"Fresh fish?"
The words lit up the weary faces of those who had survived for months on nothing but dry rations.
Timber for homes, clean water, fresh fish, and a valley to shield them from the storm…
For a group that had wandered the blizzard too long, this was a miracle.
Excitement spread among the survivors. They looked to Lucien, their prince, waiting for his decision.
Lucien held their gaze for a moment before asking calmly, "Was there any danger nearby?"
Ryan blinked, scratching his head sheepishly. "I… was too busy staring at the fish in the river. But there didn't seem to be any dangerous monsters around."
After all, he had returned alive.
Lucien: "…"
His knight could be a little simple-minded.
Still, Lucien fell into thought.
From the memories he had inherited, he knew they had been lost in this storm for far too long. Before his transmigration, the original prince had already sent scouts to seek a town or village. None had returned, or they had returned empty-handed.
The Pokémon world was vast and sparsely settled. In this primitive age, human towns were few and far between, often hidden, and hard to find.
Lucien's eyes swept over the people gathered before him.
The elderly. Young children. The sick. The wounded.
They could not march endlessly through the snow. And as a modern man in this world, he could not abandon them.
There was only one choice.
He met their hopeful gazes and gave a firm nod. "Then we head for the valley."
"Yes, Your Highness Lucien!" Ryan straightened with excitement, his voice loud enough to stir the camp.
After a brief rest, the survivors gathered what little supplies they had and set out, following Ryan's lead toward the valley.
Knights ringed the group with drawn weapons, guarding Lucien and the civilians as they advanced through the snow.
Lucien did not retreat into the carriage. Instead, he walked among his people, scanning the white expanse around them.
"Your Highness Lucien, the snow is still falling. Please, return to the carriage," a voice urged.
Lucien turned. A middle-aged man in his thirties or forties approached, his butler, Elif.
From the original memories, Lucien knew him well. Elif had raised him since childhood, attending to his daily needs, always at his side. Naturally, he had joined the journey to the fief.
Lucien shook his head. "It's all right, Elif. This is no time to hide behind the comforts of the royal city."
The old butler froze, taken aback by the resolve in his young master's tone.
He remembered the carefree boy who once lived in Eindook's royal palace, a child who had a doting father and two older brothers, free to play without a care in the world.
And now…
Yes. These days of hardship had forced His Highness to grow.
Elif sighed quietly, turned back, and draped a thick woolen cloak over his prince's shoulders.
Lucien was about to speak when a cry split the air, sharp and urgent.
"Be careful! A group of monsters ahead!"
The caravan erupted into panic.
Lucien froze for a moment before turning his head. From the swirling snow emerged massive beasts, their hulking forms blanketed in thick brown fur, tusks curling from their snouts like ivory blades.
'Mamoswine…!'
The sight made Ryan and the other knights instantly draw their iron swords. They moved to form a wall in front of the civilians, shielding them with trembling resolve.
The Mamoswine herd reacted at once. Sensitive to the flash of steel, they turned their enormous heads, the leader fixing a glare on the armed humans.
As if the air itself thickened, a crushing pressure radiated outward, wild, primal, overwhelming.
The knights' hands whitened on their hilts.
Gulp.
Ryan swallowed hard. He had never faced monsters like these before, but the dread pouring from them rivaled even the giant Scolipede that lurked beyond the royal city.
If all of them charged at once…
Ryan didn't dare finish the thought.
'What do we do? What do we do?'
If only Sir Geralt were here…
Geralt, the strongest knight of the Templar Order. The man who had felled countless beasts. But not long ago, to protect Prince Lucien, Geralt had single-handedly lured away a swarm of monsters attacking the caravan. He had never returned.
"Ryan, lower your weapon!"
Lucien's sudden command snapped him out of his spiral.
He blinked. "What?"
"Hurry!" Lucien barked. "Everyone, put down your weapons!"
The knights exchanged startled glances, but obedience won over hesitation. Slowly, they lowered their swords into the snow.
Lucien vaulted down from the carriage, standing tall before the herd. His breath clouded in the frozen air as he called out clearly:
"Mamoswine! We mean no harm. We are only passing through, soon, we will be gone!"
For a tense heartbeat, the air seemed ready to explode.
Then the pressure eased.
The Mamoswine leader snorted, its eyes shifting from the weapons to the unarmed humans. After a long pause, it turned away. The herd followed, calves trotting at their mothers' sides, their massive forms soon swallowed by the white curtain of the blizzard.
"Phew."
Lucien exhaled, his chest easing for the first time. If the herd had chosen to fight, the caravan would have been trampled without mercy.
"Keep moving!" Lucien called, turning to the shaken survivors.
Ryan gawked at him, eyes wide. "Y-Your Highness Lucien! How did you do that?!"
Lucien blinked. "Do what?"
"The monsters, they just left!" Ryan stammered.
Lucien glanced back at the fading shapes in the snow. "They weren't hostile to us. They only reacted to the weapons. And… I don't think monsters/magical beasts are stupid. On the contrary, they're very intelligent. As long as we communicate properly, they can understand our intentions."
The crowd murmured in astonishment.
'Magical beasts… understanding human words? Such a notion seemed impossible to them.'
But Lucien offered no further explanation.
At some point, the snowfall had lightened, and even the wind had calmed.
He straightened, raising his voice. "Forward. To the valley."
"Yes!"
This time, no one hesitated.
Other than the Mamoswine herd, the caravan encountered no further danger. It was winter, and most Pokémon other than Ice-types stayed hidden. That small blessing carried them safely to Ryan's discovery.
The valley unfolded before their eyes, a hidden plain cradled between towering, snow-capped peaks. The mountains walled it in on all sides, sharp ridges stabbing into the clouds.
At its heart ran a broad river, glittering beneath the pale sun, and beyond it stretched a dense forest dusted with frost.
Even now, in the dead of winter, the land looked promising. When spring came, Lucien could already imagine how fertile this valley would become.