My Farming Domain Is Broken

Carlos did not let the visitors wander through Ironroot after they came through the portal.

The portal field was open enough for everyone to stand without crowding the new troops, but it was still inside the western wall. Beyond it were the fields, the kitchens, the storage buildings, and the places Carlos had spent too long building to show strangers carelessly.

Kaia understood that before he said anything.

She placed the Bearkin Guardian near the route leading farther into the territory. Nessa took the raised path beside the wall with her bow. Neither looked threatening until someone noticed that they were watching every step the visitors took.

Carlos faced Cedric’s group and the district workers.

"You are here because you fought for the district and repaired the channel after the attack," he said. "Eat with us. Rest for a while. But stay around the kitchen yard unless someone from Ironroot takes you somewhere. Do not enter a building because you are curious."

Nobody argued. Being trusted enough to enter another Lord’s territory was already a privilege.

Rhea looked toward the southern farmland, where rows of wheat and beans stretched farther than anything she had seen at the district. Tomas kept looking at the storage sheds. Milan stared openly at the four Blackstone Supply Wagons parked near the western wall.

Cedric nodded first.

"We understand."

Carlos looked at him for a moment, then nodded back.

"Good."

The new troops were a more immediate problem.

The injured Dire Hyena lay near the portal with the other two pressed close beside it. The wolf rider had not moved from its mount. Its pierced hand had been cleaned and wrapped, but it kept its good hand near the knife at its belt. The two Marsh Trolls stood farther away beneath Brann’s attention, large enough that nobody needed to explain why they could not be left near the kitchen.

Carlos walked to them with Kaia.

"You sleep here for tonight," he told the trolls, pointing at the empty strip between the portal field and the outer wall. "No walking around. No touching the wall."

The trolls stared at him.

"Brann will be with you," Kaia added.

That seemed to make the decision easier. Both trolls lowered themselves slowly onto the ground. Carlos turned to the hyenas and the wolf rider.

"You stay near the old wagons. There is water there. If anyone bothers you, make noise so I know. With me here, no one will bother you."

The rider’s eyes narrowed at him, and it felt like he was going to speak for the first time.

"You expect us to trust you?"

Carlos looked at the wrapped hand, then at the wolf beside it.

"No. I expect you to understand that I did not leave you with the people who sold your building. I want you to see that me buying your barrack is better for you than staying with those bratty rich people. Even you saw that they should have run away when things were not working, but they were in denial until the end."

The rider did not answer. But it led its wolf toward the wagons to end the conversation. The hyenas followed after a pause, staying close to the injured one. Carlos watched them go.

"They understand more than I expected," Kaia said.

"They understand survival," Carlos answered. "That is not the same thing. They have no choice, and you know that too."

Mira and the Hearthkeepers had set long tables in the kitchen yard by the time he returned. The meal was not extravagant. There was roasted meat, thick wheat porridge, beans, onions, and flatbread cooked on the Blackstone Cooking Slab. But it was hot, filling, and more food than most of the visitors had seen at once since entering Lord World.

Carlos did not sit at the head of the table. He took a place beside Kaia and let the district group settle first.

For several minutes, there was almost no talking. Bowls were filled. Bread disappeared. Evan ate slowly because his bruised ribs hurt whenever he bent too far. Rhea kept breaking off small pieces of flatbread and putting them beside Milan’s bowl whenever he got distracted looking around the yard.

Cedric looked at the meal, then at Carlos.

"Thank you for this meal, Carlos. I don’t know if you know, but it means a lot to everyone here," he said.

Carlos looked at him and smiled before he nodded and kept eating.

His gaze moved around the yard, and he saw tired workers eating in silence. He saw Tomas trying to make Evan laugh and failing because Evan was too tired to answer. He saw Rhea watching the kitchen work with an expression that was almost painful.

Soon, many started conversations of their own as if the atmosphere had grown light enough.

Carlos opened his Lord message panel beneath the table.

--

[Carlos Goldwin]- Start looking for Lords who need military help badly enough to make a fair trade. I want resources, not food. Wood, stone, iron, materials we actually need. Stay away from anyone connected to the group that attacked me, I will send you their names.

--

Cosmic’s answer came after a few minutes.

--

[Cosmic Merchant]- I will look. But the Lords desperate enough to need troops are usually the same Lords who cannot afford a barrack. But I will still see what I can find.

--

Carlos read the message and looked at the new troops near the wagons. That was the problem.

If someone had enough wood, stone, or coin to buy a barrack, they would not need Carlos. If they had nothing, then a troop lease became another way for Carlos to lose food, time, and people.

He sent one more message.

--

[Carlos Goldwin]- Then look for someone who has a resource they cannot use without help right now, maybe a lord who got lucky with starter resource or something. I will not take blind risks, but there has to be a middle ground.

--

Near the end of the meal, Lydia entered through the portal, as she already had permission. Her breathing was erratic, as if she had run all the way there.

She did not stop to look at the tables. Her eyes went straight to the Clayborn Masons beside the western wall.

The damaged Mason stood with one arm hanging lower than the other. Lydia walked around it once, pressed her palm to the cracked claystone at its shoulder, then looked at Carlos.

"Will it survive?" Carlos asked and Lydia slowly nodded.

"It will survive. You brought it back from danger before the damage spread," she said. "That will help me save them."

Carlos looked toward the district portal.

"Can Channel Three hold?"

"Until tomorrow, probably. I will not promise more than that without seeing the brace myself."

"You will see it tomorrow."

Lydia looked at the meal tables for the first time. Cedric’s group had gone quiet again after they saw her.

"Did I arrive during something important?"

"A meal," Carlos said. "Sit down before it is gone."

Lydia looked doubtful, but Mira had already placed a bowl on the empty bench beside Rowan.

Carlos’s message panel flashed again.

--

[Cosmic Merchant]- I found one possibility. He has no stored resources, no coins, and no combat barrack. But his territory has an Iron-rich Clay deposit. His workers cannot extract it because he has no one able to protect the site.

[Cosmic Merchant]- He is asking for a fighting troop. In return, he will record half of the first three days of extracted clay to you through a system contract. He cannot buy a barrack because he has nothing until that shelf starts producing something he cannot produce on his own.

--

Carlos read the offer twice.

Iron-rich clay was not a pile of stone sitting in someone’s inventory. It was a promise that required work, time, and a Lord who might fail before paying him.

But it was also exactly the kind of resource Lydia’s work could use.

Carlos looked at her, then at the Clayborn Mason’s damaged shoulder.

"Lydia," he said. "How useful is iron-rich clay?"

She stopped with the spoon halfway to her mouth with surprise.

"It’s so useful that I am curious if you are asking because you found some, Carlos."

Carlos smiled slightly.

"Then eat quickly. We have a business decision to make tomorrow."