Team Rocket’s Second-in-Command! [479]

Oleana was clearly used to dressing like this—despite the biting wind, her expression remained calm and unbothered.

"Elite Four Luo Yuan, Miss Sabrina, your hotel has been arranged. Please follow me."

Hearing this, Luo Yuan could only sigh inwardly once more at the extraordinary physical constitution of humans in the Pokémon world as he and Sabrina followed Oleana toward the hotel where they would be staying in Stow-on-Side.

The hotel arranged for Luo Yuan and Sabrina by the Galarian side was called the Macro Cosmos Hotel.

As the name suggested, the hotel was part of the Macro Cosmos Group—and indeed, it was.

Having monopolized the entire Galar region's economy, Macro Cosmos operated its own hospitality branch, whose hotel chains spanned across the region.

Now that Luo Yuan and Sabrina were visiting on behalf of the Kanto region, the task of hosting them naturally fell to Macro Cosmos.

After setting a dinner meeting with Oleana for their first formal discussion, Luo Yuan brought Sabrina up to their room.

"This hotel looks decent," Luo Yuan said, giving the furnishings a once-over.

Just from appearances alone, it was clearly a tier above the hotel he'd stayed at during his trip to Alola.

Not that hotel quality mattered much to him.

Luo Yuan tilted his head toward Sabrina in a subtle gesture.

She nodded, and released her psychic power, enveloping the entire room in an instant.

Her mental scan swept the room three full times, not missing a single corner. Afterward, she gave Luo Yuan a nod. "Clear."

Luo Yuan nodded back.

It seemed Macro Cosmos still had some professional standards—they hadn't installed any listening devices in the room.

Of course, that didn't mean Macro Cosmos had any real moral scruples. If they did, they wouldn't have engineered the Galar visa scandal back then.

The reason they were playing it straight this time likely came down to two things:

One, Luo Yuan held the title of Elite Four. If they were caught spying on him, it could easily trigger a diplomatic incident.

Two, since the main framework of cooperation between the regions had already been agreed upon, pulling tricks at this stage wouldn't bring them much benefit—hardly worth risking the entire alliance for a bit of petty intel.

Even so, Luo Yuan didn't let his guard down.

He linked his psychic power with Sabrina's.

"Just in case, anything related to Team Rocket from now on will be discussed via mental link only."

Sabrina nodded.

"You don't need to ask my opinion. When it comes to the Macro Cosmos takeover, I'm your subordinate. I'll follow your orders."

She understood how critical this mission was to Team Rocket. When Sabrina switched into work mode, she drew a clean line between business and personal matters.

"A female subordinate, huh? And you'll do whatever I say?" Luo Yuan replied with a mischievous grin.

Sabrina immediately picked up on the implication and lightly bit her lip, throwing him a side-eye.

Still thinking about that kind of thing at a time like this? Really?

...

Dinner was held at the hotel's restaurant. Oleana, who had greeted them at the airport, was also in charge of the evening's arrangements.

But none of them were focused on the meal, so they only picked at their food before heading to one of the hotel's meeting rooms for the first formal exchange session between Galar and Kanto.

"Elite Four Luo Yuan, Miss Sabrina, this is the proposed agenda we've prepared for the exchange program. If you have any feedback or suggestions, we're happy to make adjustments."

As soon as the meeting began, Oleana handed over a printed itinerary.

Luo Yuan skimmed it briefly. It outlined his and Sabrina's upcoming schedule in meticulous detail—down to which people they'd be meeting each day and the exact nature of the planned exchanges.

The list made Luo Yuan laugh.

"Flawless on the surface, but the actual schedule makes it clear—they don't take us seriously at all." he said to Sabrina via mental link.

The arrogance of the Galar League was laid bare in that itinerary.

If Luo Yuan accepted this arrangement, then he and Sabrina would be dragged all across Galar, appearing at endless events—reduced to little more than mascots for the so-called "collaboration" between the Galar and Kanto Leagues.

And forget about secretly maneuvering to help Team Rocket swallow up Galar—under this kind of surveillance, even basic coordination would be impossible. What was supposed to be a bilateral exchange would become a one-sided economic incursion from Galar into Kanto.

So Luo Yuan didn't hesitate. After a single glance, he placed the list face-down on the table.

"With all due respect, we do not accept the current itinerary."

His words made the Galarian representatives frown.

Everyone present knew what was really behind this exchange program. The League Council had pushed for Galar's involvement as a way to help Kanto suppress the increasingly unruly—and dangerously powerful—Team Rocket.

From Galar's perspective, they were the ones lending a helping hand. Naturally, they saw themselves as the ones who should be in control.

They had assumed that even if Luo Yuan had objections, they would be minor—perhaps requesting small adjustments.

They didn't expect him to dismiss the entire schedule outright. The response caught them completely off guard.

Does this guy even understand what's at stake here? What if he tanks the entire exchange project? Doesn't he care?

Dozens of baffled gazes turned his way, but Luo Yuan's expression remained calm and unreadable.

On paper, he was here as a representative of the Kanto League—but in truth, he represented Team Rocket.

If he were truly only here for the League, the schedule might have been tolerable.

But if he wanted to lead Team Rocket in taking over Macro Cosmos, there was no way he could afford to follow Galar's script.

He simply smiled at Oleana, sitting across the table.

Luo Yuan, with his deep knowledge of Galar's internal structure, knew that most of the people at this table were just there for show. The only one who actually had decision-making power… was Oleana.

And at that moment, Oleana frowned slightly under Luo Yuan's gaze.

His blunt rejection had caught her off guard—and frankly, irritated her.

Under normal circumstances, she might have already declared the meeting a failure.

But as Chairman Rose's most trusted aide, Oleana understood exactly how important this exchange program was to both Rose and Macro Cosmos. No matter how annoyed she was, she forced herself to maintain a calm exterior.

"…And what would Mr. Luo Yuan suggest instead?"

Even the honorific "Elite Four" had been quietly dropped—enough to show how displeased Oleana truly was.