Chapter 52: Puzzle Duel
The competition venue was chosen in the center of the open space in the Stone Forest.
Lorenzos insisted on making it 'a bit more formal,' so he brought over two stone stools and a stone table, setting out a teapot and teacups on the table. He himself specially went back into his cave to change into something—a cloak sewn from animal hides. He draped it over himself, striving to create the atmosphere of a 'Battle of Sages.'
Unfortunately, the cloak was too small; it couldn't cover his round belly and only barely rested on his shoulders. The slightest breeze would make it flutter backward, like a white flag of surrender.
Livia sat opposite him, holding her teacup, her expression impassive.
Lorenzos cleared his throat, sat up straight, and tried hard to look like a highly respected master of riddles.
"Are you ready?"
Lia nodded.
Lorenzos took a deep breath and began:
"First question. I have a mountain, but no stones inside; yet, I possess fire and light. What am I?"
Livia put down her teacup: "A volcano."
Lorenzos nodded, about to note the score, but Lia continued: "Or your lair."
Lorenzos froze: "My lair?"
Livia pointed behind him: "The lava lamp behind your tail."
Lorenzos turned back and saw his new lava decoration—a crystal the size of a fist, trapping a small cluster of never-extinguishing flames. It was a treasure he had dug up from deep within a volcano, used to light his cave.
At that moment, the cluster of flames danced inside the crystal, emitting an orange-red light.
He opened his mouth but couldn't speak.
Livia's tone was calm: "You just said 'has fire and light.' The lava lamp also has fire and light. Moreover, it is in your lair, so saying it is part of 'your lair' is not wrong."
Lorenzos was silent for three seconds.
Then he lowered his head and scribbled on the parchment before him: [First Question: Volcano (Standard Answer). Alternative Answer: Lair (Including Lava Lamp). Note: Reasonable, accepted.]
He raised his head, and his gaze became serious.
"Second question. I have three heads but no neck; I have six legs but cannot walk. What am I?"
Livia thought for a moment: "Three Kobold stacked on top of each other."
Lorenzos's pen paused: "... Is that the standard answer?"
Livia looked at him: "What were you thinking when you created the riddle?"
Lorenzos subconsciously replied: "Three snakes coiled together—"
"But snakes have legs? Three heads and six legs?"
Lorenzos choked.
Livia continued: "Three Kobold stacked up: three heads, six legs, and they cannot walk—it perfectly matches your riddle. Besides, Kobold like to stack on top of each other; I've seen it with my own eyes."
Lorenzos looked down at the standard answer he had written, [Three Coiled Snakes], then at Lia's suggestion, [Three Kobold Stacked], and fell into deep silence.
Livia picked up her teacup and took a sip.
"The essence of a riddle lies in multiple interpretations. As the creator, you cannot only recognize the standard answer. If your riddle can be perfectly encompassed by another interpretation, then that other interpretation is also correct."
The hand holding the feather pen trembled slightly.
He stared at the paper, staring at the riddle he had painstakingly devised for three months, staring at the standard answer he had carved out with painstaking effort—
Three seconds later.
He took a deep breath and wrote on the paper: [Second Question: Three Coiled Snakes (Original Standard Answer). Alternative Answer: Three Kobold Stacked (Perfectly matches the riddle, accepted). Note: I have learned something.]
He raised his head, and the way he looked at Lia changed.
It was no longer the challenging look of 'I must stump you,' but something else—like a student looking at a teacher, an apprentice looking at a master, like a newly hatched young dragon looking at an old dragon that had lived for ten thousand years.
"Third question." His voice was dry, "What can fly but has no wings; can swim but has no fins; can run but has no legs?"
Livia answered without thinking: "Wind."
Lorenzos nodded, about to say 'Correct,' but Lia added: "Also clouds. Also shadows. Also light. Also thoughts."
Lorenzos's pen paused again.
Livia looked at him: "Your riddle was 'can fly but has no wings; can swim but has no fins; can run but has no legs.' Wind fits, clouds fit, shadows fit, light fits, and thoughts fit too. Flying is drifting, swimming is flowing, running is moving—all of these can be explained."
Lorenzos looked down at his standard answer, [Wind], then at the list Livia provided. His mouth opened and closed, closed and opened.
Then he wrote on the paper: [Third Question: Wind (Original Standard Answer). Alternative Answers: Clouds, Shadows, Light, Thoughts (All fit the riddle, accepted). Note: My riddle is flawed; it is too broad.]
He raised his head and looked at Livia, a trace of... awe? in his eyes.
"Fourth question." He took a deep breath, "What becomes shorter the more it travels?"
Livia: "A candle. Or life. Or patience. Or—that piece of parchment behind your tail."
Lorenzos turned back and saw the paper wrapped around the tip of his tail—it read, 'Today's Riddle: What becomes shorter the more it travels?' It was swaying gently with the movement of his tail.
He was silent for three seconds, then silently pulled that paper off and tucked it into his chest.
Fifth question.
Sixth question.
Seventh question.
Eighth question.
Ninth question.
Lia answered every one in a second.
For every question, she could provide the standard answer, followed by two to three alternative answers. Every alternative answer perfectly matched the riddle, and every one made Lorenzos fall silent for three seconds before lowering his head to scribble down notes.
When the ninth question ended, Lorenzos's parchment was already covered in writing.
His hand holding the feather pen was shaking.
Not from fear, but from excitement.
"Tenth question." He raised his head, staring into Lia's eyes, his expression as complex as a stewed soup—a mix of awe, excitement, doubt, anticipation, and a trace of something indefinable.
"You stand before me, and I cannot see you; you leave me, and yet I can see. What am I?"
Livia looked at him and was silent for a second.
Lorenzos held his breath.
He had spent half a year thinking about this question, revising it thirty-two times, considering it the most perfect riddle of his life. It possessed philosophical depth and poetic beauty; it tested both IQ and EQ; it tested—
"You are blind," Livia spoke.
Lorenzos's expression froze.
"Or you are looking in a mirror," Livia continued. "I stand before you, the mirror reflects only you, and you cannot see me; I leave, and the mirror is empty—meaning the empty space left behind after I depart. You see the absence of me."
Lorenzos's mouth hung open, the feather pen suspended in mid-air, a drop of ink falling onto the parchment, spreading into a small black dot.
Livia picked up her teacup and took a sip.
"There is a third possibility: you are facing your own memory. I stand before you, but you are immersed in the past and cannot see the present me; I leave, and you recall the previous scene, thus being able to'see' the me who has departed."
The pen in Lorenzos's hand dropped onto the table.
He stared at Livia, something churning violently in his eyes.
Silence.
A long silence.
The wind blew through the Stone Forest, making a whistling sound. Ash was swept up from the ground, swirling as it drifted into the distance. The setting sun slanted westward, dyeing the entire Stone Forest a deep red.
After a very, very long time, Lorenzos finally moved.
He slowly stood up, closed the word-covered parchment before him, held it with both hands, and solemnly tucked it into his breast pocket—into the scale-lined compartment reserved for treasures.
Then he walked up to Livia and bowed deeply.
"I lost."
Livia looked at him.
Lorenzos straightened up. The expression on his face was no longer the previous mixture of conflict, excitement, and awe, but a calmness—the calmness that comes after truly accepting defeat.
"One thousand two hundred years. I have met many dragons who could solve riddles—Metallic Dragon, Gem Dragons, and even a few clever ones among the Five-Color Dragons. But I have never met one like you."
He paused, his gaze complicated: "You are not solving riddles. You are seeing through what lies behind them. For every riddle, you could see the questioner's intent, see the possibilities beyond the wording, see—"
He took a deep breath and uttered three words: "You win."
Livia put down her teacup and stood up.
"Then I can make a request?"
Lorenzos nodded: "Any request."
Livia looked at him, the setting sun's afterglow reflected in her golden pupils.
"I want to mate. I want your genes."
Lorenzos froze.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
His expression shifted from calm to bewildered, from bewildered to confused, from confused to—
"Huh????"
He abruptly backed up three steps, knocking over the stone stool behind him. The stool crashed onto the ground, and he stepped on his own cloak, stumbling slightly, nearly falling. He steadied himself on the stone table, staring wide-eyed at Lia, his pupils shaking, his mouth open wide enough to fit an egg.
"M-m-m-mating?!"
Livia nodded.
"G-genes?!"
Livia continued to nod.
Lorenzos's brain completely short-circuited.
He had lived for twelve hundred years and met countless Red Dragons—greedy ones, irritable ones, arrogant ones, cruel ones, cunning ones. But he had never met a Red Dragon who traveled thousands of miles to the Ashen Plains, helped him solve ten riddles, won, and then requested—
Mating?
"D-d-didn't you come to ask about chaos homogeneity theory?!" he stammered, "Didn't you come to ask about Tiamat and Bahamut?!"
Livia nodded: "Mate first, then ask."
Lorenzos: "???"
Livia looked at him, her tone as calm as if discussing dinner: "I need your genes. A Copper Dragon, in his prime, S-rank intelligence, skilled in riddles, with mild mysophobia, and the habit of keeping a diary—your genetic data is very good."
Lorenzos's face instantly flushed—so red it turned purple, so purple it turned black, so black it shone.
"Y-you investigated me?!"
Livia did not deny it.
Lorenzos covered his face and squatted down, his tail coiled up, his entire body—the entire dragon—curled into a giant copper-colored ball.
"No, no, no..." he mumbled, "I... I have social anxiety... I don't know you... This is the first time I've met you..."
Livia walked up to him, squatted down, and met his gaze levelly.
"You just said any request."
Lorenzos peeked out from between his fingers, looking aggrieved: "I... I didn't know you wanted this..."
"Copper Dragons value promises the most. 'Words must be believed, actions must be decisive, a promise is worth a thousand pieces of gold, true until death.'"
Lorenzos's eyes turned red.
"Y-you're bullying a dragon..."
Livia looked at him.
She looked at his face full of grievance, at his reddened eyes, at his tail coiled tightly due to nervousness.
She was silent for three seconds.
Then she spoke, her tone softening just a tiny bit:
"It's just mating. Not marriage. Once it's done, I'll leave, and I won't disturb your riddle-solving."
Lorenzos revealed both eyes from between his fingers.
Livia continued: "And I can help you solve riddles. If you ever have a problem you can't solve, ask me anytime."
Lorenzos's eyes brightened a little.
Livia continued: "I can help you solve all the riddles in your diary."
The tip of Lorenzos's tail twitched.
Livia continued: "And I can cover the daily riddle for that combination lock of yours."
Lorenzos slowly lowered his hands, revealing his entire face.
Tear tracks still stained his face, but his eyes were already beginning to shine.
"R-really?"
Livia nodded.
Lorenzos sniffled, hesitated for three seconds, and then—
"T-then you have to solve today's riddle for me first."
Livia: "..."
Lorenzos pulled out the iron box engraved with runes from his chest, holding it with both hands, and presented it to her, his eyes full of expectation.
"Today's code riddle answer! I haven't figured it out yet!"
Livia looked down at the box.
Then she looked up at him.
Twelve hundred years old.
S-rank intelligence.
Three hundred original riddles.
And he couldn't open the box he designed himself.
She was silent for three seconds.
Then she reached out and took the box.