Eindoak, in the prison beneath Great Earth Sword Castle.
A guard in armor walked in from outside and opened a prison door with a metal key.
"Hey, you two, come out!" the guard shouted inside.
Two girls, about seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing black hoods, huddled in the corner.
Hearing the guard's voice, they couldn't help but look up.
"Sister—" one of the girls squeezed the other's hand.
The other girl reassuringly squeezed her palm, then asked:
"Excuse me, has something happened?"
The guard looked at the two girls. If one looked closely, one would find that these two girls, from their height to their appearance, and even their faces, were identical, as if carved from the same mold.
They were cursed individuals. Because their appearances were identical, the children born to those who married them also had no differences in their looks. It was said that those who approached them would become ill-fated.
The guard quickly averted his gaze, turned around, and said: "His Majesty the King has commanded that, starting today, you two will go with everyone else to Prince Draconis's fief!"
Prince Draconis?
The two girls were slightly startled.
They exchanged glances, then obediently stood up and followed the guard out of the prison.
After passing through a secret passage, everything before them suddenly became clear.
This was a forest located on the outskirts of the royal city.
Many people had already gathered here, waiting in advance.
Among the crowd, there were also many beasts, restrained by reins, pulling carts loaded with goods. However, because the goods were covered, they couldn't see them clearly.
"Sister—" one of the girls was very worried.
"Don't be afraid, Alia," the slightly older girl said softly.
She helped her sister put on her black hood, casting their faces into shadow, making it impossible to see their features clearly.
This was a caravan of about eight hundred people. Including the enslaved beasts, the total number was close to a thousand.
Such a large group meant they wouldn't be very conspicuous within it.
At this moment, with all personnel gathered, the entire caravan began to depart.
"Prince Draconis—" Joy Rin silently recited the name in her heart.
Although her heart was also filled with panic about the future, as the older sister, Joy Rin did not show it.
She and her younger sister, Joy Alia, were originally born in a remote small village.
Their mother fell in love with a young man from the village, but on the day they were born, their mother lost her life due to difficult childbirth.
This was originally nothing, but as they gradually grew up—when the people in that small village saw their identical appearance to their mother, expressions of horror immediately appeared on their faces.
They even spoke words like "Curse" and "ill-fated."
And then—they were driven out of the village and eventually drifted to the royal city. But because they had no money, in order to feed her sister, Joy Rin stole a few loaves of bread from a bakery.
Then, they were sent to prison.
"..Joy Rin and Joy Alia silently followed at the end of the procession. As everyone gathered, the entire caravan set off towards the unknown ahead.
The destinies of countless people converged here, and what awaited them was a future shrouded in mist.
On the magnificent Great Earth Sword Castle, the Old King stood alone on the terrace, gazing at the dark caravan in the forest.
This was the last thing he could do for his youngest son.
Perhaps, this was also his last meeting with Victini.
"Alas!"
The Old King let out a sorrowful sigh. He gazed downwards until the caravan completely disappeared beyond the horizon and could no longer be seen, then he turned around, his old, hunched back slowly fading into the dim castle.
It was another beautiful, sunny day. Draconis sat in the lord's hall, listening to Alfred report on the progress of various tasks within the territory.
"Prince Draconis, the mill you previously instructed to build has been completed. Once the wheat ripens in a while, everyone in the territory can use it to grind flour!" Alfred said with anticipation.
Witnessing the maturation of crops and processing them into food like a farmer was something he had never experienced before when he was in the royal city.
"Understood," Draconis nodded slightly.
It was already April, and under the diligent care of Snivy, Snover, and other Grass-type Pokémon, the wheat, which should have ripened in May, was already starting to turn yellow.
In a few more days, it should be ready for harvest.
The mill was a waterwheel mill, which could use the flow of river water to power the millstones, thereby achieving grinding.
"How is Elena's progress?" Draconis asked again.
"Elena has already planned the initial layout of the town. This is the blueprint; she asked me to convey to you that construction of houses can begin," Alfred handed over a simple blueprint.
Draconis glanced at it and nodded, "Then proceed with construction according to this layout!"
The main materials for building houses in the Middle Ages were stone, wood, bricks, and mortar.
And these days, a considerable amount of building materials had already been produced within the territory, which should be enough to build a small town to accommodate them.
"Yes, Prince Draconis!" Alfred nodded, then took the blueprint and went to carry out the task.
Draconis leaned back in his chair and casually opened the territory panel, surprised to find that the territory's satisfaction had accumulated to 500.
He immediately unlocked the Advanced Herbalism technology.
The next second, a large number of Potion recipes appeared in Draconis's mind.
Hyper Potion, Super Potion, Silver Spray, Gold Spray—
Compared to the Potion recipes provided by Basic Herbalism, these advanced Potions were obviously more practical.
Hyper Potion and Super Potion were more effective than regular Potion, while Silver Spray and Gold Spray could release a magical scent that was very effective at repelling wild Pokémon.
Draconis roughly scanned them and found that among all the herbs that could be used for Silver Spray and Gold Spray, one was coincidentally the leaf on Petilil's head.
Isn't that a coincidence?
Lila had several Petilil.
Draconis took out a quill pen, wrote down these Potion recipes, and planned to find an opportunity to give them to Lila later.
After completing this task, Draconis began to ponder other matters within the territory.
After this period of interaction, the Dugtrio seemed to have grown fond of this life where it helped humans Rototiller and humans provided it with food.
If nothing unexpected happened, Dugtrio would remain here and work with the farmers.
Simisear's brick-firing work was also progressing very smoothly. Although it was hard work now, once the miners extracted coal later, a proper brick kiln could be built to fire bricks in another way.
But the only problem was that many dangerous Pokémon inhabited the Mine underground.
Although Anna and Zorua provided protection, the miners only dared to Rototiller on the surface.
With their current strength, they had no way to go down to Mine.
"Alas!" Draconis couldn't help but sigh.
Although a large group of Pokémon had gathered in the territory, very few of them were truly capable of combat.
"I wonder how Shuckle is doing—"
...
stones Plzz
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