https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-142-Foraging-in-the-Mountains-Mid-Term-Exam/12537167/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-144-Milk-Delivery-with-a-Surprise-Guest/12537170/
Chapter 143: Chicken Stew with Wild Mushrooms
Chapter 143: Chicken Stew with Wild Mushrooms
Finally, Naoki returned to the ranch with a basket full of wild ginger, apricots, and mushrooms foraged from the mountains.
Apricots were discovered by Heracross, who found a tree abundant with the fruit. Naoki only picked a few to taste, leaving the rest for the wild Pokemon in the forest.
As for the wild mushrooms, they were abundant on the backside of the mountain and easy to find.
Naoki struggled a bit with the heavy load he was carrying.
Seeing this, Golurk and the other Pokemon playing in the ranch hurried over to help, offering to take the basket of forest goodies from him.
Naoki smiled and said, "I'll make something delicious for lunch today!"
Golurk helped him take the basket off his shoulders and, upon hearing this, asked curiously, "Agas?"
"Have you ever heard of chicken stew with mushrooms?" Naoki asked.
"Agas!" Golurk's eyes lit up, and he nodded vigorously, looking absolutely intrigued.
"Huh? Where did you hear about that?" Naoki was a bit surprised. While there were many Chinese restaurants in the Paritia region, Golurk had been in the Paritia Pit for a long time.
Could it be that Dr. Orchid and Dr. Fort had made it?
Not understanding Golurk's source of knowledge, Naoki dismissed it as gibberish and didn't think much of it.
He asked Golurk to help deliver the basket to the kitchen while he went to wash the ingredients.
Golurk obediently did as instructed.
Meanwhile, Budew, who was standing by, couldn't hide the sad expression on his face when he heard that Naoki would be using the chickens he cared for in the kitchen.
"Ba Miao..."
Noticing Budew's expression, Naoki paused for a moment before understanding the Pokemon's concern.
"Are you worried that I'll use the hens from the chicken coop for cooking?" Naoki asked.
"Ba Miao..." Budew nodded slightly.
Motorizard, who was nearby, was a bit confused. "Gaou?"
In its understanding, hens were meant to be eaten.
Naoki smiled and explained to the group of Pokemon, "Budew spends a lot of time with the hens every day, so it's natural that it wouldn't want to see them being eaten. It's perfectly normal."
Motorizard, with a look of innocent confusion, nodded slowly. "Gaou..."
To avoid leaving any psychological scars, Naoki thought for a moment before continuing, "Don't worry, I'm keeping these hens for their eggs. You should know that Haxorus and the others can eat a hundred eggs a day."
"Oro?" Haxorus quickly interjected, defending itself. It didn't eat that many eggs! Its favorite food was still fish!
Naoki explained gently, "There are eggs in the sponge cakes, too. You eat two baskets of those every day. There are also fried eggs in the sandwiches, and I use egg sauce when I cook. All of those require eggs."
Haxorus thought carefully and realized that it could indeed eat a hundred eggs. Embarrassed, it scratched its head.
Seeing that Budew had calmed down, Naoki asked, "What if I buy other chickens?"
Budew thought about it seriously and then gently nodded its head. "Ba Miao!"
"Good boy." Naoki ruffled its head affectionately and then went inside to get his wallet. He hopped onto Motorizard and said to the Pokemon, "I'm going into town to buy an old hen and will be back soon."
Hearing this, the Pokemon obediently waited at home.
It was almost noon, and the vendors in the market of Drizzli Town had mostly packed up and gone home for lunch.
Naoki wandered around for a while before finding a meat shop that was still open, where he bought a freshly slaughtered Three-Yellow Chicken.
This breed of chicken had firm, fragrant meat. When stewed, the soup was fresh and the meat tender—a perfect combination with the aroma of wild mushrooms.
After paying, Naoki thought again about the large number of Pokemon on the ranch and how one chicken might not be enough, so he bought a few more, along with two sandpots.
Upon returning to the ranch, he asked Motorizard to go out and play while he started preparing lunch.
Although he planned to make chicken stew with wild mushrooms, the dish was time-consuming to prepare and required slow cooking over low heat for four hours before it was ready to serve.
So, for today's lunch, Naoki decided to stick with the usual menu: steamed rice, tomato and egg, fried meat patties, sandwiches, tree fruit juice, and Moomoo Milk.
Seeing their eager anticipation, Naoki couldn't help but laugh. He waved his hand and said, "Go play outside. It'll take a long time to cook, but it'll be ready for dinner."
The Pokemon had no choice but to leave. They had only heard from Golurk how delicious the stew was, which was why they were so eager now.
But since Naoki said it would take a while, they all left the house and went to play on the grass outside.
Naoki was reading in the room when he glanced up and saw Golurk leading Motorizard and Aerodactyl towards the riverbank.
The soil there was soft from being washed by the river, and with Hoppip bouncing around, several mud pits had formed.
Fearing that they would get dirty, Naoki called out from a distance, "No rolling in the mud pits! Golurk, bring Motorizard and the others back to the grass!"
Golurk heard Naoki's voice from afar and gave the mud pits a disdainful look.
It shouted back, "Agas!"
It would never roll in the mud! In fact, it hadn't even come close to the pits!
But as soon as it spoke, Motorizard stepped into one of the pits and then ran to the riverbank to take a drink, getting mud on its body.
Golurk: "..."
It was exasperated and quickly pulled Motorizard to a clean patch of grass nearby.
Then, from somewhere unknown, it produced a tree fruit and traded it with one of the Hoppip across the river.
Soon, one of the Hoppip came over and used Water Gun on Motorizard, washing away the mud.
Golurk was satisfied. As long as Naoki didn't see it, he wouldn't know that it had rolled in the mud.
"Roar..."
Aerodactyl, who was nearby, watched this exchange and thought to itself that Golurk was actually quite nice to Motorizard! It even used a tree fruit to get Hoppip to wash Motorizard.
Golurk gave the tree fruit to the Hoppip.
The Hoppip chirped happily and ran off with the fruit.
Golurk looked across the river at the Hoppip, and suddenly, his mind wandered to the near future.
When the crops in the fields ripened, these Hoppip would be attracted to them and start stealing the fruits. Naoki would discover them and bring them into the ranch.
From then on, these Hoppip would become harvesters.
They would pick all the ripe fruits and place them in the large baskets Naoki prepared. Some would be sold, and some would be kept to make delicious treats for the Pokemon.
Since they were companions now, Golurk didn't mind!
Golurk led Motorizard and Aerodactyl back to the grass and began instructing them like an adult.
Naoki, who was reading, glanced up and saw that they were getting along harmoniously, so he returned to his book.
This book had been given to him by Mayor Thomas, and it contained a wealth of knowledge about ranch management. Naoki often read it in his free time.
PS: I saw a comment in the previous chapter about how trainer challenges would disrupt the protagonist's leisurely life.
Don't worry about that. Those kinds of plot points are minimal, maybe appearing in only 2 or 3 chapters out of 50, or about 6,000 words out of 200,000.
Later on, the protagonist will also set rules, such as requiring a certain number of badges before challenging him, and there won't be as many trainers or challengers. There certainly won't be dozens or hundreds of challengers per day!
As for why I included it, it's to introduce certain characters and plotlines. It's also a fact that pure ranch novels tend to struggle, and many readers enjoy seeing the protagonist excel. It's a necessary "feel-good" element, and without it, the novel would become stale quickly, and it wouldn't be as enjoyable. After all, the most important aspect of an online novel is that "feel-good" factor, and this daily life novel has those exciting moments, which makes it perform better.
(End of Chapter)
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