Master!

"Kehehe (￣▽￣)~*"

Haunter excitedly greeted Trevenant and Sableye. Those two Pokémon, along with Chandelure, who was currently at home disguised as a chandelier, were James's main Pokémon. The rest were more utility-oriented and not part of James's core team; none of them had ever defeated an Elite Four level opponent.

"Treva—ヽ(￣▽￣)ﾉ"

Trevenant happily greeted Haunter as well. He had missed his young apprentice, but most of his attention was on Dhelmise nearby. As fellow Ghost- and Grass-type Pokémon, Trevenant was very curious about Dhelmise's strength.

"Ziziz (￣.￣)"

Sableye did not care much about that. What he wanted more was to check on his treasures—the various fragments shed by Carbink—and have a nice extra snack. But dinner was coming up, and if he went to eat snacks now, he would have to eat less at the table, so he could only hold himself back for the moment.

"Kehe, kehehe."

Haunter pulled Dhelmise over and introduced him to the two Pokémon.

"Rrrumble."

Dhelmise politely greeted them as well. To him, both of them seemed unfathomably strong.

"Treva, treva."

Trevenant walked up to Dhelmise and looked him over from left to right. Although it was his first time seeing Dhelmise's physical form, he could tell from the energy fluctuations that the anchor wrapped in seaweed was not Dhelmise's true body. He carefully examined every strand of seaweed before nodding seriously. However, that scrutiny made Dhelmise wonder whether this senior of his had something wrong with his head.

"Rrrumble?"

"Treva, trevatreva."

Trevenant did not hide his reason for acting strangely. He bluntly said that he had been assessing Dhelmise's strength. From what he could see, Dhelmise was not bad and should be able to protect the young master.

That was right. In Trevenant's eyes, James was the lord he served, while Blake was the young master. As a retainer of the lord, naturally he had to properly inspect the young master's subordinate.

Haunter had guessed this long ago. After all, his teacher was a diehard fan of historical dramas. His favorite pastime was watching costume shows, especially those about lords and ministers.

"Kehe, hehehehe."

Haunter snickered as he approached Sableye, then pulled out a handful of Ghost Gems and offered them to him.

"Ziziz!"

A glint of gold flashed through Sableye's gemlike eyes. With a swish, he snatched the gems from Haunter's hand and stuffed them all into his mouth.

"Ziziziz!"

As Sableye chewed on the Ghost Gems, he gave Haunter a thumbs-up. The meaning was obvious: now that was more like it!

As one of Haunter's three teachers when he was young, Sableye had the best relationship with him. Trevenant had a good personality, but his obsession with historical dramas sometimes made him overly serious and stern. Chandelure, meanwhile, was a socially anxious Pokémon who did not like talking. Every lesson was methodical, and he left as soon as he finished teaching. Sableye, who put on the fewest airs, could actually play with Haunter. The two had pulled countless pranks together, and thanks to the peculiar nature of his body, Haunter often secretly helped Sableye steal a couple of Ghost Gems for a snack.

"Kehe, kehehe."

Seeing how pleased Sableye was, Haunter immediately made his request. It was simple: what had they encountered on this outing? Tell him about it.

"Ziziz."

{That? Oh, there's plenty to tell.}

Sableye immediately began building suspense with an air of self-importance. Haunter was not in a hurry, though. He knew Sableye always put on a little show before getting to the story. The guy had an incredibly strong need to perform.

{This time, we visited a very strange ruin. It was quite interesting, hidden in an unremarkable little ravine. Supposedly, it was first discovered when a ranger fell into it.

It was a completely undeveloped ruin. The Pokémon inside had bred for who knew how many generations, and there was even a group of my own kind there!}

As Sableye spoke, he folded his arms and looked extremely proud.

"Treva."

{What group? They did not recognize you at all. They even beat you and drove you out.}

Seeing Sableye looking so proud, Trevenant immediately poured cold water on him.

"Ziziz!"

{Didn't I beat them back afterward?! Stop interrupting me! Where was I? Oh, right, that ruin. Speaking of which, it was really terrifying! I've been to quite a few ruins, but it was my first time seeing so many corpses. According to the Trainers' guess, that ruin seemed to be some kind of... what was it called?}

"Treva."

{A sacrificial site. And the cruelest kind of human sacrifice.}

Trevenant added again.

"Ziziz!"

{I know! You don't need to say it! Anyway, that's right, it was a sacrificial site. Man, those corpses had been there for so long that they were all dried out. A lot of them were nothing but bones, and they crumbled to ash at a touch. And that smell—seriously, after going to so many places, it was the first time I'd ever smelled something so foul. James nearly passed out on the spot.}

"Kehe!"

"Rrrumble!"

Sableye's exaggerated description made Haunter and Dhelmise widen their eyes—well, their one pair of eyes. Dhelmise had at least seen dead people before, but Haunter had only ever seen fake corpses on television, so he immediately grew nervous.

"Treva."

{Stop scaring them. The smell really was awful, but too much time had passed. Even the aura of the spirit world had faded away. There was nothing scary about it at all.}

Trevenant said irritably. That guy loved scaring people all day long.

"Ziziz."

{I wasn't lying, was I? Anyway, it was pretty shocking. I'd never encountered anything like it before. In any case, that ruin expedition did not go very well. The local Pokémon were incredibly rude too. Every last one of them acted like they'd swallowed gunpowder, with no manners at all. Luckily, we were stronger. We charged through them seven times in and seven times out, and successfully dealt with them! Hahahahaha!}

"Treva."

{Who knows who got beaten so badly he fled with his head in his hands? Old Flame and I were the ones who pulled you out.}

"Ziziz!"

{Do you have to air my dirty laundry like that?! What, you want to fight me right now?!}

"Treva."

{A battle between us would be meaningless. Rather than fighting me, you should work on honing yourself. That way, you can better assist our lord. Do not forget that the young master will be joining the exploration this time as well.}

"Ziziz."

{I don't need a stiff old fool like you telling me that! Anyone else has the right to criticize me! You are the only one who doesn't!}