The magician of the fairy tale world.

Chapter 45 Answers before questions

Aurora found the sea witch's question completely incomprehensible.

"If it is eternal, how can there be a concept of length? This is a complete contradiction."

Why does this sea witch always ask such weird questions?

Aurora answered with the mentality that it would be worthwhile to give it a try:

"Eternity is an infinite amount of time."

The sea hag smiled:
"Yes, then how long is eternity - that is, infinity?"

The sea witch's sarcastic smile made the young girl a little angry.

Seeing Aurora's angry but helpless expression, Rhine smiled and said:

"Did you notice? When the sea hag was telling us about the special features of the immortal soul, she used poetic descriptions. Just like the last puzzle, it was also like a poem.

“I think that represents the direction of the answer she wants.

"Future King of Rose Kingdom, most things in this world cannot be completely covered by logic and dialectics. Try to use the way of thinking in fairy tales to answer this second question."

Using the fairy tale book way of thinking... Aurora pondered over the teacher's words.

While Aurora was still in deep thought, the silver-haired boy stepped forward and began to tell the story like a bard sitting by a campfire:

“Above the sea, deep in the land where humans live, far, far away, there is a diamond mountain.

"This Diamond Mountain is huge. If you want to go up, it will take a year to climb to the top. If you want to go around the mountain sideways, it will also take a year. If you just go straight into the depths and reach the back of the mountain, it will also take a year.

“Every hundred years, a bird would fly from afar, peck Diamond Mountain lightly with its beak, and then flap its wings and fly away.

“Many people who live at the foot of the mountain may never see a bird come here in their entire lives.

“Only the longest-lived centenarians could possibly have witnessed the miracle of birds flying twice in their entire lives, and take pride in this experience.”

The sea ghost sighed softly:

"Yes, human lifespan is so short compared to ours.
“This is truly a beautiful story about life and time.

"But what does this story have to do with my question?"

Rhine smiled and told the end of the story:
"Once the entire Diamond Mountain has been pecked away by that bird, the first second of eternity will be over."

The coral reef forest fell silent.

There was complete silence, except for the gurgling sound of bubbles coming out of the cracks and the sound of fish swimming in the distance.

Aurora suddenly realized:

"I see. The second puzzle is not about the literal meaning, but rather it requires us to somehow describe the weight of 'eternal immortality' in 'eternal immortal soul'."

How cunning.

The sea hag laughed loudly:
"Haha, interesting answer.

"As expected of a human with an eternal soul, you told me the weight of eternity yourself. How did you come up with such an interesting answer, human?"

Rhine said truthfully:
"This answer was not something I thought of. It is a story told in a book I had read before. At most I have added a few details to it."

This is a beautiful story told by the little shepherd boy in Grimm's Fairy Tales when answering the king's questions.

Of course, the reason why Rhine in his previous life had such a profound impression of this story was that it was mentioned in an episode of Doctor Who.

I didn’t expect that the same answer could be used here, in a completely different story!

At this moment, Rhine heard Aurora's voice lowered very low behind him:

"Teacher, I'm thinking about something." Today, after learning such a big secret from your conversation, I finally figured it out.

"Teacher, I am eternal, just like you."

……

The sea ghost woman suddenly remembered something and said coldly:
"For the last question, I would add one more rule.

"According to the rules, you two should answer the questions. But the previous two questions were answered by the silver-haired boy.

"So, I think that the blonde girl should answer the last question first. That way, both of you will answer it instead of just one person!"

Ignoring Aurora's cries of "This is not fair", the sea hag asked word by word:

"Well, now for the third and final question!"

When the sea witch was about to ask a question, Rhine suddenly felt a surge of hot energy coming from the sea water in the distance, penetrating the belly of the big fish and radiating onto his skin.

The power of the child of destiny's wish!
Rhine understood instantly:

"Getting the answer to this question" is the sea witch's wish!

If we say that the first two questions are just tests for the questioners.

Then, the answer to the last question is what the sea hag truly desires.

Only those who know the secret of the immortal soul and clearly understand the weight of eternity are qualified to answer this question!

"Now, please tell me. How can we non-human creatures obtain an eternal and immortal soul like yours?" asked the sea hag.

“Is this the question?”

Rhine almost couldn't believe his ears.

Didn't you know that?
Of course Rhine knew the answer.

The answer is "love".

If a human truly loves a mermaid, they can grant the mermaid an immortal soul, and the human's original immortal soul will not disappear.

There is too little description about the sea hag in the original work, but judging from the fact that she can instantly guess the little mermaid's intentions in the original work, she should know about it.

"Could it be that in this world, the Sea Hag came into contact with the black witch Maleficent and the witch coven behind her, delved into the terrible black magic, and was completely rejected by the Kingdom of the Sea, so that she was unable to come into contact with this secret and beautiful knowledge?"

Rhine made a guess and glanced at Aurora who was thinking hard.

Aurora, of course, didn't know the answer.

——She just learned today that humans have an immortal soul, so how could she know how non-human creatures obtain an immortal soul?

The young magician suddenly had an idea. He pointed at Aurora and said to the sea witch with a smile:
“My friend has already given the answer.

"According to the rules you set, all three questions have been answered. They should tell us everything about Maleficent."

what?
When did she say that?
The sea witch looked bewildered.

Aurora didn't say a word from the moment she finished reading the question!
Rhine glanced at the extremely confused sea hag and mermaid princess, and reiterated the sea hag's rules:
"The blonde girl should answer the last question first.

"According to this rule, as long as she gives the answer before me, it's fine. Even if the answer comes before the question."

The answer comes before the question? Ariel didn't understand what the boy said at all.

What does it mean?
How can we give an answer when we haven't even asked the question?

(End of this chapter)