Chapter 164. Doing the farming right (6)- Room for More

Chapter 164: 164. Doing the farming right (6)- Room for More

The twelve oil jars were ready before Carlos finished breakfast.

Mira had lined them along the kitchen table, each sealed and marked with its quantity.

One Hearthkeeper checked the last lid while the other waited beside her with the trade record. Carlos looked at the jars, then at the separate containers kept for Ironroot’s meals.

"We are ready?"

"We are," Mira said. "Read the amount again before you send it."

Carlos did. Twelve jars, half a litre in each, with the same Sunseed oil they had shown in the listing.

He accepted the transfer through the recorded agreement and watched the jars disappear from his inventory.

The payment arrived almost immediately.

--

[Recorded Trade Completed]

[Sunseed Cooking Oil delivered: 6 litres]

[Common Grain Mill Blueprint x1 received]

[Wood x80 received]

[Stone x60 received]

[Iron x10 received]

--

Carlos opened the blueprint before anyone could ask him to move the materials.

The requirements matched the trade, and the building preview fit the place they had chosen beside the warehouse. He showed it to Mira, who came around the table to look properly.

"The entrance on this side," she said, pointing toward the dry path. "I want the flour brought toward the kitchen without crossing the water route."

"Then come with me. You can tell me before I build it somewhere you don’t want at."

They found Rowan already near the marked ground. He had checked the drainage before returning to his plants and now stood there with Sela, showing her where the path would stay open.

Carlos placed the preview between their markers and turned it until Mira agreed.

The materials left his inventory when he accepted.

A stone base formed first, followed by timber walls and a sloped roof. Inside, two round grinding stones settled into a heavy frame, with a turning handle on one side and a receiving tray below. Carlos waited until the construction light faded before stepping in.

It smelled of new wood and stone dust.

--

Grain Mill

Level 1

Common Grade

Processes grain into flour.

Manual operation required.

--

Mira examined the receiving tray, then asked the Hearthkeeper to clean the working surfaces before they tried it.

Carlos went to fetch a small grain sack while Rowan inspected the route beside the building one last time.

The first batch took longer than Carlos expected. They had to feed the grain gradually, keep the handle moving, and check what came out underneath.

Mira stopped the Hearthkeeper once to adjust the flow. Then the flour began falling more evenly into the tray.

Carlos took over the handle when the worker went to bring another container.

"This is heavier than it looks," he said.

"It is grinding wheat," Mira replied. "Keep turning."

He kept turning. By the time the Hearthkeeper returned, his arm had begun complaining, and the tray held enough flour that Carlos could see the work had been worth doing.

Mira rubbed a little between her fingers and asked for one more pass on the coarser portion.

She knew what texture she wanted. Carlos let her decide while he returned to the outside path and looked back at the mill.

They had wanted this since before Ironroot had its proper districts.

Every time another urgent problem appeared, the request had slipped behind it. Now they had bought the building with oil grown in their own soil.

His Lord panel opened before he reached the kitchen.

--

[Beatrice Hale]- Goldwin supply office. Arthur Goldwin approved your monthly Cold Storage allocation. Please confirm this is Carlos Goldwin before I transfer the listed materials.

--

Carlos checked Arthur’s earlier message, which now included the supply Lord’s name.

Beatrice was acting from her own territory, and the requested amounts were written beneath her introduction.

He confirmed his identity and accepted the transfer. Wood, stone, and iron appeared in his inventory, matching the Cold Storage requirements exactly.

There was no parcel coming to his house on Earth and no awkward attempt to push materials through the Earth portal.

The family had people operating on both sides, just as Arthur had explained.

Carlos sent a thank-you before closing the message. He also wrote to Arthur to confirm the supplies had arrived.

Then he went straight to Mira.

"We can upgrade the storage now."

She looked up from the flour tray. For a moment, Carlos thought she would leave it untouched and run to the building herself.

Instead, she told the Hearthkeeper exactly what to do before joining him.

"We move the protected food first," she said. "I want to know where every basket is when we open it again."

The next part was less exciting to watch but Carlos helped with it anyway. They separated seed packets from cooking stock, tied the open grain sacks, and carried the fresh vegetables out in order.

Kaia lent them two Militia for the heavier containers once Mira explained what was happening.

Carlos kept the most sensitive food temporarily in his inventory.

The dry grain could remain in the warehouse while they worked, and Mira arranged the rest beneath the nearby shade.

Nobody piled meat beside an open seed bag just because there was space.

"You have done this before," Carlos said while she checked the last shelf.

"We upgraded it before," Mira replied. "And I did not forget what was inside then either."

Carlos remembered. They had still been processing Razorback Boars, and most of his excitement had gone toward the larger capacity.

Mira had been thinking about keeping the meat from spoiling even while he stared at the new panel.

He accepted the upgrade after she gave him permission.

Light moved along the stone walls. The outer room widened into the space they had kept clear beside it, and the roof lifted higher.

The silver pipes inside reformed along the new walls, carrying their cooling water around a larger set of storage sections.

Mira stood beside Carlos until the light faded. Then she went through the door first, feeling the cool air and looking at the shelves.

The panel opened above the entrance.

--

Cold Storage

Level 3

Rare Grade

Food Capacity: 8,000 units

Freshness loss reduced by 98%.

Processed meat and cooked meals can be stored for extended periods.

--

Carlos looked at the capacity and laughed once. Eight thousand. The building had stayed Rare, but the room for food had more than doubled.

Mira was already pointing out where the seed shelf should go.

"These sections stay separate," she told the Hearthkeepers. "Planting stock here. Ingredients there. Prepared food closer to the entrance. I do not want anyone opening five different containers to find tonight’s vegetables."

Carlos carried the inventory stock back out as she directed. It went faster with the wider paths between shelves, and he understood why she had wanted the upgrade before everything became crowded.

The empty sections made him want to fill them, but for once that felt possible.

When the last containers were back inside, Mira checked the protected stock against their current meal requirement. Carlos waited beside the door instead of leaving for the fields.

"Tell me," he said. "Are we still waiting for tomorrow’s harvest to feed tomorrow’s people?"

She looked at her board, then shook her head.

"No. With the grain payment and the harvests we have kept, I can set aside enough ingredients for seven days at our present meal count. That includes oil and vegetables. We still cook each day’s meals, but the ingredients are here."

Carlos let out a breath and asked her to mark that stock separately. He had wanted to hear that answer since he closed the summon panel.

"What can we add without losing it?"

"More workers would help before more hungry fighters," Mira replied. "I need another pair of hands here. Rowan will need farmers for all that land too."

"I will speak to him. Count what those new people would need and tell me tomorrow."

Mira nodded. Carlos stayed to carry the grain sack inside, feeling much better about its weight than he had that morning.

They had something worth protecting besides the hope that the next harvest worked.

Later, Mira used the first flour for the evening meal. She kneaded the dough herself while explaining the water amount to one Hearthkeeper.

The other prepared vegetables with Sunseed oil, keeping the stove working while the bread cooked.

Carlos tasted it outside the kitchen. The flour had not travelled through another Lord’s service, and the oil had grown in Ironroot’s new field. He could still smell the warm bread when Brann came over with his bowl.

"There is more of this?" Brann asked.

"Mira decides that," Carlos said, though he was smiling.

He stayed nearby while the residents ate.

The storage was larger, the mill was working, and nobody had been asked to skip a meal to pay for either. Carlos wanted more days like this.

Sela found him before he finished his bread. She had come from the old cucumber bed, walking quickly with her board held against her chest.

"Rowan wants you," she said. "The mature fruit’s panel changed."

Carlos got up at once. Mira wiped her hands and came after him.

At the bed, Rowan stood beside the blue-lined cucumber. Its seed record was open, and the final line no longer said the trait was merely a possibility.