Just as An Jay stepped off his Altaria, he saw two people walking out of the ranch. They were talking as they walked, and when they reached the entrance, one of them left.
At that moment, the other person noticed An Jay and asked疑惑ly, "May I ask who you are?"
An Jay quickly stepped forward and asked, "Are you the owner of this ranch?"
The man nodded upon hearing this, saying, "I am."
An Jay thought to himself, 'As expected,' and then said, "My name is An Jay. I heard you're planning to sell the Pokémon in your ranch, so I came to take a look."
The ranch owner suddenly understood, a smile appearing on his face. "So that's how it is. Please, come with me."
As he spoke, he led An Jay into the ranch, with Altaria and the others closely following behind An Jay.
The ranch owner introduced himself, "My name is Hanzawa. I inherited this ranch from my grandfather, and I've been managing it ever since he passed away.
But I'm really not good at these things. The ranch has been running at a loss for the past few years, and the Pokémon have suffered a lot with me. That's why I thought it would be better to just stop and find suitable owners for the Pokémon."
An Jay nodded, "I understand."
"By the way, what Pokémon are you looking for?" Hanzawa asked, pointing to the large group of Mareep. "As you can see, this ranch mainly deals with Mareep wool. However, I have too many Mareep, and most people can't take them all at once, so I've divided them into several batches, planning to sell them off in stages."
The person who had just left the ranch was there to buy Mareep.
An Jay followed the direction Mr. Hanzawa pointed and saw that the ranch was indeed mostly filled with Mareep, with a small number of Flaaffy and Ampharos mixed in.
"I heard that Mr. Hanzawa also has a batch of Miltank. Those are the ones I want."
An Jay's words surprised Hanzawa. He then said with a smile, "Your information is too well-informed. The news about my Miltank hasn't even been released yet."
The Miltank were specially brought in from the Johto region before he decided to close the ranch. His intention was to change the ranch's product structure and see if he could save it.
Unfortunately, it failed.
He wasn't good at raising Mareep to produce high-quality wool, nor was he good at raising Miltank to produce high-quality Moo Moo Milk.
This was the reason why his ranch couldn't continue to operate.
He had originally planned to sell off all the Mareep before selling the Miltank, but he didn't expect someone to come looking for them now.
Well, selling them sooner or later is the same, as long as they can take good care of the Miltank.
Mr. Hanzawa said, "I'll take you to see the Miltank."
"Thank you for your trouble," An Jay nodded.
But taking good care of the Miltank and being able to make them produce high-quality milk were two different things. The quality of the Moo Moo Milk produced by the Miltank was greatly related to the way they were raised.
For example, the Skiddo on Nibi Plateau were also producing higher quality goat milk than before under An Jay's careful care.
Mr. Hanzawa pointed to the Miltank and said, "I have 50 Miltank here. Do you want them all?"
Because it was just an experiment, Hanzawa didn't introduce too many Miltank to the ranch at the beginning. But it was fortunate that he didn't introduce too many, because… the ranch was closing down.
50 wasn't a lot. An Jay nodded, "Yes, I want them all."
Hanzawa didn't immediately agree to sell them to An Jay, but said, "If you want to buy my Miltank, you need to agree to one request, otherwise, please leave."
An Jay asked疑惑ly, "What request? Please tell me."
Mr. Hanzawa said, "After you buy the Miltank, you need to film a video of them every month for the next year and send it to me. I want to see their living conditions. If you can't treat them well, then this transaction will be invalid. At that time, you return the Miltank to me, and I will refund you the full amount."
An Jay was surprised, not expecting Mr. Hanzawa to be such a serious person.
Seeing that An Jay hadn't said anything for a while, Mr. Hanzawa continued, "I'm not targeting you. I make the same request to other people who come to buy Mareep. Since we raise Pokémon, we must take the responsibility of taking good care of them. We can't be careless."
An Jay quickly said, "I'm just a little surprised by Mr. Hanzawa's sense of responsibility. I admire your concern for Pokémon."
Mr. Hanzawa shook his head, a bitter smile appearing on his face. "There's no way around it. It's all because of my lack of ability, otherwise they wouldn't have to leave here. I'm the one who made them suffer."
An Jay said, "I agree to Mr. Hanzawa's request. I will send you the videos of the Miltank on time every month."
Mr. Hanzawa smiled upon hearing this, "Thank you for understanding. Then let's exchange contact information."
"Okay!" An Jay nodded, taking out his phone.
After the two exchanged contact information, Mr. Hanzawa clapped his hands. Hearing the applause, the Miltank turned their heads to look over.
"Everyone, come here for a moment," Mr. Hanzawa called to the Miltank.
Hearing this, the Miltank obediently walked over.
Mr. Hanzawa pointed to An Jay and introduced them, "Everyone, this is Mr. An Jay. From now on, you will follow him. He will take good care of you, so you don't have to worry about your future life."
Hearing this, the Miltank nodded. They had already heard from Hanzawa about leaving the ranch. They knew that this was unavoidable, so they all understood Mr. Hanzawa.
An Jay followed up, "Everyone, don't worry. I have a very large grassland at my house. You will definitely like it there. Once you get to my house, I guarantee that your living standards will not be worse than they are now."
Listening to An Jay's sincere tone, the Miltank breathed a sigh of relief. It would be good to meet a good owner.
After the Miltank had all met An Jay, Mr. Hanzawa said, "Then let's go sign the contract!"
For Pokémon transactions involving a large number of Pokémon like this, the trading parties need to sign a contract and then send it to the relevant agencies of the League for certification. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, both parties will get into big trouble.
"Okay!" An Jay nodded.
Following behind Mr. Hanzawa, An Jay arrived at his house. Just as the two sat down, a Clefairy wearing an apron brought over two cups of hot tea and placed them in front of them.
Before signing the contract, Mr. Hanzawa chatted with An Jay for a while, briefly learning about where An Jay lived, what his family did, and the purpose of buying the Miltank.
It was impossible for him to sell the Miltank to a stranger without knowing anything.
After learning of An Jie's status as a member of the Azoth royal family, Mr. Hanzawa was very surprised, but also secretly relieved.
Since he was royalty, the Miltanks would definitely be well taken care of, as the Azoth royal family had a good reputation in the Azoth Kingdom.
"Let's sign the contract," Mr. Hanzawa said, already having some understanding of An Jie.
An Jie was about to agree when his phone suddenly rang. He took out his phone and saw that it was Diancie calling.
Could something have happened at home?
With a doubtful feeling, he said, "Excuse me, Mr. Hanzawa, I'll go out to take this call."
Mr. Hanzawa nodded, "Your Highness, please proceed."
An Jie nodded and walked to the door before answering the phone.
"Hello, Diancie, what's wrong?"
"An Jie, are there Mareep at the ranch you went to?" Diancie's expectant voice came from the other end of the phone.
"That's right," An Jie nodded. "The ranch originally mainly operated a Mareep wool business."
"That's great!" Diancie's surprised voice came from the other end of the phone, "Can we keep a Mareep at our house? I want to use Mareep wool to make handicrafts."
An Jie readily agreed, "Of course, no problem. I'll ask the owner of the ranch later."
"Then I'll leave it to you. When we have a Mareep, I'll definitely knit you a sweater," Diancie said playfully on the phone.
An Jie teased it, "I remember you said before that you were going to weave one for me with Spinarak silk, why haven't you finished it yet?"
Diancie said embarrassedly, "I'll practice some more."
Smiling, he hung up the phone, An Jie returned to the room and said to Mr. Hanzawa, "Mr. Hanzawa, can I buy one more Mareep?"
Hearing this, Mr. Hanzawa seemed to have suddenly thought of something, and he said to An Jie, "I have a Mareep here with a bit of a problem. If Your Highness is willing to take it in, I can give it to you."
"A Mareep with a problem?" An Jie asked in confusion, "What's the problem?"
"Please follow me, Your Highness," Mr. Hanzawa said, getting up.
An Jie nodded and followed Mr. Hanzawa to his garden. Among the colorful flowers, a Mareep was standing, stretching its head and gently smelling a flower, ignoring the arrival of An Jie and the others.
"Mareep?" Mr. Hanzawa called out softly, but it didn't respond. So Mr. Hanzawa raised his voice again, "Mareep! Mareep!"
After calling out several times, Mareep still smelled the flowers on its own, completely ignoring Mr. Hanzawa.
Mr. Hanzawa looked at An Jie helplessly and said, "You see, it's always immersed in its own world and doesn't react to anything outside."
An Jie asked uncertainly, "Is this… autism?"
Mr. Hanzawa nodded, "That's what Nurse Joy said."
An Jie asked, "Is there any special reason why Mareep became like this?"
As far as he knew, some cases of autism were congenital, and some were caused by acquired factors.
Mr. Hanzawa shook his head, "It's been like this since it was born. Its parents didn't even want to raise it because of this, so it's been alone until now, usually staying in this garden and not going anywhere."
Speaking of this, Mr. Hanzawa's tone carried a hint of heartache.
An Jie was originally thinking that if Mareep's autism was caused by acquired factors, then he could try to start with its experience to see if he could find the key to treatment.
But he didn't expect it to be congenital, so he was a little helpless.
However, Diancie wanted to keep Mareep just for its wool, and autism wouldn't affect the wool, right? So keeping this Mareep wasn't impossible, at least it looked very well-behaved.
After thinking for a while, An Jie said to Mr. Hanzawa, "Okay, I'll take this Mareep."
Few people would probably be willing to take in a Mareep like this, otherwise Mr. Hanzawa wouldn't have used giving it away as a condition.
Hearing An Jie's words, Mr. Hanzawa looked surprised and said, "That's great, Your Highness, then I'll thank you for Mareep."
An Jie waved his hand and said, "I'm only keeping Mareep because I want its wool, its condition doesn't affect anything."
Mr. Hanzawa nodded repeatedly and said, "That's right, it doesn't affect anything, it doesn't affect anything! And it's especially well-behaved, especially when shearing its wool. Other Mareep will throw tantrums, but it won't at all."
An Jie smiled and said, "That's good."
Mr. Hanzawa happily walked to Mareep's side, gently stroking its fluffy back and said, "Mareep, that's great, Mr. An Jie is willing to take you in, he will definitely take good care of you, so I can rest assured."
If An Jie hadn't temporarily asked for a Mareep today, Mr. Hanzawa was planning to keep this Mareep himself.
But he also had his difficulties. After the ranch's affairs were dealt with, he would go to Lumiose City to start a business. At that time, he would definitely be very busy, and he wouldn't be able to continue to accompany and take care of Mareep like he was now.
Then who would take care of the autistic Mareep? He also had two Pokémon, Luxray and Wigglytuff, but they could barely take care of themselves, let alone help take care of Mareep.
Besides, an environment like Lumiose City was not suitable for Mareep.
"That's great, Mareep."
Mareep remained unmoved by Mr. Hanzawa's concern. It moved its head from one flower to another, continuing to sniff around.
Mr. Hanzawa wasn't angry either, and smiled as he patted Mareep's head.
After confirming the ownership of Mareep, the two returned to the room to sign the contract.
After the contract was signed, Mr. Hanzawa said, "After I take the contract to be notarized, I will send the Miltanks to Your Highness."
An Jie nodded and said, "Okay."
The price of one Miltank was 80,000, and An Jie spent 4 million to buy 50 of them. Fortunately, he earned a lot of money from opening the store, otherwise he really couldn't afford it.
This kind of production-type Pokémon is always expensive.
With the transaction settled, An Jie planned to go home. At this time, Mr. Hanzawa took out a Poké Ball and handed it to An Jie.
"Your Highness, this contains Mareep. You can take it home first to get familiar with the environment."
An Jie nodded, reached out and took the Poké Ball, "Okay, then I'll take my leave first."
After saying goodbye to Mr. Hanzawa, An Jie left the ranch with Mareep and Altaria.
"Chi ~ ~"
Altaria flapped its wings and flew into the air, Metagross and Swablu followed closely behind, and Goomy sat in An Jie's arms, clapping happily.
"Goo ~ Goo ~ Goo ~ ~"
Its laughter echoed in the air with the spring breeze.
