"Minccino…"
Upon hearing these words, the Minccino were all stunned.
They lifted their small heads, looking at the human in front of them, their eyes still glistening with tears.
"Draconis, my name is Draconis." Draconis tried his best to show his goodwill to this group of Minccino.
"Minccino…"
The Minccino did not respond immediately.
They turned their heads to look at their companions, communicating with them through their eyes.
"Minccino?"
"Minccino…"
"Minccino!"
The Minccino whispered and plotted loudly.
Draconis squatted nearby, patiently waiting for their answer.
Minccino, the cute Pokémon in the Unova region that parallels Clefairy.
They are cute in appearance, love cleanliness, and even have a severe obsession with being spotless.
In the anime, Minccino are often seen using their tails as brooms to clean, until all the dirt in their dwelling is completely swept away.
"Interesting," Draconis thought.
After a while, the Minccino finished their discussion.
They all looked up at Draconis in unison and firmly replied, "Minccino!"
"You agreed?" Draconis raised his eyebrows and asked.
"Minccino!" The Minccino nodded their small heads.
At this point, they had no other choice but to trust this human.
Moreover, he didn't look like someone who would lie.
What's more, if everything this human named Draconis said was true…
Then by next spring, they would have a Berry forest full of fruit!
At that time, they could make their home there, fall asleep every day amidst the rich scent of fruit, and wake up in the morning able to reach out a paw and touch delicious Berries.
Just thinking about that kind of life made the Minccino feel happy!
The Minccino couldn't help but fantasize.
Seeing this, Draconis slowly breathed a sigh of relief.
He stood up, called for Lila, the territory's physician, to treat the injured Pokémon, and at the same time signaled to everyone that they could continue working.
The residents of the territory then slowly came forward, hesitating as they looked at the cute magical beasts.
"They won't attack us anymore," Draconis reassured everyone. "These few magical beasts will temporarily live with us until next spring."
Everyone had heard Draconis's conversation with these magical beasts just now.
They had no objections, as they were the ones who had destroyed the magical beasts' home first.
Now that they saw the magical beasts were no longer aggressive, people felt at ease and began cutting down trees.
Trees constantly fell, and the forest turned into an open space… The Minccino watched this scene. Although they had already agreed to Draconis, when they personally saw their former home disappear, they couldn't help but feel a little sad.
Draconis originally thought the Minccino would be sad for a long time.
However, this sadness only lasted for less than half an hour before it vanished.
Charcoal burned brightly in the brazier. Inside the warm tent, five Minccino sat at a table eating dried almonds, with a cup of steaming sweet red tea placed beside them.
"Minccino" So warm
"Minccino!" So delicious!
"Minccino…" So comfortable… To be able to eat such delicious food and stay in such a warm and clean nest during the cold season when food was scarce, this was something unimaginable in the past.
The Minccino all showed happy expressions on their faces, as if they had received fifty million in relocation compensation.
There was no trace of the sadness from earlier.
Draconis: "…"
Dratini: "…"
At this moment, Draconis just wanted to shout: Hey! Where is your bottom line?!
But looking at the few Minccino in front of him, Draconis suddenly remembered something else.
This forest was very, very large, with abundant natural resources.
In such a place, it was obviously impossible for only Minccino to inhabit it.
They couldn't stop logging in the short term.
Because building wooden houses required wood, and winter required enough wood for heating.
Places rich in natural resources would also be rich in Pokémon resources.
Perhaps they would encounter similar situations in the future.
After a moment of contemplation, Draconis stood up and instructed Dratini to stay here and help look after the Minccino, while he went to the logging site.
The residents and Snover were enthusiastically cutting down trees. As people swung their sharp axes, large trees slowly crashed down one after another.
The huge, dull sound traveled very far.
"Your Highness Draconis!" A knight, seeing Draconis approach, stepped forward and performed a standard knight's salute.
Draconis nodded, but his gaze turned to the quiet forest around him, asking, "These days, when you were cutting trees, have you encountered any wild magical beasts?"
"Wild magical beasts?" The knight was stunned. He thought carefully for a moment, then replied, "Reporting to Your Highness, we have encountered them!"
"Oh?" Draconis was a little surprised. "What kind of magical beasts?"
The knight recalled carefully: "A flying magical beast like a pigeon, a very wary magical beast like a mouse that immediately turned and fled when it saw us, and a magical beast like a fawn with brown fur."
Hmm? It seems the Pokémon ecosystem nearby is quite rich.
The magical beast like a pigeon, it might be the Unova region's common Pidove.
The wary magical beast like a mouse should be Patrat.
The magical beast like a fawn, it's probably a winter-form Deerling.
"What was their reaction when they saw you?" Draconis asked again.
The knight scratched his head and replied, "Perhaps there were too many of us, and it scared them. Those magical beasts immediately turned and ran away when they saw us."
I see… It seems these few Minccino are relatively bolder.
Of course, it's also possible that their habitat trees were constantly being cut down, and the Minccino had no other choice, so they chose to come out and confront them.
"I understand. You can continue with your work!" Draconis said.
"Yes, Your Highness!" The knight saluted again, then turned and continued his work.
Draconis stood in the snow, turning his head to look around, contemplating the vast forest.
But just then, he suddenly felt a sense of being watched, as if something was secretly observing him.
Hmm?
Draconis subconsciously turned around.
The next second, he saw a small green figure on a large tree not far away.
The gazes of one person and one Pokémon met in mid-air.
It was a small, bipedal, snake-like Pokémon.
It had a green body, a cream-colored belly and feet, and a yellow stripe on its back extending to its tail.
Despite being a snake-like Pokémon, it had cute limbs and could stand on two feet like a human.
That Pokémon was… the Unova region's Grass-type starter, Snivy?!
Draconis's pupils constricted, and he instantly froze.
This place actually housed a Pokémon like Snivy?!
He was looking at the Snivy, and that Snivy was also looking at him.
One person and one Pokémon gazed at each other across a stretch of snow.