"Boss? Boss!"
Paimon shouted twice, her small hands waving in the empty air where the stall owner had just been sitting.
"He... he disappeared?!"
Amber, the Outrider of the Knights of Favonius, reacted the fastest. She immediately activated her Vision, scanning the surroundings with a sharp, vigilant gaze.
"There is no trace of Elemental energy flow!"
"It wasn't an Anemo glider taking off, nor was it the blinking ability of an Abyss Mage... He just vanished into thin air!"
Amber broke into a cold sweat. As a scout, she prided herself on her perception, but this mysterious merchant from Liyue had slipped away right under her nose, leaving no trace behind. It was as if he had never existed.
"Whoaa! Is he a ghost?!" Paimon hid behind Lumine, shivering.
Lumine remained calm, though her golden eyes held a flicker of surprise. She looked down at the items in her hands—the high-tech Pokémon Egg Incubator, the Spatial Backpack, and the most important thing: the Contract.
"He is not a ghost," Lumine said, shaking the parchment in her hand. "Ghosts don't sign contracts witnessed by Rex Lapis."
"One... One Million Mora..."
Paimon floated back out, looking at the contract with despair written all over her face. She counted on her fingers, her expression crumbling.
"Lumine! We are in debt!"
"We haven't even found your brother yet, and we already owe a huge sum of money!"
"If we can't pay it back, will we be captured by the Liyue Qixing and sent to dig rocks in the Chasm for the rest of our lives?"
Lumine sighed, putting the incubator carefully into the Spatial Backpack. She patted Paimon's head.
"Didn't the Boss say? This is an investment."
"Besides," Lumine looked at the direction of Mondstadt City, "we just arrived. Maybe the Knights of Favonius have high-paying commissions."
Amber scratched her head, putting away her bow. "Well, although the origin of this merchant is suspicious, the egg seems real. If you need help, the Knights can... well, maybe not financially, but we can help you find commissions!"
Meanwhile, in the "Pokémon Popularization Pioneer Group" Chat.
While Lumine and Paimon were worrying about their mortgage, the group chat was exploding with activity.
Tartaglia: @Manager_Hiroshi, you closed the deal? Who bought it? Who in Mondstadt has that kind of courage?
Hu Tao: Wow! One Million Mora for a "soaked" egg? That buyer is bold! I like them already!
Ningguang: A transaction completed in minutes. It seems my God-brother's sales skills are as impressive as his sourcing.
Hiroshi: [Voice Message] "It was bought by a blonde Traveler and her flying emergency food. They are very interesting people."
Tartaglia: A Traveler? Interesting... I look forward to meeting them in the future.
Keqing: Wait, "Emergency Food"? Is that a new type of Pokémon?
Dragonspine, Albedo's Laboratory.
Pop!
Space distorted, and Hiroshi appeared instantly inside the warm cave, the cold wind of the snowy mountain blocked by Cresselia's psychic barrier.
He dusted off his clothes.
"Mission accomplished. The seed has been planted."
Hiroshi smiled. Giving the protagonist the "Unknown Egg" (which was actually a Togepi egg, though he wouldn't tell them yet) was a classic trope. And binding them with a debt ensured they would have to interact with his shop in Liyue eventually.
"You enjoy binding humans with contracts," Zekrom's voice rumbled in his mind. "You are becoming more like that old dragon Morax every day."
"It's called business, Zekrom."
Hiroshi walked towards the easel where Albedo was waiting.
Albedo had not moved. He was staring at the Pokédex, studying the image of Aron he had drawn earlier, his mind racing with alchemical theories about silicon-based vs. carbon-based life forms.
"Teacher Calx, I'm back."
Albedo turned around, his teal eyes lighting up. "Manager Hiroshi. That was... remarkably fast. Did you go to Liyue and back?"
"I just went to handle a small business deal at the foot of the mountain," Hiroshi waved his hand dismissively. "Now, let's fulfill our contract."
"I have already waived the Five Million Mora fee for the initial Pokémon as your advance payment."
Hiroshi reached into the void—or rather, the System inventory—and pulled out a Heavy Ball.
"Come on out."
Bang!
A flash of white light hit the stone floor of the cave.
"Ron!"
A heavy, metallic thud echoed through the laboratory.
Aron, the Iron Armor Pokémon, shook its head. Its body was encased in gray steel armor, with black openings revealing the dark iron skin beneath. Its blue eyes blinked, adjusting to the light of the cave.
"This is... Aron."
Albedo approached it cautiously, his artist's eyes scanning every detail.
"Amazing."
"It is not an elemental construct like a Slime, nor is it a mechanical creation like a Ruin Guard."
Albedo reached out a gloved hand.
Aron sniffed the air. It smelled the scent of rare minerals—Albedo's alchemy table was full of ore samples.
"Ron!"
The little iron beast trotted over to the table, ignoring Albedo's hand, and bit directly into a chunk of Starsilver ore lying on the floor.
Crunch! Crunch!
The hard Starsilver ore, which required a claymore to break in the game, was chewed up like a crispy biscuit in Aron's mouth.
Albedo was stunned.
"It eats... metal?"
"Yes," Hiroshi explained, leaning against the wall. "Aron feeds on iron ore. In the wild, they sometimes cause trouble by eating railway tracks or trucks. But here in Dragonspine, with all this Starsilver, it's a paradise for it."
"With your alchemy, refining high-purity metals for it to eat should be easy. The better the metal it eats, the harder its armor becomes."
Albedo's eyes shined with the intense curiosity of a scientist.
"A creature that evolves through the ingestion of metal... This confirms my hypothesis about bio-alchemy!"
He looked at Hiroshi, his usual calm demeanor replaced by genuine excitement.
"Manager Hiroshi, I accept this commission. I will draw the 150 original paintings you requested."
"But I have a request."
"Please allow me to study Aron's biological structure... non-invasively, of course."
Hiroshi smiled.
"Deal. But treat it well. It will eventually evolve into Aggron, a beast capable of claiming an entire mountain as its territory."
"The Chalk Prince and the Iron Eater," Zekrom mused. "A fitting pair. Both are creations that defy the natural order."
Hiroshi checked his Pokédex.
[New Group Member Added: 'Calx' (Albedo)]
The network was growing.
"Now," Hiroshi stretched his arms, "It's time to go back to Liyue. I have a feeling that my shop is going to be very busy tomorrow."
"After all, the news of the 'One Billion Mora' transaction hasn't cooled down yet."