The Starfield Farming Sovereign (Elizabeth Schofield) novel Chapter 53

Chapter 53 A Veteran’s Despair

Finished

He pounded the dirt, voice hoarse and trembling with rage. “Why?! God, why are you so blind?! Melton fought for this kingdom! He bled and sweated on the front lines! He protected so many people! Now he’s broken, and they throw him away like garbage–not even a single dose of medicine that could save his life! What kind of world is this? Is this… is this how the kingdom treats its heroes?!”

“Fought for the kingdom… bled and sweated on the front lines…”

Those words struck something buried deep inside Elizabeth, like a key turning a lock she’d forgotten was there.

In her first life, she’d grown up in a country that revered its soldiers. That respect, that bone–deep gratitude for the people who defended home and nation, was woven into her being.

Watching this man–a former soldier–reduced to thrashing like a dying animal on a Garbage Planet made her feet feel like lead. She’d been about to walk away. She couldn’t.

She turned back and approached the grief–stricken old man. “Sir… what happened to them?”

The old man looked up with tear–blurred eyes. Seeing a young woman he didn’t recognize, perhaps simply because he’d been holding it in too long with no one to tell, the words came pouring out. “Miss… you must be new here… That’s Melton Powell. Used to be a mecha pilot for the Third Army Corps. A damn good soldier! Five years ago, in a skirmish with the Swarmborn, he took a direct hit to his spiritual core from a Queen’s mental blast to cover his comrades‘ retreat… When he came back, he was basically ruined. The military… those bastards… they said he was useless, a burden. They gave him a pittance for a pension and… and exiled him to this hellhole!”

He pointed at the woman still clinging to her husband. “That’s his wife, Fiona Powell. Bravest girl you’ll ever meet. When the military ruled him unfit, she marched right up to headquarters to fight the decision… and they charged her with ‘disrupting military operations.‘ Exiled her too… What a sin!”

Elizabeth went quiet.

She looked at the couple–desperate, broken, holding onto each other in the dark–and the weight in her chest grew heavier.

She wasn’t a savior. Her abilities were limited. But standing here, watching a man who’d once protected others suffer like this–she couldn’t pretend she felt nothing.

Spiritual energy could repair a damaged sea of consciousness. She’d proven that on herself.

The spiritual energy in her potatoes was faint. Against damage this severe, the effect was unknown. But… maybe it could ease his pain?

Even a few moments of clarity–for him and for his wife–would be something.

Elizabeth stopped deliberating.

She turned away from the path home and strode toward the couple.

A few paces away, she pulled five or six potatoes from her storage button–still crusted with dirt–and

1/2

9:38 am P P P P

Chapter 53 A Veteran’s Despair

tossed them toward the thrashing man.

The potatoes rolled across the ground, bumping against his hands and feet.

Finished

And just like that–as if it were nothing–she quickened her pace and disappeared into the shadow of the garbage mountains without looking back.

Fiona saw the motion and assumed the worst. She’d seen it before–people who hated or feared those suffering from backlash, throwing stones to hurt or drive them away.

It happened all the time on this planet.

Heart twisting, terrified her husband had been hit, she threw herself forward to check.

But neither injury nor rage met her.

Instead, Melton–who’d been clutching his skull and rolling in agony–suddenly went still. His bloodshot eyes, nearly devoid of focus, locked onto the round objects by his hand.

In the next instant, some primal instinct–a craving deeper than thought–took over. He lunged like a starving animal, seized two potatoes, and crammed them into his mouth whole, chewing furiously.

“Melton! Those are rocks! You can’t-” Fiona’s scream died in her throat.

Because the “rocks” her husband had bitten into revealed bright yellow flesh. An unfamiliar yet irresistibly sweet aroma–warm, earthy, carrying the scent of sunlight and soil–flooded the air.

This… this wasn’t a rock!

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify