As late autumn approached, the temperatures continued to drop.
During this period, the orchards of Fruitvale Village welcomed a second wave of harvesting, bringing smiles to the villagers' faces that stretched from ear to ear.
Out in the grassy field, Aven was busy training his Oddish Squad.
With the steadily declining temperature, the Pokémon from Mount Coronet were surely beginning to migrate down the mountain.
(TN: Changing Heavenspire Mountain Range to Mount Coronet. Yes, I also just found out about it. I'll edit the past chapters if I time.)
Once they reached the Black Forest at the mountain's base, it would definitely throw the forest's ecosystem into chaos.
In a situation where food became scarce, Pokémon would leave the Black Forest and encroach upon human territory.
That would be the true test of the Oddish Squad's combat abilities. Whether or not they could protect the orchard would greatly affect Aven's future farming plans.
For the Oddish who already treated the farm as their home, the winter battles were just as important. They had no desire to lose the home they had worked so hard to find. The thought alone filled them with power.
"Oddish, just like that! Use Absorb!"
As Aven's voice rang out, green light began to radiate from each Oddish on the field.
Since they were all using Absorb simultaneously, the green light connected into one large glow, and the grass beneath their feet visibly withered at a rapid pace.
This was due to the Oddish absorbing the energy stored in the soil with their Absorb moves.
But Aven wasn't the least bit worried. Tomorrow, he would have Rhyhorn use Rototiller again, and the withered grass would quickly grow back.
"Hmm, the Absorb training is going well," Aven nodded.
"Using Absorb alongside Rototiller can completely cover the Oddish's daily energy needs."
He let out a long sigh of relief. Over the past few weeks, the Oddish Squad had grown to 200 members. As the team grew, so did the resource consumption—exponentially.
And that was just the Oddish Squad's usage alone. It was hard to even imagine how the lady supported the massive Rhyhorn cavalry—just 100 Rhyhorn would consume resources far beyond what any ordinary person could manage.
While the Oddish were recovering their energy using Absorb, Aven took a trip to the berry orchard.
There, several wooden barrels were lined up, all filled with fermenting rotten berries. It wouldn't be long before he could produce another batch of growth fertilizer.
Still, it was unrealistic to rely solely on growth fertilizer to support the Oddish's regular energy consumption. Just like irrigating the berries, it could only be used occasionally.
This had significantly slowed down their training progress, so Aven had been trying to come up with a more reliable way to acquire large quantities of rotten berries. Using fresh berries for fertilizer was simply too wasteful.
…
In the farmhouse, Mike looked at Aven with a stunned and hesitant expression.
"You want to buy unripe berries?"
Just moments ago, Aven had approached him with a proposal—to use the gold coins they had earned from the lord to purchase large quantities of unripe berries from neighboring villages.
But that wasn't what surprised him. What shocked Mike was the price Aven was offering—it was way too generous. It felt like he was handing free money to the farmers in those other villages.
"This year's winter came too early. At this rate, most of their berries won't even make it to harvest," Aven explained.
Mike fell silent. He, too, sympathized with the struggles of those farmers.
He wasn't opposed to Aven buying the unripe berries—Aven had already explained that they could be used to produce fertilizer.
It was just… the price Aven offered—five copper coins for a single unripe berry—was almost absurd. You could buy an entire basket of rotten berries for that.
At that rate, everything they'd earned this year might be lost. They might not even break even.
"It's fine. Just do as I say," Aven said with a smile, unconcerned.
Seeing that, Mike could only swallow his doubts and sigh as he went off to make preparations.
"We must protect these berry farmers," Aven thought as he stared at the healing potions before him. "In the long run, population is more important for regional development."
Once this winter passed, he planned to gradually integrate those farmers into his rural cooperative initiative.
Stockpiling fertilizer now would serve as a great startup resource for when the time came.
And with the recent deal they'd made, those farmers would surely trust him more—it was a solid foundation for future collaboration.
Besides, he really did need a lot of fertilizer right now to help the Oddish Squad grow stronger and guard the orchard through the winter.
Meanwhile, in Stonefall Village, Village Chief Raul was feeling deeply troubled.
This early winter had been nothing short of a disaster for berry farmers like them.
In previous years, while they couldn't always finish harvesting before winter, they could at least complete the first wave of picking.
But now, based on their estimates, they might not even get through the first harvest before magical beasts attacked.
Those damned beasts would devour every berry in the orchard, leaving nothing but bare branches behind.
Just thinking about it made Raul feel like he couldn't breathe—an entire year's worth of effort, gone with nothing to show for it.
The villagers had already started discussing how to defend themselves against the incoming monsters.
They hoped to protect as much of their crop as they could. From what they knew, the initial wave of magical beasts invading human lands wouldn't be too large.
But they were still magical beasts. Their village only had a single big watchdog—how could they possibly fend them off?
Even the weakest Rattata had teeth sharp enough to kill a grown adult wielding a weapon, let alone more powerful beasts.
Just as Raul was drowning in gloom, someone came to inform him that Mike, the village chief from Fruitvale Village, had come to see him.
Fruitvale Village… Raul perked up. He had already heard of their recent bountiful harvest. Alongside his envy, he couldn't help feeling a little jealous. How had they pulled it off?
Some of his young villagers had gone to Fruitvale Village to investigate, but the locals there had been tight-lipped. They hadn't learned a thing.
Now, Mike had come personally.
Could it be… he was finally willing to share the secret behind Fruitvale Village's success?
(End of Chapter)