Ash's face immediately broke into a smile: "Leader Cyllene is reasonable after all!"
"But the report still needs to be written."
Ash's smile froze on his face.
"Huh?"
Pikachu: "Pika..."
Pikachu showed a grateful expression, luckily it was just a Pikachu, it didn't need to write reports, nor could it read ~
Cynthia stood beside him, the corners of her mouth visibly lifted.
"Let's go, time to write the report, hero."
Ash: "..."
He suddenly felt that the hero title wasn't so appealing anymore.
After saying goodbye to Cyllene, the two turned and left, the office door closed again, and the footsteps outside gradually faded away.
Cyllene glanced at the public announcement at the top of her desk, her fingers paused on the edge of the paper.
She could understand why Kamado chose to release the news at this time.
The contributions made by Ash and Cynthia needed proper recognition, and Jubilife Village needed some clear examples so more people could truly accept trainers and Pokemon living together.
But Kamado, as Leader of Team Galactic, couldn't only consider rewarding the two of them.
As the fame spread, in the future, whether it's the Diamond Clan or the Pearl Clan, whenever encountering similar issues with the King, Ash and Cynthia would be the first ones to come to mind.
Their connection with Hisui would deepen as well.
After the office door closed slowly, a hint of remorse appeared on Cyllene's usually indifferent and calm face.
She sighed softly and muttered to herself: "Oh, Captain Kamado... why are you doing this... are you really that apprehensive about them?"
After Ash and Cynthia left Team Galactic Headquarters, they returned to their dwelling, enduring overly enthusiastic greetings in Jubilife Village.
Once the door finally closed, Ash sat in a chair silently for a while, clearly still tangled up in the words said by Cyllene earlier.
Cynthia placed her belongings to the side, seeing him puzzled after thinking for a long time, her mouth slightly lifted.
"Still thinking about earlier?"
"Yeah."
Ash rubbed his chin.
"I understood all the reasons Leader Cyllene gave, but I still felt something was off, I just can't pinpoint why."
"Being able to sense something is progress."
Cynthia sat across from him, teasing in her tone.
Ash: "..."
Why did that sound nothing like a compliment?
Pikachu, crouching on the desk, nodded in agreement.
Ash glared at him: "Why are you nodding as if you understood?"
Pikachu: "..."
Cynthia couldn't help but laugh, then she brought the topic back.
"It's simple. First, Cyllene's explanation was full of holes, she probably intentionally let us see them, suggesting it's not her intention."
"Besides, such extensive announcements involving multiple regions and two clans aren't decisions the investigation team can make by themselves, the real decider is Kamado."
Ash nodded, this wasn't difficult to understand.
"But what's wrong with making our deeds public?"
"The problem isn't in publicizing, but in publicizing too much all at once."
Cynthia lightly tapped the desk.
"Until yesterday, most people in Jubilife Village only knew we've helped many villagers. As for the King matter, only those in Team Galactic and the Diamond and Pearl Clans truly knew the full process."
"Then we went away for a few days, and returned with all the matters of the King's and Queen's of three regions, Ursaluna, and many tasks completed beforehand disclosed all at once."
"We got elevated from ordinary Five-Star Investigators to so-called Hisui heroes; the leap was too large."
Ash frowned in thought.
"Is too much fame bad?"
"Fame itself isn't necessarily bad, but when it comes quickly, people's expectations of you also speed up."
Cynthia explained to him patiently.
"Starting today, whenever there's another issue with a King rampaging somewhere in Hisui, many people's first reaction will be, hadn't Ash and Cynthia solved it in three regions before, they should be able to handle it this time too."
"If we continue succeeding next, calming the fourth and fifth Kings as well, then today's praise will naturally transition into stable prestige."
"But what if we suddenly fail, and fail miserably?"
Ash paused for a moment.
Cynthia's mouth curled into a mocking smile.
"Those who see us as heroes today will be observing right away."
"At that time, Team Galactic wouldn't need to do anything, just normally reevaluating our abilities and permissions would be enough."
"Because Kamado could say from the start that he only disclosed everything we've truly accomplished, never forcing anyone to view us as heroes."
Ash stared at Cynthia, his mind clearly racing.
Pikachu tilted his head for a while, eventually giving up on understanding these complicated human relationships, and continued eating.
A few minutes later, Ash finally displayed an expression of barely connecting everything.
"So, Uncle Kamado revealed all our deeds while also having everyone watch us?"
"Pretty much."
Cynthia nodded gently.
"It's not entirely accurate to call it just glorification; it's more like giving us the deserved reputation while conveniently keeping an escape route for himself."
"We've always been helping Hisui, Kamado is happy about that and continues to provide us with permissions and support. But if things change someday, he equally hopes to control the situation as early as possible."
Ash's mouth twitched.
"Do leaders have to think about so much?"
"At least Kamado does."
Cynthia spread her hands in resignation.
"It's not fair to directly call him bad; it's just that sitting in that position, he often habitually takes all possibilities into account, sometimes being overly cautious."
Ash leaned back against the chair, raised his head, and sighed deeply.
"I still find interacting with Pokemon simpler."
"Pika Pika!"
Pikachu immediately expressed strong agreement.
Cynthia watched these two identical reactions and couldn't help but laugh.
Suddenly remembering something, Ash said: "No wonder Team Galactic becomes like that in the future... Cyrus too, keeps thinking about creating a new world, involving Dialga and Palkia."
"I wonder how Cyrus and Dawn are doing in the modern world...."
Cynthia sighed, feeling the future deviation of Team Galactic's direction was certainly related to Kamado's paranoia.
Cyrus is also eccentric, seemingly kind but actually thinking about world destruction and creation of a new one.
"Dawn and the others must be figuring something out."
Ash soon straightened up.
"So we need to quickly finish what we have to do here and then find a way back."
Cynthia glanced at him and nodded lightly.
"Yeah."
The two didn't dwell further on the topic; after resting briefly and organizing items to sell and purchase, they left their residence once more, heading to the Ginkgo Guild in Jubilife Village.
This time, besides replenishing camping consumables and daily essentials, they prepared to sell some items dug out by Ursaluna previously that were temporarily unused and buy some high-ground attribute energy items.
Ursaluna's special treasure-hunting ability required a lot of energy; it'll never hurt to prepare more if they want his help again later.
Besides, Cynthia's main reason for visiting the Ginkgo Guild was intelligence gathering.
People of the Ginkgo Guild travel between various regions of Hisui frequently; many things unknown to Team Galactic and ordinary villagers might have been heard by merchants during transactions.
Since the Plates aren't found exclusively near Kings, searching one region at a time for clues through Kings isn't the only option.