Once in the outside world, the residual energy from the secret realm within Julian's body was slowly dissipating. At the current rate of dissipation, it would likely take about half a month to completely fade away.
This meant that in just over half a month, Julian would be able to enter the Primal Secret Realm again.
However, Julian had no intention of returning so soon. Even if he were to enter again, he would wait until his grandfather and father had come out of the realm first.
After all, if he went in as well, there would truly be no Champion left to protect Drakoria.
"Slow~"
Julian, who had been playing games with Celebi and Jirachi, suddenly saw Slowking appear before him.
"What's wrong, Slowking?"
Seeing Slowking's serious expression, Julian's expression remained unchanged, but his mind raced as he tried to recall if he had done anything recently that might have upset Slowking.
After thinking it through and finding nothing, he secretly let out a sigh of relief.
Slowking: "I want to open a café."
"Hah!"
Just then, Julian happened to destroy the enemy's crystal and asked, "You want to open a café?"
"Slow~"
Slowking nodded.
"It's possible, but why do you suddenly want to open a café? If I enter the secret realm, won't you come with me? In that case, the café wouldn't be able to operate."
Thinking about it, Julian shook his head.
If Slowking really opened a café, it would likely stay there permanently. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but if Julian entered a secret realm and Slowking wasn't around, who would make breakfast, lunch, dinner, and midnight snacks? Who would wake him up every day?
Just imagining a life without Slowking simply because he allowed it to open a café made Julian realize that he definitely couldn't let Slowking open one.
Seeing Julian's expression that seemed to say, 'I can't live without you,' Slowking felt both touched and amused, though its expression remained as unreadable as ever, just like a typical Slowking.
"Slow~"
Slowking: "The café is for the stray Slowpokes."
Every city had stray Pokémon. Some were abandoned by their trainers, some were wild Pokémon that had wandered into the city, and a few had run away from home and gotten lost.
In large cities like Lake City, the number of stray Pokémon was actually quite significant.
To address this, the Trainers Association had established rescue stations in every city, and many community members had also set up corresponding facilities to help these Pokémon.
Some people would also adopt Pokémon from rescue stations.
Those with good luck might even adopt Pokémon with exceptionally good potential.
Lake City, as the Walker family's main base, naturally made the Walkers feel obligated in this regard. They had built many rescue stations with extremely well-equipped facilities.
"Wouldn't it be better to send them to a rescue station?" Julian asked in confusion.
The rescue stations built by the Walker family were quite good, and the Pokémon inside lived fairly comfortable lives.
So Julian thought it would be easier to send the Slowpokes to a rescue station rather than going through the trouble of opening a café. Besides, the stations had dedicated staff to care for them.
"Slow~"
But Slowking shook its head.
"I want the Slowpokes to survive on their own abilities. That way, they'll be happier."
"Oh, I see."
Julian could understand Slowking's perspective and nodded. "Alright, I'll help you look into it right away and see if there are any suitable shops."
Since Slowking rarely asked him for anything, Julian was determined to handle this properly.
He took out his phone and called his uncle.
"Hello."
"Uncle, are there any suitable shops in the downtown area of Lake City?"
"Why do you ask?" Henry asked, confused.
"Oh, Slowking wants to open a café, so it needs a shop."
"Alright, I understand. I'll have my secretary contact you about it."
"Great, thanks, Uncle."
With that, he hung up the phone.
"Slowking, wait a bit. We'll have a suitable shop soon."
"Slow~"
Slowking: "No rush."
Over at the Walker Group, Henry hung up the phone and turned to his secretary beside him. "Secretary Sam, do we have any suitable café locations in the downtown area?"
"Chairman, all the buildings downtown belong to us, but we don't actually have a café," Secretary Sam replied, shaking his head.
Given the scale of the Walker Group, constructing buildings aligned with their stature—buying a small café would almost seem like a joke.
"Then go buy one. Make sure the location and size are both good."
"Understood."
Secretary Sam nodded and immediately left to handle the matter. He had overheard the call and knew it was Champion Walker who had called the chairman.
So this task was likely being handled for Champion Walker.
"Once it's settled, contact Julian directly," Henry added.
"Understood, Chairman."
As Henry's executive assistant, Secretary Sam did indeed have Julian's contact information. However, unless absolutely necessary, he would never dare to disturb Julian without good reason.
---
"Slowking, although Slowpokes are cute and silly in appearance, wouldn't asking them to make coffee be a bit too much for them?"
Slowpokes were known for being somewhat slow in their reactions, and brewing coffee was a delicate task. It clearly didn't seem suitable for Slowpokes.
"Slow~"
Slowking: "I plan to have one of them evolve into a Slowking to manage the café. The Slowpokes will serve as waitstaff. We can also take in other stray Pokémon."
Julian felt he had asked unnecessarily. If even he could think of this issue, someone as intelligent as Slowking would surely have considered it long ago. Slowking had already devised a solution when deciding to undertake this project.
"In that case, let Celebi and Jirachi work part-time as servers too."
As soon as Celebi heard this, it immediately protested, tossing its phone aside in a huff. "I won't go!"
Julian glanced at it sideways and said calmly, "You'll be paid."
"How much?"
Hearing that, Celebi picked up the phone again and asked expectantly.
"Fifty bucks a hour. How's that?"
Julian held up five fingers, his tone slightly exaggerated as if to emphasize his generosity.
"Fifty bucks means we'd earn a hundred for two hours of work, two hundred for four hours, two thousand for eight hours, and twenty thousand for sixteen hours!"
"If we work for a month, that's two million! Celebi, we're going to be rich!"
Jirachi counted on its fingers, growing more and more excited until it was practically jumping around while hugging Celebi.
"Two million! With that, I'll buy every single skin available, eat one piece of fried chicken and throw away another—just to show off how rich we are!"
Celebi was a bit dazed—not because it doubted Jirachi's math, but because it was overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of this imagined fortune. For a moment, it couldn't quite process it all.
"Jirachi, you're right. With two million, we'll never have to put up with this capitalist boss again!"
"We could even deposit the money in the bank, set up a fixed deposit, and live off the interest!"
Julian couldn't help but be amused at Celebi's words. Never mind their math and whether they could actually earn two million—even if they did, they were already calling him a capitalist before the money was even in hand.
And talking about fixed deposits and living off interest—where did they pick up such shrewdness?
*****
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