All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 294: The Pass

Hajin crossed the opened western pocket after third bell, passing stacked Flint weapons and three covered militia bodies beside the casualty lane.

Hans’s first runner met him beyond the orchard wall with a white toll token tied around one wrist.

"One rider reached the old bridge ahead of a cloaked carriage," the runner said, matching the token against Hajin’s route board, "royal relay tags, no military standard."

Hajin took the western loop alone while Hans reorganized the militia and every summon remained at an assigned battlefield position.

The route avoided Flint campaign markers, carrying him through abandoned orchards toward the toll bridge named in his reply.

A plain gray carriage waited beneath the broken toll roof, accompanied by two exhausted relay horses and no royal guards.

Elina stood beside its open door in a travel cloak, holding a narrow case against her chest with both arms.

Didi stepped down before Hajin reached the bridge, her long braid tucked beneath a charcoal hood without a crown pin.

"You crossed three relay districts with one attendant," Hajin said, checking both roads behind her, "my directions did not require proving the route personally."

"Your directions forbade campaign roads and royal formations," Didi said, stopping before him, "I obeyed both with irritating precision."

Road dust marked the hem of her cloak, although her steady posture hid most of the journey from anyone farther away.

"The opening succeeded," Hajin said, looking toward the covered signal lamp behind the carriage, "three of ours died, and twelve reached Vella alive."

"Then I will not waste the road they purchased," Didi said, holding his gaze, "we complete this before your next signal arrives."

Elina placed the narrow case upon the old toll counter, then opened its document compartment without touching the sealed lower section.

The release order bore Didi’s personal royal seal beneath a council disposition number matching the ruling delivered before the opening.

{Evidence hold terminated. Ownership restored to Hajin Flint. Physical release authorized beneath the initiating royal seal.}

A second page documented the object’s intake before the Beast King report entered the council chamber.

{Palace quarantine intake: golden anomaly core enclosed within fitted royal nullstone containment before council presentation. Exterior shell: black. Contents remain unchanged.}

Hajin remembered the dark jagged object the Captain had placed before the council, when its exterior radiated enough mana to silence the room.

"The black object they studied was a shell?" Hajin asked, following the intake signatures, "nobody called it containment during the report."

"The council examined its mana through the nullstone," Didi said, lifting the lower case, "then the evidence clerks wrote shell and contents as one held item."

That merged entry had preserved the outward color in later records while hiding the golden core Hajin had held after the Gate.

Didi turned the case toward him, revealing an irregular black casing wrapped around a silver royal lock.

The outer shape matched the supposed dark core from the council table, including each jagged ridge formed around its contained object.

"Once I hand this across, the vault transfer is complete," Didi said, lifting the casing with both hands, "hold it before I open my seal."

Hajin received the closed shell directly from her, taking its cold weight across both palms while Elina opened the witness ledger.

Didi pressed her seal ring against the silver lock, and pale-blue lines spread through every fitted seam.

Black nullstone separated into two hinged halves above Hajin’s hands, exposing gold that warmed the toll room immediately.

The Divine Core of the Sun Emperor rested inside the opened casing, pulsing with captured sunlight from the vanished Beast King Gate.

[ Divine Core of the Sun Emperor ]

[ Rarity: Divine ]

[ Identity: existing item confirmed ]

[ Physical custody: released to owner ]

Hajin lifted the golden core from the royal shell with his own right hand, leaving its empty black halves supported in his left.

Heat entered his palm without triggering another blessing, evolution, EXP reward, or change to the damaged Chain stored elsewhere.

He placed the core inside his inventory himself, completing the transfer no royal clerk or princess could perform for him.

[ Item stored: Divine Core of the Sun Emperor ]

[ Inventory custody established ]

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

Elina recorded the storage time while Didi removed the empty containment shell from Hajin’s left hand.

The shell returned to its Crown case under a separate property line, preventing anyone from confusing its custody with the core again.

"The ruling stood," Hajin said, looking at Didi’s seal beneath the disposition, "what answer did your father give those councilors?"

"He refused to reopen the hold," Didi said, closing the release order, "then entered me as an interested party in your territorial review."

Her royal seal remained valid, but she had lost access to the neutral review chamber until this campaign reached judgment.

"They will say you favored me," Hajin said, watching Elina seal both receipts, "especially if Ferra finds a use for that core."

"I did favor you," Didi said, meeting his eyes without retreating into court language, "I favored returning your property over protecting my appearance."

The admission crossed the space their letters had kept formal, leaving neither duty nor affection disguised as the other.

"Neutrality already chose who carried its cost," Didi said, reaching for his empty right hand, "my seal only placed part of that cost beside my name."

Hajin closed his fingers around hers, feeling road dust against the hand that had broken the council’s hold.

"I am alive," Hajin said, answering the question she had demanded through every private letter, "and I intend to remain difficult about it."

"Good," Didi said, tightening her grip once, "I crossed three relay districts because paper kept avoiding that answer."

A yellow flare rose beyond the northern quarry before either released the other, followed by Juna’s shorter white confirmation.

Aria identified the sequence from Hans’s command board as a verified scout eye requesting Hajin’s presence.

Another runner reached the toll approach carrying two enemy movements copied after the western opening collapsed their outer line.

"Dreth is pulling his central standards toward the broken southern pass," the runner said, presenting both strips, "Corven’s white wagon took the northern quarry route."

The surviving army had separated its command core from the portable circulation bank while retreating toward Dreth’s prepared terrain.

Didi released Hajin’s hand and pulled her charcoal hood forward, returning every royal color beneath the travel cloak.

"Go to her signal," Didi said, stepping beside Elina, "the western shelter guides will take us away from the campaign roads."

Hajin gave Elina one marked shelter token, then waited until both women entered the carriage behind its plain exterior.

The vehicle turned west under civilian route marks while he moved north toward Juna’s confirmed flare.

The golden Divine Core remained stored as its own unconsumed item, while the damaged Chains and anchor sample retained separate entries.