"Mr. Vinnie, let's stop here for today. Thank you for answering my questions, and I hope Quasartico Inc's urban redevelopment plan will gain the approval of all the residents of Lumiose City."
Vinnie stood up to leave. "I've taken up quite a bit of your time. We will complete the villa design plans as soon as possible."
After seeing Vinnie off, Cinccino hopped onto Silas's shoulder and chattered for a while.
Gently kneading its large ears with both hands, Silas smiled and said, "Alright, alright, I got it. I'll take you to experience it sometime."
As for Quasartico Inc's redevelopment plan, Silas did not express any opinion.
He was not a local resident, nor had he conducted a personal inspection. Supporting or opposing it rashly would not be rigorous.
No matter how perfect a plan looked on paper, it still needed constant adjustments during implementation, especially when it involved humans and wild Pokémon living together. There were far too many details that required both sides to gradually adapt.
Putting those thoughts aside, Silas wrapped a scarf around himself and headed out.
He arrived at the cave. Today was the first day of operation for the Dragonite Post Office.
The Carbink had placed the sorted letters into satchels that the Leavanny had worked overnight to sew. Each Dragonite received one.
Giant Dragonite let out a loud roar, as if scolding and instructing them to take this job seriously.
(TN: Back to Giant Dragonite since there are other Dragonites mentioned in the chapter.)
Once all the Dragonite were ready, Giant Dragonite prepared to lead them out.
Before leaving, it ran up to Silas with a goofy grin.
"Go on," Silas encouraged, patting its claw. After giving him a quick hug, Giant Dragonite took the lead and soared into the sky, followed closely by the others as they began the first operation of the Dragonite Post Office.
Watching them disappear into the horizon, Silas asked Diancie about the situation.
Everything had been prepared thoroughly, and construction of the Dragon Island town had already begun.
There was nothing he needed to worry about. After offering a few words of encouragement, Silas headed back.
Serena and Korrina had been woken up by younger sister Indeedee and were now sitting at the table eating breakfast.
"Serena, you can't secretly give food you don't like to Korrina. You have to finish your own portion."
"I didn't! Korrina agreed to help me eat it."
Korrina, who was busy eating, looked up and swallowed with effort. "Big brother Silas's cooking is so delicious, I can eat another serving."
"Serena, finish everything. Once you're done, I'll have Cinccino take you to play with the Chikorita."
Half an hour later, after sending the two girls off, Cinccino and Brionne, despite their complaints, still willingly took Serena and the others to play.
A large group of Pokémon ran off noisily, and the ranch house instantly became quiet.
Only Cyclizar remained by Silas's side. Silas lightly nudged it. "You're not going with them?"
Cyclizar placed its forelegs on Silas's leg and nudged its head into his arms, shaking its head.
"Want to come with me to invite Pyroar over for lunch? We're having hot pot."
"Cyc!"
At the mention of going out, Cyclizar immediately shook off its laziness. It lowered its body halfway and wagged its tail happily, inviting Silas to hop on.
Winter was cold, the perfect season for hot pot.
Silas also wanted to try turning the Devil Chili into a hot pot base to see if it would produce a powerful cooking effect.
Without wasting time, he rode Cyclizar and set off.
About ten minutes later, they found Pyroar, who had just finished patrolling its territory.
As usual, it lay atop a high cliff, with many wild Pokémon gathered below.
Where Pyroar was, the surrounding cold was driven away. The heat it emitted was comparable to a constant sunny day, and in winter, wild Pokémon would gather nearby to bask in the warmth.
"Pyroar, I'm making hot pot at the ranch for lunch. Want to come? It's made with this ingredient. I guarantee you'll like it."
As he spoke, Silas took out a Devil Chili.
Pyroar stared at it for a few seconds, shook its mane, then leaped down from the cliff and nudged Silas's arm with its head, indicating agreement.
"Alright, it's settled. I'll head back and prepare now."
Pyroar nodded and returned to its spot on the cliff. Bored, it casually pushed one of the Litleo down with its paw.
Well, when there was no danger, the father was the biggest danger.
Fortunately, the Litleo had inherited the robust physique of their totem Pokémon father. Otherwise, an ordinary Pokémon would have been scattered into pieces.
Mounting Cyclizar again, Silas first went to Coumarine City to purchase the necessary ingredients for hot pot before returning to the ranch.
The most important part of hot pot was the broth base.
Silas had older brother Indeedee assist him and began preparing it.
The processed spices were set aside. Large chunks of beef fat were melted, then olive oil produced by Arboliva was added to enhance the aroma. The spices were fried until golden before being removed and discarded.
Over medium-low heat, he added bean paste and the Devil Chili, slowly stir-frying for about five minutes until red oil emerged.
After that, it was a matter of continuously adding seasonings to enhance flavor and freshness. In this way, a super spicy hot pot base was completed.
Why not devil-level spicy? Because Silas had only added one Devil Chili.
Even so, during the preparation process, he felt like the pot was about to explode.
Adding another one would definitely cause an explosion. He did not dare to try.
Extra spicy was already enough.
At that moment, the cooking information panel slowly appeared before Silas's eyes.
[Hot Pot Base · Extra Spicy Version (B-): A common hot pot base, but due to the addition of special crops, its nature has undergone a mutation. It is one of the essential ingredients for making Spicy Century Soup.
Note: Do not attempt lightly.
Dish Effect: Volcano. When Pokémon consume food cooked in this extra spicy hot pot, they will enter an extreme volcano state.
Effect One (large consumption): If they can withstand it, all attributes will be permanently and significantly increased. If they cannot withstand it, they will enter a weakened state (strength reduced by ninety percent, lasting from a minimum of one month to a maximum of five years).
Effect Two (small consumption): They will enter a short-term flame amplification state, slightly increasing their proficiency with Fire-type moves.]
"Good grief…"
Silas could not help exclaiming.
A B-rank dish with such outrageous effects.
It was either becoming a god or completely ruining oneself.
Permanent, all attributes, and massive increase. How could those three descriptions even appear together?
This was not something a B-rank dish should have. It felt closer to an S-rank.
But looking at the next part, it all made sense.
High reward came with high risk.
For a moment, Silas hesitated whether to use it for the hot pot.
The coexistence of risk and reward made it difficult for him to decide.
In the end, Silas chose to wait until Pyroar arrived and ask for its opinion.
Among everyone he knew, only Pyroar might be able to handle this level of spiciness.
For now, he set aside the extra spicy base and prepared other flavors.
Non-spicy tomato flavor, numbing spicy, mild spicy, and medium spicy.
Their cooking effects were much more ordinary, simply restoring a moderate amount of stamina.
Clearly, the mutation in the extra spicy version was caused by the Devil Chili.
After portioning out the four milder bases, a low roar from Pyroar sounded outside the ranch house.
At the window, several fluffy heads peeked in. The Litleo were craning their necks to look, while Morpeko stepped on one of their heads to climb onto the windowsill, poking its belly with its tiny paws.
"Morpeko~" (Silas, I'm hungry, food time.)
"Coming, coming."
Using a Litleo to wipe his hands, Silas replied with a smile.
Younger sister Indeedee and Cyclizar carried the pot base and ingredients outside, where everyone was already gathered in front of the house, waiting for the meal to begin.
(End of Chapter)