A Small Profit

After obtaining Luo Mu's consent, the burly man took a strawberry from the basket. He first held it beneath his nose and sniffed it, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly. "Such a fresh fruity aroma. Just smelling it is enough to imagine its sweet-and-tart, delicious taste."

"And it clearly hasn't been treated with any kind of messy pesticide."

The burly man then handed the strawberry to Primeape. Primeape likewise held it before its nose and gave it a careful sniff. A moment later, a look of bliss suddenly appeared on its furry face, which usually carried a hint of anger.

Seeing Primeape like this, the burly man looked surprised. He looked at Luo Mu and smiled. "Primeape has an extremely keen nose. Even it looks intoxicated by the fruit's aroma, so I'm rather curious how you managed to grow such successful crops on your first try."

"It was all thanks to the Pokémon."

Luo Mu answered with a smile. He did not think there was any need to hide such things. Might as well use it as a selling point for the farm's crops in the future.

"I see." The burly man was not surprised by that answer. Only the power of Pokémon could produce such miraculous results. These strawberries were of excellent quality and appearance; it was obvious they had been cared for by Pokémon.

Unfortunately, due to reasons such as the limited energy and strength of Pokémon, many farms could not guarantee that every crop they produced had been cared for by Pokémon.

This is also why the crops from Milo's Farm had received widespread praise across the world. It was inseparable from the farm owner who served as a Gym Leader.

The burly man then inspected the crops in the other baskets one by one. After concluding that the quantity was small but the quality was excellent, his expression grew even warmer.

He reached out and briefly shook Luo Mu's hand before introducing himself. "My name is Sean. As you can see, I'm a middleman who purchases goods from farms and resells them. That said, I believe the purchase price I offer is not much different from what you'd make by setting up a stall at the market yourself. If you have no objections, I'd like to buy this batch of crops."

"Hello, Mr. Sean." After withdrawing his right hand, Luo Mu gave a slight nod, indicating that he agreed to Sean's proposal.

After all, he had contacted Sean through Peter specifically to sell this batch of crops.

"I like straightforward farm owners like you." The corners of Sean's mouth rose as he immediately retrieved professional weighing equipment from the box truck and worked with Primeape to weigh the produce.

Since all the crops were in small quantities, and the man and Pokémon worked efficiently together, Sean quickly gave Luo Mu his offer.

"The cabbage, eggplants, tomatoes, and cucumbers, along with the strawberries. The quantity isn't much, but the quality is good. The total comes to 6,351 League currency."

"Not bad." Luo Mu's eyes brightened slightly. Buying the seeds had only cost 600 League currency. Even after adding the cost of fertilizer and the time invested, the first harvest had already brought such a considerable profit.

Not to mention that some crops could continue flowering and bearing fruit after being cultivated for a while. Though he had worked busily for more than half a month and earned only a little over six thousand League currency, Luo Mu knew very well that the accumulated income from steady, ongoing returns was the most substantial.

Sean smiled. "After all, the price I'm offering you is a little higher than what ordinary crops from other farms go for. High-quality crops like these are very popular with wealthy people."

Sean took a stack of cash from the shoulder bag on his person, counted it several times, and then handed it to Luo Mu.

Taking the first money he had truly earned since opening this farm, Luo Mu carefully counted it once more. A simple smile spread across his face.

After slipping the small stack of bills into his pocket, Luo Mu asked, "Mr. Sean, do you also purchase things other than agricultural products?"

"Oh? Tell me more!" Sean's eyes lit up. Could Luo Mu have something else valuable on hand?

Luo Mu carried over a small box from beneath a nearby fence. Inside lay several clumps of soft, beautiful-looking cotton fluff.

"This is...!" Sean's eyes widened round, his mouth opening slightly as though he had been stunned by the item before him.

Luo Mu smiled. "This is cotton fluff shed by the Eldegoss on our farm. I heard it's quite popular. It's no use to us, so we thought we'd sell it for money."

Sean took a deep breath, raised his head, and spent a long while recovering as he rubbed his suddenly throbbing temples. With regret on his face, he said, "I never expected you to have something so valuable here. Unfortunately, I don't have the means to purchase it."

Luo Mu was somewhat puzzled. "Hm?"

Sean gave a bitter smile. "Even in the Galar Region, Eldegoss are not particularly numerous. Only Milo's Farm and a few top-tier farms have large Eldegoss populations capable of steadily producing cotton fluff."

"The cotton fluff produced by Eldegoss is exceptionally fine and beautiful, whether spun into thread or woven with other materials into fabric. I never expected to see it in the Paldea Region."

"From my estimate, the cotton fluff you have here probably weighs only around fifty to one hundred grams. Its price per jin is a full 6,000 League currency. Rather than selling it to me, I would recommend accumulating a certain amount and taking it to the market in Porto Marinada."

Sean knew perfectly well that if he bought this cotton fluff, he would certainly make some money selling it later.

However, his work only covered Los Platos. This small town had no need for such high-end raw materials, and he could not abandon his work and spend the time and energy to travel to Porto Marinada just to sell this small amount of cotton fluff.

The effort was not worth the return.

Sean's words sent Luo Mu into deep thought. He had not expected the cotton fluff shed by Eldegoss to be so valuable.

The cotton fluff he had now had only fallen off after the Gossifleur evolved into Eldegoss today. More often, the Eldegoss used this cotton fluff as a medium to share nutrients with the crops.

In other words, he had been burning money on farming this whole time!

All of a sudden, the little over six thousand League currency he had just received did not seem so appealing anymore.

Luo Mu thought this to himself, but none of the distracted signs of deep thought showed on his face. He nodded and thanked Sean for the suggestion.

Since Sean was unwilling to purchase the cotton fluff, he would wait until he had accumulated some more, then take it all to the market in Porto Marinada to sell.

He seemed to remember that the market there sold goods through auctions?

Money and goods changed hands. Sean and Primeape transferred the five baskets of crops into baskets on his truck.

"Give me a call whenever you have another harvest!"

Sean said goodbye to Luo Mu, left him his phone number, and had Primeape drive the box truck away from the farm.

Luo Mu touched the newly added bills in his pocket and thought of the lush pasture grass in the Ranch Area. He murmured, "It's about time I started making plans for the Ranch Area."