Pokémon: Starting as a Farmer Instead of a Trainer

Chapter 50 The Face-Covering Ceremony Begins

Time flies, and after lunch, it's afternoon.

Mingyou began packing up the goods she was going to sell today, only picking out a few juicy peaches, some white plums without any added effects, and apples.

These kinds of things sell better, and peaches this big are really attractive. He won't sell them at a particularly high price; he only picked the C-grade ones, so the effect is a bit worse.

He had already made arrangements for the Face-Covering Festival. He decided to let Ponpo stay in the Poké Ball for a while, since it wasn't time for the festival to start yet. He wouldn't have to worry about it so much in the evening.

"Then let's get ready to go!"

He rode the horned deer. Latias originally wanted to ride with him, but in the end he chose to revert to his original form and fly over directly after him.

Because it wanted to bring the giblets, the little sharks were successfully persuaded, but if Mingyou were to take them, the giblets would be somewhat resistant...

A moment later, Mingyou rode the Ghostly Horned Deer to the North Center. The Masked Festival was scheduled to start at 5 p.m., and there were still two hours to go, but the atmosphere was already fully engaged, with quite a few people there.

"There are so many people today, it's a good day for business."

Mingyou arrived at his stall and began to prepare. This was the first time in days that he had seen so many people, and many of them were already wearing masks.

Participation in the Masked Festival is not mandatory, but to fit in with the atmosphere, everyone will buy a mask to wear, since they are not particularly expensive.

"I'll need to buy a few more later..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Latias transformed into the appearance of a little girl and suddenly appeared behind him with Gible. Seeing the lively atmosphere, Latias couldn't resist joining in.

However, Mingyou reacted quickly and grabbed her, saying, "Don't run around. Stay here for a while, and I'll take you to buy masks once I'm ready."

"Waaah..."

Latias pouted, took his folding chair, and sat obediently to the side.

Gible looked around curiously. It had lived in big cities before, so such a lively environment was nothing special to it. But this time, the feeling was completely different, and it even began to look forward to it.

The stag lay down to rest. It wasn't interested in the celebrations or anything like that; it felt it would be better to have a banquet at the manor, which it preferred.

After preparing everything, Mingyou released the Munchlax from its Poké Ball, then looked at the Deerclops and said, "Then I'll trouble you to watch the shop for a bit. We'll be right back."

"Yo yo~"

Then, Mingyou left with Snorlax and Latias. Gible hesitated for a moment, then followed with its short legs.

Just after they left, a tea canister suddenly appeared beneath the stall. The horned deer opened its eyes, glanced at it, and then closed them again...

There were so many people and Pokémon at the North Center today that even the street stalls had long queues. It's impossible for Mingyou not to be envious.

Latias kept looking around, full of curiosity about everything. This was her first time in such a place, and she especially wanted to go and eat some of the delicious food.

"Waaah!"

She pointed to a restaurant selling grilled squid with a sign that read "Haola You" and said she wanted to eat that.

Mingyou glanced at the long line and could only say helplessly, "There are too many people. Let's come back after we buy the masks."

"Waaah..."

"Bear with it for now, I'll buy you whatever you want to eat later."

As Mingyou coaxed the little girl, he felt as if he had returned to his previous life when he worked at the orphanage, coaxing children every day.

They then came to a mask stall, where a few people were also choosing masks, but there were relatively few people there compared to other stalls.

After waiting in line for a while, it was finally their turn.

The owner of the mask stall was a bald middle-aged man. Since he also had a stall there, he recognized Mingyou and greeted her, "Looking to buy a mask? We've already sold a lot today, so these are the only ones left. Pick one you like."

"Um."

Mingyou nodded slightly, then glanced at the mask of the three treasure companions, as well as the ghost mask. To his surprise, there were still quite a few of the former left, but only two of the latter.

"Are ghost masks selling so well?"

"Yes, in the past, more people bought Baoban masks. I don't know when it started, but tourists from other places like to buy ghost masks, just because they think ghosts are cool, even though Baoban is cooler."

The stall owner was also complaining, but Mingyou smiled and bought a ghost mask. Then he looked at Latias and the others and asked, "You guys can pick one too. We also have masks for Pokémon here."

"Gambit?"

Snorlax stared at it for a while, then picked up one of its own masks. Latias chose a Clefairy mask because it was cute.

Finally, Mingyou looked at Gible and said with a smile, "You should choose a mask too."

"shark?"

Gible was slightly taken aback, not expecting that it would also have to buy one... So it was picked up by Snorlax, stared at the stall, and chose a Dragonite mask.

"Is it too big? It's just right."

"shark……"

Even Gible was a little embarrassed by what he said.

"Let's go then."

Mingyou led them back to her stall, only to discover that Latias couldn't even put on a mask. He held it for ages, trying to figure it out, and in his frustration, he almost bit it. He was so clumsy.

Helpless, he had no choice but to squat down and help Latias put the mask on his head sideways.

Just then, several figures suddenly appeared from the front, followed by a familiar voice: "Aren't you the owner of that fruit stall? I've run into you again. The professor has been studying your fruit lately, and he's hardly ever seen you."

"So, do you want to buy some fruit?"

Mingyou smiled and looked up to respond. It was indeed Shuilian. Besides her and Mao, there were two other girls in the group. One was a blonde young lady wearing the same Pipi mask, and the other was a bob-haired girl wearing a Mumu Owl mask.

All four of them were dressed in light kimonos for the festival, and many people around them were dressed like that. This was the traditional clothing of Kitakami Township. Compared to them, Naruyu, who was still in her everyday clothes, seemed a bit out of place.

Through Mao's introduction, he learned the names of the other two girls... Lillie and Mizuki, although there seemed to be no need for him to introduce them, as he could recognize them at a glance.

Then Mao noticed the little girl wearing a mask beside him and asked with a smile, "She's so cute, is she your sister?"

Yes, that's right.

Mingyou readily admitted it. She had already agreed with Latias that when they were out playing, he would pretend to be her brother to avoid arousing suspicion.

After observing for a while, Shui Lian asked in confusion, "But why don't you look alike at all? My two younger sisters look a lot like me, and the three of us sisters look a lot like our mother."

Not everyone is born with an immutable stone.

"Alright then... little sister, would you like to go play with your older sisters?"

"..."

Latias was stunned by the question; she didn't know what to do, since she couldn't respond.

Fortunately, Mingyou reacted quickly and said, "She still prefers to be with me. She gets scared if I'm not around."

"pity……"

Mao and Shui Lian were both a little disappointed, while Lillie, seeing that Latias was wearing the same mask as her, wanted to go up and say hello.

But as soon as she reached out to touch her head, seemingly driven by instinct, she instantly bristled.

"What's wrong?"

Mizuki quickly asked and pulled her away.

"I...I don't know."

Lillie shook her head, looking somewhat flustered. Why was her body reacting like it was when she was in contact with a Pokémon, even though it was just a little girl in front of her? Could it be that her symptoms had worsened?

Mingyou watched all this with a smile, then said, "Then we'll be going now. If you want to buy fruit, you can come to my place. I have plums and peaches for sale today, and the prices are quite cheap."

"No, we still have to visit the festival today. Let's talk about it when we get there."

"I see, what a pity..."

Mingyou shook her head and watched them leave. After queuing up to buy several servings of grilled squid for Latias, she returned to her own stall.

Latias, having finally gotten to eat grilled squid, stopped making a fuss, just like a child who has just eaten KFC, and sat on the horned deer to eat.

Snorlax and Gible each took a portion, and Mingyou also tried it. It tasted pretty good. It was made with real squid, not squid, so don't get the wrong idea, there are ordinary animals in this world.

Then he glanced around and quietly released Ponpo from the Poké Ball, not wanting the child to stay alone in the ball forever.

As soon as it emerged from the Poké Ball, Ponpo thought the Faceless Festival had already begun, but when Naruyu told it that it would have to wait another hour, it was instantly disappointed.

"Try it first."

Mingyou gave it her share, which made Ponpo smile again. She reached out and grabbed a piece to eat.

"Mmm~"

Not bad, the taste is great!

Mingyou patted its head and said, "Eat them all if you like. Remember to wear your mask. Sit here and don't go out yet. We'll go together later."

"Mmm~"

Ponpo squatted behind the stall, hiding there, but with Latias and the others there, it didn't feel lonely at all and was very happy.

Mingyou took care of them, but unfortunately, the fruit didn't sell. Even so, he and Pengpeng both had smiles on their faces.

And so, it finally came to 5 p.m., and with the sound of a bell ringing from the direction of the shrine, it meant that the Omnibus Festival had finally begun!

……

(End of this chapter)