Elf: Re-employment of retired champion of Padiya

Chapter 721 Revisiting Frosty Mountain

Frost Mountain is quite a distance from Pingdie Town.

Without taking the express train, it's practically impossible to go and return on the same day.

Not to mention that Luo Mu chose a motorhome, which he bought specifically for long-distance travel, as his vehicle this time.

—What, you're saying pickup trucks are better for mountain roads?
But motorhomes are much more comfortable!
That pickup truck was usually used by Luo Mu and Zhi Huixing as a work vehicle when they went out to buy groceries.

According to the estimated time given by the navigation system installed in the RV, it will take about a day's drive from Pingdie Town to reach the foot of Shuangmo Mountain.

If you also take into account the time spent on the mountain, you'll probably need to allow at least four or five days for the round trip.

At the dojo, there are Gorilla and Calycerin, and at Orange Academy, Luo Mu has also made arrangements, with Hachisaku covering two classes for him.

All Hachisaku wanted in return was a little wheat wine that the farm had started brewing last year, along with some fruit and honey.

The eldest son of this dragon trainer family was surprisingly easy to please.

Luo Mu quickly made preparations. After he finished checking the supplies he had prepared at home that morning, he got off the RV.

In the gym's backyard, all the Pokémon that would be accompanying him to Mt. Frosty had arrived.

The Xenogear, Nine-Tailed Fox, Burning Bug, Bear Apprentice, Little Fruit, and Messenger Bird, who is the "protagonist" of this trip.

Luo Mu originally planned to bring the Blizzard King and his wife, as well as the Snow Hat Monster, along with them, since they used to live on Frost Mountain.

However, they argued that so much time had passed and their former caves had long been occupied by other wild Pokémon, indicating that they had no intention of returning to Mt. Frosty.

Among the other Ice-type Pokémon, Sandslash and his wife, along with Sandshrew, had long considered the Ice Cellar their second home and showed little interest in going to Frostbite Mountain.

Regice's activity area is limited to the farm; it will not leave the place it guards.

As for Snowstorm Horse, seeing that Nine-Tailed Fox was going, this lecherous horse wanted to follow, but was suppressed in advance by Raikou, who had anticipated this.

Right now, it should be forced to act as the donkey pulling the millstone, working with the dolls and the line soldiers to prepare some homemade items.

Looking at the large group, he smiled and said, "Let's go!"

Driving for long periods of time is undoubtedly a tedious and boring experience, and it can also cause severe fatigue.

Fortunately, the Pokémon world already has a relatively mature intelligent driving system. Not to mention a motorhome that drives on the road, even airships and spaceships have fully automatic intelligent driving functions.

On man-made roads, you can basically take your hands off the wheel and hand over the driving to the intelligent driving system, which will follow the set route.

At this time, Luo Mu can take a short break, run to the space behind the RV to pet a cat, and drink some ice water from the vehicle's refrigerator.

If they encounter a section of road that is rarely traveled, not very smooth, and where wild Pokémon might suddenly dart out, he will take over driving to prevent accidents.

In this way, even if the journey takes almost a whole day, Luo Mu won't be like those fatigued drivers who are listless and can fall asleep at any time.

As technology advances, and judging from the manufacturer's promises, it may even be able to integrate into a completely new intelligent system controlled by individual Pokémon.

Like Rotom, Porygon, and the like.

At that time, fully automated intelligent driving will probably be possible.

Luo Mu was really looking forward to this day.

By then, he can consider getting a new phone.

Soon, on the afternoon of the second day after their departure, Luo Mu, sitting in the driver's seat, saw a magnificent snow-capped mountain range covered in snow.

That was Frostmog Mountain, and the surrounding mountain range.

"call--"

Luo Mu lowered the car window and exhaled a puff of white breath towards the outside.

The sudden drop in temperature felt on his skin, and the icy sensation in his throat, were all reminders that he had entered the Frost-Smeared Mountain area.

"Bea—"

Sitting in the passenger seat, Xiong's apprentice also imitated him, exhaling a puff of white breath out the window, his little face full of curiosity.

It had never been to such a cold place before, let alone seen such magnificent snow-capped mountains.

On Armor Island, besides forests, wetlands, limestone caves, and sand dunes, there is only the ocean surrounding it.

For Xiong's apprentice, the snow-capped mountain was a completely new and exciting thing.

Even though it's already early summer, the frozen snow and ice on Frostmoor Mountain show no signs of melting.

Even the sky, which had been clear not long ago, suddenly turned gloomy, with thick clouds obscuring the sky and making it difficult for even sunlight to penetrate.

Upon reaching Frost Mountain, one may encounter obstacles such as wind and snow.

The bear apprentice leaned against the window, gazing intently at the scenery of Frost-Smeared Mountain.

After checking the navigation, Luo Mu called out to the back of the vehicle, "We're almost at the campsite at the foot of the mountain. Everyone get ready, we'll get off in a bit!"

The responses from the Röntgen cats came from inside the carriage. Luo Mu handed over the driving for the last leg of the journey to the intelligent driving system, and then took out a jacket that he had prepared beforehand and put it on.

After Luo Mu put on his warm clothes, the RV arrived at the entrance of the "campsite".

The so-called "camp" is actually an outdoor human gathering place built by some mountaineering enthusiasts who want to climb Frostmoor Mountain, as well as people living nearby.

This place sells most of the supplies needed for mountain climbing, provides rest stops and lodging, and also allows those who are not confident in their abilities to team up or to issue missions to others.

Well, it's similar to an adventurer's guild in some Western fantasy worlds, with similar functions, except one is a large organization and the other is a place spontaneously organized by trainers and mountaineering enthusiasts.

Previously, when Luo Mu was on a mission to capture Hunter J in Freezer Town, he heard from Ranger Tron that occasionally, if the residents of Freezer Town didn't want to go to towns further away to buy supplies, they would come directly to this camp.

Luo Mu had stayed at several similar campsites when he traveled before.

The mountain path was not suitable for the RV, so he planned to park the RV in the open-air parking lot here and then hike up Frosty Mountain with the Röntgen cat and the messenger bird.

After all, if you just leave it out in the wild, it might get damaged or stolen by some wild Pokémon or a passing thief.

This kind of managed place, where you only need to pay a parking fee, is quite suitable.

The campsite was set up on a flat area at the foot of Frostmoor Mountain, and it was one of the larger ones.

Even the parking lot is quite large.

Luo Mu easily found a parking space and used the intelligent driving system to reverse into the parking space. After getting out of the car, he took a license plate from a middle-aged woman who walked over.

The other party smiled and said, "Welcome to the Frostmountain Camp Parking Lot. Please keep your wristband safe. The parking time will be calculated based on the time you pick up and return the wristband, and the final fee will be charged accordingly." "You need two identical wristbands to drive away. We apologize for the inconvenience."

As she spoke, she took out another card that looked exactly like the one in Luo Mu's hand and numbered it, and hung it next to the rearview mirror.

To be honest, this method is not only unintelligent but also very troublesome. However, in a wilderness camp where electricity is usually generated by generators or Electric-type Pokémon, it is impossible to expect a mature parking system and facilities.

"I see. Thank you for your reminder."

Luo Mu nodded politely, beckoning the Pokémon in the car to get off, while casually stuffing the hand card into his backpack full of supplies.

After all, this is a camp, and it's not suitable to move around with too many Pokémon.

So Luo Mu only kept Xeno'jiiva by his side, and temporarily put Delibird, Flamebug, and Ninetales back into their Poké Balls.

We'll call them out again when we set off to climb Frostmog Mountain.

Since Luo Mu didn't use a Poké Ball to capture it, but only helped it train and become stronger, the bear apprentice also stayed outside with the X-Raycat.

With his two Pokémon in hand, Luo Mu headed towards the area where the most people were gathered in the camp.

He planned to find out from there whether anything noteworthy had happened on Frostmoor Mountain in the past two days.

After passing through various vendors' stalls, as well as areas where trainers and mountaineering enthusiasts from Frostmog Mountain set up stalls to sell their catch.

Suddenly, Luo Mu's vision cleared, and a somewhat bustling "square" came into view.

Many trainers were walking around the plaza with their Pokémon, and you could hear them talking, discussing, and introducing themselves from time to time.

"My family's 'fiery chili peppers' are incredibly potent and produce capsaicin, a precious ingredient found on snow-capped mountains, so there's absolutely no need to worry about the risk of hypothermia!"

"I tamed my Nyx Asura on Frostmog Mountain, so I'm very familiar with the environment around the mountainside!"

"My Jigglypuff not only learned the move 'Heal Pulse,' but it's also very good at the move 'Sing.' It can liven up the atmosphere and control attacking wild Pokémon!"

These scenes, in Luo Mu's view, were very similar to those in comics where people search for team members in a guild.

Perhaps because of the imposing presence of the X-Rayet Cat by his side, Luo Mu was approached by many wild trainers and climbers who invited him to team up.

Some people even offered to pay him to be their bodyguard.

However, Luo Mu, who had no intention of forming a team, could only politely decline their invitations one by one.

Soon, Luo Mu arrived at several bulletin boards.

After consciously ignoring the recruitment section for team members posted on the poster, Luo Mu focused his attention on the intelligence-related content.

Some of this information came from trainers and climbers who came down from Frostbite Mountain, while some was official alerts issued by the Padiyah government. It was printed out and posted here.

“A group of Weavile has recently been spotted on the northwest side of the mountainside. Trainers and climbers heading to the area should be wary of their attacks. Some people have already had their belongings stolen.”

"Traces of what appear to be a wild Snow Fairy have been spotted in the cedar forest. Those interested can try to find her."

"Temperatures on the Frostbite Mountain peak have been dropping recently, with a chance of snowstorms and even blizzards. The Padiya Meteorological Service has issued a warning, urging climbers to be careful."

"There are suspected Pokémon hunter activity traces on the northern slope of Mt. Frostbite. Officer Jenny of Freezer Town has dispatched officers to patrol the area and is now appealing to the public for clues."

Through these sheets of paper posted on the bulletin board, Luo Mu roughly grasped the information about any noteworthy events currently taking place on Frostmog Mountain.

Although there were no sightings of the messenger bird population, which was his primary target, mentioned above.

But this gave him a better understanding of the situation.

The only thing that bothered him somewhat was the information that there were suspected Pokémon hunters on the northern slope of Frostbite Mountain.

However, since a reward notice has already been posted, it means that the Padiya Alliance officials and the police have taken over the matter, and the rangers responsible for patrolling Frostbite Mountain will also be tracking it, so there's nothing for him to worry about.

"A Pokémon hunter, huh? If we happen to encounter one, we might as well catch it."

Having made the decision happily, Luo Mu did not linger, but turned and walked towards the outside of the camp.

He also passed a makeshift medical station along the way.

Luo Mu remembered that these medical stations would occasionally have Pokémon nurses or doctors who weren't Nurse Joy stationed there, responsible for treating the Pokémon of trainers and climbers, as well as dealing with some of their external injuries.

However, unlike the Pokémon Centers that offer free treatment to Pokémon trainers recognized by the League, the treatment here still costs money.

After all, who would be willing to travel so far for medical treatment if they weren't making money?

After glancing at the medical station, Luo Mu turned and walked towards Frostmog Mountain.

Upon closer inspection, Frostmoor Mountain still looked much the same as Luo Mu remembered.

The highest snow-capped peak pierced through the clouds and disappeared into the sky, where heavy snow was probably falling.

However, Luo Mu's destination today is not to reach the summit.

"Delibird." Luo Mu released Delibird from its Poké Ball and said, "How is it? Frosty Mountain, which I haven't seen for half a year."

Holding its tail, the messenger bird gazed intently at the majestic snow-capped peaks before it, recalling its past life on the mountains.

For no apparent reason, an impulse arose in its heart.

"Deli."

It thought it couldn't wait to see its long-lost clansmen.

at the same time.

Frost covers the mountainside.

Wearing thick clothes, Trump, with a full head of white hair, was squatting under a cedar tree, his slightly cloudy eyes fixed on the obvious footprints and tire tracks in the snow.

Beside him, the dog Douding barked incessantly, as if trying to remind Trump of something.

Trump's sharp gaze melted completely the moment he looked at the grave-like dog. He stroked its head and said softly, "I know you're reminding me that this is the scent of a stranger, right?"

Trump recalled the footprints of the walking whale and the massive whale that he had just witnessed, which shouldn't have been at this altitude, and the matter that Officer Jenny had asked him to patrol the area more.

Many clues come together to point to one truth.

"Just as the news said, there really are Pokémon hunters active in the area?"

(End of this chapter)