Chapter 125. Twelve Chances
Carlos reached the marked vine with Mira just behind him.
The Water-touched cucumber was larger than before, its blue lines clearer beneath the green skin. Small drops of water still clung to it even though the morning was warm.
Blue drifted above the vine, staying well away from it. Rowan handed Carlos a clean cloth.
"We harvest it now. Carefully. The fruit has done everything it can on the plant."
Carlos did not take the cloth.
"You do it."
Rowan gave him a brief look, then cut the stem cleanly.
The system panel appeared over the cucumber.
--
[Water-touched Clearwater Cucumber harvested]
[Uncommon Grade]
[Seed maturation complete]
[Water-touched Clearwater Cucumber Seeds x12 acquired]
[Trait inheritance: Potential]
[Assessment required after cultivation]
--
Tarin read the seed line twice.
"Twelve."
"Twelve seeds," Sela corrected.
"Twelve chances," Tarin said.
Everyone had a different take, but their reactions were similar.
Rowan nodded. "That is a better way to say it. We do not know how many will carry the trait. We grow them under ordinary careful conditions, then we assess them one by one."
Mira accepted the cucumber from him with both hands. For a moment, Carlos thought she might send it straight to Cold Storage with the seeds.
Instead, she looked at the fruit and then at Rowan.
"The seeds are out. Can the kitchen use this now?"
Rowan considered it. "Yes. The trait belongs to the fruit as well. It will keep longer, but it is still food."
Mira’s expression brightened.
"Then it becomes dinner. Not all of dinner. But everyone gets some."
Brann, who had followed them because he had heard the word dinner from across the path, leaned forward.
"Blue cucumber?"
"One piece," Mira warned.
Brann looked at Carlos. "Brann gets five pieces?"
"You get one piece," Carlos said.
Brann looked wounded. Kaia, standing a few steps away, chuckled. The Bearkin truly was innocent when it came to food.
The Water-touched seeds went into twelve small marked packets. Four would stay protected in Cold Storage.
Rowan chose four for a separate test row at the edge of the cucumber bed. The final four would be planted only after the first test plants showed whether the trait remained stable.
Carlos approved it right away. He was learning.
Later that afternoon, Cosmic sent the oil-seed listing in full.
Carlos took it to Rowan and Mira instead of deciding anything himself.
--
[Common Sunseed Oil Crop Seeds x20]
[Suitable for prepared Common Farmland]
[Estimated first harvest: 6 days]
[Oil extraction required after harvest]
[Seller price: Copper Coins x30]
--
"Is this guy crazy? Thirty coins is such a cheap price for something that will keep giving you seeds and harvests. This guy is just dumb," Carlos thought, one hand on his waist and a ridiculous smile on his face.
"It seems not everyone knows the value of seeds even now. Lords can be simple sometimes," Rowan said with a sigh, though he was happy with the listing.
Rowan read the panel once again.
"The growing requirement is reasonable. The empty southern section can hold them."
Mira pointed at the extraction line.
"And we still do not have a press."
"We do not," Rowan said. "But if we wait until we have everything, then it will be too late, my lord. We make some arrangements until we can either make a press on our own or get a blueprint somewhere."
Carlos looked at Mira. She did not answer immediately even though she read it.
The remaining oil jars stood behind her on the Cold Storage shelf.
"Buy them, Carlos. Even if it was 500 coins, it would still have been worth it. We can produce our own oil, and that is enough for me. Imagine how much production could increase with this."
Carlos opened his message panel.
--
[Carlos Goldwin] - Buy the Sunseed Oil Crop Seeds. Copper x30 is approved.
[Carlos Goldwin] - Also look for a small oil press or anyone who can extract oil. Do not buy either one before Mira sees the listing.
[Cosmic Merchant] - Finally. I was starting to think I would stare at that seed listing until it became oil by itself.
[Carlos Goldwin] - You could try, lol. You have two Lizardmen. Tell them to sit on it xDDD
[Cosmic Merchant] - I hate you.
--
Carlos smiled and closed the panel.
The seed transfer arrived before evening. Rowan held ten seeds back under Mira’s label, and Carlos helped plant the other ten in the empty section of the southern field. There was no Mana Water. There was no attempt to force the timer down.
Six days was six days. For once, Carlos could live with that.
Before the evening meal, Mira brought her ledger to Carlos one more time.
"The three days are finished," she said. "We kept 120 meals from the old agreement alone."
Carlos looked at the numbers.
"Do we raise the trade again?"
"No," Mira answered quickly. "Keep it at forty for another four days. The reserve is finally moving. I do not want to stop it because of a single good harvest, Carlos."
Carlos nodded and sent Cosmic the decision. The four Lords would get the same reduced amount for four more days. Ironroot would keep the food it could safely keep.
That night, the kitchen served a normal meal with thin slices of Water-touched cucumber mixed through it. Every person in Ironroot received one small portion.
It was not enough to solve hunger. But Carlos watched the people eat food grown in their own territory, from a field they had built, guarded, watered and recorded themselves.
When he took a bite of the cucumber piece, he felt a refreshing sensation in his mouth. As if his all his worries were for nothing but just when he gulped it down, the sensation dwindled and he smiled. Nothing was for forever.
The next day would bring more work. The seed rows needed another harvest. The normal field needed another planting. The oil crop needed six days, and the reserve still needed hundreds of meals.
Carlos looked at the closed summon panel once more before sleep.
His intrusive thoughts had started to kick in.