All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 286: Taren Chooses

Hajin reached the southern contract road with dried blood covering his torn coat from the manor fight.

Eight black-and-red wagons stood inside a tightening Flint detachment, their reinforced beds carrying the Sixth’s scheduled outgoing gold.

Forty-eight soldiers occupied both road shoulders, using hooked pikes plus crossbows to separate the wagons from their hired local crews.

Twelve Serpent guards held a close perimeter around the teams, obeying a formation built to preserve vehicles rather than exposed workers.

Toma lay dead beside the lead harness he had cut before a panicked horse dragged its wagon into the worker line.

Evin, a younger road worker, had died across the second wheel while pushing two injured loaders beneath its reinforced bed.

Six more Sixth workers remained alive between both formations with wounds that required immediate treatment and removal.

[ New Sixth Region casualties ]

[ Toma and Evin: deceased ]

[ New serious injuries: 6 ]

[ Sixth campaign ledger: 21 deceased / 59 serious injuries ]

Ten uninjured local workers crouched beside the wounded, trapped outside the Serpent perimeter by Flint pikes controlling the road.

Taren stood near the lead wagon with a sealed silver packet held between both hands.

The convoy alarm had triggered its contingency clause, leaving Seliza’s written decision closed beneath her personal serpent seal.

"The detachment reaches the workers before another team can turn," a Serpent captain said, guarding the gold, "open the Matriarch’s road order."

Taren broke Seliza’s seal while Hajin formed one Ring and crossed the outer pike line behind Aegis.

Bolts stopped against the golden plane, giving the six serious cases protection while the Flint soldiers changed their firing angle.

Taren unfolded the packet and read its first instruction without lowering his mild voice beneath the battle noise.

"Preserve the eight scheduled gold wagons, their teams, and all sworn Serpent personnel," Taren said, reading from the page, "avoid capture under every condition."

His eyes moved toward Toma before reaching the second line marked in Seliza’s own hand.

"Local labor remains outside House recovery priority," Taren said, reading the second line, "abandon disabled workers rather than risk gold, vehicles, or sworn guards."

The Serpent captain turned his guards inward at once, preparing to move the wagons while leaving the injured beyond their formation.

Taren did not repeat the order, although every worker trapped outside had heard what Seliza valued above their bodies.

Hajin widened Aegis across the road, pushing the nearest pikes away from the six serious cases without striking their owners.

"I can hold forty-eight here," Hajin said, placing barrier steps beside the wounded, "decide which side of your paper receives the road."

Taren looked from the sealed order toward the same workers Seliza’s wagons had hired through Marrick’s regional contract.

One injured loader tried lifting Toma, then collapsed when the wound beneath his shoulder reopened across the road.

The Flint detachment advanced behind overlapping shields, expecting the convoy to preserve its gold by moving away from Hajin’s barrier.

Taren folded Seliza’s order once, then tore it through the serpent seal before handing both pieces to her captain.

"The workers entered our road under our contract," Taren said, removing the silver House clasp from his collar, "that makes their recovery mine."

"Your oath belongs to the Matriarch," the captain said, staring at the torn order, "the wagons leave before her property becomes a barricade."

"My oath never required obedience after she ordered me to abandon people I accepted," Taren said, placing the clasp in his hand, "take it back."

He cut the first two team traces with his sleeve blade, freeing both wagons without sending their horses into the trapped workers.

Hidden output tightened Taren’s outline while he lifted the lead wagon tongue and turned its gold-loaded bed across the southern road.

Four Serpent guards moved from instinct before their captain objected, helping him lock the second wagon against its rear axle.

Taren turned a third wagon behind them, creating a covered lane between the gold beds plus Hajin’s Aegis steps.

The Flint front rank struck the new barricade while Hajin reinforced its outer faces, stopping every pike beyond the evacuation lane.

"Six wounded first," Taren said, directing the ten standing workers, "two people carry each frame while the others recover Toma and Evin."

The workers lifted three treatment frames beneath the wagons, using their reinforced beds to block every crossbow angle from the shoulders.

Hajin kept Aegis between the Flint detachment and that passage, absorbing bolts without releasing force through the people behind it.

The enemy commander sent twelve soldiers toward the drainage bank, attempting to cross behind the final gold wagon.

Taren moved through them without drawing blood, breaking pike grips plus shield alignment before driving the entire file back outside Aegis.

His forgettable stillness vanished during the exchange, revealing the same impossible output Aria had failed to classify in their square match.

"You concealed that from Seliza’s own ledgers," Aria said, tracking his movement, "apparently today is devoted to expensive disclosures."

"Later," Hajin said, bending Aegis around the drainage bank, "keep every retreat marker inside Dreth’s count."

The six wounded crossed beneath separate treatment markers, followed by ten workers carrying Toma plus Evin on the final frames.

No living worker remained beyond the barricade when Taren backed through the covered lane beside the last carrier.

The twelve Serpent guards stayed with their wagons, although none tried forcing the rescued crews back outside Seliza’s perimeter.

Hajin released the drainage barrier only after the Flint commander sounded withdrawal instead of committing more soldiers against him.

All forty-eight retreated under their own movement, carrying every weapon plus shield back toward Dreth’s encirclement standards.

Aria followed their markers until the entire detachment rejoined the active field lines without a death, capture, or disabled soldier.

[ Convoy detachment repelled ]

[ Flint detachment returned to siege: 48 / 48 ]

[ Enemy casualties or captures: 0 ]

[ Hajin gained: 0 EXP ]

[ Ring Progress: 23,710,000 / 25,000,000 EXP — unchanged ]

[ Active Flint siege force: 1,122 — unchanged ]

The gold remained inside all eight wagons, though three beds carried broken wheels plus bolt damage from their use as cover.

Taren helped lift Toma’s frame through the regional gate before returning to Hajin beside the torn contingency order.

The Serpent captain waited with Seliza’s silver clasp, giving him one final opportunity to reclaim the symbol.

"The wagons remain hers, and the trade contract remains a matter for both ledgers," Taren said, leaving the clasp untouched, "I do not."

He turned toward Hajin without a House color, weapon, title, or paper granting him another place.

"If the Sixth accepts service without ownership, I enter under the name Taren," he said, standing beside the damaged gate, "nothing follows it."

"Then stand inside," Hajin said, opening the barrier lane toward town, "Marrick can argue about your employment page after the wounded reach Vella."

Taren crossed the gate behind the last treatment frame while Seliza’s guards remained with her damaged gold wagons.

The silver clasp remained outside his collar, resting inside another man’s hand beyond the Sixth barrier.