All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 250: The Gate Opens

The Crown courier reached the registry with the territory notice as a third bell rang from the northern outer village.

Marrick broke the seal beside Didi’s letter, checking the campaign authority before recording the delivery time beneath both witnesses.

{Formal notice has been delivered, House Flint may contest control of the Sixth Region under Crown law until surrender, withdrawal, or royal judgment.}

The sentence gave Dreth legal cover to cross the eastern marker, though it did nothing about the bells continuing beyond the ridge.

Juna entered through the open window with purple residue across one sleeve, dropping a cracked Gate fragment onto the map.

"The portal pushed through its frame," she said, pointing toward the outer stockade, "hounds are coming down the ravine ahead of the larger scents."

Hans counted the bell intervals before moving the militia reserve marker away from the town wall.

"The village rang for cover first," he said, placing thirty recruits on the field route, "the third call means their hunters reached the stockade."

Elise arrived behind Juna with another report, carrying the red route flag from the old salt bridge.

"Twenty riders crossed after the courier passed them," she said, putting their position across the clinic road, "they stopped at the bridge without drawing weapons."

"They waited for the notice," Marrick said, writing their crossing time, "blocking the clinic road is now part of the territory campaign."

Hajin looked from the bridge to the longer field route, where Vella’s carts would lose half an hour around the irrigation cuts.

"Hans moves the reserve through the fields," he said, placing the carrying frames behind the recruits, "take command of the outer wall when you reach it."

"I can make the wall," Hans said, lifting his spear from the map table, "the carts follow my pace until the ground widens."

"Vella takes every clinic cart," Hajin said, turning toward the open door, "use the field route and leave one healer here for Toma."

She closed her treatment ledger before looking toward the bridge marker Dreth had occupied.

"I asked for twenty frames," Vella said, gathering her kit, "so nobody abandons one because the road became inconvenient."

"Ferra keeps making them," Hajin said, moving the forge inventory aside, "pull wheels plus rope from the market carts if the field route breaks anything."

Ferra left for the yard without waiting for Marrick to protect his wagon count from her.

Lana raised the outer shelter list, finding four farm families between town and the threatened stockade.

"Cassie’s party gets the farms," Hajin said, handing her list toward the mage, "bring the families through the fields before the riders close another road."

Cassie took the page with her staff already in hand, sending Jonas to find a wagon while Toby checked the first path.

"Loccy holds the town side of the bridge," Hajin said, placing her marker opposite the vanguard, "keep those riders where they stopped."

Loccy summoned her hammer before leaving the registry, though neither Wing opened while she ran toward the salt road.

"Juna clears the village route," Hajin said, following the ravine toward the Gate, "I take the upper spill until the stockade finishes moving people."

"You are not entering it," she said, keeping one claw against the portal mark, "the wall needs to be stable before you disappear inside."

"I stay outside," he said, taking the cracked fragment from the map, "call me if the ravine changes direction."

The registry emptied around Marrick, leaving him with Lana plus the campaign notice while every assigned group reached its road.

One bell sounded across town to clear the central route, sending market carts into roadside bays before the militia reserve passed.

Workers moved without closing the stalls, helping Vella’s drivers load frames while Hans redirected anyone carrying the wrong shield.

Hajin reached the old salt bridge ahead of the field convoy, finding Dreth’s riders formed behind two carts parked across the crossing.

Their captain held a copy of the territory notice above his saddle, keeping every sword inside its sheath as Loccy approached.

She planted her hammer on the town side of the bridge, leaving ten paces between herself and the first vanguard horse.

"This crossing is under Flint campaign control," the captain said, lowering the paper toward Hajin, "civilian passage resumes after the northern road is secured."

"A Gate is breaking over that village," Hajin said, looking past him toward the empty clinic road, "move your carts or record why you refused."

"My order is to hold the bridge," the man said, returning the notice to his coat, "your field road remains open."

Hajin could remove the carts, but the riders behind them would turn a rescue route into another fight.

"Stay here," he said, looking toward Loccy, "if one rider leaves the bridge toward town, put the cart into the river."

"What if they move north?" she asked, resting both hands on the hammer, watching the captain instead of Hajin.

"Let them leave our road," he said, turning toward the field route, "do not chase anyone while the village bells are ringing."

Loccy remained between the vanguard and town, forcing all twenty riders to keep watching one woman without opening a Wing.

The field route narrowed beside the first irrigation cut, where Hans ordered the militia to carry shields above Vella’s cart wheels.

Two frames slipped from the rear wagon before Ferra’s workers caught them, tying both beneath the axle instead of stopping.

Cassie’s party reached the closest farm during the delay, finding a family loading grain while the Gate pressure shook their roof.

"Leave the sacks," Cassie said, holding the shelter list where they could see Lana’s mark, "Jonas has the children, so get into the wagon."

The farmer tried lifting another bag until Toby’s white flash showed three hounds crossing the distant field toward them.

Jonas placed himself between both children and the hounds while Cassie raised a low earth ridge across their path.

The wagon joined the field convoy with the animals circling behind it, leaving Cassie’s party to reach the remaining houses on foot.

Juna reached the outer stockade before Hajin, following the purple scent past families moving through its southern gate.

The headman had placed hunters along the repaired wall, while the innkeeper’s mother counted children inside the central storehouse.

"Seven farms are still outside," Juna said, checking Lana’s copied list, "Cassie has the southern four, I am taking the ridge houses."

"The first hounds reached the upper traps," the headman said, pointing toward the ravine, "those pits were built for burrowers, not packs."

Hajin continued uphill after her, finding the Gate stretched beyond its marker with purple lines cutting through the blue surface.

One Ring formed around his wrist as another hound pushed through, followed by six smaller bodies landing across the ravine.

He summoned the chain into his hand, striking the lead monster away from the village path before the pack found its footing.

Aegis opened across the lower ravine, turning the next two hounds toward the hunters waiting behind the stockade wall.

The barrier could redirect the spill, though it could not cover both the farms and the road beneath the Gate.

"Juna," Hajin said, watching another shape press against the portal, "take the ridge houses, then choose which route stays open."

She left without asking him to decide her position, disappearing along the upper path before the second pack emerged.

Below them, Hans’s field convoy remained beyond the final irrigation cut while the stockade bell rang three more times.

The first redirected hounds reached the village wall before the militia reserve cleared the field road.