Soon, the vehicle stopped at the edge of the farm, as both siblings stepped off it, looking at the old stone building in front of them.
The duplex stone house looked slightly dusty and old, clearly showing signs of neglect. Behind it, the vast expanse of open field greeted Raiden as he looked at the breathtaking view.
Woolie, who just jumped off the car, was already a fan of the place, itching to leave his mark and become the Emperor of this new place.
Just as he was about to dash off into the distance, he was picked up directly by Raiden.
Woolie:??? (⊙_⊙)
"Not today, buddy. You already caused enough trouble yesterday. I am not letting you go wild here in an unknown place." Raiden had clearly learnt his lesson after the fiasco yesterday, not letting that little guy go anywhere.
"Woo woo woolie!!"
Woolie started struggling in his arms, trying to break free and run into the vast expanse of the wild, but Raiden maintained an iron grip over him, not letting him go anywhere.
Woolie wanted to protest. This despicable human was clearly violating his rights and holding him in place against his will. He wanted to go to court!!
Ignoring his dramatic beast, Raiden focused on the building in front of him instead.
Agent Smith also got out of the door and walked towards them, who were still staring at the place in wonder.
"Do you guys want me to give you a tour of this place?" He asked with a smile on his face.
"Yes, please, thank you." It was Sylvia who answered him, talking sweetly.
"Alright you both, come with me." With that, he started walking towards the building with both Ashfords and a still struggling Woolie in tow.
"As you can see, your parents already started some kind of work on this place. Including these two houses, there is also a big barn on the far side that provides enough space for you to house some Terra Beasts for domestication. " Agent Smith pointed at the big warehouse-like building that was 500 meters away from the house.
"That makes things easy for me. I never thought about where to keep all the Terrans. I thought they would sleep in the wild." Raiden muttered to himself. He was thankful his parents thought of that already, along with a place to live for himself.
He would have needed to resort to camping if it were left to him, as he had already run out of money to build a house.
Soon they reached the two-story home that they had seen from a distance.
Sylvia took the lead, throwing the door open impatiently, kicking off the cloud of dust.
"Cough, cough. Why is there so much dust in this house?!" She complained while covering her mouth, continuously coughing loudly.
"Ahem... This house had been abandoned for the past 6 months, so the dust buildup was inevitable. Rest assured, everything else works perfectly in the house. Our officers checked it themselves!!" Agent Smith patted his chest, as if trying to show confidence in his words.
Hearing his words, both of them started exploring the place, looking at the neat kitchen cabinets, drawing room and 3 simple bedrooms in the house, each furnished with different details, clearly meant for their family of three.
Their parents had put a lot of thought into the place, and it showed.
Woolie, seeing his human partner was distracted, took this as a chance and broke free from his hold, running inside the house.
Maybe because of the dark or maybe because he was unfamiliar with the surroundings, Woolie ended up running into the fireplace, directly inside its central opening.
Bang!!
The whole chimney started shaking as a dizzy Woolie got out of there, before the whole structure came crashing down with a bang.
Looking at the now collapsed structure, both siblings were speechless. Agent Smith, meanwhile, felt his face heating up.
"Is that what you call working perfectly, Agent Smith?" Raiden was feeling half amused and half exasperated by this. He knew nothing in his life would ever become that easy.
"That's minor stuff. Rest assured, I'll send someone and have them build a new one today itself. You'll have plenty of time to check out the rest of the house, come let me introduce you to the rest of the Ashford farm."
Agent Smith tried to change the topic as he started leading them outside, whose enthusiasm dulled slightly after seeing the condition of the house. If the rest of the farm was like this, they had a lot of work to do.
Maybe Smith knew it too, so instead of other buildings, he led them to check out open lands instead.
Walking onto the rolling emerald meadows, a vast expanse of farmland opened up for them as Raiden saw a few wild Terrans enjoying life in the distance, resting by the river and running around the plains happily, with sparrows like beasts flying above their heads.
"Wow, how beautiful!~" Sylvia exclaimed in delight as she took in the scene, marvelling at nature's beauty. It looked great from a distance, but it looked even better up close, like some kind of Utopia for Terra Beasts, away from the bustling city life.
Raiden's focus was on something else, though. Pointing at the three rows of trees, he asked directly.
"Are those the so-called berry trees, Agent Smith?" He asked, as he saw tempting, glittering fruits hanging from the trees.
"Yes!! Mr Raiden, those are yours. They are very valuable, you know. If you grow them well, you can rely on just those to run your initial business and maybe pay off the debt in the future, just maybe."
Curious about them, Raiden casually picked the pink colour peach like fruit from a tree before giving it to Woolie, whose eyes seemed to light up by looking at the sight of the food.
Woolie: (*^▽^*)
He quickly took a small bite of the shining peach, before his face scrunched up due to sourness.
"Woolie woo woolie!!~" {{{(>_<)}}}
Woolie started gagging on the spot, before getting free from Raiden's arms and running towards the river, trying to cleanse his palate with water.
Raiden, on the other hand, felt glad that he didn't try to eat them himself first.
"Those are called Pink Peaches, they are especially known for their sourness. But they contain a lot of energy." Agent Smith chuckled from the side as he chipped in.
"You need to say stuff like that sooner!!" Raiden said with resignation, feeling that he somehow did it on purpose.
"I have a question, Agent Smith." Sylvia raised her one hand slightly.
"It's not a school, you don't need to raise your hands to ask questions, Miss Sylvia." Agent Smith said, feeling amused.
Hearing this, Sylvia felt embarrassed as she lowered her hand.
"These berry trees are very valuable, right? And there are so many wild Terra Beasts here, why don't they eat them? Also, you kept going on about a surprise. You surely can't mean that run-down house, right?"
As if waiting for this precise question, Agent Smith stepped forward.
"I am glad you asked. There is a very good reason why other Terra Beasts don't dare to touch these Berries. It is also related to your surprise. Come, I'll show you around." He started leading the curious siblings toward the big 100 sq. barn with Woolie in tow, who was back from the river edge.
"Don't worry, I am sure you guys are going to love this surpri—" Agent Smith froze mid-sentence, his eyes widening at something behind them.
Raiden felt it before he saw it—a massive presence, ancient and powerful, uncoiling from the darkness.
A blur of crimson scales erupted from the barn, moving impossibly fast for something so large. The red python, easily 30 meters long, shot toward Sylvia like a striking viper. Before anyone could react, it coiled around her body, lifting her off the ground.
"Sylvia!! NO!!!!"