All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 270: The Village Leaves First

Vella’s treatment carts had barely left the eastern post when a southern runner reached Hajin beside the split cavalry road.

The ash plugs continued around the southern orchard village, placing its only wagon bridge inside Orin’s untested route line.

Hans read the report while clinic crews carried four seriously wounded defenders toward town behind him.

"Move the village now," he said, returning the page to the runner, "the road may belong to Dreth by tomorrow."

Hajin followed him south with twelve militia recruits, two carrying frames, and the shelter roll copied from Lana’s office.

Eight surviving Flint scouts remained visible along the distant ridge, keeping beyond bow range while they counted movement below.

The orchard village held twenty-three households around a mill channel, with eighty-two residents marked across the evacuation roll.

Its shelter assignments led west through the new field loop instead of crossing the southern road beside Dreth’s plugs.

"I can take the ridge scouts," Hajin said, watching their horses match the militia column, "they will report every cart."

"They want you riding away from the plugs," Hans replied, passing him the rear count, "stay behind the final household until we finish."

The village bell struck three times before Hajin reached its first orchard, sending household leads toward their numbered meeting points.

Nobody carried furniture because each shelter tag named one personal bundle plus tools required for work after arrival.

Families loaded medicine, winter clothes, ledgers, and preserved food while leaving unharvested grain inside open storehouses.

Two militia recruits checked every door mark against Lana’s roll, drawing one line after seeing the residents outside.

Another group moved carrying frames between homes, taking anyone unable to walk before wagons began crowding the mill lane.

The first eleven households entered the western loop while Hans remained near the bridge with the second shield relay.

Flint scouts advanced along the ridge during that movement, entering a range where sunlight struck their remaining mirrored strips.

Six recruits raised shields toward them, then passed each family behind the covered section before changing places with the next group.

The scouts drew bows without releasing, forcing every relay to maintain formation while wagons crossed the exposed orchard edge.

Hajin stayed behind the final shield pair, keeping his hands free without opening a Ring or taking their position.

One recruit stumbled beside a drainage cut, but the next shield stepped forward while two villagers pulled him upright. Their line continued without Hans returning from the bridge, proving the rear group understood what replaced a fallen position.

A loaded cart broke its rear axle near the mill, blocking three households plus both remaining carrying frames.

The driver reached for another grain sack before a militia woman removed it from his hands and pointed toward the nearest child.

"Carry your daughter to the relay," she said, cutting the cart ropes, "the western store has grain waiting for your shelter number."

Road workers unloaded the medicine chest plus tool bundles, distributing them across smaller hand frames instead of repairing the axle.

Two orchard workers laid a bridge board beneath the broken side, turning the cart into a skid that could leave the lane.

Hajin could have lifted the vehicle alone, although doing so would leave the rear count dependent upon his next intervention.

He remained beside the final households while the workers dragged their own obstruction beyond the meeting point.

The damaged cart entered the loop behind both carrying frames, losing three grain sacks without costing another departure place.

Lana’s copied roll stopped the column before its last movement, showing one household mark without a matching resident line.

"Hessa Vale," the rear clerk said, checking the abandoned pottery shed, "her shelter tag never crossed my table."

Two village youths knew Hessa used the mill cellar whenever armed riders approached, reaching its door before Hajin left the count.

They returned supporting an older woman between them, carrying her pottery ledger plus the hearing horn she had missed during the bells.

"The Flints can count me leaving," Hessa said, refusing the empty frame behind her, "they are not getting my good glaze book."

The rear clerk marked her arrival, then assigned one youth to remain beside her until the western shelter received both names.

Orin’s warning stake appeared near the wagon bridge as the final households approached the old southern-road crossing.

Fresh plugs surrounded both bridge ends, creating disturbed shoulders where the route had remained untouched the previous afternoon.

"Western loop," the militia woman called, turning her shield relay before anyone requested Hans, "keep every wheel beyond the red stakes."

Drivers followed the alternate markers installed during Command House planning, taking a longer orchard track around the plugged bridge.

The route narrowed between irrigation banks, forcing wagons to cross separately while families waited behind shields on wider ground.

Flint scouts released one signal flare toward the southern ridge, then withdrew before Hajin could treat their movement as another charge.

The militia kept the sequence instead of rushing, moving one wagon plus two households through each protected interval.

Hajin walked behind Hessa at the rear, watching the plugged bridge disappear beyond the last orchard without losing another name. Hans reached the western shelter ahead of them after riding along the front, leaving its two key holders beside the sealed field store.

Both opened separate locks under Marrick’s inventory sheet, issuing water, grain, lamp oil, and bandages against household receipts.

Shelter leads placed families by their existing numbers, preventing the arrivals from competing for corners near the entrance.

The damaged cart stopped beside a repair frame while its driver received the same grain weight left behind at the mill.

Hessa surrendered her pottery ledger only after the shelter clerk wrote her name beside the youth assigned to her.

Hajin reached the gate behind the last carrying frame without giving one correction to Hans’s route or the militia relays.

The rear clerk counted every marked line twice before fixing the completed receipt beneath the regional shelter seal.

{Southern Orchard Village Evacuation: 82 residents received across 23 households. Missing residents: 0. Evacuation casualties: 0.}

{Transport losses: three grain sacks. Damaged equipment: one cart axle. Southern wagon bridge closed pending ash-plug inspection.}

Hans handed Hajin the sealed receipt while the field-store keys returned to separate shelter leads.

"They practiced this with empty frames," he said, looking toward the residents settling inside, "today nobody waited for you to move first."

Hajin watched the militia woman carry her dented shield toward the repair rack before answering.

"Give her the next relay drill," he replied, fastening the receipt beneath his coat, "she changed routes before the bridge trapped anyone."

Beyond the orchard ridge, the eight Flint scouts joined infantry standards advancing toward the marked southern road.

The village had reached shelter before those standards crossed its abandoned mill channel, leaving Dreth an empty road to close.