My Farming Domain Is Broken

Carlos did not accept the succession immediately.

The word sounded useful, but useful system words usually came with consequences hidden underneath them.

"What does becoming a caretaker do?" he asked.

The system did not answer.

"Very helpful."

Rowan was already walking beside the dry channels. He crouched at every split, checked the roots and then moved to the next without pretending he had reached a conclusion.

Cedric’s group returned to moving loose stones while Cosmic stood beside Carlos.

"Are you actually considering taking responsibility for hundreds of ancient fields?"

"They come with crops."

"Carlos we need to slow down, a hidden information has been revealed. There was a civilzation here before us who made all this. It needs a lot of work... are you sure you can give this much time to it?"

Carlos stayed quiet for just a second before he took a deep breath, "Look, Cosmic... I don’t know if its the right thing to do but even you know this, opportunities never come twice in this world. If you snooze you lose."

"You just said the same thnigs twice..."

"Don’t go at what I am saying, look at the meaning and feelings behind them. You are smart enough to know that I have already made my decision."

"And it makes me come to a tough decision we need to take today, bro" He spoke again.

Before Cosmic could speak, he continued, "My journey is going to get even tougher from here on. I don’t know when but I can even die at any time. With that in mind, are you sure you want to keep bing with me? I need your help but not at the cost of your life..." He spoke.

Cosmic went silent and looked at Carlos with a loss of words.

But it did not take him long to answer back, "You are using your small brain too much, it might fry one day man. Leave the thinking to me." He spoke with a grin.

Carlos looked at him with widened eyes and then smiled, "... Alright, you are the brains and I am the heart from now on"

"Now you came to the right conculsion, good boy"

"You motherf-"

There was Kaia nearby so he stopped and went to work

Rowan returned after nearly an hour with dirt covering both hands.

During that hour, Carlos crossed through the portal twice. He brought Rowan’s tools on the first trip and returned with water, bread and a small meal for every worker on the second.

Mira had wanted to send enough for the entire day. Carlos refused because the portal still limited cargo and Ironroot’s residents also needed to eat.

Cedric noticed him counting the packages before giving them out.

"You really measure everything."

"I have more people depending on me than I did yesterday."

"But we aren’t your people, right?" Cedric asked with a knowing gaze making Carlos stop for a moment.

"No. But you are working under my agreement. If someone collapses from hunger, the channel stops moving."

Cedric accepted the answer and passed the first meals to his troops.

Rhea helped the Woodcutter with the injured leg sit near the regulator. Tomas removed the ropes from one damaged shield and used them to pull loose debris. Milan’s young Goblin copied Cedric’s Axemen even when he struggled with stones they could lift easily.

They were weak compared with Carlos’s troops, but they were not useless.

"The channels do not feed the same plants," he said. "The roots beside the northern channels are deep and hard. The eastern fields have smaller roots spread close to the surface. The southern side has empty planting beds beneath the dead vines."

Carlos waited for him to continue.

"Which one should we restore?"

"I cannot identify the crops while they remain dormant. But the southern beds were prepared for repeated planting. They are more likely to hold crops that produced and died every season instead of trees."

That meant faster food or seeds if they were lucky.

Carlos opened the channel map. Golden light marked the two restored lines while ten remained grey.

"We take the closest southern channel."

Rowan nodded. "That is what I would choose."

Cedric looked between them.

"Do you always take advice from your troops?"

"He is a farmer so the information is better."

"Hmm... I see. So aside from cooking, you have a farmer too." He spoke making Carlos look at him with a deep frown this time.

Cedric noticed and move his hands up in surrender.

Carlos stared at him.

"And your territory has axe troops. Does that make you a lumberjack?" He spoke.

Cosmic turned away while laughing, he didn’t need to chime in this time.

Cedric looked at his Axemen and then nodded. "Fair point."

Carlos selected the third channel.

Kaia studied the route after he made the decision.

"The southern entrance is the easiest approach from the main road. If this field becomes valuable, it will also be the easiest one for another group to reach."

"Then we protect it after we know what is inside."

"We should protect it before."

Carlos looked toward Cedric. "Your Shield Militia stay near the road. Nessa watches from the regulator roof. Brann stays with Rowan."

Kaia nodded once. She had given the warning, but Carlos made the final assignments without pretending he had thought of it first.

Cedric passed the orders to Tomas and then returned to the channel.

--

[Auxiliary Channel Three]

[Condition: Sealed]

[Obstructions: 4]

[Warning: Channel contains active caretaker mechanisms]

--

"Active?" Rhea asked.

Kaia immediately moved between the channel and the workers.

Carlos used Inspect on the closest obstruction. The system marked compacted soil, collapsed stone and a cluster of living roots beneath both.

"Nobody cuts anything until Rowan checks it."

Cedric repeated the order to his group before anyone complained.

The first obstruction took less time than the previous channel because everyone understood the work now. Cedric kept the Shield Militia pushing loose soil while his Axemen and Rhea’s Woodcutters separated stones.

Milan and Evan carried debris away with their weaker troops.

Carlos noticed Cedric changing tasks whenever someone became tired. He never tried to command Kaia, Brann or Nessa. He only kept his own people moving.

That made him useful without creating another argument. The second obstruction contained a round clay object connected to thin roots.

Rowan stopped everyone.

"That was placed there" And Carlos inspected it quickly.

--

[Dormancy Monitor]

[Condition: Active]

[Do not remove]

--

A weak green light appeared inside the clay shell when Carlos touched it.

The same light answered from farther down the channel.

Then another appeared.

Dozens of green points slowly lit beneath the southern fields.

"Those were under us the whole time?" Cosmic asked.

Carlos looked toward the nearest light and the ground above it moved.

Everyone stopped working at once.

Milan’s Goblin Axeman moved behind his Lord while Tomas’s Shield Militia formed a damaged wall in front of the workers. Their equipment looked terrible, but their response was faster than it had been when they first arrived.

Carlos noticed Cedric standing with them rather than hiding behind his troops.

"How long can those shields hold?" Carlos asked.

"Against Brann? One hit," Tomas answered.

It was a fair answer but not correct, Brann would obliterate the whole shield and the shield user with one attack.

Kaia ordered everyone beyond the channel edge while Nessa aimed at the moving soil. Brann struck the ground once with his hammer, testing whether the movement reacted to vibration.

The hidden object turned but did not approach them. Carlos checked the district controls for defensive warnings and found none.

"We finish exposing the monitor," he decided. "Slowly. If the field moves toward anyone, we stop."

Cedric repeated the order, and the frightened workers returned one at a time.

Not enough to break open, but enough for everyone to see something large turning beneath the preserved field.

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