The Starfield Farming Sovereign (Elizabeth Schofield) novel Chapter 54

Chapter 54 The Miracle of the Potato

Finished

The moment his eyes landed on the fresh scratch across Fiona’s face, pain and self–loathing flooded in. His voice came out cracked but clear. “Fiona… I’m sorry… Did I… hurt you again?”

That single lucid “Fiona” shattered her completely.

She flung herself into his arms, crying tears of pure, desperate joy. “No! You didn’t hurt me! Melton! Are you… are you okay? You’re really awake?! Oh God–oh God-”

Melton patted her back gently, soothing her, but his brow furrowed. “How long… was I gone this time?”

He knew each backlash left him weaker. And they were lasting longer.

Fiona shook her head wildly, face alight with disbelief. “Not long at all! Just… just one hour! From start to now–one hour! Look!”

She held up her wrist, showing him the time on her device.

Melton stared at the display, shock written across his face. “One hour?… That’s impossible.”

His previous episodes had never lasted less than half a day. And afterward, he’d be bedridden for ages; weak, racked with headaches but nothing like this.

He felt tired, yes. But his mind was startlingly clear. Even that constant, gnawing ache–the one that clung to him like a parasite–had dulled significantly.

Then, he noticed it. The residue on his hands. The unfamiliar sweetness lingered on his lips.

He held up his fingers, studying the yellow crumbs. “Fiona… what did you give me?”

Fiona remembered the “dirt lumps.” She snatched up the last remaining one and thrust it at him, words tumbling out. “It was a girl! A stranger—she was just passing by–she threw these to us! Melton, you started getting better right after you ate them—”

Melton took the mud–caked tuber and examined it under the recycling station’s pale light.

He rubbed away the dirt, revealing its true form.

Confusion and disbelief washed over his face. He murmured, “This is… a potato?”

New seeds meant new land was needed.

Elizabeth drew up plans to clear a much larger section next to her existing plot–dividing it into separate beds for potatoes, sweet potatoes, and her newly acquired strawberry, watermelon, and apple seeds.

Grand plans. The reality, however, was a mess.

Her current plot had been the cleanest patch in the area, with the least garbage.

3/3

9:39 am P P P P

Chapter 54 The Miracle of the Potato

Everywhere else? A single shovel would hit a solid ten inches of compacted waste.

Step one: surface clearing.

It was, without question, the filthiest, most exhausting, most nauseating manual labor imaginable.

Finished

Elizabeth changed into her most durable work clothes, strapped on her handmade mask and gloves, took a deep breath, and went to war.

She started at the edges, dragging out large metal frames and panels by hand or with improvised hooks and pry bars, sorting them into piles.

These counted as “valuable” trash. Once she had enough, she could haul them to the recycling station for a few stellar coins.

Next came the tedious part–sifting through the fine, tangled layer of mixed debris.

Corroded parts, snapped pipes, filthy rags, hardened sludge. Every piece had to be sorted by hand.

The stench that erupted with each shovelful nearly knocked her over, mask or not.

Dust and unidentifiable particles clung to her clothes and every inch of exposed skin.

She channeled a thin thread of spiritual power into her hands and tools–not for show, but to make the heavy lifting less brutal and keep the worst of the filth at bay.

Even so, the relentless, repetitive labor left her drenched in sweat with a screaming back.

She’d barely cleared a tenth of the area, and she was already more exhausted than if she’d fought someone.

“This is not a job for humans…” She straightened up, rubbed her lower back, and stared at the seemingly infinite sea of garbage. For the first time, “pioneering” felt less like an adventure and more like a punishment.

While she was buried in work, a familiar small figure came stumbling toward her.

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