[Xiapi City]
The city gate was almost packed with people, leaving only a small passage in the center wide enough for three people to walk side by side.
Crowds on both sides were filled with excitement.
Just a moment ago, they had thought that in the face of the colossal might of the Cao army, Xiapi City was doomed to lose.
If even twenty percent of them survived, they would already be grateful.
Many had even prepared keepsakes for their children and parents, planning to willingly offer themselves the moment they needed to be killed.
No one ever expected that when Lord Wang ran back just now, he would announce that Xiapi had already won.
The crowd waited while sharing the joy in their hearts.
"That man named Axel is truly unmatched in the world!"
"I said earlier, there must have been a reason Axel poisoned those few people. He probably didn't want them dragging him down."
Someone nearby corrected him, "But I just saw you holding rotten eggs to throw."
"You don't understand. Those were carefully pickled rotten eggs. Delicious."
"Uh..."
Seeing the gate completely filled with citizens, Axel couldn't help getting a bit of a headache.
Logically speaking, he wasn't supposed to waste time right now.
But this kind of welcome, with people lining both sides of the road, was really hard to refuse.
Perhaps noticing Axel's hesitation, Diao Chan turned and looked at him.
"You want to spar with my Gardevoir that badly?"
"But as a man living in troubled times and possessing such great strength, don't you want to win a bit of the people's hearts?", Diao Chan was curious, because Axel's behavior didn't feel fake. He truly seemed to have no interest in fame or fortune.
Axel blinked, unsure how to explain.
"Let's just go together," Diao Chan took Gardevoir's hand and decided for him.
"At worst, I'll make up the time for you. You can sleep a little less tonight."
"Then thank you," With Diao Chan's promise, Axel no longer felt burdened.
He still had two days left. As long as he planned things well, getting a golden tag to pop out was still easy.
Soon, the two reached the gate and the people cheered on the spot.
Axel had experienced this treatment once back in Sinnoh, so he wasn't nervous. He waved to everyone who spoke to him.
At the same time, he was thinking about how to fight Diao Chan's Gardevoir most effectively.
For battle insights, he should send out his own Gardevoir.
Gardevoir battling Gardevoir would give him the best chance to understand her training methods and fighting style.
But his Gardevoir was only around level 60 right now, and her power mainly came from her Supreme tags and psychic strength.
Diao Chan's Gardevoir reached level 80 and had even touched the divine domain. Her control over psychic energy was clearly excellent.
Under these conditions, defeating Diao Chan's Gardevoir once was easy, but defeating her repeatedly was difficult because his Gardevoir's energy reserve wouldn't keep up.
Another option was to send Pheromosa or Mewtwo, who were better at single combat, or even Rayquaza directly.
That would increase the win rate, but he would lose the chance for Gardevoir to directly observe and learn.
Both options had pros and cons, and Axel couldn't decide.
"Why not let Gardevoir pick up her old line of work and do something dirty?"
"Wuu~ big brother, my bun isn't dirty. I've been saving it for a long time and couldn't bear to eat it."
A little girl's sudden cry snapped Axel out of his thoughts.
The little girl was dressed cleanly, yet she was holding a bun with smudged fingerprints on it, offering it to him.
He had probably muttered his thoughts aloud and she misunderstood.
Axel quickly patted her head, "Not dirty, not dirty. I wasn't talking about you."
"Thank you for the bun. I actually haven't eaten."
He was puzzled. The girl was clean and tidy, so why was the bun so dirty?
But to keep her from feeling sad, he took the bun and took a big bite.
The girl smiled immediately, "Big brother, eat more. My brother said you saved our whole city."
Axel followed her gaze to a thin boy in ragged clothes, eyes avoiding his, nervously cupping his hands toward him.
Seeing how the two were dressed, Gardevoir beside Axel clearly flinched, her pupils shrinking, as if the scene moved her deeply.
She rummaged through Axel's bag, took out a few cakes and a string of gold coins, and handed them to the girl.
["Here. This is tasty too... share it with your brother."]
"Thank you, big sister!"
Once they left the crowd, Axel looked back worriedly and gave a wry smile.
"You shouldn't have given those two kids so much money."
Gardevoir understood what he meant, but didn't regret anything.
["If anyone tries to rob them, I'll just make them regret being born into this world."]
"And if we've already left by then?"
Gardevoir smiled lightly, ["Isn't Diao Chan still here?"]
"Fine..."
———
Soon, the group returned to Lord Wang's manor.
Axel stuffed the bun into his stomach in a few bites and pulled Diao Chan and the white Gardevoir back to the small courtyard.
"Let me explain the rules. When we fight later, we'll do 1v1, no attacking the trainers."
"Aside from that, no restrictions. A Pokemon loses when its stamina runs out, alright?"
"Why do we need rules for a friendly match?", Diao Chan blinked, confused why Axel was being so serious.
"Don't worry about it," Axel replied casually while having Aurorus build a battle stage.
He couldn't tell her that he wanted to pop tags off her.
Uh, he seemed to have overlooked something.
Axel slapped his forehead and suddenly remembered he might also get tags from Diao Chan herself. Curious, he quickly opened the system panel to check her.
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— Tags: Beauty That Sinks Fish And Geese (Supreme), Born With Allure (Golden), Heart For The People (Golden)
• Beauty That Sinks Fish And Geese: Possesses top level beauty. All males will feel favor toward Diao Chan. High chance male Pokemon will not attack her.
• Born With Allure: Born alluring. After each special operation, can absorb essence to strengthen herself (Current number of enhancements: 0)
• Heart For The People: When commanding Pokemon in a defense battle, reaction speed +50 percent, vision and speech speed greatly increase.
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Seeing Beauty That Sinks Fish And Geese, Axel was startled and worried he might pop that tag.
Not because he didn't want it, but because he feared that if it popped, it might fuse instantly.
If he could give it to his Pokemon, he'd be happy.
Then he saw Born With Allure and was stunned.
He understood that since Diao Chan had a powerful Gardevoir, she could control her own fate.
But wasn't Diao Chan and Lu Bu supposed to be in love in the legends? Why was the enhancement count still zero?
Don't tell him that was also just some wild history?
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