Chapter 376: The Greedent Will Forever Remember This Day

Perhaps because he already knew the root of the problem, Luo Mu's expression was exceptionally serious and grave.

The Greedent shrank its neck somewhat aggrievedly, as if it couldn't understand why Luo Mu's tone had suddenly become so stern.

It had merely acted according to the instincts of the Greedent species, working extremely hard to collect gold coins and constantly advancing toward that goal which might or might not be achievable.

Lei He and Lym, standing behind Luo Mu for protection, exchanged a glance and simultaneously revealed expressions of thoughtful contemplation.

So that's how it is?

Judging by the results, the Greedent had indeed stolen quite a few valuable items from the teachers and students of Grape Academy; it had even taken the important gold ring belonging to that beautiful Teacher Nurse Mimosha from the infirmary—a fact that could not be changed.

However, if the Greedent fundamentally did not understand that the act of directly taking others' belongings constituted theft, then the matter became somewhat delicate.

At the very least, they could not expect wild Pokémon to possess the same morality and values as humans; casually picking up items that people had "left here and abandoned" was an extremely common occurrence for many wild Pokémon.

In the wild, there were even wild Pokémon that specifically targeted trainers passing through on their journeys, snatching their backpacks, rummaging through the supplies, and directly taking what they wanted.

Taking this into consideration, what Luo Mu was doing now was teaching the Greedent what actions were permissible and what actions were forbidden.

Precisely because it was difficult to define whether punishment was necessary, as well as the scope of such punishment, the importance of education manifested itself here.

Looking at the Greedent, whose face was filled with grievance and fear, Luo Mu's expression softened slightly; he took the Greedent from the Comfey's Vine Whip and said softly, "Return all these things to their original owners, and then sincerely apologize to them, can you?"

This time, the Greedent did not run away; instead, it let out a somewhat muffled "ding-ding" sound, obviously still struggling with where exactly its behavior had gone wrong.

Seeing the Greedent in such a depressed state, Luo Mu also felt somewhat helpless.

In reality, there was no unified standard in this world for handling incidents where wild Pokémon committed theft similar to what the Greedent had done.

Perhaps some Pokémon whose behavior was particularly excessive and showed no signs of correction would be sent to rehabilitation facilities specifically established by the League, but those were ultimately the minority.

In Luo Mu's view, at the very least, the Greedent currently had ample room for correction, and the situation did not need to escalate to that extent.

Thinking thus, Luo Mu squatted down slightly, placed the Greedent on the ground, and said to it, "Go find your gold coins; as for the other items, I'll rely on Ms. Lym to contact the owners."

The Greedent looked left and right, casting a fearful glance at Lym and the Mabstiff beside her, as well as the shadow beneath Lei He's feet; then, encouraged by Luo Mu, it walked toward the pile of gold and began rummaging for its own coins.

Lym helplessly shrugged her shoulders, having no objection to Luo Mu's request.

After all, this made it more convenient for her to report back to Geeta.

Lei He's gaze shifted between Luo Mu and the Greedent, who was busy searching for its own gold coins, and she stated with certainty, "You're lusting after its body?"

Luo Mu: "... Don't put it so crudely."

"Then you are lusting after its body; otherwise, there would be no need for you to play the good guy, coming up with a plan to minimize the magnitude of its offenses, turning big issues into small ones and small ones into nothing."

Lei He was extremely certain that her reasoning was correct.

Luo Mu looked at her helplessly and perfunctorily replied, "Yes, yes, yes, you're right."

At this moment, the Greedent also found that one gold coin most important to itself; happily hugging it in its arms, it let out joyful "ding-ding" cries.

Perhaps due to the increasing number of students gathering nearby, after finding its gold coin, the Greedent timidly trotted all the way to Luo Mu's feet, trying very hard to climb into his shoe to hide.

How could Luo Mu possibly let the Greedent climb into his shoe? Carefully lifting it up, he directly placed it into the pocket of his shirt, which happened to be surprisingly the perfect size.

Immediately surrounded by a sense of security, the Greedent pressed itself even closer against Luo Mu's chest.

If an ordinary person had performed the same actions as Luo Mu, the Greedent would not have lowered its guard so quickly.

Perhaps it was due to that single "meeting" when the watchtower tilted; the goodwill planted at that time fostered the Greedent's trust, allowing the extremely timid creature to take the first step and accept Luo Mu's help.

After lunch.

It was now the lunch break for teachers and students, yet a long queue had formed in front of Luo Mu's faculty office.

They were all people who had lost items and registered with the academy; after Lym reported the matter, Clavell had arranged for them to come here to uniformly retrieve their lost property.

The reason the retrieval location was set in Luo Mu's office was mainly because many of the items were personal belongings that might possess a certain private nature, much like the pair of best... ah, no, best friends standing before him.

Accompanied by the sound of the door closing, the two who entered the room were Professor Professor Huangbo, whom Luo Mu had only met once that morning, and Nurse Mimosha, the owner of the lost gold ring.

Luo Mu took the corresponding box from the small boxes that Lym had already sorted and arranged by category, and handed it to Nurse Mimosha, whose face displayed an expression of joyful surprise at recovering her lost treasure.

"Check to see if the item is correct."

Nurse Mimosha nodded gently, pressed her lips tightly together, and carefully opened the box Luo Mu had handed her.

Upon seeing the exquisitely crafted gold ring lying quietly inside the box, a line of clear tears flowed from the corner of her eye; clutching her important treasure tightly with both hands, she burst into tears of joy in Professor Professor Huangbo's embrace.

A moment later, after Nurse Mimosha's emotions had stabilized, she offered Luo Mu a faint smile, her sweet voice filled with gratitude.

"Thank you for helping me recover my ring, Director."

Beside her, Professor Professor Huangbo subtly wiped away Nurse Mimosha's tears with a tissue, then looked at Luo Mu as if gazing upon a deity.

Good heavens, she had only explained the details of the incident to Luo Mu two hours ago, yet in less than two hours, the other party had caught the true culprit and recovered all the lost items.

Was this what a Champion-level trainer was like?

This was too cool!

"It's nothing; as long as the items can be returned to their owners, that is the best outcome."

Luo Mu smiled at Nurse Mimosha, flicked his finger against the Greedent, which had "served many clients" and was now so tired it was nearly asleep, and softly uttered a few words.

"Get up and apologize."

The Greedent gave a start, hastily stood up in a daze, hugged its beloved little gold coin, bowed deeply to Nurse Mimosha, and let out a sound of apology.

"Ding-ding!" (I'm truly sorry!)

No one could imagine that this little figure, possessed of such a "craftsman spirit," would evolve into a capitalist Pokémon that scattered money everywhere.

Seeing the cute little figure bow to her and apologize so sincerely, Nurse Mimosha's cheeks flushed slightly, and she waved her hand, saying, "I accept your apology."

Professor Professor Huangbo revealed a hearty smile and teased, "Don't make mistakes again in the future."

Just like the many owners who had entered earlier, upon receiving the Greedent's sincere apology, they all chose to forgive the Greedent, willing to give it another chance to reform and start anew.

After the two departed, the next owner entered the office.

It was not until two o'clock in the afternoon that the queue outside the office was completely cleared, leaving only one slightly larger box remaining on Luo Mu's desk.

Compared to those items that were merely gold products or objects of similar color, the box contained genuine Paldean ancient gold coins, exactly what the Greedent needed.

Their owner was Lei He.

The procedure was complete; Luo Mu watched the woman sitting before him with a beaming smile, who had already taken the box and received the Greedent's apology yet still showed no intention of leaving, and a trace of helplessness flashed in his eyes.

"Do you have anything else?"

Lei He deliberately countered, "Can't I stay here even if there's nothing else?"

"I'm preparing to leave; if there's nothing else, you should go."

Luo Mu stood up, looking as though he intended to usher her out.

Lei He instantly dropped her playfulness; she reined in her smile somewhat and pushed forward the box that, with her movement, emitted the clinking sound of gold coins striking one another.

"Name your price."

Luo Mu's gaze first fell upon the box Lei He had pushed over, then shifted to the little Greedent, which, having learned its lesson from this incident, had chosen to close its eyes to avoid being swayed by external temptations.

After pondering for a moment, Luo Mu took out his phone and said, "Wait a moment; let me check the market price."

Lei He: "."

Watching Luo Mu, who was truly typing earnestly on his phone, Lei He's brain nearly overloaded.

Wait, buddy, are you really looking it up right now?

By directly exposing your status as a novice, aren't you afraid I'll just hike up the price on the spot?

Luo Mu paid no heed to Lei He's hesitant expression; he seriously typed out a message and sent it to the Oranguru steward at the farm.

He had no desire to waste effort on such a troublesome task as checking the market price himself; rather than bustling about for half a day without necessarily settling on a figure, it was better to entrust the matter to a professional.

Soon after Luo Mu sent his message, the Oranguru replied.

Glancing at the figure the Oranguru provided, Luo Mu raised an eyebrow slightly and stated directly, "Fifty thousand Union Coins per coin."

Lei He, who had been deliberating on what price to demand and whether to ask for an exorbitant sum: "."

Wait, how did he figure out my psychological expectation so directly?

Lei He suddenly felt she understood Luo Mu even less; she closed her eyes, pretending to be deep in thought.

There were exactly twenty-five Paldean Gold Coins in the box, spoils from her last grave-robbing expedition before coming ashore, which she had never had the chance to launder.

At fifty thousand Union Coins for such a small coin, twenty-five coins amounted to one million two hundred and fifty thousand Union Coins; even as antiques, the price was exceedingly high.

However, the reason the price of Paldean Gold Coins remained so high was primarily due to the extreme difficulty of obtaining them.

Paldean Gold Coins existing as burial goods could only be found in certain ancient ruins or tomb chambers, much like the tomb chamber she and Luo Mu had visited earlier; bringing them out easily was an extremely difficult matter.

How exactly had Luo Mu ascertained the specific value in such a short time, or was he merely acting?

The price Lei He had halted on her lips she swallowed back down; after sizing up Luo Mu and the Greedent, she broke into a smile and agreed readily, "Deal! Boss, you're generous!"

Luo Mu paused mid-motion, his expression somewhat peculiar as he spoke to Lei He, "I thought you would try to haggle with me a bit more."

"This is close enough; I'm not a greedy person, plus this client is an acquaintance like you." Lei He waved her hand freely, picked up a pen from Luo Mu's desk, wrote down a string of numbers, and handed it to him, "Just transfer the money to this account."

"Alright."

Luo Mu took the slip of paper and nodded slightly; although he had just spent a large sum of money, he didn't even furrow his brow.

Before leaving, Lei He pointed at the Greedent, which had exhausted too much courage and energy and was now hugging its gold coins, having fallen asleep at some unknown time, and asked, "Do you really intend to follow the legend, collecting Paldean Gold Coins to attempt its evolution?"

Lei He didn't understand; currently, regarding how a Greedent should evolve, the research community could not provide an answer; perhaps collecting gold coins was merely their hobby and had nothing to do with evolution.

Luo Mu had paid such a huge price to acquire gold coins, and furthermore, because missing items had appeared in the Greedent's "Treasure Pile," he had ultimately been forced to compensate the registered owners himself at equal or greater value.

Was all of this truly worth it?

Lei He, who considered herself focused solely on profit, was utterly baffled.

"That is the current plan."

Luo Mu did not deny Lei He's statement; having finally encountered a Greedent that meshed quite well with him, he truly intended to raise one into a Gholdengo.

As for the money spent purchasing ancient gold coins... the farm's various income streams were now sufficient to support his slightly excessive "scattering of money," not to mention that, according to the Pokédex description, Gholdengo was indeed a Pokémon capable of "scattering money."

Moreover, this little one truly shared a fate with him.

After meeting at the sloping watchtower in the Asado Desert, they could still encounter each other here at this Grape Academy; Luo Mu believed that since fate had arrived, it must be grasped firmly.

After Lei He departed and Luo Mu had the Oranguru steward transfer the sum to her account, he poked the little figure who was sleeping soundly.

When the sleepy bubble was popped, the Greedent originally held a tiny bit of temper—truly just a tiny bit.

It puffed up its cheeks in anger and opened its eyes, wanting to see who was disturbing its peaceful dream, only to discover twenty-five glittering Jin Guang Paldean Gold Coins piled before it.

Almost instantly, the Greedent's eyes lit up, and it subconsciously moved forward to carry the ancient coins, intending to collect them all and hide them in a place only it deemed safest.

But just then, its previous memories rushed back.

The Greedent's movements froze halfway; it silently suppressed its twitching little hands and turned its head away, no longer looking at those golden coins.

Greedent: (〃＞＿＜; 〃) Endure!

"What are you doing? They are all yours now, you know?"

Luo Mu's voice suddenly rang out from above.

"Ding?"

The Greedent froze, looked up at Luo Mu, who had remained silent until now, its eyes full of confusion.

Luo Mu used his hand to push the twenty-five Paldean Gold Coins closer toward the Greedent and said with a smile, "Will you come with me? From now on, you won't need to rush about everywhere to steal Ren De Wu Pin from others."

"From now on, let's collect gold coins together; when we gather 999 coins, you can evolve."

The Greedent stared blankly up at Luo Mu; whether it was because the indoor lighting was too glaring or due to its emotions, it was hard to say.

The Greedent felt its eye corners growing damp; an unprecedented emotion washed over its soul, causing its cry to tremble.

"Ding-ling!"

Putting down the sole gold coin that had accompanied it through many hardships, the Greedent moved its short little legs, trotted across the desk surface to Luo Mu, and directly hugged his palm.

Feeling the warmth from his palm, the Greedent lingered affectionately, rubbing its little face against him again and again, while bubbles representing happiness constantly bubbled up from its head.

The Greedent thought that it would probably remember this day forever.

It had met a soft-hearted Trainer who, for itself—a wanderer drifting everywhere unable to find a place to belong (a treasure chest)—had brought a new home, corrected its mistakes, and promised to collect 999 Paldean Gold Coins together with it, becoming the Gholdengo that every Greedent dreamed of evolving into.

It is truly very lucky.

(End of Chapter)