"I'll start by drawing the Eastern Forest—that's where I've spent most of my time,"
Matthew said as he began to mark areas on the map, highlighting the locations of powerful magical beast tribes. That was exactly the kind of information Aven was looking for.
"In the Forest near the Abyssal Caverns, there are three advanced-tier magical beast tribes,"
Matthew murmured, marking them down: the Torterra tribe, Mightyena tribe, and Skuntank tribe.
Aven already knew about this. The Torterra tribe, a Grass-type group, was now part of his territory.
As for the Mightyena and Skuntank tribes—some of the magical beasts that appeared during the Abyssal Beast Tide came from those two tribes.
Back then, Aspiration City had spent great resources thoroughly scouting the Abyssal Caverns to prepare for that beast tide, and the results matched what Matthew was describing now.
"That Torterra in the Safari Zone is one of them?"
Matthew asked in surprise. When Aven nodded, he couldn't help but click his tongue in admiration.
That Torterra tribe was the most powerful Grass-type faction in the Forest near Abyssal Caverns. He hadn't expected Aven to bring one back and settle it in his territory.
Aven then explained the events of the beast tide. When Matthew heard that Aven had personally gone to the battlefield to heal knights, he looked at him with even more respect.
Although Matthew had left the Ironblood Knight Order, he still carried the blood of a knight. To be able to serve a lord who had fought in battle was something every knight longed for.
"I wonder if I'll get a chance to fight alongside Lord Aven one day…"
Matthew thought to himself.
He continued drawing the map. The Eastern Forest was vast, and Matthew identified as many as thirteen confirmed advanced-tier magical beast tribes within it.
At the center of the Eastern Forest was a Staraptor tribe, whose leader, Matthew believed, might have reached King-level strength. His own Crobat had nearly been killed by that very leader.
"Staraptor tribe…"
Aven's eyes narrowed. Staraptor weren't exactly rare in Aspiration City.
However, much like the Rhyhorn line, nearly all of them were controlled by the city's knight orders.
In the wild, Staraptor were almost never seen. Now he knew—it was because they had congregated at the heart of the Eastern Forest.
And that possibly King-level Staraptor? That shocked Aven. King-level magical beasts were equivalent to the Master-tier trainers of the future Pokémon League—the kind who could qualify for the Master Tournament.
Wild Pokémon of that caliber were extremely rare, even in the future world. Only those with powerful racial potential could ever reach such strength.
If a Pokémon reached that level in the wild, it must have encountered some great opportunity. That area likely held rare resources.
"This place is worth special attention."
"I wonder what kind of Flying-type treasures are there…"
Aven glanced at the area on the map where the Staraptor tribe was marked and made a mental note to explore it once he was strong enough.
"Aside from the Staraptor tribe, the place you need to be most cautious of is this valley,"
Matthew continued, pointing to a marked valley.
"It's home to a massive group of Nidoking and Nidoqueen. The strongest Nidoking there is likely close to King-level strength."
But what Matthew didn't notice was that Aven's expression changed the moment those two names were mentioned.
"Matthew, did you say Nidoking and Nidoqueen?"
Aven asked again to confirm.
Matthew nodded, assuming Aven wasn't familiar with them, so he explained in more detail.
Aven closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"So it really is Nidoking and Nidoqueen…"
He had already known that many ancient magical beasts were essentially early versions of today's Pokémon. The names used in the modern world were often passed down from ancient times.
But hearing the name Nidoking out loud still surprised him.
Because Nidoking and Nidoqueen evolved from Nidorino and Nidorina through the power of the Moon Stone.
That's right—the Moon Stone is an evolution stone.
If this valley was home to numerous Nidoking and Nidoqueen, then there must be a Moon Stone vein hidden there!
And where there's a Moon Stone vein, there must be strong lunar energy.
Lunar energy was associated with Fairy-type Pokémon!
"Looks like we've found a real treasure,"
Aven murmured, closing his eyes and trying to calm his excitement.
"Ralts…?"
Ralts, who had been playing on the desk with Petilil, suddenly looked at Aven in confusion.
It had sensed a wave of excitement and joy from Aven just now and didn't understand what had caused it.
"It's nothing. Just something that came to mind."
Aven looked at Ralts and gave it a reassuring look.
Fairy-type energy…
Ralts was a Psychic/Fairy-type Pokémon.
If the valley held Fairy energy-rich Moon Stone deposits, they might greatly benefit Ralts as well.
"Ralts?"
Ralts tilted its head, puzzled.
Just now, it had instinctively activated its telepathy and sensed that Aven might be hiding something.
But the genuine care and warmth it felt from him filled its heart with comfort and left it feeling even more confused.
"Lord Aven, is something wrong?"
Matthew asked as well. He had noticed Aven's stronger reaction here—he hadn't been nearly as interested when they talked about the Staraptor tribe.
"It's nothing. Just a thought."
"By the way, have you ever seen a Vileplume in the Black Forest?"
Aven was thinking—although he had assumed there were no Leaf Stone or Sun Stone deposits near Aspiration City, he wanted to double-check.
Matthew recalled for a moment.
"Vileplume… the one with a huge flower, right? I haven't seen one personally.
But I do know there's a foul-smelling swamp in the Great Wetlands that's home to a large number of Gloom.
Maybe one of them will evolve into a Vileplume someday."
Aven nodded. Gloom loved living in grasslands and swamps, and the Great Wetlands were indeed an ideal environment for them.
And if there was any place near Aspiration City likely to have a Leaf Stone deposit, it was definitely the Great Wetlands. It was practically a paradise for Grass-type Pokémon!
If he ever got the chance, he had to enter the wetlands himself.
Finding a Leaf Stone or Sun Stone vein would be a game-changer for the Gloom tribe—and for his territory.
"Aside from the Staraptor and Nidoking tribes, the most dangerous group in the Eastern Forest is probably the Drapion tribe in the southeastern corner,"
Matthew continued.
"These Drapion have incredibly potent venom.
Their tribe doesn't have a King-level leader, but they're still extremely dangerous—one wrong move could mean death, especially for humans.
That's why this territory, constantly shrouded in poisonous mist, is feared by all magical beast hunters.
Just one breath of that mist and you're poisoned."
Aven immediately looked over. The area covered by the Drapion tribe was massive—the poisonous mist engulfed nearly the entire southeastern corner.
And that just happened to be the road leading to Marina City.
At that moment, Aven suddenly understood why Marina City had attacked Aspiration City from the Black Coast.
If they had tried to march directly through the Black Forest, there was no easy way to avoid the Drapion-infested area.
Of course, if he wanted to attack Marina City in the future, this Drapion territory would also be a major obstacle. He might have to take the same approach—attacking via the Black Coast.
"Although that Drapion territory is dangerous, the Drapion seem to never leave the mist's range, so it's not too worrying,"
Matthew explained.
Aven nodded. After all, Vileplume also had Poison typing—there was little risk of conflict between them and Drapion.
Matthew continued describing other advanced-tier beast tribes, including the Vespiquen tribe in the Black Coast Forest.
But most of them didn't pose a threat to the current territory.
"Alright. I think I now have a pretty good grasp of the Black Forest's layout."
Aven nodded in satisfaction, silently thinking he had made the right call in appointing Matthew as ranger.
"Next, our goal will be to gradually bring the entire Black Forest under our control."
"We'll avoid the Drapion territory and the poison mist in the southeast for now. Our next focus will be eastward."
His finger traced along the map until it stopped at the Nidoking Valley.
"In a few days, I want you to accompany me into the Black Forest.
We're going to take a look at that Nidoking Valley."
(End of Chapter)
Well, another wrong trainer level, I thought Elite 4 was the equivalent for the King level Pokemon.