My Farming Domain Is Broken

"We followed the aqueduct for three hours," the man said. "You can’t be telling me you own everything inside this valley now. Is that right, Carlos Goldwin?"

Carlos looked at the five Lords and eight troops behind him.

Four of the troops had shields while the other four carried axes and large gathering bags. They had more people, but none of them moved after seeing Kaia and Brann.

"I have a temporary claim," Carlos answered. "I don’t own the valley permanently." He didn’t know if they were friendly or not. And by the way the guy talked, it as definitely not friendly.

The man frowned before opening the district information again.

"Cedric Vale. Level 2 territory. We found this area on our own." He spoke as if Carlos and his group hadn’t done the same.

"Yeah, you came when have already repaired the aqueduct," Cosmic said from the side making Cedric frown even harder.

Cedric looked at him. "And you are?"

"Cosmic Merchant. His best friend and the person stopping this conversation from becoming expensive for everyone."

Carlos looked at him once.

"You make yourself sound very important." Even at this time, Carlos didn’t hold back a joke.

"I am very important, bro."

One of Cedric’s axe troops walked toward the closest tree and reached for one of its branches.

A golden barrier appeared before his hand could touch it.

--

[Rooted district crop protected]

[Permission denied]

--

The troop immediately moved back.

"The system gave me control over the rooted crops and the regulator," Carlos explained. "The loose stone and everything outside the fields are still free."

"For how long?" Cedric asked.

"I don’t know."

The honest answer surprised everyone, including Cedric.

Carlos wasn’t going to pretend he understood a system that had only given him a few lines of information.

"The claim is temporary," Carlos continued. "It might disappear if the district stops working. I need to restore more of it."

Cedric looked toward the first channel. Water was moving slowly through it but the temporary aqueduct support was already losing wet soil.

"And what does that have to do with us? You can’t be hogging a whole path of the pocket dimension among just 2 lords..."

"You can help."

The woman beside Cedric laughed.

"We walked for three hours and your offer is more work? Are you kidding me?"

"Then what are you even doing here? Why are we even having this conversation?" Carlos spoke with a frown.

"Are... you just here to waste our precious time." He spoke and the woman became more cranky.

Her troops became aggresive with the way Carlos was talking to her and pulled the axe in an attack more.

A smile formed on Carlos’s face when he saw that which weirded out the woman. He was not supposed to smile right now.

But she saw so tunnel visioned with her frustration and anger that she wasn’t looking at the troops Carlos had. While Cedric had already seen anything.

"We aren’t trying to waste your time, Carlos Goldwin. We are just pointing out the fact that you can’t just take a whole district on your own, no matter how good you restored it..." Cedric said the same thing again which annoyed Carlos.

"Look, I am not going to say the same thing again and again." She spoke and the chain around his hand whipped on the ground which startled everyone on his side too.

"This can go two ways" He pulled two fingers up.

"Either you reject our ownership and we have a battle, if we do... I can assure you my side is going to win no matter what."

Cedric’s group felt his threat in their spine, he spoke with just a little too much confidence which didn’t seem just that. He was sure of it.

"OR" He pulled the second finger.

"You digest the fact my group has taken over this area. And even with that, I am offering you work here so that you can get some rewards. And mind you, these rewards will be a lot better. I can make sure of that."

He didn’t let anyone speak and just made the offer right away.

"My offer is cooked food, a share of loose materials and first access to anything I decide to sell from the fields you help restore."

Cosmic wanted Carlos to just stop shouting out more and more resources but at the same time, he thought be might be cooking something.

Carlos removed one preserved meal from his inventory. The smell spread as soon as he opened the wrapping.

Several of the troops looked toward it.

"... Isn’t that just normal food I can buy from trade?" Cedric asked but his eyes farted on th good looking food one too many times.

"I produce them in my territory."

And with hat information, Cedric finally had his mouth shut.

Cosmic moved closer to Carlos and lowered his voice.

"Don’t show all your stock."

"I wasn’t going to."

"Good. I am proud of you."

Carlos side eyes Cosmic while Cedric discussed the offer with the other Lords. They spoke quietly but Carlos could still see their eyes moving between the meal and the dormant fields.

The group had packed some dry food but it was clearly being saved. One of the shield troops had been chewing something hard when they entered, and even that disappeared when the cooked meal came out.

Carlos had food to spare but that didn’t mean it had no value. Every meal given here was something Mira and the Hearthkeepers had worked to produce.

If Cedric wanted enough food for thirteen people, his group needed to provide enough work in return.

Kaia remained in front of Carlos throughout it.

"If they accept, they stay away from the regulator unless supervised," she said.

"Agreed."

"Weapons remain with their Lords while working."

Cedric heard her and looked unhappy.

"Our troops need the axes."

"The axes remain," Kaia answered. "But the Lords themselves don’t need weapons to carry stone."

Carlos almost smiled. She had already decided that Cedric’s group would accept.

After several minutes, Cedric returned.

"One meal for every Lord and troop. We also get half of any loose resources we help you fix."

"No," Cosmic answered before Carlos could speak.

Cedric’s eyebrow twitched.

"One meal for each Lord and one shared meal for every two troops," Cosmic continued. "You get one-third of the loose resources. Carlos keeps all rooted crops, seeds and district items."

"Half of the loose resources."

"One-third, and you don’t pay Carlos for access to the district after the work is done."

Cedric looked at the fields again. And then at Carlos and his troops, he was in no way an ordinary man. He could tell just by the looks of his eyes.

"Deal."

Carlos accepted and gave the food only after every Lord repeated the conditions.

Each wrapped package contained thick slices of roasted Razorback Meat and one pan-cooked Wheat Cake. The meat was still warm after coming out of the inventory, and its surface had been covered with the seasoning Mira used for Ironroot’s High-quality meals.

Cedric’s group stopped talking as soon as the packages were opened.

The troops ate first without caring about how quickly the meat disappeared. One shield troop tried to divide its shared portion evenly, but the other had already finished half of the Wheat Cake before noticing.

The Lords were not much slower.

Cedric took one careful bite in the beginning. After tasting it, he stopped pretending that the food wasn’t affecting him and finished the remaining meat with both hands.

The frustrated woman sat away from everyone while eating. Her angry expression slowly disappeared and her shoulders relaxed for the first time since entering the valley.

When she was done, she returned to Carlos.

"I should apologize..."

Carlos looked at her without speaking. But he did frown, she switched very quickly for his liking.

"We have been walking for hours and I was already angry before we found this place. Then we saw someone else claiming everything after we arrived. I was too hungry and angry to think properly."

She looked toward the empty wrapping in her hand.

"That still doesn’t excuse the way I spoke to you. But I am still sorry."

Carlos hadn’t expected that.

"Just follow the agreement and we won’t have a problem."

The woman nodded before asking whether Ironroot sold the same meals through the Trade section.

"We do," Carlos answered. "But this agreement only covers today’s work."

Cosmic gave him an approving look again.

"He is finally learning."

"I was already selling food before you got here, motherfucker."

"LORD!" Kaia shouted all of a sudden making Carlos look around as if something had happened.

"What??"

"PLease refrain from using such vulgar language, it doesn’t suit you." She spoke with a horrified expression.

"Err.... Sure"

Cosmic patted his shoulder with a smirk which made a vein pop in Carlos’s head.

Cedric looked between them in confusion before deciding it was better not to ask.

Carlos inspected the regulator again.

--

[Auxiliary Channel Two]

[Condition: Obstructed]

[Obstruction locations marked]

[Warning: Forced activation may damage connected roots]

--

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