On the first day back, Silas and the Pokémon spent the entire day working.
Holding Morpeko in his arms, the television was on, yet he had no interest in watching it. His brows were knit tightly with worry.
He had accidentally shaved Lazy Mareep completely bald—once it woke up, it would definitely come looking for him.
Silas was thinking about how to make amends.
"Make a special dish just for it?"
That should work.
Judging by Lazy Mareep's personality, as long as there was something delicious, it would willingly choose to forget everything else.
So what ingredients should he use?
After pondering for a moment, his hand unconsciously moved to knead Morpeko's cheeks. A faint tingling numbness spread as tiny electric sparks crackled.
A bright lightbulb seemed to flash beside Silas's head—he had an idea.
How could he have forgotten that thing?!
"Go play for now! I'll make you all some delicious cake later."
He set Morpeko down and let it run off to play.
"Morpe~"
The moment it heard the word "cake," Morpeko's eyes lit up, and a string of drool slipped from the corner of its mouth.
Another little foodie.
After asking Morpeko to call Alcremie over, Silas stood up and went into the storage room.
"Now where did I put it…?"
The storage room was cluttered with all kinds of things. On top of that, the Meowth liked to stash the "treasures" they picked up outside in here as well. Silas rummaged around for quite a while before finally finding what he was looking for.
He opened an exquisitely crafted small wooden box. Inside lay a feather shrouded in arcs of lightning.
[Zapdos Feather]
Its primary use was to summon Zapdos to assist, but Silas felt that would be far too wasteful. He had just come up with a much more interesting idea.
Taking the Zapdos Feather with him, he went to the ranch and harvested some fresh, tender pasture grass.
Placing the feather on top, he worked it by hand.
He made sure every blade of grass came into close contact with the feather, allowing it to be infused with Zapdos's aura.
After quite some time, faint electric arcs began to spread across the surface of the grass.
Silas's eyes lit up. He opened his panel to check the detailed information.
[Tingly Pasture Grass]: Pasture grass infused with Zapdos's aura. Certain Pokémon will greatly enjoy it.]
It worked!
Electrified pasture grass—Mareep would definitely love this.
As expected of a Legendary Pokémon; even a single feather was a treasure with such wondrous uses.
He even began wondering whether he could plant the feather directly into the soil, using its electric energy to alter the soil's attributes. That way, he wouldn't have to worry about producing enough Tingly Pasture Grass for the Mareep to eat.
With his execution power at full throttle, Silas first brought the Tingly Pasture Grass to the little Mareep for a taste test, receiving unanimous approval.
He then called over a Mudsdale from the stables to help partition off a section of the grassland.
At the center of the pasture, he dug a pit and placed the Zapdos Feather inside.
The rest would be left to time—he would come back in a couple of days to see whether his idea worked.
Glancing at the sky, he realized it was already getting late.
Lazy Mareep would wake up soon, so he hurried back to prepare the apology dish.
Entering the kitchen, he found Alcremie already waiting for him.
"Creme~"
Its spirited cry was full of enthusiasm—Alcremie couldn't wait to make cake together with Silas.
"So energetic," Silas said as he tied on his apron. "Then let's get started."
First, the Tingly Pasture Grass was washed clean, drained, and finely chopped into tiny grass bits.
Flour, Moomoo Milk, nectar, and eggs were poured in while stirring continuously, until the batter became smooth and completely free of lumps.
The prepared grass bits were added last and gently folded in until evenly mixed, avoiding any uneven texture in the finished cake.
The batter was poured into the oven trays, filled to about eighty percent to prevent overflow after rising.
The oven was set to 180°C for twenty minutes.
While waiting, Silas asked Alcremie to prepare various flavors of cream to spread on the cakes later.
At the same time, he also made regular cakes without any grass added.
Several small heads poked out from the kitchen window—led by Minccino, a group of small Pokémon sniffed eagerly, full of anticipation.
Why were they crowding the window instead of the door?
Naturally, because the doorway was already occupied by Cyclizar, sprawled there with longing eyes as it waited for dinner.
Chuckling at the sight, Silas took the green grass cake out of the oven.
A faint grassy aroma drifted through the air, fresh and pleasant.
[Tingly Grass Cake (C): Made primarily from pasture grass imbued with weak lightning energy, topped with soft, fluffy cream. Greatly loved by some Pokémon.
Dish Effect: Restores medium stamina. After consumption, slightly increases the Pokémon's internal Electric-type energy.]
Not a bad effect at all. If he replaced some of the ingredients with higher-quality ones, the result could probably be improved even further.
Silas put the other flavored batters into the oven and asked Cyclizar to keep an eye on them, while he himself carried the Tingly Grass Cake to find Lazy Mareep.
Before he even reached the stables, he could already hear Lazy Mareep's sobbing.
It cried "baa-woo, baa-woo," the sound growing louder and louder.
The other four Mareep surrounded it, with Warm Mareep trying to comfort it.
Its snot-and-tears mixture had smeared all over its body.
When Silas appeared, the little Mareep gathered around him.
Silas walked over to Lazy Mareep and squatted down, apologizing sincerely, "I'm sorry, Lazy."
"Maa!"
Lazy Mareep lifted its head, its attention completely captured by the Tingly Grass Cake.
Being shaved completely bald was instantly forgotten. It stopped crying and rubbed its body affectionately against Silas.
"Such a glutton," Silas laughed as he flicked its forehead lightly. "Once you eat my little cake, you're not allowed to stay mad, okay?"
"Maa~"
(Okay, okay! Silas, hurry up and let me eat it!)
He placed the Tingly Grass Cake on the grass. Lazy Mareep let out a loud "Maa" and lunged forward, burying its face in the cake, stuffing its mouth full until its entire face was smeared with cream.
"Maa!"
(So tasty, so delicious! munch munch)
Seeing how much it liked it, Silas felt happy as well.
He then called over the other four Mareep. Of course, Silas wouldn't play favorites—they each had their own Tingly Grass Cake, all in different flavors.
After devouring the entire cake, Lazy Mareep even used its tongue to lick the cream clean from around its mouth, then sprawled blissfully on the grass.
As for being shaved completely bald? Whatever!
No matter how big the world is, eating is the most important thing.
Once he confirmed that Lazy Mareep was no longer angry, Silas bade farewell to the Mareep herd.
He didn't forget to bring the quilts that had been drying in front of the house back inside. They were warm to the touch, carrying the scent of sunshine.
Though in reality, that smell was… the scent of dead dust mites.
Before going downstairs, he called out through the window for Litten on the roof to come eat, while holding Minccino in his palms.
Dinner that night was very simple—several large cakes.
The Pokémon all loved them, and Alcremie was especially happy.
By the time Silas and Kangaskhan finished dinner, the sky had already darkened—it was getting late.
The first day back at the ranch came to an end.
Before going to sleep, he went to check on the other Pokémon—Noivern, Noibat, Mudsdale, Mareep, and Flabébé were all quietly resting in their own nests.
Oh right—there was also Rowlet under the eaves.
Its nest was directly opposite Chatot's.
Nighttime was when it was most active, so Silas entrusted the ranch to it.
Yawning, he headed upstairs to sleep.
Only Minccino and Morpeko were in the room.
Litten seemed to have run off toward the silo after dinner, Alcremie preferred staying in the kitchen—Silas had set up a small nest for it inside the cabinet—and Popplio was in the lake.
Pulling the soft, fragrant Minccino into his arms, with the little one's pleasant singing by his ear, Silas yawned again and closed his eyes.
"Good night."
"Morpe~"
"Min…"
(End of Chapter)