From now on, he'd have to obey Nathan's orders—and for someone used to living freely like Grog, that was not easy to accept.
"Not bad, not bad. Looks like you do know your place," Nathan said, patting Grog on the shoulder. "But don't worry. I'll keep my word on what I promise."
As long as Grog obediently did as he was told, the atmosphere in Grace City would gradually change. It might even grow into one of the top cities in the country. After all, Nathan still had plenty of valuable resources in his hands—turning a city around wouldn't be difficult for him.
"Alright, since you chose the first option, I'll come find you tomorrow night to help you take control of Grace City's underground forces."
After recalling his Pokémon, Nathan turned and walked out.
Grog watched him leave, wondering whether he should just take the money and run. Honestly, he was worried that once the underground powers were unified, Nathan might hand him over to the authorities anyway.
"Oh, and don't even think about running," Nathan suddenly turned his head and said at the door. "I'm about to participate in the World Tournament. If you try to disappear, I won't mind making a little detour to track you down."
Grog was on the verge of tears. Couldn't this guy leave him even a single escape route?
And he was about to compete in the World Tournament—why would he still bother chasing down someone like him?
…
The next night, Nathan showed up at the underground battle arena as promised. But this time, no one came to watch the fight. The only people left were Grog and his underlings.
"Tsk tsk tsk… Not bad, you actually didn't run. I've got high hopes for you," Nathan said, clicking his tongue.
Grog was speechless. After what you said yesterday, do you think I dared to run?
After a full day of consideration, Nathan had decided to reveal the formula for Dynamax Candy. But he wouldn't let Grog know the actual formula—instead, he'd let his studio handle production, with Grog's people in charge of selling it. This way, the studio would have some protection as well.
While Grog and his crew weren't very strong, they were good at bluffing. And as long as Grog could control all the underground forces in Grace City, everything else would naturally fall into place.
"Grog, how long has this battle arena been running?" Nathan asked leisurely, sitting in a chair and trimming his nails.
"Four months," Grog replied truthfully—he didn't dare lie. This kind of thing was easy to check. If Nathan found out he was lying, he'd be the one to suffer.
"Four months, huh? How much money have you made?"
Just thinking about how many unfortunate Pokémon had died here in that time made Nathan's tone a bit colder.
"About twenty-two million Pokécoins."
Grog clutched his chest as he answered—money to him was like his lifeblood. Now that Nathan was asking, wasn't that just code for "hand it over"?
"You only made twenty-two million Pokécoins?"
This time, Nathan was genuinely shocked.
He had seen the crowd yesterday—if not ten thousand, then at least three thousand people had shown up. And they'd made so little money?
Even with gambling involved, they only earned twenty-two million in four months? Honestly, this business wasn't just illegal—it wasn't even profitable.
"I can't help it! Trainers bring their Pokémon to these fights expecting payment, and not a small amount either," Grog said helplessly.
"If it were the Black Sky Gang, they'd probably earn more. Their battle Pokémon are obtained through shady means."
As the second-largest force—and one that aspired to be number one—Grog knew a lot about the Black Sky Gang. His own fighters were mostly money-hungry trainers. But the Black Sky Gang used threats, or simply captured wild Pokémon.
Without that expense, their profits were naturally higher.
"In that case, shut this arena down. Come work on something else with me instead," Nathan said with a smile.
Only twenty-two million in four months? That was far too little.
Nathan now had the Dynamax Candy formula. Making money? Forget twenty-two million—even two hundred million would be easy. Plus, he was about to compete internationally. If he promoted it a little during the tournament, business would explode.
At that point, how much money he made would just depend on how much he wanted to make.
And Grace City was a coastal city. If he established his own port, exporting would be convenient too.
All of this had come to Nathan during his reflections the night before.
"What kind of business?" Grog asked. After Nathan left yesterday, he'd looked him up and learned that Nathan was in the Pokéblock business—but that venture already had partners. So, this had to be something else.
"Dynamax Candy."
Nathan didn't beat around the bush.
Dynamax Candy?
Grog was confused at first, but as soon as he realized what that meant, his breathing grew rapid.
He wasn't much of a trainer, but he did know about Dynamax.
If a Pokémon could Dynamax, their strength would increase significantly. And any item that could enable Dynamax was extremely expensive.
If this "Dynamax Candy" did what the name suggested and enabled Dynamax…
Grog didn't even dare to imagine how much money he could make working with Nathan.
"Boss—starting today, you're my boss!"
Grog shouted excitedly.
This was like abandoning a rickety footbridge only to be given a highway paved in gold!
The underground arena made money, sure, but it was illegal. And not that profitable, either.
Compared to Dynamax Candy? That was pocket change.
"Good. In that case, get ready. Find a factory and buy it. I'll send people to manufacture, and you'll handle transportation and sales," Nathan ordered. He was about to head abroad, and if he could set this up before leaving, he might even pick up a few orders while he was there.
"System, oh system… You charge me a fortune, but at least you help me make money," Nathan grumbled internally.
Buying the Dynamax Candy formula had cost a lot. But now that he was heading to the Valar Islands, wouldn't this be the perfect time to make a fortune?
"No problem! I could even convert this place into a factory right away!" Grog said, full of enthusiasm. The money was practically being handed to him—of course he was going to take it.
"But before that, you all need to make some changes," Nathan said with a mischievous smile.
A bunch of street punks going around stopping fights—just imagining it was hilarious.
…
Nathan had Grog find a quiet room. The two of them were inside for half an hour.
When they came out, Grog looked completely dazed.
His underlings didn't know what to make of the expression on their boss's face.
"Boss, what's going on? What did Trainer Nathan say?" one of them asked.
Grog wouldn't have guessed this even in a million years, but Nathan had asked him to do something completely unexpected.
A good deed every day!
When he heard that, Grog was utterly dumbfounded.
This big shot—who had gone to such lengths, even bringing out powerful Pokémon to intimidate them—had done all of that just to… get them to do good deeds?
And not just that.
Nathan also wanted them to stop fights in Grace City.
Wasn't that the police's job?
Why was it being dumped on them now?
"Starting today, all of you must do at least one good deed every day," Grog said blankly.
The others were confused. Had their boss been brainwashed?
What the heck was "do one good deed a day"?
"Boss, are you sure you didn't misspeak?"
"Yeah, even if we're shutting down the battle arena, doing good deeds doesn't really suit our image…"
Everyone was talking at once.
Grog had had enough. He shouted, "Shut up!"
"Do I not mean what I say anymore? From now on, everyone must do at least one good deed a day!"
Maybe it was because he was angry, but his voice was especially loud.
Seeing their boss like this, no one dared talk back.
"Not just that. From now on, whenever you see a fight, you must step in and stop it. Of course, sparring between trainers doesn't count."
The underlings were completely baffled.
Had they gone from a small gang to… volunteers?
Wasn't this whole operation supposed to help them rise to the top with Nathan's help and rule Grace City?
What was this nonsense?
"And that's not all. From now on, when you've got free time, go out around Grace City and build good relationships with the local wild Pokémon."
Great. Now they weren't just volunteers—they had to become nurturers too.
Grog kept talking, one instruction after another, until he'd relayed everything Nathan had told him.
(End of Chapter)
(TN: I don't really know what to put here 'nurturer' since there is not breeder profession in this novel.)