+100
+500
+300
…
As time passed, more and more people arrived to take part in the festival, and the number of customers buying Silas's dishes multiplied several times over.
Silas wished he could grow three heads and six arms—he was completely swamped. Even with his Pokémon helping, it still wasn't enough.
The reputation of his cooking gradually spread, and some customers even came back for second purchases.
In front of his stall, a massive crowd had formed.
As soon as one person left, the next immediately filled the gap, not leaving even the slightest space. Silas was suffering and enjoying it at the same time.
The Beach Festival lasted only about four hours in total, from nine in the evening until one in the morning the next day.
Not even an hour had passed yet, and Silas had already earned at least twenty thousand League Coins.
Four hours would mean eighty thousand.
Add that to his remaining funds, and it would be more than enough to upgrade his ranch house.
But obviously, things couldn't be calculated that simply.
There was one strict limitation slowing down his money-making speed.
Ingredients.
He had greatly underestimated both the popularity of the Beach Festival and how well-received his dishes would be.
It was an instant hit the moment he opened.
At this point, more than half of his ingredients had already been used up. At most, in another two hours, all of his dishes would be sold out.
And the result was exactly as Silas had predicted. Two hours after the festival began, his ingredients were completely exhausted.
At the stall, aside from mud biscuits and Green Grass Dumplings, there were no other dishes left.
Taking advantage of this brief lull, Silas reached out and patted Minccino, praising it.
Today's success owed a lot to Minccino's help—without it, his popularity would have been at least cut in half.
Up until now, there hadn't been a single Pokémon that could resist Minccino, and it had attracted wave after wave of customers to the stall.
Receiving praise, Minccino proudly lifted its chin. "Min!"
It really was amazing, after all!
The other Pokémon had helped as well, and Silas praised them one by one.
Except for Cyclizar…
That guy had actually fallen asleep—snoring loudly despite the noisy surroundings, its thunderous snores completely out of place.
Pulling his gaze back, Silas said to the Pokémon, "Everyone, hang in there a little longer. Once we sell off the remaining dishes, we'll go take a look around too."
This was the annual Beach Festival, and since it was their first time attending, Silas definitely didn't want to keep the Pokémon stuck at the stall the whole time.
Besides, he himself wanted to stroll around as well.
The Pokémon all cheered in unison—joining in the fun was something they loved.
Even the tree Noibat hanging upside down above and Smoliv acting as a decoration on the stall began to feel excited.
Only Cyclizar was the exception, showing no sign of waking up at all.
What others didn't know was that Cyclizar had secretly eaten several portions of white-cut chicken, and a subtle change was occurring deep within its body.
A faint, barely noticeable purple glow flashed and vanished, unnoticed by anyone—including Cyclizar itself.
It only felt extremely sleepy, unable to resist drowsiness, and drifted into a deep sleep.
Its consciousness rose and fell, and a dreamlike illusion slowly unfolded.
…
"Here you go, customer—this is the mud biscuit you bought. This is the last bag, a special deal at just 100 League Coins."
The trainer thanked him and eagerly released his Pokémon.
He had heard from a friend that the dishes sold here were especially suitable for Rock-type Pokémon.
So he had rushed over as fast as he could, catching the very tail end of it, now impatient to share it with his Pokémon.
A flash of light appeared, and a Pokémon emerged—its entire body wrapped in a grayish-blue hard shell, resembling a pupa.
One of the classic late-blooming Pokémon: Pupitar.
Its final evolution was the powerful and domineering Tyranitar, known as a tyrant.
Pupitar was a stage where it stored up strength for its final evolution, making it a perfect match for the effect of the mud biscuits.
The newly appeared Pupitar was immediately drawn to the mud biscuits, rubbing its rough body against its trainer to beg for some.
In the next moment, Pupitar wolfed down all the mud biscuits in big mouthfuls, yet still wasn't satisfied, greedily eyeing the five remaining bags on the stall.
"Boss, I want all of these dishes."
Food that could make Pupitar like it was extremely rare. With a grand wave of his hand, he decided to buy everything.
As Silas packed the items, he also promoted them. "Mud biscuits shouldn't be eaten like this. You need to pair them with Stir Fried Rocks to get the maximum effect."
After Pupitar ate the Stir Fried Rocks, the Rock-type energy accumulated within its body condensed slightly.
Crack—
Suddenly, a tiny, almost imperceptible fissure appeared in Pupitar's shell.
Just as Silas thought something had gone wrong, what burst forth from that crack was the white light that symbolized evolution.
Pupitar's trainer was overjoyed, unable to suppress his excitement as he exclaimed, "Pupitar, are you going to evolve?!"
"Pu~" Hungry…
A powerful, uncontrollable hunger spread through Pupitar's body. It gazed longingly at the remaining Stir Fried Rocks, its eyes seemingly bloodshot.
"Kang!"
Behind them, Kangaskhan sensed danger and moved to shield Silas, glaring intently at Pupitar.
If it dared to step forward, Kangaskhan's sandbag-sized fists would strike first.
"Pupitar, you want to eat that? Sure, sure!"
The trainer looked at Silas and raised his hand to point. "Boss, I'll take all of those too."
"Relax, big guy. Take it easy," Silas said as he patted Kangaskhan, signaling it not to be nervous.
Hehehe.
The living business card he had crafted himself was about to be born.
Mud biscuits plus Stir-Fried Rocks, meeting a Pupitar standing on the brink of evolution.
The result was…
A dazzling, blinding white light suddenly burst forth, completely engulfing Pupitar.
The crowd quickly gathered around, everyone craning their necks to watch. Upon realizing that a Pokémon was about to evolve, their anticipation skyrocketed.
The news that such a Pokémon was evolving spread rapidly, and many trainers turned their gazes toward the few remaining dishes at Silas's stall.
These trainers were all big spenders—money spent on food was nothing to them.
And this was something that increased the chance of Pokémon evolution. Whether it truly worked or not, they'd rather try than regret it.
After all, this wasn't a game.
Pokémon didn't simply evolve automatically upon reaching a certain level. In fact, not evolving was more common.
But for trainers, if a Pokémon couldn't reach its final evolutionary form, it would naturally be at a disadvantage in battles against other trainers.
As for abandoning a Pokémon and capturing a new one—aside from a very small number of heartless people, almost no trainers would choose to do that.
For trainers, the bond formed through meeting and adventuring with a Pokémon was the hardest thing to let go of—it couldn't be solved by simply capturing another one.
Now imagine hearing that there was a stall selling dishes that could increase the probability of evolution, and each one only cost 100 League Coins.
Buy! Buy! Buy!
At that moment, the light surrounding Pupitar gradually faded, and a brand-new Pokémon appeared before everyone.
The moment they saw it, the faces of the surrounding crowd turned pale.
"Run! How did a Tyranitar sneak into the festival?!"
"Everyone, be careful!"
Officer Jenny pushed through the crowd in the opposite direction with her Growlithe, her expression serious. "Trainer, you and your Tyranitar have violated City Management Regulation No. XXX. Please come with us."
That unlucky guy—writing a three-thousand-word self-criticism was unavoidable.
Both the trainer and his Pokémon stiffened, heads drooping as they followed Officer Jenny away.
And as for Silas?
Every last dish at his stall was completely sold out.
(End of Chapter)