Rihito's gaze finally turned towards the four liberators.
"It seems you have your work cut out for you, Kid. We wish we could help you, but it's likely our intervention would just cause more trouble for you and destabilise the timeline further." Oscar said with a troubled smile.
"Hey, don't worry, Os. They are the successor to our magic. I am sure he could at least manage this much." Miledi replied smugly. "But if you ask nicely, this genius magical girl might think of a way to help you out."
"..."
Rihito ignored her babbling completely.
"Then, if you don't mind, could you share with us your knowledge and experiences of ancient magic? That would be very helpful," Rihito proposed.
The liberators blinked for a moment. They looked at each other, then Meiru spoke first, her voice lilting with amusement.
"My, my~ I don't mind lending a helping hand, kiddo… but there's simply too much to take in, and far too little time to learn it all, isn't there?~"
Naiz nodded at Meiru's assessment.
"Look, we don't mind sharing what we know, but the sheer volume of information each of us has is ridiculous. It's flat-out impossible for us to explain all of this to you in such a short amount of time," Oscar added.
"Well…About that. I have a way to deal with that hurdle."
His sudden response made them arch their brows in wonder. Without further explanation, Rihito let them feel it directly. He used
Their expressions confirmed they had noticed the probe.
"I'm sure you can feel the strange tingling sensation. Don't worry too much about it; it's just a connection I created to share your guys' memories and knowledge faster.
Miledi, feeling the strange sensation, utilised her brilliant intellect and had vaguely figured out the workings of this phenomenon. In her view, it was an ingenious way to share knowledge. However, after being frightened by them and wondered when they might attack her because her future self did something to them. She was frightened till now. But now that everything was settled, Miledi saw it as a perfect opportunity to play a prank on him.
"KYAAA~! Hey! What do you think you're doing?! Are you trying to sneak a peek right into a pure, delicate maiden's memories?! Hands off, you pervert!" Miledi shrieked at the top of her lungs, flailing her arms wildly.
"..."
"..."
Hearing her accusations, Meiru looked at him wearily, even though she had an idea of how the link worked. Naiz and Oscar gazed at Miledi with a deadpan gaze.
Rihito smiled at Miledi, but his smile didn't reach his eyes.
"Do you want me to dig out every embarrassing moment from your memories and launder it out for everyone to see?" Rihito spoke in a calm, sweet tone, causing Miledi's flailing hands to stop.
Her head robotically turned towards him, only to come across Rihito's syrupy, extra-sweet smile.
"You know, normally I have a strict rule against scanning anyone's memories unless I truly need to or the other person is scum. But I think I can make a special exception for you."
"E-Eeeh?! Wait, wait, wait! You're totally serious, aren't you?! You can't do that?! What about a girl's privacy?"
Rihito's sweet-sweet smile didn't falter, not even for a moment.
"As I said, I am making a special exception for you. Be honoured."
Miledi's face went paler than a sheet of white paper. [He is serious; he is dead dead serious.]
"Oss! Save me! This person is a genuine monster! A cold-blooded, memory-snatching demon!" She whined, hiding behind Oscar.
Oscar didn't move an inch to shield her. Instead, he slowly looked over his shoulder, his expression entirely hollow.
"Miledi," Oscar said, his voice flat. "If he actually dumps your memories into the open air, I am going to have to look at them too. Please, for the love of God, shut your mouth before you inflict collateral damage on the rest of us."
"How cold!" Miledi wailed, tugging violently on the back of his coat. "Where is the camaraderie?! Where is the romance?!"
Naiz let out a heavy, bone-deep sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "There was never any romance, Miledi. Only your endless capacity to create headaches."
Meiru, meanwhile, let out a soft, melodic chuckle, though her weary gaze relaxed into one of genuine amusement. "My, my~ To think the great Miledi Reisen could be silenced so easily. I might have to ask you for the secret to that magic later, Rihito."
Rihito's sweet, empty smile finally shifted into a slight, amused smirk. "Well, you too could train your mind enough to use telepathy and sift through her memories." He pointed at Miledi.
"Hey, don't say something so scary like it's normal!" Miledi protested.
"Says you." Rihito squinted at her.
"Now, if the pure, delicate maiden is finished..."
He directed a sharp look toward the trembling blonde hiding behind Oscar. Miledi peeked out from behind Oscar's shoulder, covering her mouth with both hands, nodding frantically like a scolded child.
"Good," Rihito said. "Let us begin."
"Alright, now each of you just think of the knowledge and the experience you want to share and then focus all those thoughts on the mental connection. I will start looking through them."
With a mental flick, Rihito began to absorb and store the knowledge through the telepathic web. The playful atmosphere instantly evaporated, replaced by a sudden, heavy silence as the true depth of the connection manifested.
Oscar's deadpan expression vanished, his eyes widening behind his glasses. Naiz stiffened, his posture locking up as his analytical mind felt the sheer, unfathomable capacity of Rihito's consciousness. Even Miledi stopped her theatrics, her eyes narrowing as her brilliant intellect processed what was happening.
It wasn't just a bridge for data; it was a flawless, high-speed highway that accommodated massive blocks of conceptual knowledge without a single drop of mental strain on their end.
[Incredible…] Oscar's voice echoed clearly within the mind web, filled with professional awe. [He isn't just taking the information. He's sorting, cataloguing, and compressing centuries of magical theory in real time. His mental capacity is… absurd.]
[And he's doing it while completely bypassing the physical limitations of the brain,] Naiz added, his internal thoughts remarkably calm and precise. [To hold a connection with four souls simultaneously without showing a shred of fatigue... Rihito, just what kind of existence are you?]
Meiru's mental presence felt warm, like a gentle tide. [No wonder you weren't worried about the volume of our memories, kiddo. Well then, don't blink. Here is everything we are living, and still fighting for.]
Even Miledi's internal voice lost its screeching edge, replaced by a rare, quiet seriousness.
[Rihito, it seems we are not able to bring about the change we hoped for. I don't know what the future has in store for us, but I can at least see that we have failed and have found a way to pass on our torch. We don't know what you all truly desire or what fuels you to move forward, nor would we ask you. Just make sure you use all our knowledge to give that piece of shit, bastard Ehit, a piece of our mind. That's the only thing we ask of you.]
Rihito closed his eyes as the rush of knowledge flowed into his mind. He remained silent, simply absorbing their ancient magical wisdom, organising it all into the neat, accessible archives of his mind.
…
Absorbing all the knowledge from them, I cut the connection, opening my eyes as the knowledge settled in.
"To be honest, I don't care much about the complexities of the world," he began answering. "What truly matters to me is my friends and family. If anyone tries to harass or harm them, I can assure you I will put them through hell they won't ever be able to recover from." I spoke to them, dead serious.
Hearing that response from him, instead of thinking any less of him, they smiled as if relieved.
"Hey, Os~, isn't that the same reason as you did when you joined me?" Miledi nudged him with her elbow.
Oscar looked at Rihito, then at all the people beside him.
"Then, you'd better protect them."
"I will." Both of them shook hands.
[It's time], the whale's voice echoed through every mind, deep and resonant.
"Ah, right. Just give me a sec..." I moved so fast that my body blurred, splitting into shadowy figures that appeared in front of Shizuku, Shea, Tohru, Hajime, Yue, Kaori and Tio for a moment. I then simultaneously tapped their foreheads, transferring the newly gained knowledge of the ancient magic, according to the magic they possessed at that time.
During the knowledge transfer, I noticed that this time they could follow my body movements even when I was moving at nearly Mach 20. Some managed to track me better than others, but the fact that they were able to notice me at that speed was an indication enough that they had become stronger.
Shizuku and Kaori winced, rubbing their heads from the sudden transfer of a large amount of information. The rest didn't react much, already getting used to the sensation.
Yue recovered faster than everyone else, her hand crackling with blue lightning, already trying out the newly gained knowledge.
"You could have at least warned me before suddenly pushing magical knowledge into my head," Hajime grumbled, all while wondering ways to use the knowledge in his artefacts.
"Well, I'm short on time. Deal with it," Rihito replied curtly.
I then moved, stopping in front of Remia and pulling out two rings: the spatial storage ring and mana storage ring.
I took her hand and put the spatial ring on her index finger and her mana storage ring on her pinky. I had noticed Remia pouting, seeing me avoiding her ring finger. As for why I avoided it. Three hard glares were boring into my head.
[Yeah, let's not poke the hornet's nest any more than it already has.]
"Alright, I am ready now."
I watched the rest, seeing if they had anything more to say.
"Hey, did you just share the knowledge we shared with you?!" Miledi exclaimed, aghast.
"Well, yeah? I always intended to do that." I looked at her, thinking, wasn't that obvious?
Ignoring Miledi's antics, Oscar stared at the whale.
"I have a question for you." His expression turned analytical.
"Tell me. After you return us to our time. Will we still remember this place and everything that happened here?" Oscar spoke in a tone as if he already had an answer.
Shea and others, and the rest of the liberators, stared, frowning.
[You are correct. The moment you four return to your time. The memories and all the interactions you had will be erased for the sanctity of the preserved time.]
"..."
Oscar sighed, accepting the inevitability. "I thought so. That was all I needed to ask."
"What about us!?" Tio asked.
[Originally, I intended to do the same to you all, but decided not to because of your companion.]
Their gaze landed on Rihito.
[That made sense.] Rihito thought.
If they returned with their memories of this place erased and saw I was gone, everyone would panic and immediately start a search for me, especially Tohru. Who knew what kind of chaos she would cause?
[Let us begin.]
"Wait!"
Tohru's voice suddenly halted everyone. "I still have something I must portray."
[Ah! Yeah, almost forgot about that.]
"Go on, wha..." Rihito didn't even manage to speak.
I was suddenly pulled forcefully; Tohru took my lips for a deep, full, French, passionate kiss. She bit my lips, drawing blood and turning the kiss into a bloody one.
The kiss was a bit too steamy, so Remia immediately covered Myu's eyes and distracted her.
This time, Rihito was caught off guard. So, he wasn't able to react, and before he could, Tohru had already let go.
Unconsciously, my hand went to my bleeding lips.
"With this, you won't be able to forget this kiss." She then tiptoed and whispered in his ear. "I will be waiting."
Saying that, she stepped back.
"..."
"..."
"Ah? Right?"
"Cough!" With a cough, Rihito straightened himself.
Then the whale's skin glowed brighter, radiance building to a blinding crescendo.
The dimension trembled as the light engulfed everything. The last sound they heard was the majestic cry of the whale—an echo that seemed to carry both farewell and benediction.
…
Chapter end
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==Insert IMG of your favourite Pokemon==
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Author's note:
Hey everyone, I apologise for the ongoing delays. I've been moving around for some personal reasons, but I've been considering starting a new story. It will be another isekai, but I want to clarify that I'm not discontinuing any of my current stories. I will continue to upload them as I finish writing the chapters. Now the new one will have a slice-of-life theme, with occasional action and some elements of business-building in a fantasy world, using modern-world knowledge. I'm thinking of calling it something like "My Isekai Business Must Grow." He will also have an ability that matches the theme, and yes, it will be an overpowered ability, arguably more so than the other two main characters in my other two stories. What do you all think?
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