Ron stared at the snail trailing at the very end and waved his hand.
"It's fine, we can just place another bet later," Ron said, pointing toward the mine. "If you don't have enough Calico Eggs later, you can come get some from me."
Trusting in Bellossom, Ron wasn't worried in the slightest about whether they'd have enough Calico Eggs.
"Huh?"
"Bellossom and Froakie are over there," Ron said. Looking around, he noticed that Sailor had also started Willy's fishing challenge, accompanied by Sandy.
However, Sailor's Calico Eggs would probably be spent with Sandy, so Ron didn't plan on touching those.
"Indee."
Right now, Indeedee was tugging at the hem of Ron's pants. When Ron looked down, it pointed at a small signboard not too far away and called out again.
Ron looked over and saw that it was a trivia contest.
With just one glance, Ron guessed what Indeedee was planning to do.
"..."
Ron and Indeedee stared at each other in silence. After a while, Ron conceded: "Fine, if you really want to participate, no problem."
'I guess this counts as a relatively fair method?' Ron thought uncertainly.
By this time, the race had reached its final moments. At the very front were still the Speedy Rooster and the Cactus Crawler.
"What a pity. Should we go set up a stall too?" Jessie said.
"What would we even sell, meow?" Meowth looked up at Jessie. "We didn't bring anything."
"That's for you to figure out," Jessie said matter-of-factly.
Just then, a sudden cheer erupted from the crowd.
Penny quickly looked over and saw a stick reach out from who-knows-where and trip the Lightning Snail.
Normally, falling down during a race meant almost certain disqualification for any other animal.
But this was a snail. Tripped by the stick, it immediately retracted into its shell and used that momentum to start rolling down the track.
"It passed the Cactus Crawler, meow!" Meowth cheered.
"It's almost at the finish line!!!" Jessie yelled happily.
"Ah, how did this happen?" Penny watched in disbelief as the snail rolled all the way toward the finish line.
Although Penny knew she had a bit of luck, it shouldn't be to this extent, right?
As Penny thought this, she turned her head and saw the merchant's face turning green.
At the very last second, the snail crossed the finish line just before the Speedy Rooster.
"The winner is... the Lightning Snail," he said through gritted teeth, and then started handing out the Calico Eggs.
Because it was the first race of the day, counting Ron and the others, there were a total of six people who had bet on the Lightning Snail. Just like that, 600 Calico Eggs were gone.
"You aren't going to back out on the bet, are you?" James asked.
"No, of course not, you can rest assured on that." Saying this, the merchant finished distributing the Calico Eggs one by one and gave the crowd a fake smile. "There's still a while before the next race. I have a little personal grudge to settle, please wait a moment."
Saying this, he walked toward a nearby corner.
"If you dare to cause trouble again, I'll beat you to death!"
"How was I supposed to know it would exactly make it cross the finish line? I was trying to trip it up!"
"Cut the crap. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have lost this much today!"
The sound of the argument was carried over by a gust of wind. The group exchanged glances and decided to wander around a bit.
"Where are you planning to look around?" Penny asked softly.
"Me?" Ron pointed at the trivia contest not too far away. "Over there, to participate in that trivia with the scholar."
Because Indeedee couldn't speak, Ron had to do the talking for it.
He led Indeedee over and, right in front of everyone, signed up for the Scholar's challenge.
Gunther was here today too. Seeing Ron, Gunther stepped forward to greet him.
Gunther had changed a lot from before. Probably because he wasn't always cooped up in the library anymore, he had gotten a lot of sun and his skin had tanned significantly. Plus, his clothes weren't as meticulous as before; he was wearing a hiking outfit and holding a camera in his hand.
"Are you participating in this trivia too?" Gunther asked.
"Yeah." Ron nodded. Gunther couldn't help but lower his voice: "I feel like this event is a complete scam—do you know what he asked me just now?"
"What?"
"He asked me how many steps I've taken in my entire life!"
"?" Ron fell silent for a moment and turned to look at Indeedee.
Indeedee couldn't help but make a gesture at Ron, signaling him not to worry.
"Let's give it a try," Ron said. "We're just killing time anyway."
"Fair enough." Gunther shrugged. "By the way, there's free lunch provided over there. I'm going to go eat. See you later."
Ron nodded and stepped onto the stage.
"Alright, our new challenger is—Ron!"
Below the stage, the townsfolk who were still wandering around slowly gathered over.
Evelyn, pushing George in his wheelchair, also arrived at the front of the stage.
"What are we watching this for?" George asked with a cold snort.
"Oh, we're just killing time anyway," Evelyn said with a smile.
"Alright, the first question you need to answer is—who runs the Saloon in Pelican Town?"
"Gus."
He didn't even need Indeedee to steal the answer; Ron blurted it out.
Down below, Gus acted as if he had won a prize, waving to the crowd.
"Next is the second question—which season does Garlic grow in?"
"Spring."
"Okay, now we're increasing the difficulty." The Scholar smiled under everyone's gaze and then drawled, "In which season can you catch a squid?"
"Hey, that's not fair!" Gunther, who was eavesdropping with his ears perked up, said indignantly. "How come my third question was how many steps I've taken in my life?"
If it were before, he might have actually been able to guess an approximate number. But ever since he decided to become a Pokémon photographer, he basically spent every day out in the wild, only returning home when he was completely exhausted.
"Winter."
"Correct!" The Scholar clapped. Under everyone's expectant gazes, he switched the card in his hand to the very last one: "So, next is the final question. If you answer correctly, you will win 50 Calico Eggs! If you answer incorrectly, the challenge is failed! Are you ready?"
"Ready," Ron replied.
The Scholar cleared his throat, then looked at the card in his hand and asked, "May I ask, what is George's last name?"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's gaze fell on old George in the wheelchair. Old George's face instantly flushed red as he looked around in a panic.
Obviously, there was no way Ron could possibly know what his last name was. George took a deep breath and barked at the Scholar on stage: "What kind of question is that? Other than my family, who knows what my last name is?"
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