[Ding!]
[Daily Mission Issued: Save a Person]
[Reward: 100,000 Points]
---
Just after finishing breakfast, the daily mission was announced. Hearing the requirement, Julian muttered quietly, "Save someone? How am I supposed to do that? There's no one around."
Saving someone usually involved either preventing a suicide or rescuing someone from a life-threatening situation—both were highly random events. Encountering such a situation would depend entirely on luck.
Unless he bought a Lucky Charm to complete the mission.
However, a single Lucky Charm costs 50,000 points. With his luck, he'd probably need at least five of them stacked together. Even if he managed to complete the mission, he'd still end up losing points in the end.
Forget it. He'd just skip today's daily mission.
That was what Julian decided.
Then he turned to Slowking, "Slowking, we'll be heading to the Primal Secret Realm in a few days. You can start stocking up on ingredients over the next few days. We'll probably be inside for about half a year."
It had now been almost a month and a half since his grandfather and father entered the Primal Secret Realm. Based on the speed at which the realm's energy eroded the body, they would need to come out within half a month at most.
To ensure enough time and safety, they would likely come out a few days early.
So Julian guessed that they would emerge within the next few days.
Once they came out, he would go in. The residual energy from the Primal Secret Realm on his body had already dissipated a month ago.
"Slow~"
Slowking nodded.
There were still a few days left; it could start thinking about what ingredients to buy.
"By the way, how's the café doing?"
Julian hadn't been back since the opening day.
The café had already become a sensation. Everyone in Drakoria knew it was opened by Julian, especially after customers posted photos with him online.
Even though Julian's expression in the photo looked less than thrilled due to the two customers' antics, that only added to the hype.
You might run into Julian by going to the café—who could resist such an affordable temptation? Especially for the locals of Lake City.
As a result, the café was packed every single day.
Slowking and the Slowpokes weren't just self-sufficient—they were even making a decent profit every month.
"Slow~"
Slowking: "Aside from being a bit tired, there are no issues at all."
With so many customers, of course, they were tired.
Even the runner Poochyena's throat was almost hoarse from calling out orders, and it had even learned Hyper Voice on its own.
The café had already entered a steady phase and no longer needed Slowking to worry too much, and on top of that, the other Slowking's skills were indeed quite good.
So even though most customers initially came hoping to run into Julian, after tasting the coffee, their second visit was purely for the brew itself.
No one dared to cause trouble either—unless they had completely lost their minds.
Moreover, there were more frequent patrols around the café compared to other areas.
Regarding the café, Slowking had now adopted a hands-off approach, only dropping by occasionally to take a look.
Slowking had already taken Magearna and Lucario out to buy groceries.
Meanwhile, Love was outside hanging laundry. However, the wind was particularly strong today, making it quite difficult to hang a quilt cover.
"Dee~"
Love: "kid, come help me for a moment."
"Coming."
Julian put down what he was doing and went over to Love. One person and one Pokémon each grabbed a corner of the quilt cover, easily managing to hang it up.
"Love, can I change the quilt cover?"
Julian looked at the soft pink Jigglypuff pattern on the cover, feeling it didn't quite match his "fierce and mighty" image.
"Dee~"
Love: "What do you want to change it to?"
"Aggron, Rhyperior, Salamence… or even Metagross would be fine."
Metagross: 'Are you doing me a favor or something?'
'Not only did you put me last, but you also said 'even I would be fine.''
"Dee~"
Love shook its head in refusal. Every single one of the Pokémon Julian mentioned was far from gentle—they were all violent types. How could they compare to the cuteness of Jigglypuff?
"I can change it to Milotic's pattern for you. Do you want that?"
"Yes."
Julian nodded. Milotic definitely looked better than Jigglypuff.
"Love, I'm going to the mall to buy some things. I'll be back a bit late for lunch."
Julian was going to the mall to buy some Poké Balls. Of course, he could have just called and had them delivered, but he wanted to go out for a stroll.
These Poké Balls were preparations for his next trip into the Primal Secret Realm. Who knows—during his second visit, he might come across a suitable mining Pokémon community again. Then, he could just round them all up and take them with him.
"Metagross, let's go."
Julian called out to Metagross.
However, after walking a few steps, he noticed that Metagross hadn't followed.
Turning back to look at Metagross, who was still standing in place, he saw the Pokémon say softly, "After all, I'm only 'fine.' You could always call another Pokémon."
'Great, this guy's petty streak is acting up again.'
He knew full well how petty this guy could be, so why had he deliberately said such a thing?
Julian walked up to Metagross and spoke in an exaggerated tone, "How could you possibly be just 'fine'? You're my ace, my number one partner! I was only joking earlier."
If he didn't pacify this guy, he'd probably have to deal with this mood for days.
"Meta~"
"I'm still just 'fine' anyway."
Metagross continued, though its tone was clearly less sour than before.
"Alright, it's my fault. Metagross, please be magnanimous and forgive me."
He went on to say quite a few more nice things before finally managing to placate Metagross.
Leaving home, Julian didn't ride Metagross or any other Flying-type Pokémon. Instead, he drove to the mall.
The car wasn't too expensive, just over a million.
In Lake City, a car of this value would only be considered among the lower-end luxury vehicles.
Driving leisurely on the elevated highway with music playing in the car, Celebi and Jirachi sat in the back seat, securely fastened with seatbelts.
Nebby, meanwhile, sat in the passenger seat, its head pressed against the window, watching the other cars pass by.
Before long, Julian arrived at the Metagross Mall.
This time, however, several fire trucks were parked at the entrance, and even inflatable crash pads had already been set up.
Listening to the chatter of the crowd, Julian looked up and saw someone sitting at the edge of a high floor of the building.
"Looks like someone's trying to jump," Julian muttered to himself.
"If you want to die, just slit your throat at home. What's the point of jumping? You probably won't even die anyway," a person beside him scoffed. "He doesn't actually want to die; he's just using the threat to achieve some goal."
In a world where Pokémon existed, if you jumped and weren't spotted, you were pretty much guaranteed to die. But if you were discovered, you won't succeed.
Flying-type Pokémon could catch you mid-air, Psychic-types could restrain you with psychic, and Ghost-types could hypnotize you.
With Pokémon assistance, humans had countless ways to prevent a suicide.
So if you were truly determined to end your life, just do it quickly—slit your throat. If you made a huge spectacle, it was very likely that deep down, you didn't actually want to die.
Though it was not always about faking suicide for a specific purpose.
*****
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