[Mr. Autumn, please leave. My lady will not permit you to stay here.]
Seeing that Chen Shi really had made up his mind not to leave, Gardevoir could only offer a pointed hint.
Chen Shi narrowed his eyes slightly. "Cogita won't let me stay here?"
[That's right, Mr. Autumn. Please don't make this difficult for me.]
Looking at Gardevoir before him, Chen Shi fell silent for a long moment, an uneasy premonition stirring within him.
It was so dangerous outside now, and given how much Cogita valued him, he had already made it all the way to her doorstep.
She should have let him stay here to shelter from the conflict outside.
After all, wouldn't Cogita go mad if anything happened to him?
But since Gardevoir had said so, it had to be true.
A Gardevoir wouldn't have the nerve to use Cogita's name to deceive him...
"Tell me honestly. Does what's happening outside have something to do with my mission?" Chen Shi asked tentatively.
Gardevoir smiled faintly.
[I remember that when you first met my lady, she called you a hero.]
Chen Shi: "..."
That made things perfectly clear. It all but spelled out what he was supposed to do next.
A hero, huh.
Someone who saved the world was a hero.
But he didn't want to be a damned hero at all.
Chen Shi looked utterly defeated. "Do you know how many Pokémon the Five Kings control now?"
"You can't even see the end of them!"
"What am I supposed to fight them with?"
[That's a problem for the hero to consider. I'm just a poor, weak, helpless Gardevoir.]
[I have no idea.]
Chen Shi's eye twitched.
That sounds pretty damn familiar.
Gardevoir secretly reveled in his frustration.
That's what you get for being shameless.
*Now that I'm