Helena sat at the new wooden docks she had built along the Rokon River near the sawmill. A ship had just arrived, and a Medicham stepped off. "Good evening, Princess Helena," she greeted.

"Good evening, Maria. I have the berries all prepared for you," said Helena.

"I see," Maria chuckled, spotting the five crates lined up at Helena's side. She opened up each crate to inspect the harvested Mago or Liechi berries. "These berries look excellent. Let's weigh them."

"I already weighed the crates and labeled them to save time," Helena said.

"I thank you for taking the initiative, and I have no doubt it is correct, but it is my guild's policy that I weigh them myself. I hope you understand."

Helena huffed, lamenting the lost hour. "Alright," she said.

They brought the crates to a giant scale by the docks purchased from Miloa. Alongside the scale was a large set of metal blocks labeled with different weights. Maria inspected the scale to make sure it wasn't rigged and tested a few combinations of weights. Once satisfied, she took an empty crate, placed it on one side of the scale, and placed weights on the other side until the scale was balanced, noting down the weight of the standard crate on a piece of paper. Then Helena placed each berry crate onto the scale using Psychic while Maria put weights on the other side to balance. The total weight of each crate matched Helena's labels.

"Phew," Maria sighed as she unloaded the weights from the scale. "The citizens of Miloa will be excited to see this many berries at the market in the coming days." She calculated how much she would pay and showed it to Helena, who agreed. Then Maria pointed her hand towards her ship, floating a chest towards her. She pulled out a key and unlocked it, revealing stacks upon stacks of poké. "And now we must count up the payment. Geez, I haven't done this in a long time. It's a shame you don't take pokénotes."

"I wish I could too," Helena chuckled. She sat down and started counting. Once they had the right amount, Helena placed all the coins in a large sack, and they loaded all the crates onto Maria's ship. "Come back soon! I'll have more to sell," said Helena.

"A pleasure doing business with Kyukonais," said Maria, sailing off.

Helena headed to the nearby farm to pay her farmers. The first two she found were an Excadrill and Donphan preparing new soil. "Hello Eric, Derek," Helena said. "How are you two doing?"

"Doing great, Helena," said Eric. "We're really getting the hang of this soil preparation."

"The professor's got us working on preparing for a new berry," said Derek. "'Chesto,' she called it."

"Ah yes, that's a favorite for many pokemon. I bet it'll sell for an even higher price than Liechi," Helena remarked. "I had another successful sale just now. Ready to get paid?" she asked, using her tails to lower the sack of poké for her workers to see.

"You bet! Thanks," Eric said.

"Thank you. This is your hard work," Helena added. She counted up the right amount of poké.

Eric and Derek had small pouches for carrying poké, a gift from Helena when she first started paying them with money instead of meals. In the beginning, the pouches were more than big enough to fit all the poké they earned. However, the farm output increased dramatically over time, so Helena was paying them more and more after each sale. By now, the workers' pouches were bulging with the number of coins stuffed in, almost unable to strap close and secure.

Helena headed off to pay everyone else, and Eric and Derek quickly wrapped up for the day, heading off the farm with the sun only beginning to descend the horizon. They arrived at the market street, whose shops were halfway populated now. They started approaching the food store.

"Hey, hey!" an Electabuzz called out from in front of a new shop across the street. "What'cha shoppin' for today?"

"Hello, we're in the market for some rice," said Derek.

"From them? They charge 50 poké for one sack of rice. That's a crime, I say!"

"Heh, you haven't met our former lords, then," Eric said. "We used to go hungry after they took our harvest from us or let the bandits steal from us without stopping them. At least we can afford to feel full at the end of each day now."

"Well, let me help you some more, buddy," said the Electabuzz. "My guild just finished setting up shop. I'll sell you the same sack of rice as those guys across the street but for 40 poké!" The merchant pulled out a sack of rice to show them.

Eric stood up straighter, inspecting the rice. "That much cheaper?"

"What's the catch?" Derek asked. He unfurled his trunk to try and sniff out any anomaly.

"Nothing! Rice is a pretty standard product; you're not going to see much variation between guilds."

"Then why are you making it cheaper?" Eric asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Haha, I want your business, obviously! Sure, I could charge more, but then you'd go to the other shop instead. Having more customers is much better for us. If another guild set up shop next door and started selling rice for cheaper, I'd probably lower my price too. That's perfect competition for ya. Pretty sweet deal for the customers, eh?" the Electabuzz grinned. "So what do ya say?"

Eric shrugged. "Looks fine to me."

"Smells fine to me," Derek added. "I'll buy it."

"Excellent! Be sure the spread the word about our new shop, will ya?"

"Sure thing," said Eric.

The two farmers hauled their groceries a few streets over, stopping in front of a large complex of compact apartments. The side-by-side living quarters stretched far down the road, four stories high. The apartments were mainly made of smoothly cut wood with a stone foundation. Stairs on the side of the building gave access to long, front-facing balconies to reach the front doors of the upper stories.

"See you tomorrow," Eric and Derek said, heading into their small but warm, cozy, and secure apartments to settle in with their families for the night.

Helena, Terry, and Max approached the massive building positioned along the river. Helena's workers had expanded the little sawmill they had started with to include a paper mill. The ginormous wheel on the side of the building spun with the river's current and powered the machinery inside.

"Ah, Helena, Maximillian, and Theodore. How wonderful of you to pay us a visit," greeted Professor Arlo, the Ariados mastermind behind the paper mill.

"Good morning, Professor," said Helena. "Is the paper mill fully operational?"

"Indeed it is. Months of designs and experiments are coming to fruition. Let me show you all around, starting with the crusher." They went up to a belt carrying bark, branches, and log edges from outside the building into two large metal claws at the end. "The first step of our new papermaking process is to take all the leftovers from the sawmill, anything unsuitable for lumber, and crush it up into pulp," said the Ariados. "A friend of mine, a Pinsir, inspired the claw design. Both the belts and the claws get their movement from the water wheel outside."

On the other side of the crusher, the brown, watery pulp from the claws flowed into a long, inclined tub. A few bug types were shooting silky white String Shots into the mix as it slowly flowed by. "Here is where the miracles happen," Professor Arlo said. "We use String Shot to bind the crushed up fibers together." Further down the line, the pulp was glowing various shades of green. "Next, we use Leech Life and Giga Drain to extract all the water from the pulp so that the fibers have the capacity to soak up ink later." At the end of the tub, the dried white fibers entered a large, heavy roller powered by the water wheel and heated by a furnace underneath. "Heating and flattening the dry, String Shot embued fibers give us thin sheets of crisp, white paper," Professor Arlo finished, gently running his small pincers across a sheet of newly produced paper that was fresh out of the roller and still warm.

"Truly wonderful," Max breathed, glancing through the whole process from start to finish again. "It is all thanks to your meticulous and creative research, Professor," He remarked. "I do not think anyone else would have imagined that String Shot and Leech Life would make good paper."

"We Bug-types often go unnoticed. I hope to unlock more of the secrets of our potential," the Ariados smiled, lifting his horn toward the ceiling.

"Just think of all the books about to be printed!" Terry exclaimed, hopping on his paws as he looked over the sheets of paper.

"We can start printing pokénotes too," said Max. "If we establish a bank here in Kyukonais, our citizens can enjoy the conveniences of paper money over sacks of coins."

"We better start selling to Miloa soon," Helena chuckled. "Thank you so much, Professor. You are a true pioneer."

"Thank you for presenting me with the resources and opportunity," said Professor Arlo.

"Why are you touching my part of the house?" Remy whined. "Hands off!"

"Shut up, you glob of glue," Conrad hissed, gently rocking the wooden planks with his giant hands to make sure it was structurally sound.

"Hmph," Remy huffed, crossing her squishy arms. The other side of the half-finished house started glowing purple as she analyzed it.

"Hey, take your mind off my part of the house!" Conrad demanded.

"Just because it's standing now doesn't mean it'll stand forever," Remy huffed.

"I know it'll stand longer than your half. You didn't even touch it."

"So primitive!"

"So lazy!"

The two lead builders stared daggers at each other. Meanwhile, Helena, Lily, and the rest of the builders watched from afar, cringing. Helena sighed. "Lily, do you think you can get them to work together?" she asked.

"I can certainly keep trying!" Lily offered. "I've sorta tried here and there, but I'll try harder!"

"That would be great," said Helena. She marched up to the Conkeldurr and Reuniclus and cleared her throat.

"Good morning, boss," they both answered. Then they scowled at each other again.

"Care to explain why you two are still at each other's throats?"

"Because she still doesn't know the first thing about building!"

"Because he's still stuck in the old way of building!"

Helena shook her head. "I firmly believe that the best structures we can build these days require both fighting and psychic talents. To showcase Kyukonais's newfound wealth, these houses need to be as grand as can be. That will require both physical testing and psychic analysis. You two are working together, so please give each other helpful feedback when checking over the other's work."

"Yeah! Helena's workers deserve the best houses in the world, so let's work together!" Lily cheered.

"Understood," Conrad muttered.

"Acknowledged," Remy grunted.

"Alright, keep up the good work, everyone. Thank you all."

Helena began heading off as a Darmanitan arrived at the construction site, huffing and puffing smoke. "Princess Helena!" he gasped.

"Hello, Darrell," Helena smiled. "Good to see you."

Darrell saluted with a wide grin. "I promise to work hard today!"

"I have no doubt you will," Helena chuckled. "Thank you for coming to work for me."

Darrell nodded and proceeded over to Conrad. "Sorry I'm late!"

"Had some trouble getting out of bed, son?" Conrad chuckled.

"No, my mom and dad held me up. They still think I'm too young to be working without them, but look, I'm all grown up and evolved!" the Darmanitan said proudly, pounding his giant fists together and grinning from side to side.

"Darn right! I could use some of your muscle over here," Conrad said.

"Darrell!" Remy exclaimed, floating over. "My favorite protégé! Come lend me your mind, would you?"

"Hey, I asked first!" Conrad growled, pounding a slab of concrete on the ground.

"I asked louder!" Remy retorted, sticking her tongue out.

Lily's usual smile faltered into a cringe. "Come on, you two can share. Since Conrad asked first, he can have Darrell for the morning. Remy can have Darrell for the afternoon." She forced a smile. "Okay?"

"...Fine."

"Great, bring over that wood and we'll get building," said Conrad.

"You got it, boss!" said Darrell, hefting a huge stack of planks.

When it was time to call it a day, Lily called over Remy and Conrad. "Let's have some team bonding time at Quest for Chesto!" she suggested.

"With her?" Conrad scoffed, heaving one of his concrete slabs and pointing at the Reuniclus.

"Ugh, with him? Hmm, but I do love me some coffee," Remy said.

"Hmph."

"Aw, come on, look at how good the house looks, thanks to both of you," Lily said. "I'm sure we can find something in common."

"Fine," Conrad grumbled.

"Yay!" Lily cheered with a hop.

Wait for me! a voice in their minds called out.

"Ooh, we can't forget Darrell," said Remy.

They walked/floated into the halfway-finished house to see their young Darmanitan worker in Zen Mode, still as a stone in the middle of the house frame. He used Psychic to place one last wooden beam in place. Then he levitated in the air, spun around, and transformed into his standard red form with a wide grin and flaming eyebrows. "Let's go!" he exclaimed, punching his fists together energetically.

The group made their way through the city gate and into town. The ground shook as Conrad heaved a concrete slab in each arm and slammed it against the path with every step. "Why do you carry those around everywhere?" Lily asked.

"Proof that what you see doesn't lie," Conrad chuckled, flexing his overly large shoulders and arms. "Some pokemon only focus on looks." He tossed his slabs into the air and caught them one after another. "Hoo! Hah! I'm the real thing!"

"When Conrad was a little Timburr, he left his wood behind all the time," Remy said. "He won't let go of his slabs because he still hears his mother scolding him," she snickered.

"That's because you stole it! What use did a Solosis have for a piece of wood, anyway?"

Lily folded her ears back as the two builders bickered back and forth, then jumped when Conrad slammed both his slabs on the ground.

"You know what? I'm going to the bar instead. See ya." Conrad lumbered across the street.

"No, wait!" Lily cried.

"Some other time, okay? Preferably without a psychic glob in my side."

Remy slapped her large squishy hand against Lily's back. "We don't need him to have fun!" She floated towards the coffee house entrance.

Lily hung her head and sighed. "Why can't I get them to get along?" she mumbled.

"Hey, it's not your fault," Darrell reassured her. "Some pokemon just don't get along. Come on, let's get some coffee!"

"Alright!" said Lily. She followed the Darmanitan into the coffee house, reading the words written on the wall with a smile - "Quest for Chesto".

A pleasant aroma wafted out of the door. Inside, plenty of workers - from the berry farms, saw/paper mill, or clearing the woods - were hanging out and relaxing after completing the day's work. A Ledian was playing a stunning performance on a piano using all four hands. Kids were playing games or listening to Terry reading a book.

Lily and Darrell ordered their coffee and then sat down with Remy and Max. "Max! You're back from Miloa!" Lily chimed.

"Indeed! And I am pleased to report that Kyukonais's paper has reached every corner of Miloa. I brought back some new books for Terry printed with our paper. I need to talk to Helena about starting a school so everyone can enjoy our newfound printing capabilities."

"I'll be the first to sign up!" said Darrell.

While her friends chatted, Lily tuned into Terry's storytelling. He used a wide range of voices and facial expressions as he made the words in the book come to life for the audience. No matter what tone, it was all so pleasant to Lily's ears.

"Hoo! Hah! It's Chad, my man!" Conrad thundered, patting Chadwyck on the back with a concrete slab.

"How's it going, Con?" Chadwyck grinned with a friendly flap on the back.

"Chugging along," said Conrad, taking a swig of his beer. "Remy's still as annoying as ever, and now Helena is using Lily to force us to get along. I kind of feel bad for Lily, taking on an impossible task. At least Helena continues to pay well."

"You got that right," said Chadwyck. "I'm her highest-paid employee!" he boasted with a sip from his mug.

"And yet you're here at the bar, not doing anything," Conrad chuckled.

"Hey man, she works every minute of the day. I ain't following her all day long." Chadwyck leaned back with his arms behind his head, wearing a lazy smirk. "Besides, we eliminated all threats long ago."

"With great power comes great jealousy… and great enemies. Unfortunately, you can never know when danger might come."

"Eh, she can defend herself," Chadwyck shrugged.

"And hence, Helena's highest-paid employee does nothing," Conrad smirked.

"Hey, I cleared plenty of bandits and forests. I can kick back and relax for a while."

"If you say so," Conrad laughed. They clinked their mugs and drank deeply.

"Ah, that hit the spot," Chadwyck sighed. He reclined in his chair and then blinked a few times. "What have we here?" he drawled with a grin, checking out a random female at the bar.

"We're back for a check-up!" Amber announced as she, Bella, and Professor Lydia arrived at the berry farm.

"Welcome back!" Eric greeted. "And perfect timing. A lot of the crops aren't growing as big or making as many berries. Can you take a look?"

"Certainly," said Professor Lydia. The four of them went around the farm, inspecting the rows of berry plants and talking to the other farmers to hear their observations. "I expected as much. Nothing out of the ordinary," Professor Lydia reassured. "You see, plants need specific nutrients to grow, which they take from the soil. These nutrients are much tinier than anyone can see, so although the soil may not look much different, it is losing its nutrients after repeated planting. In a normal forest, when plants and trees die, their nutrients return to the soil. But since we are harvesting our berry plants, the soil doesn't get its nutrients back. That's why the new plants aren't as big."

"Wow, I never even considered that…" Eric remarked, scratching his chin. "What can we do about it?"

"I'm glad you asked, Eric," Professor Lydia chuckled. "That precise question is what my years of research have been all about. The answer: we attack the ground and plant Lum berries."

Eric tilted his head, looked across the berry fields, then back to the professor. "Huh? What do you mean by 'attack the ground?' And why Lum berries?"

"It sounds so random, but it's absolutely true!" Bella attested. "We spent years with our pots in our lab and the university gardens to prove it."

"Granted, we have not applied our findings on a large scale. That is what we hope to begin today," said Professor Lydia. "Since you are a part of our research, would you like to know more? I will try to explain the best I can."

"Yes, please!" Eric answered.

"Alright, so about those nutrients I mentioned, there are three very important ones that all plants must have to grow. We can call them N, P, and K. Remember those."

"N, P, and K," Eric repeated with a nod. "Got it."

"There exists tons of P and K beneath our feet," Professor Lydia continued. "The soil has tons of them. In fact, the purpose of a plant's roots is to reach more of these nutrients scattered across the soil. However, the roots can only grab a small portion of P and K in the soil; the rest is locked away in rocks.

"But… if we use grass-type moves on the soil… we can free up the P and K for plants to grab!" Bella exclaimed. "Like this!" She brought her hands together, formed an Energy Ball, and slammed it into the ground. It exploded, and green energy seeped through the dirt.

"And don't worry if you're not a grass-type," Amber added. "We developed a move that any pokemon can use to draw power from the environment to form an attack. In farmlands like this, you can use it to make grass-type energy. We call it… Secret Power!" She concentrated for several moments until her two tails glowed white, then bright green, then she slammed them into the ground.

"Wow, that's awesome to know," Eric said. "I'm sure we'll have fun attacking the ground! But that's only P and K, right? What about N?"

"Good question," Professor Lydia smiled. "The N is above us and all around us."

"Huh?"

"The open space around us is not nothing. It is made up of something. You feel it when the wind blows or if you move your arms very fast. That's the air. Most of it is made up of N."

"Hmm…" Eric muttered. He jerked his arms around, never really taking notice of the air resistance until now.

"But plants are picky," said Amber. "They only like N when it's in the ground like P and K. Fortunately, some plants take the N out of the air for themselves to grow and leave the leftovers in the soil for other plants. One example is Lum berry plants!"

"Exactly. Although Lum berries may not sell for much, we believe they are worth planting from time to time to add N back to the soil for your important berry plants to use," Professor Lydia said.

"Are you sure?" Eric asked. "I should ask Helena first before changing things up like that…"

"I will go over it with her," Professor Lydia said. "If she paid attention in my lectures, which I believe she did, she will agree to it."

"Ooh, and there's something else we've been working on but haven't been able to test on a large scale yet," Amber spoke up. "Some plants may grow a little faster and bigger than the others. You shouldn't sell the berries from the best plants. Instead, you should use them to plant the next berries. We think that will make the next batch of plants grow faster with even bigger berries. We didn't have a lot of berries to choose from in our lab, but now we do!"

"That's not all! We can also plant different berries each time so that they use up different nutrients. Crop rotation!" Bella said with a twirl.

"Calm down, you two," Professor Lydia chuckled. "You're flooding him with information."

"Yeah, this is a lot to take in," Eric said, holding his forehead. "But I want to be a better farmer. Can we go over it again tomorrow?"

"Of course," the researchers agreed.

It was late at night, past any reasonable bedtime, but Lily and Terry were still up, reading together through one of Terry's favorite books, War of the Plates 2. Lily was reading aloud with Terry helping her through some of the more unintuitive spellings. They had been reading together for months, and Lily was almost ready to read independently.

"Is it time to call it a night?" Terry asked after a prolonged yawn from the Leafeon.

"No! I want to get to the end… this story is just too cute and intense to stop now!" Lily tiredly laughed. "I won't be able to sleep without reaching the end…"

"Alright," Terry chuckled. "Want me to read to you?"

"Mhmm," Lily nodded, relaxing back on her pillow.

Terry continued with the story, using a dramatic voice and distinct pitches for dialogue which earned several giggles from Lily. When reading to anyone, Terry was always heavily focused on the book and gave it his all to do the story justice.

Lily enjoyed Terry's storytelling tremendously, but still, the lateness was getting to her. Eventually, she closed her eyes and felt too tired to open them again. As the Leafeon began to doze off, she pressed her ear against Terry's fur to continue listening to his joyous voice. As his voice continued to fade, she snuggled closer, but his warm, soft fur only lulled her into a swifter, cozier sleep.

Since Terry was engrossed in his storytelling, it took him over a minute to realize that his friend was fast asleep. Once he noticed, he quietly laughed, set the book down on Lily's nightstand, settled her blanket over her, blew out her candle, hopped off the bed, and carefully closed her bedroom door without disturbing her.

"Boo!" someone whispered in the Torracat's ear.

"Ack!" Terry exclaimed, jumping a meter away with his fur standing on end. "Helena!" he whined.

"Haha!" Helena chuckled softly with a mischievous grin.

"You know I'm going to get you back twice as hard," Terry playfully insinuated.

Helena rolled her tired eyes. "What do you think of Lily?" she asked with an eager smile.

"She's doing great!" Terry responded, struggling to keep his voice low. "She can almost read fluently now, just getting tripped up on the weird things like 'ph,' you know?"

"Oh… okay. That's good…" Helena trailed off with a yawn.

"Where have you been all day? Did you just get back to the palace?" Terry asked.

"Yeah… I had to plan out a new farm, figure out which workers to send there, check on the existing berry farms, I got two new vendors set up at the market, had to collect taxes, make sure the new school's construction is going well…"

"All that today?" Terry said with a cringe. "Don't you need time to unwind?"

"I don't care, whatever it takes to make my province successful. The other dukes' provinces must pale in comparison to mine," Helena said determinedly… and tiredly.

"Can't you give some of those tasks to other pokemon? Everyone wants Kyukonais to be successful."

"I remember someone bailing when it was time to collect taxes," Helena pointed out snarkily.

"Umm…" Terry floundered, averting his eyes and flicking his ears.

"It's okay, I know you and Lily went to Quest for Chesto to hang out and you've been one of the readers. I'm sure everyone is enjoying your storytelling."

"Heh, thanks," said Terry. "You should come some time."

"There are so many things I want to get done first. I have a list of things I have to get done tomorrow. I'm visiting Miloa soon too. I have to interview potential teachers, secure supplies…"

"The list is just going to keep growing and growing," Terry pointed out. "You can't handle everything forever…"

Helena sighed. "You're not wrong," she admitted. "I'll think about it…" she said with another yawn. "Good night…"

The next morning, Helena tiredly plodded over to the first berry farm. As she yawned into her paw and blinked several times, an Excadrill popped out of the dirt at the edge of the farm, smiled, waved, and headed over to her.

"Good morning, Eric," Helena greeted.

"Good morning, Helena!" said Eric. "Oh wait, let me tidy myself up a bit," he said sheepishly, dusting the dirt off of his metal claws.

"No need," Helena laughed. "You've seen my fur completely filthy before. Heck, you taught me how to use Dig!"

"I guess that's true," the Excadrill chuckled.

"So, how is the berry farm doing?" Helena asked.

"Doing great! The Mago is almost ready and it's looking like our best batch yet. The Liechi harvest is complete and shipped. We're going to rotate that field to Pecha next after a quick round of Lum berries. I have the perfect soil composition planned for it. Also, the new workers you sent our way last week are learning the Dig techniques quickly. They'll help us out a lot!"

"Doing great! The yields are getting better and better after the last round of suggestions from Professor Lydia, Amber, and Bella. We've introduced more berry types, like Lansat and Petaya for spices and Pecha and Roseli for sweets, and we've been using a different berry on each field after harvest. It's a lot of work changing the soil properties each time, but I think it's definitely worth it because we're getting more berries. Planting Lum berries from time to time is helping a lot too."

"Wow, looks like you've got everything under control," said Helena, awestruck.

"That's right, we've got all the best berries coming your way!" Eric laughed. "You know, I went to a new restaurant last night with my family, and they were using our berries! Made me mighty proud."

"I'm glad to hear," Helena said. "Thank you for doing everything to make all these berries."

"No, thank you!" Eric exclaimed. "Without you, I'd still be making crummy bread, getting robbed by bandits, and sleeping in a tiny straw hut. Now my family can all eat good food, go to sleep warm at night, and have time for fun!"

"You're very welcome," Helena said with a smile. "You've become quite the expert, learning everything from Professor Lydia and her researchers." Helena gazed across the fields and back to Eric. "Hmm… I have an idea. You've been an ally since the very start of my ambitions and I know you've been doing a good job here. I have a million other things I have to do these days, with markets, schools, paper, other farms… so I want you to take over this berry farm as its new owner."

"Really? What will I need to do?"

"Continue what you're doing, ensuring you make the most and best berries possible," Helena started. "But you'll also have to sell the berries to food suppliers, both the ones who sell here in Kyukonais and the ones who will transport the berries to Miloa and the rest of the world. I can get you in contact with my suppliers."

"Okay, I can do that," Eric said.

"Most importantly, you're going to need to manage the money the farm earns from selling the berries," said Helena. "You will probably hold more money in your claws than Count Caden ever held."

"What? Seriously?" Eric breathed, amazed.

"Yes. As the owner of the berry farm, you will be receiving the profits instead of me. Now, you mentioned how I gave you opportunities and improved your living conditions. I hope you do not hold onto the wealth like the nobles do, and instead invest and expand the farm, and create those same opportunities for your fellow workers and many more to come. The power will be yours instead of mine. Do you think you can handle that, being a responsible landowner?"

"Wow, I… I want to do this for you, but I think I need a lot of time to talk this over with you. I know I have to get it right. This sounds way bigger than smashing bandits or maintaining fields ever was."

"That's a good answer," Helena said with a wide smile. "Though it means more work for me in the short term," she laughed. "Come meet me at the market street this evening. Max and I can show you how our new bank works. It'll make sales with Miloa a lot easier."

"Welcome to the Bank of Kyukonais, Eric," Max greeted from behind a well-polished wooden counter.

"The bank's goal is to make trading goods easier," Helena explained. "When business gets bigger, the number of coins can be hard to deal with. The payment for berry shipments is coming in multiple chests now, for example. Coins are heavy, noisy, and hard to store."

"Thus, we shall begin using paper money," said Max. "You can store your poké here in the bank vault and we'll give you some pokénotes that say how much poké you stored." He pulled out some pokénotes from a box with various poké amounts and showed them to Eric.

"Instead of hauling coins around, you can exchange these pokénotes instead. Then, if you need the real coins, you can come to the bank and exchange the notes for coins. Convenient, right?" Helena smiled.

"Yeah… but are you sure pokémon will accept these pieces of paper instead of coins?" Eric asked, scrutinizing the pokénotes.

"It is an established practice amongst the merchants and bankers of Miloa," Max assured. "In fact, with all the paper we are producing these days, I hope paper money will become accessible to everyone beyond the financial elite."

"So, when you sell the farm's berries to a merchant from Miloa, they may offer you some pokénotes instead of poké," said Helena. "You can come here to the bank to get the coins you need to buy food and everything else. Or the pokémon you're buying from may accept your pokénotes, knowing they can come here for the coins that pokénote is worth if they need to. That's how we make trading easier!"

"This 'bank' sounds great, then!" Eric said.

"Ah, but the efficiency is not even the most interesting part, my friend," Max said. He pointed his little paw towards a massive, thick book sitting on the counter, almost as big as the Meowstic himself if the book stood upright. "The true power of a bank lies in that book, a 'ledger.' Say you did not even want to carry all your pokénotes around - you could lose the paper or have it stolen from you just like with coins. You can deposit your poké here at the bank, where it will be kept safe and sound." Max's paw glowed purple, and the book flipped open to an empty page. He held up a large fancy pen with a Ninetales-like design carved into it in his other paw; the pen glowed dark red on its own. "This pen is empowered by the move Imprison. Whatever you write in the ledger with this pen, only you can edit. You can leave your poké here at the bank and write down how much poké at the bank belongs to you. If you need the poké later, you can retrieve it and subtract the amount you retrieved from your page in the ledger. Since only you can edit what you write with the Imprison pen, no one can cheat you out of your poké."

"Hmm… I guess that's convenient," Eric remarked.

"That's still not the end of it!" Helena laughed.

"Yes, the best for last," Max chuckled. "Banks can lend the money stored by you and me to other pokémon who need some money to start a new business. Once they establish their business and start to make money, they can pay it back to the bank. By storing your money in the bank, you are helping other pokémon start their businesses, which makes more goods available to buy and more nice places to spend time. For your troubles of letting other pokemon borrow your money, you get a little extra poké when you come back to withdraw, called interest. The extra poké gets there because the pokémon who borrow money have to pay a little extra back in order to keep the bank in business and as a reward to you for letting them borrow your poké."

"I… see," Eric mumbled. "Err, it's going to take some time for me to understand everything… it took long enough for me to understand the professor's farming techniques already."

"No problem," Helena chuckled, patting Eric's shoulders with a tail. "I'll help you along the way. It'll be great if you can take ownership of the farm so I can focus on other parts of Kyukonais, but I won't throw everything on you until you're ready."

"Thanks, Helena. I'll do whatever you need of me," Eric determined.

As the months went by, berry and paper sales soared. Construction sprawled beyond the city walls as workers moved out of their starting apartments and into nice houses. Everyone slowly learned to read, write, and do math at the new schools. Stores filled up with merchants, and the bank filled up with savings.

Helena strolled through the busy market streets to admire her economy at work. It was a Universalis meeting day, so nobles were in town along with extra merchants anticipating deep-pocketed customers. Helena walked up to two Pyroars and a Luxray at a jewelry stand with her head held high.

"Good afternoon, Ludwig. Are you enjoying the market today?" Helena asked.

"Absolutely. The vendors offer a selection fit for a king such as me," Ludwig boasted. "All thanks to you, dear cousin."

"Indeed," Helena said with a nod and a smirk. "And how are you enjoying, Priscilla?" Helena asked.

"That is Queen Priscilla to you, mere duchess," the Pyroar scoffed.

Helena rolled her eyes. "I'm your cousin-in-law. Is such formalities necessary?"

Duke Percival glared at her. "You are a subject of the crown, Duchess Helena. Pray address our liege with the proper respect."

A pretentious way to say 'my daughter,' Helena thought. She shook her head and addressed the older Pyroar. "And how are you faring, Duke Percival? Are you enjoying my magnificent market?"

"The convenience is… not unwelcome."

"Good," Helena quipped.

As she resumed her survey, a Drapion merchant called for her attention. His supply of draperies was completely sold out except for one massive red and purple one, which served as the backdrop of his display. "Good afternoon, Princess Helena. Sales have been fruitful today."

"Yes, I've succeeded in putting wealth in my subjects' paws so you can do good business here," Helena smiled.

"You certainly have. I am in the market to purchase a permanent store at your market."

"Excellent! Well, all the existing shops are currently sold, but I will have more under construction very soon."

While Helena and the merchant discussed a deal, a Camerupt lumbered up to the drapery stand with two knights carrying chests in tow. "What an exquisite drapery, one which would fit my living room marvelously. Pray, tell me it is for sale."

The Drapion chuckled. "This beauty is one-of-a-kind, a one-time experiment to test the boundaries of my craft," he said, gently running a pair of pincers along the length of the drapery. "It has served as my stand's backdrop for months, but I'd be willing to part with it for, say… three-thousand poké."

"Hmm… a done deal. Knights, count up three-thousand poké," Count Caden commanded. His knights nodded, opened the count's chests full of poké, and started painstakingly counting up the coins.

An Excadrill and Donphan walked up to the stand during the counting process. "Oh, that huge drapery is for sale? I thought it was a display. I'd like to buy it too! It would go perfectly as the backdrop of my farm's brand-new berry tasting room."

The Camerupt looked to the side and then snorted. "Eric? What folly is this? This masterpiece drapery is far beyond your means of purchase, peasant."

Eric leaned against the stand and grinned. "Don't know what you're talking about, Count Caden," he said, pulling out several pokénotes and placing them on the counter. "I'm a landowner now too, you know."

The Drapion picked up Eric's pokénotes and shuffled through the stack with his pincers. "Three-thousand poké, indeed. A pleasure doing business, sir," the Drapion said, extending a pincer for Eric to shake.

"Excuse me? I made the offer first," Count Caden huffed, tiny wisps of smoke exhaling out of his nostrils.

"The money in my pincers says otherwise. Besides, I much prefer paper money to coins. Paper is the future," the Drapion remarked. "Although… if you are willing to pay extra, I may reconsider."

Count Caden glared at Eric. "I shall pay 3100 poké for the drapery," he declared.

Eric furrowed his brows, shuffling his claws through his poké pouch. He did have more poké, but was it worth it? He was about to walk away when two glowing-blue 100 pokénotes floated into his claws. "Wait, what?"

"A gift from a friend," Helena chuckled.

"Are you sure?" Eric asked, to which Helena nodded. "Alright, I'd like to purchase your masterpiece for 3200 poké," Eric said to the Drapion. "It will be displayed in a public place for all to enjoy."

"A fine offer," the Drapion drawled. "Any counteroffers on the table?"

Steam hissed out of Count Caden's back as he growled at Helena. "No. Pack all my poké up," he commanded his knights, stepping on a pile of coins as he stomped off.

"Thanks, Helena," Eric said once the Camerupt was out of earshot. "I know this doesn't look like I'm being a responsible business owner… but I just couldn't resist sticking it to my former lord."

"No problem, Eric. I share your sentiment," Helena laughed. "Let's call it a business investment."

"That it is," Eric agreed. "I really do plan on building a tasting room for pokemon to try our berries and this drapery will be perfect for it."

"I am glad to hear it," the Drapion added. "I normally do not put much sentimental value in my work, but this one is an exception. It warms me to know my masterpiece will be viewed by the eyes of many." The Drapion and Eric shook pincers/claws.

Lily stood before a finished house made of the best wood and brick with sleek roofs and glass windows. It may look the same as all the other houses the construction team had built, but Lily knew it was special. The construction team had built stores, schools, barns, and more homes than she could remember, but this house was the first time Conrad and Remy worked together! No bickering or getting in each other's way! Lily's long and painstaking efforts to promote teamwork finally paid off!

Helena came by the finished house just as Conrad and Remy completed their respective finishing touches. "Hi, Lily. What do you think of this house?" she asked.

"It's the best house we ever built!" Lily exclaimed.

Helena smiled and glanced down the road, comparing the house that stood before them to the other homes. She tilted her head at Lily. "I'm glad to hear that, but what makes it the best?"

"Because it was built with love, care, and no arguing between Conrad and Remy for the first time," Lily explained, beaming. "I told you I could eventually get them to work together."

"I see…" Helena mumbled, fidgeting her paws.

Remy floated out of the front door and twirled around in the air. "Hiya, boss!"

Conrad came around the side of the house with both concrete slabs on his shoulders and a spring in his step. "Ah, Princess!"

"Looks like a job well done, you two. I approve this house's completion."

"Finally, we don't have to work with each other anymore!" both builders cheered.

"What?!" Lily cried, her ears shooting straight up. She looked at the celebrating Reuniclus and Conkeldurr, then to Helena, who had a grimace. "B-but… you two finally got along! What's going on?"

Helena draped a tail across Lily's shoulders. "Conrad's and Remy's contracts with me expired a few days ago, so now that this last house is done, they're no longer obligated to work for me. We've decided that they're each going to start their own construction company in Kyukonais."

Lily looked at the wide grins across her friends' faces, her tail drooping. "But… why? I thought you two were finally getting along," Lily whined.

"Competition is a good thing," Conrad reassured. "If Remy was the only builder in town, she'd build terrible houses and overcharge everyone."

"And Conrad would do the same thing," Remy added.

"I can't supervise all of Kyukonais's construction and make them work together forever," Helena said. "But I know these two rivals will keep building the very best to outdo each other, win over customers, and continue to build Kyukonais as best as possible."

"And I will continue to build the best of the best!" My tried and true hands-on methods will outshine all! Hoo! Hah!"

"My psychic building methods will bring unparalleled results day after day!"

"But Lily, it is true that we put aside our differences just this once," Conrad said, facing the Leafeon.

"Because this house… is for you!" Remy announced, spinning around.

"W-what?" Lily squeaked, ears perked.

"We worked on this last house together just for you, as a token of appreciation for dealing with our antics this whole time," Conrad said.

"We both know we have our differences, but your house deserved to stand beyond our difference," Remy said.

"N-no way is this house for me…"

"Yes, it is," said Helena. "It's the least I can give you as thanks for everything you've done for me, Lily. I couldn't have built Kyukonais without you." She sat down next to Lily and gave her a hug with her forelegs.

"Aw, thanks, Helena," Lily said, hugging her friend back. "But the adventures we've had is enough already, you know! What am I going to do with this house?"

"How about you bring your family to Kyukonais?" Helena suggested.

Lily suddenly flinched. "Yikes… I haven't seen them in forever." Then she slowly formed a smile. "This house will be the perfect gift for them!"

"That's the spirit! I look forward to seeing them here," said Helena.

"Lily! How would you like to be my brand new construction company's first employee?" Remy asked.

"No, join me, Lily! You won't regret it!" Conrad urged.

Lily looked between the two builders, her friends. "So… you two are really going your separate ways… I can't decide," she sighed.

"Alright, take your time," said Conrad.

"No rush," Remy reassured.

Both of them went up to other construction workers. "Darrell!" they both hollered. "Will you join me?" Then they scowled at each other.

The Darmanitan twiddled his thumbs. "Um, I've been thinking about who to join," Darrell slowly started. "I've learned so much from both of you."

"You sure have, son. Your muscles would serve our company well!" Conrad boomed.

"Your mind would serve our company even better!" Remy cheered.

"Well, the thing is… I believe in what Lily believes," Darrell said. "I do think physical and psychic construction work better together, so I've learned both… so if I joined either one of you, I'd lose half of my skills. So I've decided… I want to start a third construction company."

"What?!" both head builders exclaimed.

"I've learned the best of both worlds from each of you. I've also found my own ways to use both of your skills together! So I want to try leading a team of fighters and psychics together and see how it goes! Princess Helena, may I start a third construction company for Kyukonais?" he asked.

"Sounds good to me!" Helena agreed. "We have the psychics, the fighters, and the collaboration of both. I will set you three up with the materials suppliers. Meanwhile, you should hire your workers before it's too late!"

Darrell immediately started talking to his coworkers about joining his team. Conrad and Remy recovered from their flabbergasted states and followed suit. Helena watched the competition with amusement while Lily watched with a bit of dismay. Then Lily turned to her newly completed house that they had all built together. Her muzzle formed a small smile.

A/N 4/25/22: Disclaimer again: Not all the farming tidbits in the story are true! But some are. The N, P, and K in real life are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. However, we can't make more phosphorus and potassium in the ground available to plants in real life by attacking the ground! That's what fertilizers are for - providing more nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to the soil for plants. About lum berries adding extra nitrogen to the soil, that is true! Legumes like soybeans and alfalfa can be used to make a natural nitrogen surplus in the soil, which is pretty amazing.

Today's chapter title comes from a humble event in EU4 around 1460 called "Administrating an Empire" which raises the price of paper because nations are growing and they need paper to write their laws. When acknowledging the event, there's only one option which is to declare "Paper is the future." I always thought that was a catchy little quip.

In EU4, there are various trade goods that countries make money off of. A bunch of them didn't translate well into our pokemon world: animal products (wool, livestock, fish, furs, ivory) and copper (no need for weapons). Cloth and dyes can still exist for blankets and decorations, but without a need for clothes, they weren't as important. So I settled on Kyukonais moving away from cheap grain and producing berries that represent the expensive spices, sugar, and coffee, along with paper. As with the berry growing tips, I researched how modern paper is made and put a spin on it with pokemon moves!

If you're looking for another story to read, look no further than War of the Plates 2: The Uprising by . Follow the tale of a lonely Vulpix named Flare, who is unwillingly part of an underground organization of rebels that seek to overthrow those in charge and instill an era of chaos! Flare's mission is to kill Shana, an Eevee who is the daughter of the nation's ruler, by applying to be her bodyguard. But what happens when Flare and Shane become friends and Flare gets a taste of life as a normal kid? Read to find out!

War of the Plates 2 is an old story, written back in 2011, but is still one of my absolute favorites and a huge inspiration. When I first reached the second half of the story, I wanted to stay up all night to finish it despite it being a school night, just like Lily! The story takes place in a pokemon-only setting in a relatively modern world. They have a high school and a mall, but no electronics. There are tons of awesome battles, cute moments, and dramatic irony. Like many stories, the beginning can be shabby, but it picks up dramatically, so stick with it and you won't be disappointed!

The next chapter of Kyukon Universalis will be titled "The Serfs Belong on their Turf." Stay tuned!