One-Eyed Monster

There were no signs of the coming danger; everything was proceeding as usual. People at the foot of the mountain were going on with their lives, eating and drinking, completely oblivious to any crisis.

The BOOM that came from Lubin Tavern didn’t raise any suspicion among the folks below the mountain. In the minds of most people, it was normal for anything to happen where the Alchemists were. After all, they were strange people, and any commotion they caused wouldn’t be questioned.

Elder Rostellum of Gaga County was playing cards with Mayor Babasha from Liuli City at that moment. Even though he was utterly unwilling, he had to abandon his plans to accompany his superior, as official hierarchy demanded it.

Mayor Babasha had been on edge these days. He had almost grown calluses from his long stay on Guru Mountain. However, he had no choice but to stay, as the League Guard, a stern-faced man, was watching him like a hawk, making him feel uncomfortable. He knew in his heart that until there was news about Young Master Hustace, he wouldn’t find peace. So he had to stay obediently on Guru Mountain, waiting for any news about Young Master Hustace.

Those people have been up the mountain for quite some time now. Why isn’t there any news? Before, I could get scraps of information from Lubin Tavern, but last night those lunatics at the Alchemy Workshop suddenly went mad and kicked everyone out. What on earth happened?

”I say, has that Fighter you sent up the mountain sent you any Mail Birds?” Mayor Babasha asked Rostellum while playing his cards.

”No,” Rostellum answered crisply. I don’t want to say much; recent events have my head spinning.

”When will this end!” Mayor Babasha rubbed his forehead, sighing deeply.

”Mayor, don’t worry. Young Master Hustace and Qi Liu will come down the mountain before long,” Pifu, who was playing cards with them, tried to comfort him.

”I hope so!” Mayor Babasha sighed.

What was happening on Guru Mountain did nothing to alleviate the worries of these card players. It was too far away for them to see or touch, so they continued worrying.

This was how things were: unrelated people were mixed together by unrelated events. Everyone had their own purposes, and what was originally a simple matter became extraordinarily complex.

Mayor Babasha was perplexed. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack to find someone on such a large mountain. Why did Qi Liu sound so confident? And the Alchemy Workshop, agreeing to let him go up? Are they out of their minds? Why not ask a powerful Wizard to perform Divination before acting? How could they make such a careless decision?

I’ve pondered these questions countless times, but I still can’t make sense of it all. He wasn’t a qualified Politician. He had climbed to the position of mayor through sheer luck and Gold coins, which left many things outside his comprehension.

”Lots of strange things have been happening lately,” Bunan said, genuinely concerned about Young Master Hustace’s safety. ”People are even setting off fireworks during the day—they must have too much free time on their hands! I wonder what’s up with the Young Master. If he could hear the loud fireworks from the mountain, he’d definitely find it strange.”

”We should never have let the Young Master come here in the first place,” Pifu started complaining. ”Why did he have to become an Adventurer? Life was good for him at the Academy.”

”The real culprit must be that guy Igor,” Bunan, influenced by Pifu, chimed in with his own complaints. ”Not many in Yonder Travel Academy study adventuring. Teacher Hadi is such a weird old man; who would want to take his classes?”

”You’re right! It’s that Igor guy, the one who’s always in the firewood room and the kitchen chopping wood. He must know some strange Magic that confounds the academy teachers; that’s why so many of them want him. There must be some strange Magic at play. Otherwise, how could the Young Master be influenced by him?”

”Are you two going to play or not?” Rostellum rapped on the table with his cards, looking at the relentlessly complaining Bunan and Pifu.

”Yeah, yeah, we’re playing,” Bunan rolled his eyes. ”We just suddenly thought of some issues that don’t seem right.”

The two HUSTACE flunkies had suddenly thought of incidents at the academy and couldn’t help but sigh.

Speaking of which, Teacher Hadi from Yonder Travel Academy was indeed a strange man. He never held his classes in a classroom. He always took his students, though very few in number, to various places in the academy.

Other teachers would always warn their students about what to do and what not to do, where they could go, and where they needed to be careful. But Hadi was very odd; he would always encourage his few students to make mistakes!

”Do you dare to sneak into the dean’s office? Or maybe pluck strands from the vice-chancellor’s beard? How about exploring the mystical river on the back mountain or venturing into the forbidden forest behind the academy?” Teacher Hadi always had a brazen way of speaking to his students and sometimes even participated in preposterous escapades with them. For instance, he and Igor once secretly slipped into the academy cafeteria to nab the dean’s beloved pie.

The most outrageous incident was when he stood on the rear mountain, facing his students, and said, ”See, birds can fly. Why can’t we?”

”Because we don’t have wings.”

”So, does not having wings mean we can’t fly? We don’t have fins either, but we can swim, right?”

”ER...”

”If I jump off this mountain, who will dare to follow?”

His students fell silent—no one dared to answer.

”Maybe we can fly too. Let’s find out. Jump with me. Don’t be afraid.” Back then, Teacher Hadi even made a silly face.

Thinking back now, Bunan and Pifu still felt a lingering terror. If we hadn’t stopped Igor back then, who knows what terrible things might have happened?

It took quite a bit of their strength to hold Igor back at the time.

Bunan and Pifu surely had not expected that Igor would face a similar situation on Guru Mountain.

While Bunan and the others were playing cards with Mayor Babasha, Igor followed the monster Kadi down a path, with several hideous-looking zombies trailing behind. Above, the sky was darkened by a swarm of bats.

”Why are there bats in broad daylight? Aren’t they afraid of sunlight?” Igor exclaimed. So many things have happened lately that are beyond my understanding; my mind feels a bit sluggish.

”Stay close and focus. These are all the alchemists’ creations,” Kadi said, then raised his tail. SWISH! A shower of stones flew towards the bats.

Igor and Kadi hadn’t expected to be pursued by zombies and this troupe of flying creatures. Fortunately, aside from the bats, Kadi managed to drive away other sporadic creatures like rats and sparrows.

Kadi didn’t run down the mountain along the road. Instead, he took a turn at a fork that seemed to be a dead-end, leading to a not-so-treacherous cliff. Although it didn’t look dangerous, a fall from there would unquestionably mean death with no remains.

The area below looked vast and empty, just like the Primordial Wasteland.

”Follow me and jump down. Fear not!” After saying these words to Igor, Kadi leaped.

Igor didn’t hesitate and jumped too. Teacher Hadi’s adventure lesson, of course! I always wanted to try it back then, but they stopped me. This time, no one’s holding me back!

Some things are just like that. It’s impossible to tell if they’re good or bad, a blessing or a curse. The zombies never anticipated that the power they acquired after hearing the fireworks was exchanged for their consciousness. Mayor Babasha couldn’t comprehend why Qi Liu was so adamant about searching for Hustace on the mountain. And Bunan and Pifu could never know what would have happened if they had jumped off the mountain with Teacher Hadi that day...

If everything in this world were known, what would there be to look forward to?

At the moment Igor leaped off the cliff, he seemed to perceive the courage an Adventurer needed.

So, this is what courage feels like.