My Farming Domain Is Broken

Carlos sent the Warden Chain across the field.

It wrapped around the nearest attacker and threw him away from the broken channel without crushing him.

Kaia and Brann entered the fight beside it. The unfamiliar Lord behind the attackers immediately ordered a retreat.

"Stop them!" Carlos roared at the tops of his lungs, the chain around the attacked gripped tighter and blood came out of the troop’s mouth. Carlos’s fury was affecting the output of hte chain’s strength.

Nessa’s arrow struck the ground before the Lord’s feet. Brann blocked the northern exit while Kaia disarmed the remaining soldiers.

The fight ended within a minute after Carlos arrived.

Two attackers had broken arms and another could no longer stand after Brann struck his shield. Carlos ordered Mira’s basic medicine used on Cedric’s group first when supplies arrived through the portal.

"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT I GIVE UP!" The attacking lord spoke and a veind popped in Carlos’s head.

Derek complained until Kaia placed the edge of her sword near his throat.

"Shut up," she said with cold eyes and the cold metal on his neck made the man shiver.

He walked toward the captured Lord.

"Name."

"Derek Holt."

"Why did you cut my channel?"

Derek looked toward the regulator. "The network map showed one Lord gaining ownership. We came to stop you before you controlled the entire route."

"So you attacked people who were working here?"

"Nobody died."

"Because they stopped you. That does not make your decision better."

Derek had followed the network signal with a Fortification Domain. When the regulator rejected him, he decided breaking Carlos’s ownership would reopen the claim.

The system had never promised that.

He had risked every dormant crop because he wanted an opportunity Carlos reached first.

Carlos punched him and the man head slammed on the ground.

"You are so fucking weak, why did you even try?! You fucking broke the one thing I have been trying to fic, motherfucker!" Carlos grabbed his collar and pulled him up until he was back on his feat.

Carlos readied a punch to the ribs to break a few of them but finally, Kaia came forward.

She did not stop him, but she moved close enough to prevent a second strike.

"My lord. We need answers."

Carlos wanted to hurt Derek again. Instead, he forced himself to inspect the damage.

The channel could be repaired with the Glasswood they had purchased. One preserved bed had burned, but Rhea’s group saved the other six.

Lydia examined the cut and estimated that twenty Glasswood lengths would repair it permanently. The attack had destroyed a third of the material Carlos had just purchased.

Carlos added the cost to Derek’s system debt.

--

[Hostile damage claim recorded]

[Derek Holt owes restitution to Partial Owner Carlos Goldwin]

[Failure to settle may restrict regional claim authority]

--

Derek became pale after reading it.

Carlos finally understood why someone had not simply killed every rival Lord for their resources. Systems could punish attacks without requiring Earth to discover the crime.

He looked back at Cedric who had ignored Carlos’s order not to risk himself for the crops.

"Why did you stay?" Carlos asked him with a frown as if him putting a risk to his life had irked him.

Cedric wiped the blood from his face and stared at him before he got the right words. "Because leaving would prove we are exactly what you thought when we arrived. Desperate people who take whatever someone else builds. We are not like that, Carlos." He spoke with clear eyes.

Carlos looked at those earnest eyes and sighed, "You could have died."

"I could die in my territory next week anyway."

Carlos had no answer to that, coming here had brought time for them buty the next wave could be the end of them.

Everyone could go for easy conquests but at the end of the day, nobody could run away from a wave. And even if they ran away, then their social status will go down the drain as a Domain-less Lord.

Cedric looked at the restored fields, then at the portal leading to Ironroot. His mouth opened once and Carlos saw that before he closed it again.

"Say it" Carlos spoke making Cedric sigh and rub the back of his head before he pulled the strength needed to say it.

"Take me under you."

Rhea turned toward Cedric in shock.

"You are giving up your territory????"

She was not the only one who was shocked, even Derek the attacker was astonished by looking at someone giving up their territory so willingly.

"I am giving up a title that is going to get all of us killed," Cedric answered. "Look at what he built. Look at what his people become when he gives them a job. He is a lord that will survive all this. And I want to make my bet at him."

Cedric pointed toward One guarding the regulator and then toward the portal.

"My territory has two Axemen, a damaged wall and enough food for four days. Pride will not repair any of it, Carlos."

Carlos thought he had heard wrong.

"What? Are you serious right now, Cedric...?"

"I am asking to become your subordinate Lord. My territory is weak. My people follow me, but I cannot give them a good future, Carlos. And I think you can do that."

The system reacted before Carlos answered.

--

[Voluntary Lord Subordination request detected]

[Requesting Lord: Cedric Vale]

[Receiving Lord: Carlos Goldwin]

[Warning: Acceptance is permanent]

[Cedric Vale’s territory will be dissolved and assimilated into Ironroot]

[Residents, bound troops, functional buildings and stored resources will transfer under Carlos Goldwin’s authority]

[Territory land will become an Assimilated Holding accessible through Ironroot]

[Carlos Goldwin will inherit unresolved threats, upkeep and territorial obligations]

[Cedric Vale will lose independent Lord authority]

[Would you like to review complete terms?]

--

Carlos read every line twice. Cosmic came forward too.

He opened the complete terms but did not accept. The transfer required Cedric to return to his territory and gather every resident inside the Lord building’s authority range.

Unbound residents could refuse and remain behind. Damaged buildings would transfer in their current condition. Active enemies near Cedric’s territory could interrupt assimilation.

Most importantly, Ironroot would receive another territory entrance until Carlos physically integrated or closed the Assimilated Holding.

That could create another place he needed to defend.

This was not free land or a simple reward. Cedric’s damaged territory, hungry residents and future raids would become Carlos’s responsibility too.

Rhea stepped beside Cedric.

"If he can ask, then I can too."

"No," Carlos said.

Her face changed.

"Why him?"

"Because he proved what he would do when I wasn’t here. You helped, but I still don’t know what any of you will help inside Ironroot. I am atleast confident about Cedric. But I am still going to think this through."

Tomas, Milan and Evan remained silent.

Cedric lowered his head. "What do I need to prove?"

"That you can lead ordinary troops without wasting their lives. That your people will follow Ironroot’s rules. And that you understand Kaia commands its military, not you."

"What can I do in your territory?" Cedric asked.

Carlos considered it. Cedric had organized workers, rationed exhausted troops and defended the district without controlling anyone above him.

"Work crews and unassigned Common troops when I give you responsibility. Nothing permanent until you prove it. You will have to become strong by the minute or I will leave you behind"

Cedric did not even think about it once before he nodded. Carlos stopped Rhea before she could speak.

"You four can work toward the same thing. I am not taking territories only because their Lords are afraid. Become useful enough that Ironroot gains something besides problems."

For the first time, their desperation had gained a direction.

Cedric looked toward Kaia.

"I accept that."

Before Carlos could open the complete terms, every regional map appeared at once.

--

[Aurelian Settlement Authority has awakened]

[All Partial Owners and recognized operators summoned]

[Central Authority claim in progress]

[Time remaining: 23 hours, 59 minutes]

--

The western road lit gold.

Someone had entered the settlement before all of them.

And still, Derek was there, looking at the drama, waiting patiently for his doom.

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