All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 238: The Road Learns Names

Marrick found Juna’s marked map beneath his cheek, then woke the registry by knocking his ink bottle across the patrol routes.

Hajin saved the northern corner before the spill reached it, carrying the map outside where Elise waited beside Sable and three saddled horses.

Juna had already checked the animals, though her attention stayed on the ridge where the scouts disappeared before dawn.

"The official road gets two passes each shift," Sable traced a route from the gate to the mine bend, "then I take the north trail while Elise covers the fields."

"That leaves the ridge shortcut empty," Elise tapped the narrow line above the road, "people use it whenever they do not want the gate clerks seeing them."

"Scouts use it for the same reason," Sable folded the lower edge of the map, "so we secure the roads people should be using first."

Elise looked toward the hill houses before replying, "Lana found sixteen families avoiding the square, so telling people where they should walk has not worked."

Hajin handed the map to Juna, leaving the disagreement with the people who would ride the route.

"Cover the road first," Juna pointed toward the ridge, "then we check the shortcut before the second pass."

Sable accepted the order with a nod, while Elise adjusted her reins without pretending the compromise satisfied her.

They rode north through the cart opening Loccy had built, passing workers who were fitting Ferra’s new brackets into the wall braces. The official road stayed clear until the field turn, where two wagon ruts entered from the west before stopping near a drainage ditch.

Sable dismounted beside them, pressing one hand against the deeper track while Juna searched the grass beyond it.

"Two riders came off the ridge," she followed the broken weeds toward the ditch, "their horses were carrying more weight when they arrived."

"One rider returned alone," Juna touched a hoof mark near the road, "the second horse went back through the trees without anyone sitting on it."

Elise looked toward the shortcut before asking, "So someone dismounted here?"

"Or they want us climbing after an empty horse," Sable drew her sword, "I can catch the rider before the trail reaches the border fork."

A branch snapped above the drainage ditch, followed by a child’s breath cutting short behind the brush.

Elise left her horse before Sable moved, lowering both hands as she walked toward the sound.

"We are not road collectors," she kept her palms visible, "come out before one of the horses steps into your hiding place."

Nobody answered until Juna caught the scent of four people, stale bread plus fear beneath the wet leaves.

"Two children," she looked toward the ditch, "one has blood on his foot."

A woman rose behind the brush with a kitchen knife held against her own chest, putting herself between Elise and the hollow.

Her husband remained below with two children, one boy’s ankle wrapped in a strip torn from his shirt.

"We paid the road debt last winter," the woman tightened both hands around the knife, "so tell Orlan he gets nothing else."

Sable’s sword lowered a few inches before she asked, "Who is Orlan?"

"The collector from the old tax office," the husband climbed out with the injured boy against his shoulder, "his men still wait near the gate when wages are paid."

"The old office is gone," Elise stepped aside to leave the road open, "Hajin removed the clerks before the first wage line."

The woman looked at Sable’s sword, then at the regional seal fastened to Elise’s coat without lowering the knife.

"The last lord changed clerks twice," she shook her head, "the debt stayed under our names both times."

Sable turned toward the ridge where the rider trail remained fresh, measuring the distance before returning her sword to its sheath.

"Elise takes the front," she checked the trees behind the family, "I will cover the rear until we reach the road post."

Elise hid her surprise by taking the injured boy from his father, settling him against the saddle before starting downhill. Juna remained beside Sable as the family moved, listening for the rider while the shortcut curved above them.

The first hoofprints continued north for another hundred paces, then crossed bare rock where the trail should have disappeared.

Sable stopped near the far edge, finding the same shoe mark turned back toward the drainage ditch.

"It circled," she crouched beside a scraped root, "the rider led both horses uphill, then sent one down to leave the road tracks."

"They wanted the patrol away from the family," Juna followed the returning scent toward the south, "or away from the wall while people were moving through."

Sable looked downhill where Elise kept the family between herself and the horse, her pace reduced for the father’s injured knee.

"Chasing it would have left them here," she rose from the root, "so we finish the escort before checking where the rider went."

They reached the north road post without another sighting, where a guard recognized the collector’s name but not the family.

The woman stopped outside the barrier, refusing to cross until Hajin arrived from the wall with Lana beside him.

Lana carried her complaint slate plus the hunting knife inside her dress pocket, keeping both hands away from it while the children watched.

"They think an old collector still owns their road debt," Elise gave Hajin the facts before Sable described the false horse trail.

"He has men near the gate," the woman lifted her chin toward the wall, "and if we give you our names, he gets them from your book."

Hajin looked at Lana before replying, "The names go on her slate first, then Marrick checks every old debt entry before it reaches the registry."

"What happens when he finds one?" The husband shifted his son higher against his shoulder.

"He records who collected it, how much you paid and whether the old office stole the rest," Hajin opened the barrier himself, "nobody touches your wages while the claim is checked."

The woman kept her knife until Lana wrote all four names, reading each one back without asking why they used the ridge.

Vella’s clinic runner took the injured boy at the post, leaving the parents to follow without crossing another clerk.

"We lost the rider," Sable watched the clinic cart leave, "but the patrol found four people the road records missed."

"Then the patrol worked," Hajin marked the ridge shortcut on Juna’s map, "add it to every rotation, including the paths people should not need."

Lana tucked the slate beneath her arm, keeping the family’s page on top as they entered the town behind her.