On the lawn in front of the ranch cabin, Silas had already set out several chairs in advance.
He carried out bowls of ice-cold mung bean soup from inside the house.
For Diantha and Gardevoir to come all the way to the ranch had taken quite a bit of effort. Walking over under the sun, they were surely both tired and hot.
Chilled mung bean soup was simply the perfect drink.
"Thank you!"
"Garde~"
Diantha accepted the bowl and took small sips.
Her eyes immediately lit up. The rich mung bean flavor, paired with the icy cool sensation, dispelled the heat from her body the instant it went down her throat.
"Silas, I really didn't expect your cooking skills to have reached this level already. If you opened a restaurant in Lumiose City, it would definitely be a huge hit."
Back in their first year of traveling together, Silas had always been the one cooking.
But compared to back then, his skills had improved by far more than just a little.
Even a simple bowl of mung bean soup tasted exceptionally good.
"Hahaha~" Silas laughed and didn't continue the topic, instead rubbing Minccino's head with his palm.
The little one hugged a bowl almost as big as its face and buried its head straight into it.
Silas raised his hand and wiped away the bean skins at the corner of Minccino's mouth. "I thought you'd come yesterday. Did something hold you up?"
Diantha wasn't the type to go back on her word.
"Don't even mention it." Diantha rubbed her head in frustration. "I only managed to squeeze out time after finishing all the work from the past few days yesterday."
"Figures. You're a big star now," Silas teased.
Diantha shot him an annoyed punch, saying she had only just taken on one movie and hardly counted as a big star.
"Get lost!"
After a bit of playful banter, the atmosphere between the two returned to how it had been during their travels. The sense of unfamiliarity gradually faded away.
Diantha looked around Silas's ranch, which was still very much under development, with great interest, and asked, "Can you show me around?"
The neatly arranged farmland was filled with plump, thriving crops. Not far away, hay had been spread out evenly to dry in the sun. Everything was orderly and well-managed.
"Of course!" Silas replied.
From a completely abandoned ranch with nothing at all to the prosperous scene before them now, Silas had poured an immense amount of effort into it.
Naturally, Kangaskhan and the others had helped a great deal as well.
As he introduced things to Diantha, his tone unconsciously carried a hint of pride.
The two walked side by side into the ranch. Behind them, Kangaskhan watched Gardevoir with vigilance, while Minccino tilted its head, feeling a little puzzled.
"Min, Min?" (Sister Kangaskhan, why don't you like Sister Gardevoir?)
Kangaskhan: "Kang! Kang!" (Gardevoir will steal Silas away! Minccino, you don't want to be separated from Silas either, right?!)
Minccino was startled—it definitely didn't want to be separated from Silas.
So Minccino curled up inside Kangaskhan's pouch, imitating Kangaskhan as it stared intently at Gardevoir, the two of them united against a common enemy.
Gardevoir: "Garde~"
Covering her mouth as she laughed softly, Gardevoir hadn't expected Kangaskhan to still remember what happened last time. Now she had been cast as the big villain!
Gardevoir quickened her steps to catch up with the two ahead, and Kangaskhan hurried after her.
Pointing toward a certain area, Silas continued introducing things to Diantha. "Over there is the orchard area I've planned out. In the cave beside it live three little Noibat."
"This side is the field from the first sowing, and over there is the second."
When they reached the second field, the three Mudbray gathered around them, leaving Silas no choice but to reach out and pet one of them.
"These crops can grow so well largely thanks to these three."
As Silas was speaking, the three Mudbray stood together.
In the next moment, a dense earthy-yellow light flared up around their bodies.
The light sank into the ground and spread across the field ahead. A tilling move with an enormous range was activated.
Diantha exclaimed, "This is… the move Rototiller? Isn't this range a bit too big?!"
Pokémon that knew Rototiller weren't rare, and Diantha herself had encountered such Pokémon before.
But a range this large could practically be called a plowing domain.
"It is indeed the move Rototiller, but these Mudbray are a bit special. Their move range is somewhat larger," Silas explained briefly.
Over the past few days, the Mudbray had been eating pumpkin porridge every day, and their mastery of the move Rototiller had reached MAX level.
On top of that, with the boost from their unique three-in-one special ability, the range had become this vast.
Diantha sighed in admiration. "Silas, your training methods are really quite unique…"
Every trainer had their own distinctive way of raising Pokémon, and there was no need to dig too deeply into it.
After leading Diantha around the ranch once, the two returned to the front of the cabin.
Pointing at the hay drying off to one side, Diantha asked, "Silas, are those all prepared for the Mudbray?"
"No." Silas shook his head. "Last time at the Beach Festival, didn't I sell a special dish called Green Grass Dumplings? Ranchers found that it could improve the quality of milk produced by their Gogoat and Skiddo herd, so they came to me to place a custom order."
"That grass is the ingredient I prepared. Most of the moisture has already been dried out, so it's ready to be made."
"Green Grass Dumplings?!" Diantha froze for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "Isn't there also a special dish called Mud Cookies that can allow Pupitar to evolve early?"
Silas nodded.
Diantha said in amazement, "So you're the Soul Chef who's been spreading all over Shalour City—it's you, Silas!"
She pouted slightly as she recalled what she had seen and heard over the past couple of days. "Your fame isn't any smaller than mine."
Larvitar was one of the Pokémon known for late blooming. Pokémon of this type were widely referred to by trainers as pseudo-legendaries.
Each one was immensely powerful, making them highly coveted by countless trainers.
A dish that worked on Pupitar would naturally have even stronger effects if fed to ordinary Pokémon.
Silas's reputation had long since spread, and many trainers were already asking around.
However, all they had learned from Siebold's side was the somewhat awe-inspiring yet vague title of "Soul Chef."
Once those trainers realized that the young man before them was that very "Soul Chef," it would only be a matter of time before the threshold of the ranch was worn down by visitors.
"Huh?"
Hearing this news, Silas himself was also slightly shocked.
For a moment, he even felt the urge to move away.
Having once been a trainer himself, he knew all too well the effort trainers were willing to put in to strengthen their Pokémon—and he definitely didn't want to be pestered by a group like that.
Silas suddenly turned around, looked at Diantha, and asked seriously, "You're not going to spread my identity around, are you?"
"You don't want to?" Diantha shot back. "Trainers are all really rich, you know! And you're pretty short on money right now, aren't you?"
Oh, right!
Trainers really were all filthy rich.
But very quickly, Silas gave up on the idea and shook his head. "Forget it. I still prefer a quieter life."
"Silas, you don't want other trainers to know your real identity either, right?"
"It's not like I can't keep my mouth shut."
Diantha smiled slyly. "I finally came all this way to visit you—asking for one good meal isn't too much, is it?"
"Don't make me kneel down and beg you."
"Thud!" A knuckle rap landed on her head as Silas replied irritably, "Help me make the Grass Dumplings first, and then we'll talk—depending on my mood."
(End of Chapter)