My Farming Domain Is Broken

The chant was able to do what it was made for, it changed the people standing behind Carlos.

Cedric straightened near the seed store. Tomas shifted his damaged shield into a better position.

Rhea and Milan stopped looking at the ridge and started pulling loose stone away from the channel wall. Even the Clayborn Masons turned from their repair work and formed a line between the workers and the storehouse.

Carlos felt it too. The fear was still there. So was the anger. Neither had disappeared.

They had simply stopped thinking of things that would made them stand still.

Leon looked across the district at the people answering Carlos's call.

"You are going to make workers fight for you?"

Carlos kept his eyes on the attackers.

"You aimed at what they built. Whats the problem with people fighting for their home?"

Leon's expression hardened.

"Then you chose this."

Carlos looked at the three huge creatures at the back of the enemy line. The rain ran over their scarred skin. One of them rolled its shoulders and took a slow step forward.

'Inspect'

Four panels appeared above the wet ground.

--

[Dire Hyena]

[Threat: Pack assault creature]

[Noted trait: Movement and aggression increase near pack members]

--

[Four-Armed Goblin Berserker]

[Threat: Close-combat assault troop]

[Noted trait: Multiple-weapon attack pattern]

--

[Goblin Wolf Rider]

[Threat: Fast flanking troop]

[Noted trait: Mounted mobility]

--

[Marsh Troll]

[Threat: Heavy assault creature]

[Noted trait: Regenerative body]

--

Carlos read the panels once.

The hyenas needed to stay together. The riders needed space to run. The berserkers needed to break the line. The trolls were the real problem.

"Kaia, the berserkers stay at the wall."

"They will."

"Nessa, the riders do not reach the seed store again."

Nessa set another arrow to her string.

"They will not."

Carlos looked at Brann and the Bearkin Guardian.

"The trolls are yours. Keep them away from the channel. Break their legs if you have to."

Brann gave a single nod. The Bearkin Guardian raised its shield.

"Cedric, your people hold the store and the workers. No one chases."

Cedric looked at Carlos for one moment, then turned toward the defenders.

"You heard him. Stones and shields at the door. Keep the injured behind the wall."

The leader heard every order and couldn't help but sigh.

"I really dislike futile struggle, just drop down on your knees already or I will make you beg for your life"

Carlos lifted his spear and then the other hands from which he showed his middle finger.

"Trust me, the one who will drop on the ground to beg for mercy will be you, Mr bigshot. I will fuck you up bad soon."

Leon raised his hand, something about what Carlos said was so casual that he didn't want things to be slow anymore. This time, the Marsh Trolls moved first.

They crossed the old marker line without rushing. One dragged a rusted chain through the mud. Another carried the broken slab of wood Carlos had seen earlier. The third had empty hands, but its fingers spread wide as it walked.

The ground shook under their weight.

Behind them, the hyenas shifted apart. They were waiting for the trolls to open a path.

"Now," Carlos said.

Two and the district Slimes fired together.

Water struck the mud ahead of the trolls. The overflow from the damaged channel widened, turning the narrow approach into a shallow, unstable pool. The first troll stepped into it and sank to mid-calf.

It kept coming until Brann met it before it reached the broken support.

Its hammer hit the troll's knee. The sound was heavy and wrong. The leg bent sideways beneath the creature, but it caught itself with both hands and stayed upright.

Carlos saw the torn skin pull itself together around the damaged joint.

"Again," he called.

Brann struck the same leg a second time.

The troll fell to one knee. The Bearkin Guardian had already reached the second one. It shoved its shield into the creature's chest, trying to stop it from reaching the channel. The troll pushed back. For three breaths, neither of them moved.

Then the troll drove the wood slab down.

The guardian caught part of the blow on its shield. The impact forced it backward through the mud.

Carlos ran toward them, but the third troll stepped across his path.

The creature had the rusted chain in both hands now. It swung once, slowly, testing the distance.

Carlos stopped just outside the reach of the links.

"Two!"

Two hit the troll's legs with a Water Shot. The troll slid half a step, then planted its feet again.

The chain came around faster the second time.

Carlos ducked under it. The iron passed above his head and tore through the edge of the broken wall. Stone fragments scattered across the channel bed.

Kaia's voice carried from the side.

"The berserkers are moving!"

The two gray fighters came around the trolls, four weapons in each direction. Kaia and the Bearkin Guardian met them at the narrow wall. A blade scraped across Kaia's shield. A club struck the guardian's shoulder and forced it back.

Nessa fired from above them.

Her arrow hit one berserker in the upper arm. It roared, but did not slow.

The hyenas tried to use the opening. One came at Kaia from the side, teeth aimed for her exposed leg.

Carlos drove the butt of his spear into its mouth before it could bite. The creature twisted away, snapping at the wood. It retreated two steps, then circled back toward the other hyenas.

The wolf riders moved again on the eastern side.

Nessa's arrow struck the ground in front of the first wolf. The animal swerved. The rider clung to its fur and kept going, using the wider grass beyond the broken wall.

"Evan!" Cedric called from the seed-store path.

The second rider had found the gap left when Tomas helped Rhea pull stones aside. It jumped from its wolf before Nessa could turn her bow and ran low through the grass, a short blade already in its hand.

Carlos saw the rider heading for the storehouse door.

At the same time, the troll with the rusted chain stepped over the cracked ground and brought the weapon back for another swing.

For one second, Carlos could not reach both threats. And right then, Cedric moved.

Cedric met the rider before it reached the seed-store door.

He did not have a sword. He had taken up the flat stone Rhea had carried to the channel wall.

The rider swung first. Cedric raised the stone with both hands. The blade struck it and skidded off the wet surface. Cedric stepped forward and drove the edge of the stone into the rider's chest.

The small figure fell backward into the grass.

Evan was on it a breath later. He dropped his shield across the rider's arm, pinned it, and kicked the knife away.

"Tie it," Cedric said.

Tomas moved from the seed path with a length of rope. He bound the rider's wrists while it cursed in a language Carlos did not understand.

Carlos saw all of it in one glance. Then the troll with the rusted chain reached him.

The chain came down in a wide swing.

Carlos stepped inside it instead of back. The links tore through the rain where his head had been. He drove his spear into the troll's side, just above its hip, and used the shaft to push himself away before its hand could close around him.

The point went deep but the troll barely reacted.

It turned toward him with its mouth open. The wound around the spearhead was already tightening.

Carlos pulled the weapon free and backed toward the channel wall.

"Not enough," he said.

Brann had heard him.

The first troll had forced its damaged knee straight again. It limped, but it was standing. Brann struck the same joint a second time. Bone gave way under the hammer. The troll dropped fully this time, one hand digging into the mud as it tried to rise.

The Bearkin Guardian shoved its shield into the second troll's chest and held it there. The creature was stronger. It began forcing the guardian backward, boot by boot.

Two rushed past Carlos and fired a Water Shot into the troll's face.

The creature flinched. Its grip loosened just long enough for the guardian to drive its shoulder forward. The troll stumbled into the shallow overflow from the broken channel.

Carlos pointed at it.

"Keep it there."

The two district Slimes joined Two. Water struck the troll's legs, the ground beneath its feet, its hands whenever it tried to grab for the bank. They could not hurt it much, but they made every movement slower.

Nessa fired again from the broken wall.

Her arrow passed close to Carlos's shoulder and buried itself in the hand of the second wolf rider. The rider dropped its reins. Its wolf turned hard and carried it away from the fight.

The three hyenas tried to follow.

They had recovered from the mud, but not their rhythm. One limped while another kept shaking its head from Kaia's shield strike. When they came together again near the marker, Nessa put an arrow through the lead creature's front leg.

It went down with a sharp cry making the other two slowed which was enough.

One fired a Water Shot into the mud beside them. The burst of water struck their faces and sent both animals turning back toward their Lords.

The leader's face had changed.

He had expected the first push to knock Carlos's people apart. Instead, one rider was bound by the seed store, another had fled the line, the hyenas were no longer advancing, and the trolls had stopped moving as one force.

He lifted his voice.

"Take that area that looks like a storehouse!"