Chapter 40: Miss Chishu, You're So Gentle!

"How many times do I have to tell you? Don't do things that worry me behind my back."

Xia Chi sat in his chair with a stern expression.

Sprigatito and Misdreavus stood side by side on the floor with lowered heads, looking as though they were earnestly accepting their reprimand.

"You went and challenged a Primeape? Unbelievable!"

Xia Chi was genuinely angry this time; their stunt had been far too reckless.

Judging by the level indicated in the system notifications, that Primeape was terrifying—Level 29. In the freshman campus area of Shanghai University, it was undoubtedly a boss-tier wild Pokémon.

Not to mention the fact that it had a whole gang of Mankey underlings.

It wasn't that Xia Chi wouldn't let them challenge it, but at least he needed to be present!

That way, even if they lost, Sprigatito and Misdreavus could safely retreat via their Poké Balls.

Though the price might be that he, as their trainer, would get beaten to a pulp by the Primeape.

Fortunately, they still knew how to practice teamwork and ultimately managed to defeat that powerful Primeape together.

Fine, at least the result was good.

Seeing Sprigatito and Misdreavus sincerely accepting their mistake, Xia Chi's anger subsided quite a bit.

With a huff, he asked, "Spit it out, what happened?"

As soon as she saw Xia Chi's anger fade, Sprigatito perked up. She raised a paw and pointed at Misdreavus, starting to tell on her companion: "Meowfe meowfe!"

Xia Chi's face was expressionless: "You're saying Misdreavus went out first?"

Sprigatito nodded without a shred of guilt.

Nearby, Misdreavus slumped its shoulders, not daring to argue. After all, Sprigatito wasn't lying; it really had gone out first last night.

Looking at the expressions of the two little ones, Xia Chi roughly figured out the whole story.

He looked at Sprigatito and continued to ask, "And then, in order to protect Misdreavus, you followed her out?"

Facing Xia Chi's serious and intense gaze, Sprigatito suddenly felt a bit nervous. The nod that should have been given with a clear conscience somehow just wouldn't happen.

Whether it was really to protect Misdreavus was something she knew deep down.

The actual situation was that she had wanted to sneak out for some night training, coaxed Misdreavus into helping her out to challenge that powerful Primeape, and then ended up dragging Misdreavus into trouble.

Should she keep putting up a stubborn front?

Sprigatito hesitated for a moment, then shook her head, raised a paw, and confessed, "Meowfe... (I'm sorry, I was the one who orchestrated this...)"

She had expected Xia Chi to give her a look of disappointment or to scold her.

To Sprigatito's surprise, however, the imagined storm never arrived.

"I'm glad you can admit it, Sprigatito."

Xia Chi stroked the kitten's uplifted head and said softly, "I'm not trying to assign blame; I just want you to understand that we are partners who can rely on each other, not objects for pointing fingers and shifting the blame."

Chicken soup for the soul +1 +1 +1 +1...

Fortunately, Sprigatito was still young and naive, right at the prime age for drinking motivational chicken soup.

The grass-green kitten wrinkled her nose and nodded vigorously: "Meowfe!"

Xia Chi knew that verbal education alone certainly wouldn't make the two Pokémon truly close partners.

Still, there was no need to rush things; a gentle reminder was enough for this stage.

He rubbed the kitten's head and said, "Alright, go apologize to Misdreavus."

Though Sprigatito had a bit of a tsundere streak, she didn't skimp when it was time for a sincere apology. She turned to Misdreavus and said, "Meowfe! (I'm sorry, I tricked you yesterday!)"

Misdreavus, who hadn't understood a single thing from start to finish, wore a completely baffled expression: "∑(O_O;) Mii-yoo? (Tricked me? What did you trick me about?)"

Xia Chi slapped a hand to his forehead: "......"

He hadn't believed it before, but looking at it now, Mingchong Mountain really was a beginner's village—how could a Misdreavus this silly manage to survive just fine until now?

——————

Having resolved the conflict between Sprigatito and Misdreavus, Xia Chi reflected on his own "educational" model.

Wasn't it rather foolish to forbid the two Pokémon from going out while he slept?

The answer was unquestionably yes.

This was just as foolish as absurd dormitory inspection rules that banned all electrical appliances, forbade students from staying out overnight, prohibited any trash in the trash cans, and forbade anyone from being on the beds.

Such a one-size-fits-all approach, rooted essentially in lazy governance, existed only for the convenience of management while ignoring the true needs of the managed.

After reflection, Xia Chi felt his own management style had become somewhat institutionalized as well.

Banning Misdreavus, a nocturnal Pokémon, from being active at night—wasn't that just pure madness?

Besides, the two Pokémon had survived in the wild for so long without incident; would they suddenly be in greater danger after being caught by him and raised on campus?

That made no sense.

In the end, Xia Chi decided to grant Sprigatito and Misdreavus adequate freedom and space.

Of course, the most crucial prerequisite was that they had to place their own safety as their absolute top priority.

They were strictly forbidden from ever doing things like last night—provoking Pokémon far stronger than themselves.

Sprigatito and Misdreavus readily agreed to everything.

From then on, the two Pokémon began a nocturnal lifestyle, sleeping during the day in the dorm or cuddling with Xia Chi, while transforming into agents of justice by night, roaming around to punish all the evil Pokémon in the school that committed misdeeds.

Xia Chi discovered that under these circumstances, the fear value associated with the Dark-type bond was growing exceptionally fast.

This was how he finally figured out the system's mechanics: even without a Dark-type bond itself, after joining the team as a member, Misdreavus could also help the group earn fear values through battle.

Thus, within a mere ten days, the system's bond fear value had skyrocketed from 43 to 62, doubling the efficiency compared to before.

Perhaps because the two Pokémon had been going out to fight side by side every night lately, the relationship between Sprigatito and Misdreavus had also improved significantly.

Although they still occasionally bickered and played around in daily life, it was clearly visible that their relationship was evolving in the direction of a bickering baddied-and-goodies dynamic.

To use an anthropomorphic analogy: a tsundere, aloof, dark-haired beauty paired with a natural-airhead blonde?

Wait, why did that give off such a strange sense of déjà vu...

During this period, the bond fear value wasn't the only thing that changed; Sprigatito's level in the system had increased by another level, reaching Lv. 15.

About ten days had passed since her last level-up.

A simple math problem:

If she gained one level every ten days,

Then going from Lv. 1 to Lv. 100 would take a thousand days, just a little over three years.

Of course, Xia Chi was just daydreaming.

A Pokémon's leveling speed in the early stages and later stages could not possibly be lumped together, but even so, this was still an extremely fast pace.

Aside from continuously going out to "grind monsters and level up" during this period, Xia Chi felt that the top-tier Miracle Seed gifted by Iono had also played a vital speaking role.

Speaking of Iono, the top-ranked wealthy benefactor sister had sent over yet another set of Pokémon training insights on the third day after Xia Chi returned to school.

This time, it was for the Misdreavus she raised herself.

Only, she didn't even mention any conditions this time; she just gave it away for free.

It made someone like Xia Chi, whose thickness of face rivaled Aegislash's Shield Form, feel a little embarrassed.

However, Lady Iono had her own reasoning for it.

"Sprigatito's training data caused Geeta and Brassius quite a bit of trouble, so I definitely have to treat them to a meal or get spa treatments for their Pokémon. Extending that logic to you, you've got to play games with me as well."

"As for Misdreavus, I raised one myself, so I can just hand it right over to you. Given our relationship, what kind of reward could I possibly ask for?"

Miss Iono, you are so sweet!

What else was there to say?

From now on, anyone who dared to cross Iono would be making an enemy of Xia Chi!