Day 20.
The Greenhouse was finally sealed.
The roof was not made of glass. It was made of hundreds of sheets of rough bark-paper, soaked in the fish oil Rian had harvested from the lake. Layered twice and glued with pine resin, it turned the roof into a translucent, golden shield.
Inside, the smell was pungent—oil and wet earth—but to Rian, it smelled like hope.
The sunlight filtered through the oiled paper, bathing the interior in a hazy, yellow glow. Outside, the wind howled at -40°C. Inside, thanks to the underground clay pipes pumping heat from the furnace, the soil was soft, dark, and damp.
Torin, the one-legged foreman, knelt and pushed his finger into the dirt.
"It's warm, My Lord," Torin said, his voice trembling with emotion. "For the first time in years... the ground is not fighting back."
He looked up at Rian. "But warmth is not enough. We have prepared the cradle, but we have no baby. We have no seeds. The wheat from the South will die here. The corn needs sun we don't have."
Rian stood silently under the yellow light. He knew this problem was coming.
Fort Blackiron had no granary. They had no stock of seeds.
"We don't need Southern wheat," Rian said calmly. "We need something that knows how to fight."
He closed his eyes. The mechanical chime echoed in his mind.
[Ding! Daily Intelligence Report - Day 19]
The blue screen floated in front of him. Rian scanned the data. The System scanned everything within the territory—the good, the bad, and the trivial.
[1. Minor Intel (Trivial)]
Guard Garrick's left boot has a hole in the sole. He is stuffing it with dried grass to hide it.
Rian ignored the triviality. He scrolled down to the Key Intelligence that had appeared this morning, the one that had brought him here with confidence.
[2. Resource Discovery: Survival Flora]
Location: 1.5 miles East, buried beneath the collapsed cellar of the "Old Watchtower ruins."
Item: A sealed ceramic jar containing "Iron-Husk Barley".
Description: An ancient, hardy grain native to the North.
Traits:
Growth Cycle: Extremely fast (35 Days).
Resistance: Can survive low light and frost.
Flaw: The husk is as hard as iron (difficult to process), so the Empire stopped farming it.
Rian opened his eyes. A sharp glint appeared in them. The Empire abandoned it because it was "hard to eat." Rian loved things that were hard.
He pulled a heavy, dust-covered ceramic jar from his bag. He had sent Hance to dig it up exactly where the System indicated.
"Torin," Rian opened the seal.
He poured the contents into his hand.
They weren't golden seeds. They were dark, jagged, and heavy. They looked like tiny stones wrapped in metal armor.
"What is this?" Torin asked, squinting. "It looks like gravel."
"Iron-Husk Barley," Rian announced. "The System guided me to it. It has been sleeping in the ruins for fifty years."
Torin gasped. "The Soldier's Grain? My grandfather spoke of this! He said you have to boil it for hours just to crack the shell. It tastes like leather, My Lord."
"It tastes like survival," Rian corrected him. "It grows in thirty-five days, Torin. While the South waits for their delicate wheat, we will be harvesting."
Rian squeezed the hard seeds in his fist.
"The Empire wants soft food. We are building an Industrial city. We need fuel. This grain is tough because it is packed with energy."
He handed the jar to Torin.
"Plant them. One seed every four inches. This greenhouse was built for them."
Torin looked at the black seeds with new respect. He realized that his Lord didn't just build walls; he uncovered the secrets of the land itself.
"I will plant them myself, My Lord," Torin bowed deeply.
As the serfs began to poke holes in the warm earth, Rian watched the black seeds disappear into the soil.
The System had done its job. It had found the needle in the haystack.
Now, it was up to Rian to make sure they didn't starve before the harvest.
[Ding! Agriculture Module Initiated]
[Crop Registered: Iron-Husk Barley]
[Estimated Harvest: Day 54]
Rian turned to leave the warm yellow tent. Outside, the cold wind was waiting, but Rian smiled.
"Let the winter bite," he whispered. "We just bit back."
End of Chapter 18