Chapter 28:A Lord’s Mistake The Bombing Aftermath

Mike strode toward Garrik's forge, hands in his pockets, feeling pretty damn pleased with himself. The pest problem? Handled. Evolution points? Rolling in.

Now, it was time to reward himself.

As he approached the forge, Garrik—the massive, rock-skinned blacksmith—was hammering away at a chunk of metal. Sparks flew, and the heat from the forge made the air shimmer.

Mike leaned against a wooden post. "Yo, Garrik. Make me a sword."

Garrik didn't even glance up. "No."

Mike blinked. "Uh, excuse me? That was not a request."

Garrik sighed, finally setting his hammer down and wiping his hands. "My lord, we don't have the materials to make a sword for you."

Mike frowned. "You're telling me, the LORD of this village, that I can't get a single damn sword?"

Garrik nodded. "Yes."

Mike sighed. "Alright, fine. What do we need?"

Garrik folded his arms. "Iron, coal, and leather. And right now? We're running low on all of them. The villagers barely have weapons themselves."

Mike groaned, rubbing his face. "Man, being a lord is hard."

"No, it's called resource management," Garrik corrected.

Before Mike could argue, Loran suddenly appeared, looking annoyed as hell.

"MY LORD, WHY DID YOU BOMB THE FARMLAND!?"

Mike turned to see Loran storming toward him, eyes sharp with frustration.

Mike blinked. "Huh?"

Loran pointed back at the farm. "You BLOW UP the one place where we grow food! Have you lost your mind!?"

Mike crossed his arms. "Hey, I had a damn good reason."

Loran glared. "Oh? Do tell, my lord."

Mike shrugged. "There were pests in the ground, so I handled it."

Loran's eye twitched. "Handled it? HANDLED IT!?"

He rubbed his temples, took a deep breath, then sighed dramatically.

"My lord… now that you've BOMBED THE SOIL, the ground is too soft and unstable for farming. The farmers will struggle to plant anything, which means..."

Mike's stomach dropped. "...Oh no."

Loran nodded grimly. "Yes. We're facing a food shortage in the next two weeks."

Mike froze, then stared at the ground like it had personally betrayed him.

"NOOOOOO!"

Garrik chuckled. "Nice job, my lord. You solved one problem and made another."

Mike grabbed his head. "WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING!?"

Loran crossed his arms. "Because you act first and think later."

Mike groaned. "Man, I've got other problems to deal with! I still need a sword, we need more defenses, training isn't done yet—now I have to fix the FOOD situation!?"

Just as Mike was spiraling into existential crisis, a familiar voice interrupted.

"Ohhhh, what's this? Our mighty lord screwed up?"

Mike turned sharply to see Kiera, arms behind her head, grinning like she just walked into the best entertainment of her life.

Mike sighed deeply. "Oh, great. Just what I needed."

(To be continued...)