All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 322: Ash Does Not Know the Word

The fourth return signal reached Loccy before Hajin stepped onto the mine approach. She released his withdrawal line only after Ferra crossed the gold line with her forge case secured.

A registry runner waited beside the treatment carts, holding Lana’s folded witness strip above the moving workers. Hajin took it with his left hand while the Chain remained closed around both recovered fragments.

{Ash remains at the witness desk beneath the six assigned guards. His wrist geometry has stayed visible since the second mine pulse, and he keeps asking whether Hajin returned. Nobody has tested it. — Lana}

Aria opened Ash’s designation record without requesting another remote view through the inactive mountain link. Its residual response still refused to settle into a closed system archive.

[ Remote designation link: inactive ]

[ Residual response geometry: persistent ]

[ Current external effect: none ]

"Keep the mine sealed under Hans," Hajin said, passing him the witness strip, "send another runner if the braces receive pressure."

"They will receive timber before people," Hans replied, folding the strip beneath his rescue sheet, "go deal with the child who answered your mountain."

Hajin followed the treatment carts down the regional road with Juna beside him. Ferra carried the incomplete ceramic copy separately, keeping its sealed case away from the corrupted fragments inside his Chain.

The carts entered the clinic yard while they continued toward the restored registry. Six guards still controlled its approaches, leaving the witness desk visible through the repaired southern wall.

Lana sat behind the desk with Ash pressed against her left side. His right wrist rested upon the closed mine ledger, showing pale broken curves beneath the skin without forming an external halo.

He left the chair only when Hajin entered, crossing the short distance before one guard could decide whether to interfere. Both hands closed around Hajin’s left sleeve as he looked toward the forge case.

Juna circled the witness desk once, comparing Ash’s scent against the white-gold residue still clinging to Hajin’s coat. Ferra checked every ceramic seal upon her case, confirming nothing from the mine had entered its copied compartment.

"The mountain scent ends on Hajin plus the Chain," Juna said, lowering her nose toward Ash’s marked wrist, "his pale geometry carries only his own scent here."

"You came back," Ash said, pulling the sleeve against his wrist, "the round part keeps waiting."

"Waiting for what?" Hajin asked, lowering himself until their eyes remained level, "tell me what you saw below."

Ash looked toward Lana before pressing his wrist against Hajin’s covered arm. The subdermal curves held their shape, though none crossed into Hajin’s old Resonance lines.

"I saw the line under you," he said, closing his fingers around the cloth, "then it wanted a word."

"Which word?" Hajin asked, keeping Ferra’s case outside the child’s reach.

"I do not know it," he replied, touching the center of his wrist, "I only knew it was wrong."

Lana turned the open witness ledger toward Hajin, revealing every recorded change since the mine pulse. Ash had remained inside the registry, while each guard signature preserved the same custody count.

Hajin guided Ash back into the chair beside Lana, keeping the child’s right hand inside his palm. The subdermal curves remained visible while Ferra prepared the copied plate across the desk.

"The marks fade whenever he stops watching the mountain," she said, placing her pen beside the latest entry, "then they return before he can rest."

"The inactive link is retaining an unanswered shape," Aria reported, comparing her record against the child in front of him, "direct proximity may show whether the copy supplies its boundary."

Ferra placed her forge case upon the far end of the witness desk. She opened only the ceramic compartment, leaving every metal tool secured beneath her closed Wing.

The copied plate carried reconstructed cavities from eight shapes plus the incomplete center of the ninth. Its surface held no mana, active metal, corrupted residue, or material taken from Ash.

"This remains an incomplete copy," Ferra said, fixing the plate inside two ceramic clamps, "his wrist does not touch it, and I remove it when either pattern changes."

"I record what happens before anyone explains it," Lana replied, opening a clean ledger page, "Ash chooses whether his hand moves closer."

Hajin turned toward him without releasing the sleeve caught between his fingers. The child watched the plate steadily, keeping his marked wrist against Hajin instead of approaching it.

"Can you show me the circle once?" Hajin asked, placing his hand between Ash and the desk, "I stop as soon as you want."

"You stay here," Ash said, moving his wrist onto Hajin’s open palm, "do not look through the line again."

"I stay," Hajin replied, keeping every Ring closed, "Ferra brings the plate closer, while your hand remains with me."

Lana moved her clean page between the copied plate plus Ash, leaving its blank margin beneath his free hand. She asked him to press one finger there whenever speaking became difficult.

The nearest guards repeated the signal before returning to their marked positions, making the child’s choice visible to every witness.

Hajin opened his palm beneath Ash’s wrist without holding his fingers closed. The child pulled away once, proving nothing restrained him, then placed his hand back upon the same spot. His marked skin remained clear while Ferra measured the handspan from the edge of Hajin’s sleeve.

"You can stop before the circle appears," Hajin said, keeping his voice below the scrape of Ferra’s clamps, "nobody needs an answer from you today."

"I want it to stop waiting," Ash replied, pressing one finger against Lana’s blank margin, "but you move first if it hurts."

Juna smelled along the space between both patterns before allowing Ferra to continue. The mine residue stayed inside the closed Chain fragments, while the ceramic copy carried no scent toward the child. Lana recorded both checks, then placed her pen above the page without covering Ash’s signal hand.

Ferra moved the ceramic clamps until the copy rested one handspan from Ash’s wrist. Pale geometry formed outside his skin before the plate completed that distance, matching the incomplete curve recorded beneath Gold Mountain.

Its open edge faced the copied ninth symbol rather than the mountain beyond the registry wall. The curve remained still around Ash’s wrist, refusing to rotate into the brief closure seen during his remote answer.

[ Unknown designation manifestation detected ]

[ Geometry match: prior incomplete Ringlet ]

[ Rotation: none ]

[ Copied rune activation: none ]

[ Displacement effect: none ]

The ceramic plate did not answer, though its empty center aligned with the missing section of Ash’s curve. Aria found no mana crossing between them, leaving the geometry suspended without completing an effect.

Ash’s fingers tightened once around Hajin’s palm as the markings beneath his forearm started rising. His breathing changed before Aria registered pathway damage, giving Hajin enough warning to end the test.

"Stop," Hajin ordered, covering the copied rune with his left hand, "move it away now."

Ferra pulled the clamps beyond the desk while Juna placed herself between Ash plus the case. The incomplete halo vanished immediately, allowing the subdermal lines to withdraw toward his wrist.

[ Manifestation ended ]

[ Injury detected: none ]

[ Skill formation: none ]

[ Progression: none ]

"I can do it again," Ash said, keeping his hand inside Hajin’s grip, "the round part was nearly finished."

"That is why we stop," Hajin replied, turning the marked wrist away from the covered plate, "your fingers tightened before anything useful happened."

Lana finished writing before she looked at Ferra’s clamps or Aria’s notices. Her account preserved only the positions, visible geometry, Hajin’s stop, plus the child’s condition afterward.

{Ash voluntarily held his right wrist one handspan from Ferra’s incomplete ceramic copy while Hajin remained beside him. One pale curve formed beyond the wrist with its open edge facing the plate, then Hajin covered the copy when Ash’s fingers tightened.

The curve vanished immediately, and Ash remained seated without injury.}

"That is what happened," Lana said, signing beneath the entry, "anything else waits for evidence."

The nearest two guards signed her position diagram after checking the measured distance across the desk. Neither guard added any explanation beyond the manifestation they had directly witnessed.

Aria closed the persistent response after the controlled test ended without changing Ash’s unknown designation. The geometry settled beneath his skin while he remained in the chair beside Lana.

Ferra locked the copied plate inside its ceramic frame upon the empty end of the witness desk. Hajin kept the Chain fragments physically separated from it while Ash refused to release his sleeve.