"I'll provide the formula, you'll handle production, and someone else will be in charge of transportation and sales."
Getting straight to the point, Nathan spoke seriously.
Just production?
Evelyn was a little puzzled. Nathan had brought someone else into the deal? But her Mist family could also handle distribution and sales.
What had started as a partnership between two people was now turning into a three-way split. Naturally, Evelyn wasn't too pleased.
When it comes to business, maximizing profit is the goal.
"And who's this other partner? How exactly are the profits going to be divided?"
Evelyn asked. She saw Nathan, who provided the formula, but this supposed third partner hadn't shown up.
"He's on his way. We'll talk specifics when he arrives."
On the way over, Nathan had already messaged Grog to come negotiate the deal.
But Nathan wasn't too concerned—after all, Grog was entirely under his thumb.
Next up was profit distribution, which was the key part of the whole partnership.
This time, Nathan wasn't planning to take the lion's share—after all, all he was contributing was the formula.
"Prepare a new tripartite contract,"
Evelyn instructed her secretary.
On the way here, she'd already had a two-party agreement drawn up, but now that there was a third party involved, a new contract was necessary.
The secretary didn't waste words. She walked to the side, opened her laptop, and started drafting.
"So, how do you plan to split the profits this time?"
Evelyn asked after giving her orders.
"Forty-fifty-ten. I take 40%, you take 50%, and the remaining 10% goes toward business expansion."
Nathan replied directly.
Evelyn was a little confused. What about the third partner—was he not getting any share?
Seeing the look on her face, Nathan explained:
"As for the one in charge of transport and sales, we'll each give up 1.5% from our shares to make up his cut."
Huh!?
Only 3%? Evelyn was shocked. That was very low.
In any other business, the logistics and sales partner would get nearly 10%.
Where had Nathan found this partner who was willing to take so little?
He must've tricked him somehow.
Of course, if Grog heard this, he might break down in tears.
"Tricked? More like threatened. Sure, it turned out to be a good deal in the end, but at the beginning, it was all intimidation!"
"You're sure he's fine with just 3%? What if he starts messing around behind our backs?"
Evelyn asked worriedly.
As the heiress of a prominent business family, she'd seen plenty of shady partnerships go bad.
…
Once the three met, the contract was quickly finalized.
The Dynamax Candy formula was handed over to Evelyn.
Being the academic prodigy that she was, Evelyn didn't waste a second. She immediately took her team and got to work.
With such a reliable business partner, Nathan only had one word: Awesome!
That evening, he also went to settle things with the Black Sky Gang, marking the beginning of a full transformation for Grace City.
After Nathan dealt with the gang, things got a little strange in the city.
Now the local thugs were handling the stuff the police didn't want to touch—and even the stuff they did.
Nathan, meanwhile, headed off to Yue's wedding.
And wouldn't you know it—Yue told him she was heading to Valar Islands for her honeymoon!
Since she knew Nathan was going to Valar Islands anyway for the Pacific Regional Tournament, she invited him to go with them.
It was on the way, so Nathan didn't refuse.
Time flew by, and the Pacific Regional tournament was just around the corner.
Nathan and the newlywed couple set off together.
As for sightseeing in Valar Islands?
Nathan "postponed" that.
He also didn't go to the Wandering Mountains to look for Entei and the other legendary beasts.
Time was too tight. Better to wait until after the tournament to go looking for them.
Anyway, Nathan firmly believed that no one in the Pacific Region could beat him.
That was his confidence in himself—and in his Pokémon.
Flying from the mainland to the Valar Island capital, Sakura City,
As expected of a nation's capital, Sakura City was vibrant and bustling.
There were supposed to be people welcoming the competitors.
But since Nathan had traveled independently, he had to make his own way to the competition venue.
"Pacific Regional Tournament, here I come!"
Nathan said, dramatically, the moment he stepped out of the airport.
Luckily, this was a foreign country, and not many people understood Celestian.
"I didn't expect the national champion to be such a cringy drama queen,"
Yue teased, giggling at his antics.
"Ahem..."
Nathan had totally forgotten that he had two fellow Celestian companions with him. So embarrassing!
"Wait… do you two speak Valarian?"
Coming back to his senses, Nathan suddenly realized—he didn't know a word of Valarian.
Language barriers were a major headache.
And it seemed like all his stat points at birth went into Pokémon training.
Back in school, he never scored above 80 in English—even though the full score was 150.
"Yes."
Yue and Chad said in perfect sync.
As celebrities—and quite famous ones at that—of course they had to learn foreign languages.
It'd be so embarrassing to need a translator every time they traveled abroad.
"…Fine, you guys win. Let's grab a cab."
Nathan was speechless. It really felt like he was the only one in the world who didn't speak a foreign language.
Yue hailed a cab and gave the driver directions in fluent Valarian to take them to a hotel near the competition venue.
Sitting in the car, Nathan boredly scrolled through the system shop.
And then he saw something that made him feel completely insulted:
"Universal Language Mastery!"
Nathan wasn't surprised that the system had this item.
What annoyed him was the note attached to it:
"Universal Language Mastery: 20,000 Pokécoins. (As a system host, not even knowing a foreign language is an embarrassment to the system.)"
Seriously?
It was bad enough that they charged him for it—did they have to mock him too?
…But it was just too useful.
Grumbling inwardly, Nathan still bought the Universal Language Mastery.
The moment he did, the foreign ads outside the cab and the in-car radio suddenly became completely understandable.
To cover up the fact that he'd just become magically fluent, Nathan opened his phone and pretended to be watching a Valarian learning video.
In the eyes of Yue and Chad it looked like Nathan was cramming last-minute.
"You're just starting to study Valarian now, when you're already here? What, do you think you're some genius who can master a language overnight?"
The car soon arrived at the hotel.
After getting out, the three entered and handled check-in.
Yue and Chad took care of everything—reserving rooms and such.
"I'm going to go study a bit more,"
Nathan said as he grabbed his room key and headed upstairs.
Yue and Chad just smiled without saying anything.
Honestly, it was understandable that Nathan didn't know Valarian.
He was just a teenager, after all—and with Pokémon as strong as his, of course he'd barely had time to study anything else.
…
After a good night's rest, Nathan got up early the next day.
He needed to go to the tournament venue to draw lots for the match bracket.
Just as he stepped out of his room, he bumped into Yue and Chad.
"Heading out?"
Yue asked.
"Yeah, I need to go draw my number,"
Nathan nodded.
"Then we'll come with you,"
Yue offered. She was worried he might get lost due to the language barrier.
But her concern was unnecessary. Nathan had paid good money to fix that.
"No need. You two go have fun—I already learned Valarian."
Nathan said casually, as if it were no big deal.
Yue and Chad both widened their eyes in disbelief.
Just one night—less than 12 hours—and he'd learned an entire language?
"You know where the venue is, then?"
Yue challenged him in Valarian.
She didn't believe anyone could be that much of a genius—she just had to test him.
"Murakami Arena."
Nathan replied fluently in perfect Valarian.
Hearing that accent, both Yue and Chad suddenly felt like complete failures.
Were they just extras in this world?
Were geniuses always this absurdly overpowered?
(End of Chapter)
(TN: I'm changing the country name from Celestial Star Nation – Celestia Country. It sounds too pretentious so, I'm changing it.)