Chapter 58: Pasture And Mountain Goods
Before Lei Wen could react, he saw Ryan and a Poffin walking in from outside.
In his hands, he carried two creatures tied up tightly with rope.
Those were… chickens?
Lei Wen was slightly stunned. At first, he couldn’t believe it, thinking they were some Pokémon, but upon closer inspection, he realized they were indeed two wild chickens.
Two ordinary wild chickens, devoid of any energy fluctuations, beings at the bottom of the food chain in this world.
Ryan said with joy, “Your Highness, we finally have meat to eat!”
Lei Wen twitched the corner of his mouth, “…Where did you catch them? And weren’t you investigating monsters around the territory with Christina and Cleveland?”
“Oh, that! I discovered traces of these two while investigating monsters in the forest.”
Ryan scratched his head and then explained:
“The Poffin helped me catch them with its move. Not only that, but I also found a nest of eggs in their nest! I remembered you, Your Highness, gave instructions this morning, so I came here to deliver them first.”
“Your Highness, then we can start raising these chickens?” Elif’s face showed a surprised expression.
Lei Wen nodded. With chickens and eggs, they could indeed try to domesticate these wild chickens into poultry and hatch those eggs into chicks.
The chickens lay eggs, and the eggs hatch into chickens, repeating this cycle. Before long, they would have an inexhaustible supply of chicken and eggs.
“Well done!” Lei Wen was quite pleased. He praised Ryan and then said to the Old Butler beside him, “Cliff, go ask if anyone in the territory knows how to raise chickens. Hand these two wild chickens over to him for care. Also, have the carpenter make a fence out of wood to enclose them, to prevent these two chickens from escaping.”
“Yes, Prince Lei Wen!” Elif readily agreed and then hurried off to find someone in the territory skilled in raising chickens.
“Your Highness, I’ll be going now!” Ryan said, “Christina and Cleveland are still waiting for me in the forest!”
Their mission this time was to investigate information about the newly appeared monsters around the territory, and they needed to complete it as soon as possible.
Lei Wen nodded and said, “Go!”
Elif was very fast, and by the afternoon, he had found someone skilled in raising chickens.
The man was a middle-aged man around forty years old.
The man’s name was Rick, and he had worked in the chicken-raising industry in the Royal City.
Lei Wen inquired about some aspects of raising them and, after confirming everything, finalized his decision.
The carpenter Tucker made a fence from the wood cut from the forest and set up a coop behind Rick’s house specifically for raising chickens.
Looking at the two wild chickens scratching for food in the soil, Lei Wen couldn’t help but start thinking about how to house Pokémon like Potter, Combee, Sawsbuck, and Miltank if they were caught in the future.
Just find someone to take care of them?
That would be too scattered.
If so, why not build a pasture specifically for raising and producing Pokémon?
This way, the pasture could supply the territory with products like Honey, Berry Juice, Milk, and Tea Leaves in bulk.
It was a good option, Lei Wen thought.
However, they hadn’t officially started raising those Pokémon yet. All of this would have to wait until Ryan and Christina and Cleveland finished investigating the types of Pokémon that lived in the surrounding areas.
Moreover, raising Pokémon was not as simple as raising chickens.
Raising chickens only required throwing some grains at them, or letting them forage and catch insects in the fields themselves.
But raising Pokémon was different.
Different Pokémon liked different foods, and Pokémon like Miltank even needed fresh Pasture Grass.
There was no Pasture Grass in the territory currently, and even the reserves of Berries were insufficient.
Without enough food, they could not support raising a large number of Pokémon.
“Sigh, we’ll just have to wait until the Crops mature,” Lei Wen couldn’t help but feel a headache.
However, the only thing to be thankful for was that with Pokémon like Sandshrew, Snivy, and Snowrunt, they could shorten the growth cycle of the Crops as much as possible.
In the evening, the Gathering Team returned from outside.
Just as Lei Wen had predicted, abundant wild delicacies had grown in the spring forest.
Berries, wood ear mushrooms, mushrooms, leeks, mountain bamboo shoots, fern shoots…
Coupled with the fish that Dratini caught from the river in the afternoon.
“A bountiful harvest!”
“Great! Now we don’t have to worry about going hungry!”
The Pokémon living in the territory also gathered around. Looking at the overflowing food in the baskets, they couldn’t help but let out happy Growls.
Lei Wen watched this scene with a smile.
The resources in this place were indeed very abundant. With this, they could smoothly survive until the day the Crops in the Farmland matured.
＊
The next day, early in the morning, Lei Wen borrowed the Sandshrew from the Farmland.
They stood before a large open space in the south of the territory. Beside Lei Wen stood Snivy and the five Poffins.
A group of Pokémon lined up, looking expectantly at the open space before them.
“Sandshrew, I’m counting on you,” Lei Wen glanced at the Sandshrew beside him.
Although he didn’t know how the farmers and this Sandshrew got along, judging by Sandshrew’s demeanor, it seemed to have been accepted by the farmers.
At this moment, Sandshrew understood the task Lei Wen had called it for today.
Since it had promised Lei Wen that it would stay here and work to repay the losses it had caused, these tasks should naturally be completed by it.
“Squeak squeak!” Sandshrew let out a cry, indicating it was ready!
“In that case, let’s begin!” Lei Wen nodded.
“Squeak squeak!”
Sandshrew immediately unleashed a powerful surge of Energy, and in the next second, ripples seemed to spread across the ground.
Sandshrew began to run forward with all its might, and the Soil it passed over was immediately turned over and became soft.
In just over a dozen laps, a complete Field had been tilled by Sandshrew.
Lei Wen took out the Pomelo Fruit Seeds he had collected over the winter from his bag.
“Poffin, from now on, I will plant these Berry Seeds in this garden,” Lei Wen said to the Pokémon beside him. “This way, by autumn, these seeds will grow into fruit trees again and blossom and bear fruit.”
If Grass Type Pokémon helped with nurturing them with Energy, the time for the Berries to mature would be even earlier.
“Lili…!”
Hearing Lei Wen’s words, the five Poffins on the grass couldn’t help but picture a scene in their minds.
—In that season of abundance, the fruit trees in this garden would have all grown, and each fruit tree’s branches would be laden with large, plump Pomelo Fruits.
They would dart happily through the woods, among the branches, and between the fruits, picking a Pomelo Fruit whenever they were hungry.
When the cold winter arrived, they would huddle together in the tree hollows, with snow falling heavily outside, and the inside of the hollows would be warm.
“Lili…!”
The thought of that scene alone made them feel so happy!
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