Meanwhile, in Coumarine City.
That evening, Ramos returned to Coumarine City by train.
The moment he arrived, he took the tea leaves—which were overflowing with a strange aroma—straight to visit the Mayor of Coumarine City.
"—Are you saying that this tea could potentially boost Coumarine City's tourism?" The Mayor sat on the sofa, staring at the packet of tea leaves before him. "It looks no different from ordinary tea leaves—and the packaging is even quite crude."
Ramos glanced at the Mayor, stroked his beard, and with a mysterious expression, gently tore open the bag of tea leaves.
As soon as the roughly made bag was torn open, a rich aroma drifted right into the Mayor's nose.
"How is it? Do you smell that?" Ramos said with an intoxicated look. "That unique, clear fragrance that only comes from rare trees—"
He took a deep breath and looked up, only to see the Mayor wiping away tears that were streaming down his face.
"But it shouldn't be that good that it makes you cry, right?"
"I haven't smelled this scent in such a long time—" The Mayor choked up, took another sniff, and said, "It smells exactly like the curry my late mother used to make."
"—" Ramos twitched his nose in disbelief.
"You're right, no one can refuse this scent," the Mayor continued. "But wouldn't it be a little weird to mix this kind of flavor into tea?"
"If it really is curry," Ramos said silently, "then that really is quite weird—"
But no matter how many deep breaths he took, he couldn't detect even a hint of curry in that comfortable, woody fragrance.
"How about we brew it and try?" Ramos couldn't help but ask.
"Sure."
The Mayor then stood up, brought out a tea set, walked over to Ramos, and sat down next to him.
"This is my wife's afternoon tea set," he continued. "I don't really have the leisure for such things, but it'll come in handy right now."
Saying this, he put the tea leaves into the teapot and started brewing the tea, following the exact steps his wife used to take.
As the hot water covered the tea leaves, that rich, intoxicating fragrance that had enraptured Ramos earlier spread through the room once more.
Watching the slightly purplish tea pour into the cups, Ramos picked his up and took a sip.
The moment the tea entered their mouths, the two men couldn't help but exchange a look.
The Mayor took another sip in disbelief. "It actually blends this well with the tea?"
"Yeah, one sip and it feels like you've entered a tropical rainforest—" Ramos looked at the tears flowing down the Mayor's face. "Don't tell me you're tasting curry?"
"What else would it be?"
Their eyes met. Under Ramos's highly skeptical gaze, the Mayor took another sip.
"But this stuff really is something," he continued. "As for needing land, that won't be a problem."
Saying this, he pulled out a map. "If it's just for planting tea trees and processing the tea, I can rent this entire area to him below market price. If it really ends up driving Coumarine City's tourism later, even waiving the rent entirely or giving him a bonus wouldn't be an issue."
However, he actually had a question mark in his mind about this. After all, even if there happened to be someone in the world who liked this scent just as much as he did and managed to infuse it into tea, no matter how he thought about it, this wasn't something the general public would like.
But if it was just a matter of renting land and building a factory, he wasn't opposed to it.
"By the way, who is this young man you mentioned?"
"I think his name is Ron. He's from Pelican Town."
"I see." The Mayor stared at the map and took another sip of his tea. Even though he hadn't met Ron in person, he unexpectedly developed a good impression of this stranger. "Alright, I'll approve all the paperwork on my end. If it can boost our tourism, all the better. Of course, if it doesn't sell, that's fine too."
At the very least, he would be a regular customer for this tea.
With this in mind, he asked Ramos for half of the tea leaves, and then watched the old man leave with a pained expression on his face.
"Who was that?"
The Mayor's wife had just walked in from outside. Seeing the teapot on the table, she asked, "Did you have afternoon tea with someone?"
"Yes, it was Ramos."
"Ah, him." The Mayor's wife sniffed the air in the room and couldn't help but look at the teapot. "What a sweet scent—it smells just like the macarons from the shop on the corner. Did you buy macarons?"
"I didn't." The Mayor looked around in confusion, then remembered the tea and said, "Oh right, today I finally tasted the curry from my memories. Try some and see if you can figure out how to make it."
Saying this, he took out a cup, poured some tea, and handed it to his wife.
"Oh, alright." She took the teacup, looked around, and drank it while trying to spot any trace of curry in the house.
Before she could even ask, the tea went down her throat, and her eyes suddenly lit up.
"I can't believe there's tea with this kind of flavor! My goodness, the taste of the macarons blends with the tea perfectly!"
"What macarons? Isn't it curry?"
"What curry? That would taste awful mixed into tea."
The couple stared at each other in bewilderment and took a few more sips in disbelief.
After confirming that the flavor the other person tasted was completely different from what they were tasting, the Mayor held up the half-bag of tea leaves.
"This will definitely be a hot seller!" the Mayor's wife said, staring at the tea. "Just like in Lumiose City!"
"Maybe? But before that, it's best to send a sample to a research lab to check the composition," the Mayor said with a serious expression.
Although it was inexplicable, he unexpectedly felt a great deal of trust for the Ron he had never met. Still, it was hard not to suspect that some sort of drug affecting the human mind had been mixed in. So, he made a phone call and sent a bit of the tea to the nearest research lab.
On the other side, riding his Gogoat, Ron stopped in front of a small town.
Having traveled at lightning speed, his progress was much faster than he had anticipated.
After feeding the Gogoat a Poffin, Ron recalled it into its Poké Ball and decided to temporarily stay at this small town's Pokémon Center for the night.
At this rate, catching up with Abigail and the others, who were traveling on foot, by tomorrow wouldn't be a problem at all.
With this in mind, Ron entered the Pokémon Center.
It was getting late, but there was no one at the Pokémon Center's service desk.
"Is anyone here?" Ron asked as he walked inside.
He hadn't taken more than a few steps when a strange woman popped up from behind the counter.
"Coming! Are you here to stay the night?" the woman asked with a smile. She steadied the hat on her head and said, "I'm the, uh, Pokémon Nurse here. Just call me Lily."
Before she could finish her sentence, a loud crash came from a door not far away.
Lily turned her head to look, then turned back with a smile and said, "Sorry about that, it seems there's an issue in the treatment room. Let me go check on it."
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