Chapter 478:
"The chicken coop is ready, Kaede. Are you satisfied with how it looks?"
Seeing Kaede, the captain quickly walked over to ask.
The chicken coop was located east of the villa, closer to the Berry Plantation and away from the main gate. Its structure was quite traditional, with various troughs for feeding the chickens. The back was actually connected to the Berry Plantation, with just a door built in, allowing the chickens to freely enter and exit the plantation during the day.
It might get a bit noisy, but proper exercise would also make the chicken meat firmer!
Moreover, a fence was installed along the passage between the coop and the plantation, ensuring the chickens could only use this path and couldn't wander into other areas of the villa's yard.
Otherwise...
Chicken droppings everywhere would have Kaede cursing up a storm.
Even so, Kaede was still a bit conflicted because if let into the Berry Plantation, they'd still poop everywhere.
His plan was to see if Blaziken could manage them—like teaching them to do their business in designated spots.
Although this would put Blaziken in an awkward position initially, for the sake of delicious, fresh, higher-quality chicken and eggs, he could only ask Blaziken to set aside its dignity.
He believed it would agree.
After all, it was a foodie itself.
"Good, good. This fits my ideal situation perfectly."
The construction and location of the chicken coop were very much to Kaede's liking, so he nodded in satisfaction.
He then asked, "Captain, have you thought about what we discussed last time?"
The matter from last time was naturally about entrusting them to go to Alola and build a villa at a location Kaede had chosen.
When mentioned last time, the Captain was clearly quite surprised and asked for time to think it over.
By now, quite some time had passed. After all, they needed to cross the sea by December, which took time, and building over there also took time. Naturally, the sooner they decided, the better. If they weren't willing, he'd need to find a new construction team.
Of course, a team he'd already worked with would be best since they had already built this kind of house once before.
Seeing Kaede was satisfied, the Captain felt relieved. Hearing the mention of the previous matter, his expression became more serious.
"After I went back last time, I discussed it with my team. Hearing it was for you, most of them had talked with their families. The conclusion was that almost everyone can go."
A weight lifted from Kaede's mind, and he expressed his gratitude, "Thank you so much!"
After all, it involved crossing oceans, far from home. For some in the Pokémon world, no matter how much money was offered, they wouldn't take such a job.
The Captain quickly waved his hand. "No, no, Kaede. Who else would we work for if not for someone? Everyone feels quite happy working for you. Actually, when I first heard about this job, I was willing. It's just that with so many brothers under me, opinions differ, so I needed to ask around."
"Now we've agreed. We'll set off right after this weekend."
"Mhm, mhm," Kaede nodded repeatedly. He wasn't going to nitpick.
He just added, "If anything happens along the way, tell me directly. I'll have Dragonite protect your safety at sea!"
Salamence and Dragonite had nothing to do lately, just sleeping at home all day. Giving them something to do to stretch their bones would be good.
Dragonite's old job used to be delivering mail, so this was just picking up its former work for a bit.
He could actually send them directly through the Reverse World, but there were too many people in a construction team. Even using methods like hypnosis would cause timeline discrepancies.
Crossing such a vast sea in just a few minutes would be utterly incomprehensible to ordinary people.
Hearing this, the Captain was taken aback, first thanking him, then letting out a hearty laugh. "Haha, if they knew you'd do this, young master, they'd definitely work even harder for you."
With such capability and such emotional intelligence, no wonder he could build such a large enterprise in such a short time.
He declined Kaede's offer to stay for a meal and immediately left the villa with his team.
"Phew..."
After seeing the Captain off, Kaede looked at the chicken coop and immediately called Blaziken over.
"Blaziken?"
Blaziken, summoned by the Aura, thought it was mealtime. Upon arriving, it realized it wasn't.
"This is the chicken coop."
"Blaziken?"
"The place where we'll raise chickens. This way, we can eat chickens we raised ourselves in the future."
(＠＾０＾): "Blaziken~!" Blaziken said happily.
That's great news!
"I plan to entrust this task to you."
"Blaziken~?"
Blaziken indicated it was completely fine with that.
Kaede then shifted the topic. "But, I hope you'll pay attention to two things."
"Blaziken?"
"First, you need to teach them to do their business in one spot... Of course, this isn't mandatory." After saying this, Kaede felt it was a bit abstract and immediately corrected himself. "Second, remember, they're being raised for food, not... for forming emotional bonds."
Saying this wasn't because he feared Blaziken would fall for a hen—after all, they were completely different species. Pokémon in this world had no such consciousness regarding ordinary animals.
He was just worried Blaziken might become attached and reluctant to eat them after raising them.
"Blaziken!" *(Of course!)*
Blaziken patted its chest. Joking aside, it always enjoyed fried chicken cutlets the most every time. How could it possibly... not like fried chicken cutlets anymore?
"Good, then. I'll go buy the chicks now."
Kaede patted its head.
Blaziken had been getting more diligent lately.
It was practicing fighting techniques somewhere outside every day, probably due to the loss against Rosaline, feeling determined to improve through reflection on the defeat.
He just didn't know how long this would last.
When Alolan Ninetales returned from Alola with the Eevees, it had the same thought—to get stronger and beat that big dumb bear back.
But after less than ten days of effort back home, it started slacking off again.
Well, that was very like Ninetales.
But looking at it this way, Blaziken seemed to have more willpower than Alolan Ninetales.
Come to think of it, he probably had a dish that could help Blaziken.
"Wait, Blaziken. Let me find something for you."
Stopping Blaziken as it was about to leave, Kaede quickly found a suitable dish for it.