"Your Highness? Your Highness!"
Alva called out to Raleigh, but Raleigh had already left.
Following the scent, he arrived at the door to his sister's office. Seeing a crowd gathered, he asked curiously, "What are you all doing here?"
Seeing it was the prince, everyone shook their heads and said, "Nothing, Your Highness." Then, they slowly dispersed.
By the time Kimmia and the others came to their senses, the buns and steamed rolls on the table were all gone.
Kimia licked her lips, "Flamel, I want more tomorrow."
"Florges~"
Me too.
"Gardevoir~"
And me.
The two Pokémon also clamored to be fed.
"Alright, I'll bring some for the princess tomorrow," Flamel said, thinking that even if the princess didn't eat, she would.
Although she had guessed that something bought by so many people must be good, she didn't expect it to be this delicious. She had miscalculated today, buying too little.
Just then, the office door was pushed open, and Raleigh poked half his body in. Sniffing the lingering fragrance in the air, he asked, "Sister, Flamel, what were you eating?"
"Oh~~~ Raleigh?" Kimia was a little surprised that her brother, who usually buried himself in research, had taken the initiative to leave his lab. "You're late. We've already finished everything."
"What were you eating? It smells so good. I've never smelled anything like it before," Raleigh said, stretching his neck as he took in the scent and walked into the room.
"It's called buns and dumplings, Prince Raleigh," Flamel answered, "The princess and I just had it for the first time."
"Buns? Dumplings?" Raleigh looked confused.
Flamel nodded, "They seem to be newly introduced foods—novel and delicious."
Seeing how interested Raleigh was in the food, Kimia suddenly had an idea and said, "Raleigh, why don't you come here tomorrow, and I'll have Flamel buy some for you to try?"
She didn't mind her brother being engrossed in his research—after all, the Azoth Kingdom was known for its arcane science—but Raleigh had become too focused.
Moreover, in recent years, she'd noticed that Raleigh was becoming increasingly dependent on Minister Alva.
Alva was an expert in the field of arcane science, and it wasn't a bad thing that their father had invited him to teach Raleigh. But if Alva intended to shape one of the kingdom's heirs into his puppet, obedient to his every word, Kimia felt she needed to intervene.
Raleigh was barely ten years old, a prime age to be easily misled, and she and their father were both too busy to spend much time with him.
"Really?" Raleigh asked, eyes bright with excitement.
"Of course. When have I ever lied to you?" Kimia promised.
"Alright, it's a deal. I'll come find you tomorrow," Raleigh said happily.
After Raleigh left, Kimia turned to Flamel and said, still relishing the idea, "Flamel, I'll leave tomorrow's arrangements to you."
Flamel nodded, "Rest assured, Your Highness."
With the food finished, Flamel, along with Florges and Gardevoir, began cleaning up the table. That's when she noticed the documents in front of Princess Kimia.
"Your Highness is still investigating Prince Angie…"
Halfway through her sentence, Flamel suddenly paused, then let out a gasp.
"Your Highness!!!"
"What is it, Flamel?" For the first time, Kimia saw such a shocked expression on Flamel's face.
"Your Highness, follow me!" Without waiting for a response, Flamel grabbed Kimia and started running outside.
"Flamel, what's going on? Where are you taking me?" Kimia was completely confused.
"You'll know when we get there, Your Highness," Flamel said as she pulled Kimia along, running until they reached a great hall in the palace.
The walls of this hall were lined with portraits of the Azoth royal family, spanning generations. Among them was a painting of Queen Anna and her twin brother, Prince Angie, when they were children.
Looking at the painting of Prince Angie, Flamel suddenly understood. She had been wondering why that person had seemed so familiar—wasn't he just a grown-up version of Prince Angie?
Puzzled, Kimia asked, "Flamel, is something wrong with this painting?"
With a serious expression, Flamel said to the princess, "Your Highness, today I saw Prince Angie in the Azoth city!"
"Flamel, what nonsense are you talking about? Prince Angie passed away five hundred years ago," Kimia thought Flamel was joking. "How could he possibly appear in the Azoth city…"
Suddenly, her tone changed, and she looked at Flamel in shock, asking, "Did you see the stolen remains of His Highness?"
Flamel shook her head and pointed at the portrait of Angie. "No, I saw a living Prince Angie, he looked almost identical to the person in the painting."
Suddenly, she remembered the blond man who had appeared at the palace gates a while ago. Could that have been Prince Angie?
The thought was too far-fetched, so Flamel didn't say it out loud.
"Impossible, Flamel, maybe you were just seeing things." Kimia couldn't believe it. How could someone dead for five hundred years come back to life?
"Your Highness, I am nearsighted," Flamel instinctively adjusted her glasses, "but I'm not blind. The person I saw was the one selling the buns and dumplings."
Seeing the seriousness on Flamel's face, with no hint of joking, Kimia finally realized the gravity of the situation.
"Come, take me to find that person," Kimia said solemnly.
"Yes, Your Highness!"
The two quickly left the palace.
...
At this moment, Angie was still unaware that the royal family had taken notice of him. His business was booming, so much so that by noon, all the ingredients he had prepared were used up.
"Sorry, folks, we're out of stock for today. Please come back tomorrow!" Angie called out loudly to the long line behind him.
"What? How could this happen? I've been in line for so long!"
"Sorry, we're out of materials, nothing I can do," Angie apologized to the crowd.
"Hey, boss, can't you limit how much people buy? The ones in front bought so much at once, how are the rest of us supposed to get any?" someone suggested.
This idea immediately received support from the others.
"Yeah, we waited in line so long and still didn't get anything. It's really unfair."
Angie wasn't interested in setting limits. He just wanted to sell out quickly and close up shop. He sold what he had, and whether customers got it or not wasn't his concern—he just needed to sell everything.
"Ah, I'd love for everyone to get a taste, but if people are paying, I can't just refuse them. That wouldn't be right," he chuckled, trying to placate the crowd.
With no other option, the customers gradually dispersed, and Angie called after them, "Make sure to come early tomorrow!"
After the customers left, Angie quickly packed everything into his cart. Once the windows were shut tight, he prepared lunch for his Komala, letting it eat while he counted his earnings for the day.
By the end of the morning, he had sold 1,030 steamed buns, earning 10,300 Pokédollar; 2,069 dumplings, earning 41,380 Pokédollar, for a total of 51,680 Pokédollar.
In addition to that, he earned 10,500 happiness points for serving Pokémon, adding to the 5,600 from the previous day, plus what Munchlax earned at home over the past two days. Angie's total happiness points now stood at 45,000.
As for the happiness points spent on packaging, they were negligible.
Angie also recalled receiving a system notification while selling the buns and dumplings. Opening the system interface, sure enough, a pop-up appeared in the task section.
[ Congratulations, Host! for achieving: Served 1,000 Pokémon. Reward: Intelligence +2. ]
The system only counted Pokémon served; humans didn't count.
Looking at his personal information interface, he saw the updated stats.
...
[ Angie ]
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Age: 16 (+500)
Constitution: 13
Intelligence: 10
Culinary Skill Evaluation: Beginner, edible.
...
His constitution had also increased by one point, a result of his consistent training in the culinary practice room. Without the improvement, he wouldn't have been able to handle such a busy day like today.
Holding a large stack of cash in his hand and glancing at the abundance of happiness points in the system, Angie was overjoyed.
Once Komala finished its lunch, Angie waved his hand grandly and said, "Komala, let's go home!"
By the time Princess Kimia rode her motorcycle to Nikola Park with Flamel, Angie had long since vanished without a trace.
Flamel hopped off the motorcycle and quickly walked over to the uncle's crepe stall. The uncle thought a customer had finally arrived, only to hear her ask right away.
"Excuse me, do you know where the owner of the steamed buns and dumplings is?"
Uncle: ...
"Well, he's been doing such great business that he already packed up and went home!" The uncle's tone was filled with envy.
"Do you know where that owner lives?" Flamel asked, her brows furrowed.
"I don't know. That young boss has only been here for two days. I didn't get a chance to meet him. Why don't you ask someone else?" the uncle replied.
"Alright, thank you." Flamel expressed her gratitude to the uncle.
"No need to thank me," the uncle waved his hand dismissively.
Next, Flamel stopped about ten more people nearby to inquire, but no one knew where the owner of the buns and dumplings was from.
"How did it go?" When Flamel returned, Kimia immediately asked anxiously.
Flamel shook her head in disappointment. "That owner has already packed up and left, and no one knows where he lives."
"What are we going to do?" Kimia felt anxious.
"Princess, he will definitely come back tomorrow. We can come here early and wait for him; we'll surely see him," Flamel reassured the princess.
"You're right." The frown on Kimia's forehead finally eased slightly.
"Should we report this to His Majesty?" Flamel asked.
Kimia shook her head. "Let's wait until we see him first. It wouldn't be good if we made a mistake."
"Understood!" Flamel nodded.
The two then rode their motorcycle back to the palace.
Meanwhile, Angie had already returned to the Nebel Plateau. As soon as he reached home, he saw his Munchlax rush toward him excitedly.
"Munch~~~!"
Master, you're back!
It hugged Angie around the waist and nuzzled against him.
Angie couldn't help but laugh; his Munchlax was truly clingy. They hadn't seen each other for just half a day, but it acted like they had been apart for ages.
Every time he returned, Munchlax followed him around eagerly, as if it thought that if it didn't keep an eye on him, he would disappear.
"How was the store today?" Angie asked, rubbing Munchlax Munchlax's head.
"Munch~!"
Munchlax gave a thumbs-up with one hand and confidently patted its chest with the other.
"That's amazing!" Angie praised it, loving Munchlax's energetic demeanor. "It seems our Munchlax can really handle things on its own now!"
Munchlax beamed with pride at Angie's compliment.
"Alright, let's go home. Have you and Diancie eaten lunch yet?"
The master and apprentice chatted happily as they walked home.
In the afternoon, Angie had nothing to do, so after strolling around the vegetable garden, he moved two chairs outside and lay down on the porch with his Munchlax to soak up some sun.
The weather on the Nebel Plateau was very good today—no wind, few clouds, and the sun was warm but not too hot.
As Angie basked in the sun, he felt himself drifting off to sleep, while Munchlax had already started snoring away.
Taking advantage of the nice weather, Diancie brought everyone's blankets out to the balcony to air them out. Once they were nice and fluffy from the sun, sleeping that night would surely be wonderful.
In the backyard pond, even the duo of Barboach and Whiscash floated to the surface, lounging on the shore with their eyes closed, soaking up the sun.
Suddenly, Angie heard a burst of laughter and, lifting his eyelids, he saw two Marill coming over, chattering happily.
Angie noticed that the two Marill seemed to be carrying something in their hands.
Before long, they arrived right next to Angie, and he finally saw what they were holding—it was a pile of green aquatic plants that resembled kelp strips.
"What's this?" Angie asked the two Marill, puzzled.
"Marill~ Marill~"
"Marill~ Marill~"
The two Marill waved their little hands excitedly.
Angie tentatively asked, "Is this for me?"
"Marill~ Marill~~"
The Marill nodded vigorously. They had often come to Angie's house for meals lately, so they wanted to bring him something as a thank-you gift. These aquatic plants were obtained from their good friend, the Tadpole Pokémon.
"Can you eat this?" Angie inquired further.
"Marill~ Marill~"
The Marill nodded quickly again, with one of them even tearing off a piece to eat in front of Angie.
Angie smiled as he rubbed its head. "Alright, alright, I believe you."
Saying this, he mimicked the Marill and pulled off a piece to chew on. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
This texture... so crunchy!
Although these aquatic plants looked like kelp strips, they had a texture reminiscent of jellyfish, but they were even more delightful to eat.
"Thank you! I really like this," Angie said, smiling at the two Marill.
Hearing this, the two Marill jumped up and down with joy.
After delivering their gift, the two Marill hopped away cheerfully.
Angie waved at them, calling out, "Come back tomorrow for a meal!"
"Marill~~"
The Marill turned back to wave at Angie in response.
Once the Marill left, Angie looked at the aquatic plants on the ground and fell into deep thought.
How am I supposed to eat this?