Sieg stood at the edge of the ship's rail, looking down at the bruised and battered chubby boy below, silently thinking to himself, "I also need to cultivate my own trusted aides aboard the Megalodon, and perhaps this chubby boy could be of use."
With that thought, the corners of Sieg's mouth lifted slightly, revealing a barely noticeable smile.
With steady steps, Sieg walked from the towering ship tower onto the wide deck, arriving before the pirate who was scolding the newcomers.
Sieg said in a low voice, "That's enough, stop for now. Take this batch of newcomers into the cabin and settle them. Leave this chubby boy here."
Hearing this, the pirates who had been about to continue disciplining the chubby boy immediately put away their fierce expressions and became respectfully obedient.
While responding, the pirates directed a few regular sailors to quickly escort the new recruits into the ship's cabin.
At that moment, the chubby boy lying on the ground, moaning in pain, sensed a change in the atmosphere around him. He struggled to support himself with his hands, his round belly looking a bit ridiculous from the effort.
He looked up at Sieg, a flash of confusion and fear in his eyes.
"Um... are you the boss of this ship?" the chubby boy asked cautiously.
Perhaps the recent beating had stripped away all his arrogance. Now, his tone was obviously trying to curry favor.
What he didn't know was that even though Sieg was only sixteen years old, he had already survived life-and-death trials. He radiated an intimidating aura that could easily subdue this pampered young boy.
"What's your name?" Sieg asked.
The chubby boy lifted his head, a flattering smile on his chubby face, "I'm Hiroki Kōsei."
...
Days passed quietly. The new batch of recruits had already begun working. Due to the lack of manpower, each person was tasked with complex jobs.
This was extremely hard on the newcomers, but remembering someone who was thrown into the sea and fed to the fish for slacking off, a chill ran through them, and they could only grit their teeth and push through.
After all, no one wanted to become the next one tossed into the sea!
Inside the dining hall, Sieg was watching the chubby boy devour his food.
"Are you sure this person is only 12 years old?" Sieg asked a pirate nearby who was in charge of counting the crew.
"Sir, I swear I'm not lying. I didn't expect he could eat this much either!" The pirate looked at the pile of plates stacked like a mountain in front of him, almost in tears.
Sieg looked at the oil around the boy's mouth as yet another plate of fried noodles disappeared into his belly, silently thinking, "This brat eats like seven or eight grown men combined."
The chubby boy didn't care about the strange looks the two gave him. He called out again, "Chef, another plate of spaghetti!"
At that moment, Sieg said, "Alright, now you can tell me your thoughts."
Hiroki patted his round belly, wearing a satisfied, smiling expression, but his mind was spinning rapidly.
"If I answer poorly, I'll probably be sent back to do that hard labor again."
Just thinking about the broken-body experience from a few days ago made him shudder. He had no desire to go through that again.
As Sieg was growing a bit impatient, Hiroki finally spoke, "Sir, do you know what the most valuable thing in the world is?"
Sieg casually replied, "Pseudo-legendary offspring? Powerful Pokémon, rare treasures, and items?"
Sieg guessed a bunch of things in a row, but all were denied with a shake of Hiroki's head.
"The most valuable thing in this world always shares one trait: scarcity!" Hiroki lowered his voice mysteriously, his eyes sparkling with cunning light.
Sieg was speechless upon hearing this and muttered inwardly, "Isn't that obvious? Everyone knows pseudo-legendaries are rare."
He looked at Hiroki in silence but still patiently listened.
"Here, I don't mean scarcity in a broad sense. I mean scarcity for a specific individual or a specific group," Hiroki continued, his tone growing more serious.
"For example, for the terminally ill elderly, youth and health are scarce."
"Or, for someone in unrequited love, mutual affection is what's scarce."
"Throughout the history of the League, most wealthy people got rich by exploiting what a certain group found scarce. In the future, I'm destined to become a rich…"
Hiroki grew more and more excited as he spoke, and even his plump little face showed traces of a confident smile.
Sieg sat quietly listening to him, going from indifferent at first to deeply focused by the end.
The two of them sat in a corner of the dining hall, talking like that for the entire afternoon, only snapping out of it when dinner time came.
"That brat really has some potential. He's got quite the business mindset. Who knows, maybe he'll become a great commercial magnate one day!" Sieg thought silently.
As a transmigrator, Sieg acknowledged that the mystical power of Pokémon in this world was indeed formidable, but money and the economy were not to be underestimated either.
If in the future he could build a commercial empire, he could influence the development of an entire city or even a whole region!
Sieg looked at the chubby boy with increasing interest, as if discovering a treasure.
From that day on, the pirates on the Megalodon noticed that Sieg was often accompanied by a chubby boy. Whether it was receiving guests or selling Pokéblocks, it was almost always this boy who took charge.
Sieg seemed to treat him as his spokesperson, and this chubby boy named Hiroki went from being a bullied newcomer to becoming a prominent figure on the ship.
...
"Cor Cor!!"
Corphish excitedly swung its sharp claws, its gaze focused and piercing.
Each time it snapped its claws, it precisely popped one of the floating bubbles.
For it, this game was both fun and a daily training routine.
As a Corphish, its claws were naturally its most proud weapons.
Sieg understood this well, so he had designed this specific training exercise to help Corphish better control and utilize its claw techniques.
Through this repeated practice, Corphish's reaction speed and precision improved significantly.
"Not bad, Corphish. You burst over twenty bubbles midair before any of them could hit the ground!" Sieg couldn't help but praise, casually tossing a Pokéblock to restore stamina as a reward.
With quick reflexes, Corphish caught the Pokéblock and immediately started chewing it, happily enjoying the reward from its master.
Seeing Corphish's satisfied expression, Sieg couldn't help but laugh, "Haha, when it comes to catching food, you really never miss, huh?"
Clearly, he was very pleased with Corphish's performance.
Lately, Sieg had handed off all his errands to Hiroki, giving himself much more free time.
He chose to spend this extra time diving into books or improving his skill in making Pokéblocks.
Now, Sieg was progressing rapidly every single day!