New Pokemon fanfic out now! Please check it out and show your support :) 'From Ranger To Pokemon Master'
----------------------
Penny wasn't sure whether she should be grateful for Jas's thoughtfulness or embarrassed first.
Was her intention too obvious?
Penny thought worriedly while glancing at Ron.
Not noticing Penny's gaze, Ron was currently staring at the sneaky Indeedee not far away, trying to intimidate it into retreating with his eyes alone.
Seriously, didn't it have work to do? Didn't he already have Magearna assign it some?
"Indeedee~"
Indeedee put its hands behind its back and swaggered over just like usual.
Routine inspection—a daily essential task for a quality steward!
This is certainly not doing anything unrelated!
Thinking this, Indeedee swaggered right over.
Intuiting that Indeedee was up to no good, but also afraid of accidentally reading Penny's thoughts due to Indeedee's instinct, Ron didn't dare activate his mind-reading to see what this little thing was plotting. He could only watch as it approached with a smug expression.
"Uh——then, shall we?"
"Let's go take a look over there." Ron, before Indeedee could arrive, grabbed Penny's wrist and led her straight toward the trees in that direction.
"Ah?" Penny froze for a moment. She stared at his hand holding hers, and after a long moment finally reacted, hurrying to keep up with Ron's pace.
"Yeah, the Berry Trees are planted over there." After passing by Indeedee, Ron walked several steps before explaining to Penny.
"Ah~~~" Penny didn't quite understand what Ron meant by this explanation, but she played along, responding with an expression of sudden realization. "Berry Trees, huh~~"
"——Yeah, Berry Trees." Ron said. "This one is a Peacha Berry, and that one is——"
Just as he started introducing them, Ron vaguely realized something wasn't quite right.
After all, the original plan was to give the kids a tour of the farm. Right now, there wasn't a single kid present. Logically, the two of them should be waiting outside the barn or near the pasture for Shane to finish introducing things to Jas and the others, and then Ron would lead them all together to tour other places.
It was all Indeedee's fault.
Ron thought. Penny realized something and smiled gently at Ron. "You must have other work to do later, right? It's fine, just tell me first, and I can relay it to the kids afterwards."
"That works too." Ron continued his introduction.
Meanwhile, at the barn.
The three kids followed behind Shane.
Shane dryly introduced the animals' preferences and similar details.
"Right, this is a cow."
"I already knew that."
"I don't think you do." Jas immediately rebutted the contrarian Vincent. "You can't even tell the difference between the spelling of 'snail' and 'cow.'"
"——Hmph!" Vincent turned his head away.
Jas then looked at Shane with a bit of pride, looking exactly like a knight who had just defended him.
When it came to animals, Shane displayed a gentleness that wasn't usually seen.
Jas watched him with pride, fully embodying the feeling that Shane was doing a wonderful job, he was the world's best——
Jas paused, pondering what this job title should be called.
——
Animal keeper?
Jas tilted her head, staring at Shane, and then accepted the title. He was the world's best keeper of little chickens, little cows, little sheep, and little rabbits!
On the other side, after a thorough introduction, the two finished touring the entire Berry Tree orchard.
Only Berry Trees were planted here. Because Berry Trees were different from regular fruit trees—they bore fruit year-round— they were planted outside. Pelican Town's original fruit trees were planted in the greenhouse.
This way, fresh fruit could be harvested every day, and a large portion was supplied to the Community Center, sold at extremely low prices.
This allowed the townsfolk to supplement these precious nutrients at a more affordable price.
Penny felt this was the thing she admired most about Ron.
There were many kind people, but very few like Ron.
Actually, giving these fruits directly to everyone for free wasn't much different from specially selling them at low prices at the Community Center. Not to mention, she had long since seen from Lewis where that so-called education fund drawn from tax revenue actually came from.
——
But he used a softer, more acceptable method to distribute his kindness.
Just like the loan on her house.
Ron had just finished introducing things when he noticed Penny looking spaced out.
"Um——do you want me to introduce it again?"
"Ah, no need, I've already memorized it." Penny was about to say something when Jas and the others, accompanied by Magearna, came over to join them.
Indeedee trailed not far behind the kids. Because it had been explicitly forbidden from participating in today's tour with the kids, it could only pretend to be just passing by, walking past everyone with a completely indifferent expression, and then circling back around again.
"Wow! Magearna is so cool!" Vincent's gaze was completely fixed on Magearna's body, constructed from precision parts. "Amazing, is this also a Pokémon?"
In Vincent's understanding, Pokémon should at least be animals——?
Glancing at the Geodude over there, Vincent swallowed that thought back down.
"So amazing." Vincent said, then noticed Penny next to Ron. He immediately furrowed his brows and squeezed between the two of them at lightning speed.
"Magearna?" Magearna looked at Vincent, who had forcefully pushed Ron aside, paused, then turned to look at Jas.
"So pretty——like a doll." Jas was still looking at Magearna with envy.
Of course, their family's Audino was also wonderful.
But Magearna was different from Audino!
Just from one glance, it gave the feeling that it should belong to a noble princess of some kingdom.
Jas thought this, and only then noticed Vincent causing trouble.
"You get out! What are you doing?" Jas pulled Vincent out. "You're pushing into Brother Ron."
"It's fine." Ron said, then thought for a moment and asked, "Where do you want to go next?"
"The farmland!"
"The Nursery!"
"Either is fine."
Ron looked at Leo, who hadn't offered any opinion, and after a moment said, "Then let's go to the Nursery first. Though there aren't any other Pokémon in there right now, just Rotom and Ditto."
Ron said, leading the group toward the Nursery.
"But the farmland is closer!" Jas pouted, starting to regret creating opportunities for Penny and Ron.
She looked at Ron and snorted—Hmph! Traitor to the people!
"But Vincent's opinion is equally important." Penny explained softly to Jas.
"Hmph!" Jas snorted.
That Ron would handle it this way was something she completely hadn't expected. However, this point also made Penny especially satisfied.
She looked at Ron's profile and thought: He really is a very good person.
------------------------------------------------------
40+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)