Mutated plants.
They were special crops that had an extremely small chance of being born after the Mudbray used the move Rototiller on the fields.
Each mutation could produce different effects, and their flavors were exceptionally unique and delicious—top-tier ingredients that one could only encounter by sheer luck.
When harvesting the tomatoes earlier, Silas had deliberately kept an eye out for them.
Yet reality did not align with expectations. The probability of crop mutation was so low that Silas hadn't even caught a glimpse of one.
Who would have thought that while he was away making deliveries, Kangaskhan and the others would end up discovering one instead.
"Which one of you found this?" Silas asked with a smile.
Kangaskhan: "Kang~" (It was Minccino, she just dug casually and it popped out.)
"Well done, Minccino. You get to order tonight's meal," Silas said, vigorously rubbing Minccino's head as a reward.
Minccino: (0U0)
Being praised individually, Minccino broke into a sweet smile. A faint blush appeared on her cheeks, her fluffy tail swishing back and forth—she was in an excellent mood.
Silas carefully dug out the golden potato and wiped the dirt from its surface.
Information naturally surfaced before his eyes.
[Golden Potato: A type of special ingredient. Due to mutation caused by Mudbray's unique move, Rototiller, dishes made from it gain the "Golden Shine" effect.]
Hm? It comes with a built-in cooking effect.
Silas was tempted to try it immediately.
But then he thought—if a golden potato could appear, could there be other special ingredients hidden in the field as well?
A sense of excitement, like opening blind boxes, lingered in his heart.
Especially with crops like potatoes—unless you dug them up, there was no way to tell whether they were special or not.
However, he still had more important matters to handle. He could only instruct the Pokémon to be extra careful while digging up the potatoes and not miss anything.
Kangaskhan, Chatot, and the others all responded in unison. Each of them wanted a chance to be praised individually—and to place an order.
They dug even more earnestly, almost wanting to flip the entire potato field upside down.
Unfortunately, no second mutated crop was found.
The probability was so low that it was downright astonishing.
Meanwhile, the three Mudbray continued making trip after trip, tirelessly transporting harvested crops out of the ranch.
From morning until afternoon, aside from a brief rest at noon, no one stopped.
Only then were all the crops from the first planting fully harvested.
Aside from a portion kept for personal consumption, everything else was sold to Gario.
In the evening, Gario arrived driving another harvest truck. When he saw the various vegetables neatly sorted and stacked in the truck bed, he was utterly shocked.
"So much! Silas, do you have some kind of special formula?"
If he remembered correctly, Silas was still a newcomer ranch owner. This was his first time planting crops, and the amount of land he had cultivated wasn't even that large.
Yet the final yield was more than double that of other ranches.
Gario was shocked for a hundred years straight.
Patting the Mudbray beside him on the head, Silas said, "This is all thanks to them. The Mudbray use the Rototiller on the fields every single day without fail."
"The power of Pokémon is truly amazing!"
"Potatoes: 5,000 kilos, tomatoes: 3,000 kilos, cabbage: 3,000 kilos, mung beans (with pods): 200 kilos. The total comes to 11,300 League Coins." Gario handed over the recorded data and sighed. "Silas, this is a real bumper harvest!"
Taking the record, Silas did a quick calculation himself.
After confirming there were no issues, he signed his name.
The transaction was complete.
Another ten thousand-plus League Coins were added to his account, and Silas's expression was exceptionally radiant.
Compared to the previous times, this harvest brought a greater sense of joy and stability.
Both potatoes and cabbage could be replanted, providing a very steady income.
Tomatoes could be harvested multiple times as well.
With this round, it was basically confirmed that every two weeks or so, he would have more than ten thousand League Coins coming in.
There was no longer any need to worry about slowly burning through savings.
In other words, life suddenly had something to look forward to.
Gario called over Diggersby and opened the passenger door himself.
Seeing Diggersby driving using its ears would feel extremely out of place in another world.
But in the Pokémon world, it was perfectly normal—many jobs were handled by Pokémon instead.
Just before leaving, Gario seemed to recall something and suddenly leaned his head out.
"Oh right, Silas. I heard that a batch of ranch Pokémon was recently imported to Coumarine City from the Paldea region. If you have time, you might want to go take a look."
"A ranch without ranch Pokémon just doesn't feel right!"
Watching Gario disappear at the end of Route 12, Silas murmured to himself, "Ranch Pokémon, huh? Yeah… it really is time to take a look."
A ranch without ranch Pokémon was indeed incomplete.
More importantly, ranch Pokémon all had very high economic value.
They could produce a wide variety of high-value products that usually sold at premium prices.
After sowing the next batch of seeds the day after tomorrow, he would be free for another week. It would be a good opportunity to make a trip to Coumarine City.
"Let's go! We're heading back to make something delicious and properly reward you all."
Raising his hand, Silas patted the Mudbray and mounted its back.
"Mud~!"
With good food on the way, even the Mudbray's steps felt light and bouncy.
Today, they had helped Silas immensely—of course they were happy.
Upon returning to the ranch, Chatot had already left with its "friends," who knew where they had gone off to this time.
These days, it was like a dragon that showed its tail but never its head—unless it was mealtime, don't even think about seeing it.
Meanwhile, Kangaskhan and Minccino were playing by the lakeside. Minccino was helping Kangaskhan wash up—everything had to be cleaned thoroughly.
Laughter and playful noises drifted over from time to time.
Lowering his gaze to the three Mudbray at his feet, Silas noticed they were dirty as well.
Their hooves were caked with thick layers of mud from all the back-and-forth walking.
"Do you want to wash now, or wait until after dinner?"
"Mud~"
Baths were the scariest thing of all.
The Mudbray chose to postpone it.
The three little ones cheered and jumped into the mud pool, splashing around and smearing each other from head to toe.
After work, taking a mud bath was the Mudbray's unique way of relaxing.
"These guys…" Silas laughed and scolded lightly, then let them be.
Washing later was fine too—once they were clean, they could go straight to sleep without getting dirty again.
While the Pokémon relaxed, Silas still had things to do.
He needed to prepare the promised work meal for Kangaskhan and the others.
There were plenty of vegetables left at home.
Sugared tomatoes, stir-fried cabbage with meat, and one main dish—braised beef with potatoes.
The beef was cut into chunks, the potatoes peeled, then added together with onions, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, and other seasonings. It needed to simmer for over an hour, until both the beef and potatoes were soft and tender.
Paired with a bowl of white rice, it was simply heavenly.
In addition, there was Minccino's ordered dish: mung bean cake.
Fresh mung beans were steamed and mashed into a paste, then mixed with butter and sweeteners like sugar and honey. The mixture had to be stir-fried until it became dry and fluffy—non-sticky to the hands and not sticking to the pan.
The final step was shaping.
Using everything he had learned in his lifetime, Silas barely managed to shape it into the form of a Minccino.
At the moment the cooking was finished, the information for all four dishes appeared before his eyes at once.
As he glanced through them one by one, Silas couldn't help but swallow—he himself was starving too.
(End of Chapter)