— Kanto Region · Metropolis · Saffron City —
Counting both the first and second halves of the year, it had been nearly a year since Ash and Clarissa had officially started dating.
Their relationship had begun after the Joy family watched Professor Oak's Pokémon Summer Camp livestream.
The Joy family had immediately placed great importance on Ash because of the "healing superpower" he possessed.
On top of that, Ash himself was exceptionally handsome, had an outstanding character, possessed extraordinary talent, came from a clean and respectable family background, and was also blessed with a rare supernatural ability.
In other words, Ash had always been viewed by many prestigious families as a promising young man and a highly desirable "golden son-in-law."
Therefore, after the Pokémon Summer Camp concluded, the Joy family relied on their relationship with the Oak family and had Gary's older sister, Daisy, approach Ash with a marriage proposal on their behalf.
The conditions they offered were exceptionally generous and accommodating.
However, Ash knew that the Viridian Blessing could not be inherited.
He was unwilling to deceive the Joy family, but at the same time, he didn't want to reveal too much information about his supernatural abilities.
So, after giving them a vague hint about the matter, Ash politely declined the marriage proposal from the Joy family.
What he hadn't expected was that the person the Joy family had originally intended to marry him to was actually Clarissa herself—the treasured jewel and little princess of the Kanto Joy family.
Moreover, the Joy family hadn't reduced their opinion of Ash simply because of his implication that his "healing superpower" could not be inherited.
He was still handsome, upright, from a respectable family, and extraordinarily talented.
He was still a highly desirable catch.
He remained the ideal candidate for a marriage with a high-quality young woman from a prestigious family.
Later, when Ash wanted to establish his online medical clinic, he needed to undergo an assessment by the Alliance's medical and public health department before he could obtain the necessary permits and qualifications.
And that assessment was conducted by the Joy family.
During the initial training and study period, the Joy family also sent their little princess, Clarissa, to the Pokémon Center in Viridian City.
The two of them then underwent training together and began their practical internship.
Ash had initially worried that he had only just rejected a marriage proposal from the Joy family, only to turn around and voluntarily start dating a girl from that very same family.
He was afraid this might offend the Joy family.
As a result, for quite a long time, Ash deliberately kept Clarissa at arm's length.
He would approach her sometimes, then retreat again, maintaining a polite distance and deliberately avoiding getting too close.
But if Ash honestly examined his own feelings, he had to admit that he was actually quite fond of this adorable girl with her gentle, dignified, and intelligent personality.
As they spent more and more time together, affection gradually blossomed between them.
After the misunderstanding surrounding the marriage proposal was finally cleared up, Ash and Clarissa eventually got together.
Over the past year, the two of them had been able to see each other every day, and their relationship had grown steadily deeper.
Recently, however, Serena's birthday was approaching.
Ash was preparing to take Clarissa and Misty to the Kalos region to visit his girlfriend, whom he had been separated from for such a long time, and celebrate her birthday with her.
On their way to Kalos, there was another reason Ash and Clarissa decided to stop in Saffron City first.
Clarissa hadn't returned home for a long time.
At the same time, it was more convenient for Misty to travel to Saffron City and meet up with them there.
And Saffron City, being the largest metropolis in the Kanto region, possessed Kanto's largest international airport.
Therefore, Ash and Clarissa decided to travel to Saffron City first.
Ash would accompany Clarissa home, meet her family, and then, after meeting up with Misty, the three of them would board a flight together and head for the Kalos region.
"Whoa..."
After arriving in Saffron City in Clarissa's family's extended luxury limousine, Ash looked through the car window at the towering skyscrapers outside and couldn't help taking a deep breath.
It wasn't because he was a country boy from a small town who was overwhelmed by his first visit to a major city.
As someone who had transmigrated into this world, Ash had lived in major cities on Blue Star in his previous life.
Those cities were no less impressive than Saffron City.
Furthermore, Viridian City itself was a first-tier metropolis in Kanto.
Ash went there every day.
Naturally, he wasn't the kind of person who would suddenly become nervous or uncomfortable simply because he had entered a large city.
The reason he felt nervous and under pressure now was much simpler.
He was about to meet his girlfriend's parents.
Misty's situation was completely different.
Her parents had died years ago while participating in the Alliance's campaign to eliminate Team Rocket.
As a result, she was now left with only her three older sisters.
And Misty's three sisters all had fairly good personalities.
Moreover, they weren't much older than her.
Therefore, while interacting with them, Ash had never experienced that oppressive feeling one might get from meeting the stern elders of a large family.
Clarissa's family was different.
As the treasured jewel of the Kanto Joy family, Clarissa had the entire Joy family standing behind her.
There were many senior members and elders within the family.
And now, Ash was suddenly going to meet all these members of Clarissa's family.
There was no way he could honestly claim that he wasn't nervous.
"Big Brother Ash, you don't need to be nervous. My mother and grandmother are both really nice."
Seeing that Ash seemed a little tense, Clarissa, who was sitting beside him, reached over and gently squeezed his hand to comfort him.
"Mm."
Ash nodded.
The nervousness in his heart immediately eased somewhat.
Of course, Clarissa's reassurance only played a small part in calming him down.
The main reason Ash managed to relax was because he realized that sooner or later, he would have to meet Clarissa's family anyway.
Whether he met them now or sometime in the future didn't actually make much difference.
Besides, it was perfectly normal for him to feel nervous about something like this.
He could be nervous internally.
But he absolutely couldn't allow that nervousness to show too clearly.
Otherwise, it would cost him points when it came to his first impression.
There was another factor Ash considered.
Although the Joy family behind Clarissa was an enormous and influential force, the Joy family was fundamentally a medical family and a neutral faction.
Its strength was primarily reflected in the enormous size of its population, its industries, and its extensive network of connections.
The Joy family's actual combat strength wasn't particularly formidable.
And for years, the Joy family had been trying to compensate for this weakness and improve its own strength.
Furthermore, Ash was no longer some poor country boy from a remote little town.
As the Alliance's number-one promising talent and a celebrity Trainer known throughout Kanto, Ash not only possessed extraordinary talent, but after all this time, he had already transformed that talent into genuine strength.
His financial capital was equally impressive.
His Skill Online Shop was bringing in enormous profits every day.
The City Arena provided him with substantial battle prize money.
The royalties from publishing Ash's Feebas Beauty Guide had already exceeded hundreds of millions of Poké Coins.
As a celebrity Trainer, Ash was also frequently approached by various brands for commercial partnerships, brand ambassador positions, and endorsement deals.
Even the Pokémon under his command regularly received invitations to participate in branded livestream promotions and other commercial collaborations.
All of this had already turned Ash, despite his young age, into a billionaire on the wealth rankings.
And in the future, as the Alliance and other consortiums gradually received authorization to use the five Remote Capture patents, Ash would essentially be able to sit back and do nothing while vast amounts of wealth continued flowing into his accounts every single day.
And that wasn't even mentioning the entertainment company he had founded.
Ash had established the company partly to monetize his own influence and partly to create a better future platform for Serena's career as a Coordinator and performer.
Although the company was still in its early stages and hadn't yet signed or cultivated various celebrity talents, its founder, Ash himself, was already the biggest celebrity under its banner.
At present, the company was responsible for handling Ash's commercial collaborations with various brands while also producing all kinds of merchandise related to him.
A single person was enough to support an entire company.
And that company, in turn, continuously generated even more wealth for him.
...
Taking all of these factors together, Ash had long since transformed from merely being a promising young man into a truly outstanding son-in-law.
In the eyes of the Joy family, there was hardly a more attractive young man than him.
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