Lucas dismounted his Rapidash and entered the Breeding House, finding Shauna sitting between Nina and Jenny, watching a cartoon.
Seeing Lucas return, Shauna jumped off her chair and ran over, leaping into his arms.
Lucas rubbed her little head and praised her actions from the previous day again.
This made Shauna grin so wide she couldn't close her mouth.
After greeting Nina and Jenny, Lucas quickly headed toward the Hatching Room.
Seeing Lucas's hurried appearance, Nina and Jenny exchanged a look and followed him.
Lucas arrived at the Hatching Room and carefully counted the pokémon eggs inside.
Only eighteen pokémon eggs remained in total.
Lucas frowned deeply; eighteen pokémon eggs might not be enough.
"What's wrong?"
Jenny looked at the frowning Lucas and asked.
Lucas explained the day's events.
After hearing Lucas's words, Jenny also became troubled.
"The next batch of pokémon eggs hasn't been scheduled for release yet. Even if I report it now, the League's dispatch speed means they won't arrive until tomorrow evening at the earliest."
Just as the group fell silent, Nina suddenly spoke up: "I remember you mentioned that you could find suitable Trainers for the Pokémon in the forest, right?"
Lucas suddenly remembered this, and he went to the backyard.
He then asked which Pokémon wanted to find a Trainer. Lucas recorded them one by one. If the pokémon eggs were insufficient tomorrow, or if a Trainer wanted a Pokémon whose personality matched theirs, they could come and try to take one of these Pokémon.
Of course, if these Pokémon were not satisfied with the Trainer, they had the right to refuse.
After a long period of work, Lucas, Nina, and Gengar finally completed the tally.
Then, he received a message from Professor Rowan saying that the Research Institute would send him a batch of pokémon eggs tomorrow, and asked Lucas to ensure he signed for them.
Lucas was overjoyed.
After preparing for the possibility that the pokémon eggs might run out tomorrow, Lucas returned to his room, took a shower, walked to the bed, and flopped backward onto the large mattress.
He exhaled comfortably.
Home beds truly are the most comfortable to sleep in.
Lucas grabbed Vulpix, who hadn't planned on sleeping yet, hugged her close, and continued petting her.
Before long, Lucas drifted off to sleep.
Vulpix was enjoying the long-awaited massage, but then realized Lucas's movements had stopped. She raised her head, intending to prompt him to continue, only to find that Lucas was already fast asleep.
She swallowed her sound, found a comfortable position, yawned deeply, and slowly closed her eyes, falling asleep in Lucas's embrace.
Gengar floated over and covered them with the blanket. After Lilligant adjusted the bedside lamp to a warm setting, Gengar turned off the main light.
"gengar sound—"
"Laji~"
Goodnight.
The night passed uneventfully. Lucas moved the Vulpix from his chest onto the bed, sat up, and spaced out for a moment.
He then stood up, opened the balcony door, and stretched on the balcony.
Lilligant was already in the backyard, while Gengar was doing its exercises.
He waited beside Gengar until it finished its exercises, then went with it to the bathroom to wash up. After washing, he went downstairs to have breakfast with Nina and Shauna.
Jenny had returned last night; her two days of vacation were over.
Once everything was ready, Lilligant hung out the "Open for Business" sign, and Lucas immediately collapsed into the armchair in the rest area.
He waited for customers to arrive.
Before the customers arrived, the pokémon eggs from the Research Institute were delivered.
—
Gengar and the others helped move this batch of pokémon eggs into four or five groups, and Lucas brought out his stethoscope.
He counted them; there were seventeen pokémon eggs in total.
Lucas placed the stethoscope against each pokémon egg one by one, observing their condition.
[Elekid's Egg] [Hatching Progress: 12/30]
[Buizel's Egg] [Hatching Progress: 11/30]
[Sandshrew's Egg] [Hatching Progress: 21/30]
[Spinarak's Egg] [Hatching Progress: 25/30]
Lucas observed them all and then moved them back into the Hatching Room with Gengar and the others.
Afterward, he returned to the rest area.
Soon, a couple led two young boys inside.
"Boss, we'd like two pokémon eggs."
The man saw Lucas and spoke directly.
Lucas didn't waste words either; he led them straight into the Hatching Room. After asking the two boys what Pokémon they wanted, he gave them a Shinx pokémon egg and a Buizel pokémon egg based on their requests.
Immediately after seeing them off, several more customers walked in.
Lucas took them to the Hatching Room to choose pokémon eggs. Only after seeing these customers out did he realize the lobby was already packed with people.
Looking at the slightly chaotic scene, Lucas clapped his hands and shouted loudly: "Line up, everyone! One at a time."
No one paid attention to Lucas.
Lilligant watched Lucas frantically trying to maintain order, ignored by everyone, and she frowned.
Just as she was about to flare up, she stopped upon hearing Lucas's words.
"If you don't line up, no one will get to buy a pokémon egg!"
This single sentence scared all the young boys and girls who wanted to buy an egg belonging to their own Pokémon. They pulled their parents or friends and obediently formed a queue.
Only then did Lucas nod in satisfaction. Nina brought Shauna in from the backyard to help attend to the subsequent customers.
Gothorita, accompanied by Mime Jr., delivered water to every customer, while Lilligant, Dash, and the other Pokémon maintained order on site.
Nina was busy entertaining guests, and seeing the ever-growing line gave her a headache.
Didn't I come here to rest? Didn't I come here to eat delicious food?
How did I end up helping to work?
Not only people from Sandgem Town, but people from Twinleaf Town were also lining up.
Due to the excessive number of people, Sandgem Town and Twinleaf Town each dispatched several police officers to maintain order.
Jennys from Twinleaf Town and Sandgem Town continuously maintained order at the back.
Inside the Breeding House, Lucas's tongue was practically smoking.
After drinking the warm water Gengar handed him, he wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He looked at the long queue.
He knew many people would come, but he hadn't expected this many.
After finishing his water, he handed the front area over to Nina, Shauna, and Lilligant. He, meanwhile, took several boys and girls who wanted to choose a Pokémon to the backyard. Gengar floated in the air, simultaneously monitoring the situation in both the front and back.
"Wow!"
The few Trainers who wanted to choose a Pokémon couldn't help but exclaim when they saw the backyard scene.
Lucas led them to the area where the Pokémon seeking Trainers were located, a section he had specially partitioned off.
This area was intended to temporarily house them while they waited for Trainers to arrive.
Soon, several of them had chosen their ideal Pokémon, leaving only one somewhat shy girl remaining.
Lucas looked at her and asked with a smile, "Have you decided which Pokémon you want?"
The girl glanced at the lively Pokémon; they were all cute, but none of them made her heart leap.
"How about Pachirisu? She's quite adorable."
She shook her head.
"What about the fluffy one? Strong and cute."
She shook her head.
"Oddish?"
She shook her head.
"Wurmple?"
Having introduced them all without finding the one she wanted, Lucas could only shake his head helplessly and lead them toward the front.
Still unable to find a Pokémon suitable for her...
The little girl walked at the very end of the line, head bowed.
She actually liked the Pokémon she had just seen, but she felt they were too lively. She preferred not to talk much and liked to stay quiet, so she wanted to find a Pokémon that could quietly accompany her.
But after looking around, she hadn't found one.
Her mood was extremely low.
Just then, she felt something watching her. She looked up and saw a Pokémon that resembled a flower bud, entirely green, like a small child wrapped up.
She could tell the shyness in its eyes.
She was surprised that she could discern its emotions just by looking into its eyes.
She stopped walking.
"Sh-Sh-Shopkeeper—"
She spoke softly.
Lucas turned around, seeing her blushing face filled with guilt for interrupting everyone's progress. He offered a word of encouragement and asked, "What is it?"
She pointed at the Budew and whispered, "C-Can I have that Pokémon?"
Lucas followed her finger.
It was a Budew.
Its personality seemed to match the little girl very well.
Lucas nodded.
"You know, it is not a Pokémon belonging to the Breeding House; it is only temporarily residing here. If you want to take it with you, you must communicate with it yourself and convince it to go with you. If it agrees, I have no objection."
The girl looked at the Budew, listening to Lucas's words.
"Thank you."
Having said that, she walked up to the Budew and extended her hand toward it.
"Hello, my name is Mally. I really like you. Do you want to come with me? I can tell you stories, read books to you, and we can read together, and we can also eat delicious food together."
Lucas smiled, listening to the girl fluently rattle off a large number of things.
It seems she only stutters and gets shy around strangers.
Budew was momentarily stunned, looking at the girl in front of it.
In the sunlight, her smile was sincere and bright.
It was as heartwarming as the sunshine in March.
By a strange coincidence, it nodded.
The little girl laughed happily.
"Is it okay, Shopkeeper?"
"It seems it chose you too. In that case, I entrust it to your care."
The girl picked up Budew, nodding with a serious expression.
After sending them back to the front, Lucas took the next batch to the backyard.
After working hard all day and seeing off the last customer, Lucas lay down in the rest area.
Gengar lay beside him, tongue sticking out.
Its body rose and fell with its breathing.
It looked completely burned out.
Only a few pokémon eggs remained in the Hatching Room, and a portion of the backyard Pokémon had also been taken away.
"I hate you, Lucas."
Nina took a sip of honey water and said fiercely.
The two Jennys also walked in. Since there were no seats left, they sat directly on the floor, took the honey water Mime Jr. had prepared for them, and drank it comfortably.
After resting for a while, Lucas started calculating the day's earnings.
Eighty percent of the income came from the pokémon eggs, even though the number of Pokémon taken from the backyard was significantly higher than the number of pokémon eggs sold.
Lucas had given a 30% discount on the pokémon eggs, so the income was slightly reduced.
As for the forest Pokémon in the backyard, Lucas had stated from the beginning that they were not the property of the Breeding House. Therefore, after they found a Trainer, he only charged a small introduction fee, which was far less than the income from the pokémon eggs.
Lucas didn't even charge money for some of them.
Lucas took out half of the money, divided it into several portions, and handed them to Nina and the two Jennys.
Nina took the money and immediately handed it to Shauna, and the two Jennys did the same.
Shauna looked at the large sum of money in her arms, paused, and then handed it to Gengar.
Gengar:
?
??
???
?! There's such a good thing?!
( Ö Ö )
Lucas: —
"Hurry up and make us dinner. We don't care about your money."
Nina lightly smacked Lucas on the head.
"Why be so formal among family? Now scram."
Lucas grinned foolishly, handed the remaining money to Gengar, and ran off to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
Behind him, the four women and Lilligant whispered amongst themselves, bursting into laughter occasionally.
Gengar returned to the room, deposited a portion of the money into Shauna's piggy bank, and saved the rest for itself.
"gengar —"
"I have money again~"
....
Power Stones PLZZZZZ
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