"One, two, three..." Lillie counted on her fingers.
"What are you counting?" Gladio asked with a start.
"Our teacher's titles." Lillie blinked, speaking quite matter-of-factly.
Then she recited them one by one as others listed them out.
"Eevee Expert, Intimacy Co-Builder, Genius Researcher, Father of Fairies, International Criminal Police Officer, Tactical Master, Hero of Truth, Runner-up of the Lily Youth Competition, Champion of the Island Competition..."
Listening to Lillie's rambling, Natsuhiko hadn't even realized himself.
So many titles already?
The true Master of Titles?
This was even considering his low-key demeanor.
Otherwise, should he be adding titles like Reggigigas's Devotee, Rayquaza's Knight, Hero of Ideal, and so on?
Recently, he'd even gotten involved with the Island Gods, and Little Nebula was right with him.
Wait till the Little Nebula wakes up and evolves.
Wouldn't that involve Solgaleo and Lunala too?
Natsuhiko pondered.
Maybe staying low-key is best.
Otherwise, it would attract too much envy.
After chatting with the two little ones for a while, the car arrived at the entrance of the House of Ether.
Looking at the competition ranking progress, the awards ceremony would be either tomorrow or the day after, and Natsuhiko wasn't sure what Lusamine wanted with him.
He greeted Bico, who was welcoming them at the door, ignoring ZaoBo's pretentious attitude, and headed to Lusamine's office.
"Chairwoman Lusamine, what requires a face-to-face meeting?"
After handing the two little ones to Bico, Natsuhiko and ZaoBo pushed open the office door.
"Mr. Natsuhiko, congratulations." Lusamine, seeing Natsuhiko, did not put on airs and said with a warm smile.
ZaoBo unwillingly poured a glass of water for Natsuhiko, who sat opposite Lusamine.
Then stood awkwardly to the side, listening in.
"ZaoBo, could you please step out for a moment? I'd like to speak with Mr. Natsuhiko alone," Lusamine said.
"Yes..." ZaoBo stomped off with his shoes, head held high as he left.
Driving ZaoBo away?
Natsuhiko was a bit intrigued about what Lusamine wanted to say.
He saw her lightly sip her coffee and slowly said, "The earlier congratulations weren't just for winning the championship."
"Hmm?"
Natsuhiko squinted but quickly regained his composure.
Lusamine didn't beat around the bush.
"I also want to congratulate you, Mr. Natsuhiko, on successfully applying for your doctoral degree."
Natsuhiko, with his head down, glanced at her in surprise.
Not many people knew about this yet.
Only people like Professor Oak and Agatha, those who can access the high-levels of Alliance Headquarters, had informed him.
Does the House of Ether have people in the Headquarters too?
And at quite a high status?
Thinking that, he didn't show too much surprise, just smiled and said, "The Chairwoman's information is really well-informed."
Lusamine pretended not to catch the implication in Natsuhiko's words.
"I wonder what I should call you in the future then, Mr. Natsuhiko or Dr. Natsuhiko?"
Natsuhiko waved his hand, "It's all the same. If it's more convenient for you, feel free to call me Natsuhiko."
Lusamine nodded, "Then I'll call you Natsuhiko from now on, shall I?"
Natsuhiko: "..."
You really know how to play along, huh.
Then Lusamine passed a document over to Natsuhiko, in a calm tone:
"Natsuhiko, you're my children's teacher, and by that status, we're contemporaries. You can even call me sister; I'm not going to beat around the bush. I hope you can join our Ethereum Foundation."
Sister...
The kind you see on a ship's prow?
Glancing at the document handed over, Natsuhiko shook his head.
He understood what Lusamine meant and recognized that when she initially had him take on Gladio and Lillie, she had this idea in mind.
But the Ethereum Foundation is not the same as Silver Company or Devon Company; it's not something you can just join casually.
With the Alliance trying to enter the Alola Region, the biggest obstacle was the Ethereum Foundation.
Although, for the stability and development of the Alola Region, the Alliance wasn't going to take drastic actions against the Ethereum Foundation.
After all, the Ethereum Foundation does at least provide employment opportunities for tens of thousands of people.
But to say that the Ethereum Foundation could gain any support and help, like how Silver and Devon had development support for tools like mobile Pokedex granted by the Alliance, would be unrealistic.
Seeing Natsuhiko shake his head, Lusamine didn't say much but smiled and said:
"Take a look inside."
Natsuhiko glanced at her again.
Pressed his lips.
Couldn't hold back his curiosity and opened it to have a look.
Hmm.
Position: Head of the Special Research Department, which is on par with someone like ZaoBo, in terms of rank.
A job where you don't have to follow the rules; come to work as you please, which is quite nice.
As for the salary...
Natsuhiko chose to skip over it.
A salary at this point doesn't hold much attraction for him.
With the announcement of the Fairy Type, it's guaranteed that he will earn massively.
He's already published work on the function of Fairy-type Tree Fruits, and the value of the Tree Fruits he's hoarded has increased dozens of times.
The stockpiles he once hoarded have now become very valuable.
It's not unreasonable to think he could be earning several, even a dozen or so financial goals.
Plus, with the Fairy-type Pokémon stocks he holds, Natsuhiko thinks he could easily secure three or four dozen small financial goals?
Even if top-level Energy Blocks are costly, it absolutely guarantees proper growth of those few main Pokémon.
After all, it's not like Natsuhiko isn't capable of earning more.
Wait a minute.
Natsuhiko, who had skipped over the salary section, looked back.
Looking at the content written above, he felt a slight tremor within.