Inside the Coop, Leo filled the feeding troughs with feed.
Smelling the food, the three hens and the rooster ambled over unhurriedly and began to peck at it.
"Looks like they've already gotten used to it!" The girl watching from behind smiled. "In that case, Mr. Leo, I'll be going now. If you need anything, you can call the shop. Our number is 9573868."
Leo: "...I haven't had a chance to buy a phone yet."
The girl paused, seemingly surprised. "Ah?"
Leo smiled and asked, "It's fine if I just go to the shop to ask, right?"
The girl nodded quickly. "Of course!"
After explaining the necessary precautions, the girl put on her straw hat, rode her small tricycle, and left the ranch.
Leo stood in the Coop, looking at the chickens.
Although hens could lay eggs without a rooster, those eggs were unfertilized and couldn't hatch.
Only eggs laid after mating with a rooster could hatch into chicks.
That was why Leo had specifically bought a rooster.
The three hens were healthy adults, already capable of laying.
This meant that starting tomorrow, he would have an income of at least three eggs a day.
"Hmm, one egg doesn't sell for much, so the best method is to incubate all three." Leo thought to himself.
This way, by the time the crops outside matured, the ranch would have three new little lives.
The newly built Coop looked a bit messy. Leo picked up a pitchfork and shoveled the hay piled by the door into the corner.
After finishing this task, Leo looked down at his current outfit.
Wearing brown overalls and carrying a pitchfork on his shoulder, he really looked like a rustic farmer.
Putting down the pitchfork, Leo walked out of the Coop. To prevent the hens from running around, he closed the door before leaving.
On the way back to the cabin, Leo recalled what the girl had said and thought, "Besides Pokémon and crops, the ranch's basic facilities need to be completed too."
Like a telephone, television, gramophone, computer, and so on.
A telephone would allow him to contact people in town.
A television would help him get news from outside the ranch.
A gramophone could cultivate sentiment—playing a serenade on a rainy day when he couldn't work outside would be a nice form of entertainment.
As for a computer...
It could help Leo look up information faster and allow him to communicate with netizens in far-off regions like Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Alola.
But from the original owner's memories, he knew these things weren't cheap. Compared to building entertainment facilities, he needed to solve the food and clothing problems for himself and his Pokémon first.
Regardless, for a better tomorrow, charge!
Leo was full of fighting spirit.
In front of the wooden cabin, Koraidon and Cyclizar had returned.
Opposite them, Alcremie and Smoliv were shivering with fear.
Seeing Leo, the two little ones immediately hid behind him, hugging his left and right legs respectively, only poking half their heads out to observe Koraidon.
Leo: "..."
Koraidon looked confused. "Agias?"
Wait, are they afraid of me?
But where am I scary?
Koraidon looked down at its own body, then at the docile Cyclizar beside it, thinking: I just changed appearance a little bit...
Leo crouched down and patted Alcremie and Smoliv's heads, comforting them, "Relax, it won't hurt you."
"Gaa-ow!" Koraidon nodded repeatedly, agreeing with that statement.
Hearing this, Alcremie and Smoliv looked cautiously at Koraidon.
Koraidon stood there, letting them examine it.
After a while, Alcremie and Smoliv looked at each other.
"Ma-ma..."
"Liv..."
It really doesn't seem like it'll eat us, huh?
Seeing this, Koraidon patted its chest with a large claw, acting quite human-like.
"Agias Agias!"
See? See?
The fear on Alcremie and Smoliv's faces disappeared, replaced by innocent, simple smiles.
"Ma-ma~"
"Liv~"
Leo didn't know what the Pokémon said to each other.
But seeing Alcremie and Smoliv relax, he picked them up, one in each arm, and carried them into the wooden cabin.
"This is our home from now on!" Leo looked around and asked, "Where do you want to live?"
He gave them the choice.
Alcremie and Smoliv understood Leo. They looked around, observing the situation to pick a suitable spot.
Soon, Smoliv chose a spot first—the windowsill above Leo's desk.
It was within the range of sunlight, and occasionally a breeze would blow in from outside. For a Grass-type Pokémon that maintained vitality through photosynthesis, this was the perfect place to live.
Leo nodded, placed Smoliv on the windowsill, and then looked at Alcremie.
"What about you?"
Alcremie's gaze fell on the cupboard in the kitchen area. Its eyes lit up. "Ma!"
"The cupboard?" Leo raised an eyebrow. He walked over with Alcremie and opened the cupboard, revealing the stored Berries and various seasonings.
Alcremie jumped in voluntarily, hiding in a small space in the corner of the cupboard.
"Ma!"Here is good!
"Uh... okay." Leo initially thought it was a bit cramped and unsuitable for Alcremie.
But thinking carefully about Alcremie's ecology, he realized no place was more suitable.
Perhaps because they feared being eaten by Pokémon that loved sweets, Alcremie naturally preferred small spaces, which gave them a sense of security.
"Not bad."
Leo nodded. Smelling the faint sweet scent in the air, he thought this Alcremie probably produced Caramel Swirl cream.
Leo hadn't eaten sweets for a long time. Smelling this, a terrible thought suddenly popped into his head: I want to lick Alcremie.
He quickly banished the thought. After settling Alcremie in, he turned to check on Smoliv.
Looking at the somewhat empty windowsill, Leo fell into thought.
Something seems missing there...
Grass-type Pokémon needed soil and water in addition to sunlight.
Right, a flowerpot!
Leo remembered there was an empty flowerpot in the tool shed behind the house!
He immediately went to the shed, found the dusty pot, washed it clean at the tap, and then dug up a shovel of soft soil from the farmland to fill it.
Leo placed the flowerpot in front of Smoliv.
A look of delight appeared on Smoliv's face.
It jumped into the pot, stuck its little feet into the soil, and began to sunbathe lazily.
"You sure know how to enjoy life."
Leo chuckled softly. He arranged the flowerpot on the windowsill and opened the window to let the breeze blow in.