My Farming Domain Is Broken

She held out the wooden spoon instead of the knife with a bright smile.

"It is nice to meet you, Lord Carlos. I am a Hearthkeeper, so cooking and preparing ingredients are what I do best."

Carlos took the spoon and shook it once.

"Good. I need someone who can manage the kitchen."

"Then you summoned the right person."

Mira looked toward the Basic Kitchen with open interest.

"Is that where I will be working?"

"Yes, but there are some things you need to know first."

Carlos told her about the raid, the daily food agreement and the eighty meals he had promised to deliver. He also explained that Brann needed five meals every day and that Rowan, Blue and One had their own food requirements.

Mira listened without interrupting.

"Eighty meals before the next reset," she repeated. "And enough left for everyone here. We should begin soon."

Carlos opened her profile.

--

Mira

Hearthkeeper

Level 2

Uncommon Grade

Abilities:

Cooking (Level 2)

Ingredient Preparation (Level 2)

Food Preservation (Level 1)

Dagger Combat (Level 1)

Favorability: 20/100

--

Her favorability was already higher than Rowan’s or Brann’s had been after summoning.

Mira stepped past Carlos and entered the kitchen and he followed her in curiosity.

She opened the storage shelves, inspected the iron cooking surface and looked inside both pots.

"It is small, but everything works," she said happily. "What ingredients do we have?"

Carlos opened his inventory.

"I have wheat."

Mira waited.

"Wild Berries too."

"That gives us grain and fruit. Is there anything else?"

"Goblin rations."

Mira considered the three ingredients.

"We can make a better wheat porridge by cooking the berries into it," she said. "The Goblin rations may also contain salt or dried meat we can reuse. It will not be a grand meal, but I can make it filling."

"The plain porridge already sold."

"Then the improved version should make them even happier. Once we obtain vegetables, oil and fresh meat, I can make many more dishes."

Carlos leaned against the kitchen wall.

She was not only a worker who could satisfy an upgrade condition.

She understood the product Carlos intended to build his territory around.

"Can you make the eighty meals?" he asked.

Mira smiled brightly.

For a moment, Carlos forgot about the raid notification, his injured ribs and the giant Bearkin waiting outside.

"Give me enough ingredients," she said, "and I will make food everyone will look forward to eating."

[Compatible cooking worker detected]

[Basic Kitchen upgrade condition fulfilled]

Carlos opened the upgrade panel.

[Basic Kitchen can now be upgraded]

Before he could confirm it, Mira gently grabbed his wrist.

"Wait, please! Not yet."

Carlos looked at her hand and then at her face.

"Why?"

Mira pointed at a hidden line near the bottom of the upgrade description.

[Warning: All active cooking orders will be cancelled during upgrade]

While they spoke, Mira had already placed the ingredients for the first batch of promised meals into the kitchen’s active preparation queue.

"If we upgrade now, we will lose the first batch," she explained.

"Let me finish it, and then we can make the kitchen better together."

Carlos closed the upgrade panel.

"How long will the first batch take?"

Mira checked both pots.

"Around twenty minutes. I prepared enough for forty meals. After that, I will make the second batch."

"I will help."

Mira gave him a wooden knife and placed a bowl of Wild Berries in front of him.

"Cut these in half and remove anything rotten."

Carlos picked up the first berry. He had expected something more difficult, not this. Yet he was soon showed how difficult and slow cooking could be for the inexperienced.

Five minutes later, red juice covered his fingers and several berries had rolled onto the floor.

Mira moved beside him.

"Hold them like this."

She gently adjusted his fingers and guided the wooden knife through the middle of a berry.

Her hand remained over his for a moment.

Carlos looked at her.

Mira was focused entirely on the berry.

"Slowly," she said. "If you press too hard, all the juice comes out before it reaches the pot."

"I fought a Hobgoblin Captain today." Carlos said randomly, he just felt like it.

"Was it a berry?"

"No."

"Then that does not help here."

She smiled and returned to the stove while Carlos looked at the berry in his hand.

"This is harder than it looks."

"Most useful work is."

They continued preparing the meal together.

Mira separated the dried meat and salt from the Goblin rations. She added only a little to each pot, using the berries to cover the poor taste.

The smell changed as the porridge cooked.

Rowan appeared at the kitchen entrance.

"Is that for the territory?"

"Some of it," Carlos answered. "Most is for trade."

Mira filled a small bowl and gave it to him.

"Try it, please."

Rowan tasted one spoonful.

His frown remained, but he took another.

"Better than the last porridge."

"That is good enough for me," Mira said happily.

[Berry Wheat Porridge x40 obtained]

--

Berry Wheat Porridge

Basic Cooked Meal

Quality: High

Restores hunger.

Stamina recovery slightly increased.

Freshness Duration: 24 hours

--

The second batch went faster.

Carlos stopped crushing berries, and Mira learned exactly how much heat the kitchen surface produced.

[Berry Wheat Porridge x40 obtained]

[Daily Meal Capacity reached: 100/100]

[Food agreement requirements fulfilled]

Carlos delivered all eighty meals.

[Wood x120 obtained]

[Stone x120 obtained]

[Daily Food Agreement completed]

[All buyers have requested permission to renew the agreement]

Carlos smiled.

The Lords who refused his original price were probably still searching for cheaper food. The four who accepted had received High-quality meals instead of plain wheat porridge.

--

[Cosmic Merchant]- All four buyers want tomorrow’s supply.

[Cosmic Merchant]- One offered an extra 20 Copper Coins if you reserve his meals first.

[Carlos Goldwin]- No priority. Everyone receives what they pay for.

[Cosmic Merchant]- You could charge more.

[Carlos Goldwin]- Tomorrow. Not after already agreeing on today’s price.

[Cosmic Merchant]- You are becoming annoyingly reasonable bro. Not good for a merchant.

--

Carlos paid Cosmic his fee in Copper Coins and returned to the kitchen.

The active cooking queue was empty.

"Now?" he asked.

Mira nodded excitedly.

"Now."

Carlos opened the upgrade panel.

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