Chapter 362: Is Everyone in This Hero Party SSR-Tier?

The video continued playing.

Selene reached out and stroked Delphox’s tail.

"Miss Fox, I can tell at a glance that you have extraordinary potential and incredible natural talent."

"Staying cooped up in a research institute reading light novels is such a waste!"

"Why don’t you join the Sun-Moon Group instead?"

Delphox rolled over and covered its face with its tail.

Through a gap in the fluffy fur, it muttered:

"Fwo-ho~" (So annoying. Another normie Trainer. How could these normies ever understand the loneliness of a shut-in fox? Yaaawn~ I haven’t even finished today’s Poké Puffs yet.)

Selene immediately planted her hands on her hips, cheeks puffing up as though she’d swallowed an entire Pomelo Berry.

"Who are you calling a normie?!"

"I am Selene, founder of the Sun-Moon Group!"

"I started my own business when I was five!"

"I work eighteen hours a day and constantly take helicopters across regions for meetings!"

"And you call that a normie life?!"

Delphox suddenly flipped upright.

Its eyes widened.

"Fwo-ho~" (You can understand me?! C-Could this be that classic light-novel trope—"Only the protagonist can understand the language of other creatures"?! Have I finally met the hero destined to save the world?!)

Selene blinked her heterochromatic eyes.

"Hero?"

"No, no."

"I’m a psychic."

"If you absolutely had to pick someone who fits your whole ’hero destined to save the world’ thing, my Big Sis fits better."

"Fight bad guys."

"Save good people."

"Collect Badges."

"Become Champion."

"That’s basically the exact same progression as the light novels you read, right?"

"..."

Aurelia chose not to respond at all.

She simply turned toward Sophie.

"Miss Sophie, let’s continue the tour."

Sophie nodded.

"Of course. This way, please."

Selene shrugged and gave Delphox a Ciallo gesture.

"All right, shut-in fox."

"You keep lying there."

"We’re off to save the world."

The three left the living area and continued toward the incubation room.

Delphox stared after Aurelia.

Snap.

The light novel in its hands slammed shut.

Wait.

This setup...

A cold white-haired beauty with Champion-level strength...

A curly-haired little sister serving as the comic relief...

Isn’t this the textbook protagonist template?!

Delphox immediately tossed the light novel onto the coffee table.

Then it quietly tiptoed after them.

Aurelia walked at the front.

Sophie continued explaining the institute’s layout beside her, while Diantha occasionally added a few comments.

Selene bounced along at the back.

Then she suddenly felt a strange gaze coming from behind.

She glanced back.

The corner of the corridor was completely empty.

Nothing there.

"What’s wrong?"

Aurelia turned around.

"Nothing, nothing."

Selene waved a hand.

"Maybe I’m just so cute that even the air is secretly staring at me."

But the corner of her mouth had already begun curling upward.

Behind the corner—

Delphox had pressed itself flat against the wall.

A notebook was clenched in its paw.

Its tail was so tense that it had gone perfectly straight.

"That was close. I almost got discovered."

It rapidly scribbled a line into the notebook.

Hero Party enters Research Institute Dungeon—"Research Institute Arc."

Party Composition: Cold White-Haired Protagonist, Curly-Haired Comic-Relief Little Sister, Mature and Intellectual Big-Sister Mentor.

Research Assistant NPC: Faction affiliation currently unknown. Further observation required.

After finishing, Delphox closed the notebook.

Then continued stealthily hugging the wall as it followed them.

Over the next half hour—

Delphox’s notebook grew thicker and thicker.

Aurelia helped Sophie organize a stack of documents.

"Fwo-ho~" (The Hero is gathering intelligence.)

Aurelia used psychic power to recalibrate an instrument.

"Fwo-ho~" (The Hero has acquired a key item for the final battle.)

Aurelia took a sip of water.

"Fwo-ho~" (The Hero is restoring her mana.)

Selene had been watching behind them from the corner of her eye the entire time.

Her brain was also racing.

This shut-in fox really is following us nonstop.

But if I expose it directly, that ruins all the fun.

I need to come up with something that’ll show this light-novel-addled fox that reality can be even more ridiculous than fiction.

So Selene deliberately slowed down.

Then she suddenly clutched her stomach.

"Big Sis, wait."

Aurelia stopped.

"What’s wrong?"

"My stomach feels a little uncomfortable."

Selene’s pained expression was calibrated to perfection.

"Maybe I drank that smoothie too quickly earlier."

Sophie immediately became concerned.

"Do you need to go to the infirmary?"

"No, no."

"I’ll be fine if I sit down for a bit."

Selene sat directly on a nearby chair.

Then, as though the thought had only just occurred to her, she casually said:

"Oh, right, Big Sis."

"Let Ninetales out for a second."

"Have it use its flames to drive the chill out of my body."

Aurelia frowned.

"Are you plotting something weird again?"

"Big Sis!"

"You really hurt my feelings when you say things like that!"

Selene immediately bent forward again, scrunching her face in exaggerated pain.

"Owww..."

"It suddenly hurts even more."

"Big Sis, can you really bear to watch your one and only biological little sister roll around on the floor in agony?"

[VIP Chat Group]

[Raihan]: Selene’s ability to lie with her eyes wide open has already reached the pinnacle. Aurelia obviously doesn’t believe a word of it, and she can still keep acting. Honestly, it’s a waste that she never became an actress.

[May]: Selene’s acting... How do I put this? It’s the kind where she’s trying so hard that you can tell it’s fake instantly.

[Steven]: Niece Selene is intelligent, has exceptional business instincts, and on top of that possesses such naturally gifted acting talent! She truly inherited Brother Asher’s excellent genes in full! Magnificent! Perfect!

[Volkner]: @Steven, Daily Asher Praise (1/1)... Wait. You’re not even praising Asher today.

[Raihan]: @Steven, weren’t you always supposed to focus on Asher? When did you change targets?

[Steven]: What kind of question is that? I don’t target any one person. I praise Brother Asher’s entire family.

The video continued playing.

Aurelia stared at Selene’s shameless act and sighed.

Resigned, she reached for a Poké Ball at her waist.

Red light flashed.

Ninetales landed elegantly on the floor.

Its nine gold-and-crimson tails spread behind it.

The temperature of the entire hallway rose by several degrees in an instant.

Selene lowered her voice so that only those nearby could hear.

"Ninetales."

"Bring out the Ho-Oh phantom."

"I’ll give you extra food later."

"Poké Puffs and premium Moomoo Milk."

Ninetales’s ears twitched.

Then—

The flames along its tails suddenly surged.

Gold-and-crimson light gathered overhead forming an enormous phantom of Ho-Oh.

Behind the corner—

Clatter!

Delphox’s notebook fell straight to the floor.

"F-Fwo-ho..." (Manifesting a phantom of Ho-Oh—an ability like that has to be SSR-tier at minimum! And that white-haired Hero is just standing there completely calmly, like this is an everyday occurrence... What kind of ridiculous god-tier party is this?!)

Sophie was still completely stunned by the Ho-Oh phantom.

"W-Wait..."

"What was that just now...?"

Aurelia explained calmly:

"Ninetales swallowed the feather of a Legendary Pokémon before."

"S-Swallowed a Legendary Pokémon’s feather?!"

Selene sat on the chair, swinging her pale legs with the tone of someone who had seen it all before.

"Miss Sophie."

"You’ll get used to it."

"In our family, Legendary Pokémon are basically an everyday occurrence."

"One Legendary even threw itself at my Big Sis’s Master Ball."

Sophie: "!!!"