt Warfare

Lyrasia sat in her dimly lit study, fingers drumming against the wooden surface of her desk.

The pile of ledgers in front of her told a grim story—one written in numbers, but soaked in blood. Her debts were due. And the people collecting them were not the kind to wait patiently.

Her success in the capital had been meteoric. She had built a merchant guild from nothing, outmaneuvered nobles, and turned trade into a weapon sharper than any blade.

But none of it had come without cost. To sabotage markets, secure trade routes, and buy the loyalty of informants, she had taken loans—large ones. Some from merchant guilds, others from underground financiers. And now, one by one, they came to collect.

The first demand had arrived that morning. A polite letter, stamped with the crest of the Ivory Consortium, a powerful merchant faction she had borrowed from early on. A reminder of her outstanding balance, with a deadline.