All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 271: The Roads Close

Hajin left the western shelter after its final receipt, reaching the southern road while Dreth’s infantry crossed the abandoned mill channel.

Eight surviving scouts rode behind the standards, bringing the active vanguard count to one hundred fifty-six after Juna’s strike.

The remaining fighters advanced in separated files, keeping six paces between shields instead of presenting another formation-wide target.

Portable mantlets divided their routes across the orchard, quarry approach, and salt-road rise without linking any two groups.

Juna reached Hajin beside the first warning stake, studying the spaces Dreth had forced between every file.

"He spread them after the cavalry died," she said, following their scents across three roads, "one solar cut cannot reach every group."

"It does not need to," Hajin replied, watching the empty bridge, "we hold the roads where our people can retreat."

Orin’s survey rods changed color together, turning ash-gray from the southern bend toward the bridge beneath Hajin.

Dreth stood beyond the mill channel with his spear planted beside a command socket carried between two shield files.

He rotated the spear once, sending ash-white mana from that socket into the plugs buried during the cavalry attack.

Every warning stake jerked sideways as iron ribs opened beneath the road shoulders, joining more than fifty prepared points.

The first line lifted the southern bridge from one brace, twisting its wagon deck toward the empty orchard channel.

Another pulse traveled beyond the bend, reaching buried plugs along the quarry track plus the old salt-road junction.

Ash-packed frames rose across each approach while infantry planted their portable mantlets inside the new barriers.

The anchors did not form Dreth’s Zone, but their connected roadworks gave his dispersed files protected deployment lanes.

"Pull the outer crews through," Hans said, waving both rear runners toward the orchard, "leave tools outside if the line reaches them."

Sixteen Sixth workers plus defenders remained beyond the bridge after marking plugs around the southern shoulder.

The militia woman who had redirected the village evacuation led their retreat, keeping both road crews behind four shields.

An ash frame rose between them and the western loop before they covered half the distance toward Hajin.

Hajin opened one Ring around his right wrist, driving Aegis beneath the frame before its lower ribs closed. The barrier held one side above the road, preserving a one-person opening beneath the raised ribs.

Dreth’s infantry moved three mantlets toward that gap while another anchor pulled against Aegis from beneath the bridge.

Destroying the frame would release its stored force across the workers standing beside it, while holding it exposed the other valley routes.

"Back to the orchard bank," Hajin called, keeping Aegis beneath the ribs, "stay above the plugs until we open another crossing."

The militia woman reversed her shields without scattering, leading all sixteen toward higher ground beyond the closed road.

Hajin released Aegis after their last worker cleared the frame, allowing its ribs to lock across the abandoned crossing.

Orin marked their position beyond the barrier while Hans counted which shelter teams could still reach them from another route.

The quarry track closed next, followed by the eastern junction where Juna’s split cavalry road met the salt approach.

Within several minutes, Dreth’s one hundred fifty-six remaining fighters held every valley exit behind separated anchor positions.

They did not charge the town or repeat the mirrored formation, denying Juna another occupied line away from civilians.

A single officer approached the southern frame beneath a white flag, carrying four sealed pages across an empty writing board.

Hans kept the militia behind the road stakes while Hajin met him outside the nearest active anchor.

"Commander Dreth offers separate terms to anyone who stops supporting your claim," the officer said, presenting the board, "each group may answer independently."

The first page addressed residents, promising continued land rights to households that stopped sheltering militia before the next bell.

{Households withdrawing food, transport, and shelter from armed Sixth units retain their homes under restored Flint authority.}

A second offered mine workers their current wage rate under a Flint overseer, provided they surrendered route maps plus store keys.

{Registered workers who reopen the eastern mine receive wage protection and debt review after delivering all regional access records.}

The militia page pardoned ordinary recruits who stacked weapons at any ash frame, excluding Hans plus every shelter commander by name.

{Unranked defenders receive safe conduct after surrender. Command personnel, summoned combatants, and Lord Hajin remain outside this offer.}

Guild adventurers, Seliza’s contractors, and visiting specialists received another road window for leaving with their equipment before sunset.

Every offer preserved one group by requiring it to abandon another, leaving Dreth’s protected files to punish anyone who refused alone.

"Your commander wants workers to sell the routes that feed their families," Hajin said, returning the mine page, "why would they believe his wages?"

"They only need to believe you may lose," the officer replied, keeping the white flag raised, "then a signed alternative becomes valuable."

Juna remained beside the warning stakes, watching the infantry positions instead of threatening the messenger under truce.

"What happens to the sixteen beyond your frame?" she asked, pointing toward the stranded road crew, "their names are on our shelter roll."

"They may surrender at the orchard position," the officer replied, turning toward their distant shields, "their safe conduct expires with the residents’ bell."

The answer gave Hajin a deadline without opening a route through which the workers could return home armed.

Marrick’s nearest route runner accepted copies inside a numbered envelope, recording the officer plus every seal before leaving for Lana’s office.

Hajin wrote his response across the officer’s receipt rather than signing any of the divided terms.

{Withdraw the vanguard beyond the Sixth boundary, remove every road anchor, and release the sixteen separated workers plus defenders.}

"The command answer is there," Hajin said, returning the board, "individual residents can read your offers after the Witness Office copies them."

The officer accepted the receipt, though his attention shifted toward Juna when one eastern file changed position behind him.

"The cavalry report called her strike unavoidable," he said, lowering the board beneath his arm, "Commander Dreth disagreed about offering the same target twice."

"Twenty-eight riders found out what the report meant," Juna replied, keeping every Wing closed, "you should keep the next group spread out."

He returned behind the southern frame without answering, while Dreth’s infantry maintained its separated road positions.

Hans sent shelter runners through internal routes, ordering every store key changed before the mine offer reached another household.

Marrick’s dispatch copy warned guild parties that Dreth’s exit window ended inside roads he controlled, making the offered safety unverifiable.

Hajin stayed near the anchor line until Orin finished mapping every road still open within the Sixth interior.

The western field loop connected town, shelters, clinic, and mine, but every route leaving the valley ended beneath ash frames.

Across the closed southern road, sixteen workers plus defenders waited on the orchard bank while Dreth’s resident bell approached.