Chapter 354: From Another World? The Thing Entrusted by Calyrex

Although he had never interacted face-to-face with the people of Freezington Village.

In reality, during his brief time with Peony, and through Peony's reaction to the statue of Calyrex, Luo Mu had already roughly guessed the truth.

It was likely that even Freezington Village, one of the extremely rare settlements in the Crown Tundra, retained no records related to Calyrex.

What's more, people probably just regarded it as a bedtime fairy tale, or an existence fabricated by their elders.

Otherwise, judging by the villagers' words and actions, and whether or not they showed reverence toward that statue of Calyrex by the farmland, Peony—who appeared carefree but was actually quite meticulous—would not have failed to notice.

After all, he had chosen to settle in the Crown Tundra and specifically in Freezington Village to investigate the King of Bountiful Harvests, the legendary bird of the trees, and the legendary giant within the ruins.

A legendary king forgotten by later generations, forced to remain day after day upon an empty throne, feeling his body grow progressively weaker with the passage of time.

Could there be anything in this world more torturous than this?

Then, who was the culprit responsible for all of this?

Luo Mu felt it was at least unlikely that Calyrex had lost the people's support due to tyrannical rule.

In fact, even among legendary Pokémon, Calyrex was rare for its generosity; even its powers were related to abilities of benevolence and grace.

In that instant, Luo Mu recalled the two "Galar Wang Zu" from his second playthrough of the main Sword and Shield game, who had hidden away while Eternamax Eternatus rampaged, only to jump out after the protagonist resolved the crisis, attempting to take the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield, and trying to forcibly make Zacian and Zamazenta fight for them.

He remembered that these two, representing the Galar Wang Zu, seemed to have usurped the honor belonging to Zacian and Zamazenta, the heroes of the sword and shield, snatching that merit and claiming it as their own.

So, was the reason Calyrex was gradually forgotten by the world related to the Galar Wang Zu?

Although the game never mentioned this matter, Luo Mu felt the probability was very high.

After all, some humans are always greedy; after stealing the honor of the heroes of the sword and shield, they still felt it wasn't enough and set their sights on Calyrex's identity as a legendary king.

They might even have subtly manipulated human society to make everyone forget Calyrex first, only then declaring themselves the "Wang Zu of Galar," with the theft of the sword and shield's honor possibly occurring even later.

This was also the reason Luo Mu believed Calyrex was not the kind of violent king or tyrant.

It still possessed some benevolence; one could even say it was generous.

If Luo Mu himself had been betrayed in such a manner, it wouldn't be impossible for him to fly into a rage and devise a plan to make the entire Galar Wang Zu pay the price.

Yet, it was precisely this benevolent Calyrex that was driven to frequently appear within Freezington Village.

It continuously possessed humans; even if that person was a descendant of its own subjects, it did not hesitate.

This action seemed as though Calyrex wanted to convey something, and Luo Mu was very eager to know the answer.

After all, no such plotline existed in the game; Calyrex's appearance in Freezington Village was happening for the first time.

Fortunately, Calyrex showed no intention of fleeing or shaking off Luo Mu; in the center of the forest, it directly stopped floating, turned around, and looked at Luo Mu, who had run along with it, as well as Peony, who made it slightly annoyed.

Immediately after, Calyrex's gaze fell upon the Vulpix in Luo Mu's arms; looking at the Vulpix, whose eyes held a youthful and curious gaze, Calyrex paused for a moment, then abandoned its original idea of testing Luo Mu through a battle.

Luo Mu slowly came to a halt; his eyes met Calyrex's gaze for an instant, then he shifted his view away to carefully observe Calyrex's appearance.

Inside the forest, the density of falling snowflakes was much lower; thanks to this, Luo Mu could observe Calyrex's features more clearly.

It was exactly as he remembered.

That huge dark-green bud, called a Wang Guan but resembling broccoli more in Luo Mu's eyes, was supported by silver-gray antennae; on its face, which was like a deer yet like a rabbit, lay a pair of azure eyes filled with majesty and the bearing of a king.

Encircling its neck was a structure resembling dark-green pearls; behind its small, gray-white body, rabbit-like in size, was a pair of wing-like capes; its slender, pure-white legs hovered several centimeters above the ground, revealing Calyrex's Psychic-type attribute.

Just as Luo Mu was carefully observing Calyrex, once would have been fine, but he never expected that idiot Peony to emit a highly impolite exclamation for a second time.

"Whoa! It's even clearer looking at it up close!"

"What a huge head!?"

Luo Mu:!!!!

Calyrex:

Whether it was enraged by Peony or simply wanted to repeat the maneuver it had performed in Freezington Village was unknown.

After emitting a series of baffling Pokémon cries like "Hmm, mii" and "Caly, caly hmm~", Calyrex suddenly rose higher, floating directly in front of Peony, its majestic blue eyes locking directly with Peony's.

As Calyrex activated its psychic powers and terrifyingly bright blue light surged within its pupils, Peony finally realized something was wrong.

He subconsciously reached for his waist, intending to send out his good partner Scizor to break through the Psychic-type Pokémon's telekinesis, but it was too late for everything.

Calyrex's power had already activated the instant the blue light flared.

Only hearing Peony let out a startled cry of "Ugh-wah!", his entire body was lifted into mid-air by blue telekinetic energy, his eyes closed and devoid of reaction.

This series of developments left the little Vulpix stunned.

It looked up at its Trainer in terror, only to discover that Luo Mu took no action regarding this event; instead, he gazed at Peony, who floated alongside that large green head-vegetable, both emanating a blue halo that must be telekinesis, as if waiting for something.

A moment later.

To the Vulpix's even greater shock, Peony, who had his eyes closed as if asleep, suddenly opened his mouth and spoke.

"Mm, finally I have encountered psychic powers sufficient to bear my presence, a robust physique capable of clearly conveying my will."

"Although I acted out of expediency due to the urgency, that silver-haired girl, whose constitution was stronger than her companions, ultimately fell slightly short due to her age, for which I feel deeply remorseful."

"I offer my deepest apologies; I shall borrow this body for a time, and for the impact caused to your village, I hereby offer you my apologies as well."

Luo Mu could be certain.

Although the person speaking was Peony, judging by both the tone of voice and Calyrex floating before Peony, the one speaking at this moment was Calyrex.

According to the meaning of Calyrex's words, being able to use its psychic powers to "possess" someone probably required some sort of specific physical constitution.

Currently within Freezington Village, only Peony should have met this requirement.

Seeming to notice Luo Mu staring straight at it, Calyrex originally thought Luo Mu did not recognize it and was feeling somewhat dejected.

But at this moment, Luo Mu suddenly spoke: "King of Bountiful Harvests, is there some reason you are frequently entering human villages?"

"You know me!"

Calyrex's eyes instantly burst with dazzling brilliance, appearing extremely excited, yet the voice speaking was Peony's, which gave Luo Mu and the Vulpix an intensely dislocated feeling.

After the excitement subsided, Calyrex carefully sized Luo Mu up once more, then suddenly spoke with a dejected tone.

"But why... are you not my believer?"

Looking at the dejected Calyrex, Luo Mu suddenly had the illusion that he was facing a lonely, childless elder.

Before he could say anything to comfort the Crowned King before him.

As if already accustomed to this situation, the Crowned King gently shook its head, as though trying to shake the troubles out of its mind, slowly exhaling a layer of white mist, its gaze upon Luo Mu gaining a few degrees of scrutiny.

"Oh human, the only one in countless ages to know my identity and recognize my countenance, observing the Pokémon in your arms, you seem quite skilled at raising children?"

Luo Mu: "?"

Why did the topic suddenly turn to raising children?

However, upon careful thought.

Luo Mu lowered his head and cast his gaze down, meeting the confused eyes of the Vulpix for an instant.

At the same time, images of Dragonite, Arcanine, Applin, Tropius, Combee, and the Vulpix before him immediately surfaced in his mind.

These children had basically all been raised from the egg stage; Dragonite was raised single-handedly by Luo Mu, Arcanine was a collaboration between Luo Mu and Moltres, while Applin and Tropius were raised together by Serperior and Luo Mu.

Although Luo Mu had not seen Combee and Vulpix in their Pokémon egg states, they were indeed young Pokémon requiring care.

Not to mention those Pokémon on the farm that Luo Mu had raised from their initial stages all the way to their final evolutions.

In a certain sense, he truly was quite skilled at raising children.

Though he did not understand why the Crowned King asked this, Luo Mu still gently nodded and replied, "I know a thing or two."

Seeing the confidence naturally arising in Luo Mu, the Crowned King displayed a thoughtful expression, manipulating Peony to continue speaking in sync: "You are very humble."

"How about this, do you have any free time? I wish to take you to a place."

The Crowned King looked at Luo Mu with reserved dignity; although it had certain needs, behind this invitation lay more so the desire born from endless lonely years where it had been too long since it felt anything but solitude, wishing to engage in more conversation with the person before it, even if that person was not its believer.

Rather, it was fortunate that the human before it was not its believer.

At least none of its believers, whom it could no longer sense, would see it in this wretched and downcast state.

A cold northern wind blew past, causing the Crowned King's wings, which resembled a cape, to sway slightly.

Luo Mu suddenly perceived a sense of desolation and twilight upon the Crowned King, which made him feel somewhat uncomfortable, and he softly spoke: "I can agree to your invitation, but before that, I hope you can release my companion."

After all, if Peony remained controlled by the Crowned King's psychic powers, not only would Peony worry, but Luo Mu also feared whether some terrible aftereffects might occur.

Hearing Luo Mu's request, the Crowned King turned to glance at Peony behind it, a thoughtful expression flowing in its eyes, before finally opening its mouth to explain as if it had seen through Luo Mu's thoughts.

"You may rest assured, this will not produce significant negative effects on a human; it is merely controlling him to speak through mental power."

"If I release him, you and I will once again be unable to communicate, after all, my current power has become too faint to sustain the establishment of a telepathic channel..."

Luo Mu understood the Crowned King's concern regarding miscommunication or distortion caused by language barriers; regarding this point, he had already formed a plan, and he spoke: "It is fine, I also have a solution for this matter."

"Oh?"

The Crowned King glanced at Luo Mu, pondered for a moment, and although now fallen into ruin, it had not discarded its decisiveness as a king.

Even if it could no longer bear the price of losing, since it had already chosen this human, it would believe the words and promises spoken by the other party.

The Crowned King nodded gently: "I believe you."

Speaking thus, the Crowned King released its mental control over Peony, and at the same time, seemingly not wishing to be discovered by anyone other than Luo Mu, its form rose toward the sky, vanishing completely in the next instant.

In Luo Mu's ears remained only the final passage of words spoken by the Crowned King through Peony's mouth.

"I await you in the snowfields further ahead; come when the night shrouds the firmament."

Watching the suddenly vanished figure of the Crowned King, Luo Mu could not determine whether it had used the move 'Teleport', after all, according to his impression, Teleport was not within the Crowned King's skill pool.

Yet for a legendary Pokémon of the Psychic type to not know Teleport was indeed somewhat unreasonable; perhaps some change had occurred now, Luo Mu could only explain it thus.

"... Ugh!?"

At this moment, Peony seemed to have awakened.

He squatted down, clutching his head which emitted intense pain, muttering nonsense like 'head so big' and 'seems not big anymore', his body trembling slightly from the external cold, taking quite a while to recover.

Luo Mu, as if thinking of something: "..."

Indeed, no 'significant' negative effects had been produced, just a headache for a while.

However, considering that in the game Peony showed no signs of headache after being controlled, and referencing his consecutive utterances of 'such a big head' and 'broccoli' before the Crowned King twice, Peony's current reaction might perhaps be intentional on the Crowned King's part.

"Mew~!"

Seemingly finding Peony's reaction excessively comical, the Vulpix, who had a very low threshold for laughter, directly laughed aloud in Luo Mu's arms, prompting Luo Mu, under Peony's pitiful yet accusatory gaze, to also curve the corners of his mouth into a smile.

How should one put it...

Although this Crowned King differed to a certain extent from the one in his impressions, surprisingly, one could not bring oneself to dislike it.

Rather, only like this did it resemble a living being of flesh and blood, and not a foolishly benevolent king who had sat upon the Empty Throne for countless ages without understanding adaptability.

By the time Luo Mu brought the shivering Peony back to his small hut, although only a few hours had passed since Hearing Nimo and the other four fell asleep, perhaps due to the approaching dusk, the deeply sleeping girls still forced themselves awake.

The several of them were now gathered around a fireplace burning with flames, drinking hot milk warmed up for them by Jacq, frequently looking outward as if waiting for something.

Just as Luo Mu and Peony entered the room, five gazes instantly turned toward the two of them, and Jacq asked: "Stupid Dad, and Mr. Exorcist Master, have you gathered any important intelligence?"

Hearing Nimo and the others also looked at Luo Mu with hopeful eyes, as if awaiting his answer.

Looking utterly listless, Peony patted the accumulated snow off his shoulders, feeling his head still throbbing faintly, and said in a slightly weak voice: "I was also possessed..."

"Ah!?"

The five of them immediately let out cries of surprise, looking at Peony in disbelief.

They knew that in the past few days, this situation only occurred when it was deep night and silent, so dark one could not see one's own fingers!

Had this ghost's cultivation reached such a high level that it could cause trouble even during the day!?

In an instant, fear filled the emotions of Jacq and the others.

Penny, whose mind was more meticulous, suddenly noticed something amiss; her eyes behind her glasses turned to Luo Mu, and she asked: "Teacher Luo Mu, did you drive 'that' away?"

Luo Mu nodded gently and affirmed aloud: "Starting from tonight, no possession incidents will occur in this Frostbite Village."

"What!?"

Several people let out cries of joy, the exhaustion of several days nearly vanishing into nothingness, while Peony and Jacq looked at Luo Mu, this 'Exorcist Master', as if looking at a deity, their hearts full of gratitude not knowing how to express it.

Luo Mu gave them no chance to speak, but instead offered an explanation.

"But this matter is not yet fully settled; I still need to go out tonight because of it, so you all just stay safely at home."

"Furthermore, this incident was not the work of a ghost; it concerns a particular Pokémon, but I have made an agreement with it and must meet it alone tonight."

Luo Mu did not yet reveal Lei Guan Wang's identity, and judging from the fact that Lei Guan Wang had only mentioned himself in his words, he probably did not want others to follow.

This applied even to Peony, whom it had controlled.

Luo Mu decided that only after matters were clarified would he tell Hearing Nimo and the others the whole story, exactly as it happened.

Time passed quickly; nightfall slowly enveloped the sky, and the snow that had fallen all day seemed to lessen slightly.

Even though Hearing Nimo and the others were extremely worried and even proposed accompanying him,

Luo Mu ultimately firmly refused to let Hearing Nimo and the others follow, nor did he allow Peony to accompany him.

After all, this was Lei Guan Wang's wish.

In the end, Hearing Nimo and the others could only split up to inform the villagers of Frostpoint Village that the "haunting incident" would not happen again.

As for Luo Mu, following the direction Lei Guan Wang had indicated upon leaving, he rode his Dragonite all the way to a wilderness area called Ice Peak Tundra, where beneath a tree in this silver-clad world, he found Lei Guan Wang waiting for him.

Noticing that Luo Mu had arrived riding Dragonite, yet the Vulpix in his arms had vanished, Lei Guan Wang beneath the tree let out a puzzled cry that Luo Mu could not understand.

"Guan Lei... ji-ji-en?"

Not wanting to let Dragonite suffer from the cold in this icy, snowy landscape, Luo Mu, under Lei Guan Wang's surprised gaze, took out a Poké Ball to recall Dragonite, then took out a Level Ball and released Victini.

The moment it left the Level Ball, Victini curiously circled around Lei Guan Wang.

"Ti-mi~"

For some reason, it saw in Lei Guan Wang a regal dignity that it had only ever seen in the old king of the ancient people of the land.

This made Victini feel a trace of fondness, along with some nostalgia.

Lei Guan Wang's majestic blue eyes scrutinized the small, cute Pokémon before it; whether it was an illusion or not, it seemed to sense some special power emanating from the other.

But hindered by the language barrier, Lei Guan Wang wanted to ask Luo Mu yet had no way to do so.

Luo Mu brushed the accumulated snow from his shoulders, scooped up Victini in one hand, and said with a smile to Lei Guan Wang, "Don't worry; we will be able to communicate soon."

Then Luo Mu looked at Victini, signaling with his eyes for it to charge Lei Guan Wang.

"Bi-ni!"

Victini nodded vigorously, and under Lei Guan Wang's gaze, which mixed surprise with curiosity, it took its hand; a brilliant golden aura surged upward as strands of infinite energy flowed into Lei Guan Wang's body, which had grown increasingly weak due to the disappearance of faith power.

In an instant.

Like enduring drought finally meeting sweet rain, Lei Guan Wang could no longer maintain its shocked demeanor; while feeling the new energy within its body, it unconsciously spoke via telepathy: "Unbelievable; whether it is that sphere capable of storing Pokémon, or this Pokémon itself, everything exceeds my expectations."

"... Wait, has my power recovered to the extent that I can perform telepathy?"

Lei Guan Wang looked at Luo Mu in shock, suddenly realizing that the choice it had made might be the most correct decision it had made in many years.

"Just now, when I recalled Dragonite, I used a Poké Ball; the Vulpix you saw this afternoon is also inside a Poké Ball, allowing me to carry it with me."

"This child's name is Victini; it is somewhat special... you may consider it capable of producing universal energy to support both humans and Pokémon, just as you have felt."

Holding the brightly smiling Victini, the corners of Luo Mu's mouth likewise curved upward as he explained everything to Lei Guan Wang one by one.

"Poké Ball... Victini..." Lei Guan Wang looked at its own hands, revealing a contemplative expression, and murmured aloud, "If that is the case... I can do it!"

Speaking thus, Lei Guan Wang, so excited that it forgot its royal self-reference, looked at Luo Mu and invited, "Just as I said this afternoon, I wish to take you to a place; please do not be alarmed."

Luo Mu nodded gently, indicating that he was ready.

Seeing this, Lei Guan Wang's body, enveloped in a blue halo, immediately floated into mid-air.

The surrounding space began to distort slowly; having experienced this many times before, Luo Mu knew what would happen next.

Sure enough, at the instant the spatial distortion reached its peak, a sensation of weightlessness struck; his vision blurred for a moment, and the sights within his field of view transformed from the silver-clad world into crumbling walls and an ancient, abandoned temple.

"Is this... Wangguanshendian?"

Amidst Victini's novel cries, Luo Mu uttered a whisper-like monologue in a voice only he could hear.

Meanwhile, Lei Guan Wang, who had brought him to this place, turned its gaze toward the interior of the temple, to a space seemingly wrapped in some kind of light film, and spoke via telepathy: "I wish to entrust it to you."

Speaking thus, Lei Guan Wang used its psychic powers to float Luo Mu into the temple, bringing him before a Pokémon deeply asleep upon a damaged throne within the hall.

That Pokémon possessed an appearance resembling a nebula, with the gases composing its body ranging in color from purple to light blue.

Its pale yellow eyes were currently narrowed into slits, looking as though it slept very soundly, and beneath its eyes lay a pair of blue, circular cheeks.

Both its upper and lower bodies were embedded with a golden semi-circular hook; at the position of its ears were cloud-like extensions shimmering with starlight, looking much like arms.

Gazing at the petite Pokémon before him that resembled a nebula, Luo Mu's pupils contracted sharply as he murmured aloud.

"Cos... mog?"

(End of Chapter)