Returning to Caterpie Territory (Please Keep Reading)

"Actually, this Land Certificate should have been given to you ten years ago, after the Chaotic Pokemon Tide ended. But you were still too young then, and later you became like that. There wasn't much point in giving it to you. The Land Certificate you have now was something I applied for on your behalf in Three Mountains Town a few days ago. Normally, it would take at least several months for this certificate to be approved, but haven't two Special Ability Users emerged from our village? A lot of things are being fast-tracked now. It's not just your family's Land Certificate—setting up the Pokemon Center is the same. I originally thought we might have to wait until next year, but the Pokemon Center construction crew will arrive in the next couple of days. They said that in a few days, they'll also transport over two Miltank to go with the Pokemon Center. If your Caterpie performs well at counting backward, I'll not only cover half the cost of the Pokeballs, but also make the decision to give you a few crates of Moomoo Milk."

Old Man Qian beamed, looking extremely happy.

It was obvious that Old Man Qian had only recently received the news that construction on the Pokemon Center was about to begin, so he was eager to find someone to share his joy with.

Mark put away the Land Certificate, which carried a faint scent of ink, and bowed in thanks. "Village Chief, I..."

Before he could finish his words of gratitude, Old Man Qian waved them away.

Old Man Qian patted Mark on the shoulder. "I just handled it while I was at it. Your family's house and land were yours to begin with, so what are you thanking me for? Besides, we're relatives, in a manner of speaking."

Mark froze slightly. He had always thought that after transmigrating, he was an orphan. He had relatives?

Noticing Mark's expression, Old Man Qian shook his head and explained, "Not the kind you're thinking of. Our relation is very distant, but we're connected somehow. Your father, Ma Luo, always called me Third Brother. Since that's the case, call me Third Uncle or Uncle Qian Three from now on. Stop calling me Village Chief all day."

"Third Uncle?"

Mark carefully examined Old Man Qian. Although he looked strong and sturdy, he appeared to be at least seventy years old. Was he really supposed to call him Third Uncle just like that?

"Mm. Call me that from now on. I'll take you to see your family's house now. You're still young, so for the time being, keep living at my place. When you're older, you can think about renovating your family's home..."

After saying that, Old Man Qian led Mark toward the eastern side of the village.

Not far from where the Pokemon Center was going to be built, Mark arrived at an abandoned courtyard.

The entire courtyard was around one thousand square meters. The house was built with a half-brick, half-wood structure and covered just under a hundred square meters. Its overall framework was still fairly intact, but many areas had fallen into disrepair. Weeds grew everywhere, and even the old roof tiles had sprouted clumps of grass.

As they approached the house, several Pidgey flew out through holes near the roof. It seemed they had built nests around those openings.

Old Man Qian looked the house over and said, "Looks like your family's house didn't suffer much damage during the Chaotic Pokemon Tide ten years ago. It's just been unoccupied for too long, so it looks rather abandoned. Repairs probably won't be too difficult. Oh, right, I forgot to ask how school went today. Did those naughty Bug Catchers come to cause you trouble?"

Mark shook his head slightly. "It was pretty good. Little Sun Teacher is very serious and responsible. As for those Bug Catchers, they stayed far away from me and didn't speak to me."

Old Man Qian considered this. "Looks like you beat them badly enough that they're scared of you now, so they don't dare come looking for trouble."

"Hm?"

Mark looked confused, but Caterpie seemed to remember something. It gestured repeatedly with its Feet, as if trying to help him recall it.

Very quickly, Mark learned what had happened from Old Man Qian.

It was roughly the usual story of several naughty brats wanting to bully an idiot for fun, only to be beaten senseless by that idiot instead. According to Old Man Qian, one Bug Catching Boy had even lost three teeth to him. Well, baby teeth.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard Mark tried, he could not recall that memory.

Perhaps, to his subconscious, it had simply been an insignificant matter. Compared to the dangerous wild Pokemon in the forest, human children were hardly threatening at all.

Old Man Qian patted Mark on the shoulder. "That's fine too. Just study hard at school. Little Sun Teacher may not be very old, but teaching you won't be a problem."

Mark shook his head slightly. "Village... Third Uncle, I've actually already applied to Little Sun Teacher for self-study. I might rarely go to school in the future."

"You applied for self-study? You're not going to school?"

Seeing Old Man Qian glare with flared nostrils, Mark hurriedly explained, "It's not what you think. Little Sun Teacher gave me two questions to test me, and she'll regularly check on my self-study progress in the future."

Old Man Qian's expression eased slightly, though he still looked doubtful. "Little Sun Teacher really agreed to let you study on your own?"

"Mm."

"That girl actually agreed... Fine, then. It's your own life, so handle it yourself. Just don't regret it later."

"I won't."

"Sss!"

Caterpie echoed Mark's words from the side, declaring its stance to Old Man Qian.

Old Man Qian glared at Caterpie. "What do you know? You're just declaring your position along with your master. Don't go learning from your master and become such a worry..."

Old Man Qian let out a long sigh, waved his hand, and soon left the house Mark's parents had left behind.

Mark and Caterpie wandered around the dilapidated house once.

Among the ruined furniture and clutter, Mark could not find anything useful.

No papers or written records had been left in the house. In the middle of the main hall stood a square table that had rotted away; after Mark gave it two slight shakes, it fell apart.

There was a wardrobe in one of the bedrooms. Because there was a hole in the roof, prolonged sunlight had caused a vine to grow inside the wardrobe, along with some unknown mushrooms.

The only thing that remained somewhat intact was a white ceramic cup. In addition, he found some sweet melons in the overgrown, abandoned vegetable patch in the backyard. They appeared to have been planted by his parents back then, then propagated on their own over the years.

Mark put the ceramic cup into his backpack to use as a drinking cup, picked several sweet melons, and then continued toward Clear Stream Forest with Caterpie.

Several hours later, just as the sun was about to set, Mark and Caterpie arrived at Caterpie Territory once again.

As before, the atmosphere was taut with hostility.

The Caterpie Group began encircling Mark and Caterpie. Once the encirclement was complete, they would likely attack.

This time, however, something changed.

The Caterpie Leader suddenly appeared and issued instructions to the ordinary Caterpie.

The encircling Caterpie slowly dispersed, leaving only the Caterpie Leader and several Leader's Guards behind.

Upon closer inspection, these Leader's Guards were the very Caterpie he had used the Tackle Training Method on yesterday.

The Caterpie Leader let out a series of hisses, seeming to say something.

Mark did not understand much of it, but fortunately, Caterpie relayed its meaning.

He could not understand wild Caterpie very well, but he could still grasp most of what his own Caterpie said.

The Caterpie Leader roughly meant that they had already lost.

The Caterpie Leader agreed to let his Caterpie return to the group. It was even willing to give up its position as Caterpie Leader.

Caterpie should not be hurting one another like this.

Hearing that, Mark looked at the Caterpie Leader and shook his head. "You've misunderstood. Caterpie and I didn't come here to return to the group, nor did we come to seize the leader's position or anything like that. We came here to train—to keep growing through training."

Beside Mark, Caterpie nodded repeatedly in agreement. "Hiss! Hiss!"

Yesterday, I got pulled into a Pokemon organization. Today, I promoted a book.

Bai Feng had drifted through life in a daze for many years. Then one day, he accidentally hit his head and suddenly remembered memories from his previous life. His thoughts immediately became clear.

Just then, a Gardevoir walked over and said, "Baby, Mommy's home."

Wait... why was my mother a Gardevoir? And why could I understand what a Gardevoir was saying? Was there really nothing wrong with my head?