My love game is too abstract

【Success Condition: Obtain the Golden Axe and Silver Axe from the River God.】

Golden light spots outlined a line of text in front of me, obviously the clearance condition for this simulated environment.

Beside the river was a small bridge, and on the other side of the bridge was the exit of the simulated environment.

"So the academy uses simulated environments to replace interviews?" Serena thought.

She looked at the beautiful and peaceful River Goddess in front of her, as well as the three different axes in front of her.

"Should I say these are the ones I dropped? Or should I say..."

Serena's eyes searched around.

"The assessment shouldn't be that simple; this might just be a smokescreen," she thought.

If you could pass the test just by saying that these three axes were the ones you dropped, then this assessment would be too easy.

Then, the key to passing is on that ordinary iron axe.

Serena thought for a moment and said, "No, the only one I dropped was that ordinary iron axe."

"You are an honest child. Then, all three of these axes are yours," the River God said with a smile, and the three axes fell in front of Serena together.

"Huh? Just, just like that?"

Looking at the River God who was still smiling and nodding at her, Serena, holding the three axes, walked towards the exit with a bewildered expression.

"Well, as expected of a student who ranked first in both rounds of the assessment, not only are her grades excellent, but her character is also good. This girl named Serena Edson is a good student."

Behind the scenes, several academy professors commented while watching Serena's performance on the screen.

"Don't be impatient. There are still three rounds of tests behind. She may not be able to pass them all," someone also said.

"Hehe, just keep watching. Oh, the next examinee is starting to enter," Vice-Principal Hagen said.

Yarrow walked into the building and similarly saw a small river and the exit on the other side of the river by the bridge.

As he was looking at the iron axe that suddenly appeared in his hand and thinking, the axe fell into the river, and then the River God appeared with three axes.

"Young man, which one did you drop, this golden axe, this silver axe, or this ordinary iron axe?" the River God asked with a smile.

"A lumberjack and an axe? Is this the content of the interview? Is it trying to test the examinee's character?" Yarrow thought.

"Heh, is the academy also doing this kind of company interview recruitment charade? Will there be picking up scraps of paper on the ground and helping passing cleaners later?"

He thought to himself, so he opened his mouth and said:

"I dropped the iron—"

He was about to say that he dropped the ordinary iron axe, but suddenly, a flash of inspiration stopped him from saying what he was going to say.

"No, there's a trap!"

Upon careful thought, even if a high-level magic club wanted to test character, it wouldn't use such a simple method.

It's definitely not simple.

If he followed their routine, he might fall into their trap.

Yarrow lowered his head and thought for a while. Then, he raised his head and said to the River God, who was still smiling and waiting:

"Excuse me, among the three axes in front of you now, which one was the one I was just holding?"

The River God was slightly stunned, then smiled gently and said, "That, ah, you need to judge for yourself."

Yarrow revealed a look of understanding.

"So that's how it is. This is actually a logic-thinking multiple-choice question. It's not necessarily true that honestly choosing the iron axe will allow you to pass."

Thinking of this, he breathed a slight sigh of relief, glad that he hadn't directly said the answer just now.

So, looking at the three floating axes, after thinking slightly, he began to ask the River God:

"If I choose the two axes other than the iron axe, will you give them to me?"

"This, you can only know after you choose," the River God said with a smile.

"Then, is this golden axe pure gold?"

"Uh, of course, it's pure gold."

"Then this silver axe—"

"The silver axe is also pure silver," the River God preemptively said.

"Then this iron axe, is it the one I was holding just now? Objectively speaking, after entering the simulated environment, it temporarily belongs to me as a clearance prop?"

"Moreover, you have to let me know that during the time this iron axe fell from my hand, dropped into the water, and until you brought it up, it hasn't been switched, processed, damaged, or undergone any black-box operations. From a fundamental material point of view, it's completely consistent with the one I initially obtained."

"This, this, if it's the axe you dropped just now... I think so," the goddess said.

"Not sure? It seems I need to ask more clearly," Yarrow thought, then continued to say:

"Then, if I choose this iron axe, will you give me the other two axes as a reward because of my own honest character?"

"Uh, this, this, then, do you want to choose the iron axe?" The River God didn't know how to answer.

"Not really. I'm just temporarily asking about this choice."

"I can't tell you."

"Alright, then I can only make my own assumptions first," Yarrow nodded and said:

"Let me assume first that I originally only had an iron axe, but I maintained my integrity in the face of higher interests and only chose the ordinary axe. Because this honest behavior makes you think that my character is noble enough, you will choose to give me the other two axes as a gift. However, this scenario is fundamentally untenable because you can't judge a person's true character from just a short conversation. Maybe he's just in a hurry to chop wood, or he doesn't know the value of gold and silver, or maybe this person is a fool, so simply choosing the iron axe is not enough to warrant such a large fortune as a reward, so this assumption is only invalidated."

"No, that, you—" The River God was a little dazed, but Yarrow continued to say:

"Then let me assume another scenario. In the situation where I lost an iron axe, I chose the golden axe. You think I lied and chose something that didn't belong to me, so you won't give me any axes, and even punish me. But now there's a problem: how do you prove that I made the choice out of greed? Maybe I'm nearsighted and made the wrong choice because I couldn't see the appearance of the axe clearly. This can only show that you only judge people by their actions and not their intentions, which is not reasonable. On the contrary, if you still give me the gold and silver axes even if I choose the axe that doesn't belong to me, then this can only prove that you are just a River God who likes to give away money, which is also unreasonable from the perspective of values and education, and does not conform to the purpose of this interview, so this assumption is also invalidated."

"You, you, can you choose first—" The River God looked embarrassed, but Yarrow hadn't stopped:

"Then the third assumption is that I didn't choose any of the three axes. In this case, there are only two results: you must ask me to choose an axe for some reason, and let me leave directly without any additional prompts, but as a result, you get an axe that doesn't belong to you. If you didn't do your best to return the lost property, wouldn't that prove that you are a River God without morality and honesty? Then, why should such a River God, who is not perfect in character, test the character of others? So, subjectively speaking, you don't have the conditions to be a River God, so this assumption is also invalidated."

He stopped and looked at the River God, only to find that the other party's face was full of collapse and enduring pain:

"You, you... what exactly do you want?" Her voice trembled.

Yarrow smiled slightly:

"I choose the golden axe."

"Okay, okay, you... you are a dishonest..."

The River God was about to say the lines, but heard Yarrow say again:

"But—"

"Let me make an assumption first..."

Before he could finish speaking, he saw the River God cover her face and cry:

"Please, stop talking! Just take all three axes away!"