Silas had already settled down on Route 12 for five months now, and quite a few friends came to attend the fruit wine tasting party.
Gym Leader Ramos from Coumarine City—arrived first, riding in together with his Pokémon partner, Gogoat.
Not long after, John and his wife Penny also showed up, bringing along their Stoutland.
Yorick and Hain, two veteran ranch owners who had participated together in the evaluation competition back in March, were also present.
The Camille sisters, who specialized in selling ranch Pokémon, as well as Edward, who ran a flower shop, all made their way to the ranch as well.
Seeing that nearly everyone had arrived, Silas finally had the Indeedee brother and sister help carry the wooden barrels filled with fruit wine from the cellar to the long dining area.
Once all the wooden stoppers were pulled out, the air was instantly infused with layers of fruity fragrance. Silas replaced the stoppers with more convenient taps and smiled as he spoke.
"These are all beers I personally brewed. Everyone should make sure to try them later."
"Of course."
Hain took a deep sniff, his face filled with intoxicated delight. "This aroma is really unique. Yorick, later we need to drink a couple more glasses."
Siebold waved his hand lightly to fan the air, his eyes lighting up at once.
The aromas of the ten different fruit wines did not mix together chaotically—instead, they formed a rich sense of layering. He was extremely eager to taste them. Teacher Silas had never disappointed him before.
John, meanwhile, looked toward his wife, pleading visible in his eyes.
"Alright! Just for today, and only this once," Penny said helplessly.
The others all revealed expressions of anticipation as well. Silas pasted flavor labels onto each barrel and then let the guests freely choose what they wanted to try.
"Gym Leader Ramos you should try this one too. It's raspberry flavored."
"Since it's wine personally brewed by young Silas, of course we must try it."
Ramos chuckled as he accepted the glass, taking a small sip and smacking his lips as though savoring the aftertaste.
Seeing how serious Ramos looked, Silas couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
Lowering his voice, he asked, "Gym Leader Ramos… is the flavor okay?"
"Young Silas, you're simply born to be a ranch owner. For a first attempt at brewing wine to reach this level, this old man feels truly ashamed."
"Hahahaha!" Gym Leader Gurkinn burst into laughter beside them, his long mustache trembling vigorously with each laugh. "Ramos brewed wine once when he was young. I still remember it vividly—even now. I've never tasted beer that bad in my life."
"He was a complete amateur when it came to winemaking."
"Nonsense!" Having his embarrassing past exposed in front of the younger generation, Ramos puffed up his mustache and glared stubbornly. "That was back then, this is now! When I get back today, I'll brew you a whole barrel myself and let you taste my skills!"
Not wanting to interrupt the two elders reminiscing about old times, Silas turned and walked over to Siebold, who wasn't far away.
Ten glasses of fruit wine with different flavors were arranged neatly beside him.
Now this was the proper attitude toward wine tasting.
Siebold carefully sniffed each glass first, then took a sip, repeating the process ten times in total.
Only then did Silas speak up.
"So? Siebold, which fruit wine tastes the best?"
"Teacher Silas~" Siebold fell silent, thinking hard about how to express himself perfectly.
After a long moment, he finally spoke.
"I wouldn't dare call it an evaluation, this is just my personal opinion."
"Mhm, mhm."
"The ten kinds of fruit wine you brewed all have their own distinct characteristics. Personally, I prefer the blueberry wine. But from a business perspective, I would recommend the grape wine."
"The peach wine has a light, refreshing flavor, with color, aroma, and taste all being well-balanced. It should suit the majority of people."
"What about you, Blastoise? Which fruit wine do you like?"
Silas looked toward the Blastoise standing beside Siebold. Whether Pokémon liked it or not was also very important.
Blastoise hurriedly swallowed a serving of Poké Poffin, then used its chubby finger to point decisively.
"You like the blueberry wine too?"
"Blas-toise!"
Blastoise nodded vigorously, then downed the remaining wine in its glass in one go, breaking into a huge grin.
When Trainers and Pokémon spend a long time together, their tastes gradually becoming similar was extremely common.
After parting from Siebold, Silas went on to ask the others, receiving a variety of different answers.
The result was exactly as Siebold had said—everyone liked different fruit wines, and it was hard to judge which was truly better or worse.
However, among the wines that no one disliked, grape wine was always included.
As the host of this tasting party, Silas moved back and forth through the crowd, attending to everyone.
He didn't notice at all that Minccino and a few other little ones were secretly sneaking drinks.
The Indeedee siblings were also busy, as the three legendary big eaters put immense pressure on them.
When the party was about halfway through, the arrival of several unexpected guests caused the entire venue to fall quiet.
A pair of Pyroar arrived with their whole family. The female Pyroar pressed closely against the male, clearly showing that the dish Silas had given them last time had been extremely effective.
"You two made it, Pyroar! Come on in quickly."
Silas opened the ranch gate for them. "I thought you wouldn't be able to come!"
He casually scooped up one of the little Litleo rolling around on the ground begging to be petted and vigorously rubbed its head.
Silas then introduced the Pyroar couple to the others, though it wasn't really necessary.
All the ranchers on Route 12 knew this pair already—no one expected that Silas was actually friends with them.
"Give it a try. The extra-spicy barbecue I made for you at noon has been warming in the microwave this whole time."
The Pyroar sniffed the air, kicked away the three little Litleo still clinging to its side, then spat out what it had been holding in its mouth and let out a low growl toward Silas.
"Roar~"
"A gift for me?" Silas picked it up and wiped off the saliva on one of the little Litleo.
It was a piece of amber about the size of a fist, with a faint reddish glow inside.
[Secret Amber: Amber that preserves ancient Pokémon genetic material. It can be used to revive an Aerodactyl or obtain a Pokémon fossil.]
"Roar—roar!"
The Pyroar reminded him that the object contained very strong Dragon-type energy.
"You actually remembered!"
A month ago, he had asked Pyroar to keep an eye out for anything related to Dragon-types. He hadn't expected it to still remember.
"I'll accept the gift. If there's anything you're not satisfied eating, just say the word."
Hearing this, the male Pyroar glanced at the female Pyroar walking toward Kangaskhan.
He then nudged Silas toward a quieter spot and let out a low growl.
"You want the same giant oysters from last time again?"
"That won't work. Those deep-sea giant oysters only exist in the Alola region, there aren't any elsewhere."
"How about this, I'll use smaller oysters instead. They should have a similar effect, just slightly weaker."
Something was better than nothing. The male Pyroar let out a muffled grunt in agreement.
…
By evening, after sending off the energetic Pyroar family, the wine tasting party finally came to a perfect end.
Silas let out a long breath and returned to handle the cleanup.
There actually wasn't much to do—everyone had already helped take the trash away.
All he needed to do was move the tables back and put away some decorations.
With no Minccino and the other little troublemakers interfering for once, Silas, along with the Indeedee siblings and the Meowth, quickly finished tidying everything up.
Whatever needed to go into the silo went into the silo, and whatever belonged in the house was moved back inside.
Once everything was neatly arranged, Silas even took a walk around the ranch, checking on the condition of each Pokémon. They were all behaving well.
Only then did he feel at ease enough to go back and sleep.
The Pokémon outside were obedient—but the Pokémon inside the house were anything but.
When Silas returned to the house, he saw several small Pokémon sprawled messily across the coffee table, every single one of them flushed bright red in the face.
"Ha… lii-lii~"
(Silas… cheers!)
(End of Chapter)