All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 240: Three Bells

The quarry clinic key reached Marrick’s ledger beside a request for two guards, though Hans crossed out both names before the ink dried.

"A guard at the clinic hears the bell after everyone else," he pushed the page back with his remaining hand, "put one on the ridge where he can see the road."

Hajin followed him outside, finding sixty workers gathered between the registry and eastern wall for the first full bell drill.

Loccy waited near the mine-road choke point with her hammer resting against one shoulder, surrounded by blocks she had stacked into a straight barrier.

Hans stopped before the wall, looking through its single cart opening before turning toward the workers behind it.

"Where do they go when riders reach this gap?" he pointed toward the men assigned to hold the road.

One miner raised his new spearhead before answering, "We keep them outside."

"You keep them outside until the first horse falls," Hans tapped the narrow opening with his spear, "then the next one traps you against your own wall."

Loccy looked at the blocks before asking, "Do you want the opening wider?"

"I want two smaller gaps behind it," he marked each side with his heel, "people need a way out after you stop the road."

She set her hammer down, then removed two blocks without disturbing the upper row.

The first gap opened toward the clinic route, while the second gave the defenders a path back to the town square.

"That makes the wall weaker," Loccy checked the new spaces, "someone might break through there."

"Leave the gaps," Hans stepped inside the right one, "your defenders retreat through them when the front breaks."

Hajin watched Loccy shift another block, narrowing the route until one armored rider could pass at a time.

Lana stood beside Marrick with the worker list, reading names as each crew moved toward its assigned shelter. Toma, the father Elise brought down from the ridge, had joined the mine haulers and carried water toward the eastern post.

His wife remained near the clinic route with their children, waiting for Lana to call their shelter number.

Hans reached the first bell post, where a roof worker held the rope without knowing whether he should pull it.

"One ring means clear the road," Hans faced the waiting crews, "anything moving stays off the marked route until the watch calls it safe."

The worker pulled once, sending a single strike across the eastern sector while carts rolled toward the roadside bays.

Two drivers turned the wrong direction, forcing Loccy to lift their empty wagon over the barrier before it blocked the escape gap.

"Two rings means civilians move to cover," Hans waited until the wagon landed, "the road crews leave tools where they fall, then every shelter lead counts names."

The bell struck twice, bringing half the miners toward the wall before Lana redirected them to the reinforced granary.

Children reached the clinic first, though three roof workers kept carrying timber until Sable took it from their hands.

Hans let the confusion run for thirty seconds before raising his spear toward the bell again.

"Three means defenders are needed," he watched the guards near the registry, "if you carry a weapon, move toward the sound without crossing the civilian route."

Three strikes sent the recruits toward Loccy’s wall, where their new spears crowded the cart gap until nobody could lower a point.

"Back row through the side gaps," Loccy directed them away from her hammer, "front row leaves space for me."

The line separated after several collisions, leaving twelve recruits near the opening while the rest covered both escape paths. Hans walked the full route once the bell stopped, checking each shelter count before returning to the eastern watchpost.

"They heard every ring," Marrick showed him the times recorded beside each crew, "the last civilian reached cover after two minutes."

"A horse crosses the mine bend in less than one," Hans looked toward the ridge, "run it again after they eat."

Ash had spent the drill sitting on Hajin’s shoulders, turning his head before each bell strike as the worker reached for the rope.

The child suddenly ignored the bell, staring toward a drainage cut below the watchpost with his nose raised. He blink-stepped from Hajin’s shoulders, appearing inside Loccy’s new escape gap before anyone caught his coat.

"Ash," Hajin crossed the wall while the child crawled toward the drainage cut, "come back before the drill becomes about finding you."

Ash growled into the opening, then reached beneath the lowest brace and pulled out a strip of red saddle cloth.

Juna took the cloth from him, finding fresh horse sweat along one edge plus tobacco from the scouts she followed.

"Someone waited under the post," she looked into the drainage cut, "the wall hid him from every guard above it."

Hans crouched near the opening, tracing a knee mark where the rider had watched the entire drill from below.

"He left when the second bell moved the civilians," Hans followed the prints toward the field ditch, "so he knows the shelters plus their timing."

Loccy stared at the blocks she had stacked, then lifted the lowest one to expose the full drainage route.

Ash crawled after it until Hajin caught him by the coat, leaving his hands reaching toward the hidden path.

"He found the hole," Loccy took Ash from him, "so he gets watchpost work now."

"He gets lunch," Hajin brushed leaves from the child’s sleeves, "then the drain gets a grate."

Marrick added the grate beside the forge orders, though Hans kept watching the rider’s trail instead of the ledger.

The next gold convoy waited at the mine by morning, carrying six covered wagons scheduled for Seliza’s southern camp.

"Delay it," Hans pointed toward the shelter times, "the workers need another day before these roads carry gold through a real alarm."

Hajin looked from the convoy sheet to the hidden drainage cut, seeing every problem the drill had exposed.

"The Flints already know the schedule," he returned the sheet to Marrick, "changing it tells them the scouts found something useful."

"Running it tells them the road matters," Hans rested the spear against his shoulder, "the bells worked, but your crews still take too long to move."

"I know," Hajin watched the mine wagons descend toward the first post, "run the drill again before they reach town."

Lana reset the shelter count while Toma returned his water cart to the mine route with the other haulers.

Hans signaled the bell worker back into position, keeping the convoy outside until every shelter lead raised a hand.