All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 220: The Wrong Asset

Vella had refused to leave the old hunter in the frontier village with a half-closed leg. Since his watchtower clearing sat in ruins, Hans had no choice but to let them cart him back to the town.

Hans lasted one mile of the ride back before declaring the cart an insult, and Vella lasted one second before declaring his transport non-negotiable.

He rode propped against the salt sacks with his pinned sleeve toward Ash, who spent the morning staring from Hajin’s chest with open fascination. Somewhere past the second village the boy blink-stepped into the cart, sitting across from the old hunter to continue staring from closer range.

"He’s counting my arms," Hans said eventually, staring back, "and coming up short."

Ash reached into the space where Hajin’s inventory food usually appeared, found nothing, then solved the problem his own way by holding out the half-eaten core from his breakfast. He held the dull crystal out in his small fingers, the others in the cart pretending not to watch.

"I don’t eat rocks, little lord," Hans took it anyway, weighing it in his palm before handing it back with something that had retired from being a smile, "but I’ve been paid worse for less."

Juna dropped back from her forward sweep an hour from home, her ears flat as she fell in beside Hajin’s horse.

"The south road is full of wagons," she reported, "stretching half a mile under a silver serpent banner, the whole column smelling of sandalwood and money while their red-clad guards watch the road."

"She said within the week," Hajin muttered, doing the math on four days, "apparently the Serpent Queen prices punctuality too."

The caravan announced itself long before the gate did, wagons lining the road in a column that had its own weather. Lacquered wood and brass fittings caught the afternoon sun, the teams groomed past the point of vanity into statement.

Guards in dark red held their posts without leaning on anything or talking to anyone. The town wall above them was packed shoulder to shoulder with people who had never seen money before, all of them getting the full lecture at once.

[ GoldRushGamer: ] that caravan is worth more than the entire region it’s parked in front of

[ RationalSkeptic7: ] look at the guard spacing, every fourth wagon with overlapping sightlines. That’s a military column wearing a trade costume

[ GrandmaViewer: ] Sandalwood and forty wagons. This woman knows how to make an entrance, I’ll give her that.

Marrick met them at the gate at a half-run, his ledger clutched to his chest like a shield, "my lord, she arrived two hours ago, refusing every courtesy we offered. She said she would wait for the lord and the good chairs, which I wrote down exactly as she said it."

"We don’t have good chairs."

"I am aware, my lord."

Hajin rode through the gate mud-splattered from the belt, the cart creaking behind him as they entered the town square where the Serpent Queen held court without permission.

She stood at the well in deep red, her posture still, indifferent to the mud of the square. Two paces behind her waited a middle-aged man in plain traveling gray carrying no visible weapon, immediately snagging Hajin’s attention.

"Aria," he murmured under his breath.

"Forty-two armed escorts in a standard formation," she reported, her voice slowing as she continued, "and one man with no detectable mana signature, though his body is running warm."

’So the deadliest thing in that caravan is dressed like a clerk,’ he noted, filing the gray man next to Didi’s warning, ’she brought a knife wrapped in wool.’

Loccy arrived from the mine road at a dead run that nobody heard coming, dropping off the granary roof to land beside the cart with the hammer resting on her shoulder.

She had smelled forty strangers from two miles out and decided the gold could guard itself for an hour. The red guards nearest the well found somewhere else to look, one after another, while she planted the hammer head-down beside Hans, saying nothing.

[ Loccy_Defense_Squad: ] THE MINE GUARD HAS ARRIVED, everyone act natural

[ GrandmaViewer: ] The rich lady brought forty guards and Loccy made every one of them study their shoes without saying a word. Marvelous evening.

[ ashley (Mod): ] Forget the guards, watch the man in gray by the well, he is giving off serious bad vibes.

Seliza watched him dismount without hurrying a single thought, her eyes traveling from his mud-caked boots to the child, the hunter, and the wolf girl at his flank. Each item got priced in turn against some ledger she kept behind her eyes.

The gray man’s attention drifted exactly once during the pricing, sliding down to Ash on Juna’s hip, where the boy met it with his unblinking stare and refused to let go.

Whatever the man found in that contest, he ended it first, easing his eyes back to the middle distance while Ash kept watching the side of his face.

"Lord Hajin," she said, her tone perfectly pleasant, "you are two hours late, covered in mud, and not a single guard to show for yourself. Either you are remarkably rude, or you simply don’t care for the costume."

"You parked an army dressed as a market outside my gate," he said, keeping his eyes on hers, "so between the two of us, I’m not the one wearing a costume, my lady."

Something moved through her face too quickly to name, the gray man behind her shifting his weight for the first time.

"Good," she said, the warmth genuinely reaching her eyes, "I dislike buying from people who need me. Shall we discuss your mountain, Lord Hajin, at whatever passes for your table?"

"Tomorrow," he said, watching the flicker of surprise land, "my table has a wounded man, a tired healer, and a child who eats minerals ahead of you, none of them having scheduled an appointment either. My steward will arrange quarters for your people tonight."

The town went quiet as Marrick made a soft sound beside him that sounded like a prayer.

Seliza studied him through a long breath, then laughed, "tomorrow, then," she agreed, gathering her skirts to turn, pausing on the half-step as if holding a line she had planned since morning.

"One thing before I retire, my lord," she said, her eyes shifting toward Juna’s hip, "that boy... what exactly is he?"

Hajin met her gaze, his tone polite, "respectfully, my lady, he is not on the ledger."

She studied him through a short silence, her smile turning thin and sharp, "I spent the road calculating the value of your gold, now I wonder if I was pricing the wrong asset."