The strength Cain displayed now gave him both the ability and the right to directly become the Champion of a region. If it were not because Drake had just become Champion before he left, and because Juan wanted Cain to accumulate a bit more experience, then the moment he returned to the League, he would probably already have been the Champion!
Although he was not yet, in reality there was not much difference. The League's Investigation Department, which had previously only been temporarily managed, was now completely under Cain's control, and that alone was already an incredibly considerable force.
Combined with the fact that he was the one who announced Mega Evolution, and that many of his previous great achievements had come to light, the voices supporting him as the next Champion of Hoenn were growing stronger and stronger.
Those proud families could no longer remain still.
They were already familiar with Drake and had dealt with him many times. But this Cain, on the other hand, they had not had a single interaction with!
Given the current situation, if he were to become the Champion of Hoenn before the age of twenty, then in the future, like Juan, it would not be impossible for him to hold both the position of Champion and President, controlling both military strength and political power at the same time.
And most importantly, Cain was a person born among commoners. Who knew whether, once he rose to power, he would continue to increase support toward commoner trainers.
In recent years, due to the plans and policies of the central League, all regions had begun strongly supporting commoner trainers. For example, now, as long as they had not reached a certain level of strength and passed various League tests, commoner trainers could enjoy half-price services at Pokémon Centers.
Even now, the League had relaxed the requirements to become a direct League member. As long as one achieved that status, all those basic infrastructures could be enjoyed for free.
Free treatment at Pokémon Centers, free lodging during travel, special Pokédex devices that compensated for knowledge deficiencies of direct members, and even the fact that possessing a Pokédex also granted, to a certain extent, authority to assist the League police in law enforcement tasks, in addition to opening the path to continue advancing within the organization.
All of that was one of the main reasons why the League had produced so many talents in recent years.
The overall strength of the Pokémon League would no longer depend solely on those high-quality Pokémon provided by the families, nor on the young talents of those families. Commoner trainers had also entered the competition.
Although the success rate among commoners was ridiculously low, the population base of commoners was immense.
Unless they were enormous families such as the Stone family, the Drako family, the Jenny family, or the Joy family, all other large and small families would inevitably be greatly affected.
Thus, with Cain being someone of commoner origin, which direction he would support in the future had become extremely important.
That was why, this time, those families had united, hoping that through the Jenny family and the Joy family they could have a good conversation with Cain.
There was also another important reason. Although the demonstration of Mega Evolution that Cain had performed appeared very simple, the reality was not so.
At that moment, not to mention the Mega Stones, which were the most difficult to obtain, they had not even seen any trace of the Key Stones, which Cain had described as something relatively less important. Therefore, they wanted to see whether he had any in his possession and, if so, hoped to exchange for one or two.
Those family heads had come prepared. They brought with them characteristic resources produced by their own families, ranging from Pokémon to all kinds of rare materials, placing them before Cain until he felt somewhat dazzled.
Among them were quite a few Pokémon that even Cain felt somewhat tempted by.
After all, with his current status, those families did not dare present him with low-quality goods to deceive him.
Yes, in short, those families had come to bribe Cain, the new star of the Hoenn League and one of the future rulers of Hoenn.
Cain did not accept the Pokémon they offered. He already had enough Pokémon of his own and, for the moment, did not intend to train new ones.
Moreover, on the island he owned, Cain had already deliberately begun refining the quality of his Pokémon, gradually eliminating those with poorer aptitude and keeping only the elite. That meant that for a period of time his island would be extremely busy, and clearly he would not have the energy to manage the Pokémon those families would give him.
Although, in reality, the main reason was another: those Pokémon came alone, not in pairs.
Of course, if Cain accepted the Pokémon from these people, in the future they would inevitably become a limitation for him. But if he accepted nothing at all, they would not feel reassured. Therefore, Cain accepted the materials and resources they had brought, in order to calm them.
When all the family heads finally left satisfied and smiling, only Cain, the head of the Jenny family, and the head of the Joy family remained in the room.
This time, they had not only helped the family heads, they had also helped Cain become acquainted with many medium and large families of Hoenn, which would be quite useful in his competition for the Champion position.
"Many thanks to both family heads," Cain said with a smile to the head of the Jenny family and the head of the Joy family.
The head of the Jenny family waved her hand.
"It's nothing much. The key point is that right now, Cain, you are a hot bun. Even without us, they would have come looking for you one by one. We merely gathered those people together a bit to save everyone time."
"Didn't you notice that just now several family heads were looking at you with shining eyes, as if they were seeing the ideal son-in-law? In those families there are several young ladies around your age who are quite beautiful. If you are interested, you could get to know them a bit better."
Hearing the teasing tone of the head of the Jenny family, Cain showed an awkward but polite smile, without responding.
Not only now; for a long time already he had been a hot bun, only now he was stronger, had higher status, and, for others, was even more desirable.
(End of Chapter)