Chapter 17: Snowrunt’s Gift
A panicked cry came from outside the tent.
At this moment, the strong men were all out in the forest cutting down trees and building wooden houses. Only some women, children, and the injured remained in the entire territory.
Hearing these sounds, Lei Wen’s heart tightened. The image of the Abomasnow he encountered outside last night flashed in his mind. He thought, “Could it be that guy realized he was tricked and came back for revenge?”
Lei Wen quickly got up to check the situation.
However, when he came outside and saw the true face of the so-called 【Monster】, he was stunned on the spot.
Those Pokémon are… Snowrunts?
The nearby people were terrified and scattered everywhere. The three Snowrunts stood in place, scratching their heads with their hands, looking at the people with confusion, their small faces full of bewilderment.
“Mugu…”
Until the gaze of one of the Snowrunts fell upon Lei Wen, who was hurrying over.
“Mugu!”
Hearing their companion’s cry, the other two Snowrunts immediately turned their heads to look.
“Your Highness Lei Wen, please be careful!” The Old Butler, Elif, quickly stood in front of Lei Wen.
“It’s alright, Elif,” Lei Wen shook his head and gestured, “These monsters mean no harm. We encountered them yesterday on our way to find Anna, and they must have followed us then.”
Snowrunt are Pokémon that are generally friendly towards humans.
Their Pokédex entries clearly state that Snowrunts do not bring harm even when they appear in human villages; instead, they become good friends with children.
And judging by the appearance of these three Snowrunts, they clearly recognized him.
Under the astonished gaze of the Old Butler Elif, Lei Wen stepped forward and greeted them with a smile:
“Hello, Snowrunts.”
“Mugu~!”
The three Snowrunts happily responded.
The panicked commoners around, seeing this, were all stunned. They stopped in their tracks and cautiously observed the situation.
The next second, the three Snowrunts suddenly moved.
They spread their arms and actually rushed towards their Lord.
“Your Highness Lei Wen!” A woman covered her mouth and couldn’t help but exclaim.
“Your Highness, please be careful!”
Elif, who had been vigilant, immediately stepped forward to shield Lei Wen, reaching out to protect Your Highness Lei Wen.
However, the fear of monsters lurking deep within made them instinctively close their eyes, clench their teeth, and prepare to meet the attack of these terrifying monsters.
Yet, the Old Butler waited for a long time, but the expected attack did not come.
He only heard gasps from some commoners, as if they were surprised by something.
Elif cautiously opened his eyes.
The monsters… the monsters were gone?!
“Mugu~!”
Just then, the cry of a monster came from behind him.
The Old Butler’s heart tightened. The cunning monsters, had they bypassed him to attack Your Highness Lei Wen?
Elif turned around sharply, but the next second, the scene before him immediately stunned him on the spot.
“Mugu~ Mugu~!”
The three monsters were now surrounding Your Highness Lei Wen in the middle. They extended their hands, hugging Your Highness’s legs while letting out happy cries.
They looked just like children asking their adult for a hug.
“Wh-what is this?!” The Old Butler’s face was filled with disbelief.
At this moment, all the commoners stared at this scene in disbelief.
Suddenly, one of the Snowrunts released its grip.
With a happy expression, it plucked a snow-white fruit, the size of a baseball, from its body, and held it out towards Lei Wen.
“This is… for me?”
Seeing the Snowrunt’s action, Lei Wen was slightly taken aback.
“Mugu~!”
The Snowrunt’s eyes curved, and it happily nodded its head.
Yesterday they ate the delicious fruit that the human gave them, so today they also wanted to share their fruit with humans, Mugu!
Lei Wen suddenly felt like laughing. These Snowrunts were truly naive and cute!
He broke the fruit into four pieces and handed them to Elif and two trembling farmers, saying to them, “You all try it too.”
“Your Highness Lei Wen… this is?” Elif dazedly reached out to accept it.
“It’s a gift from these monsters,” Lei Wen said, taking a bite.
Hmm… Sweet, with a texture somewhere between ice cream and rock candy. It was surprisingly delicious.
The moment it entered his mouth, Lei Wen’s first thought was that they could use this fruit to make sugar.
Seeing Your Highness Lei Wen eat it, Elif looked at the fruit in his hand, gritted his teeth, and took a bite as well.
The next second, his eyes widened in surprise.
How could it be so delicious?!
The other two Snowrunts, seeing that Lei Wen had eaten their companion’s fruit, also eagerly picked the fruit from their own bodies and offered them.
“Mugu!” Try their fruit too!
Lei Wen couldn’t help but laugh and say, “You traveled this far just to have me try this?”
“Mugu~”
The three Snowrunts shyly scratched their heads.
“Your Highness Lei Wen, this is…?”
Elif, still confused, finally couldn’t help but ask about the situation.
Lei Wen concisely recounted his experience from the previous night.
Looking at the Snowrunts surrounding him, looking at everything around with curious eyes, he couldn’t help but guess:
“Perhaps they want to play with us?”
“Play?” Hearing this word, Elif paused, “They’re a bit like playful children.”
“Don’t you feel it yet, Elif?” Lei Wen suddenly spoke.
“What?”
“This world is inhabited by countless monsters. Some monsters are ferocious and attack humans on sight, but some monsters have personalities as innocent and playful as children, and are very friendly to humans,” Lei Wen said slowly.
Elif was slightly taken aback. He looked at these three creatures called Snowrunts and suddenly felt that what His Highness said seemed to be true.
Just like the King and the monster named Victini.
And Your Highness also has a monster named Dratini by his side.
“Elif, pass down the order that everyone need not fear these three monsters. As long as we don’t attack them first, they won’t harm us,” Lei Wen commanded.
“Yes, Your Highness Lei Wen!” Elif responded.
Lei Wen turned his gaze towards the three Snowrunts beside him.
Snowrunt, Grass and Ice Type Pokémon.
He was just worrying about not having any Grass-type Pokémon in his territory, and now here they were.
If he could build a good relationship with these three Snowrunts, perhaps he could ask them to help tend the fields, cultivate crops using Grass-type energy, shorten the crop growth cycle, and thus make the crops mature early.
However… the only problem currently is that compared to Grass-type, Snowrunts seem to be much more proficient in Ice-type power.
But thinking about this now is a bit too early.
The most important thing right now is to build a good relationship with these three Snowrunts first.
This might be a good opportunity to change the commoners’ prejudice against Pokémon in the territory.
With this thought, Lei Wen spoke, “Snowrunts, this is where we live. If you don’t mind, you can play here as you please. Everyone will like you. I have things to do, and I’ll come play with you after I’m done!”
Time was pressing. Before the next Blizzard arrived, they had to find suitable land for farming and plant the crop seeds.
This was related to the survival crisis of the people in the territory. If he didn’t go personally, Lei Wen couldn’t rest assured.
“Mugu~!”
Upon hearing that Lei Wen would come back to play with them, the three Snowrunts happily agreed.
