By morning, Hans had placed thirty-two markers across the salvaged manor door, each painted for a company, route, bell, or civilian boundary.
Hans stood at the registry table with charcoal covering three fingers and the western field loop divided into measured strips.
Lana copied every placement from the witness desk while Ash slept behind her beneath the same borrowed registry coat.
Outside, militia squads practiced leaving the western wall through separate lanes, carrying shields without bunching beneath the narrow arch.
"A retreat arrives after the enemy chooses your direction," Hans said, drawing another blue line, "this is ground changing hands on our schedule."
Hajin watched him set Dreth's main column beside the western orchard, then surround it with markers representing no fighters at all.
The empty pieces marked drainage cuts, abandoned stone fences, shallow quarry trenches, plus two wagon roads hidden behind rising ground.
