Taste of the Sea Restaurant

Just then, a notification popped up on his wristband, informing Ye Lan that Servine had finished its treatment.

Only then did Ye Lan climb out of bed. After picking up Servine, he planned to take it out for a good meal and properly reward it.

After all, their victory this time had relied entirely on Snivy's unyielding will.

In truth, when Ye Lan saw Snivy covered in wounds, he had already regretted evolving it this way and wanted to surrender.

The opposing Weavile was already an experienced arena battler, and with the gap in strength between them, losing would have been perfectly normal.

But when he saw Snivy refusing to dodge at all in order to maximize the effect of its moves, launching attack after attack in an almost injury-for-injury exchange—

Ye Lan understood that this was when a Trainer needed to respond to their Pokémon's resolve.

As he walked along Jindu's bustling streets, he occasionally saw Officer Jenny (Huaxia Region Form) maintaining order on the roads.

After carefully observing the delicate yet completely identical faces of the Officer Jennys, Ye Lan clicked his tongue in wonder. He truly could not understand how Brock managed to tell them apart.

He stared for too long, until one Officer Jenny flushed red from being watched and glared back at him indignantly. Only then did Ye Lan smile awkwardly and look away.

None of the Officer Jennys were ordinary police officers. Their backing was so formidable that few in the entire world could stand against them, so naturally they were not people Ye Lan could afford to provoke.

The Officer Jenny Family practically managed public security across the entire world. Officer Jennys could be seen in every region.

The only difference was that the police uniforms worn by Officer Jennys in each region were determined by local customs, what players jokingly called different "regional forms."

Just like certain Pokémon, which had different attributes and appearances in different regions. For example, Alola's Ninetales was Ice-type, unlike the usual Fire-type one.

What amazed people was that Officer Jennys everywhere looked exactly the same and were all women. Their genes were absurdly powerful.

If someone wanted to marry an Officer Jenny, the only option was to marry into the Officer Jenny Family.

The Nurse Joy Family was much the same as the Officer Jenny Family.

One controlled the police force, while the other controlled the medical system. Both were colossal powers in the Pokémon world.

After crossing a commercial street, Ye Lan and Servine stopped in front of a restaurant called "Taste of the Sea."

It was said that the restaurant's head chef had once served as an assistant under Siebold, the Water-type Elite Four member of Kalos. After returning to the Huaxia Region, he had opened this restaurant.

Siebold's specialty was seafood cuisine.

Ye Lan pushed open the door and entered. The restaurant's decor was understated yet luxurious, and the diners quietly enjoyed their food. Even when conversing, they kept their voices extremely low.

The harmony of piano and violin complemented the refined atmosphere, elevating the restaurant's sense of sophistication even further.

Taking a deep breath, Ye Lan secretly rejoiced that he had mentally prepared himself in advance. Otherwise, he would have already turned around and fled with Servine.

There was no other reason. Though Ye Lan knew absolutely nothing about such things, he understood that he might go bankrupt today.

He definitely would not make the losing trade of exchanging points for Huaxia currency. He still had over fifty thousand left on his card, which should be enough for Servine to have a full meal.

Once seated at their reserved table, Ye Lan tossed out the red-and-white Poké Ball, and Servine appeared in the Pokémon-only seat across from him.

Although its injuries had healed, it still looked somewhat tired and kept yawning.

"Servine?"

It seemed a little resentful that Ye Lan had called it out and disturbed its sweet dreams, but its attention was quickly drawn to the menu the waitress brought over.

"Servine?!"

Servine first pointed its tail at the menu with a look of shock, then pointed at itself.

Pokémon possessed intelligence nearly equal to that of humans. Although Servine could already understand the meaning of human speech, it had only been born recently, so directly recognizing written text was still difficult for it.

Even so, it could recognize numbers!

Just the zeros after the prices of each dish on the menu made Servine tremble in fear.

"Can I eat all of these?"

Sensing the meaning conveyed by Servine's cry, Ye Lan smiled slightly. "Of course. First, we're celebrating your evolution. Second, we earned quite a bit from today's battle, so there's absolutely no need to worry about the prices!"

"Eat. Go all out and eat as much as you want!"

Only after seeing Ye Lan pat his chest in assurance did Servine relax. It excitedly hissed nonstop at the waitress beside them.

Servine: Servine, Servine, Servine!

Waitress: ?

Servine: Servine, Servine?

Waitress: ???

"It means it doesn't want anything with Dragonfire Fruit on this page, nothing in the upper-left corner of this page, and not this, this..."

In the end, under the waitress's pleading gaze, Ye Lan ordered on Servine's behalf, while also ordering himself some dishes and desserts without Pokémon ingredients.

They did not wait long before the food was served.

Just from its presentation alone, Ye Lan felt that he had not wasted his money. He felt that if the chef improved a little further, he might even be able to make the kind of Pokémon food from this world that came with "special effects."

Seeing Servine wolfing down its food, Ye Lan felt greatly relieved.

Because he had set such lofty goals for himself as a Trainer from the very beginning, Servine spent every day either training or battling, and rarely got to enjoy life.

However, for Servine and Ye Lan, all this was merely a chance to relax along the journey. Reaching the summit would bring extraordinary joy as well!

"Burp~"

After eating and drinking their fill, the man and the snake strolled through the streets of Jindu.

It was already late at night, yet Jindu was still brightly lit. The crowded pedestrians and noisy clamor blended together, making it even livelier than it had been in the morning.

Perhaps nighttime Jindu was when the city truly woke up.

"I'm saying, Servine, I told you to eat as much as you wanted, but I didn't tell you to go that wild!"

"Servine?!"

Servine was stunned. Ye Lan had clearly eaten no less than it had later on, yet now he was turning around and blaming it?!

Seeing Servine's gaze sharpen as it prepared to use Bind and execute him on the spot, Ye Lan hurriedly put some distance between himself and the green snake.

"Ahem, I admit that I did eat quite a lot later on, but wasn't that because you made everything look so delicious?!"

Whenever Ye Lan thought of the devilish whisper from the cashier while paying the bill, his right eyelid would not stop twitching. "That'll be yuan. Card or cash?"

"Servine!"

"Got it, got it. I'll work hard in battles tomorrow too, all right? Stop nagging!"

Seeing Servine turn on him the moment it had finished eating, returning to its usual attitude of "I'm ranked first, my Trainer is ranked...," Ye Lan was so annoyed that he nearly exploded.

"I've decided. Next time, I'm catching an incredibly clingy Pokémon, so you'll understand just how devastating it is to lose your Trainer's affection!"

"Servine!"

"W-Wait, isn't using Iron Tail a bit excessive?!"

(My brain was already mush from sleepiness while writing this chapter. It just doesn't feel very satisfying~)