When Robin entered, she saw this scene and burst out laughing.
She had smelled the aroma in the house as soon as she entered the farm. She leaned in to look but couldn't identify what was cooking in the pot.
However, she could smell the tea fragrance and milk aroma.
"Morning."
"Morning." Ron returned the greeting, then filtered the milk tea from the pot and poured it into cups one by one.
"Go to the dining table first," Ron continued.
Before he finished speaking, the Rattatas were already climbing up the chairs.
Sailor was closer to Ron, so he was a bit slower than the others. He waited anxiously at the end of the line.
The next second, Robin scooped him up by the waist and placed him on the table.
Having never imagined such a way to get to the table, the Rattatas still in line turned their heads and quickly surrounded Robin.
Ron was silent for a moment off to the side. He then worked with Indeedee to place the cups on the table one by one, saying: "Don't spoil them too much."
If they all stopped lining up and waited for Ron to carry them up, who knew when they'd get to eat.
"Rattata, rattata!"
The Rattata looked at Ron with disapproval, then stood upright before Robin could pick them up, to make it easier for her to lift them.
"After all, I'm taking up one of their chairs, aren't I?" Robin laughed while continuing to carry them to the table.
Just then Leah arrived, so the two worked together to get all the Rattatas onto the table before Ron finished distributing the cups.
"Next is you, dear," Robin said to Shaymin.
Shaymin was practically a veteran of the farm, having been there since Robin used to build structures on the farm, so they were fairly familiar with each other.
"Shay~"
Shaymin nuzzled Robin with her nose, then sat down next to Bellossom.
After Leah finished and sat down, she remembered to ask Ron what was in the cups.
The color looked somewhat like a café latte, but it smelled of tea leaves.
"Uh—milk tea," Ron said, taking the hazelnut bread from the stove by the door and distributing it as well.
"Milk tea." It sounded like a simple combination of milk and tea. Leah thought the uncreative name was unremarkable, but when she took a sip, her eyes immediately lit up.
The tea leaves and Moomoo Milk blended together beautifully, mixed with the roasted caramel fragrance. She even felt it could rival Gus's Piña Colada.
Especially since it was warm and cozy—drinking it instantly dispelled the cold.
Ron also tasted it upon hearing this.
He didn't think this had much to do with his cooking skills. It was purely that beverages made with Moomoo Milk were hard to make taste bad.
Additionally, the quality of the tea leaves was probably quite good—freshly picked, fermented, and pan-fried, plus the dehydrator had dried them for the right amount of time.
"Ratta!"
Sailor finished his cup first and immediately raised it, calling out to Ron.
"Just a moment," Ron said, standing up.
Robin sat nearby and suddenly remembered what she needed to do today. She opened her backpack and took out the small furniture stored inside one by one.
They were all specially made. These small items weren't particularly difficult to make, but they weren't exactly simple either. Compared to large furniture, although they used less material and were easier to process, they required more attention to detail.
Therefore, last night even Maru, Sebastian, and Demetrius had all pitched in. Robin was responsible for processing the wooden boards, while they handled the assembly—only finishing just in time for today.
"Everyone come try them out. If they don't fit, they can still be modified," Robin said, handing a miniature coat rack to one of the Rattatas.
Comparing it to the pattern in her notes, she recognized this as the one who wanted a rack.
Seeing this, it quickly ran to a chest and pulled out its hat from among a pile of felt hats.
The felt hats all looked the same, but everyone identified them by scent, so it easily found its own.
It then solemnly stared at its felt hat, scampered to the rack, and stood on tiptoe to hang the hat on the very top of the coat rack.
"Rattata!"
Perfect!
It cried out in surprise.
Although it only had this one hat for now, because its work involved logging, it often took Geodude to chop wood in the Mines. There, it had found a dilapidated cabin in the forest.
Inside was a mouse, selling various accessories and hats with broken speech.
The other Rattatas didn't care much for this, but it really liked them—it just lacked money.
Having heard about Sailor's feat of earning money to go to the desert yesterday, it was now quietly preparing to save up some extra cash.
Including but not limited to wild fruits and mountain goods found in the wild.
"Indeedee?" Indeedee suddenly appeared, startling this Rattata.
But because no one else jumped, it didn't immediately panic.
"Indeedee, indeedee?" Indeedee quietly asked about the location of the so-called hat mouse.
After getting all the details, it immediately went to Ron and began calling out "Indeedee, indeedee."
"You want to take time off," Ron paused. "Want to buy something? Want wages?"
He then turned his head, looked at the Rattata preparing to earn extra money, then at Indeedee, realizing that Indeedee was indeed much smarter than the Rattatas.
But this amount of money wasn't really an issue. Ron thought for a moment and said: "Starting today, 200g allowance per day. As for the hats you want, I'll pay for today's hats."
Although he could give more, they had nowhere else to spend the money. Giving it out day by day meant they'd have something to look forward to every day.
"Indeedee, indeedee!"
Indeedee quickly agreed.
Besides this, it actually also wanted to get a custom outfit made from Sandy, like Sailor had.
But it wasn't very familiar with Sandy. It still hoped to pay Sandy for custom clothing.
After getting the money from Ron, Indeedee led this Rattata to the Mines, one in front and one behind.
"Where are they going?"
"Buying hats," Ron smiled, then turned and asked: "Does anyone else want any?"
The other Pokémon mostly weren't the type to like these accessories. Even the hats bought before had been stored in chests and never taken out, so they all shook their heads.
As for Sailor, it just liked its sailor outfit and didn't want anything else.
Of course, if there was a captain's uniform, that would be a different story.
Meanwhile, Indeedee walked in front with the Rattata following behind.
"Indeedee, indeedee?" Is it this direction?
Indeedee turned to confirm. Seeing the Rattata nod, it ran toward the dilapidated cabin in the distance.
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