Manor Lord in the Pokémon World

Chapter 200 The Traveling Merchant, The Legend of the Nine-Tailed Fox

Master Ma, having spent half his life as a medicinal herb appraiser, quickly recovered from his initial shock.

This huge patch of withered grass, all golden?

Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

Even large-scale farms specializing in cultivating withered grass wouldn't dare guarantee that they could grow such a large area of ​​pure golden withered grass; it would always have some blue or purple mixed in.

So, how did this young man do it?

Soon, two possibilities came to mind.

One possibility is that the other party dug up all the blue and purple withered grass, leaving only the golden ones, which created this effect.

But he quickly dismissed the idea, as it made no sense and there were no fresh signs of digging on the ground.

The second possibility, which he despised the most, was the addition of dye.

A rudimentary dyeing method is to apply paint directly to the flower after it has bloomed; it's simple and crude.

However, unless a special formula is used, the color will quickly change under sun and rain, the petals will become hard and brittle, and you can even smell an unnatural chemical odor when you get close.

Come, let me see.

He walked over to the silvery withered grass, waved, and the girl behind him understood and immediately handed him a brass magnifying glass.

Master Ma leaned closer to the silver petals, bent down, and the bright midday sun shone down without any obstruction, providing the best light source.

He squinted his right eye and slowly moved his left eye through the lens, observing the texture and luster of the petals.

Upon seeing this, several question marks appeared above his head.

The veins of the petals are clear and natural, and the silver luster is not just on the surface; this is something that cannot be easily imitated by artificial application.

Artificial dyeing leaves traces where the color accumulates in the recessed areas of the texture, inevitably leaving some clues.

The lily root doll and the ark beside him watched him studying so intently, and they felt a little nervous.

Although the system said that this batch of withered grass was of very good quality, it was Master Ma who ultimately gave the price!

Master Ma turned around and gave Fang Zhou a meaningful look.

It seems this Lord Fang is no ordinary man; besides the basic dyeing method, he also has a more advanced one.

From the time the plant is still a seedling, it is watered with a specific dye that is mixed into the irrigation water for a long period of time. The color is absorbed by the roots and flows with the plant sap, eventually appearing naturally on the flowers.

The dyeing effect produced by this method is not noticeable from the outside.

Therefore, it seems that Ark used this method.

Master Ma immediately lost all goodwill towards Fangzhou. Although he was good at reading people and adjusting prices according to the situation, he always had a bottom line.

He detests this kind of fraud more than anything else in his life!

Although the authenticity cannot be discerned from the appearance, it does not mean that he has no way to tell.

Do you even know what a master-level medicinal herb appraiser is?! (Leans back tactically)

Close the door, release Nidoran!

Nidoran, who had been playing with the other Pokémon in the manor, immediately ran over when he heard the old man's call.

Nidolang was raised by Master Ma from a young age, and for many years he followed him through wind and rain, traversing mountains and rivers to identify countless medicinal herbs.

As a Poison-type Pokémon, it has a natural tolerance to toxicity, and through years of exposure to various herbs and poisons, it has developed extremely strong toxicity resistance.

No matter how strange or unusual the poison, just a little bit of it will give you a general idea of ​​its strength and potential medicinal effects.

The old man plucked a petal from the silvery withered grass and held it to Nidoran's lips.

"Come on, good baby, have a bite."

Using Pokémon to test medicine?

Fangzhou, standing nearby, suggested, "Master Ma, the silver withered grass is too poisonous. Why don't you try the golden one?"

After all, the system used extremely strong words. Although Nidoran is a Poison-type Pokémon, Ark had a strange sense of foreboding.

Master Ma sneered, "Heh, feeling guilty now, huh!"

Once I finish my Nidoran, your tricks will be completely exposed!

Get ready to suffer!

Xiao Chao, standing nearby, chimed in to explain, "Boss Fang, you may not know this, but Master's Nidoran grew up eating all sorts of poisonous creatures. In addition, being a poison-attribute animal, it has a strong resistance to all kinds of deadly poisons and will not be poisoned."

As soon as she finished speaking, Nidoran, who had just swallowed the leaf, suddenly rolled his eyes, foamed at the mouth, kicked his four legs, and collapsed to the ground.

Xiao Chao's eyes widened suddenly, and the notebook in his hand fell to the ground.

What the hell!

What did I just see?!

Nidoran, a poison-type Poison-type Poison, has been poisoned!

"Quickly! Treat him!" Master Ma has really seen something amazing today. How could this withered grass be so wicked? It can even poison Nidoran!

Fangzhou was also startled. His first reaction was to call for Salamence and prepare to send them to the Pokémon Center in town immediately.

But then Xiao Chao swiftly took a Poké Ball from his waist and tossed it forward.

A flash of white light appeared, and a Pokémon with pink and beige fur appeared before them, with wavy ears on both sides of its head and yellow antennae hanging down from the ends of its ears.

Almost there, baby!

A Pokémon that lives in the Unova region, possesses healing abilities, and serves as Nurse Joy's assistant in place of Chansey in the Unova region.

"wawa~"

Almost Doll let out a silvery cry, and under Xiao Chao's command, it pushed its palms forward, and the healing energy carrying the fluctuations of life rippled out like water, enveloping Nidoran on the ground.

This is a healing skill that heals fluctuations.

After a while, Nidoran finally woke up slowly.

"Nido nido~"

Master Ma patted Nidoran's head and breathed a sigh of relief.

Thinking about everything that just happened, it feels like I'm still in a dream.

"Master, how can Nidoran be poisonous?" Xiao Chao, who was standing next to him, still couldn't understand. He had eaten the silvery withered grass Nidoran before.

The old man didn't answer, but sighed inwardly.

What else could it be? It can only be that the poison of this silver withered grass is stronger than any he has eaten before, exceeding Nidoran's tolerance.

To be able to cultivate withered grass of this caliber... sigh, I never thought I'd be so mistaken. How could a master of this caliber possibly fake it?

He turned to look at Fangzhou, his eyes filled with apology.

In all his years of identifying medicinal herbs, this was the first time Nidoran had ever been poisoned.

The stronger the toxicity, the stronger the medicinal properties. The same withered grass can produce several times more medicine than others.

He had no more doubts and began to discuss cooperation with Fang Zhou. This quality of withered grass had to be negotiated.

Although he was very curious about how they did it, these were their secrets. Being in this line of work, he naturally knew what to ask and what not to ask.

The poisonous moths nearby were delighted to see this scene.

My own toxic fans can also contribute to the development of the manor.

While happy, he also felt a little regretful, wondering when the jade insect plate inside his body would be able to awaken and play its role again.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Weibai Town, a nine-tailed fox with orange fur all over its body and nine tails fluttering behind it shone with blue light in its eyes, and a dreamlike mist rose around it.

When the fog dissipated, the figure of an old woman appeared in the spot, leaning on a cane, wearing a dark old robe, her face wrinkled like the rings of an old tree.

She looked down at her thin but nimble human hands and nodded with satisfaction.

The old woman walked unsteadily into Weibai Town, her gaze casually sweeping across the streets.

Suddenly, her gaze fell on a bunch of discarded red roses next to a roadside trash can.

Her eyes lit up almost imperceptibly, and the bouquet of roses floated gently into the air.

Immediately afterwards, wisps of thin smoke drifted out from the rose petals, intertwining before her eyes, vaguely revealing fragments of light and shadow depicting a couple's journey from sweet love to their eventual heartbreak.

The old woman squinted her eyes in ecstasy, stuck out her tongue, and gently licked her slightly chapped lips, as if she were tasting the most exquisite delicacy.

"Hmm... love and hate intertwined, unrequited desire... the flavor of this story is powerful."

The old woman casually tossed the completely withered flower branch to the ground, clapped her hands, and walked towards the Pokémon Manor.

They left behind a mess of trash.

-

At the manor, after seeing off Master Ma and Xiao Chao, who left satisfied with their contracts, Fang Zhou happily picked up the still-dry ink-stained agreement from the table and carefully put it away.

The calculation of the yield of withered grass is very complicated, and the specific medicinal effects must also be taken into account. Fangzhou was so confused by Master Ma's calculations that his scalp tingled.

In short, the withered grass that the Lily Root Dolls planted these past few days finally earned them 80,000 Alliance Coins!

The manor is getting better too!

On average, including all other things, the daily output can reach 30,000 Alliance Coins, which was something we never dared to imagine before.

Thinking back to when I first arrived, I was still worried about building the textile workshop.

Unfortunately, wilt grass doesn't usually fetch this price.

It just so happens that the demand is high right now, and the quality of the withered grass from the manor is really excellent.

Fangzhou patted the head of the lily root doll next to him.

"You're a huge hero this time!"

"peiyi peiyi~"

At this moment, several mushrooms that had been watching curiously gathered around, their round little eyes filled with admiration as they looked at the lily root doll.

During this time, they helped out in the herb garden with the lily root dolls and learned a lot of practical tips for caring for plants.

One of the bolder mushrooms couldn't help but ask, "Momo~" (Lily Root Doll, how do you know so much? Who taught you all this?)

This is a question that Ark is also quite curious about.

He had long discovered that the Lily Root Doll's knowledge of herbal cultivation far surpassed that of its peers, and was even more extensive than that of many human growers.

Surrounded by everyone and looking at her with adoration, Lily Root Doll felt a little embarrassed.

"peiyi..." (Have you... heard of the 'wandering merchant'?)

A wandering merchant?

I vaguely remember Ark mentioning it before. It refers to Pokémon that don't have fixed shops and travel around trading in various towns and the wild, making their home wherever they go.

Why did Lily Root Doll suddenly bring this up?

"peiyi~" (I learned all this knowledge from a wandering merchant; he's a very special one among wandering merchants.)

"Peiyi!" (It's a nine-tailed fox that has lived for many years, and it can even transform into a human.)

Nine-tailed fox? And it can even transform into human form?

Fangzhou suddenly became interested, feeling as if he were reading a ghost story.

The ancient Chinese ghost story collection, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, records many fox spirits, most of whom had love stories with scholars.

The lily root doll continued her story.

Ordinary itinerant merchants buy and sell goods, but that mysterious nine-tailed creature "buys and sells" "stories".

It will listen to your story and then respond with another story.

If your story is very interesting and satisfying to it, in addition to giving you a story in return, it may sometimes give you some extra, unusual rewards.

It could be a precious item, or it could be useful knowledge.

It looks very wealthy, and some evil Pokémon once coveted it, wanting to steal Ninetales' precious treasures.

But this Nine-Tails seems to have lived for many years and is extremely powerful; any Pokémon that tries to cause trouble never returns.

The Nine-Tailed Fox wandered around, witnessing countless joys and sorrows, so it seems to know a little about everything.

Therefore, one can also use rare items as a price to ask it for answers to certain questions.

However, never try to deceive it by making up false stories.

Its eyes seem to be able to see through the truth of things and can easily see through any lie.

There really is such a magical existence?

Fangzhou listened with great interest and longing.

"Lily root doll, do you know where it usually appears? Or, is there any way to find it?"

Upon hearing this, the lily root doll shook its head regretfully, and the leaves on its head swayed.

"Peiyi..." (No one knows where it will appear next. It's like a gust of wind, all depending on fate.)

Fangzhou sighed regretfully.

Well, it seems I can only leave it to fate.

The valuable skills that Lily Root Doll possessed regarding herb cultivation were obtained from Nine-Tailed Fox through a series of anecdotes she had experienced.

However, it had heard from other Pokémon that the Ninetales had a rather strange personality, even to the point of being described as crazy.

The stories it tells you are sometimes so bizarre, so... counterintuitive, that people wonder if it made them up on its own.

As night fell, darkness deepened.

Fangzhou turned over in bed and suddenly woke up from his sleep.

I was sleeping soundly just now, but now I'm wide awake, as if I've never closed my eyes.

I felt inexplicably uneasy, as if I were being watched by something.

He sat up, rubbed his temples, and decided to go outside for some fresh air and to use the restroom.

I put on my coat, pushed open the door of the cabin, and felt the cool summer breeze blowing in my face.

He subconsciously looked up and glanced in the direction of the manor gate.

Upon seeing this, he froze instantly.

Under the cold moonlight, outside the manor gate, a figure stood silently, seemingly out of nowhere.

She was an old woman with a hunched back, wearing a dark, worn-out robe.

What the hell!

Fang Zhou got goosebumps all over his body. What kind of horror movie is this?!

An old woman squatting at the front door in the middle of the night?!

The next second, Fangzhou's pupils suddenly contracted.

This is definitely not human!

The old woman looked in their direction, tilted her head slightly, faced the manor, and her eyes shone with a deep blue light!