Naoki placed the juice and milk on the wine rack behind the bar, and looking at the adorable Cyclizar in front of him, he suddenly fancied himself as a bartender in an inn.
"Would you like something to drink?"
Cyclizar shook its head, indicating it wasn't thirsty.
"..." Naoki patiently explained, "Starting tomorrow, our pub will officially open for business. I'm worried about providing poor service, so I want to simulate situations that might occur. Right now, I'm the bartender, and you're a customer coming for a drink."
Now Cyclizar understood. It blinked its eyes, cooperatively pointing to a bottle of juice, "Gawo!"
Naoki grabbed a bottle of juice and handed it to Cyclizar, pointing to the table and chairs nearby, "You can sit there to drink."
Although Cyclizar was a bit confused, it obediently sat on the long bench and gulped down the juice.
Watching this scene, Naoki nodded in satisfaction and then pondered about the shortcomings in the process.
"Yes, this is the process."
"Aside from drinks, maybe I should also prepare some food for Pokemon, so they can sit down to eat and chat happily."
"The ranch work can be quite busy sometimes, and I often have to leave. It would be nice to have an assistant."
The assistant can't just be any ordinary Pokemon; it needs to be very intelligent, a Pokemon with a high IQ.
For instance, the Pokemon known as the 'Wise One,' Oranguru.
Naoki remembers there's an Oranguru-run tavern in the Alola region.
That tavern is located deep in the forest, with a beautiful environment and is built on a tree, crafted by Oranguru itself.
Many Pokemon residing in the forest visit it, and even the Island Guardian Tapu Koko from the Alola region goes for a drink.
"Oranguru... there seems to be such a Pokemon habitat in the Paldea region too."
However, capturing such a Pokemon isn't ordinarily easy, even more difficult than the powerful Desert Tyrant Tyranitar.
Because Oranguru is extremely smart.
This type of Pokemon likes to live quietly alone deep in the forest.
It rarely moves around, spending most of its time meditating on the trees, using its developed Psychic abilities and wisdom, making it intimately familiar with every corner of the forest, even able to direct Pokemon freely by waving its fan,
This appearance led people long ago to think Oranguru was a human living deep in the forest, thus it was also called the "Man of the Forest."
Moreover, Oranguru is very adept at using human tools, and it's said someone has seen it throw a Poke Ball to capture wild Pokemon.
It's precisely because of this intelligence surpassing ordinary Pokemon that making Oranguru a human-owned Pokemon is extremely difficult.
They also rarely accept the kind of relationship involving capture, command, and obedience.
Compared to Oranguru, Naoki even feels Calyrex might be easier to befriend.
After all, he, as a missioner, brought the legend of Calyrex to the Paldea region.
A few days ago, he heard from Zack that Porto Marinada Town had officially set a gratitude festival date, to be held on the last day of autumn, at which time people would gather to thank Calyrex The King of Bountiful Harvests.
Naoki was dumbfounded when he heard this.
He thought humans in this world are quite straightforward, aren't they?
Then he heard from the town mayor that throughout summer, the nearby ranch's harvest had been excellent.
They believed it was due to Calyrex, thus the festival was established.
But whether it was due to human's own hard-working farming, or Calyrex's blessings, or both?
Naoki is also unsure; logically, Calyrex's power is still quite weak now.
Which one it really is, perhaps only Calyrex knows.