A matter of logic
Disclaim: I don't own Slayers, but I wish I do. I only own this laptop and my imagination. They both permitted this work to be posted on this amazing site. So, for the silliness coming, blame them.
Author's note: I wrote this after a very stressful morning passed to solve that enigma. My head still hurts! Please, don't mind my weird English, I'm Italian.
Thanks to Mitsuko-chama for help me to fix some mistake I made and to Ichiban Victory who is always so kind to review my work.
Zelgadiss grunted again. It was the fourth time in the last few minutes and this was starting to make her nervous. She glanced in his direction and frowned.
He was sitting on the big couch in her study. His new sword leaning on the pillow on his left. His cape was lying accurately folded beside his sword and he was wearing now only the almost white sweater he always wore. Her desk, just a few feet from him, was completely covered with paper. He had a small notebook on his lap, a pen in his hand and an old book open on the couch on his right. He had copied something on the paper sheet and was now glaring furiously at it. In fact, that was the cause of his distress. Every now and then he would write something, than he would mutter a little curse, roll up into a ball the sheet and throw it away toward a near wastepaper. Then, he would take a new sheet, copy down something from the old book and starting all again. The last throw didn't hit the target and the folded paper hit unceremoniously the ground.
She knew he had found that book in his last trip, bringing it here from a very far island in the middle of the Demon's Ocean west of Seyruun but she ignored the contents of it. He brought it with him every morning and continued studying it while she fulfill her duty as princess.
Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun tried to bring back her concentration on the paperwork but the continuous little signals of annoyment from her bodyguard were just too distractful to be ignored.
Finally curiosity won over her sense of duty, so she stood up from the chair she was sitting in and approached the irritated chimera.
Sensing his gloomy mood, she opted for a side approach. Feeling a little nervous, seeing coming a probable bad answer, Amelia cleared her voice and with a soft tone asked "Zelgadiss-san, may I ask you a question?"
"Mmm?" he raised his head from his work and looked at her with a crocked stone eyebrow.
"Is that.... I mean, I know this book…no, wait, I mean…" she struggled to find the words, not knowing how to ask what he was doing without seeming too much nosy. Lately she had gotten more and more worried about the way she could appear to her beloved chimera.
He had noticed her nervousness every time she had to ask him something and this both amused and bothered him. Even when he was a human he hadn't handled well romantic situation. He was too shy and that was a continuous source of teasing by Noonsa and Dilgear. Gods how much he had hated them! Lina too was a big mouth but at least it was in a friendly way. Just like the teasing of a little sister. Bearable. Annoying, but bearable.
He simply continued staring at her. He had guessed what she was trying to say but seeing her embarrassed was too much amusing. She was so cute when she was in that state. Her face flushing slightly pink. Her little hands twisting the rim of her dress. He wondered how could she manage to seems childish and charming in the same moment. A small smile find his way over his stony face.
Seeing he wasn't going to help her, she resumed her stutter. "Well… I just wonder what are you reading…I mean…it's something about your cure? Well, obviously it's your cure…are you making out a translation? Maybe I can help you! I had to learn so many different languages, you know being a princess and all…." She was stammering again! Damn it! Why did he had to make her so nervous? She's always got logorroic when embarrassed!
Instead of a reply, he simply handed her the old book. She took it and opened the ancient tome. The pages were yellow and so thin she was quite afraid they would completely disintegrate under her touch. The dust that obviously had covered the volume was gone but the sense of ancient was still standing.
She sat beside the chimera and started to rummage cautiously around the pages.
The first thing that struck her was that it wasn't a foreign language. Not an ancient idiom either. In fact, there were no words at all. Neither one of them.
Instead of words, the pages were full of numbers.
She frowned and closed the book to look at the cover. No title. Just plain old brown leather. She glanced at the amused chimera "What's that? A book full of random numbers?"
"I have an idea, but I want to see if you can guess what is it. Look closely at the number, there are not random. There is a pattern"
She opened the book again and stared at it for a while. Indeed the numbers were ordered in a repetitive pattern. Every page contained four square. Every square was divided in nine littler squares forming a grid and in every one of them there were some numbers going from 1 to 9. Still she couldn't make out the meaning of this.
"A code?" she guessed. Being raised as a future ruler meaning she had taken lessons about cryptography and code-breaking. But she had never seeing something like that. Usually there was a key or something similar to interpret the code. There was nothing like that. Just a grid with a few number and a lot of empty spaces.
"I don't think so" Zel raised to gather the half rolled up sheet from the pavement where it had land moments before. "If it was a code, there wouldn't be spaces left. I think it's a sort of game". He returned to his place on the couch and sited down choosing a place unconsciously a little closer to Amelia.
"A game?" she glanced doubtful at the numbers then back at him. "What kind of game?"
He leaned even closer to her and showed her the paper sheet. "Every big square it's a game. The empty spaces of the grid had to be fill with the missing numbers. Every small square had to contain the number between 1 and 9. If you solved well the game you'll get the number from 1 to 9 in every row, every column and every smaller square without repetitions".
She was amazed! "Zelgadiss-san, have you figured out all this by yourself? You are so smart!" her eyes shone with such admiration. Sweatdropping, he didn't had the courage to tell her about the sheet with the rules he had found previously in the book.
"Well… more or less…" he was looking away now, a little shade of pink colored his stony cheeks. After all this year he hadn't learn how to handle compliments of any sort.
"Have you already solved some of them, Zelgadiss-san?" her attention switched on the book again.
Happy for the change of subject he said shrugging "Some of them are very easy, but toward the end of the book they become very tough".
Indeed, the first ones were simple enough and he had been capable of solve them in a few minutes. But the more he went through the book, the more the games became complex. The last one, that one he was working when Amelia had interrupting him, was very difficult. He was working on it from two days by now! And nothing. The more he persist in searching for the solution, the more he became frustrated! And being as obstinate and obsessive as he was, he completely forgot about his cure and focused entirely about the game. His pride not allowing him to let a stupid game win a challenge with his mind.
"This is the one you are working on now?" she pointed to the sheet in her hand.
"Yes, but if you want to try I suggest something easier because-" he stopped mid-sentence. Amelia had started to make correction on his sheet. He was amazed and a little frightened from the fastness she had learned that game. He had took almost a week to learn how to solve them. But maybe this was just an act. She couldn't possibly have caught how to play properly in so little time, could she?
He leaned closer to her to see what she was writing. Heads almost touching while staring at the almost full grid. A vein threatened to blow up in his head. She had almost ended the game! Only a few empty spaces were left.
She added the last number and handed the sheet to Zelgadiss with an happy proud smile. "Is this correct? Now what I have to do?"
Zelgadiss took the sheet half astonished and his eyes almost bugged out from the socket. It was perfect! No error. Every number was in his exact place. She had found the solution he was seeking from days in only a few minutes. This was crazy! Was she so smart? So much smarter than him?
"It's- it's perfect Amelia, you had solved it very quickly. Where did you learn to solve that games?" he was staring dumbfounded at her.
She gave him a look of total innocence and with a sheepish smile she chimed "Why Zelgadiss-san. I love logic games! Don't you remember when we played chess?"
Author's end note: no, this time I won't begging for reviews… I'll be stronger! Stronger! Now that I think about it…isn't this thought to bring all his problem to dear Zel? Mmm… ok, I changed my mind. Please leave a review, even if you don't liked it! I accept critics, tips and everything you could think of. Just don't ignore it! Hopefully, next time I could write something better, have faith!
Thank you for your time, goodbye ^_^
P.S. At this time I haven't yet solved that damned Sudoku! But I don't give up (I can be more obstinate than Zel!) ^_-