The city guard investigator arrived at the warehouse three weeks after Kael began teaching.
His name was Inspector Jiang Wei, and his spiritual pressure marked him as Foundation Establishment first stage—respectable but not extraordinary for city enforcement. What made him interesting was the silver glint in his eyes that Kael's Contract Sense immediately identified as pathway signature.
Truth Pathway. Sequence 8.
One of the three bearers the Masquerade Lord had mentioned. Coming directly to Kael's location.
"Kael Yuan," Inspector Jiang said, displaying official credentials. "I need to ask you some questions regarding several contract-related incidents in the eastern district."
"Come in." Kael gestured to his office area, his Contract Sense extending to map Jiang's intentions. No hostility, no immediate threat—just genuine investigative purpose mixed with bearer curiosity. "What incidents specifically?"
"Three slave operations dissolved simultaneously three months ago. Two hundred seventeen individuals freed, coercive contracts eliminated, multiple arrests made."
Jiang sat across from Kael, his silver eyes never blinking. "The disruption patterns suggest pathway intervention—specifically, Binding and Ruin working in coordination."
"Accurate assessment. I collaborated with a Ruin bearer to eliminate exploitative contract networks." Kael's tone remained neutral. "Chain Order has documentation of the entire operation. We were acting within monitored parameters."
"I've read the Chain Order reports. Very thorough, very precise. Which is why I'm here personally." Jiang leaned forward slightly. "Because the reports describe what happened, but they don't explain why. Why would a Binding bearer—whose power literally comes from creating contracts—systematically destroy contract networks?"
"Because those networks were corrupt. Coercive binding without consent, no time limits, no dissolution clauses. They were antithetical to proper contract theory." Kael's marked hand pulsed with two colors. "Eliminating them served both humanitarian and strategic purposes."
"Humanitarian. That's an interesting word from someone rumored to have traded away their emotional capacity." Jiang's silver eyes gleamed with pathway power. "I'm going to use my ability now. It compels truthful response to direct questions. Do you consent to this investigation method?"
Kael's Contract Sense detected the Truth binding forming—reality itself preparing to enforce honest answers. Refusing would mark him as having something to hide.
Accepting meant revealing information he might prefer concealed.
"I consent," Kael said. "With condition—you answer my questions with equal honesty afterward. Reciprocal truth exchange."
"Fair terms. Agreed." Jiang's eyes blazed silver. "First question: Did you eliminate those slave networks primarily for humanitarian reasons, or primarily for strategic advantage?"
The compulsion hit immediately. Kael felt reality itself demanding honest response, his own Binding nature recognizing the legitimacy of the Truth enforcement.
"Both, indistinguishably merged," Kael heard himself say. "I cannot separate humanitarian motivation from strategic calculation anymore. The operations were both morally correct and operationally advantageous. I chose them because both factors aligned."
"Interesting. Second question: Do you still possess emotional capacity to care about human suffering?"
"No. I traded that capacity away through pathway costs. What remains is recognition that preventing suffering serves my stated principles and operational goals. I preserve ethical frameworks created by my past self who could feel why they mattered."
"Third question: Are you building a multi-pathway network in violation of your Chain Order contract?"
"No. I refused that opportunity when offered by the Masquerade Lord. My current bindings are limited to Chain Order oversight and temporary alliance with a Ruin bearer. No permanent multi-pathway infrastructure."
Jiang's silver eyes studied him for a long moment. Then the Truth compulsion released. "You're... remarkably honest. Most pathway bearers try to resist Truth enforcement. You just answered directly."
"Resistance is inefficient when the questions don't threaten my core interests." Kael's expression remained neutral. "Now my questions. Why are you investigating me specifically?"
The Truth compulsion reversed, now binding Jiang to honesty. His expression twisted slightly—not from pain, but from the unfamiliar sensation of being subject to his own methodology.
"Because you're an anomaly. Pathway bearers typically corrupt rapidly—power without oversight breeds exploitation. But you've maintained ethical standards for four months while building significant power base. That shouldn't be possible." Jiang's voice carried forced honesty. "I'm investigating whether you're genuinely different or just better at hiding corruption."
"And your conclusion?"
"Genuinely different. Which is either wonderful or terrifying, and I haven't determined which." Jiang's silver eyes dimmed as the compulsion faded. "Truth Pathway bearers are supposed to expose corruption. But you're already exposed—completely transparent about your methods, your limitations, your calculations. There's nothing to uncover because you've already revealed everything."
"Transparency is efficient. Deception requires tracking false narratives, which is cognitively expensive." Kael paused. "Why did you really come here? Not just investigation. You wanted something else."
Jiang was silent for a moment, clearly wrestling with whether to reveal his actual purpose. Then: "I want to learn from you. Not pathway techniques—I have my own power. But your methodology. The way you maintain ethics without emotional foundation. That's... that's something Truth bearers struggle with."
"Explain."
"Truth Pathway shows me reality as it actually is. No deception, no filtering, no comforting lies. Most bearers go mad within a year—reality unfiltered is too brutal for human psychology." Jiang's voice was quiet. "I've lasted three years by developing emotional detachment. But detachment makes me wonder—am I still ethical, or just following protocols because I can't feel why ethics matter anymore?"
Kael recognized the problem immediately. "You're experiencing the same dissolution I am. Just through different mechanism. Truth strips away comforting illusions the same way my memory loss strips away emotional foundation."
"Yes. And I watched you eliminate slave networks while claiming no emotional investment. That suggests there's a way to remain ethical even after losing capacity to feel why ethics matter." Jiang leaned forward. "Teach me. Not as investigation subject, but as student."
"I already have two students. Adding a third would be... efficient, actually." Kael's analytical mind processed the opportunity. "Truth bearer perspective would complement Binding methodology. Your ability to detect deception would help refine ethical framework construction."
"Then you'll teach me?"
"On two conditions. First: You report honestly to Chain Order about your learning here. No deception about our educational relationship. Second: You use Truth enforcement to audit my contracts periodically—verify I'm maintaining ethical standards, identify any drift toward exploitation I'm too compromised to detect myself."
"Those conditions serve your interests more than mine."
"Those conditions serve both our interests through mutual oversight. You gain methodology for maintaining ethics without emotional foundation. I gain external verification that my protocols haven't corrupted." Kael's marked hand pulsed. "Fair exchange. Mutual benefit. That's the foundation of everything I teach."
Jiang extended his hand. "Then we have agreement. Though I should note—Chain Order will find it very interesting that you're teaching a city guard inspector who's secretly a pathway bearer."
"Chain Order already knows you're a bearer. They have comprehensive records of all identified pathway individuals." Kael shook Jiang's hand without hesitation. "They're probably relieved you're seeking structured education rather than developing power chaotically."
"How do you know they know about me?"
"Because I reported you. Thirty seconds ago, through my network connection to the Pale Blade." Kael's expression remained neutral as Jiang's face went pale. "I maintain complete transparency with Chain Order oversight. That's part of my auxiliary asset designation. Any interaction with other pathway bearers gets reported immediately."
"You—you just turned me in?"
"I informed Chain Order that a Truth bearer is seeking ethical education from a monitored Binding bearer. That's not 'turning you in.' That's maintaining contractual transparency." Kael pulled out teaching materials. "And the Pale Blade just confirmed approval. You're now officially authorized to study under my instruction as long as Chain Order receives periodic progress reports."
Jiang stared at him, silver eyes wide with something between shock and admiration. "You turned a potential threat into an officially sanctioned educational relationship in thirty seconds."
"I identified mutual benefit structure and implemented it efficiently. That's standard contract methodology." Kael organized papers. "Now, you missed the first three weeks of instruction, so we need to catch you up on foundational theory. Do you understand the three-party nature of contracts?"
"The... what?"
"Then we start from the beginning." Kael pulled out his teaching board, already covered with diagrams from morning session with Wei Lin and Lan Mei. "A contract is reality's agreement with itself about how specific obligations will be enforced..."
For the next two hours, Kael repeated the fundamental lectures, watching his third student absorb the framework with the intensity of someone desperate for structure to replace dissolving certainty.
Truth bearers saw reality clearly. But clarity without framework was madness.
Kael was providing the framework—mathematical ethics, calculated fairness, optimization protocols that preserved moral behavior even after moral intuition had dissolved.
It was working. All three students showed genuine comprehension, developing the analytical mindset necessary for ethical contract theory.
But watching Jiang struggle with the same problems Kael faced—maintaining ethics without emotional foundation—triggered something unexpected.
Recognition. Not empathy—he'd traded that away. But logical recognition that he wasn't alone in this particular form of isolation.
Other bearers faced the same dissolution. Other people were becoming calculating mechanisms wrapped in human bodies.
And if Kael could provide methodology that let them remain ethical despite the transformation...
That was worth doing. Not because it felt good—he couldn't feel that anymore. But because the mathematics suggested it was the right optimization.
Preserve ethics across maximum number of individuals through minimum resource expenditure.
Teach ten students who would teach ten students each, propagating framework geometrically until ethical contract methodology became widespread enough to survive any individual bearer's dissolution.
That was the calculation.
That was the goal.
That was what remained of Kael Yuan's humanity—the recognition that spreading ethical frameworks mattered, even though he couldn't feel why.
The teaching session ended as evening approached.
"Same time tomorrow," Kael said. "We'll cover practical application and exploitation pattern recognition."
His three students departed—Wei Lin to his sect duties, Lan Mei to her daughter, Jiang Wei to his guard investigations. All three now carrying fragments of Kael's methodology, beginning their own transformations from feeling-based ethics to protocol-based consistency.
Kael watched them leave, his marked hand pulsing with two colors, his mind already preparing tomorrow's curriculum.
Three students. Seven to go. Nine years and thirty weeks remaining on his pathway contract.
The mathematics were progressing optimally.
And somewhere underneath the calculation, beneath the optimization, past all the traded memories and dissolved emotions—something that might have been the last fragment of Kael Yuan's soul whispered that teaching mattered.
He couldn't feel the whisper anymore.
But he could honor it by continuing the work.
That had to be enough.
Because it was all he had left to give.