Pokémon from Galar

"But……"

"Of course, this is just my personal opinion. You can listen to it, but you don't have to follow my example."

"Is that so?"

Mary rarely hears the thoughts of different trainers. Although she knows that everyone's definition of trainer and Pokémon is probably different, she still feels quite subtle after actually hearing them.

Not paying much attention to Mary's thoughtful expression, Nie Zi didn't think her sister would get stuck on such a narrow-minded idea.

"Let's put that aside for now. When Sonia contacted me before, she made a very interesting proposal. Would you like to hear it?"

"...I won't listen!"

Mary covered her ears without hesitation; she knew it couldn't be anything good. Seeing her sister's reaction, Nie Zi couldn't help but laugh.

"Why are you so resistant? I haven't even said anything yet."

"It's definitely not good news!"

"It's just being a temporary acting manager, is it really that big of a deal? I didn't run away."

"...Are you sure you don't want me to secretly become a full-fledged agent while I'm still acting as an agent?"

"How petty must I be to do something like this?"

Slightly annoyed, Nie Zi raised his hand and tapped Mary's forehead. Although he had indeed considered having Mary take over her position, it certainly wasn't now.

"Ah ha ha……"

Slightly embarrassed, Mary scratched her face and thought for a moment before asking:

"But is it okay? I'm a participant, yet I'm in charge of the gym challenge."

"It's okay, there's an assessment. With your performance today, you should pass easily."

"is it?"

"Have some confidence in yourself. Today you helped me deal with the Rockets' management and Articuno. This is a pretty good result."

There have been some things going on at home recently.

My parents seem to have gotten some traditional Chinese medicine, and I need to find time to go back to my hometown to brew it. But I also have to go to work, so I probably won't have enough time. I'll likely have to help them out. After that, I'll probably be visiting relatives around New Year's Day.

Therefore, updates will likely be unstable for the next few days. In short, I'm letting you know in advance that things will stabilize after New Year's Day. Don't worry, this book will be finished.

Chapter 312 The B&B and the Little Guy

Icebound Village is the only village in this snowfield area. It's not very large, and the population isn't too big either. You won't see any young people in the village; most of the residents are older, along with some children.

Even so, Ice Village itself is neither dilapidated nor impoverished. The Pokémon League once established a rather large research facility in this snowy region, and this only human settlement in the area naturally benefited from the economic growth of these researchers.

However, due to limited natural resources and harsh weather, Ningbing Village, which has little prospect for development, still cannot retain many young people.

After approaching the village, Mary and Nie Zi dismounted from Xiao Qiu's back and planned to walk into the village.

"This place is truly amazing..."

I watched as an Ice Dragon leisurely passed by. This ancient Pokémon, which in other regions only managed to be revived through fossils, lived in the wild here.

"Yes, that's one of the reasons why the Alliance has never developed the snowfield."

Nie Zi was naturally unsurprised. The snowfield was full of legends and ruins, with a wide variety of Pokémon and that strange underground Dynamax space. The League would not be willing to destroy such a place in the slightest.

The snowfield was quieter than I had imagined, and even the Pokémon that wandered around seemed more cautious than during the day.

The two stepped into the village, where only a few lights were lit. At this time of day, there was no one to be seen outdoors.

"Ah! Team Leader Nie Zi! Welcome back in triumph!"

A rather young-looking detective ran over enthusiastically after seeing Nie Zi; he must have been one of the members who stayed behind in the village.

"Yes, thank you for your hard work these past few days. We'll be able to leave here in a few more days."

"Hehe, this must be the team leader's sister, right? I heard she helped the team leader defeat Articuno and Team Rocket?"

"I only helped with a small matter, nothing to worry about."

Mary smiled and shook her head. She thought the other person would be suspicious of her young age, but the other person acted as if she had done a great service, which made her feel a little embarrassed.

"Alright, I'm taking my sister to rest for a while. You should go back too. Contact me if you need anything."

"Yes!"

Because the search for those who escaped is still ongoing, and now that it's night, the search might continue until tomorrow. Those of them who are guarding the village must be ready to coordinate with their colleagues at any time.

After saying goodbye to the detective who had suddenly appeared, Nie Zi led Mary straight through the center of the village and headed towards a guesthouse.

Mary's gaze fell on the ancient sculpture in the middle of the village. Time had worn away many details on the sculpture, leaving Mary only able to vaguely recognize its appearance from memory.

The enormous crown that should have been on their heads had been thrown away somewhere.

She'll probably wake up soon, Calypso.

Mary withdrew her gaze. She still remembered some of the information about the Rachelon King, who had fallen into a deep sleep because of his prophecy of the coming of Eterna, and whose power had thus diminished.

This led to the gradual decay of the once prosperous land and kingdom, transforming it into the snow-covered region it is today. Only fragmentary legends remain about the Rachelon King within this village.

It must have been very painful for this land to fall into a slumber and lose its power, only to have everyone forget its existence.

"What? Are you interested in the legends of this village too?"

Noticing Mary's gaze, Nie Zi curiously turned his head and asked a question.

Well, maybe a little.

"Unfortunately, the legends about this place are very fragmented. The most complete one is the story of the three divine birds. Many people have looked through history, but they have found very little."

"Eh... I see."

Mary nodded, but in her heart she was thinking about whether to restore the sculpture in the middle of the village first. At least when the Rachel King woke up and saw that there was still a statue of herself standing in the human settlement, it would make her feel a little better.

If my memory serves me right, the missing piece should be in a storage room somewhere in the village. It shouldn't be too difficult to find, since the village isn't very big.

"Alright, we've arrived. Let's rest here for the night. The search might not be over anytime soon, and I don't think your two friends are the type to give up halfway."

Actually, Nie Zi had another half-sentence left unsaid: given Mei Rong's Spartan-like style, the option of giving up halfway was never an option in the first place.

"Well..."

Pushing open the door and stepping into the house, the temperature difference between inside and outside was quite large, causing Mary, who had been braving the cold wind, to shiver instinctively.

Of course, Nie Zi would talk to the landlady about the other matters. This long-lost feeling of being taken care of without having to worry made Mary a little uncomfortable.

The house was just an ordinary detached house, but it was quite spacious and very clean. Next door, the child of the house was probably watching TV and dozing off with his Eevee.

"Marie, come upstairs."

"coming."

She looked away, took the key from Nie Zi, and went up to the room on the second floor.

The rooms are separate, of course. Although Mary herself doesn't mind this, she was once scolded by her mother for this subtle mentality of not treating boys as the opposite sex.

I walked into the room alone, and it was naturally not as spacious as the hotel I had stayed in before.

Lying down on the bed, Mary took out her phone and sent a message to Yuri, telling her to come find her in Ningbing Village after everything was over, then closed the chat window. She covered her mouth and yawned; after everything that had happened, the soft bed and pillows suddenly made her sleepy.

Just as Mary was hugging her pillow and resisting Ichigo's urging to get up and wash, a small figure was approaching Mary's guesthouse outside, looking bewildered.

Suddenly falling into this strange place, although survival wasn't difficult, the little guy was still quite excited to finally feel the familiar energy. However, being so young, the little guy couldn't even teleport; he could only flap his light arms to propel himself forward through the snow.

Ring ring—

The wind chimes at the entrance rang, and the landlady, who had just sent her grandson back to his room to sleep, perked up and walked quickly to the front desk, somewhat surprised, to greet the second guest of the evening.

"Welcome light—oh?"

However, the second guest was not human, but a Pokémon of unknown species.

I walked over and closed the door to block the wind and snow. When I turned around, I saw that the Pokémon had shaken off the snow and was hopping towards the stairs to the second floor.

Are you looking for something?

The proprietress, finding the little creature adorable and having nothing else to do, tiptoed after it, intending to see what this Pokémon was looking for.

P.S.: After thinking about it, since we've come all the way to the snowfield, we should at least pick up some things to take back. I originally planned to get an ice dragon, which is cute and wobbly, but according to the setting, it can't adapt to any climate other than the snowfield, so I gave up on that and changed it to a mascot instead.

After all, at this point in the story, Mary's team is full of fighting, and they still haven't found a proper mascot who can make a living off cuteness.

Chapter 313 Little Nebula

It climbed the steps with some difficulty, and the proprietress followed behind the little guy, watching it stop in front of Mary's door.

The little guy seemed to think that this door was like the previous one, so he put his hands on it and tried to push it open, but he couldn't. For a moment, he stood outside the door feeling quite helpless.

"No, those are guests inside, we can't disturb them."

The proprietress smiled and reached out from behind to pick up the little guy. His light body intrigued her. The little guy's body was like a ball of gas, soft and fluffy like a colorful cloud.

"Yeah——"

The little guy naturally couldn't understand what the landlady was saying, but not sensing any malice made his resistance not intense. He just swung his little hands around and kept spinning in circles.

This put the proprietress in a bit of a dilemma. It's not good to bother customers over trivial matters, but the little guy in her arms wouldn't stay still at all, and even seemed about to cry.

Meanwhile, inside the room...

Yi-chan stood next to Mary, her forefoot resting on Mary's cheek. She looked helplessly at Mary, who was lying on the bed and refusing to move. Suddenly, her ears twitched, and she noticed the commotion outside the room.

Somewhat curious, I turned my head and carefully sensed it.

"Ee~ (Marie, something seems to be happening outside?)"

"Hmm... then I'll trouble you to go and take a look, Izu-chan. If it's inconvenient, please ask Izu-chan to come along."

However, still half-asleep, Mary kept her eyes half-closed and didn't intend to get up. She waved her hand, asking Ichigo to go and check on the situation.

"..."

I-chan looked down at Mari's narrowed eyes, lifted her foot and walked to the side, using her telekinesis to activate Su-chan's Poké Ball. Although Su-chan's psychic abilities were not weak, she was the only one who could communicate directly with humans through telekinesis.

"Sha~ (I'll go check it out~)"

Sijiang jumped off the bed, left the bed, and opened the door with a click.

"Ya~ya~!"

Upon seeing the door open on its own, the little one, who had just looked like she was about to cry, instantly stopped crying and jumped down from the landlady's arms, bypassing Siji and hopping into the room.