Chapter 155: The Greedy Plunderer
Chapter 155: The Greedy Plunderer
"What is the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space, the beginning of every end?"
The eagle-shaped bronze doorknocker asked the question and then fell silent once more, as if waiting for the questioner to provide an answer.
Albert frowned, repeating the riddle to himself before complaining, "I hate riddles." It was frustrating to be blocked by a riddle at such a crucial moment.
Albert knew that he might not be able to guess the answer, or at least, not at this moment.
Breaking through this obstacle was actually quite simple. All he needed to do was understand the riddle, and the bronze eagle doorknocker would eventually repeat its question.
After all, not all Ravenclaws were incredibly wise geniuses. Those who answered correctly had likely heard the answer from someone else.
Knowledge was meant to be learned and shared.
When someone failed to answer the doorknocker's riddle, they had no choice but to wait for another to provide the solution, thus gaining knowledge they previously lacked.
As he was not a Ravenclaw, Albert had no opportunity to learn the answers to the eagle doorknocker's riddles from senior students. Naturally, he couldn't pass through this simple barrier.
Even for a genius, it would be difficult to immediately solve the riddle if they had never encountered something similar before.
Albert had never considered himself a genius, so he didn't expect to be able to answer the eagle doorknocker's question right away.
"Do I really need to use a Disillusionment Charm and camp out near the Ravenclaw common room entrance to eavesdrop on the riddle and its answer?" The very thought of it seemed absurd! Even if he managed to get some riddles and answers from Ravenclaw students, the riddle would likely change by his next visit.
"This is really a headache!" Albert muttered to himself.
He had temporarily given up on answering the eagle doorknocker's riddle, unless it happened to ask about phoenixes and fire.
But the chances of that were slim.
Albert recorded the riddle in his notebook and then got up to leave the Room of Requirement. Since he now knew how to enter, he could always come back later to try answering the riddle again.
After leaving the Room of Requirement, Albert headed straight for the library.
"Where did you go just now?" Fred asked, looking up. "I heard that you entered the library, but then turned around and left."
"I suddenly remembered something," Albert replied as he sat down in the empty seat that Lee Jordan and Fred had saved for him.
"What is it?" Fred asked again.
Albert took out his notebook and showed them the page with the riddle.
"Huh?" Lee Jordan leaned over to take a look and froze when he saw the content.
"Can you guess the answer?" Albert asked the trio.
"You must be incredibly bored!" Lee Jordan pulled his head back and continued working on his holiday homework, clearly just as stumped as Albert.
George, equally curious, glanced over before returning to his own work.
That guy always liked to research strange things.
The three of them shook their heads at their roommate's peculiar behavior. Rather than wasting time trying to solve a riddle, they would rather focus on their homework.
Albert hadn't expected them to help him solve the problem, so he began to study the riddle intently.
"What is the beginning of eternity? What is the end of time? What is the end of space? What is the beginning of every end?"
"There should be something in common between them."
Albert thought carefully, writing down his thoughts on a draft paper.
First, that thing must be eternal and related to time and space.
"Moment?"
If time is eternal, then the moment time begins is the beginning of eternity, and the final moment of a period of time is the end of that time.
"Is it the beginning of every end?"
If time is divided into consecutive segments, then the end of each segment is also the beginning of another.
But... what does it mean by the end of space?
Could it be referring to the fourth dimension?
People have speculated that the fourth dimension refers to time.
Well, it seems to make some sense.
What nonsense! Albert didn't think this was the answer the eagle doorknocker was looking for. He even doubted if wizards knew what the fourth dimension was.
Even if wizards were far more advanced than Muggles when it came to the study of time.
So... this definitely wasn't the correct answer... which meant...
"Have I fallen into a thinking trap?" Albert stared at the riddle.
"The answer here isn't referring to something specific, but rather, the commonality between eternity, time, space, and end."
The commonality between eternity, time, space, and end?
Albert's finger traced the word 'eternity' and whispered it to himself, and then he froze.
Eternal?
At that moment, Albert suddenly felt that he knew the answer to the riddle. The word for time is 'time', space is 'place', and end is 'end'.
So... was the answer to the eagle doorknocker's riddle the letter 'E'?
A common letter riddle in English?
Albert looked at the letter 'e' in his notebook and felt that it made more sense than 'moment'.
"It seems that I'm not too stupid after all, at least I guessed the answer."
"Are you deliberately mocking us?"
Hearing Albert's words, Fred rolled his eyes at him.
If you still call yourself stupid, what does that make us? Ogres?
"Why aren't you doing your holiday homework?" Angelina asked, looking up from her parchment.
"Albert is enjoying the joy of solving a riddle!" Lee Jordan asked curiously, "So, what's the answer?"
"The letter 'e'."
"Where did you get this riddle from?" Angelina glanced at the riddle and muttered, "It doesn't seem that difficult."
"That's because you already heard the answer, of course it seems easy." Lee Jordan stared at Angelina, having just seen the riddle himself and not thought of the answer.
"Are you planning to challenge the Ravenclaw eagle doorknocker's riddle?" Alicia looked at Albert suspiciously. "I heard that there was once a Ravenclaw student who challenged the eagle doorknocker and answered a hundred riddles correctly."
"That's a good idea." Albert nodded, "I'll give it a try some other day."
"I'm curious about how the Ravenclaws will react." George spoke up, "Let me know when you're going, I want to come too."
"It would be impressive to get even a few right."
"We have confidence in you." Fred and George said together, "We believe you're smarter than any Ravenclaw."
'I don't even have confidence in myself, where's your confidence coming from?' Albert thought to himself as he glanced at the task panel, only to notice a new task:
The Greedy Plunderer You have discovered the fun of the eagle doorknocker's challenges. Attempt to answer a hundred riddles in one go to show the Ravenclaws that those who can solve the eagle doorknocker's riddles are not limited to their house.
Current progress: 0/100 Reward: 10,000 experience, 1 skill point, Magic World Reputation +100, obtain a designated panel skill.
(End of Chapter)
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