Who Else Can Pay the Road?

Rei woke in a strange body with a merchant’s eye and a dead king’s memory in his head. The first job that landed on his desk looked simple, a village road washed out by rain and a caravan stuck with spoiled grain. He fixed the price, split the load, and saved everyone a loss. That should have been enough. Instead, the people sending the depositions kept asking why the old demon king once called him by name. Rei had met that king in person, and he was the last living witness to that talk. His hands were good at counting coins, but his chest still tightened when he saw burned roads and old royal seals.