Three days had passed since the attempt on Julian's life. On the surface, Drakoria seemed calm, but beneath it, turbulent waves were surging.
Families with poor relations with the Walker family—or even openly hostile ones—were gripped with fear, dreading the possibility of John or Jake showing up at their door.
After all, on the day of the attack, John had gone straight to the Lawson family and killed their patriarch.
Whether or not the Lawson family was truly behind the assassination attempt was still unclear. They were the prime suspects, but before any investigation could be conducted, John had already executed their patriarch.
The Lawson family, which had already been crippled by John and Jake, was reduced from a major family to a middling one. Now, with the patriarch dead, their status would fall even further.
Fortunately, John had only killed the patriarch and spared the rest of the Lawson family, as he lacked definitive proof.
Had there been concrete evidence linking them to the attack, the Lawson family would have been completely wiped out.
But at this point, whether they were guilty or not no longer mattered—the Lawson family was effectively ruined.
Naturally, the other families on bad terms with the Walkers were terrified.
John's ruthless and unreasonable actions left them trembling.
In the villa, Julian was bickering with Celebi over the top lane position.
Celebi: "Your brain is injured. Let me take the top lane."
Julian's extreme psychic outburst had indeed damaged his mental state. The only way for him to recover was through slow, steady rest—or by purchasing medicine from the system shop.
However, upon seeing how many points the medicine cost, Julian decided he had plenty of time and opted for natural recovery instead.
Julian: "Having a head injury is still better than you feeding the enemy."
The top lane was a matter of pride for him—there was no way he would give it up to Celebi.
Just then, Slowking waddled over with a bowl of herbal medicine in its hands, with Magearna trailing behind.
Magearna had become Slowking's reliable assistant by now.
When Slowking cooked, Magearna helped with the prep work.
When Slowking swept the floor, Magearna cleaned the windows.
"Slow~"
Slowking: "Time for your medicine."
Seeing the pitch-black concoction, Julian made a bitter face. The medicine was so vile that he could barely stand it.
To make matters worse, Slowking had concocted the formula itself by studying medical books.
This was Slowking's first foray into the field of medicine. It had spent an entire night learning medical skills on its own and seemed to have developed a surprisingly deep understanding.
Julian, naturally, became its first patient.
Gritting his teeth, Julian downed the medicine in one go. The bitterness made him stick out his tongue in agony. Grabbing the water Slowking handed him, he gulped it down desperately.
"Slowking, I think I'm almost fully recovered. I probably don't need the medicine anymore."
The taste was so foul that Julian was beginning to question his will to live. He feared that if he kept drinking it, not only would his mental state fail to improve, but it might actually get worse.
After all, taking bitter medicine was pure torment.
"Slow~"
Slowking shook its head, signaling that the treatment couldn't stop.
Slowking: "I've been working on a new formula recently. You can try it tomorrow."
Julian's body trembled, "No, no! I think this current formula is great. Let's stick with this one."
A new formula?
Who knew if it would be even more bitter?
At least this one, while horribly unpleasant, hadn't caused any issues.
If he ended up trying Slowking's new concoction and it accidentally finished him off, the mastermind behind the assassination attempt would probably die of laughter.
Seeing Julian nearly leap off the sofa in fright, Celebi burst into laughter.
It relished seeing Julian make a fool of himself.
"By the way, I think Celebi's gotten a little fat again. Slowking, maybe you can whip up a weight-loss formula for it?"
If he had to suffer, there was no way he was going down alone—Celebi was coming with him.
After all, it had just laughed so happily. Now, he was going to make it cry.
Celebi instantly panicked, the look on Julian's face every time he drank the medicine was the highlight of its day. The last thing it wanted was to become the next victim.
Celebi: "I'm not fat! This is my standard build!"
Julian eyed Celebi floating midair. If only its belly didn't jiggle slightly, that claim might have been believable.
"Slow~"
Slowking: "I'll work on a slimming formula tonight and have it ready for you tomorrow."
Celebi: (T_T)
And with that, the decision was made.
Celebi was so disheartened it didn't even have the spirit to play games anymore.
It shot a glare at Julian, the culprit behind its misery, then immediately snatched the top lane position.
Julian, however no longer cared, and smirked smugly, "Fine, then I'll take jungle."
Six minutes later, Julian and Celebi "happily" ended the game amid the "compliments" of their three teammates.
"Trash! Top lane going 1-10-0? You're incredible."
Celebi: "Jungler 0-20-1? You're even better."
Julian: "It's not my fault—it's our teammates. The mage didn't rotate, the support didn't stick with me, and the marksman was basically playing with their feet."
Celebi nodded in agreement, "We must be under system punishment. We're being matched with trash players."
Celebi: "Wanna play another round?"
Julian: "No."
Teaming with a noob like Celebi only meant losing more points and giving him a headache.
With that, Julian got up from the sofa and strolled into the backyard.
As soon as he stepped outside, two Togekiss swooped down from the ginkgo tree and landed in front of him.
Their egg was nestled safely on the ginkgo tree. Judging by the timing, the Togepi would likely hatch in about ten days.
Most Pokémon eggs took roughly fifteen days to hatch. Pseudo-legendary Pokémon took about a month, while Bug-types typically hatched in just two or three days.
Togepi eggs, however, took around twenty days to hatch.
As soon as Julian appeared, the other Pokémon immediately gathered around him. Though three days had passed since the incident, they were still deeply worried about him.
Even at night, when sleeping in the backyard, half of the Pokémon kept watch, fearing that someone might attack Julian again.
"Alright, I'm almost fully recovered now."
Julian patted Arcanine's overstretched head, then bent down and picked up Bagon who was pulling his leg.
Although the little guy was still young, it was very sensible. Knowing Julian had been injured, it gently stroked his face with its tiny hand. Then, fearing that holding it might tire Julian out, it jumped out of his arms.
Realizing what the little guy was thinking, Julian smiled and scooped it up again, "You're way too light to tire me out. I could carry ten of you, no problem."
Doublade slashed through the air with swift, precise movements. The sharp gusts it generated cut through the air, sending faint ripples outward.
It was expressing its desire for vengeance that when they found the culprit, it would cut them down just like this.
Aggron, however, found that approach too troublesome. It simply plopped its massive body down, as if to say it would rather squash the enemy with its sheer weight.
But the ones who felt the most guilt were Metagross and Gengar.
Metagross, despite being carried by Julian that day, hadn't been able to react in time when danger struck.
As for Gengar, by sheer bad luck, the Poison Pearl inside its body had surged unexpectedly, forcing it out of Julian's shadow, and then the attack happened on that very same day.
In order to console them, Julian had put on a brave face. Even though his head was throbbing painfully that day, he had smiled and acted as if it was nothing serious.
After all, it wasn't their fault—it was Julian's own carelessness that had left him vulnerable.
*****
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