Chapter 50

The mosquito coil tadpole stared at the marks on Luo Mu’s arm, its expression curious.

“Ooloo loo?” (Did Charizard cause this?)

Although Luo Mu couldn’t understand the mosquito coil tadpole’s words, he could guess its meaning from experience and sighed, “Yes, this is the scar left behind when I fought Charizard back then... a mark of our story. At the time, I couldn’t afford good burn ointment, so the scar stayed.”

“But you don’t need to worry about burns from Catdog’s flames—now I can provide better conditions for you all.”

“Ooloo!”

The mosquito coil tadpole wanted to say it wasn’t worried about something so shallow, but Luo Mu shook the small burn ointment bottle in his hand and patted its head. “Now it’s Q&A time! Do you know how much this ointment costs?”

“Ooloo?”

The mosquito coil tadpole tilted its head—it was just a mosquito coil tadpole; how could it know such things?

“Only six hundred League Coins. It’s twice the price of regular burn ointment, but far more effective,” Luo Mu said, spreading his hands casually. “And your four of you eat less than a hundred coins’ worth of food per day—even if you did nothing but eat, I could still afford you easily.”

Of course, this was just the cost of normal nutrition for daily activity; training would require much higher nutritional investment.

The mosquito coil tadpole’s eyes grew dull—it realized its hidden thoughts had been completely seen through by Luo Mu.

“Of course, I captured you and brought you to the farm because I need your abilities. Even if your role is small now, I value long-term growth more.”

Seeing the tadpole’s expression and reaction, Luo Mu knew his guess was right and whispered, “Don’t be so frightened or anxious. I told you about Charblade’s past because I want you to know—I won’t abandon any Pokémon I’ve captured for any silly reason.”

“Look— even that Flamebird, the one with the biggest appetite who eats and sleeps for free, I never kicked out.”

Luo Mu pointed to the Flamebird nearby, lying on its back like a roasted chicken, sleeping peacefully with no guard up, then gently placed the sleeping Catdog on its belly.

Mosquito coil tadpole: “........”

The topic suddenly turned sharp.

Yet a sense of sudden clarity washed over the mosquito coil tadpole, and it suddenly felt its worries were ridiculous.

Right—just as the Whitepuffs said, this is home.

Nightfall.

As a belated celebration for the farm’s first earnings, Luo Mu took Dragonite to the market and bought plenty of ingredients—meat and vegetables alike.

Under Charblade’s direction, they happily skewered food all afternoon.

The mosquito coil tadpole’s worries had been perfectly eased by Luo Mu’s talk, and it volunteered to help—but without hands, it couldn’t manage delicate tasks, so it followed Raichu and the others to gather firewood in the wild.

Watching the two large trays of fully marinated meat and veggie skewers, Charblade silently brought out its ancestral barbecue grill, skillfully ignited the flames with its Flame Sword, and began grilling—seemingly simple, yet requiring precise control over the optimal cooking time for each food type.

Finally able to rest, Luo Mu sat on the ground without care for his appearance, playing and roughhousing with the Pokémon.

When his gaze passed over Charblade, he remembered something and quickly rose, entering the house to find a bright yellow apron.

Though the apron clearly bore many “battles,” it was folded neatly, showing its owner cherished it deeply.

Luo Mu smiled helplessly, carrying the apron to Charblade’s side, his tone slightly reproachful: “Look, oil splashed on your armor again—I have to clean it up, and it’s such a hassle!”

Charblade paused awkwardly, its purple pupils shifting nervously.

Luo Mu carefully wiped off the fresh oil stains on Charblade’s armor, sighing inwardly—being a Trainer meant being both father and mother, always watching over Pokémon’s mental well-being.

He tied the bright yellow duck apron around Charblade, finding the contrast between the cold swordsmaster and the cute apron utterly intoxicating.

He’d missed watching Charblade grill before due to various reasons, never expecting its old habit to resurface.

This duck apron was the gift he gave Charblade on the day it evolved; Charblade always preferred letting its sleek armor get stained rather than wear this apron.

The many stains on it were from when he forced Charblade to wear it.

Luo Mu believed aprons were meant to be worn—even if it held sentimental value, as long as he was around for decades to come, Charblade would receive many more aprons from him.

Overprotecting it went against the very purpose of giving it.

“Siro...”

Unable to refuse Luo Mu’s request, Charblade reluctantly put on the apron and resumed grilling.

But this time, its movements were a hundred times more careful.

Charblade had always regretted its younger self’s actions—the scar on Luo Mu’s arm had been its doing.

Yet even so, Luo Mu had accepted it, this abandoned hedgehog covered in spikes.

It learned cooking to make up for its past mistakes, but its arms were naturally unsuited for such tasks—only grilling came somewhat easily.

Luo Mu didn’t know what Charblade truly thought—he only watched the serious, focused creature flipping and seasoning the skewers, and felt a quiet admiration.

The once solitary, spiky Charizard had grown into this—still emotionally reserved, quiet, even now hard to read.

But now, Charblade had fully integrated into this group. For him, that was enough.

The mosquito coil tadpole, returning with firewood, watched Luo Mu and Charblade’s interaction, its dark eyes glinting with thoughtful light.

Deep night. Full and satisfied, Luo Mu and the Pokémon returned to their little nests; the battlefield had been cleaned.

Charblade sat wherever it could, carefully cradling the apron—still unavoidably stained with oil—and sighed softly.

Looks like it’s time to trouble Gyarados again to gently wash it with water.

Last time, to control the water pressure without tearing the apron, even the Pokémon that faced the Elite Four without flinching had broken into a sweat.

At that moment, the mosquito coil tadpole, which should have returned to Thunder Lake, suddenly popped up beside Charblade, smiling warmly: “Ooloo!”