Also, because no one on the farm really liked eating fiddleheads, Ron had no intention of selling them, so they just hoarded them until now.
"Really? Thank you so much." Jodi looked at Indeedee with deep emotion. If—well, she ant if—if she had a choice, she would really love to have an Indeedee as her own Pokémon.
This was simply what she had always dread of. Whenever it was late at night and she was quietly envisioning a perfect life for herself—fantasizing that she hadn't rushed into a flash marriage with Kent so early, that she hadn't squandered her youth on endless household chores, and that she had endless amounts of money—she always hoped she could have a maid and a chef, just like those noble princesses or elegant ladies on TV. Living a life where she never had to touch housework again.
"Indeedee?"
"It says it's not a maid or a chef, ow." Hearing Indeedee make a sound, owth translated. "If anything, it's the farm's butler, ow."
"Indeedee!"
"—" Jodi smiled awkwardly. "I didn't an it like that, dear."
"Indeedee, Indee."
"It's okay, ow." owth paused before adding. "But you'll have to wait a mont, ow! We need to go pre-order at the Saloon first! We'll have a Rattata deliver it to you later, ow."
Can a few short sounds really translate to all that? Jodi complained silently in her head, then smiled and said, "That's so much trouble for you."
Saying this, Jodi paid Indeedee the market price for the fiddleheads.
"Indeedee." Indeedee looked at the money in its paws, unexpectedly feeling a sense of accomplishnt.
"You want to help Ron sell things, ow?" owth looked up at the blue sky. "That sounds pretty nice, ow. Do you need owth's help?"
"Indeedee." Indeedee pondered the possibility of this for a mont, but ultimately shook its head.
After all, the farm's operational chanism was quite different.
In reality, Ron had never once worried about the farm's produce not selling. As long as he put the products into the shipping bin, the rest wasn't his concern; Lewis handled everything.
With this in mind, Indeedee led owth into the Saloon.
"Good morning."
"Indeedee." Indeedee greeted Gus while dumping the money onto the counter with a clatter.
"We're planning to have a group dinner at the Saloon tonight, ow," owth explained. "Oh wait, here's the nu."
Saying this, owth pulled out a piece of paper.
Just as Gus was thinking that a group dinner shouldn't cost this much, owth gave the paper a flick. The long strip of receipt paper unfurled like a ribbon, rolling all the way to the door.
"We want three orders of spaghetti, ow, plus two pizzas, stew—"
owth started reading off the dishes. Indeedee stood in front of owth, continuously saying "Indeedee," looking every bit the part of the one in charge.
On the other side, Ron.
"Ah, so Indeedee is the one managing the farm right now?" Serena, walking beside Ron, looked at him. "That's so amazing. It's a bit hard to imagine what a farm run entirely by a Pokémon would look like."
Although Kalos also had farms where people and Pokémon worked together, the humans usually made the decisions while the Pokémon just helped execute them.
"So cool! My brother totally can't do that," Bonnie chid in from the side. "Forget letting a Pokémon run a Gym, he constantly gets kicked out of his own Gym by his Rotom."
Hearing this, the Rotom Dex flew over to Bonnie's side.
"Then this Rotom is very amazing, roto."
"I don't think 'amazing' is the right word for that," Haley couldn't help but say.
"To a Rotom, this is very amazing, roto!" The Rotom Dex said with its hands on its hips, looking incredibly smug. Then, under the gaze of the five of them, it changed its tune: "But the Rotom Dex would never do that, roto! Directives do not allow it, roto!"
"Then what do they eat on the farm? Is Indeedee in charge of that too?"
"Yeah, but I also leave so money for them. If they don't feel like cooking, they can go eat at the Saloon in town."
"Huh? The Pokémon go by themselves?" Serena asked.
"Mhm."
"Wow—it doesn't even feel like they're Pokémon anymore. It's more like—well, family." Serena couldn't help but say. "I an, everyone treats their Pokémon like family or friends too, but nobody gives them money and lets them go shopping at stores by themselves."
Plus, shopkeepers wouldn't necessarily serve them, let alone the language barrier.
"They really are good people," Serena said. She turned to look at Ron, then withdrew her gaze after a while.
Ti shifted to noon.
They still needed about half a day's journey to reach the nearest town. After a quick discussion, everyone decided to camp by a nearby stream.
Ron took out the ingredients he had brought and placed them on the table one by one.
"Wow, this is a really popular camping ingredient in Lumiose!" Bonnie leaned in for a look and said excitedly. "Ooh, and this, this too—ah, what is this?"
She picked up the Stardrop Tea and asked.
"It's a new product from the farm. A type of tea," Ron said. "We call it Stardrop Tea, but this is a bit different from the one in Pelican Town. I made a few minor improvents."
Otherwise, based on the original recipe's ingredients, mass-producing it would be a complete pipe dream.
Furthermore, the original Stardrop Tea had the effect of boosting friendship points. Ron figured that for a purely comrcial product, that feature wasn't strictly necessary, so he deliberately reduced the proportion of Stardrop and other special ingredients.
"Stardrop Tea? Whoa, you made this?" Abigail, who had been playing with the frog, shot up from her seat and rushed over to the table.
"I've drank it once before—the taste is sothing I'll rember for the rest of my life," Abigail said. She turned to explain to the two girls, who looked thoroughly confused: "This isn't ordinary tea. The most amazing thing about it is that everyone experiences a completely different flavor when they drink it."
"Different?"
"Yeah, as soon as you drink it, you'll rember your absolute favorite thing," Abigail said. "It's the taste of happiness!"
"It's that magical?" Serena looked at the packet of Stardrop Tea that Ron had just opened.
Instantly, a rich tea aroma wafted out.
"Wow, it slls so good—" Bonnie couldn't help but say. "It slls kind of like—this scent is amazing."
"Did you really change the recipe?" Abigail took a sniff. "It slls exactly the sa as the one I drank before."
"It should be." Ron smiled, taking the teapot from Haley. "The cost is a lot lower now. I reduced quite a few of the ingredients, otherwise it would be impossible to mass-produce."
"Whoa, and this is the budget version?" Bonnie cupped her cheeks in her hands. "Just how amazing would the original recipe sll?"
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