Mysterious Journey
Chapter 681: A Fork in the Road of the Future
Late at night, at Newt Scamander's house.
"So, Newt, can you explain what exactly is going on here?"
In the guest room on the second floor of the treehouse, currently serving as the bedroom for the three of Erina, Tina Scamander leaned against the wall by the door with her arms crossed, asking in a calm tone, her voice sounding like a deep lake, without any obvious signs of anger or joy.
In front of her, a group of four, one large and three small, members of the "Animation Workshop" were sitting obediently on chairs or the bed, waiting for their punishment.
"Mrs. Scamander, actually..."
Erina blinked her eyes, looked at the lady who had come to do a room check, and explained with an embarrassed smile.
Although she always prided herself on being fearless, under the pressure of Mrs. Scamander's gaze, which resembled a dorm auntie, she still felt a little guilty, after all, it was only the first day of her stay and she had already been caught watching videos together at night.
"Erina, don't speak first. Newt, do you need a little girl to answer the questions for you?"
Tina's voice wasn't rushed, but it still conveyed a subtle pressure.
Without a doubt, the gentle and virtuous lady during the day was now clearly a little angry, but the object of her anger wasn't Erina, who was responsible for playing the "cartoons," but rather... a certain disappointing old freckle-face!
Newt, who was supposed to urge the children to sleep well, had actually taken the initiative to drag a group of children to stay up late watching cartoons, and even made a special trip back to the bedroom, claiming that he was going to the magical creature area downstairs to verify some ideas.
If she hadn't been worried about the girls catching a cold and taken a look, Tina would have almost been fooled.
"Ah? Um... uh... Tina..."
Facing his wife's gaze, Newt Scamander rubbed his nose and stammered awkwardly.
He had actually refused the "watch cartoons together" invitation at first, but after watching a few minutes, he was completely captivated by the magical world in the story, so much so that he accidentally watched the entire episode of the Indigo League.
However, until this point, it was still fine.
After all, Erina was only relying on her memory to roughly delete and modify some of the plot, so the length wasn't too long, only about fifteen minutes in total... although it was a bit of a pity, but since it was the finale, that was that.
The most deadly thing was...
Erina played a preview of the "Orange Islands" at the end of the Indigo League.
You should know that Erina is a master in terms of mixed cuts.
This immediately made the audience feel extremely itchy, and they couldn't sleep at all without seeing the subsequent plot.
Not to mention Luna and Hannah, two little lolis who were already addicted to cartoons.
Whether it was the magical Poké Balls, or the diverse magical creatures, or even the harmonious coexistence of humans and magical creatures, perfectly integrated in another world, it also had a fatal attraction for Newt.
Under Erina's instigation, what happened next was only natural.
Newt Scamander was also very helpless, he actually wanted to stop at the right time, and go to sleep after watching the last episode.
Unfortunately, every episode had new Pokémon appearing, which was really too addictive. Although the story was full of magical creatures that didn't exist in the real world, in Newt's mind they overlapped with the shadows of some magical creatures he knew, forming a near-tangible future fantasy.
However, there were some things that couldn't be told to Tina yet...
Whether it was about the establishment of the association, or Erina's various identities, before everything was settled and the girl had completely decided to appear in front of the world, Newt needed to keep it a secret - these were also the agreed content of the agreement.
Only...
This made Newt Scamander feel a bit constrained, and he didn't know where to start explaining.
After all, Tina was an elite Auror who worked for the Magical Congress of the United States before she retired. If there was anything unclear or inconsistent, she could very likely seize the loophole and pull out a series of things along the way.
"Alas, I told you, Mr. Scamander, you can't hide anything from your wife after all..."
Looking at Newt's troubled face, Erina sighed silently - she didn't know how such a simple-minded wizard had managed to make Grindelwald stumble several times, it was too unimaginable.
"Ah?" Newt blinked his eyes, slightly stunned.
"In short, if you have any concerns, let me explain it a little."
Before Newt could continue speaking, Erina turned to look at Tina Scamander and spread out her hands.
"In fact, Professor Dumbledore hopes that Mr. Scamander can come out of retirement again and serve as the leader of some magical animal research association, to formulate and clarify some undefined industry rules and basic systems."
"Hmm?" Tina raised her eyebrows slightly and glanced at Newt.
"As for what we were watching just now..."
Erina waved her wand gently, and a pale pink cat-like spirit flew out, circling nimbly around her. Then, a small monster that couldn't fly also walked out, swaying its body, and looked up at the ceiling.
"This is Mew, this is Groudon..."
"They are all some of the magical creatures imagined by people from the non-magical world, but I used magic to make them move temporarily. In that fictional story, magical creatures are closely related to human life..."
"Every family raises a few favorite magical creatures, and in all walks of life, magical creatures play an important role just like humans. People can carry magical creatures with them when traveling around, and professional research institutions will publish authoritative magical creature illustrated books to ensure that people can record and understand the magical creatures they encounter at any time..."
"Magical creature battles have become a peaceful way to resolve conflicts. People exchange illustrated books, compete friendly, search for rare magical creatures around the world, record and observe them, protect them, and form bonds with them to become partners..."
Tina watched the vivid light and shadows with great interest, and nodded thoughtfully.
With Erina's simple introduction, she could roughly understand the reason for Newt's infatuation.
This fictional world called "Pokémon" is simply the world that Newt Scamander has dreamed of. It would be strange if Newt wasn't moved by such an accessible and beautiful blueprint.
"So..." Tina Scamander thought for a while, "you're really researching magical creatures?"
"Ah? Yes, that's right." Newt nodded quickly in response.
"Actually, about Professor Dumbledore's requests, I'm just a figurehead. The actual work is still done by other young people. I'm actually more like a mascot..."
"Mr. Scamander is a very important academic leader."
Erina quickly added, and suddenly a red and white Poké Ball appeared in her hand.
"This is a Poké Ball, a portable magical creature storage space! According to Professor Dumbledore, the Space Expansion Charm is not difficult, but the difficulty of creating a portable natural space is particularly high. Among the wizards who can create magical tools for carrying and storing magical creatures, perhaps only Mr. Scamander can do it today."
"If it can form a Poké Ball industry like wand manufacturing, then the world may really change."
As Erina spoke, she waved her wand casually, and the light and shadows in the air disappeared instantly.
"In addition, as you can see, Transfiguration combined with Lumos can already generate images and sounds out of thin air, which means that the book *Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them* can also form a more three-dimensional illustrated book form and be passed on to every wizard."
The half-Veela turned her head to look at Newt Scamander and said while the iron was hot.
"However, these technological innovations are obviously not just here, and cannot be completed by just one person. Hogwarts has established a fairly sound research team, and returning to Hogwarts to participate in research projects is obviously the best choice."
"That's right, that's right, that's how it is... um?!"
Newt, who was nodding in agreement with Erina, was stunned and opened his mouth.
"Miss Casselana, this... I..."
"There's still some time before school starts, so you don't need to rush. You can use this time to think about it."
Erina said with a smile, quickly taking over Newt's words, "As for Hogwarts, didn't Professor Dumbledore ask you to get Mrs. Scamander's consent first? If that doesn't work, you can exchange letters..."
"It's okay, I support you, Newt... This is what you've always dreamed of, isn't it?"
Without hesitating for too long, Tina Scamander nodded readily and said gently.
"Eh? No... I..."
Newt Scamander blinked his eyes slightly blankly.
How did he go from a titular president of several magical animal associations to an academic leader who was going to be rehired to Hogwarts to participate in some magical tool research project in the time it took to watch a few episodes of cartoons?
This content wasn't written in the previous agreement?!
"See, I knew Mrs. Scamander was so kind and would definitely support your ideals!"
Erina said with a smile, her voice sweet and soft, making it very pleasing to the ear.
"And..."
"Cough, let's call it a night for tonight?"
Seeing that Erina seemed to have something else to say, Newt Scamander finally came to his senses this time, coughed lightly, quickly stood up, and walked quickly to the door with an awkward expression, as if escaping from some extremely terrifying danger.
Newt chuckled dryly, took his wife's hand and walked towards the door, saying quickly.
"It's getting late, Tina, I'll explain everything to you when we get back. Let the children rest first? The whole thing is a bit complicated, and I haven't fully thought it through yet. You don't need to be in such a hurry to express your opinion. I still want to stay at home..."
"Newt, you don't need to worry about me. I sincerely support you, don't let the children laugh..."
Mrs. Scamander shook her head helplessly, but allowed her husband to take her hand and leave.
As he was about to leave the room, he turned his head and gave the girls in the room an extra word of caution.
"Sleep well, children! Don't stay up late playing anymore, or I'll write a letter to Professor Dumbledore!"
"Okay!" "Got it!" "Don't worry, ma'am!"
Erina and the others nodded obediently.
When the Scamander couple's figures completely disappeared outside the corridor, Erina couldn't help but laugh.
This was a big profit. She didn't expect to get extra rewards by showing Luna a cartoon.
"Pokémon... Poké Balls... magical creatures..."
The girl murmured to herself. To be honest, she hadn't thought of these things at first.
It was just a flash of inspiration just now, and she said a bunch of things according to Newt's thoughts and guesses. But now that she calmed down and thought about it carefully, with the resources she currently had and Newt's abilities, she might really succeed.
Speaking of which, Newt was already able to carry dozens of magical creatures around in a suitcase decades ago.
If it could really be properly researched and promoted, then the wizards' methods in this world would be too many in the future - after all, the form of coexistence and symbiosis between magical creatures and wizards was the way human wizards explored the world centuries ago.
Of course, it would probably take a long way to go from idea to practice.
But these were the issues that Newt Scamander, Grandpa, and Old Radish needed to consider. She only needed to propose a general direction. The next work would still have to rely on these old men. She was still only an eleven-year-old baby.
As for now...
"Rua!"
Bang! Bang! Hey—
"Where are you two trying to go? We haven't settled our previous debt yet!"
Erina deftly grabbed Hannah and Luna, who were trying to sneak away, and pressed them back on the bed.
She gave the three-headed dog Little Marrow, who was squatting by the door, a look, signaling it to be responsible for closing the bedroom door and ensuring that no one else would come in to disturb them. The little tuft of hair on Erina's head swayed excitedly as she looked at the Wings on the bed.
"If I remember correctly, my bed... is soundproof, right?"
"Hehehe—"