Carlos woke before the morning bell because the system panel was already waiting above his bed.
It was red.
For one second, he thought Ironroot had been attacked.
Then he read the location.
--
[Warning: Hostile damage recorded within a restored zone]
[Location: Ancient Cultivation District]
[District integrity reduced]
[Partial Owner Carlos Goldwin may inspect the affected area]
--
Carlos was out of bed before the panel faded.
He pulled on his coat, grabbed his spear, and stepped into the yard. The morning work had barely started. Smoke from the kitchen fire curled over the roofs, while the new Sunseed section sat dark and quiet at the edge of the southern field.
Mira saw his face from the kitchen doorway.
"What happened?"
Carlos showed her the warning.
Her expression changed immediately.
"Cedric?"
"I do not know."
Kaia came from the western gate while he was still speaking. She had clearly heard the word district.
Carlos held the panel toward her.
She read it once.
"How many?"
"The system does not say."
"Then we treat it like enough." Kaia looked toward the portal. "We should leave right now."
Rowan arrived from the Spirit Farmland with charcoal on one hand. Blue hovered behind him, close enough to see the red panel but not close enough to touch it.
"The district?" Rowan asked.
Carlos nodded.
"Someone damaged a restored zone."
Rowan looked at the portal, then back at the fields.
For once, Carlos did not have to ask what he was thinking.
"You stay," Carlos said. "The wheat needs its next record. The Sunseed crop needs watching."
"I know," Rowan said quietly. "I just hate it. We did a lot of hard work there."
"Me too."
Mira stepped out of the kitchen with a bundle of wrapped food and pushed it into Carlos’s hands.
"Do not give this away because someone asks nicely."
"That is your first concern?"
"It is one of them."
Kaia was already choosing the party.
"Brann. Nessa. Two. Carlos and I go through. Garr remains here with the other Bearkins. The Archers stay on the walls. Nobody changes the farming schedule because people are panicking."
"Brann goes," Brann said from behind them.
He had a bowl in one hand and his hammer in the other.
Carlos looked at the bowl.
"You were eating."
"Brann eat later. People need Brann now."
Carlos did not tease him.
"Good. Finish it on the way."
Brann immediately tipped the bowl into his mouth.
Nessa came down from the tower with her bow already in hand. Two bounced beside the portal, its pale body moving faster than usual. Carlos stopped in front of the dark edge.
The cultivation district had always felt different from Ironroot. It was older, wider and full of things he did not understand yet.
It was also outside his walls, which made it more vulnerable.
Carlos stepped through first, making the portal open beside Auxiliary Channel Three.
The damage was obvious before he saw anyone.
Fresh black marks crossed the channel wall. One of the Glasswood supports had been split down the middle, and water ran through the gap into the dirt instead of along the restored path.
Cedric was standing ankle-deep in the shallow water with Tomas beside him. Rhea and Milan were carrying flat stones toward the break. Evan held a shield beside the nearest preserved bed.
One and the two district Slimes were spread near the path. The Bearkin Guardian stood farther ahead with the two Shield Militia, blocking the route toward the seasonal seed store.
Cedric turned when Carlos arrived. His shirt was wet to the chest. There was blood on one sleeve, though Carlos could not see where it came from.
"They came from the eastern road," Cedric said. "Five Lords. At least ten troops. They broke the support, then asked for you."
Carlos looked at the blood again.
"Whose is it?"
"Mine. Something struck the wall when we pulled the workers back. It caught my arm. It is not deep."
"Mira looks at it when we get back."
Cedric looked as if the wound was the smallest thing in the district. Carlos understood. He still did not take the words back.
Carlos looked past him. The eastern approach was hidden behind a low ridge and a half-collapsed stone wall. Smoke rose beyond it.
"Where are they now?"
"Waiting. They have not crossed the old marker line." Cedric pointed toward a broken white stone running across the ground. "They said they want a discussion."
Kaia walked to the damaged support and pressed one hand against the split Glasswood.
"This was deliberate," she said. "They knew exactly what to hit."
"Can it hold?" Carlos asked Rowan’s work crew instead of Kaia.
Rhea answered while setting down another stone.
"If we keep water off this side, maybe. But we cannot repair it while they are watching us."
Carlos looked at Cedric again.
"How long have you been holding them?"
"Less than an hour. They hit the support first. We moved everyone away from the seed store and closed the outer work paths."
"Why did you not message me?"
"There was no time while they were destroying things. It took everything to keep some of it intact. They did not kill anyone, but they caused damage."
Carlos nodded once but a vein popped on his head.
Cedric had not tried to win a fight he could not judge. He had protected the people and the things that mattered.
Even with the anger pressing behind his eyes, Carlos said, "Good work."
Cedric’s face tightened for a moment. Then he nodded. From beyond the ridge, a man’s voice carried across the stone.
"Carlos Goldwin!"
Nobody moved.
"We know you are there. You can come speak, or we can break the next support."
Brann’s fingers tightened around the handle of its hammer.
Kaia stepped beside Carlos.
"My lord, I think this is bait. They are trying to make you angry."
"I know."
Carlos handed his wrapped food back to Mira’s absent hands in his mind, then realized it was still tucked under his arm. He gave it to Evan instead.
"Keep this with the seed store. Nobody leaves that line alone."
Evan looked confused by the food but took it. Carlos faced the ridge.
"Kaia, stay with me. Nessa, take the broken wall and watch their line. Brann and Two stay behind the marker until I say otherwise. Cedric, you keep your people on the seed-store side."
Cedric frowned.
"You are going to talk to them?"
"I am going to hear them once."
Kaia’s jaw tightened, as if she were waiting for what was about to happen.
Carlos walked toward the old marker line where the five Lords waited on the far side.
They wore better armor than most beginners could get their hands on. Their troops stood in a loose line behind them, and there was nothing ordinary about the sight.
Three long-backed beasts paced in the mud at the end of the line. Their shoulders rose higher than a man’s waist, their dark fur hung in wet clumps, and their narrow mouths showed too many yellow teeth. They watched Carlos without barking or pulling at their restraints.
Near them stood two short, gray-skinned figures with four arms each. The upper pair held chipped curved blades. The lower pair carried clubs wrapped in dark leather. Neither moved much, but their eyes never settled in one place.
Two more shapes sat on the backs of lean, long-legged wolves. The riders were small and hunched beneath rain cloaks, their hands buried in the animals’ fur. The wolves had muddy paws, stretched muzzles, and the stillness of creatures waiting for a command.
The last three were the worst. They stood apart from the others, taller and broader than Brann, with wet green-brown skin and swollen knots of muscle beneath it. Old scars covered their arms and necks. One had a fresh cut across its cheek that should have been bleeding. Instead, the torn skin was already drawing together in a slow, ugly line.
Carlos had never seen creatures like them before. He had no names for any of them yet. But he knew one thing: these five Lords had not come with whatever common fighters they could summon in a day.
They had brought a force meant to make people hesitate. Even Kaia had shifted her footing beside him, measuring the distance back to their own line.
The leader looked like a young refined man with clean clothes, but there was something dark to his smile.
He smiled when Carlos stopped at the marker.
"Lord Goldwin. We have been trying to meet you."
Carlos looked at the broken support behind him.
"You have a strange way of introducing yourselves."
The young man spread his hands.
"I have not come here to make small talk. You have something I want from you. I want your agreement, or we will make sure you will never be able to survive without our support."
Carlos let the silence sit between them. Then he looked at the five Lords again and understood something important. They had not come to negotiate.
They had come because they thought the district was weak.
A smile came across his face. "Hmm... I like your straightforwardness. You look like fine men from good families."
When he said that, all five Lords wore arrogant smiles, which made Carlos grin.
"But I am confused. If you are such fine lads, why would you be dumb enough to attack a Goldwin?"