Electrostatic energy can be calculated either by summing over localized charges or by integrating the energy density over the whole field. What does this equivalence imply for where the energy actually resides?

C. Both descriptions are merely valid alternative bookkeeping in statics

In electrostatics, localized charge sums and spatial field integrals are mathematically identical accounts of the same stored work. Confusing bookkeeping with physical confinement overlooks that radiation is what ultimately forces us to treat field-borne energy as physically localized in space.