One-Eyed Monster

Secrets are always revealed eventually. When you discover one, you get extremely excited. At that moment, an urge wells up in your heart to spread the secret. You’d be fidgeting impatiently, eager to share the joy in your heart. You’d even be willing to tell a stranger.

Great Mentor Guzan began to steer the conversation toward irrelevant matters with Igor. It seemed he was deliberately trying to lead them in a different direction, as if to make them forget the current question and focus on a new one.

”I know this feeling you speak of; it’s generally the feeling one gets with a new discovery. It’s quite a nice feeling. I like it very much.” Igor was the type of person who easily lost himself in worlds described by others. As long as someone told a story vividly, he would become completely immersed.

This was a significant reason why many people considered Igor a fool.

Guzan chuckled at the engrossed Igor. He had originally been telling Igor about his wager-like agreement, but he unexpectedly realized his agreement was significantly related to secrets. He simply wanted to express the feelings he’d had when he first learned of that secret, even though its discovery had little to do with him personally. After all, back then, he had been a young lad, much like Igor—inexperienced and naive about many things in the world.

However, he also had to be grateful for his ignorance at the time. It had prevented him from experiencing the true fear of the situation. If he had possessed his current understanding back then, he would have been scared into a cold sweat.

Now he wondered: should he tell these two young men the truth? Could they bear the fear that came with it? If not, wouldn’t he be harming them?

He had only been in his early twenties when he first followed Lord Soron to this mountain range. Now, he was the same age Lord Soron had been back then. Was this a coincidence, or was it inevitable?

Guzan collected his thoughts. Before him stood two bewildered teenagers. Perhaps these two were destined to take the torch from him and slowly spread its light to those who needed warmth.

”Hurry up and tell us about your agreement.” Kadi was different from Igor; he wasn’t one to easily get drawn into stories narrated by others. His thoughts tended to follow his own line of reasoning and wouldn’t be easily derailed by someone else’s novel tale. He had been constantly wondering what made Guru Mountain so special.

”’Ah, right, let’s get back to the main topic,’ Great Mentor Guzan said, looking at Kadi. He felt Kadi’s reminder was perfectly timed. Igor’s fanciful thoughts often strayed far, threatening to derail the conversation completely. Indeed, the Great Mentor knew their time was limited; he couldn’t be sure how much longer they could afford such carefree conversation. Kuyi Tulan and his followers might find this place very soon. Then, he would have to confront Kuyi Tulan. Therefore, he needed to pick up the pace and explain the full story behind these matters.”

”What kind of agreement is it?” Igor widened his eyes, his mind snapping back from its wanderings to the present.

”It’s an agreement between Lord Soron and me. Lord Soron believed that precedents should be left for later generations to evaluate, whereas I maintained that later generations should completely obey the judgments made by their predecessors.”

”Your viewpoint sounds like the Absolute Truth! We can only act according to the Truth and can never question it,” Igor interjected, his mind again taking flight. The Great Mentor hadn’t even finished speaking before Igor launched into a deep analysis of the statement.

”’You’re not wrong. It’s fair to say we were too young and naive back then to grasp Lord Soron’s true meaning,’ Guzan nodded at Igor.”

”’So, what did the supposedly all-knowing Lord Soron actually say? I still don’t get it,’ Kadi pressed, determined to understand. He couldn’t see how anything Master Guzan was saying specifically related to Guru Mountain.”

”’This matter was, in a way, inevitable. When I was young, I traveled extensively with Lord Soron, hoping to embark on my Path of Class Choice through our journey,’ Master Guzan began, launching into yet another story from the not-too-distant past. Who knew how many stories Great Mentor Guzan had told by now?”

”’So what?’ Kadi interjected. He wanted to know if this ’Guru Guru’—Guzan—was ever going to get to the secrets of Guru Mountain.”

”’I know you’re anxious, Kadi, but these things must be explained step by step. If we rush, we might misunderstand everything. Then, wouldn’t we be watching helplessly as what we’ve guarded loses all its value?’”

”’Guard?’ Hearing this word, Igor’s mind lit up. He felt as if he could soar, because no matter what the Great Mentor said, he could instantly connect it to something.”

”’Are you protecting some kind of secret? Does Guru Mountain hold a huge secret?’ Igor fired off a series of questions, none of which were particularly insightful; asking them was pointless.”

Actually, the Great Mentor could have simply answered ’yes’ and left Igor and Kadi to piece together the rest through their own imagination.

”’What we guard is not just a secret, but also a danger.’”

”’Danger?’ Igor’s imagination suddenly failed him. He couldn’t comprehend why danger would need to be guarded. Was danger something that required protection?”

”’Actually, I should have said ’conceal,’’ Grand Master Guzan corrected himself awkwardly. To him, ’guard’ had been an overstatement. He shouldn’t have misspoken. Perhaps it was because recalling his argument with Soron always muddled his thoughts. Hadn’t that wager-like agreement also stemmed from that same dispute?

Lord Soron had believed that what was discovered shouldn’t remain hidden; it should be left for those who came after to judge whether it was right or wrong. But the young Guzan had felt that since it was something hidden, it should remain so. Otherwise, it would be disrespectful to the predecessors who had sealed away these secrets. Although he had unearthed a secret back then and felt an overwhelming urge to tell the entire world, his reason had ultimately triumphed over his impulse.

In the end, Lord Soron hadn’t insisted on his viewpoint, and Guzan still hadn’t figured out why, even to this day. Instead, Lord Soron had made a wager with Guzan.

Lord Soron had said, ”If I publicize Guru Mountain, and yet no one manages to discover its secret, then you must spend the rest of your life here on Guru Mountain.”

Guzan, not understanding the implications at the time, had casually agreed.

Now, he felt this agreement had been an elaborate plot, perfectly designed to make him a guardian here.

But none of this was certain. After all, Lord Soron himself had said that secrets are always eventually revealed; no secret can be guarded forever. In other words, Lord Soron himself believed that secrets didn’t need guarding. Yet, his agreement with Guzan had condemned Guzan to spend the rest of his life guarding a secret here...