"Welcome~ hah~"
A chubby-looking youth looked at the two guests in front of him with listlessness in his eyes.
He was neither surprised nor happy about the arrival of Rope and the others, and certainly not unhappy.
It was as if it didn't matter whether Rope and the others came or not. In reality...I'm afraid that's true.
"Two people? Then I won't charge you guys today."
Before Rope and the others could open their mouths to thank them. The chubby youth was the first to speak, "However, if you don't charge me, remember to listen to my arrangements and don't wander around. You are guests of the home just give me the basic respect for the host family."
When these words came out, Rope of course understood, guessing that the one in front of her was of the same type as the Taku from before, both preferring not to earn money, but also wanting to give themselves less trouble is all.
Rope looked at this youth in front of him and nodded, "Okay, we will try to avoid causing you some trouble."
The youth nodded, then the two said, "Follow me."
Rope and Whitley followed the youth over as well. Rope of course was able to not have to stay at the inn. But it always felt silly to set up a tent in the village...
The house wasn't very big, and after walking for a while, the youth stopped and opened the door to a room, then said, "You two can stay in one room, there are two beds inside."
"No problem."
Although it was said that normally everyone's tents were separate, to the trainers these were not big problems. Knowing that those free dormitories for trainers at the Treasure Dream Center were even multi-roomed mixed gender dormitories, everyone was a trainer so they wouldn't care about those minutiae.
As for anything else... if that sort of thing would even happen in the Pokémon Center, then League's laws would be a sham.
"Rope, is there a problem with this guy?"
Whitley asked Rope cautiously after the fat youth left.
Rope tilted his head in confusion, "There shouldn't be any problem, why do you ask?"
Whitley frowned and thought for a while, then said, "It should be because you have been in a tight state since you came to this village. That's why I also always feel that there are problems here and there in this village."
Rope was also dumbfounded when he heard this reason. It hadn't really occurred to her that Whitley would be bothered by this.
Rope shook his head and touched Whitley's head, "Calm down, if I'm always in a tense state, then you should give me a reminder to stay calm and help me pay attention to the problems here. Lest the overreaction cause some unnecessary damage."
Whitley rolled his eyes at Rope's words. But didn't deny Rope's words either. She herself knew that her job was supposed to be to provide Rope with multiple perspectives.
While most of the time Rope was able to handle most things on her own, it wasn't absolute.
Rope wasn't infallible, especially when Rope's brain was far from cool.
Whitley nodded, "Eh, I'll pay more attention."
"Don't worry Whitley, I'll be watching Rope with you!"
Hoopa exclaimed while patting her own chest.
In fact, after the Ghost Tethered Energy was strengthened, this guy had been much more silent. After all, the Ghost Tethered Energy was still giving him a considerable impact.
"Grace! Cheer together!"
Whitley gave herself a meta pep talk as well.
Rope had a smile on his face, and was obviously happy that the two of them were able to laugh about it.
Everyone was out here to work, yes. But it would be better to have fun on a mission than to have Whitley in a constant state of stress.
Rope knew exactly how tiring it was to be in that state.
"Okay, Hoopa, come over here and make the bed with me."
There was bedding here, yes. But it's better to be careful when you're out and about. Of course, it was mainly because Rope's backpack for them was big enough to fit all these things without crowding or having a very exaggerated weight, otherwise Rope wouldn't have brought this kind of stuff.
Hoopa responded and floated over to make the bed with Rope.
Whitley, meanwhile, was pouring water for the two of them and some tidying up.
We've been together for such a long time now, so of course these things were arranged long ago and there was a tacit understanding.
Just like this, before long, this room had already been tidied up. Whitley of course also checked all the corners in this room. After all, this world's photography and camera technology was also very developed. Things like pinhole cameras were not uncommon.
No one would want to be a joy in other people's eyes, or even something more obscene. Rope was certainly no exception, and was even more disgusted by the occurrence of such things. Even if he and Whitley wouldn't do anything about it.
But Whitley really didn't have much else to go on either. After Hoopa had re-scanned the place, it was also determined that there wasn't much else.
It did seem like the little hotel was relatively clean and there wasn't much else.
I don't know if it was uninteresting or if they were afraid of being found out so they didn't do it.
The group had been walking all day, and with some food and wine plus the exhaustion of the day, so Whitley was soon in his dreams.
Rope and Hoopa certainly weren't tired, but it was time to rest.
Even Hoopa, after living with humans for so many years, usually went to bed when it was time.
It wasn't like some gods who slept for dozens or even hundreds of years at a time.
Rope is even doing his best to maintain his normal routine as a human, rather than letting his state of life evolve towards that of an eldritch species or non-human.
Come to think of it, Cynthia is also in such a very state right now, and because of Rope's increased strength, the life force she's gained is going even further.
It was probably also in a state of struggling with excess energy. A few days ago during a meeting, Lance, who was already so busy that her hair was falling out, was still complaining that Cynthia was really getting younger and younger, and Cynthia couldn't say anything else except to smile.
Cynthia couldn't say anything other than smile. After all, it involved some of Rope's secrets.
Of course, besides not being very tired. Rope was also waiting.
"Brother Al, it's so late, where are you going?"
The little girl who came down to look for a snack looked at Al who was fully dressed in front of her and was about to go out and asked in a puzzled voice.
Al looked at this little girl who had taken in himself and smiled gently, "Nothing, just going out for a stroll. And it's been long enough living in your house. The idol side also needs someone to take care of it. It's time for me to go back."
"Huh? But isn't it still not fixed?"
There was a clear loss in the little girl's tone.
"It's almost fixed. It's ready to be lived in Originally, I thought I'd come back tomorrow and tell you about it, but I'll tell you in advance if I come across it."
The smile on Al's face remained unchanged, still gentle.
And although the young girl was regretful, she still knew she couldn't stop Al.
"Then, be careful on your way, Brother Al."
The young girl could only be instructing one more time.
"En, got it. Don't worry."
After saying that, Al directly got up, pushed open the door and walked out.
Only the young girl was left alone in the living room, confused and at a loss.
But of course Al didn't immediately return to his house. Instead, he walked in the direction of the hotel.
Since they were going to Taku's house for dinner, then at the end of the day, they must have gone to Nagamasa's house to rest.
The next stop would naturally be at the village chief's store to buy some souvenirs.
The people in this village were quite honest, but only slightly so.
This village wasn't some legendary pure land either. People didn't have a lot of need for money, nor did they care too much about it. But if they could love to earn two more without tiring themselves out, they wouldn't refuse.
There wouldn't really be anyone who would turn down money delivered to their door.
With that in mind, Al had already made his way to the door of the inn. But he had no intention of knocking on the door. Because his relationship with Nagamasa wasn't really good.
As for why...one could only say that there are times when red faces are a curse.
Though it's all a bunch of men who throw such black pots at women.
But in a sense, Al did have it coming for nothing.
How could he fall in love with an ordinary human woman?
Even the female gods and powerhouses in your void he didn't care about.
Shaking his head, his figure flickered and just disappeared in place.
But just as his figure coalesced again.
A long sword with purple-black flames condensed into it was already at his throat.
"It's rude to come here without telling me."
Rope held the longsword in his hand with no unnecessary expression on his face.
Hoopa, on the other hand, looked at the man in front of him with a momentary daze. Of course, he didn't stop moving his hands, Whitley was already firmly covered in a superpower shield.
Although for Rope, there was a high probability that there would not be any real battle this time, but it was better to avoid it as much as possible. Whitley was really tired, after all.
"So is there anything to talk about Mr. Arceus?"
Rope's tone wasn't kind, but there was no unnecessary malice either.
Instead, a smile appeared on Al's face, "It looks like another genius of considerable weight has emerged among the company's saviors."
Rope's face remained unchanged, though he was certain that the one in front of him, was the outsider.
"I just don't know if you, the savior, will be offering your services to the company. Speaking of which, I'm also really puzzled by the company's lenient treatment of you saviors. After giving you the opportunity to become stronger, it actually gave you plenty of autonomy, and it doesn't even matter if you don't go to the Void."
Al's face showed an undisguised look of longing.
But Rope didn't feel anything and just tilted his head before continuing, "That's fine, I can help introduce you to the company if you want to join."
"Ha, that's not necessary, if I could join the company compared to a lot of people having a meltdown."
Rope felt that even though he was talking lightly about having a tantrum, in reality, I'm afraid it's definitely not as simple as having a tantrum.
Because Rope up to now, looking at this person, the feeling remained that this was an ordinary person...
Not to mention that kind of unnecessary assumption. It could only mean that this person was definitely far stronger than Rope.
Rope, although he still didn't know what level his power actually was in the Void. But thought if Rope's current strength wasn't very good, it was expected that this person wouldn't have used genius to describe Rope.
Although Rope himself did not know how much of his genius came from the world. But in the end, this kind of enhancement even if it's just for a moment that's still very powerful.
"So what exactly is your identity?"
Rope asked, seemingly flatly.
Al, on the other hand, gave a memorialized expression. After a moment, he just scratched his head and said, "It's nothing really, I'm just a simple wanderer returning home."
"This is your old home?"
Rope was still viciously shocked.
This guy in front of her was actually Arceus? He thought that this guy had stolen the concept of Arceus, and that was why he had to seal up the original alpaca. And put Azure Flute in his own hands.
Thinking of Azure Flute, Rope suddenly began to look this guy up and down.
Unsurprisingly, he found the Azure Flute around his waist.
Al watched as his eyes focused on the Azure Flute, so he smiled and said, "This is actually just my flute from back in the day. It's only been mythologized since then."
Rope looked at the man in front of him and said, "You mean that the original canon of Arceus was actually you. The god with a thousand arms and hands."
Al nodded.
"All of the current Arceus's are just my doppelgangers. Or rather my conceptual body."
Al answered such questions answered simply because there really wasn't any other story. Everything was merely too high up in the hierarchy causing Rope to remain out of reach. It wasn't that he hadn't speculated on the possibility, but until it was answered, everything was just speculation.
Rope wasn't one of those fictional protagonists who learned information, came to his own conclusions and then became convinced. He has a terrible confidence in his own judgment.
Rope didn't dare, he was always on guard even against his own guesses. Not to mention the words of others.
Even now, Rope wouldn't take Al's word at face value.
"Give me the Azure Flute. Since you know I'm tasked with cleaning up your mess."
Rope held out his hand, dryly.
"You don't believe me."
"You're full of shit."
Rope disliked dryly.
"Why should I trust you, even if you can beat me, I'm going to find out what's wrong at my own pace. Not do what you tell me to do." Rope looked at Al with a look of disgust, "If you're really a responsible guy, don't drag the world down so much, honestly go and fight the man behind the curtain, either he finishes you off or you get him killed. It'll be better for all of us."
The corners of Al's mouth twitched apparently a little at Rope's dryness.
It had been a long time since anyone had dared to talk to him like that. Especially when there was basically speculation about his strength.