Elf: Who told him to be an investigator!

Chapter 183 The Feud Between the "Great Blacksmith" and the "Corpse Raven"

Chapter 183 The Feud Between the "Great Blacksmith" and the "Corpse Raven"

It turns out that as long as you follow the "tutorial" to make coffee, use good quality coffee beans, and mix them with water in roughly the same ratio, even a beginner can make coffee without the taste being too off.

"Ouch—"

"Thank you all."

Luca smiled as she watched the two gray-white fluffy mice steadily bring the coffee to her table, and said thank you.

Then, she took a sip of coffee and couldn't help but smile as she said:

"Although the skill level is not quite as good as the original owner's, it's still very good for a beginner!"

Peony stood at the front desk, wiping the fine sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand:

"Th-thank you!"

The fact that she received praise from the first customer who came to the coffee shop on her first attempt at making coffee was a great encouragement for the shy girl.

Luca smiled.

She felt that Peony's shy personality was somewhat like her daughter's.

"But I never expected that you would take over this coffee shop. I've been a regular customer and I've always been worried that it would go out of business..." she exclaimed.

"No matter what, I will continue to be your customer."

"After all, there are quite a few cute faces in the café now ::. Riko, isn't there? You used to dislike it when Mom came to the café, since there weren't any Pokémon in the old café except for a mouse, but now...:"

Luca paused, then continued:

"Hmph, my dear daughter. If you want to interact with adorable Pokémon, you'll have to muster up the courage and ask the handsome shopkeeper!"

"You can't keep everything bottled up inside!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the little girl next to Luca, who looked almost exactly like her, stiffened for a moment. It was unclear what she was thinking, but after a brief pause, she seemed to gather her courage and shyly spoke to Ze Shu, who was sitting on the other side of the cafe:

"Can...can I touch Sylveon...?"

Ze Shu: "Of course."

After all, Sylveon wasn't his Pokémon, but rather Peony's.

Sylveon didn't seem to mind the cute little girl at all, and even leaped over to Riko's side, its delicate pink and blue ribbon gently touching Riko's little hand.

"Hmm..." Rico's eyes seemed to light up.

It's clear she was completely charmed by Sylveon.

Ze Shu watched silently from the side, thinking that the first customer of the coffee shop was quite satisfied—he hadn't expected that the coffee shop would run so smoothly right after he took over.

But...Riko?

Zeshu watched as the little girl timidly stroked Sylveon in the cafe.

A bright blue mushroom-shaped haircut, light clothing, and a petite figure—this seems to be... the female protagonist of the new Pokémon anime Horizon in Zeshu's memory?

Zeki hadn't watched much of this anime; he only recognized it by its name.

At most, all that is known is that Rico will have an ancestral necklace, which contains the "Third God" of the Parthian region—Talebagos.

"But what does that have to do with me?" Ze Shu shook his head.

Even if that necklace were displayed now, he wouldn't try to take it.

Besides, right now Riko is just a little girl living with her mother.

He should be enjoying his leisurely life with his Pokémon in Padonia now—after fighting so many evil organizations, can't he just relax? Padonia can't possibly be in any crisis.

As for the evil organizations in other regions, he had mostly left behind some informants; if they took any action, Ze Shu would most likely know.

After thinking for a moment, he picked up the coffee that the little mice on the table had brought him, took a sip, and immediately frowned – it was too bitter. Sure enough, he still couldn't get used to the flavor of bitter coffee.

He then handed the coffee to the Soap Milk Fairy on the table:

"Add sugar, add cream!"

As Alcremie puffs out her cute face and tries her best to squeeze whipped cream onto her coffee.

Ze Shu also looked around the entire cafe.

Across the table, Xiao Lan held a coffee and a book titled "Detailed Explanation of Unique Pokémon in the Padian Region," so that she wouldn't be unable to recognize the unique Pokémon of the Padian region in the future.

Sunlight streamed through the glass and shone into Xiao Lan's face, making her usually playful face appear quiet.

A shrunken Jigglypuff floated beside her.

With a face full of curiosity, he accompanied Xiaolan as they flipped through the pages of the book, looking at one different Pokémon after another.

Even when she's not making coffee, Peony at the bar is watching coffee-making tutorials—and before she knows it, she seems to have become part of the coffee shop staff.

Higana has disappeared.

As Zeki took over, the number of Pokémon in the café increased significantly, just as Luca had previously mentioned.

Not just the six Eevee creatures released by Peony, but also scattered throughout the café.

Zeshu looked up and met the eyes of Ice Eevee.

For some reason, Glaceon didn't stick to it as usual, but instead perched aloofly on top of the glass cabinet. When it saw Zeki looking at it, it arrogantly turned its face away, pulled up its ears, and let out a plaintive "Eee."

Oh.

It turned out that Flareon, the "only king" of the Peony, was rubbing against him, making Glaceon "resentful." And let me tell you, Flareon's fluffy, warm mane is really comfortable to rub.

After rubbing Flareon a few more times, Zeju decisively abandoned Flareon and embraced his "main wife," Glaceon.

"Want to rub against Ice Eevee?"

He said eight words.

Glaceon couldn't contain its joy any longer. A happy smile appeared on its small lips, which it tried to suppress, but it couldn't hide its inner delight.

So, Ice Eevee simply raised its head:

"Buyi!"

Since it was Ze Shu's request, it would reluctantly agree.

With a "poof," less than half a breath later, Glaceon jumped into Zeju's arms.

"Buee~bu~"

"Okay, okay..."

Ze Shu smiled helplessly, leaned close to Glaceon's ear, and whispered the scumbag's words: "Our Glaceon is absolutely the cutest. Those Sylveon, Flareon, and Leafeon are all just flashy bastards. I'm just playing around with them."

Ice Eevee pursed its lips, then proudly raised its head from Ze Shu's arms and said:

"Buyi!"

You said it yourself.

I can only... I can only play around with that bunch of 'seductive sluts'!

As dusk fell.

Zeki understood why the original owner couldn't keep the café afloat; Luca and Riko were the only customers all day long. But for Zeki, this was a good thing.

His ideal expectation for the café was: few customers, even if it kept losing money, it didn't matter, he just wanted peace and quiet. And ideally, the customers would be polite people like Rico and Luca.

"Goodbye, new store manager..."

Luca and Rico had already left the cafe.

Lico's hesitant voice could be faintly heard from outside the door:

"Mom, can we...can we come to the coffee shop again tomorrow...?"

"Haha—it seems my little Lily is starting to like this cafe too!"

Ze Shu smiled helplessly and then closed the door of the coffee shop.

During dinner time, the warm lighting inside the venue illuminated the Pokémon's happy smiles.

The shiny Dratini offered Dragon Powder Cake to the voracious Vulpix, hoping Vulpix would help freeze it so it could eat "cool and refreshing food".

But Vulpix didn't even look at it and bit off the food that Dratini offered.

The Dratini was left alone, looking angry but unable to express its grievances.

As usual, Nidorina took a bite out of the orange berry that Psyduck was holding, leaving Psyduck completely bewildered.

The family of mice, hand in hand, stared in disbelief at the sumptuous Pokémon food presented to them. They were utterly dumbfounded.

After the new owner took over, instead of being ostracized, the benefits actually improved!

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!!"

Erguipeng, holding a coffee with extra sugar and cream, sat obediently on the bar stool, legs crossed, happily watching this scene.

It loved this place. Compared to the loneliness it felt in the 'Terror Cave' when it was all alone, here, with Ze Shu by its side, E Gui felt a million times happier!

"Bonnie...!"

Zeki, however, went to the backyard of the café.

The café is located on the edge of Little Key Town, on the seaside, where the sound of crashing waves can be heard from the backyard. Facing the sound of the waves, Ze Shu used a high-quality disposable towel to wipe the steel body of the Koma Swordsman standing there.

"Sigh, you..." Ze Shu looked at the battle axe above Komato Kobei's head, "When will it finally be able to move on its own?"

It has been almost a year since Gryphon snatched this "Dark Pokémon" from the team, and Gryphon's purification value is almost positive.

But I still can't move...

While Gryphon is undoubtedly an excellent and well-suited Dark Pokémon with the ability to control commands, if it were to regain consciousness, it might not be as "controllable" and would become weaker.

But Zeshu really wanted Komato Kohei to regain consciousness.

but,

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a faint metallic scraping sound. Komato Kosei raised his head almost imperceptibly, and his eyes met Sawaki's surprised and delighted gaze.

Its dark, yellow eyes remained expressionless.

But it was precisely the darkness and stillness of those eyes that made the soldier's raised head just now all the more precious.

Ze Shu proved it.

Just then, a panicked bird cry suddenly came from afar, and it was getting closer and closer at a very fast speed. By the time Ze Shu looked in the direction of the sound, it was already close enough that Ze Shu could see what was making the sound.

This is a bird Pokémon with a body larger than normal. Its body is black and blue, with a black "crown" around its neck, making its overall bird appearance quite handsome.

But at this moment, its dark blue wings flapped wildly, and its bright red eyes showed complete panic.

At that moment, the bird Pokémon saw Sawaki wiping Pike's head down. Its eyes lit up, and it immediately flapped its wings, its steel-like beak opening and closing repeatedly, squeaking nervously.

"Gaga gaga gaga—"

Zeshu looked at the panicked crow Pokémon in front of him.

He recognized it: it was a Blue Raven.

This Pokémon's final evolution is the Steel/Flying type "Corviknight," an "invincible" Pokémon in the skies of the Galar region.

As for why they weren't invincible in the skies over Padida...:

"You said you encountered a demon? It's chasing you and wants my help to drive it away and protect you?"

Ze Shu blinked.

Blue Crow nodded repeatedly.

"Gaga gaga gaga—"

The cawing of crows was incessant and frantic.

Ze Shu waved his hand, signaling Lan Ya to stop making so much noise:

"It's possible..."

He turned to look in the direction the blue raven had come from, curious to see what kind of 'demon' had driven this rather large blue raven to such a state of panic.

But then, a loud "chirp" was heard.

A tiny pink Pokémon suddenly leaped over the wall of the café's courtyard.

Ze Shu's expression immediately turned strange.

This 'demon' that could make Blue Raven so flustered... isn't it a bit too small?

Standing less than half a meter tall, with a small pink braid tied behind its head, it looked as petite and adorable as a crying child. At this moment, its large, round, pale purple eyes were still glistening with tears. It raised the small iron hammer in its hand, glared angrily at Blue Crow, and made as if it wanted to chase and strike.

This is the young blacksmith.

Its final evolution, Greatsmith, is the natural enemy of Corviknight. It can use its hammer to knock rocks away and attack Corviknights in the sky, seriously endangering traffic and even preventing Corviknights from becoming flying taxis in the Padia region.

It's not surprising that we're going against this blue raven, is it?

Seeing the young blacksmith leap into the courtyard, his eyes brimming with tears of grievance, aiming his hammer directly at Blue Crow, and sensing Blue Crow's fear, Ze Shu paused, then said to the soldier beside him:

"Let's block it first."

However, all that could be heard was a "clang" of metal colliding.

The soldier with the dagger beside him instantly transformed into a streak of metallic light, and before the blacksmith could react, it knocked his hammer away with a clang.

"Chirp?!"

The young blacksmith glanced at his empty fist, then at the soldier with the obviously high-quality metal dagger before him, and his eyes widened in shock. But the shock was short-lived; the grudge hadn't subsided. He quickly turned back, picked up his hammer, and smashed it straight at the blue raven!

"Chirp chirp!!"

Clang!

Komato, a soldier, strictly followed Sawaki's orders.

The little blacksmith's hammer was knocked away again, so it went to pick it up and smashed it at the blue crow again.

"Chirp chirp!!!"

Clang!

The young blacksmith seemed to possess astonishing perseverance, picking up the stones and hammering them repeatedly. The little soldier with the koto sword... well, it seemed oblivious, simply continuing to send the hammer flying.

After repeating this dozens of times.

The young blacksmith was bewildered.

It lowered its head blankly, looking at its hand, which was numb from being repeatedly knocked away by the hammer, and then at the Blue Raven, who looked smug as it was protected by Ze Shu.

Her large, tearful eyes looked even more aggrieved.

Simply.

It cried loudly from the ground.

"Chirp chirp chirp!!!"

But as she cried...

Suddenly, it discovered a shiny candy in front of it.

A light pink fruit gummy.

He'd seen this candy in the city before; a woman had bought it for her child. The young blacksmith didn't know what it tasted like, but since the child ate it so happily, it must have been delicious.

It really wanted to eat it and was very envious, but it didn't have a "mom" to buy it candy.

But now this candy is right in front of me?

"Could you tell me about the whole story?"

Ze Shu helped the young blacksmith unwrap the candy wrapper and smiled as he did so.

"oh..."

"You mean, the piece of iron you painstakingly found was lost by this damned Blue Raven Claw—it swooped down and snatched it away, which is why you've been chasing it all this time?"

"And now, that piece of iron that you went through so much trouble to find has been thrown away by this blue raven somewhere."

Ze Shu suddenly realized.

"That blue raven is really 'sneaky'."

Chewing on the candy given to him by Ze Shu, the little blacksmith stared at Ze Shu with his big, bright eyes looking aggrieved.

Despite the candy, it seems like it's about to burst into tears again at any moment.

"Chirp chirp!"

It berated Ze Shu for stopping it from brutally beating the Blue Raven.

Ze Shu: "Don't worry."

He turned to look at Blue Crow, who had shrunk back and looked rather sneaky.

No matter how much it tried to shrink, its body, which was much larger than a normal blue raven, could not be hidden.

A young blacksmith who is prone to tears yet brave for iron.

Blue Raven, a cowardly but mischievous big guy.

What kind of nonsense is this!

Ze Shu chuckled and said to the young blacksmith:

"So, do you want to beat up this blue crow to vent your anger?"

"look?!"

"Well, not only can you beat me up, I can help you beat you up too, as compensation for blocking you earlier, okay?"

"Chirp chirp!!!"