A Little More Generosity

After leaving the area Xia Yan had classified as extremely dangerous...

He looked at the soaking-wet Mankey sprawled on the ground, panting heavily.

"Hoja."

Mankey cried out weakly.

As its chest rose and fell, its eyes darted around.

Xia Yan and Weedle simply watched it in silence.

Suddenly—

Mankey agilely sprang to its feet and dashed toward the depths of the forest.

Time to run!

Once it got into the forest, it would be on its home turf.

But it had barely run very far when a gleaming thread tightly wrapped around its foot.

Bang!

With a tug, it was yanked straight onto the ground, performing a very convincing face-plant.

Xia Yan folded his arms and chuckled as he slowly walked over. He held out his hand. "Honey."

He had already seen through Mankey's little scheme. It had used the honey to lure Weedle into saving it, then pretended to be exhausted after reaching shore. Once Xia Yan and Weedle lowered their guard, it would run away and avoid paying the honey it owed.

What a crafty little thing.

"Hoja." Mankey turned its head with difficulty, just about to put on a cute face when it found itself staring at Weedle's sharp horn.

Trying to deceive Weedle?

Me, Weedle, easy to fool?

This could not be tolerated.

"Wuu!" Weedle cried out, its threat unmistakable.

"Forget it. We'll take it ourselves," Xia Yan said flatly, giving Weedle a look.

Weedle immediately understood.

Before it could make a move, Mankey raised a hand. Clutched in it was a golden, honeycomb-like lump—the Beedrill honey.

Its survival instincts were in full force.

Weedle's eyes lit up at the sight of the honey, and saliva began to flow uncontrollably from its mouth.

"Not enough." Xia Yan stopped it and shook his head.

"Hoja!" Mankey panicked.

Wasn't this what they had agreed on?

"Yes, that was the deal before. But your attempt to run away just now dropped my trust in you to the absolute minimum. Besides, Weedle used String Shot once to save you, and once more to stop you. That's twice the labor. How can a single payment be enough?" Xia Yan explained slowly.

"Hoja?"

Mankey was dumbfounded. It blinked. There was such a calculation?

"Wuu!!" Weedle nodded its little head furiously at Xia Yan's words.

Xia Yan made sense!

Two String Shots were exhausting.

And it was obvious that the piece of honey Mankey had taken out now was not the same one as before.

That meant it definitely had quite a lot more.

"So I said we'd take it ourselves."

"Wuu!!"

"Hoja!!" Mankey conceded, raising its hands again with a grief-stricken expression. This time, it held up two pieces of Beedrill honey.

Seeing Mankey suddenly become so obedient, Weedle turned to Xia Yan.

"Wuu?"

What should they do?

Even Weedle could tell that Mankey had more than just those two pieces of honey. Otherwise, so many Beedrill would not have charged out so aggressively, looking as though they bore a deep grudge.

It was just curious where Mankey had hidden so much honey.

Xia Yan looked up.

"The weather's nice today. Tie it up."

"Ho-Hoja?!!"

Mankey finally realized that it had just escaped the tiger's jaws only to fall into a wolf's den.

Sss, sss, sss—

Without hesitation, Weedle spat out strand after strand of silk, tightly binding Mankey until it was wrapped like a dumpling.

Under Mankey's despairing, furious, heartbroken gaze, Weedle found all the honey hidden on its body.

Surprisingly, despite Mankey's short fur, it had managed to store away so much honey.

That could not have been easy.

There were five palm-sized pieces of honey in total, along with one thumb-sized piece.

That was already quite a substantial amount.

Xia Yan took out a glass bottle. After softening the honey, he stuffed it inside, filling two whole bottles. After some thought, he chose to leave the remaining small piece for Mankey.

A person had to be a little more generous.

He could not let Mankey's effort go to waste.

This Beedrill honey was good stuff. It was rich in trace elements, highly nourishing and delicious for Pokémon. For Weedle, it was even more so.

Part of Beedrill honey was food for their own survival, part was supplied to the queen, and another part was used to raise their offspring and sustain the colony.

In other words, to raise Weedle.

So for Weedle, this honey was food no worse than Energy Cubes. Because it suited it even better, the effects were likely superior.

What an unexpected bonus.

"Weedle spent a lot of effort saving you and spat out all that silk. This honey is its payment. Besides, we didn't even take all of it. We've already been very merciful." Xia Yan spoke to Mankey and gestured for Weedle to undo the silk.

The deal of saving it in exchange for honey had already been completed. Mankey had not actively attacked them, and Xia Yan was not the kind of person who killed indiscriminately. There was no need to burn bridges like that.

So he chose to let Mankey go.

Of course, if Mankey could not let it go and came looking for trouble, Xia Yan would not mind teaching it a lesson.

"Hoja."

Mankey staggered to its feet and looked at the tiny thumb-sized piece of honey left behind, on the verge of tears.

Watching Xia Yan and Weedle leave, it rationally decided not to seek revenge. It could not even break free of Weedle's silk, so it clearly understood the difference in strength between them.

Only after Xia Yan and Weedle had completely disappeared did it furtively open its mouth and dig out a lump of softened honey.

Good thing it had kept something in reserve. Otherwise, this time it truly would have lost everything.

It endured.

But sometimes, some things simply could not be endured.

The more it thought about it, the angrier it became. The more it backed down, the more it felt cheated.

"Hoja!!" Its sharp cry carried far into the distance.

Before long, a larger, more muscular Pokémon with heavy breaths snorting from its nose appeared before Mankey. It was Mankey's evolution—Primeape!

The moment it saw Primeape, Mankey immediately put on a fawning smile and offered up the thumb-sized piece of Beedrill honey.

Primeape glared at it, but still accepted the honey. It tossed it into its mouth and swallowed it after only a few chews.

"Pucha?"

"Hoja—"

Facing Primeape's question, Mankey bounced and jumped around with a wronged expression, briefly recounting what had happened. It even squeezed out a few aggrieved tears.

It was genuinely upset.

Seeing this, Primeape roared a few times, then irritably patted Mankey on the head. It leaped onto a tree branch and gave chase in the direction Xia Yan and Weedle had vanished.

Seeing its boss stand up for it, Mankey immediately gained confidence. It followed behind Primeape with its head held high and chased after them too.

You bullied me?

This time, I'll tie you up too!

Tie you up!

The more Mankey thought about it, the more excited it became, and its steps quickened.

But since Xia Yan had chosen to let Mankey go, could he really have failed to prepare for its revenge?

Or, put another way, would he really let Mankey find him again so easily?

The reason he had not dealt with Mankey was merely that he did not want to kill indiscriminately. But if Mankey came looking for him again, then it could not blame him.

Here was the fourth update! An extra chapter for reaching 300 monthly votes! If you dare give me monthly votes, I dare keep updating!