Chapter 86: Lovely Pokémon
Faced with Little Lapras's behavior—siding with an outsider immediately after acknowledging a master—the Milotic clan found themselves utterly helpless.
The clan leader lowered his head and sighed in a very human-like manner, then turned and gave a few instructions.
Soon after, several young Milotic, either coiling items with their tails or levitating them with psychic power, brought over a large assortment of things for Arthur and Little Lapras to choose from.
Little Lapras's father—the Milotic elder—introduced the items one by one to Arthur via telepathy.
"These are Red Corals harvested from the deep-sea region. They should be extremely valuable in your human world; merchants come to us regularly each year to purchase them."
"These are Rough Blue Diamonds of the finest quality, also originating from the seabed. The purchase price the Alliance offers us annually typically fluctuates between 1200 to 2000 League Currency per 100 grams."
"And this item here, it's said to be a sculpture created by a great artist from the Holy Oran Empire, the predecessor state to the Sinnoh League. We found it in a sunken ship underwater. On one occasion previously, an Alliance merchant offered 400,000 League Currency to acquire it, but we refused to sell."
After listening to the clan leader explain the origin and value of some of these treasures, Arthur couldn't help but sigh with emotion: the Milotic clan was truly wealthy!
It was no wonder, really. Among the three most powerful intelligent groups in this reserve: the Dragonite had the lowest reproduction rate and the smallest clan size, and they typically held few worldly desires. Apart from picking fights with the Kingdra, their favorite activity was probably snoozing on Dragon Cliff. The Kingdra inhabited the deep sea and were neither adept nor fond of interacting with land-dwelling creatures.
Thus, in the end, the responsibility of managing trade and commerce with humans, as well as overseeing the opening of the reserve, fell entirely onto the shoulders of the Milotic clan.
Over so many years, the wealth accumulated by this clan, if not enough to rival a nation, was at least comparable to that of a major financial magnate.
Were it not for the fact that Pokémon desires are far less complex than those of humans, Arthur even suspected they could have long ago used their monetary power to hire an army and unify the entire Crescent Bay.
The few treasures they presented now were each priceless in their own right, easily capable of causing people to lose their sanity.
However, Arthur remained calm.
He first solemnly thanked the Milotic clan for their generosity, expressing sincere gratitude for their assistance. But subsequently, he still put forth a request.
"I wonder if I might be able to exchange a portion of these treasures for some of the local specialties found here, for example, Mystic Water?"
Although the items the Milotic had brought out were valuable, they all shared one common trait: they were useless to Pokémon.
These were items they normally used as part of their trade goods with the Alliance.
However, aside from these, the deep sea also yielded many natural treasures that were greatly beneficial to Pokémon.
Mystic Water, for instance.
This was a treasure only produced in places where pure water elements converge, such as the deep sea or certain 'heavenly lakes' found on snow-capped mountains. It is extremely helpful for the growth and development of Water-type Pokémon.
Arthur had been suppressing Froakie's evolution precisely because he hoped for an opportunity to let him consume such a treasure before evolving.
Although in this era, humanity's modernized industrial system was already capable of synthesizing Pokémon energy crystals and even producing substitutes for some of these natural treasures...
Sometimes, one still had to admit that the efficacy of purely natural items was often better.
The production of Mystic Water in the human world was extremely scarce; often, there was a market price but no actual supply available. Having this rare opportunity to visit an oceanic reserve, Arthur hoped to fulfill this wish now.
Of course, he maintained a very humble posture; such matters required discussion and could not be forcefully demanded.
The Milotic exchanged glances with each other, feeling quite troubled for a moment.
Treasures like Mystic Water were something they themselves needed as well.
Ultimately, however, the clan leader sighed once more and said, "So be it. It is all fate. Human, come with me."
Arthur then followed these Milotic, traversing over the island's highest mountain peak and arriving on the other side of the mountain body.
Here, halfway up the mountainside, was a rather concealed cave entrance. Upon entering and proceeding downwards, Arthur, following the Pokémon, arrived almost within the very interior of the island's mountain structure.
Upon reaching the bottom, he discovered with astonishment that within the cave lay a pool fed by a clear spring eye. Near the spring water, the rich water element had almost condensed into faint blue ribbons that shimmered in and out of existence in mid-air.
Even Arthur, despite his past status as an Elite Four member and his wide range of experiences, was momentarily stunned by the natural marvel before his eyes.
"Such dense Water-type energy... could this be the Pure water Spring?"
The wealth of the Milotic clan had once again overturned his imagination.
However, this time, the Milotic leader's telepathic transmission sounded somewhat ashamed.
"Yes. But speaking of which, a treasure of this caliber was not originally something our clan was capable of obtaining."
"This spring eye was originally located in the deep sea far to the east. It was over a hundred years ago that Great-Grandmother (Arthur's Lapras) led us there, defeated the deep-sea Pokémon residing there, and only then were we able to bring the spring eye back here."
That was one of the few times Arthur's original Lapras had taken action after arriving here.
Originally, given her personality, she was reluctant to get involved in such conflicts. But at the time, the Dragonite and Kingdra clans within the same region were battling the Pokémon of the far eastern sea over the spring eye. The Milotic clan, living here as well, was essentially dragged into the conflict by their neighbors.
However, after that battle concluded, Arthur's original Lapras earned the respect of all Pokémon involved, both friend and foe, with her nearly invincible presence.
Consequently, although it was the Kingdra who had initially advocated seizing the spring eye, the retrieved spring ended up being housed on the Milotic clan's island all along.
This fact alone spoke volumes.
The Milotic leader's voice transmitted softly once more: "Little Lapras drank from the spring water long ago. Let your Froakie go this time. I can see that you seek this treasure mostly for him, correct?"
"This is the spring eye that Great-Grandmother brought back. As her former close human friend, you naturally have the right to use it. However, we hope you will maintain secrecy for us after you return. After all, Great-Grandmother... she is no longer with us."
It was evident that bringing Arthur here involved significant pressure and risk for them.
Apart from this spring pool, the rest of the cave was entirely bare—very primitive rock walls. The only sign of excavation was a single deep tunnel at the very bottom leading straight down to the seabed.
That was likely the passageway used by the Dragonite and Kingdra when they occasionally came to borrow the spring water.
Such an unadorned, monotonous cave interior, devoid of any decoration, was exceptionally rare for the beauty-loving Milotic clan.
There could presumably be only one reason for this: they were extremely cautious. When humans were helping to renovate and decorate the entire Coral Palace, this was the one place they ensured remained undiscovered.
These intelligent Pokémon were not foolish. They deeply understood human greed and knew that after Great-Grandmother's passing, they actually no longer possessed the capability to guard this spring eye themselves.
Yet, after Arthur made his request, they still brought him here without hesitation.
Solely because, in their simple understanding: this was something Great-Grandmother helped them obtain, therefore, Great-Grandmother's close human friend had the right to share it.
After these scattered thoughts flashed through his mind, Arthur couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
Sometimes, these simple Pokémon truly were far more lovely than the complex, ever-changing humans with their treacherous hearts and minds.
(End of Chapter)
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