Pokémon: Who let him leave Pallet Town?

Chapter 318 The Story of the Seraphim
The treehouse was furnished in an old style, and everything inside looked like it had been there for years.

The edges of the wooden table were damp and discolored, the rattan chair creaked, and years of dust accumulated in its cracks.

The wooden teacup handed to me was already polished to a shine, with tea stains forming dark brown lines on the cup's surface.

The one who poured the tea was Kumi, her mother-in-law's granddaughter. She was beautiful and had long green hair.

When the hot tea is poured in, its fragrant aroma is irresistible.

Xiao Gang was amazed when he drank it all in one gulp.

"What kind of tea is this? It actually has a refreshing minty aroma!"

"Oh my god, after drinking this tea, it feels like a freshly picked mint leaf stuck in my throat, with a refreshing sweetness like well water washing over cucumber."

"Miss Kumi, this must be your skill—ah!"

Before he could kneel down, Xiao Gang was pulled back by Xiao Xia and pressed down into his seat.

"Alright, alright, is it really that good? Why did you add mint flavor?"

Xiaoxia complained.

"Mint?"

Kumi put the kettle back in the kitchen, returned to the dining table, and heard what everyone was saying.

She picked up the cup that Xiaogang had drunk in one gulp, puzzled.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, this is the cup my mother-in-law brought to brush her teeth. I'm so sorry, so sorry."

Xiaogang: "."

"Haha, we can't possibly put X-poison in Mother-in-law's tea, can we?"

Xiao Zhi smiled and drank the tea in his hand in one gulp.

The next second, he froze on the spot.

"What's wrong?" Xiaoxia looked at the other person in confusion and drank the tea in her hand.

In an instant, a warm sensation rose from my abdomen and spread to my limbs and bones.

Natsume stared at the tea in his hand with a puzzled look, then brought it to his nose and sniffed it.

"Pickup?"

The cup was handed to the man with the middle parting, who smelled it and shook his head violently.

"Let me tell you, Grandma and Kumi are shamans who have always lived near the Lake of Life."

Seeing everyone's surprise, Zaiyong explained with a smile.

"Could it be!"

Xiaozhi was stunned.

"Could it be that we've actually drunk water from the Lake of Life this time?!"

Xiaoxia's eyes lit up.

"Yes, the real lake water is completely different. I feel full of energy now!"

Xiao Gang suddenly sat up in his chair.

"The waters of the Lake of Life have long been polluted; they've been laced with a drug called X."

Kumi walked over with a smile.

"Ok?"

Xiao Zhi, Xiao Xia, and Xiao Gang were taken aback when Jiao Zi offered them a cup of hot tea.

Natsume's lips twitched slightly as he placed the hot tea back on the table.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Kumi smiled and said:
"You must have drunk it at the forest ranger's place before, right? He and my mother-in-law both have heart disease, and the X drug also has a therapeutic effect."

"That's it"

After listening to Kumi's explanation, she happened to see her mother-in-law coming down the stairs, carrying a package and a pair of scissors.

The package was opened, and inside was a white top and a red skirt.

"Come on, Kumi, let's go back to the room and try it."

A short while later, Kumi, having changed her clothes, came out.

This is a shrine maiden's attire, with a thin gauze robe embroidered with gold patterns over it.

A thick hemp rope was tied around her waist, and the hem of her red skirt was printed with orange cloud patterns. She wore white cloth socks with black lacquered wooden clogs, and her sleeves turned up to reveal an indigo lining as she walked.

"Wow, when Kumi-nee wears it, she looks just like a witch from a TV drama!"

Xiaoxia praised him sincerely.

But when she turned around, she found that apart from the bewildered Xiaozhi, everyone else had a serious expression on their face.

"Uh, what's wrong?"

Xiaoxia shrank her neck.

"Grandma, are you planning to have Kumi inherit your mantle and stay here?" Xiao Gang's face was extremely serious. "Hahaha, of course, the lineage of our forest witches cannot be broken."

Grandma laughed.

"But it's quite dangerous here. Poachers come in from time to time, and I heard there's a really dangerous guy coming here recently."

Jiao Zi frowned.

After hearing this, Xiaozhi and Xiaoxia exchanged a glance and nodded in unison.

They originally thought that the mother-in-law belonged to a local minority group like the Las Vegas tribe, which was why she could stay there.

But now it seems that it is not worthwhile to put oneself and one's descendants in a backward and dangerous environment for the sake of a vague and illusory inheritance.

"Yes, Grandma, I've been delivering goods for over ten years, and you and your granddaughter are the only ones living in such a remote place."

Zaiyong put down his cup; there were some things he had to say:
"The delivery fees over the years combined would be enough to buy a piece of land in Asagi City and open your temple."

He paused as he spoke:

"Besides, this place is deserted. If something happens, I might be the first one to find it."

Zai Yong's voice grew softer and softer.

He didn't want to suddenly become the first eyewitness one day.

"You wouldn't understand."

The old woman shook her head and looked out the window into the distance.

The shimmering waters there point to the direction of the Lake of Life.

"Grandma, can you tell us the story of the Forest Witch? How did it come about?"

Instead of offering advice, Natsume asked with great interest.

Seeing that someone was interested, the mother-in-law became interested as well.

She pulled over a chair and began to tell her story:
"We forest witches are responsible for listening to the voice of the forest."

"Does the forest still have sounds?"

Xiaozhi asked curiously.

"Of course there is!"

The mother-in-law glared at the other person, and seeing that some people didn't believe her, she continued:

“I’ve been hearing the sounds of the forest these past few days; a disaster is about to happen here.”

The mother-in-law said mysteriously.

"Uh, what's the principle behind this?"

Xiaoxia's lips twitched slightly.

"Forests have trees, trees have annual rings, and when the annual rings expand, they make a sound."

The mother-in-law's face revealed a hint of piety.

Among the group, only Natsume seemed interested, even taking out a small notebook to start taking notes.

The old woman snorted coldly, then pulled up a chair and began to speak only to Natsume, her voice shrouded in mystery:
“I won’t tell them, but you have a spirit. I can tell you, if you hear the voice of the forest, don’t move.”

"Decades ago, when I was still young, my mother-in-law witnessed it firsthand."

As the mother-in-law continued her story, the doubts on everyone's faces gradually disappeared, and in the end, everyone's faces showed a hint of shock.

When my grandmother was young, she met a little boy who was being chased by poachers and was accidentally taken away by a shrine brigade.
The description of the rabbi they heard was exactly the same as what they had seen, so it didn't seem fake.

"Later, the child came back. He said that he seemed to have gone to the far future and made many friends. I wonder if he saw me, his grandmother."

After saying that, the mother-in-law leaned back in her recliner, her expression wistful.

Everyone whispered.

"It sounds like it might actually be true?"

"But this doesn't seem to have much to do with my mother-in-law, does it?"

"Natsume-nii, can the forest really make sounds?"

In the end, everyone's attention focused on Natsume.

Natsume nodded silently.

Natsume wasn't sure if the forest here made any noise.

But the Viridian Forest will.

Natsume inquired about the source of Tokiwa's power within him.

Sakaki's description was very vague.

At that moment, he heard the sound of the forest.

(End of this chapter)