All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 236: Hands That Stay

Marrick returned the first heat-resistant collar before the forge cooled, carrying it with a work roster folded beneath his ledger strap. The collar had held through four bellows cycles, leaving Ferra free to turn the remaining charcoal toward the mine-road order.

Hajin kept one Ring around his right wrist as he stood beside the furnace, moving Aegis whenever a worker crossed the heat line.

"Your shift ended an hour ago," Marrick raised the roster toward him, "so either leave or let me record another wage."

"It is my forge," Hajin moved the barrier around a pair of workers carrying iron bars, "paying me from my treasury would waste ink."

"Then I will record the hours without coin," Marrick opened the ledger against a crate, "the safety page needs every person who worked near the basin."

Ferra drew an iron bar from the furnace, setting it across the anvil before pointing toward the bellows.

"If he wants a worker’s hours, put him on the handles," she checked the bar’s color, "his barrier keeps moving whenever his attention drifts."

Hajin looked at the paired handles before replying, "Aegis takes less mana than moving those for six hours."

"Mana is not the problem," Ferra struck the bar once, flattening one end, "your shoulder keeps dropping when the left pipe loses pressure."

He had noticed the ache two batches ago, though the production count still fit inside the charcoal limit.

"The barrier has not failed," he released Aegis from the cooling rack, shifting it toward the timber braces.

"Your timing failed twice," she turned the iron beneath her hammer, "so work the bellows until I finish this batch."

Marrick dipped his pen before adding, "I can record that as supervised labor."

Hajin gave him a look, then took the left handle from a miner whose palms had started bleeding through his wraps. The worker tried refusing until Ferra pointed toward the water cart, forcing him out of the heat line without another argument.

Both bellows resisted near the floor, requiring Hajin to drive his weight through the handle while the worker opposite him matched the pull.

His Ring remained active, but Aegis now covered only the furnace supports plus the stacked charcoal beyond them.

"Together," Ferra watched the fire through the open mouth, "pull when I lift the hammer, then hold at the bottom."

Hajin followed her first three strikes before the right handle moved early, dropping pressure across the iron bar.

"Again," she returned the bar to the furnace, "and stop calculating how much time the mistake cost."

"It cost half a heating cycle," he pulled the handle up, "which means another basket before the spearheads are done."

"It also told you why the workers need breaks," Ferra waited for both handles to settle, "so watch the man across from you instead of the charcoal pile."

The miner opposite Hajin had stopped extending his right elbow, protecting a strain he had never reported.

Hajin released the handle before asking, "How long has that hurt?"

"Since the second basket, My Lord," the miner rubbed the joint, "but the road crew needs the brackets by morning."

"Go to Vella," he pointed toward the forge gate, "then send the next worker from Marrick’s rotation."

The man hesitated until Marrick marked his name off the roster, making the lost labor impossible to hide behind the production count.

Ferra watched the replacement take position, then handed Hajin a pair of leather wraps for his own palms.

"You stay?" she checked the next bar with her tongs.

"The shift still needs Aegis," he tied the first wrap, "and you still need someone who can follow the handles."

"You missed once," she returned the bar to the coals, "so do not claim the second part yet."

The next cycle held as Hajin matched the replacement worker, keeping his eyes on the man’s arms instead of the fuel count. Ferra shaped six spearheads from the heated bars, leaving their sockets thick for the ashwood shafts waiting outside.

None carried a skill or rarity mark, but each point had the same angle plus a stamped line from the regional seal.

Marrick recorded them beside twelve road brackets, eight bellows collars and thirty-two short spikes for the watchposts.

"The militia asked for swords," he turned the order page toward Ferra, "though Hans wrote beneath it that they need spears first."

"New recruits cannot use swords safely," Ferra placed another spearhead in the cooling tray, "give them reach until Hans trains their footwork."

Hajin let the handle rise before asking, "Can the local iron hold against a three-Shard beast?"

"The point may bend after one clean strike," she checked the socket with a narrow gauge, "but the shaft lets sixty frightened people strike from behind one line."

That was not a legendary weapon, though the Sixth needed sixty usable spears more than one blade nobody could carry.

The final charcoal basket entered the furnace as the eastern work bell rang twice, calling the next road crew toward the yard. Loccy arrived first with three workers behind her, holding six ashwood shafts under one arm without disturbing their bindings.

"Are those mine?" she leaned toward the cooling tray, "Hans said I can teach the militia where to stand."

"The small ones are," Hajin nodded toward the short spikes, "the spearheads go to the recruits after Ferra checks them."

Loccy took the answer seriously, carrying the spikes toward the road crew while Ferra watched each worker claim a bracket or collar.

Nobody bowed to the forge, though they checked the stamped line before loading the pieces onto their carts.

A mason returned one ordinary bracket from the earlier batch, showing where the mine-road brace had twisted it near the bolt hole. Ferra compared the damage against an anomaly-alloy plate, then gave him the stronger piece for the same position.

"Bring it back after three days," she tapped the marked edge, "I need to see whether the corruption spreads under rain."

The mason wrapped it in cloth, promising to return with the whole brace if the plate failed.

Hajin released the bellows once the last bar left the furnace, finding both palms sore beneath the wraps while his shoulder had stopped shaking.

Ferra set the final spearhead beside the others, then looked across the empty racks where the workers had taken everything useful.

"The spearheads need better iron," she wiped the gauge before returning it to her belt, "but the workers took every bracket and collar we finished."

"They need it," he let the Ring fade from his wrist, "so tomorrow we make the next order."

The bond warmed again as Ferra rested one hand against the anvil, watching the road carts carry her work toward the wall.

[ Regional Forge Output: First Defensive Order Complete ]

[ Ferra Compatibility: 70% → 71% ]

Marrick placed the completed roster beside her tools, leaving space beneath today’s names for the workers returning tomorrow.