Not Being a Trainer This Time

The ground cracked open, and the destroyed royal city was buried deep within the earth due to the earthquake, its whereabouts unknown.

After that, the king abandoned the old royal city that was mostly destroyed, choosing instead to build a new royal city elsewhere.

This time, Raifort’s goal was the ruins of that royal city, as she planned to go there to investigate the Treasures of Ruin.

As for why she sought Naoki’s help, through conversations over the past month, Raifort learned that he was an excellent trainer.

The royal city ruins located deep underground might harbor some powerful Pokémon. In such situations, having a strong trainer by her side would make her investigation go more smoothly.

Hmm? Not a graveyard?

Seeing the message from Raifort, Naoki became interested.

[King of Wings: Tell me more.]

[Ancient Investigator: It’s the ruins of an ancient royal city, which were buried deep underground for some reason before the disaster. The people there didn’t have time to gather their belongings and evacuate.

When the time comes, as long as we find the castle’s treasure vault, we’ll surely be able to collect a lot of gold and silver treasures there. We might even get hundreds or thousands of gold coins in one go!]

A treasure vault of the kingdom’s castle?

Hundreds or thousands of gold coins?

Naoki’s heart was deeply moved. If this was true, wouldn’t that mean he could evolve Gimmighoul into Gholdengo in one go?

Raifort was also straightforward, directly stating her reason for seeking Naoki’s assistance.

[Ancient Investigator: Places like those might harbor some strong Pokémon. Having a Champion Level trainer present would make my investigation much more convenient.]

Seeing this message, Naoki was slightly taken aback.

After a moment, he replied: [How do you know?]

[Ancient Investigator: Naoki, Naoki Ranch, Porto Marinada Town, that magical ranch. It has a bit of a reputation even at Paldea Academy. I’ve heard my students talk about it.

Although I didn’t realize at first that you were Naoki from Naoki Ranch, later on, you told me you run a ranch in Porto Marinada Town. Plus, there’s that mysterious Koraidon, so I figured it out!]

[King of Wings: Alright then, when do we set out?]

[Ancient Investigator: Next month. July 20th. Paldea Academy will have a two-month summer break, so I won’t have to stay at school as a teacher. It’s a perfect opportunity to go out and investigate the ruins. How about it?]

July 20th... that’s 27 days from today.

He’ll do it for the birth of Gholdengo!

Thinking of this, Naoki agreed right away.

Raifort also expressed her gratitude to him.

[Ancient Investigator: Thank you very much. If we can’t find gold coins in the treasure vault, I’ll try my best to collect coins from other tomb raiders when we return.]

[King of Wings: With those words, I’m relieved.]

Double insurance, either way, he doesn’t lose out.

Besides, agreeing to help Raifort might earn her trust and lead to information about the Treasures of Ruin.

Seeing that no one else was contacting him to sell ancient Paldean gold coins, Naoki simply turned off the computer and went downstairs.

In the living room downstairs, Calyrex was elegantly sipping tea while watching TV.

Seeing Naoki come down, Calyrex glanced over at him.

Naoki, watching the TV-absorbed Calyrex, wondered if Calyrex would eventually become nearsighted.

But then again, can Pokémon become nearsighted?

Briefly pondering, Naoki asked, ”Calyrex, do you ever feel any discomfort in your eyes?”

Calyrex was puzzled, ”What do you mean?”

Naoki gestured, ”Like your eyes feel sore, you can’t see things in the distance clearly, only a blur.”

Hearing this, Calyrex contemplated for a moment as if perceiving, then gently shook his head, ”I have never experienced such a sensation.”

Naoki: ”...” It seems Pokémon don’t become nearsighted.

Naoki glanced at the clock on the wall and realized it was already eleven-thirty in the morning.

Time to start preparing lunch.

Naoki stretched, then went to the kitchen, took out ingredients from the refrigerator, and began preparing lunch for the Pokémon.

”Indeedee～”

Seeing this, his sister Indeedee also came up to help Naoki out.

The weather was quite hot today, so Naoki decided to cook a refreshing mung bean soup to cool down the Pokémon.

He soaked the mung beans for ten minutes, then took them out, washed them clean, and placed them in a pot to simmer.

There were no mung beans planted on the ranch; he had bought them previously from the town.

Under the stove, seeing Naoki cooking, the Slugma that lived in the heating duct had already crawled to the spot beneath the stove.

Seeing this, Naoki smiled slightly and then took out a few berries to feed Slugma as he squatted down.

Slugma happily ate the berries and then focused on releasing heat to help cook the soup.

Thanks to daily practice, this Slugma had become quite skilled at controlling its temperature.

Now, it had become a good helper in the kitchen, helping Indeedee and Naoki a lot.

While the mung bean soup was cooking, Naoki began frying steaks for the three carnivorous Pokémon: Koraidon, Cyclizar, and Flutter Mane.