Weekend.
Magic City's largest Pokémon-goods trading market.
The roaring voices of the crowd were like boiling water. Waves of heat, laden with the stink of sweat, the sugary aroma of all kinds of Pokéblocks, and the dusty smell of old junk, surged straight into one's face.
Kudo Shiba walked alone through the tightly packed sea of people.
He didn't have a clear destination. He simply let his feet carry him, drifting between the countless stalls.
A layer of data that only he could see currently covered his retinas.
System, activate.
Everywhere his gaze swept, faint halos rose up from people and objects, then quickly faded away.
Most were white halos that represented ordinary opportunities, occasionally mixed with a few blue ones of slightly higher value.
None of these were enough to make Kudo Shiba so much as pause.
His goal was the gold buried deep beneath the sand and gravel—the true opportunities that everyone else overlooked.
Just as he passed through an area selling ores and was about to head deeper in, toward the more remote old-goods section, his footsteps suddenly stopped.
A figure had entered his field of view.
It was a young man surrounded by several new lackeys, pointing arrogantly at the quality of a chunk of energy crystal. His posture was loud and showy, fully displaying his spoiled rich-boy nature.
It was Sunada Kaoru.
The unlucky fellow he'd made so angry a few days ago that the guy had spat blood on the spot.
Right now, Sunada Kaoru's face still held a trace of sickly pallor, but that did nothing to dampen his enthusiasm for strutting around and showing off.
However, what drew Kudo Shiba's attention was not Sunada Kaoru himself.
It was the pillar of blazing crimson light erupting skyward above his head, as if it were on fire!
A Crimson Prophecy!
Kudo Shiba's pupils shrank sharply. For a moment, his heartbeat fell into an irregular rhythm.
Here to deliver another package?
That thought flashed through his mind in an instant. He immediately locked onto Sunada Kaoru, sank his focus into the system, and chose "View" without the slightest hesitation.
Buzz—
A stream of information poured into his brain. A clear, moving image exploded open in his mind.
[Three minutes later]
In the image, the scene shifted to an inconspicuous corner in the very depths of the market.
An elder with grizzled beard and plain clothes was sitting cross-legged behind a worn-out cloth stall, dozing off.
On the stall, a jumble of rusted old items and several oddly shaped stones lay scattered about.
In the image, Sunada Kaoru was swaggering past with his lackeys in tow.
In the confusion, one of the lackeys, whether intentionally or not, suddenly shoved Sunada Kaoru hard between the shoulder blades.
Sunada Kaoru stumbled. His body lurched forward out of his control, crashing into the shabby ground stall.
"Crash—"
A stone, about the size of a human head, its whole body gray-black and no different from any random roadside rock, was knocked loose and rolled to the ground.
"Crack!"
A crisp shattering sound rang out.
The stone hit the hard ground and broke off a corner, revealing a completely different structure within.
Inside was a semi-transparent substance like amber, warm and lustrous in color, with a complete skeleton of some ancient creature clearly sealed inside!
The shape of that skeleton was ferocious yet powerful, filled with a savage, domineering aura!
The image froze at that exact moment.
The old man and Sunada Kaoru were both staring wide-eyed, their faces filled with pure, disbelieving shock.
Immediately afterward, a line of cold appraisal data appeared at the bottom of the image.
[Aerodactyl Fossil]
[Description: An extremely well-preserved fossil of an ancient Pokémon. Can be revived through genetic technology.]
[Potential: Champion-tier!]
And all of this would happen three minutes from now!
Aerodactyl!
A pseudo-legendary-class Pokémon on the same level as Dragonite!
A Champion-potential Aerodactyl!
Kudo Shiba's breathing stalled for a split second, as though the air had been sucked out of his chest.
A Champion-potential Aerodactyl!
How could he possibly let such a heaven-defying opportunity slip by!
He slowly raised his eyes, his gaze once again landing on Sunada Kaoru not far away.
That guy, still smugly admiring the quality of some Pokéblock, had no idea that, in exactly three minutes, a chance big enough to change his entire life was about to brush right past him.
No— not just brush past.
It was going to be intercepted. By Kudo Shiba, personally.
A perfect plan took shape in Kudo Shiba's mind in an instant, every detail crystal-clear.
He straightened his slightly wrinkled collar and adjusted his expression, making himself look as if he had just discovered something "surprising" at just the right level.
Then he lifted his feet and walked toward Sunada Kaoru.
"Sunada Kaoru? What a coincidence, you're wandering the market too?"
His voice was neither too loud nor too soft, carrying a hint of casual familiarity—just enough for the nearby onlookers, who had their ears perked up for drama, to hear clearly.
Sunada Kaoru, reveling in his lackeys' flattery, froze the instant he heard that voice.
He turned his head. When he saw Kudo Shiba with that faint smile on his face, Sunada Kaoru's expression instantly went dark, as if he'd swallowed a fly.
"Hmph!"
He snorted heavily through his nose and snapped his head away, not even bothering to say a single word to Kudo Shiba.
Kudo Shiba acted as if he hadn't seen that ugly expression at all, and paid no mind to Sunada Kaoru's bad attitude.
He walked two steps forward on his own, coming to stand shoulder to shoulder with Sunada Kaoru. Looking off into the distance, he spoke in a tone laden with strong emotion.
"Man, what a pity."
His voice was full of "regret" and "remorse," his acting so convincing that even professional actors would have had to take notice.
"Just now over by the riverside on the south side of the city, I heard someone reeled in a rare Shiny Magikarp—golden! Some passing kid bought it up for just a hundred thousand."
"By now it's probably long gone. Otherwise I'd really have wanted to go and take a look. That thing can evolve into a red Gyarados, you know. That's a real treasure."
As he spoke, he smacked his thigh, the very picture of a man who'd just missed out on something priceless. The performance was flawless.
"What?!"
"A Shiny. Ma-gi-karp?!"
Sunada Kaoru's ears shot straight up as if jolted by electricity!
He could no longer maintain his aloof front. He whipped his head around and stared hard at Kudo Shiba.
A Shiny Pokémon!
Its value could not be measured with money at all!
And on top of that, it was a Shiny Magikarp that could evolve into the legendary red Gyarados!
If he could obtain it, all the humiliation he'd suffered at Kudo Shiba's hands would be wiped away! With that Pokémon, he could finally hold his head high in the family!
The temptation was too great.
So great that it made him temporarily forget his hatred for Kudo Shiba.
"Is that information reliable?"
Sunada Kaoru's voice came out hoarse with urgency. His eyes were a tangle of suspicion and burning desire.
Kudo Shiba glanced at him, the corner of his mouth curling up almost imperceptibly before he quickly shifted back into the look of someone whose kindness had just been treated like trash.
"Why would I lie to you? Don't believe me if you don't want to."
He flicked his hand impatiently.
"I'll just go try my luck. Maybe that kid hasn't gone far yet."
With that, Kudo Shiba turned around decisively, as if ready to head straight out of the market.
That move shattered the last line of defense in Sunada Kaoru's heart.
Right now, Sunada Kaoru was like a gambler who had lost everything and desperately needed a chance to turn the tables.
Better to believe it might be true than assume it's false!
What if it really was true?
"Wait!"
There was no way Sunada Kaoru could stay still. He lunged forward in a single step and hurriedly called out to Kudo Shiba.
Then he turned and bellowed at his still-stunned lackeys with every ounce of strength in his lungs:
"What the hell are you idiots standing around for?! Move it! We're going to the south side of the city!"
Before his words had even finished echoing, he'd already shoved his way into the crowd, charging toward the south side in a panic, terrified that a second's delay would let someone else snatch that golden Magikarp.
His lackeys looked at each other, then immediately took off at a run, scrambling to keep up.
Just like that, the whole group vanished in a whirlwind at the far end of the market.
Watching Sunada Kaoru's receding back, Kudo Shiba slowly turned around.
All the "regret" and "remorse" on his face vanished without a trace in an instant.
In their place was a calm, confident smile, as if the outcome was already in his grasp.
He calmly raised his wrist to check the time. There was just under one minute left until the three-minute mark of the Prophecy.
Perfect timing.
Kudo Shiba didn't linger. He turned and walked, unhurried, toward the depths of the market, to the stubbly old man's ground stall.
The "ordinary rock" lying quietly in the corner of that stall, hiding a world within, felt as if it were silently calling out to him.
(End of Chapter)
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[[email protected]/Zukooo]
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