Chapter 13: Martial City, Meet Diddy
While still hiding my presence behind the tree, I intently watched the battle unfold, yet the moment that silver monkey made a move, a booming noise was heard, followed by a strong gust of wind as he turned into a blur before my very eyes.
I could hardly make out their movements, but when I could glimpse them, it seemed like the silver monkey was utterly dominating his opponent; I watched them propel themselves high into the sky, escaping from my view. I waited for them to come back down, and it didn't take long as they both appeared emerging from the night, the silver monkey's fur reflecting the moonlight, practically turning him into a beacon.
While continuing to fall, I had expected at least one of them to slow their descent so as not to crash into the ground below, yet as they increasingly got closer to the ground, neither seemingly tried to stop their descent. In fear and panic, I turned around and began running away, yet because of my drunken state, I happened to trip on an object just as they were about to hit the ground.
'Fuck!!' Thought the old drunkard as he braced for impact.
The instant the creatures smashed into the ground, I was hit with a large gust of wind while feeling the earth violently trembling beneath my body; thankfully, I was left completely intact; other than being covered in dirt, I was safe.
"W-What kind of battle did I stumble across!?" Muttered the old drunkard as he carefully stood up while deciding to view the clash's conclusion, his curiosity again winning.
Slowly returning to the tree I was previously hiding behind, I warily peeked into the now-damaged clearing; observing the situation, the black and white creature was gone, and in its place was a dead lemur, one that looked very familiar. The silver monkey was lying motionlessly on the ground beside the dead lemur; seeing that, I sighed in relief and waited a few seconds before deciding to approach the two.
Carefully approaching the two, I first checked on the lemur that had five holes on top of its head, but what surprised me was I knew this lemur; this was Master's pet, one that he had even before I became his disciple.
'Tch, well, that explains why this beast could use the six Rokushiki techniques. Heh, to think you were still alive all this time after Master's death, though I'm glad you finally died.' Thought the old drunkard with an evil smirk as he spat on the lemur's corpse.
Once I finished releasing some steam onto the lemur, whose name I've long since forgotten about, I moved on to the silver monkey, yet when I got close, I noticed he was still alive from his chest heaving up and down. However, upon closer inspection, I concluded he was in terrible condition, and if nothing were done, he'd die probably within an hour or so.
With how powerful this creature was, I was tempted to leave him be and let him die on his own, but at the same time, this was a perfect opportunity to get my revenge on my stupid junior brother.
'I heard him speak, so he is no ordinary beast; maybe if I take him back home and save his life, he'll feel indebted to me; I can then use him to get my revenge!' Thought the old drunkard with a sinister smirk.
My idea was very dangerous, and my life was at high risk, but at the same time, I didn't have much to live for; the only thing that stopped me from killing myself was my pride as a Martial-arts master and my desire for revenge.
"Fuck it; besides, even if I'm old, I should be able to protect myself as long as he's still injured." Said the old drunkard as he reached down and picked up Diddy, nearly falling over from the sudden increase in weight.
"Ugh, why is he so heavy!?" Remarked the old drunkard as he walked toward the city with Diddy on his shoulders, occasionally grunting.
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Once I arrived at my sorry excuse for a home, I entered it and closed the door behind me, wishing to keep this creature's presence a secret, which was only possible because it was still nighttime, though his shiny silver fur had almost got me caught a few times. Arriving at my room, I set him down atop my dusty bed, which ended up being a bad idea as the legs collapsed from his weight, though thankfully, he was far too injured to wake up.
As I was a Martial-arts Master, I had some knowledge of basic first aid, though I didn't have any of the required tools; looking around, I grabbed a bucket with a hole in it and went out back towards the well and filled it with water before quickly returning to my room to pour it on him and wash away the blood, all while leaving behind a trail of water.
Once I had managed to clean his silver fur of blood after dumping a few buckets of water on him, I used the remaining healing ointments I had, and together with some old bandages, I began to wrap his injuries while making sure not to worsen them in the process.
"Haa, finally; now, let's just hope that'll be enough to save him. If not, I'll just sell his corpse; I might be able to earn a few hundred Beris." Muttered the old drunkard as he wiped the sweat from his head and exited the room.
When it was the next day, I decided to go and check on the creature I had saved, curious if he had died or survived, yet to my surprise, not only was he alive, he was no longer as he was before; he now looked like when I first laid eyes on him. As I did a closer inspection of his injuries, I was shocked to find that a substantial amount of his wounds had healed, and while his more life-threatening injuries were present, they hadn't fully healed, though, from the looks of things, it wouldn't take long.
'I hope I didn't make a mistake.' Thought the old man, not knowing his actions would later cause the city's destruction.
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As I began stirring awake, the first thing that filled my mind was the events before I transformed; following were the memories of after I transformed, yet most of it was blurry, only allowing me to clearly remember snippets of what happened. Once I had processed everything until the moment I collapsed next to the deceased lemur, I was hit with a wave of soreness from all over my body, causing me to release a grunt as I opened my eyes, only to notice I wasn't in the forest.
'If I'm not mistaken, that's a ceiling; broken, dusty, and rotting ceiling, but that's a ceiling.' Thought Diddy in confusion as he immediately upped his guard while using his acute sense to determine his environment.
As I focused on my senses, other than my eyes, I could hear various voices belonging to both men and women in the surrounding area; the smell, though, was terrible, reminding me of a gym locker room, except it was combined with a scent of alcohol and because of that I didn't dare attempt to taste the air; I had a feeling I'd vomit.
'I remember seeing a city or town from the sky when I was transformed, and from what I can tell, I seem to be in a poor person's home.' Thought Diddy while looking around the tiny room.
As I had sensed no danger in the near vicinity, I got up, exited the bed I was lying in, and checked my body, which was covered in bandages, though when I did, I noticed my fur wasn't silver anymore. I had returned to a golden brown, along with my size shrinking back to normal.
'That transformation, what was it?' Thought Diddy as he stood up and exited the room, heading toward the nearest source of sound.
While walking through this tiny house, which seemed to be on the verge of crumbling to pieces from the various amounts of rotting wood I spotted, I exited the back of the house and noticed an old man meditating. From what I could tell by just looking at him, although he was pretty weak, he was very experienced and knowledgeable in combat, not to mention I could smell his scent on my body as well as the shack I was just in.
'He must've been the one who brought me here; he's very stupid, with how weak he is; if he had encountered any normal beast, he would have had a hard time.' Thought Diddy while eyeing the old man.
I was hardly interested in the old man; sure, he did save me from probably dying after the battle, but I honestly didn't have any desire to interact with someone so weak, even if he was my benefactor, so to speak; it's not like I asked him to help me. Just as I was about to leave, I sensed the old man opening his eyes and looking directly at me, prompting me to stop and turn around while also eyeing him.
"Y-You're awake!? H-How do you feel?" Asked the old man hesitantly as he stood up from his mediating posture and approached Diddy.
Although the old man was concealing it quite well, I could smell the fear coming off of him, though that didn't bother me; I'd find it weird if he wasn't scared of me.
'Now that I think about it, this is the first time I'll be having a conversation since I died and reincarnated; I would've preferred if it was a beautiful woman instead.' Thought Diddy while looking at the unkept Oldman that reeked of alcohol.
"I'm just a little sore, but why do you care? You're clearly not the type of person who would help someone out because of the pureness in your heart." Replied Diddy as he folded his arms and squinted at the Oldman, who nervously gulped.