Start with the market scale book and the merchants’ sealed delivery chits. It is the source used to make a decision about whether the morning price rise reflects a smaller harvest or a bottleneck at the lift; it is not the decision itself. The rule only works if the source describes the conditions at the Lower Market Hall beside the east stair.
The latest count is 48 sacks weighed before the first bell; the prior file listed 49. The docket has returned for review with the exceptions and unresolved objections attached. The difference is a signal to check, not a verdict about who is right.
The disputed point is practical: Merchants cite fewer sacks at the gate; carriers say several loads waited below the cliff lift overnight. One side relies on the posted total, while the other points to a chipped bronze weight kept beside the market’s standard measure.
The risk of reading the file too broadly is that an entry becomes a conclusion. Nima Thol checked the market scale book and the merchants’ sealed delivery chits against the field notes. The method is to put the posted price beside the amount that actually changed hands; it confirms the entries, but not every interpretation attached to them.
Next: The market clerk will publish weights from the gate and the hall on the same day. A useful update will publish the method, exceptions and review date with the number.
