Naruto opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to bow and say something.
"Dragoo" (Your Moomoo Milk)
But Dragonite handed over the black basket it was carrying to Naruto right then, both its action and voice signaling he could take the two bottles of Moomoo Milk inside.
Naruto froze for a beat, then hurriedly fished out the 1,150 Poké League coins in change he'd prepared and put them in the basket before taking out the two bottles of Moomoo Milk.
Even through the glass, the milk in his hands still seemed to retain a trace of warmth—it must have left Miltank's body not long ago.
The glass bottles were wrapped with high-quality labels, clearly stamped with a production time almost precise to the second.
The label looked like a printed hand-drawn illustration—easy on the eyes yet striking, full of character.
Five chibi Miltank, and next to the "Lucas Farm" name, a fierce-looking Luxray head—these details gave Naruto a flash of insight as his memory snapped fully back.
No wonder that young man looked so familiar—he was the Paldea Pokémon League's new Champion-level Trainer!
That was exactly the figure Naruto admired most. Now that he had the chance to buy Moomoo Milk from him, he instantly stopped questioning whether it was the real deal.
Never mind using Pokémon like Dragonite and Corviknight for such a luxurious delivery—just the pull of a Champion-level trainer was enough to convince him!
Then Naruto made another discovery: at the label's edge, the illustrator credits actually listed Paldea's Elite Four member Hassel and the super-famous artist Brassius!
So many top names, all convening… just to sell Moomoo Milk via small-batch preorders?
And why was a Champion-level trainer handing out flyers in the streets in the first place…
Though they'd taken the money, neither Dragonite nor Corviknight left. Seeing Naruto spacing out with two bottles in hand, Dragonite waved its pudgy claw in front of him, bringing him back to reality.
"Dragoo dargooo~"
"Gaa-haa~!"
Pointing at the bills in his hand, Dragonite looked troubled and pleading.
"Huh?"
Naruto blinked, totally clueless what Dragonite meant. He wasn't good at reading the mood at work either—that's why he was still only a team lead.
As for underpaying—Naruto never even considered that.
He'd long prepared the exact amount and counted it several times.
Thankfully, Dragonite had a bit of a performer's gift. After about a minute, Naruto finally understood what it wanted.
Dragonite wanted whole bills, not loose change.
Still baffled, good-natured Naruto handed over two 1,000-coins notes to Dragonite to see what it planned.
Dragonite then pulled a wad of change from a small pouch tied to Corviknight's leg and proceeded to teach Corviknight how to make change right in front of Naruto.
Naruto was dumbstruck. He thought he was dreaming.
These days… even Pokémon can make change—and teach other Pokémon how to make change?
Naruto dazedly accepted the coins Corviknight had painstakingly counted out under Dragonite's tutelage, watched them fly off in a daze, and stood at the doorway for a long moment before slowly recovering. Looking down at the two bottles of Moomoo Milk he was carrying, he couldn't help but smile.
…
After confirming that Corviknight No. 3 had successfully made change, Dragonite sent it back to the farm for breakfast, then hurried to the other Corviknight stations.
Every Corviknight had its flaws. Corviknight No. 3 had first-rate navigation and smarts, but making change tripped it up—Dragonite was reinforcing that memory.
The others didn't have issues as glaring as No. 3, but Dragonite still needed to check on them.
Fortunately, nothing else went wrong. Watching the last Corviknight fly toward the farm, Dragonite wiped imaginary sweat from its brow and let out a long sigh.
"Dragoo~"
Life is hard, Dragonite sighed.
Today's work had landed smoothly. Time to fly back to the farm, hug Lucas to recharge its Trainer-energy, then hug the other Pokémon to recharge partner-energy!
Dragonite climbed skyward, thinking it wouldn't disturb those below from this height.
The slipstream that curled around Dragonite like a royal retinue howled like a charging army.
The next instant—
With a thunderclap over Los Platos, Dragonite vanished into the sky, leaving behind bewildered townsfolk awakened by the sound.
Dragonite had underestimated the impact it could make nowadays.
By the time Dragonite returned to the farm, Lucas and the Corviknight squad had been waiting a while.
When Lucas asked, "Where'd you go? Why so late?" Dragonite scratched its head with a claw, wearing an awkward but guileless grin, trying to gloss it over with cuteness.
"Dragoo" (Accidentally flew too far)
Today's milk subscription run wrapped up perfectly. The total delivery fees for nine trips came to 450 League coins—not much profit for Lucas. Just the appetites of nine Corviknight exceeded that.
But they ate farm produce anyway, so that was nearly zero cost.
Twenty-seven bottles of Moomoo Milk and five bottles of Mareep milk brought in exactly 17,100 League coins—almost pure profit. If this kept up smoothly, before long it'd cover Lucas's outlays for the milker, glass bottles, and so on—everything after that would be pure profit.
Judging from how easily they made nearly 20,000 coins in a day with almost no advertising and only nine subscribers, no wonder trainers in this world thrive at side businesses.
Like the Cerulean City sisters' underwater show in Kanto—the big theater is said to be packed every performance.
Even with low ticket prices, one show a day would rake it in, not to mention their water ballet being notoriously hard to get tickets for.
Thanks to the sisters' efforts, the rebuilt Cerulean Gym in Sun and Moon turned out so grand—too bad for Kanto's newbie trainers who have to face Mega Steelix and Mega Gyarados right after leaving home…
After reminding Oranguru to keep its phone handy, Lucas mounted Mudsdale and continued honing their teamwork over the pitted ground.
Though it's called a Pokémon Marathon, it's not just the Pokémon who participate—the trainer must ride on their partner's back and complete the full 500 km endurance trial together.
For domesticated and farm-kept Pokémon in Los Platos, running that far in one go isn't easy.
Let alone carrying a person.
They say the top-tier Arcanine can run ten thousand kilometers in a day—that's over 400 km per hour.
But in a small-town event like this you rarely see Arcanine; that species more often appears as Officer Jenny's partner.
As Lucas recalled, Los Platos's Officer Jenny still had a Growlithe—perhaps it hadn't evolved yet, and who knew whether Jenny would compete.
Mudsdale's speed and burst are far inferior to other mounts, but Lucas valued its toughness and stamina.
After all, you don't win a marathon by just charging ahead.
Keep your pace—the one still there at the end is the real winner.
…
Time slipped by as Lucas trained with Mudsdale. By dusk, with his bones feeling shaken loose, he returned home and received good news from Oranguru.
"Young Master, all nine milk subscribers called today to order tomorrow's share. One named Naruto said his wife told him to book a full month."
"I took the liberty of waiving the delivery fee for them—what do you think?"
Oranguru's telepathy echoed in Lucas's mind.
Fresh from the shower, Lucas had a towel over his shoulders and damp hair, heading off to find the Dragonite-brand hot blow-dryer.
Hearing this, Lucas smiled. "Of course. The first customer to book a full month deserves a perk."
Oranguru added, "Several customers also referred new ones. Tomorrow we'll probably need the Corviknight to start handling multi-stop routes."
"No problem—the training's already done." Lucas nodded, clearly confident with Dragonite overseeing things. Curious, he asked, "By the way, how did you talk to them? Long-range telepathy shouldn't work, right?"
"Master, I used a text-to-speech app."
Oranguru smiled slightly, waved its fan, summoned its tablet, and played a few typed lines for Lucas.
Listening to the flat mechanical voice in his ear, Lucas's mouth twitched.
Good grief—Oranguru really embodied 'technology changes life.'
The next day, the full Corviknight delivery squad rose in tight formation again, their retreating silhouettes filling Lucas with joy.
Looks like this is the first step to success.
As the milk business proceeded smoothly, all that was left was to finish training with Mudsdale. After winning the Pokémon Marathon for the best publicity window, he could focus on developing dairy products.
Ice cream, butter, cheese… these should all be popular. While expanding the market with Moomoo Milk and Skiddo milk, he'd refine recipes and processes, then capitalize on the buzz to sell.