BXBX NOVEL Chapter 327 327 This is it
Chapter 327 327 This is it
"My mother is busy with other affairs at the moment. So, she\'s tasked me with the job of scouting the new properties."
Over them, the majestic pink petals of the cherry blossoms, sang quietly with the morning breeze- swaying gloriously as the sun\'s golden rays washed over them.
"I guess congratulations are in order for you then," he clasped his hands- "But what\'s that got do with me? The Howards are done. You don\'t need me for anything else. . ."
"That\'s not true." she voiced; "You\'re an outdoors kind of guy, so I\'m sure you know one or two things about land survey. . .so, I was wondering if you could, you know, accompany me on this mission."
Nexus\' eyes narrowed- glinting mischievously-
"If I didn\'t know any better, I\'d say you were trying to get snatch some more time with me. . ."
Alarm flickered in her icy blue eyes. She opened her eyes- ready to protest, but he cut her off;
"It\'s alright. . .I got you. . ."
He stood up, dabbing his lips with the neatly folded napkin;
"Well then, let\'s get to moving."
Towering over her, Nora\'s face lit up. Enthusiastically, she jerked upwards from the table- practically leaping to her feet!
Over the dusty busy roads of Castra city, fierce rays of sun broke through the thick formation of white clouds in golden films.
On the ground- wagons, black carriages, and lone horsemen backed up the broad sandy roads.
Nexus and Nora\'s were seated in one of such splendid wagons.
The whirring wheels broke the ground- sending up clouds of brown dust- rolling out noisily. In the background, all that could be heard was the steady thumping of horses feet against the ground.
It echoed in firm predictive energetic thuds, till the steady percussive sounds blended with the pounding of their hearts.
Nexus\' head remained fixed on the window. As the square box rolled continuously on the dusty road, his alert eyes- wide and white, flipped through the horizon. The occasional bump on the road caused him to jerk involuntarily once or twice- but surprisingly, Nora remained still.
Next to him, she was seated on the velvet cushion with her legs crossed, back upright, and palms resting on her laps- calm as ice, barely shaken by the bumpy ride.
"Don\'t know what you\'re expecting to see Nexus, you won\'t see much. . .this infernal dust pretty much blurs out everything cool. . ."
With his eyes still fastened on the window, he answered;
"I just can\'t help but feel like a schoolboy cooped up in this wagon, it\'s hard not to feel that way."
The background noise was so dense, they literally had to speak at the top of their voices.
"Well," Nora assuaged him; "The dust won\'t let you see it, but we\'re actually heading out of town."
His head spun so fast, his neck cracked a little.
"Out of town?" he inquired.
"I beg your pardon, I meant to say outskirts of town."
His black eyes burned quietly- "That doesn\'t make a difference! How is it that your family restored lands aren\'t in the city?! How do you expect to make this commute every single day?! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is on the outskirts?!"
She said nothing.
Nexus swallowed;
"Of course you do," he exhaled, answering his own question; "That\'s exactly why you asked me to tag along- isn\'t it?"
Legs still crossed- eyes straight ahead, she replied without looking at him;
"It\'s a fuckin\' wasteland Nexus. They gave us the bare scraps- like we\'re fuckin\' dogs."
His intense eyes melted- remembering the attitude of the other families during the meeting;
"I\'m sorry, I just thought–"
"Don\'t be," she cut in; "It\'s just the price to pay for being the weakest dog amongst the top dogs. Don\'t worry, you\'ll see \'restored lands\' they gave back."
"Not good isn\'t it?"
An involuntary scoff rasped through her throat- triggering the rise and fall of her slender shoulders;
"Not good?" she echoed bitterly; "Wait till you see it. It\'s bottom barrel stuff- barren as fuck! In fact, I heard they changed hands so much, nobody\'s even sure who legally has them anymore!"
The husky sounds of the whirring wheels and the bouncing wagon, rasped into the air- giving the illusion of a modern day racing horse track.
"Did you know that the families once tried to start an agro-allied venture on these lands?"
"Well\' he answered thoughtfully; "Commercial farming on the outskirts of town. . .with minimal labor wages. . .serene landscape. . .and zero competition. . .it sounds like the ideal business opportunity for me?"
Once again, she scoffed; "It flopped Nexus. And it flopped hard. The soil looked good. There was a steady water source not too far off. But for some reason, the ground simply refused to support agricultural cultivation."
"They didn\'t try to develop the land instead?"
"Oh they tried to- something about turning it into an extension of Castra city by building large warehouses."
Nexus\' face tightened- and a murmur of disapproval rasped through his voice;
"That doesn\'t sound viable. Warehouses get plundered a lot- even by their own employees. Who\'d want to hire a warehouse on the risky outskirts?"
"Like I said, it was a massive flop. They never even got around to laying up foundations."
A single tap from the driver came. And quickly, Nora braced her self.
Softening the hardened look in her eyes, she leaned forward, and opened the connecting hatch with a sliding sound;
"Yes?"
"We\'ve arrived ma\'am!"
"You sure?" her eyes squinted in suspicion; "It\'s three hundred yards from the western gate. And north east of the garrison."
"Yes ma\'am, this is the place."
She slid the hatch shut, and shared a look with Nexus.
Together, they both forced the doors open on either side. The metal hinges on each door sang mournfully as their feet touched down on the ground. Immediately, Nexus wished he had brought his hat.
Damn sun.
Behind him, as Nora paid the driver, the sound of coins rattled noisily.
He stood- with both hands on his waist- squinting his eyes into narrow slits- turning his head as he covered the entire landscape in one long gaze. As far as his eyes could see, stretches of vast plains covered the horizon.
There were no hills.
No rocky boulders either.
Just a sea of green and brown- with a couple of skeletal trees standing like sentinels.
"So," Nora walked up to his side; "This is it. . ."
Together, with the sweeping wind rustling through, they both let their eyes wash over the acres of land before them. The ever present sounds of birds chirped away noisily in the background- echoing all around them in steady teasing drizzles.
"You know they\'ve all ganged up on her right?"
Nexus raised his eyebrows up. Glancing at the blond, he blurted out;
"What?"
"Mother," she said; "I mean they\'ve all ganged up on her. Every single one of them thinks they have some kind of claim as to how justified they were to have taken up our lands."