The treasury clerk had retired before the end of the previous monsoon, but his name remained in three different account books.
Bhima found it in the second volume of Kirtivarma's expenditure records, written beside a payment authorised for the western inspection. The entry was brief. A sum had been disbursed, Kirtivarma's approval had been recorded, and the clerk had signed as a witness. There was no recipient's name, only a reference to a separate instruction concerning the completion of the route survey.
The clerk was called Madhava. According to the palace records, he had served in the treasury for nearly twenty years before retiring to a village north of the capital.
Bhima read the entry once more, then handed the book to Arnoraja.
"Do you remember this inspection?"
