When Cain arrived in front of his house, he saw someone waiting for him at the entrance, slightly hunched over, standing beside the garden, quietly waiting.
As he approached, he discovered that it was Juan.
Cain immediately walked forward.
"President, were you waiting for me?"
It was evident that Juan had been thinking about something. He had not even noticed Cain approaching, and only reacted when he heard his voice.
His face immediately lit up with a broad smile, and he said to Cain, "You're back already? How was it? Jenny and Joy, those two, didn't make any excessive demands of you, did they?"
The fact that Cain had met with so many family heads at the Hoenn League headquarters naturally could not escape the notice of Juan, the president.
Moreover, those people had no intention of hiding it in the first place.
Approaching the strong was an instinct for survival.
After that, Cain gently shook his head and told Juan, without holding anything back, everything that the head of the Jenny family and the head of the Joy family had said to him, as well as the gifts those family heads had given him.
There was nothing to hide. If Juan truly wanted to know, there was nothing that could be concealed from him.
As he listened to Cain, the smile on Juan's face never disappeared.
"It seems that all of Hoenn can already see the direction our League will take. That those people are approaching you now is not a bad thing for you. With them present, Hoenn will also be more stable."
Cain nodded, saying nothing.
Juan's expression became somewhat more serious, and he warned him: "But Cain, you must remember this: those families can be used, but they must not be given too much importance."
"If we consider the entire Hoenn region as if it were a person, our Hoenn League would be the brain, the one that decides the direction of the entire region."
"Those large and small families would be the skeleton of that person; with them, Hoenn can be more stable and move forward steadily. And all the inhabitants of Hoenn would be the blood and flesh of that person, equally crucial. In the entire Hoenn region, these three major parts are indispensable; none of them can be missing."
From Juan's words, it could be clearly seen that he was transmitting part of his vision of governance to Cain. He was guiding him.
"But now the entire League is strongly promoting the common people. Do you know why?" Juan asked, looking directly into Cain's eyes.
Cain met his gaze without the slightest fear. With light flowing in his eyes, he reflected for a moment before answering: "Whether the skeleton becomes too large, or the flesh and blood become an excessive burden, neither situation is favorable for the development of the entire region."
"The best situation would be to reach a balance. But now, due to many years of development, those large and small families that rely on the League have grown too large, excessively absorbing the nutrition that should have belonged to the flesh and blood."
"Therefore now the flesh and blood must be strengthened, transforming that soft mass little by little into muscle, while at the same time forcing those bones to strengthen themselves. Only in this way can the entire skeleton be stabilized."
Upon hearing Cain's words, Juan's expression gradually softened. He extended an aged hand and gently patted Cain on the shoulder.
At that moment, his eyes as he looked at Cain were filled with relief and satisfaction.
"I trust you."
After saying that, he placed his hands behind his back and slowly walked toward his home.
But Cain remained standing there, motionless, frowning as he watched Juan slowly walk away. He felt that conversation carried a double meaning.
Especially when Juan looked directly into his eyes and when he finally said: "I trust you."
Suddenly, as he looked at Juan's back while he walked away, Cain's pupils contracted sharply, because as Juan had his back turned, he could clearly see that on the special belt he wore behind him were six Poké Balls, all six completely filled!
At first glance, there was nothing strange about a trainer carrying six Pokémon.
But Cain was quite observant, and because he tended to be cautious toward most people, he always unconsciously observed other people's Pokémon when interacting with them.
Until that moment, Cain had only seen Juan carry six full Poké Balls once: during the chaos caused by Groudon and Kyogre. At that time, the survival of the entire Hoenn region had been at stake, which was why Juan had brought his six main Pokémon and even summoned his powerful Latios.
On any other occasion, even if he carried Poké Balls, at most he would only bring two or three, as a defensive measure.
But now! He had seen Juan carrying six Poké Balls.
Cain did not believe for even a second that Juan had brought six Pokémon just to talk with him simply to show off.
He slowly narrowed his eyes. He did not know whether Juan had discovered something, nor what exactly the true purpose of that conversation had been, but he did know one thing: at least for now, Juan was still willing to trust him.
"It seems I have to speed up the pace," Cain murmured quietly to himself before returning home.
...
During the following period, the situation was relatively stable.
Although in reality it could not really be called stable, because the people of the Sacred Church still appeared from time to time to cause trouble. However, little by little Cain also began to find the pattern of their appearances.
Now, before they appeared, Cain could already roughly guess the time and place where they would act, and could even perceive certain things before they arrived.
It was just that he still did not have precise control of the exact timing, so he did not manage to keep all the people of the Sacred Church there.
Even so, to a greater or lesser extent, he still managed to detain quite a number of members of the Sacred Church.
Only, those people did not know anything about the Sacred Church's plan, so capturing them was not of much use. In the end, Cain sealed their psychic powers and directly imprisoned them in the League's prisons.
(End of Chapter)