"Can I come along too?!"
"Hm... huh?"
Xingye, who had been talking with the Mousy, froze when he suddenly heard Lillie say that. He did not react at first and thought he had misheard.
Seeing that he did not respond, Lillie walked right up to him, her expression growing more serious. "Please let me join Odd Jobs. I want to help Pokémon in trouble too!"
This time, Xingye finally heard her clearly. He snorted, waved a hand, and replied, "Young miss, stop fantasizing. Don't blame me for being rude, but you should overcome your fear of Pokémon first. Otherwise, you really won't be of any use."
"Even though I do not have much business right now, Odd Jobs requires dealing with Pokémon all the time. Maybe I do not know as much Pokémon theory as you do, but if you were put together with Pokémon, would you even understand what they were saying?"
"..."
Those few words left Lillie completely silent. She had only gotten carried away and suddenly come up with the idea, but now it felt like a bucket of Chilling Water had been dumped over her head...
Xingye did not pay her any further attention. He knew this was just some naive idea the young miss had suddenly come up with. Once she calmed down, she would definitely give up.
Besides, adding a second person to Odd Jobs? What a joke. He did not like working with others. Being alone with Pokémon was enough for him.
He continued looking at the two Mousy. Gengar had already gone over to join the fun, but at that moment, a panel popped up before his eyes again, accompanied by reward effects.
[Obtained Tandemaus's Friendship: Pure Love Warrior (Damage dealt to NTR victims greatly and excessively increased... Pure love may be foolish, but it truly is beautiful. Everyone can become a Pure Love Warrior through their own efforts. Those NTR scum who destroy beautiful pure love deserve to die! Tonight, let the hunt begin!)] "Such a long description! What a terrifying talent!" Xingye stared in astonishment. It seemed like another useless talent, but perhaps it would come in handy someday. Besides, he was a believer in pure love too! He then habitually checked their status... [Pokémon: Tandemaus] [Type: Normal type] [Height and Weight: 0.29 m/5.3 kg, 0.31 m/5.5 kg] [Ability: Run Away (Runs away really fast)] [Moves: Population Bomb, Baby-Doll Eyes, Echoed Voice, Helping Hand, Double Hit, Super Fang] [Status: Happy (Finally together again), Grateful (Deeply grateful to those who helped them)]
"Pretty normal. It would have been nice if their Ability was Oblivious. If they evolved into Maushold, they could become Technician, but whatever..."
After all, Tandemaus were not his Pokémon, so there was no need to think about training them. And since the commission was over, it seemed there was no payment?
He looked at the two Mousy and, after thinking it over, decided to forget it. He did not expect them to give him anything anyway. The talent could count as payment.
All that remained was to wait until they had mostly recovered, then hand the little ones over to Jenny to be sent back to the Paldea Region.
"But after all this running around, there won't be any barbecue tonight. And there's also..."
Before Xingye could finish, Lillie, who had been quiet for quite a while, suddenly called out again, "Maybe I can't participate directly, but I can be your assistant, right?!"
"Hm?"
"As long as you need information about Pokémon, I can help you find it!"
"..."
Xingye had not expected her to refuse to give up. He swirled his teacup and casually said, "The young miss is being awfully humble. Are you begging me with that tone?"
"Well..."
"But then again, are we even that familiar? You do not understand me at all. And from what I can see, this is just a passing whim. You probably have not even figured out what Odd Jobs is."
"..."
Lillie fell silent again for a moment. Then, lowering her head, she quietly said, "I truly want to help those Pokémon. Even though I'm a Trainer, without Pokémon to accompany me, I can't even go into many wilderness areas. At the very least... I want the knowledge I've learned to have somewhere it can be used!"
Seeing her like this, the surroundings somehow fell quiet as well. Slowking shook his head and said around his lollipop, "You love Pokémon, yet you're afraid of them? Still, learning more is good. At least you're much better than a certain guy who doesn't know a thing. But learning knowledge without using it is just practicing yourself to death. That whatever Odd Jobs of his really is a good place for you to show what you can do."
"..."
Xingye glanced at Slowking, understanding that those words were actually advice for him. And it seemed that Slowking especially liked helping people with dreams and strong determination. Xingye himself had once been like that.
He was still very reluctant. This was his Odd Jobs. How comfortable was it to be alone with Pokémon? Why let an outsider who looked like trouble come barging in? Did he want a headache all day long?
After a long silence, just as he was about to refuse, the Decidueye that had been drinking alone at the far end of the counter suddenly turned around and looked at them.
"Coo..."
Its cry resembled Rowlet's, but it was far more weathered. Looking closely, one could see that this Decidueye seemed quite old and was not in good spirits.
Hearing it, Slowking looked at Xingye and slowly said, "Looks like you have business."
"Hm?"
Xingye paused briefly, then came to his senses and walked toward the Decidueye. "Odd Jobs handles anything. Do you want to commission us for help?"
"Coo!"
Although it had been sitting there for quite a while, Decidueye did not look drunk at all. Instead, it seemed to have been listening to their conversation for some time.
Seeing him begin taking a commission, Lillie curiously moved closer, wanting to see how the process worked.
Since it was a language he was hearing for the first time, Xingye needed some time to understand it. Still, he grasped the meaning and asked, "Does this have something to do with your Trainer?"
"Coo!"
"..."
Xingye's hand stopped abruptly as he recorded the details. He understood what it meant, but it was somewhat...
"Huh?"
When things suddenly went quiet, Lillie looked utterly confused. Slowking shook his head and explained in a low voice, "Its Trainer is about to die, but at a time like this, they will not let it go see them one last time. They even drive it away outright. That is why it has been so troubled and wants to commission us to investigate the reason."
"..."
The atmosphere instantly became heavy, and Lillie did not know what to say. She looked at Xingye, wanting to know what he would do next...
"An investigation commission. Can you provide more details? If it is inconvenient to talk here, we can change locations."
Xingye quickly recovered. Partings through life and death were common. He himself could be considered someone who had died once, so he accepted such things more easily.
Decidueye nodded, then borrowed some paper and a pen from Slowking and wrote down an address.
"Coo."
"We should go here tomorrow morning? Understood."
He put away the note, which counted as accepting the commission. Odd Jobs existed to help Pokémon solve their troubles, so Xingye naturally would not refuse something like this.
Seeing him accept, Decidueye nodded. After paying for its drinks, it left the izakaya.
Watching its departing back, Slowking slowly said, "That guy has been one of my regular customers for over a decade. It used to travel all over the world with its Trainer. After many setbacks, it finally grew tired and returned to settle in Alola, which had begun developing."
"You can tell it has quite a story."
Xingye glanced at the address and put the paper back into his pocket. After thinking where he stood for a moment, he looked at Lillie and said, "Since you want to be my assistant, let's give it a try first. Come with me on the commission tomorrow. Consider it an internship, and I'll see how you perform."
"Uh... wait, you agreed?!"
The surprise came so suddenly that Lillie had not quite processed it yet.
Then Xingye looked into her emerald-green eyes and calmly said, "Let me make this clear in advance. I'm not used to working with others. If we run into danger during the commission that I can't handle, I'll abandon you without hesitation and run."
"I don't mind!"
Lillie raised her little fist and answered without hesitation. At that moment, a smile finally bloomed on her face once more.
Before you continue