All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 234: Fire Without a House

The first flame climbed above the forge basin before Cassie’s drill ended, pulling every worker near the registry toward the eastern sector.

Hajin sent Lana back to Marrick with her slate, then crossed the yard as another orange tongue rose past the unfinished chimney.

Ferra stood beside the furnace mouth with her sleeves tied above the elbows, directing six workers around a pair of leather bellows built by Seliza’s engineers. The ceramic basin had hardened into a pale bowl beneath the brickwork, while timber braces held the chimney until the final mortar set.

"Push together," she said, striking the left bellows with her palm, "the pressure drops whenever one handle moves first."

Two workers leaned into the handles, forcing air through iron pipes beneath the charcoal bed.

The flame rolled deeper into the basin, turning the first row of bricks red before a seam near the pipe coughed smoke across Ferra’s apron.

"The pressure is uneven," she said, looking toward Seliza’s lead engineer, "your people joined two bellows to one pipe without balancing either side."

The engineer wiped soot from his cheek before replying, "Those bellows serve every military forge south of the capital."

"Then every military forge south of the capital runs below the proper heat," she said, kicking the pipe until its angle changed, "so write that beside your guild measurements."

Marrick stood outside the work line with three ledgers tucked against his chest, recording each basket of charcoal carried into the furnace.

"The first burn has consumed nineteen baskets," he said as Hajin approached, "and the charcoal yard prepared forty-six before the blockade stopped the coal wagons."

"How long does that buy us?" Hajin asked.

Ferra held one hand above the furnace mouth, reading the heat without touching the iron gauge hanging beside it.

"At this temperature, two days," she said, curling her fingers toward the flame, "it will melt ordinary iron, but the apex core will not react."

The engineer looked at the red bricks before asking, "Can it melt iron?"

"Ordinary iron and poor steel," she said, pointing toward a waist-high crate beside the basin, "load the nails first, then we will see whether these bellows hold."

Workers near the gate cheered until Marrick reminded them that the charcoal still belonged in his expense ledger. Ferra ordered the first iron bars loaded into a shallow tray, then fed a narrow breath of copper fire through the furnace mouth.

Heat struck the work line, forcing the nearest bellows worker to turn his face while the leather handles creaked beneath his grip.

Hajin felt Ferra’s cold bond tighten inside his core, carrying the shape of the furnace and every weak seam she had noticed.

The fire wanted more air, but the right pipe kept losing pressure whenever both handles reached the floor.

"Stop the right bellows," he said, watching the seam beneath the worker’s boot, "the rear joint is opening."

Ferra glanced at the pipe before telling the worker, "Lift your foot and move, the joint is splitting."

He jumped aside as the joint split, throwing sparks through the gap where his leg had been.

Hajin caught them inside Aegis before they reached the stacked charcoal, closing a clear barrier around the spray until Ferra cut her fire.

The workers backed away from the furnace, leaving the iron tray darkening inside the open mouth.

Seliza’s engineer crouched beside the failed joint and said, "The clamp warped, though it was rated for a six-Shard furnace."

"The rating was wrong," Ferra said, pulling the clamp free with her bare hand, "this clamp cannot survive my furnace."

A mine foreman near Marrick’s ledgers looked from the cooling furnace to the black apex core waiting inside its insulated crate.

"That core built the basin before the coal arrived," he said, pointing toward the crate, "so put it in again and let it finish the burn."

Ferra crossed the work line before Hajin answered, placing herself between the foreman and the crate.

"The core cured wet clay by leaking against its surface," she said, holding up the warped clamp, "but putting it inside an uneven draft will drive corruption through every crack we missed."

"Can you control it?" Hajin asked.

"I can control my fire," she said, turning the clamp between her fingers, "but the brick will split once corruption reaches the weak seams."

The foreman looked toward the mine road before saying, "We need brackets for the watchposts tomorrow, My Lord, and the Flint riders will not wait for better brick."

Hajin understood the arithmetic, though the split pipe had already given him the answer.

"The apex core stays in its crate," he said, looking toward Marrick, "and nobody feeds this furnace until every clamp has been checked."

Marrick opened the top ledger before asking, "Do I stop the whole shift?"

"Split them into rotations," he said, counting the workers still rubbing burned faces, "with four at the bellows, two outside the heat line and water beside both exits."

Ferra studied him while the engineer protested, "That cuts production by a third before we have produced anything."

"Then reduce the target," he said, summoning one Ring around his right wrist, "the workers rotate until the pipe is stable." He spread Aegis across the furnace supports, separating the timber braces from the heat trapped beneath the chimney.

The barrier did not cool the room, but it gave the workers a clear lane to remove each warped clamp without crossing Ferra’s fire.

Marrick reorganized the shift while Juna arrived with two water carts, directing the workers away from the narrow eastern exit.

Ferra repaired the pipe angle herself, replacing the failed clamp with a thicker iron collar taken from the unfinished gate hinges. The delay consumed another hour, three ledger pages and most of the engineer’s patience before the bellows moved again.

This time the pressure held, feeding an even line of air beneath the charcoal while Ferra kept her copper fire narrow.

The first tray emerged carrying twelve short iron bars, each heated through without cracking along the edges.

Ferra set one across the anvil and brought her hammer down, flattening the end into a bracket before the workers finished cheering.

"The metal is ordinary," she said, checking the bend before passing it to Hajin, "but this bracket will hold the mine-road braces until we have better fuel."

The bracket remained warm against his glove, carrying two clean holes plus the first stamped mark from the Sixth’s forge.

[ Regional Forge: Operational — Restricted Output ]

[ Ferra Compatibility: 68% → 69% ]

She watched his eyes track the screen she could not see and asked, "Did your system find a problem with the bracket?"

"It approved of something," he said, turning the iron piece over, "so make eleven more before Marrick finds another ledger for them."

"I can give you twelve brackets plus two hundred nails," she said, returning to the anvil, "but the charcoal will not hold a higher temperature, and I need a balanced draft before attempting the core."

Hajin handed the first bracket to the waiting foreman, who carried it toward the mine road instead of the apex crate.