Chapter 161. Doing the farming right (3)- A Farmer’s Weapon

Chapter 161: 161. Doing the farming right (3)- A Farmer’s Weapon

Carlos found Kaia waiting beside the tomato fence the next morning.

Two Shield Militia stood with her, and Rowan was examining the fruit through the wooden rails. He had left the vine rooted where it first changed. The testing ground was farther away, beyond the nearest vegetable rows.

"Why are we all here already?" Carlos asked.

"You said today," Kaia replied. "We have training afterward."

Carlos looked at the basket near her boots. Cloth divided it into small spaces, each deep enough to keep a tomato from rolling into the next one. A folded layer covered the bottom too.

"Will this work?"

"If we carry it properly," Rowan said. "Nobody swings it by one handle."

He opened the fence and reached for a tomato. Carlos watched his fingers more carefully than he had ever watched someone pick vegetables.

Rowan held the fruit from below, then cut the stem with a small blade. It stayed in his palm without reacting.

"So picking it is fine," Carlos said.

"Picking it like this is fine," Rowan replied. "Do not let it fall into your hand."

He lowered it into one of the lined spaces. Kaia bent down to look, then stepped back while Rowan collected two more.

They left the remaining ripe fruit on the vine. Carlos would rather test three first than carry a whole harvest through Ironroot because everybody wanted to see it explode.

One Militia took each handle. Kaia walked ahead of them and Carlos stayed beside Rowan.

They moved slowly past the outer rows, giving the workers enough warning to stop and watch from a distance.

At the test ground, Carlos saw why Kaia had needed time. Loose stones had been removed from the middle, and a wooden target stood beyond the marked throwing line.

A low screen made from old boards separated the observers from that line. It would not save them from a large explosion, but the first tomato had only made a small crater.

Kaia had still moved it well away from the houses.

"Nobody comes forward until I say," she told the Militia.

Carlos agreed and stood beside her while Rowan placed the basket on level ground.

He wanted to throw the first one himself, but Kaia reached for it and then looked at him for permission.

"Go ahead," he said. "At least you can hit what you aim at."

Kaia held the tomato without squeezing it. She weighed it in her hand once, looked at the wooden target, and threw.

The tomato hit the lower board and burst with a sharp crack.

Red pulp spread across the wood while dirt jumped below it. Carlos felt the sound in his chest more than he had expected, but the target remained standing.

They waited a little before approaching.

The lower board had split near its fastening. A shallow mark covered the soil beneath it, and small splinters lay farther away.

Kaia picked up one of them, turned it between her fingers, then showed Carlos the broken fastening.

"This would hurt an unprotected face," she said. "It will not break a proper shield."

Carlos nodded. "What about armour?"

"The same. But a person who cannot see after it bursts in front of them still has a problem."

Rowan crouched near the pulp. He looked disappointed by how much of it had scattered, and Carlos wondered whether he was already thinking about another plant.

"Do not make a stronger one today," Carlos said.

"I was looking for seeds."

"Then tell me that before you start smiling at an explosion."

Rowan held up a small seed between two fingers. It had been thrown clear of the worst damage. He placed it in a folded piece of cloth, but made no promise about whether it could grow.

They returned behind the throwing line. This time Kaia aimed at the cleared earth. The second tomato exploded lower, lifting a patch of soil and sending less hard material outward because the ground had been cleared.

Carlos could see the difference immediately. The tomato’s own burst was small. The stone underneath had helped make it dangerous.

"Could we throw these down from the wall?" he asked.

"Yes," Kaia replied. "Against somebody climbing, or close to a group trying to get through the gate. But we need somewhere to keep them where a careless hand cannot knock the basket down."

"And someone carries them up every morning?"

"Only when we need them. I do not want these beside our archers during normal training."

Carlos looked toward the northern wall. Ironroot’s fighters already had weapons and abilities, but a field producing more weapons was something else.

If the trait passed to seeds, he could grow a whole supply without waiting for a barrack to refresh.

The tomatoes would not kill a Marsh Troll by themselves.

He had fought enough of those to know how much punishment they could take. But an enemy hiding behind light boards would have to move, and that was enough to give Nessa a shot.

"Can we sell them?" he asked Rowan.

"You can sell a bomb," Rowan said. "I would not send it loose inside somebody’s food shipment."

Carlos glanced at the cloth basket. That was a fair point. He had been imagining Cosmic receiving a stack of tomatoes and opening the transfer without knowing what was inside.

"We tell the buyer exactly what it does. And we test the carrying method before sending anything."

Kaia agreed. She also wanted the basket marked differently from the kitchen baskets. A worker had to know what was inside before lifting it, even if Carlos and Rowan were both elsewhere.

The last tomato was still waiting. Carlos asked Kaia to move the wooden target farther back, then took the fruit himself.

"Behind the line, my lord," she said when he stepped forward.

He moved back without arguing. The tomato felt ordinary enough in his hand that he almost forgot what it could do. Its skin was smooth, with thin orange lines beneath the red. He threw it at the boards and missed the middle by more than he would have liked.

It struck the bottom corner instead. The burst tore another fastening loose and tipped the damaged target backward.

Carlos stared at it, then looked at Kaia.

"I still hit it."

"You did," she said. "Now we know why I should throw first." She giggled after saying.

He gave her a smileand went to inspect the damage with everyone else.

Rowan collected more seeds from the remains, keeping them separate from the one he had already found.

The actual planting test would use properly matured seeds from the vine. These were worth examining, but Carlos would not build his plans around something picked out of an explosion.

Kaia asked one Militia to carry the empty basket back along the same route, then made him repeat it with ordinary tomatoes placed in the lined spaces. Carlos waited while she watched how the fruit moved when the worker turned.

"The carrying needs practice too?" he asked.

"The person bringing it to the wall may be running," Kaia replied. "I would rather see what he does with harmless fruit first."

Carlos agreed after watching one tomato roll against the cloth divider.

A stronger throw was useful, but losing the basket behind their own gate would be ridiculous. He told her to include the carrying drill in training before assigning anyone a live basket. Rowan would keep the ripe fruit guarded until the handling was fully ready.

Kaia had the Militia clear the test area before they left. The broken boards could be used again for another target. Carlos asked them to leave the marked throwing line in place and keep the fence closed.

By afternoon, the kitchen had used the new Sunseed oil in the normal meal.

Brann noticed before Carlos said anything, and Mira seemed pleased when he came back to ask whether tomorrow’s food would be prepared the same way.

Carlos also noticed the farmers carrying grain from an ordinary row that had matured earlier than expected. Verdant Growth was working across the territory while everyone watched the more exciting plants. The benefits did not wait for Carlos to stand beside them.

Near evening, Rowan converted another harvested section with Worldroot. The roots moved under the old rows, leaving their paths open and the nearby cabbage section untouched.

--

[Worldroot Expansion complete]

[Rare Farmland created: 300 square meters]

[Total Worldroot-created Rare Farmland: 900 square meters]

[Next use available in: 23:59:59]

--

Carlos checked the total and then the remaining claimed land. At this rate, the usable cultivated ground would become Rare before long.

After that, Rowan would need more territory to work with. Carlos had no expansion tokens left, but he could ask Cosmic to look for them once the first surplus was worth trading.

He found Rowan beside the tomato vine again before dinner.

The remaining fruit had grown darker, and the Dryad was reading the panel carefully.

"What happened?" Carlos asked.

Rowan turned the record toward him.

--

[Impactburst Tomato Vine]

[Seed maturation in progress]

[Impactburst trait detected within developing seeds]

[Inheritance assessment pending]

--

Carlos leaned closer to the last two lines. They had tested three fruits that morning. Now the vine was telling him those might be the beginning of something much bigger.