Chapter 49: The Unique Officer Jennys

Heath scratched his head. Charmander was busy grilling meat, leaving Heath with nothing urgent to do for the moment. Although cooking for a large crowd was difficult, it wasn't Heath's first time doing so; back in Saffron City, he had been in charge of cooking for the Officer Jennys every single day.

Of course, there were far more Officer Jennys here, the cafeteria was larger, and Heath had to prepare a greater volume of food. Even so, these tasks were second nature to him.

However, as he looked at Charmander's well-defined, muscular physique, Heath admitted that his feelings were somewhat conflicted. Although Charmander wouldn't be walking the path of battles in the future—since Heath had no intention of collecting badges to challenge gym leaders, nor did he plan to enter the Indigo Plateau Conference to contend with figures like Champion Lance for the title of the strongest—Heath didn't even have any interest in becoming a Champion. Becoming a Champion wasn't a good thing; one only had to look at the Champions of the Kalos region and the Hoenn region to understand. To people with their own pursuits and hobbies, the status of a Champion was merely a burden, a heavy burden.

Otherwise, Steven Stone from the Hoenn region wouldn't have abdicated his position, allowing his good friend Wallace to become the next Hoenn Champion, leaving Steven to spend his days entirely obsessed with tunneling and hunting for rare stones.

Yet, at the mere thought of Wallace, Heath wore a rather peculiar expression. He had previously assumed that Wallace's Pokémon Contests existed solely in the Hoenn region, but to his surprise, the Kanto region held Contests as well. Today, Heath had spotted a Contest tent right along the road.

"Awoo~" Charmander let out a happy cry, prompting Heath to turn his head and take a look. The large bundle of skewers in Charmander's grasp was now fully grilled. The only drawback was that the bamboo sticks had all been completely charred, which Heath found a bit of a pity. Still, Heath discarded the burnt skewers and transferred the roasted meat onto a plate.

"Impressive work, Charmander. Though you can keep striving for improvement. If you can reach a point in the future where you roast the meat without damaging the bamboo sticks, then you'll truly be strong," Heath said with a smile, looking at Charmander as he gently patted its head. Charmander nodded happily in response.

Yet, looking at Charmander's joyful expression, Heath admitted that he had a slight stomachache. After all, he had previously promised Charmander that once its flames grew more powerful and its control over them improved, it would be allowed to participate in Pokémon battles. But now, even though Charmander's mastery over its flames was indeed exceptionally strong, Heath could only temporarily find ways to pacify the little Pokémon.

After all, this was the Indigo League. The trainers who gathered here were practically all formidable opponents without a single weakling among them. Heath figured that fulfilling the promise he made to Charmander would be exceedingly difficult.

After that, Heath began preparing the food for the Officer Jennys. When the officers finished their shifts, returned to the cafeteria, and prepared to eat, they spotted Heath standing behind the serving counter. This left them quite astonished, as the person who usually stood there was the senior Officer Jenny.

Now, Heath finally understood why the senior Officer Jenny had assigned him to work in the cafeteria. Serving meals to the officers here could be considered the prime opportunity to get acquainted with every single Officer Jenny as quickly as possible. However, as he served the food, Heath found himself looking somewhat nervously at the Officer Jenny standing right in front of him.

"Um... is there something you need?" Heath asked with a hint of confusion, gazing at the officer whose eyes seemed to be shining brightly.

He didn't quite understand why this Officer Jenny kept staring straight at him. Involuntarily, Heath reached up to feel his own face—there were no food crumbs or dirt there. He then glanced down; his trouser zipper wasn't unzipped either.

"Please don't mind him, Chef. Ellie is just a bit too nervous," said another Officer Jenny, stepping out from behind her colleague. With a helpless expression, she pulled her friend away, quickly serving a bowl of rice for both herself and Ellie.

Heath felt it was all rather inexplicable, but he didn't dwell on it since the other Officer Jennys were still waiting in line. Judging from the reactions of the officers who had already started eating in the dining hall, the dishes Heath prepared tasted exceptionally good, prompting looks of genuine surprise from them all.

Heath possessed good hearing, and he could catch snippets of the officers' whispered discussions. Some were wondering why today's food tasted so remarkably delicious, while others remarked that it was completely different in style from the senior Officer Jenny's cooking, which brought a faint smile to Heath's face.

"It seems the food you make is quite well-received; everyone loves it." A familiar voice sounded—it was the senior Officer Jenny he had met that morning. She smiled as she held an enamel bowl and walked up to Heath. The bowl was emblazoned with a slogan frequently chanted by the Officer Jennys.

"Well, I am a professional chef, after all," Heath said with a smile. His culinary skills were no exaggeration; he even held a professional chef's certificate and, in his past life, possessed the caliber to work as a chef in a five-star hotel.

"Did Ellie scare you just now?" The senior Officer Jenny looked at Heath with a mischievous, gossipy glint in her eyes. Heath was momentarily stunned before recalling the Ellie who had stared at him so intently earlier.

"Actually, Ellie is a wonderful girl, and quite young, too. But I suppose she's read too many teen romance stories at the academy, because she's always eager to find a partner and fall in love," the senior Officer Jenny said, shrugging her shoulders. As the last person in line, there were no other Officer Jennys waiting behind her.

Heath was slightly taken aback; he honestly hadn't expected it to be that kind of situation. Put that way, it was certainly quite unique. While marriage-obsessed individuals were something Heath had seen in television shows from his past, an obsession with romance quite like Ellie's was something he had truly never encountered before.

"It's a pity, though, that this little girl Ellie has a bit too much physical strength. Combined with the fact that whenever she gets nervous, she can't help but resort to a suplex, nobody dares to date her," the senior Officer Jenny finished, then walked away with her enamel bowl, leaving Heath standing there dumbfounded.

This wasn't just a romance fanatic; this was practically a man-destroying machine. Dating other girls might simply be costly to one's wallet, but dating Officer Ellie could cost you your life. Heath decided he wouldn't dare date Ellie either; just how terrifying a super-strong female police officer could be was something Heath understood all too well.

Heath shook his head, scooped a bowl of rice for himself, and walked over to dish out some side dishes. The dishes he prepared were abundant in quantity, given that the Officer Jennys usually had hefty appetites—one could almost describe them as competitive eaters. Every single time, they would polish off massive amounts of food, yet Heath felt not a single ounce of resentment.

After all, the Officer Jennys worked extremely hard. Perhaps precisely because their daily duties were so exhausting and required large amounts of nutrition to sustain their bodies, the officers could eat an incredible amount, coming back for massive bowl after massive bowl during mealtime.

For this very reason, the phenomenon of cafeteria servers practicing portion control with trembling hands simply did not exist in the Officer Jennys' mess hall. Every single scoop was overflowing, as if they were terrified you wouldn't eat enough.