The Polite Little Stantler

Although Dian had brought plenty of bags and even bought another backpack just in case, it still looked like he had nowhere near enough room for all these antlers.

Besides, the information he had paid for said the antlers could induce hallucinations, hypnosis, and so on, but it never mentioned which part actually produced those effects. He had no idea whether the author had deliberately left that out or whether nobody paid much attention to such a common Pokémon.

Either way, taking this many antlers was clearly impractical.

"Misdreavus~"

Just then, Misdreavus had already darted over to an antler. She took a breath toward its golden surface, and an extremely fine strand of golden light was drawn into her body.

"Misdreavus!"

She cried out happily, as though she had just tasted something delicious, then circled the antler and tapped the black sphere on it, looking a little troubled.

Then her eyes shifted, and a wisp of black shadow gathered, rapidly spinning around the base of the antler and cutting into it.

With a snap, a black sphere fell onto the grass, and the antler's once-brilliant sheen quickly began to fade.

Finally, hairline cracks appeared all over its surface, making it look as though it had weathered years of erosion.

Understanding suddenly dawned on Dian. Things were probably different from what he had imagined. These antlers had all been here for quite some time; they only still looked intact because the mysterious power clinging to them had not completely dissipated. Once it did, they would immediately crumble into wreckage.

"Misdreavus."

Misdreavus flew over carrying two black spheres and spun around, as though asking for praise.

"Well done!"

Delighted, Dian hurriedly put away the two Black Orbs, then collected the antler fragments scattered on the ground as well. Who knew? Those fragments might have some use too.

He was just about to turn around and praise Misdreavus some more, hoping to put the young lady in a good mood so she would take the initiative and get to work.

Instead, he saw that Lady Misdreavus had already darted over to another antler and was happily feeding again, seemingly sucking something out of it.

Ahem, ahem, ahem...

Dian awkwardly withdrew his outstretched hand and went back to silently collecting the black spheres Misdreavus left behind.

That was right—Lady Misdreavus had only personally brought them over the first time. After that, she simply tossed them on the ground and forgot about them.

"Hoppip, Hoppip."

Hoppip pulled a small blue plant out of the grass, carefully patted the dirt off it, then handed it to Beedrill, who followed behind holding a bag.

Beedrill followed cautiously, ready to retreat at any moment.

Indeed, at the first sign of trouble, Beedrill would scoop up Hoppip and make a swift aerial escape. Dian would be left to Misdreavus.

"Stantler?"

Busy searching, Dian failed to notice a figure gradually emerging in the pink mist, watching them curiously.

The figure slowly approached, though it seemed a little timid.

Wisps of pink mist drifted from its antlers, and suddenly, blurry figures appeared all around it.

As those figures appeared, it seemed to feel a little safer and gradually stepped out of the pink mist.

Tap, tap, tap...

Beedrill suddenly whipped around, locked onto the figures, and unleashed Poison Sting without a moment's hesitation.

Pfft, pfft, pfft!!

Countless white poison needles shot toward the figures in the mist in a wide fan. At the same time, Beedrill swiftly scooped up Hoppip, who looked utterly bewildered and had no idea what had happened, and rocketed into the sky.

Hearing the noise, Misdreavus quickly pulled Dian up and prepared to take flight too.

But she stopped halfway up. From what she could sense, only one of the figures surrounding them was real; the rest were merely illusions.

Even the loud footsteps were only the pink mist amplifying the sound of the real one's steps.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Needle-shaped shadows spread out from beneath Misdreavus, stabbing toward the expressionless herd of Stantler from different angles.

But she took an extra precaution and did not directly attack the real figure.

The shadow needles passed through the Stantler without the slightest resistance. Sure enough, they were illusions.

Dian had been quietly observing the whole time, and soon he spotted a little Stantler with a frightened expression.

Uh, what do you do when you're stealing—no, taking—someone else's stuff and the owner catches you? Waiting for answers. This is urgent.

"Stantler?"

Suddenly, the Stantler seemed to spot something and ran over, swallowing a black sphere off the ground in one gulp. Its two long ears twitched, as though it was extremely happy.

"Misdreavus!"

Misdreavus immediately grew anxious. She flew down in a huff and pointed at another black sphere on the ground that had not been eaten, crying out to make it clear that she had worked hard to get it.

Fortunately, Lady Misdreavus still retained a shred of reason and kept Dian securely held aloft, ready to flee at any moment.

"Stantler?"

The little Stantler tilted its head in confusion, then gently pushed the black sphere toward her with its little foot. "Stantler."

Afterward, it happily paced back and forth, sniffed a little, then called out to Dian in the air.

"What are you looking at me for?"

At first, Dian thought the little Stantler was looking at him. He gave the little creature what he considered a friendly smile, only to find that it showed no reaction.

He took a closer look and finally realized that it was not looking at him at all, but at the backpack filled with food...

"Misdreavus, put me down."

Dian spoke to Misdreavus, who seemed unsure what to do.

Misdreavus had been fretting over the black sphere on the ground. This was not how her script was supposed to go.

When she demanded the black sphere, the little Stantler was supposed to put up a stubborn fight, only for Lady Misdreavus to prove superior in the end and claim her prize.

But who could have imagined that this Stantler, young as it looked, would be so calculating? It had actually offered the thing to her of its own accord. If she accepted it, wouldn't that make her the recipient of charity? That went completely against her aesthetics.

So when she heard Dian's words, she almost instinctively lowered him carefully to the ground, then left a black chain around his waist so she could retreat immediately if anything went wrong.

Once he landed, he looked at the little Stantler again.

Dian briefly studied its small brown body and the two antlers that already displayed their splendor. Its eyes lacked an adult Stantler's resolve, holding a trace of timidity and innocence instead. Right now, though, all of that had been overwhelmed by intense longing.