In May, the sun set much more slowly than in other months, so even after Jack and the others finished dinner and arrived at Viridian Forest, there was still plenty of daylight remaining.
"It's this way."
Mew specifically transformed into a Gogoat to make it easier to transport Jack while searching for the real Swinub.
Jack rode on Mew's back alongside Meltan.
Bulbasaur and Sandshrew had been left behind, responsible for guarding the Ranch and preventing any mischievous Pokémon—like certain shape-shifting troublemakers—from sneaking in again.
"Swinub? Are you here?" Jack called out Swinub's name clearly.
But there was no response.
"Mew, whether Swinub shows up or not, you still need to apologize properly."
"Mew~" Mew spun around playfully in circles.
Jack pointed firmly at the basket of mushroom stew in his hand and said threateningly, "Do you still want to eat my cooking or not?"
"Mew!"
Mew cleared her throat. (Swinub, I just thought the black truffle looked incredibly delicious. I didn't mean to steal it from you. I'm truly sorry.)
After the apology was delivered, Swinub still didn't make an appearance.
Jack carefully placed the warm mushroom stew exactly where the black truffle had originally been growing, hoping that Swinub would eventually find it.
"Alright, let's head back home."
The Gogoat that Mew had transformed into ran with remarkable stability, and they soon departed from Viridian Forest.
Not long after Jack left the area, Swinub finally crawled out cautiously from beneath a pile of fallen leaves.
She was still injured and didn't want to attract the unwanted attention of other wild Pokémon.
She let out a soft huff of acknowledgment.
Swinub walked carefully over to the basket of mushroom stew and pushed aside the cloth covering it.
The rich, earthy aroma of various mushrooms permeated the entire area, including the distinctive scent of black truffle.
Swinub suddenly spat out a round stone she'd been holding in her mouth, and her entire body began emanating a brilliant, dazzling light.
The bandages wrapped around her body snapped apart as her form rapidly expanded.
The originally small Swinub transformed into an incredibly robust creature and grew a magnificent pair of fierce tusks.
This was Swinub's evolved form—Piloswine.
The newly evolved Piloswine huffed with satisfaction.
Long, shaggy fur now completely covered her eyes.
Piloswine, relying entirely on her keen sense of smell, carefully opened the basket to enjoy the mushroom stew...
Meanwhile
Riding on the Mew-transformed Gogoat, Jack and Meltan quickly returned to the Ranch.
"Mew, you absolutely cannot do something like that again next time, understand?"
Jack pointed directly at Mew's small nose and scolded her firmly.
Meltan hadn't expected this turn of events at all.
Jack had only been in this world for two or three days total, and he was already bold enough to lecture and criticize the legendary Mew.
How incredibly impressive!
Although Mew could be quite mischievous and playful, she definitely wasn't a truly malicious or evil Pokémon at heart.
She obediently listened to Jack's lecture, occasionally responding with a soft "Mew~" to show she was paying attention.
"Mew, where do you plan to go next?" Jack asked with genuine curiosity.
The Ranch simply couldn't afford to support any more Pokémon at this point.
Although Mew was a mythical Pokémon of incredible power, judging by her enormous appetite during tonight's dinner, adding her to the household might push the Ranch into a state of severe financial imbalance.
"Mew~" (But I want to keep eating Jack's amazing food!)
Jack sighed heavily. "The Ranch doesn't have enough money to support you right now. If you're just planning to freeload off me, that absolutely won't work."
Meltan and Bulbasaur were both officially Jack's Pokémon, and Sandshrew was at least nominally working at the Ranch to pay off his debt.
If there was suddenly one more freeloader consuming resources, the Ranch definitely wouldn't be able to sustain itself at this early stage.
"Mew~" (But I have many valuable treasures hidden throughout Viridian Forest! I can pay you for room and board!)
Now they were getting somewhere.
If Mew wanted to live here and enjoy his cooking, she would have to pay her fair share!
"Then it all depends on the quality of your treasures tomorrow morning. Otherwise, I won't let you eat my cooking tomorrow. And also, if you ever take other people's belongings again without permission, I won't let you come back here at all."
After successfully negotiating the "residence fees" with Mew, Jack needed to carefully plan out the Ranch's future development.
Helping the real Swinub and delivering the mushroom stew that afternoon had taken nearly two full hours.
It was already quite late now, and working in the fields was no longer feasible.
This was actually a perfect time to thoroughly analyze the Ranch's current situation.
"Right now, the Ranch has five mouths to feed... no, wait, five and a half mouths to feed."
Jack crossed out his initial calculation in his notebook. Mew's appetite was absolutely enormous, so she definitely needed to be counted as an extra half person's worth of food consumption.
Currently, he had exactly 6,974 League coins remaining in his budget.
Selling the berries and herbs they'd collected in Viridian Forest tomorrow should bring his total up to around nine thousand League coins.
"Production-type Pokémon are ridiculously expensive."
For example, a single Combee cost five thousand League coins, and constructing a proper beehive structure would require additional funding.
Not to mention highly productive Pokémon like Miltank or Wooloo, which were even more costly.
"First, I'll buy ordinary farm animals. Tomorrow, I'll build a proper barn and purchase a regular cow to produce Moomoo Milk. If the treasures Mew brings turn out to be valuable enough, I'll consider upgrading to an actual Miltank instead. The products created by Pokémon still command much higher selling prices in the market."
The Moomoo Milk produced by Miltank fetched significantly higher prices than regular milk, and even if he kept it for personal consumption, it had exceptional nutritional value.
"Wait, are these Pokémon from a completely new region? I haven't seen them before."
"Smoliv, Nacli... they're all Pokémon from the Paldea region. No wonder I didn't recognize them."
Jack had only watched the Pokémon animated series up through the Alola region.
He only had a basic, surface-level understanding of the later generations and didn't know much detail about them.
He also hadn't played any of the video games from those newer regions.
According to the information he was reading, Smoliv could spray high-quality oil from the berry-like fruit on its head, and the oil it produced had excellent nutritional value.
Nacli's rock salt body would naturally wear down as it moved around, producing mineral-rich salt that apparently even possessed mild wound-healing properties.
"It looks like there are actually quite a few Pokémon species that could be used for productive purposes on the Ranch."
The Next Day
Mew brought her collection of treasures to Jack bright and early in the morning.
This was necessary because Jack needed to prepare all the items he wanted to sell before Uncle Antoine arrived with his truck.
"Mew~"
Mew carefully extracted a yellowish-green seed and presented it to Jack.
This was her payment for freeloading on food, drink, and lodging for an entire week.
[Miracle Seed: An item that significantly boosts the power of Grass-type moves when held by a Grass-type Pokémon.]
"It really is an actual Miracle Seed."
Every year, a few lucky individuals would supposedly discover a Miracle Seed somewhere in Viridian Forest.
Perhaps this was merely one of Mew's most ordinary and common treasures.
"A Miracle Seed plus the berries and other goods I collected... I think I can use these funds to directly purchase several Pokémon."
"Mew, just wait here for a moment. I'll prepare breakfast for everyone shortly."
Upon hearing this wonderful news, Mew immediately floated directly into Jack's bedroom, found the warm quilt he had just recently climbed out of, and settled down comfortably on it.
Not long afterward, Uncle Antoine drove his large truck up to the entrance of Silver Ranch right on schedule.
"Uncle Antoine, your timing is absolutely perfect. I have quite a few things I need to sell today."
Jack carried out a large bamboo basket that was filled to the brim with various berries, along with a smaller portion consisting of mushrooms and medicinal herbs.
"Your berry plants are bearing fruit this quickly already?" Uncle Antoine began carefully tallying up the prices of all these goods.
"No, these were all foraged by me and my Pokémon in Viridian Forest yesterday. The berries I actually planted will still take quite some time before they're ready to harvest."
"For all of these combined, I can offer you two thousand League coins total."
This was approximately what Jack had expected. After all, these items were relatively common and abundant in the area.
Although the total quantity was quite substantial, the individual unit price ultimately couldn't be raised very high.
Antoine efficiently loaded Jack's goods onto his truck and handed Jack the promised two thousand League coins in cash.
"Uncle Antoine, would you happen to be interested in purchasing a Miracle Seed as well?"
"A Miracle Seed? You actually found a Miracle Seed in Viridian Forest?"
Antoine genuinely hadn't expected that such a newcomer could discover something so valuable in Viridian Forest.
Jack retrieved the "lodging fee" that Mew had given him—a beautiful yellow-green seed that seemed to shimmer slightly.
"It really is a genuine Miracle Seed, and both its appearance and quality are absolutely exceptional."
Antoine kept examining the Miracle Seed with great interest and obvious fascination.
He had never personally seen a Miracle Seed preserved in such pristine, perfect condition before.