Aurora found the Sea Hag's question utterly baffling.
"If it's eternal, how can there be a concept of length? That's a complete contradiction."
Why did this Sea Witch always ask such strange questions?
Aurora, with a 'nothing to lose by trying' mindset, replied:
"Eternity is an infinitely long time."
The Sea Hag smiled:
"Yes, so how long is eternity—that is, infinite length—exactly?"
The Sea Hag's mocking smile made the young girl somewhat annoyed.
Seeing Aurora's furious yet helpless expression, Rhine laughed:
"Did you notice? When the Sea Hag was telling us about the uniqueness of an immortal soul just now, she used poetic descriptions. Just like the previous riddle, it was also like a poem."
"I think this indicates the direction of the answer she wants."
"Oh, future King of Rose Kingdom, most things in the world cannot be fully encompassed by logic and dialectics. Try to answer this second question using the mindset from fairy tales."
Using the mindset from fairy tales... Aurora pondered her teacher's words.
While Aurora was still in thought, the silver-haired youth stepped forward, like a bard telling stories around a campfire, and slowly began:
"Beyond the great sea, deep within the land where humans live, in a very, very distant place, there is a Diamond Mountain."
"This Diamond Mountain is enormous. If you want to climb it, it takes a year to reach the summit; if you want to go around it horizontally, it also takes a year; if you just walk straight through to the back of the mountain, it similarly takes a year."
"Every hundred years, a bird flies from afar and gently pecks the Diamond Mountain with its beak, then flaps its wings and turns to leave."
"Many of the humans living at the foot of the mountain cannot even see the bird's single visit in their entire lives."
"Only the longest-lived centenarians might witness the miracle of the bird flying twice in their whole life, considering this experience a source of pride."
The Sea Hag sighed softly:
"Yes, human lifespans are so fleeting compared to ours."
"This is indeed a beautiful story about life, about time."
"But what does this story have to do with my question?"
Rhine smiled, revealing the end of the story:
"When the entire Diamond Mountain has been pecked away by that bird, the first second of eternity will have ended."
The coral reef forest fell into silence.
All was quiet. Only the gurgling sound of bubbles rising from the cracks and the distant sound of fish swimming could be heard.
Aurora suddenly had a realization:
"So that's it. The second riddle isn't a literal question, but rather asks us to describe the 'weight' of 'eternal immortality' in an 'immortal soul' in some way."
How cunning!
The Sea Hag burst into laughter:
"Haha, an interesting answer."
"As expected of a human with an eternal soul, telling me the weight of eternity with your own mouth. How did you come up with such an interesting answer, human?"
Rhine truthfully replied:
"I didn't come up with this answer. It's a story described in a book I read before. At most, I just added a few details to it."
This was the beautiful story told by the little shepherd boy in 'Grimm's Fairy Tales' when answering the king's question.
Of course, the reason Rhine from his previous life remembered this story so vividly was that a certain episode of 'Doctor Who' mentioned it.
He never expected that here, in another completely different story, the same answer could be used!
Just then, Rhine heard Aurora behind him, her voice very low:
"Teacher, I'm thinking about something."
"Today, after learning such a big secret from your conversation, I finally understood."
"Teacher, I, like you, am eternal."
...
The Sea Hag suddenly remembered something and said coldly:
"For the last question, I'm adding a rule."
"According to the rules, both of you are to answer the questions. But the previous two questions were both answered by that silver-haired boy."
"Therefore, I believe the last question should be answered first by that blonde girl. That way, it will be answered by both of you, not just one person!"
Ignoring Aurora's cries of "That's not fair!" the Sea Hag asked, word by word:
"Now, for the third, and final, question!"
As the Sea Witch was about to ask her question, Rhine suddenly felt a surge of intense energy from the distant seawater, penetrating the big fish's belly and radiating onto his skin.
The wish power of the Child of Destiny!
Rhine instantly understood:
"Getting the answer to this question" was the Sea Hag's wish!
If the first two questions were merely tests for the questioner,
then the answer to the final question was what the Sea Hag truly craved.
Only those who knew the secret of the immortal soul and clearly understood the weight of eternity were qualified to answer this question!
"Now, tell me. How can we, non-human beings, obtain an eternal and immortal soul like yours?" the Sea Hag asked.
"It's this question?"
Rhine almost couldn't believe his ears.
You didn't know that?
Rhine, of course, knew the answer.
The answer was "love."
If a human genuinely loves a Mermaid, they can bestow an immortal soul upon the latter. And the human's original immortal soul would not disappear as a result.
There was too little description of the Sea Hag in the original work, but from her ability to instantly guess the Mermaid's intentions in the original work, she should have understood this.
"Could it be that in this world, the Sea Hag came into contact with Black Witch Maleficent and the witch coven behind her, delving into terrifying black magic, to the extent that she was completely rejected by the Sea Kingdom and thus couldn't access this hidden yet beautiful knowledge?"
Rhine had a guess, his gaze flickering towards Aurora, who was deep in thought.
Aurora, of course, didn't know the answer.
—She had only just learned today that humans had an immortal soul, so how could she possibly know how non-human beings could obtain an immortal soul?
The young mage had a flash of inspiration, pointed at Aurora, and said with a smile to the Sea Hag:
"My friend has already given the answer."
"According to the rules you set, all three questions have been answered, so you should tell us everything about Maleficent."
What?
When did she say that?
The Sea Hag looked bewildered.
From the moment she finished reading the question, Aurora hadn't said a single word!
Rhine glanced at the extremely confused Sea Hag and mermaid princess, then reiterated the Sea Hag's rule:
"The last question should be answered first by that blonde girl."
"According to this rule, as long as she says the answer before me, that's enough. Even if the answer is given before the question."
The answer is given before the question? Ariel completely misunderstood the youth's words.
What did that mean?
How could an answer be given when the question hadn't even been asked yet?