Pokémon: Starting with a Pokémon Ranch.

Chapter 18 The Store Manager's Attitude

Back at the ranch, Su Yu started making fried pork chops for breakfast very early in the morning.

After all, people who do heavy manual labor get hungry easily if they don't eat meat. In addition, the people in this world are also physically stronger.

Anyway, I'll eat whatever I want, it doesn't matter how much I eat, I'll just eat a lot of rice.

While the pork cutlet was being fried, the tropical dragon's head peeked out from the bedside, looking mysterious as if it had something on its mind.

"What's wrong?" Su Yu asked, puzzled.

Just then, a very cute pink Pokémon peeked out from behind Tropius's head to the window, looking somewhat nervous.

"Wait, this is... Alcremie? Where did this come from?" Su Yu recognized the Pokémon.

Alcremie also turned to look at Tropius, who nodded and said gently:

"Hee~!" Su Yu can understand what he's saying; he's learned the language of Pokémon.

Upon hearing this, Frost Milk Fairy turned to Su Yu and explained the whole story to him.

"What?"

Upon hearing Alcremie's explanation, Su Yu was stunned. Only then did he realize that Tropius had secretly run off with the cake shop owner's Pokémon yesterday.

This was also a major headache for Su Yu, who rubbed his forehead and said:

"What's going on? How could you secretly steal the shop owner's Pokémon? I'm supposed to go there today to learn how to make cakes, what am I supposed to do now?"

"And you didn't even tell me! You only told me now. You should have at least discussed it with me back at the cake shop. What happened to the most basic trust between trainers and Pokémon...?"

"Hoo..." Upon hearing this, Tropius felt a little ashamed; it hadn't thought that much about it at the time. It just thought that since Alcremie had asked it for help, it would help, after all, helping other Pokémon was the right thing to do.

Upon hearing Su Yu's words, Alcremie realized that her chances of staying were slim. She lowered her head, looking quite dejected.

Su Yu looked at the two Pokémon with their different expressions, and he didn't know what they were thinking.

As a rancher, Su Yu definitely wanted to catch an Alcremie. But the Alcremie in front of him belonged to the cake shop owner and wasn't a wild Pokémon; it wouldn't be right for him to just give it away.

This is almost no different from those who stole other people's cats and dogs in their past lives, except that Pokémon have their own ideas and are more intelligent.

But Alcremie seems to want to stay on the ranch; she doesn't seem to want to go back to the cake shop, but rather wants to stay with the tropical dragon.

After thinking for a moment, Su Yu asked:

"Lady Milk Fairy, you said you want to stay on the ranch and don't want to go back?"

"Ma, Ma." Alcremie nodded.

"Alright then, Tropical Dragon and I will go find the cake shop manager and tell him about this."

"It's all up to him. If he wants you to stay, then you stay. If he doesn't want you to stay, then there's nothing I can do."

"Of course, you also have the right to choose freely. If he doesn't want you to leave, but you want to go, you can go to Officer Jenny. They will decide everything, and they will help you."

"Mama?"

Upon hearing this, Alcremie showed a delighted expression, looking as if she couldn't believe it.

Does it even have a chance to stay?

"By the way, you said you really like Pokémon on ranches and grasslands?"

Su Yu's eyes were strange as he said this. Would a real Alcremie fairy really like the grasslands?

Alcremie nodded.

"After breakfast, let Growlithe take you for a walk around the ranch. Tropius and I both have things to do, so we can't accompany you."

"The Pokémon in the ranch are all very friendly. You can go and get to know them. If you can stay, I hope you can get along well in the future."

Upon hearing this, Alcremie nodded very seriously, her little fists clenching tightly in secret.

Alcremie will surely become good friends with the Pokémon on the farm.

……

After finishing breakfast, Su Yu let out a breath of stale air. He had been busy since morning and hadn't had a moment's rest.

"I really want to find a Pokémon to do my chores..."

Su Yu couldn't help but think that he was overwhelmed by the situation.

However, to be fair, there aren't many types of Pokémon that can help him with his workload.

After all, the jobs he did were somewhat complicated, such as watering crops and fishing at the lake.

Dogs like Growlithe can't help with anything.

At this moment, Tropius finished eating its Pokémon food, raised its head to the window, and called out to Su Yu.

"Hooray~!"

"Okay, okay, let's go to the cake shop."

"Speaking of which, I've really had to trouble you these past few days, Tropical Dragon."

After all, Tropius can fly, and there are almost no flying Pokémon in the ranch besides Tropius.

Flying can solve many problems, such as fishing and traveling, all of which require the help of tropical dragons.

Upon hearing this, the tropical dragon shook its head, indicating that it was not troublesome and that it still enjoyed this kind of life.

But... it would be even better if its companions could be rescued. That way, it could stay by Su Yu's side more peacefully.

"Don't worry, Officer Jenny and the others will definitely rescue your companions. I've also told them that they will notify us if there is any news about poaching gangs."

"However, I am still very weak right now. But I promise that if you ever need me, no matter how strong I am then, I will definitely help you."

Seeing that the tropical dragon was in low spirits, Su Yu comforted it in this way.

Upon hearing this, the tropical dragon nodded, believing that if that day ever came, Su Yu would keep his promise.

……

……

The tropical dragon flew very fast and arrived in town in just a few minutes.

Su Yu jumped off the tropical dragon's back, opened the door, and entered the cake shop. The shop manager was a middle-aged man wearing an apron.

To Su Yu's surprise, the store manager seemed oblivious to the disappearance of Creamy Fairy, as if everything was normal.

Upon seeing Su Yu arrive, he asked in confusion:

"Oh, it's you. Didn't we agree to have a cake-making lesson this afternoon? Why are you here so early?"

The store manager spoke slowly and wore glasses, appearing very rigid and inflexible.

"Um... I came because there's something I wanted to tell you, it's just that..."

Su Yu told the shopkeeper the whole story of how Alcremie went to the ranch. He originally thought that the shopkeeper would be very angry after finding out about it.

But to Su Yu's surprise, the shop manager simply smiled faintly and slowly said:

"I see, I knew it all along."

"Aren't you... surprised, or rather, aren't you angry?" The store manager's reaction left Su Yu quite taken aback.

If Su Yu were the shop manager, he would probably feel betrayed by Alcremie's departure...

In response, the store manager said:

"No, I noticed a long time ago that it longed for the grasslands, but since I own a cake shop, I couldn't give it what it wanted."

"Since it chose to leave, let it stay with you. Pokémon are sentient beings; they have their own thoughts, and we can't force them to stay."

Upon hearing this, Su Yu nodded. This store manager had quite a broad perspective, which Su Yu greatly admired.

However, it seems the shopkeeper must have put a lot of effort into training this Alcremie. Therefore, Su Yu took out 10,000 Alliance Coins, handed them to the shopkeeper, and said:

"But I still have to apologize. My tropical dragon took your Alcremie without permission. This 10,000 League Coins is my compensation on its behalf. I don't know if it's enough."

The shop manager didn't refuse; after accepting the Alliance Coins, he went back to his work. This made Su Yu a little embarrassed, and he asked:

"So... what about the cake-making lesson we agreed on?"

"Hmm... You can just ask Creamy Fairy about this. Her skills in this area are no less than mine, especially in cooking." The shop manager replied calmly, making it impossible for Su Yu to detect any emotional fluctuation.

This surprised Su Yu.

"Huh? This..."

—Is that Alcremie really that powerful?

This made Su Yu even more embarrassed. In other words, he had essentially kidnapped a master cake maker.

That compensation of 10,000 Alliance Coins doesn't seem to be enough...

……

(End of this chapter)