"Having Simisear help with brick firing?"
Upon hearing this, Ryan was slightly stunned.
Draconis nodded, "Simisear is a Fire-type beast. It can spew extremely hot flames from its mouth, so I want to hire it to work for this territory."
"As compensation, I will provide it with more food and candy."
At this point, Draconis paused slightly.
From the original owner's memories, he knew that besides the large amount of supplies he carried, the Old King had also prepared a large amount of gold coins for him.
In this ancient era without alliance coins, gold coins were the circulating currency.
But for the current territory, no amount of gold coins would be useful, and the territory currently had no taxes, so Draconis had no way to distribute gold coins as payment.
"I need to discuss this with Simisear," Ryan said, scratching his head.
"Of course," Draconis nodded.
So, Ryan chose to excuse himself.
He left the Lord's Hall and returned to his wooden house.
Pushing open the door, Ryan saw several beasts, led by Simisear, waiting for his return at home.
He finally had a home!
An unprecedented feeling instantly surged in Ryan's heart.
He personally cooked a very hearty dinner for these beasts.
There was fish soup, fruit, and bread.
After dinner, Ryan found Simisear and relayed what Draconis had said today to it.
"Oh, right, Simisear, His Highness Draconis asked me today if you'd be willing to work for this territory."
"Bak?" Hearing this, Simisear's face showed a puzzled expression; it seemed not to understand what these words meant.
"It means His Highness Draconis wants to hire you and ask you to use your flames to help fire clay bricks. As compensation, His Highness will provide you with more food and candy."
Ryan scratched his head and added:
"Don't worry, if you don't want to do it, we won't go!"
He didn't tell Simisear about the territory's difficulties, nor did he use their emotional bond to ask it, because that would be too much like emotional blackmail for Simisear.
However, Simisear is a very intelligent Pokémon.
Even if Ryan didn't say anything, it could sense it.
Because in these past few days, it had personally witnessed the territory's predicament.
"Bak…"
Simisear looked at Patrat beside it.
The people of this territory had helped it cure its sick Patrat, so if it could also help, it wouldn't mind going to assist.
After all, just using flames would be effortless for it.
"Bak!" Simisear gently nodded its head.
"You agreed?" Ryan couldn't help but ask.
"Bak!" Simisear gave an affirmative answer.
The next day, the work of firing bricks officially began with Simisear's help.
As the lord of this territory, Draconis specifically chose a time to visit and observe the entire process of firing clay bricks.
Workers used wooden molds to shape the processed clay into square brick blanks. After the brick blanks dried, they were neatly placed into the dome-shaped brick kiln that the workers had built in advance.
Finally, it was Simisear's time to perform.
It opened its mouth, and with a flash of fire, a blazing, scorching flame immediately gushed out.
Time passed minute by minute.
The flames engulfed the entire brick kiln. Under the scorching heat of this extremely high-temperature Flamethrower, the minerals in the brick blanks inside the kiln rapidly underwent chemical changes. The brick blanks turned fiery red, like heated metal, looking incredibly beautiful.
Watching this scene, the blacksmith Morik couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
He signaled Simisear to stop breathing fire, then walked up to Draconis and reported:
"Your Highness, the firing of the bricks is initially complete. Now we just need to wait for these red bricks to cool down, and then they will be completely finished."
Cooling would take about one to two days.
Draconis nodded; now they had plenty of time.
Draconis ordered everyone to disperse and return tomorrow morning to inspect the results.
And as compensation for Simisear's help, Draconis had people send it a large amount of food and candy.
In front of Ryan's small house, Simisear stared blankly at the pile of candy and berries before it.
It looked at the maid in front of it with some disbelief: "Bak?!" So much!
The maid looked at the beast in front of her and explained with a smile, "These were all sent to you by His Highness Draconis. His Highness said he is very grateful for your willingness to help."
"Bak…" But this is too much, isn't it?
Simisear was at a loss for a moment.
You see, when they were in the wild before, they had to put in a lot of effort to find a few berries to fill their stomachs.
And now, it just needed to help with a fire and could get so many berries and candies… Simisear was stunned, a look of disbelief on its face.
So, so much food!
"His Highness Draconis is a very benevolent prince," Ryan said with a smile. "Take it, Simisear, you deserve this."
"Bak…" Simisear felt a bit moved internally. It immediately decided to work even harder for His Highness Draconis in the future.
Not only Simisear, but even Patrat, Pidove, and Foongus nearby also showed surprised expressions.
So, helping humans can get you so much food?
Then can they also help?
At this moment, something quietly changed in the hearts of several Pokémon.
Draconis was unaware of all this.
That night, a Blizzard began outside.
The biting cold wind, carrying snowflakes, raged past the window.
Draconis listened to Alfred's report while looking at the scene outside the window.
In the wooden house, five Minccino huddled by the window, looking out at the Blizzard through the glass, their small faces filled with worry.
Even Snivy, whose emotions rarely fluctuated, now showed a hint of worry.
Only Dratini seemed to feel nothing, sleeping soundly nestled in Draconis's clothes.
"Your Highness, the Blizzard has arrived," Alfred said, looking worried.
Draconis hummed; he had already seen it.
Fortunately, they had prepared in advance, built wooden houses to shelter from wind and snow, gathered enough food, and collected enough wood for heating.
December had passed, and they were now officially in mid-January. The next month or so would be the coldest months of the entire year.
Draconis pondered as he spoke, "Alfred, give orders for everyone in the territory to pay attention to keeping warm and avoiding illness. Also, when the Blizzard comes, mining operations will temporarily cease and resume when the snow stops."
"There's still over a month left until winter passes. Tell everyone to hold on a little longer."
"Yes, Your Highness!"
A heavy snow promises a good harvest.
Looking at the swirling snow outside the window, Draconis couldn't help but think, surely next year's crops will yield a great harvest?