Chapter 99. The First Registry Crop [BONUS]

Carlos did not close the Crop Registry panel even after everyone went back to work.

It floated above the old field like it was waiting for him to get impatient. The words were simple enough. First Registry Retrieval available. But the warning below it was not.

It said, ’Retrieved cultivation material could not be returned’

Carlos had opened enough things in this world to know that the system liked giving him useful stuff at the worst possible time. He was not going to take some unknown crop out and then find out it needed a full lake, a mountain, or blood from a giant monster to grow.

"I am asking Rowan first," he said again.

Tarin nodded quickly. "That is good, my lord. Head Farmer will know."

"He better know," Carlos muttered.

He opened the message panel and sent Cedric a message.

--

[Carlos Goldwin] - Ask Rowan about the Crop Registry. It says the first retrieval cannot be returned after I take it out. Should I open it?

--

Cedric did not answer for a few minutes. Carlos could imagine Rowan making him read the message twice before saying anything.

Then the response came.

--

[Cedric Vale] - You can open it. A Registry should give us stored cultivation material, not a living crop already in the ground. But do not plant anything before you show me what it is.

[Cedric Vale] - And do not use the Spirit Farmland.

--

Carlos looked at the last message for a moment.

"He really thinks I will just throw every new seed into the Spirit Farmland."

Boro gave him a small look. "You did want to press the Registry without asking him first, my lord."

Carlos side eyed him.

"You are getting brave now."

Boro immediately bent back toward the wheat. "I only meant that Head Farmer is careful."

Elias tried very hard not to laugh. Tarin’s tail moved once before he lowered it again.

Carlos shook his head and faced the panel.

"Open"

The Crop Registry brightened within seconds as if it was waiting impatiently.

Thin green lines spread across the air above the field. They joined together like a shelf being drawn in front of Carlos, except there was no wood or stone. Only light.

One small cloth pouch formed in the middle of it and dropped into his hand.

--

[First Registry Retrieval complete]

[Clearwater Cucumber Seeds (Uncommon) x20]

[Crop record added to Ironroot Registry]

--

Carlos looked at the pouch in his hand.

"Cucumbers?"

Mira had reached the edge of the field with another basket. She looked at the name over his shoulder, then at the small pouch.

"That can be food," she said. "Fresh food too, if it grows properly."

"You know what this one is?"

"I know what a cucumber is, Carlos." She said as if she was offended, "It is a basic salad ingredient"

Mira looked at the pouch again. "Isn’t 20 seeds a little less? It won’t help with any orders and couldn’t even help keep our own people fulfilled."

That was fair. Carlos clicked on the pouch in his inventory. The details appeared in front of him.

--

Clearwater Cucumber Seeds

Uncommon Grade

Seeds of a clean-water cucumber crop. The fruit can be eaten fresh or used in prepared meals.

Growth requirements: clean and steady water, climbing frames, protected growing space.

Warning: polluted water will spoil the crop.

--

The simple words made Carlos look toward Blue, who floated above the nearby field. Blue was not looking at the panel. It had moved close to a small water container and was playing with the surface, making it rise and fall in a round shape.

"It needs clean water," Carlos said.

"And frames," Tarin added, his ears lifting. "Cucumber are climbers, my lord. We will need to make something for it."

Sela stepped closer but did not touch the pouch. "Only twenty seeds. We should not waste even one."

Carlos nodded. That was exactly why he had waited.

Mira looked at the description again. "If it grows, I can make some interesting meals from it. And it could be a good salad starter. We don’t have many crops that can be added to salads. they are the best palette cleansers, Carlos."

Carlos nodded and sent one more message to Cedric with the crop name and requirements. Rowan’s reply came faster this time.

--

[Cedric Vale] - Good. Do not put it beside the wheat. Make a separate small bed with room around it. Use the cleanest water from Ironroot and make frames before planting.

[Cedric Vale] - Let Blue guide the water slowly. No flooding.

--

Carlos read it out loud for the Farmers.

Tarin immediately looked toward the open ground beside the Farmer’s Lodge. "There is enough space there."

"Not near the old field," Boro said. "If something goes wrong, it should not affect the wheat."

Carlos did not pretend to know which place was best. He looked at the four Farmers, then made the decision he could actually make.

"You choose a place that follows Rowan’s instructions. Show it to me before we build anything."

The Farmers began talking at once. Tarin wanted the closest clear ground. Sela wanted it farther from the footpath. Boro and Elias spoke more quietly, but they all pointed toward the empty land on the northern side of the Farmer’s Lodge.

It was plain ground. Nothing grew there. Nothing had ever been there.

Carlos looked at the small seed pouch again.

Ironroot had more food than it once did but it had equally or more more people too. But this would be the first crop planted because of the Crop Keeper authority he had earned outside his own territory.

"Get the place ready," he said. "We plant tomorrow after the frames are done."

Blue floated down beside the pouch in Carlos’s hand with slight interest and then went away.

Carlos sighed, he had a feeling they were going to cost him more work than anything he had opened from the Registry.

If it was more work but less rewards, was it really worth it?