Elf: Seriously? You only get a cheat code when you're about to die?

Chapter 26 Gifts and Special Training

Anjay was led by Munchlax to the door of its room.

"Gang~ Gang~~"

It told Anjie to wait for it at the door, and then it mysteriously went into the room.

After a while, the door creaked open again, and the little Munchlax quietly poked its head out. Seeing that Anjay had indeed obediently waited at the door, it showed a silly smile on its face.

"Gang~~"

Snorlax opened the door wide and came out carrying two identical plush pillows.

"Gang~~"

It shyly tucked one of them into Anjie's arms.

The pillow is light gray overall, with an adorable little Snorlax pattern on it. When Anjie touches it, it feels like touching a cloud in the sky.

They didn't have a cushion like this at home before.

"Gang~ Gang~~" Master, do you like it?

The little Snorlax asked shyly.

"Little Snorlax, is this for me?" Angie asked, surprised and delighted.

"Just now~~" Hmm, look, I have one too, the same one.

The little Snorlax nodded, hugged its pillow that was exactly the same as Ange's, and shyly covered half of its body, leaving only its head exposed.

Anjie rubbed the cushion, feeling its texture, and asked to confirm, "Is this filled with feathers from the Blue Swallowtail and the Tanabata?"

"Gang~ Gang~~" Hmm~ Master is so smart.

The little Snorlax nodded repeatedly.

It turns out that the gift was something it had been secretly preparing ever since Anjie paid it its salary.

It found a family of cottonbirds and collected their shed feathers every day. Then it washed, dried, boiled them in hot water to disinfect them, and dried them again...

Finally, using An Jie's salary, she carefully selected the pillow's inner lining and cover from the system store.

To make the feathers of Swablu and Altaria cleaner, Snorlax even consulted some Pokémon and brought back a lot of special plants to boil with the feathers in water.

Anjie could smell the faint fragrance emanating from the pillow as soon as she hugged it; it was very refreshing and pleasant.

In short, Snorlax went to great lengths to prepare the two cushions.

If Swablu and its parents hadn't learned of Munchlax's intentions and plucked many of their own feathers to give to Munchlax, it's unknown how long it would have taken Munchlax to slowly collect all the fallen feathers.

At this moment, Anjie felt a warm current surging in his heart. He had just casually mentioned that if he could sleep with his head on the soft wings of Swablu and Altaria, he would be as happy as an immortal. He never expected that Snorlax would secretly remember it.

"Collecting so many feathers must have taken a lot of effort, right?" Angie squatted down and asked, holding the little Snorlax's hand.

"Just now~~" No, no.

The little Snorlax shook its head shyly.

Anjay gently gave it a hug. "I love this gift. It's one of the most precious gifts I've ever received. Thank you, Munchlax."

"Gang~~" Snorlax gave Angel a gentle hug in return.

After releasing the little Snorlax, Anjay happily said, "I'm going to put it on my bed and sleep with it every day."

Seeing how much Ange liked his gift, the little Munchlax smiled and held up the pillow in its arms, saying, "Gang~~ I have one too, just like it."

An Jie nodded and said, "These are master and apprentice body pillows."

"Gang~~"

The little Snorlax was so happy that it hugged its pillow and spun around in circles.

Angel grabbed the little Snorlax's hand and said as they walked towards her room, "Come on, let's see if it's suitable to put it on the bed."

"Gang~"

The little Snorlax nodded vigorously and followed Angel with light steps.

Once inside the room, Anjie placed the cushion on her bedside table and said with a dreamy expression, "I can't even imagine how wonderful it would be to sleep with it every day!"

"Gang~~"

Upon hearing this, the little Snorlax imitated Angie's expression, making a face as if it were trying hard to imagine, which immediately amused Angie.

"Gang~~"

Exiting Fantasy Mode, Munchlax grabbed Angel's hand and ran outside, all the way to its own room, where it placed its own pillow in the same spot as Angel.

"Gang~ Gang~"

The little Snorlax pointed to its pillow, looking at Ange with anticipation.

Anjie gave it a thumbs up and said, "We are truly master and apprentice; we even thought of the same place to put the pillows."

"Gang~ Gang~~"

Upon hearing this, the little Snorlax immediately jumped into Anjie's arms and started whining. The enthusiastic Anjie simply couldn't resist.

Because Anjax liked the carefully prepared gift, Munchlax was in a great mood for the next few days. It smiled at everyone it met, and even when Pokémon that came to the store to eat caused trouble, it treated them with a smile and was not angry at all.

Not long after Angel and Munchlax came downstairs, they found that Koala had returned. It was curled up in its little house, fast asleep with a tree pillow in its arms, and had a faint smell of alcohol on its body. The bottle of alcohol was nowhere to be found.

"Little drunkard." Anjie shook his head helplessly.

After dinner, the Ange family of four gathered in the cooking training room as usual. Ange and Munchlax practiced cooking, Diancie served as the coach and supervisor, and Koala... maybe... perhaps... played a role in styling.

Tianxi stood on the podium and said, "Today we will officially practice how to make various kinds of steamed buns. Do the two chefs have any opinions?"

"Just now" No.

"without!"

Anja and Munchlax said in a serious tone.

"Hmm, very good." Tianxi flicked the pointer in her hand, pulled out a pair of black-rimmed glasses from somewhere, put them on, and even pushed them up in a serious manner. "Today, I will still teach you strictly as before."

Here comes the super teacher!

Anjie shouted in his heart.

"Now, training begins!" Diancie shouted, startling Ange and Snorlax, and even causing the Komaru, which was swaying on the table, to pause.

"Today we're mainly practicing how to prepare the fillings."

"Gang~~"

"Mmm~~"

Anja and Munchlax nodded obediently.

"The first filling we're going to prepare is cabbage filling."

As Diancie finished speaking, all sorts of ingredients and seasonings needed to prepare the filling appeared in front of Angel and Munchlax.

"Let's begin. The first step is to chop the cabbage into small pieces."

Upon hearing this, Anjie and Snorlax quickly picked up kitchen knives and began to demonstrate their knife skills. However, before the master and apprentice could make two cuts, they heard the sound of a pointer being used to whip someone on the podium.

"Snorlax, you chopped it too finely! It'll affect the texture. Cut it again!"

The little Snorlax paused, quickly disposed of the freshly chopped cabbage, and then started again.

Thump thump thump~~~

The sounds of cleavers clattering against the cutting board echoed from the stove, interspersed with occasional stern rebukes from Tianxi.

"Snorlax, you still chopped it too finely."

"Anjie, concentrate, don't look around!"

"Little Snorlax, I'm asking you to chop vegetables, not to vent your anger. Use less force."

"Anjie, haven't you eaten? Put some effort into it."

……

As time went by, Anja and Munchlax chopped up basket after basket of cabbages.

Angel was an experienced player, so it was fine, but Munchlax, being a newbie, was in a terrible situation and got a severe scolding from Diancie.

The recipes provided by the system have extremely strict requirements for every step, allowing no room for error.

Next came the pickling of cabbage and the addition of seasonings, which caused even Anjie to be constantly scolded.

This part has even stricter requirements. Every detail must be taken into account, from the amount of vegetables to the amount of seasoning. Not a bit more or less is acceptable. Even if a little bit of moisture is left over during the marinating process of the vegetable filling, Diancie will give Ange and Munchlax a good scolding.

"I told you to prepare the filling, not to cause a flood!"

"Just now," said the housekeeper.

"Mother Blazing Roaring Tiger~"

Anja and Munchlax couldn't help but whisper to each other.

(`^) "What are you two whispering about?" Diancie's voice drifted over.

"Gang~~" I didn't say anything.

"It's nothing, it's nothing!"

Anja and Munchlax quickly shook their heads.

"Then hurry up and get to work! You're slowing down!" Diancie roared.

"Yes, instructor!"

"Yes, instructor!"

Anja and Munchlax had never felt that 10 hours was so long.

When the master and apprentice came out of the training room, they felt as if their bodies and minds had been cleansed.

Looking at the listless appearance of the master and apprentice, Tianxi said, "Honestly, I'm a proper lady from a respectable family, and you two are driving me to the brink of insanity."

Dianesi comes from the Azoth royal family and considers herself a genuine lady of high society.

(The royal family of Azoth is skilled at using Fairy-type Pokémon. For example, Angela's starter Pokémon is Rock/Fairy-type Diamondite, her twin sister Anna received Magearna, a Steel/Fairy-type Pokémon from Eliphas, Princess Himeya's starter Pokémon is Ralts, a Psychic/Fairy-type Pokémon, and Prince Lakel's starter Pokémon is Swirl, a single Fairy-type Pokémon.)

Anja and Munchlax: What a lady from a noble family, she's clearly a devilish instructor!

Exhausted, Anja and Munchlax washed up and went straight to sleep.

Before going to bed, Anjie claimed the rewards from his two daily tasks. Unfortunately, he wasn't as lucky as before and only got two ordinary ingredients: two fresh cucumbers and two scallions.

Sigh~ I'll save it for dinner tomorrow.

Turn off the lights and go to sleep!

Because of the intense training in the cooking studio yesterday, and with the help of a pillow given to her by Munchlax, Anjay slept soundly all night.

The situation was quite the opposite for Munchlax. It dreamed all night long, in which it kept chopping vegetables, preparing fillings, and making dumplings... There was a mountain of ingredients piled up in front of it, which it could never finish processing. It even talked in its sleep all night.

"No! No! No!"

In the dream, it failed to complete its mission and was gradually approached by Diancie.

The next morning, Anja felt refreshed, while Munchlax looked exhausted.

"Little Snorlax, what's wrong with you?" Angie asked, puzzled.

Upon hearing this, the little Snorlax glanced at Diancie and silently shook its head to indicate that it was alright.

Last night, it couldn't finish all the food in its dream, so in the second half of the night, it dreamed of Diancie yelling at it with a pointer.

That's terrifying! These so-called refined ladies simply don't exist!

Diancie was completely bewildered and asked the little Snorlax, "What's wrong? Is something wrong with me?"

"G- ...

The little Snorlax quickly flattered him.

"Really?" Diancie looked at her reflection in the basin again and again, then said with a touch of vanity, "Maybe I slept well last night, because I'm in pretty good shape today."

Snorlax: ...

Today, Ange was going to set up a stall in Azot City just like yesterday, so after getting up and washing up, he and Munchlax immediately got busy.

Let the dough rise, chop the vegetables, prepare the filling... Do all of this in advance so that Ange won't be in a rush when she arrives in Azot City.

Yesterday was his first time setting up a stall. Because he had no experience, he did everything on the spot, which almost exhausted him.

After all the materials were prepared, Anjie prepared to set off.

Tianxi saw Anjie to the door and hesitated before asking, "How about I go with you today?" Anjie had come back exhausted yesterday with a sore back, and it pained Tianxi to see him like that.

Anjie shook his head. "You can help Snorlax at home. It's fine with cooking, but it can't manage the shop if no one is watching it."

"Alright, then go and come back soon," Tianxi said helplessly.

"Muk~~"

Just then, a cry came from not far away. Anjie glanced in that direction and said, "It's getting late, I have to hurry up and leave, otherwise the Mk Eagle will be getting impatient."

Today, the one who will take Ange to the capital of Azot is the mother of the little arrow sparrow, Muke the eagle.

Unlike the stubborn father of the little arrowbird, the mother of the little arrowbird now has a very good impression of Anjie and is very willing to help him.

The father of the blue-winged bird helped, so there's no reason why the parents of the little arrow-finger who also eats at Anjie's house shouldn't have done anything.

Anjie, carrying the tree-pillow koala, approached the Starhawk and said, "Starhawk, please take good care of me today."

"Muk~~"

The Hawk nodded and lowered its body to make it easier for Angel to climb onto its back.

"Thank you." Anjie thanked him and then nimbly climbed onto the bed.

"Muk~~~"

With a cry, the Mk Eagle flapped its wings and took to the sky, setting off to greet the rising sun.

"Ah~~~" Anjie yawned, letting the cool morning breeze caress her face, then wiped away the tears welling up in her eyes and sighed, "Survival is tough, even a prince has to perform!"

The Mk Eagle was faster than the Blue Cotton Bird father, and soon Angel landed outside the capital of Azot.

Before leaving, Anjie took out a bunch of steamed buns and mantou and stuffed them into Munk Eagle's hands, saying, "Munk Eagle, you eat these first. We'll meet here at noon."

"Muk~~"

The eagle nodded, then disappeared into the nearby woods with the bun in its beak.

Angie then hurried into the city, found a secluded corner, retrieved the food truck, and drove it toward Elifas Park.

(End of this chapter)