Perhaps because he had finally pinpointed the root of the problem, Lucas's expression was especially serious and stern.
Gimmighoul shrank its neck a little, feeling wronged, as if it couldn't understand why Lucas's tone had suddenly become so strict.
It had only been acting according to the instincts of its kind—working very hard to collect coins and moving step by step toward that hazy, perhaps-unreachable goal.
Behind Lucas, Raifort and Ryme exchanged a glance and unconsciously showed thoughtful expressions.
So that's how it is?
Judging from the outcome, Gimmighoul had indeed stolen quite a few valuable items from the teachers and students of Naranja Academy. It had even swiped the important gold ring belonging to the beautiful nurse Miriam from the infirmary. That was an unchangeable fact.
But if Gimmighoul didn't even understand that directly taking other people's belongings counted as stealing, then the situation became subtle.
At the very least, they couldn't expect a wild Pokémon to share the same morals and values as humans. Casually picking up items humans had left lying around, apparently not wanting them anymore was almost completely ordinary behavior for many wild Pokémon.
Out in the wild, there were even Pokémon that specialized in ambushing passing Trainers, snatching their backpacks, rummaging through their supplies, and taking what they wanted.
Taking that into account, what Lucas was doing now was teaching Gimmighoul what could be done and what couldn't.
Precisely because it was hard to define whether punishment was needed, and if so, how far it should go, the importance of education was highlighted here.
Seeing Gimmighoul's aggrieved and frightened little face, Lucas's expression softened somewhat. He took Gimmighoul from Comfey's vine whip and said gently:
"Return all these things to their original owners, and then give them a sincere apology. Can you do that?"
This time Gimmighoul didn't try to run away. It let out a somewhat muffled "ding-ding" cry, clearly still struggling to understand what, exactly, it had done wrong.
Seeing it so depressed, Lucas could only feel helpless.
In truth, the world didn't have any unified standard for handling theft cases like this committed by wild Pokémon.
Some particularly excessive cases, where the Pokémon showed no signs of changing, might be sent to special League-run rehabilitation and behavioral correction facilities—but those were rare.
In Lucas's eyes, Gimmighoul still had plenty of room to improve. Things didn't need to escalate to that point.
With that thought, Lucas crouched down slightly, set Gimmighoul on the ground, and said:
"Go find your coins. As for the other items, I'll have Ms. Ryme get in touch with their owners."
Gimmighoul looked left and right, glanced fearfully at Ryme and the Houndstone beside her, and at the shadow at Raifort's feet. Under Lucas's encouragement, it walked toward the pile of loot and started rummaging for its own coins.
Ryme could only shrug helplessly; she had no objections to Lucas's request.
After all, this made it easier for her to report back to Haceri.
Raifort's gaze moved back and forth between Lucas and Gimmighoul, who was busily searching for its own coin. She said with conviction:
"You got designs on its body, huh?"
Lucas: "Don't put it so crudely."
"Then you do have designs on its body. Otherwise, there'd be no need to play the good guy and come up with a way to downplay its crimes and smooth everything over."
Raifort was very sure of her reasoning.
Lucas gave her a helpless look and dismissed her with, "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say."
Just then, Gimmighoul found its most important coin. Hugging it to its chest, it let out an excited, chiming cry.
Perhaps because more and more students were gathering nearby, once Gimmighoul had its coin, it grew timid and scampered to Lucas's feet, desperately trying to crawl into his shoe to hide.
There was no way Lucas would let it crawl into his shoe. He carefully picked it up and tucked it into the unexpectedly well-sized pocket of his dress shirt.
Gimmighoul was immediately surrounded by a sense of safety and snuggled even closer to Lucas's chest.
If it were an ordinary person doing what Lucas was doing, there was no way Gimmighoul would have let down its guard so quickly.
Maybe it was because of their meeting at the Watchtower in Asado Desert. The favorable impression planted back then had grown into trust, enough that this timid little thing was willing to take the first step and accept Lucas's help.
—
After lunch.
While teachers and students were all on their lunch break, a long line had formed outside Lucas's office.
These were people who had reported lost items to the Academy. After Ryme submitted her report, Clavell had arranged for them to come here to claim their belongings.
The reason the pickup location was Lucas's office was mainly because many of the items were personal possessions, some of them quite private.
When the door closed with a soft sound, the two people who entered were Dendra, whom Lucas had just seen that morning, and Miriam, the owner of the gold ring.
Lucas took a small box from the categorized stack that Ryme had already arranged and handed it to Miriam, whose face lit up with surprise at the return of her lost treasure.
"Check and see if it's the right thing."
Miriam nodded lightly, lips pressed together, and carefully opened the box Lucas had given her.
When she saw the exquisitely crafted gold ring lying quietly inside, tears slid down the corners of her eyes. She clenched the precious item in both hands and burst into tears of joy in Dendra's arms.
After a while, once Miriam's emotions had stabilized, she gave Lucas a faint, gentle smile. Her sweet voice was filled with gratitude.
"Thank you for helping me get my ring back, Teacher Lucas."
Dendra, meanwhile, unobtrusively wiped away Miriam's tears with a tissue and looked at Lucas like he was some kind of deity.
She had told Lucas the basic details only two hours ago, and in less than two hours he had caught the real culprit and recovered all the stolen items.
So this was a Champion-level Trainer?
That was way too cool!
"It's nothing. As long as the items end up back where they belong, that's all that matters."
Lucas smiled at Miriam, then flicked Gimmighoul—who had already received quite a number of visitors and was so tired it was about to fall asleep—on the head and said:
"Time to get up and apologize."
Gimmighoul jolted, hurriedly scrambling to stand, hugged its beloved coin, and bowed deeply to Miriam, chiming out an apology.
"Ding ding!" (Gomen nasai desu!)
No one looking at this little guy, with its almost artisan spirit, would imagine that when it evolved, it would turn into a coin-flinging capitalist Pokémon.
Miriam's cheeks flushed slightly at the sight of this cute little figure bowing and apologizing so earnestly. She waved her hands.
"I accept your apology."
Dendra grinned broadly and teased, "Just don't do it again in the future."
Just like the previous owners who had come in, after receiving Gimmighoul's sincere apology, they chose to forgive it and give it another chance to mend its ways.
Once they left, the next owner entered the office.
It wasn't until two in the afternoon that the line outside the office finally disappeared, and only one slightly larger box remained on Lucas's desk.
Unlike the other boxes, which contained simple gold trinkets or similar-looking items, this one held genuine, old Paldean coins—exactly what Gimmighoul needed.
And their owner was Raifort.
All the formalities were done. Lucas looked at Raifort, who sat smiling in front of him, box in hand, apology from Gimmighoul already received, yet clearly with no intention of leaving. His eyes showed a trace of helplessness.
"You still need something?"
Raifort deliberately retorted, "Can't I stay if I don't need anything?"
"I'm heading back. If there's nothing else, you should go."
Lucas stood, clearly trying to usher her out.
Raifort dropped the playful attitude at once. Her smile reined in, she pushed the box forward, the coins inside clinking together with her movement.
"Name your price."
Lucas's gaze first fell on the box, then on Gimmighoul, who, after this lesson, was now choosing to keep its eyes squeezed shut, refusing to be tempted by outside lures.
After a moment's thought, he took out his phone. "Hold on, I'll check the market price."
Raifort: "…"
Watching Lucas seriously tapping on his phone, Raifort's brain nearly crashed.
Seriously? You're really looking it up on the spot?
Aren't you afraid I'll jack up the price the second you expose yourself as a newbie?
Lucas paid no attention to Raifort's speechless expression. He typed a message carefully and sent it to Oranguru at the farm.
He really couldn't be bothered to struggle with something as tedious as checking market prices himself. Instead of fussing around forever and still not deciding, it was better to leave it to a professional.
Once the message was sent, Oranguru replied quickly.
Lucas glanced at the number it gave and raised an eyebrow. He said directly:
"Fifty thousand League coins per piece."
Raifort, who had been debating how high she could go without overdoing it: "…"
How did he nail my exact psychological price point that fast?
She suddenly felt that she understood Lucas less and less. Closing her eyes as if thinking hard, she ran some numbers internally.
There were twenty-five ancient Paldean coins in the box, spoils from the last tomb she looted before. She'd never gotten around to laundering them.
At fifty thousand League coins apiece, twenty-five coins came to 1.25 million. Even as antiques, that was a steep price.
However, the reason old Paldean coins fetched such a high price was their extreme rarity.
They only existed as funerary items in certain ancient ruins and tombs, like the one she and Lucas had just visited. Getting them out cleanly was extremely difficult.
How had Lucas nailed the value in such a short time?
Or was he just putting on an act?
Raifort swallowed down the counteroffer that had risen to her lips. After looking Lucas and Gimmighoul over once more, she smiled and said breezily:
"Deal. Big spender!"
Lucas paused, his expression turning a little odd.
"I thought you'd try to haggle."
"Close enough is fine. It's not like I'm some greedy person—plus, the client this time is you, a familiar face." Raifort waved her hand carelessly, then picked up the pen on Lucas's desk and wrote down a string of numbers, passing it to him. "Transfer the money to this account."
"Alright."
Lucas accepted the slip and nodded lightly. Even though he had just blown a huge amount of money in one go, he didn't even frown.
On her way out, Raifort pointed at Gimmighoul, who had used up so much courage and energy that it had fallen asleep hugging its coin.
"You really plan to follow the legends, collect ancient Paldean coins, and try to evolve it?"
Raifort couldn't understand it. At present, the research community still had no solid answer on how Gimmighoul evolved. Maybe its coin-collecting was just a quirk that had nothing to do with evolution at all.
Yet Lucas had spent so much to buy the coins, and because some of the treasures in Gimmighoul's hoard were reported missing property, he'd had to compensate the registered owners at equal or higher value.
Was all of that really worth it?
To Raifort, who always calculated from the perspective of profit, it made no sense.
"That's the plan for now."
Lucas didn't deny it. Having finally met a Gimmighoul that quite suited him, he truly did want to raise it into a Gholdengo.
As for the money spent on ancient coins… the farm's current income streams could support him, so long as he didn't go too crazy. And according to the Pokédex, Gholdengo was literally a Pokémon that throws money around.
Besides, this little guy really did have a connection with him.
They'd first met at the Watchtower in Asado Desert, and yet he'd encountered it again here at Naranja Academy. Lucas felt that since fate had brought them together, he had to cherish the chance.
After Raifort left, Lucas had Oranguru, in its role as butler, help him transfer the payment to her account. Then he poked the little figure that was sleeping soundly.
The drowsy bubble popped, and Gimmighoul showed a tiny flash of temper—really just a tiny bit.
It puffed out its cheeks and opened its eyes angrily to see who had disturbed its dream, only to discover the twenty-five gleaming old Paldean coins piled up in front of it.
In an instant, Gimmighoul's eyes lit up. It instinctively wanted to rush forward and haul the coins away, to hide them all somewhere it considered absolutely safe.
But just then, the memories from earlier came flooding back.
Gimmighoul's movement froze halfway through. It silently suppressed its itching little hands and turned its head away, refusing to look at the glittering gold.
Gimmighoul: (〃＞＿＜;〃) Must…resist…!
"What are you doing? They're all yours now."
Lucas's voice suddenly sounded overhead.
"Ding?"
Gimmighoul blinked, looking up at him in confusion.
Lucas pushed the twenty-five ancient Paldean coins closer and smiled.
"Want to come with me? From now on, no more wandering around and taking other people's things."
"From now on, we'll collect coins together. When we've gathered 999 of them, you'll be able to evolve."
Gimmighoul stared blankly up at him. It wasn't clear whether it was the indoor lighting that was too bright or its emotions that were too intense—
But it felt a dampness at the corners of its eyes. An unprecedented emotion surged through its heart, making its chiming cry tremble.
"Ding-Ding!"
It gently set down the coin that had accompanied it through so many hardships, then scampered across the desk on its short little legs and wrapped its arms around Lucas's hand.
Feeling the warmth in his palm, Gimmighoul rubbed its face against it again and again, little bubbles of joy floating constantly from its head.
Gimmighoul thought that it would probably remember this day forever.
This was the day it met a soft-hearted Trainer who brought a new home to a little wanderer that had no place to belong. The day someone corrected its mistakes and promised to help it collect 999 ancient Paldean coins so it could become the Gholdengo every Gimmighoul dreamed of being.
It truly was very lucky.