Baimu reached out to snatch, "This is left to me by my father."
"Father?"
The man was momentarily stunned upon hearing his response, and the wooden plaque in his hand was swiftly snatched away before he could examine it closely.
In fact, if he had carefully felt its texture and examined it closely, he would have easily discovered that this thing was actually made not too long ago, completely unlike those old items that have been handled for years.
Even if Baimu deliberately had it aged, it still wouldn't be the equivalent of ten years in one month. Pyrite Town, after all, is not a place specialized in selling antiques, lacking the technology for that.
It's enough to deceive people.
The man looked at Baimu again, his expression became somewhat complicated, "Your father..."
"Passed away since I remember." The latter responded extremely calmly, then asked: "Can you tell me what this thing is? I've always been curious."
The man exhaled a cloudy breath, "This..."
"Baimu?"
A voice suddenly came from behind the two of them.
Baimu's heart skipped a beat, masking his annoyance, he turned his head and unexpectedly saw Shanren, who had been missing earlier.
Interestingly enough, Shanren was completely surprised, his gaze moving between him and the man behind him.
"You know each other!?"
The man spoke, his tone containing a touch of disbelief.
"You know each other?" Baimu was also surprised, taking a step back to scan the man and Shanren, completely unexpected that the existence the clue pointed to would actually have a connection with the latter.
The three of them looked at each other, bewildered.
"...Before the auction starts, let's find a place to talk." Shanren took the initiative to speak.
The other two naturally had no objections.
At the same time, Baimu was extremely grateful that he didn't impersonate the Dragon Race mentioned by the man, but gave a vague response. Leaving the issue to the previous generation or even the generation before that leaves much room to maneuver.
——
Baimu originally thought Shanren would borrow a small room from the organizers.
As a result, the three of them sneaked through an unattended door into the parking lot, sitting in an SUV that had just arrived like they were thieves.
"Who says first?"
Shanren turned to look at Baimu and the other man, asking softly.
Finally, the man raised his hand, "I'll go first, you two know each other?"
"Yes, he's the one I brought here." Shanren honestly said, but the remark seemed to spark the man's anger, he slammed his hand on the car seat cushions.
"What were you thinking? How can you bring someone here so casually to such a dangerous place? Someone who knows nothing at all!"
"I have my own considerations." Shanren seemed to be unaware of his anger, continuing with introductions, exposing Baimu's general situation.
Upon hearing this, the man's anger quickly dissipated, calming down quite a bit.
"You came here to buy Pokémon?" He looked at Baimu, asking peacefully.
Baimu shivered, "I didn't know the Pokémon here were ill-gotten, really! If I had known beforehand, I wouldn't have come!"
Though unnecessary to fear them, it's still better to clarify matters that aren't intended to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.
Indeed.
His words relaxed the man's tightly gripped cushion.
Shanren also said, "I can assure you, it was me who coaxed him over here, he was ignorant."
"You—"
The anger in the man, which had subsided, flared up once more.
"Alright, alright." Shanren gestured for him to calm down, facing Baimu's puzzled gaze, he smiled and said, "You probably have many questions, let me explain them one by one.
"This gentleman, is Dragon Tamer Wu from Dragon Land, who came to Pyrite Town to investigate the theft of Deino. By chance, we have met several times in the Carlos Region, so I agreed to help him recover these Pokémon."
Upon hearing this, Baimu looked at Wu and noticed that although his expression was somewhat strange, he still nodded, which made Baimu understand something.
"You might be curious, since we are undertaking such an important, covert task, why I would deliberately invite you over…" Shanren said calmly, "On one hand, it was to observe your reaction to the stolen goods, and on the other, to use the opportunity of seeing you off to fabricate a chance to set up a trap and an alibi."
"Shanren!"
Wu's face changed, "Don't involve unrelated people!"
"Let me finish, Wu." Shanren shook his head, suddenly bowed his head in apology, and said, "I'm sorry, I used you. But please believe I never had any intention of putting you in harm's way.
No matter if you wanted to buy those Pokémon or not, I would find a way to send you back, you wouldn't suffer any harm. I'm also willing to compensate for your loss, agreeing to any of your terms."
Seeing this, Wu also quickly apologized, "Sorry, Shanren's foolishness led to this situation. I'll make sure he sends you away quickly, you don't need to get involved in such dangerous matters."
The apology was sincerely made.
The little anger Baimu originally had dissipated completely, after all, he owed Shanren a favor initially, whether it's the Calming Bell or helping boost the shop's popularity.
The key is the other party didn't intend to trap him, merely used the opportunity of escorting him to establish an alibi, it doesn't really cost him anything, it even amounted to seeing part of the world.
If there's truly no further involvement later, compensation isn't necessary at all.
And truthfully, these things didn't need to be told to him, even if kept in the dark until the end, it wouldn't matter.
Yet Shanren still disclosed them.
Why?
Because he displayed aversion to those stolen goods?
Baimu pondered for a moment, then said, "I have another question."
"Go ahead."
Shanren appeared to hold no back, eager to answer.
"What is this thing?"
He raised the wooden plaque, looking at Wu beside him, "I haven't gotten an answer yet."
"This is the Dragon Token, an emblem signifying the identity of a Dragon Tamer, every mature Dragon Tamer is granted a Dragon Token." Wu met Shanren's amazed look, saying, "Having this item only implies two possibilities.
"First, your ancestors or parents are Dragon Tamers; second, your ancestors or parents knew Dragon Tamers. I personally think you might be a descendant of the Dragon People."
"Huh? Why?"
Baimu was taken aback.
"Your eyes and eyebrows carry the charisma of the Dragon People!" Wu gave a reason that made him speechless.
Shanren couldn't resist chiming in, "Your ancestor was a Dragon Tamer?"
"I don't know!"
"If your ancestor was a Dragon Tamer, your Trainer abilities and other talents might be evidence."
Shanren nodded thoughtfully, "I see, no wonder I always felt you out of place here, turns out you're not a native of Pyrite Town!"
Seriously...
Baimu was speechless, it wasn't his intention to recognize some ancestor, yet Wu and Shanren seemed to take it as a given.