Paulus Levius Calls in the Debt

The party chose the wish office, and the cathedral finally put a face to its accounting. Paulus Levius confronted Jonah there among the ledgers, bottles, coins, and accumulated debt of a holy marketplace. He did not speak like a simple monster guarding treasure. He spoke like a creditor with centuries of receipts. Every coin taken in Djeebus's name mattered to him. Every bribe, indulgence, purchased absolution, and debt attached to the cathedral's history had become part of the claim. Paulus Levius demanded repayment for the whole ruined system: one hundred thousand gold, or one hundred years of Jonah's service to rebuild the cathedral. Jonah refused the premise. He challenged whether Paulus Levius had ever served Djeebus's wish, or whether he had only hoarded his own creation and mistaken possession for devotion. Paulus Levius's time, Jonah said, had passed. That refusal changed the room. The final trial was not about whether Jonah could pay. It was about whether his faith could replace a Paragon's corrupted idea of ownership.