Another week had passed.
The trees were heavy with clusters of blue Oran Berries, and the busy orchard workers all had the joyful expressions of a bountiful harvest on their faces.
And yet, during what should have been the busiest time of the season, Uncle Mike and Aunt Erin found themselves simply standing outside the orchard, exchanging puzzled looks.
Inside the grove, Oddish were darting back and forth among the trees. Their leaf-like heads moved as flexibly as hands, and they could easily climb up the trees using their feet to pick ripe Oran Berries.
By now, there were nearly 150 Oddish on the farm. With their cooperation, berry after berry was smoothly harvested.
All Uncle Mike and Aunt Erin needed to do was organize the Oran Berries and load them onto carts, after which Rhyhorn would transport them to the cellar at the farmhouse for storage.
"These Oddish are actually pretty capable," Uncle Mike muttered. Though he didn't say it aloud, he had never fully understood why Aven raised so many Oddish.
But now, watching the Oddish busily working, his impression had clearly improved. He had to admit—they were incredibly helpful.
And this was only the most basic value the Oddish had shown. Aven smiled to himself at the thought. He had said it before: in this world, Pokémon were the most important productive force.
It didn't take long for the mature Oran Berries in the orchard to be completely harvested. Now they only had to wait for the second wave to ripen.
After finishing up with his own orchard, Aven led the Oddish to help out the other berry farmers in the village. Seeing how helpful the Oddish were in harvesting the berries, the villagers were all pleasantly surprised.
"Well then, I should start getting busy too."
In the farm's underground cellar, Aven stretched as he looked at the mountain of Oran Berries. He was planning to turn all of them into healing potions.
With a tenfold profit margin, he could almost picture the cellar being filled with gold coins.
Of course, filling the entire cellar with coins was a bit of an exaggeration—but still, by the end of the winter, if all of Fruitvale Village's harvest could be turned into potions, they'd easily earn several thousand gold coins.
"With that amount, I should be able to cover the costs of raising all the Pokémon in the orchard," Aven murmured, suddenly feeling highly motivated as he began the process of potion-making.
Currently, the Oddish were only being trained in the most basic move—Sleep Powder—and all the potion ingredients were gathered from the Black Forest. If he wanted to take their training to the next level, even several thousand gold coins might not be enough.
…
"This year's winter seems to be coming earlier than usual."
"The villagers of Treeglen Village… their days look like they're going to be tough again."
Tax collector Johnson from Aspiration City stepped into Stonefall Village. Seeing the weary faces of the villagers, he sighed.
In this region, the farms belonged to the villagers, but the land itself was still owned by the local lord. The villagers only had usage rights.
So, every year, the villagers had to pay a certain amount of land rent to the lord.
The benevolent lord had already waived a significant portion of the rent, but for the farmers, it was still hard to manage. After paying the rent, they barely had any gold left over.
But there wasn't much choice. The lordship's finances were also tight lately. A certain amount of rent still had to be collected; otherwise, it would be hard to keep things running.
After leaving Stonefall Village, Johnson rode his Rhyhorn onward to the next village. One after another, the harvest situation in several villages was all subpar.
"Next is Fruitvale Village," Johnson muttered, glancing at his map before continuing forward.
Originally, he thought Fruitvale Village would be the same—but from a distance, he spotted villagers smiling cheerfully. He paused in surprise. Could it be that Fruitvale Village had a good harvest?
"Sir Johnson, you're a bit later this year than usual," Village Chief Mike greeted him warmly at the entrance, having heard the news of his arrival.
Johnson nodded and asked, "How was Fruitvale Village's harvest this year?"
The simple villagers exchanged glances and responded with wide smiles. Their actions were answer enough.
So, the harvest really was good. Johnson began to wonder if he should consider giving them a rent reduction. But then again, the lord had given clear orders, and Johnson felt it was best to stick to official procedures.
After inviting Johnson to his home, Mike brewed him a cup of tea and brought out a box he had already prepared, placing it on the table.
'This really is the most straightforward village chief I've ever met…' Johnson grumbled to himself as he opened the wooden box, finding it filled with gold coins. He counted them—it was exactly the same amount as in previous years.
At that, the words that had been at the tip of his tongue were swallowed back down. For a moment, he found himself in a dilemma. Should he accept the coins or not?
"Sir Johnson, you can count them. Not a single coin is missing," Mike said enthusiastically.
'Alright, I'll just accept it for now and report to the lord. If they want to refund any, I can always make another trip back,' Johnson decided.
Without showing any reaction, he closed the box and nodded with a smile. "Village Chief Mike, of course I trust you."
After collecting the full amount of rent, Johnson started feeling a bit guilty and tried to excuse himself.
But just as he was about to leave, Mike smiled and stopped him. That made Johnson suddenly tense up. 'Ugh, maybe I really should have just followed the lord's instructions…'
"Sir Johnson, I wonder if the lord is accepting healing potions?" Mike asked, rubbing his hands together.
"Healing potions?"
Mike nodded proudly. "Yes, healing potions. They were made by my nephew."
This time, Johnson was stunned. Mike's nephew was a apothecary?
"If they really are healing potions, then of course the lord will accept them." Johnson thought for a moment and nodded. The lord had recently issued an order to stockpile supplies—healing potions being among the most important.
Hearing that, Mike sighed in relief.
Lately, Aven had used the Oran Berry harvest to produce a huge number of healing potions. Although he had already sold some at the apothecary's guild in the city, there was no way they could take in such a large volume—so Aven had suggested trying to establish a connection with the local lord directly.
(End of Chapter)