One-Eyed Monster

”Looking back now, the things that baited us were indeed the forerunners’ painstaking efforts,” Master Guzan began to feel sentimental.

”I don’t understand.” Perhaps Master Guzan was speaking too quickly for Igor to keep up. He was now confused and didn’t know what Master Guzan was trying to express.

”Haha, in fact, this is an inspiration you gave us, Igor. You said we should believe in the strength of good people. In other words, Magic itself is not wrong. The wrongdoers are the ones who use it. If a person’s heart isn’t righteous, even orthodox Magic can become an Evil Spell. If one’s heart is upright, even the most corrupt dark Magic can light the way.” Clearly, Master Guzan was immersed in his own sentiments.

Igor understood these truths, but they weren’t his main concern right now. He wanted to know about the other scroll Master Guzan had mentioned, the one detailing certain matters.

”Igor, I think us old folks should thank you. You made us instantly understand the real meaning of the seal on this mountain.”

”So what? You still haven’t told me about the other scroll, Great Mentor!” Igor could wait no longer. He didn’t care if he offended the Great Mentor or showed disrespect; the doubts gnawing at him overcame his reason, making him lose his patience.

”Hahahaha, the other scroll is something like an enlightenment left by our predecessors for their successors, or it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a warning,” Master Guzan said.

”So, there were originally two seals on this mountain, and each seal enclosed a scroll. You broke one seal to get a scroll, and the other scroll is still sealed in this mountain?” Igor tried to understand Guzan’s words in his own way, diligently trying to sort out the sequence of events.

Compared to Kadi, Igor was a motivated and diligent young man. Kadi, that fellow, was still dozing off. He had listened with great interest for a while, but now he was snoring and nodding off again.

”Strictly speaking, one was a seal, and the other was just a trap,” Master Guzan looked at Igor and said calmly.

”Um, that barely explains it. You, as Adventurers—though I still don’t understand the connection between you Alchemists and Adventurers—managed to break a... uh, no, a trap on this mountain and found a scroll. The scroll detailed these matters, and you subsequently learned about them. That’s barely plausible. But then there’s another question: why would our King Kayne downplay Guru Mountain on the map? According to your theory, King Kayne shouldn’t know the scroll is sealed here.”

”You’re correct. Successive King Kaynes didn’t know the scroll was sealed in Guru Mountain. Downplaying Guru Mountain on the map might be a coincidence, or there could be another reason. However, whatever the reason, I’m afraid only the Court of Kayne knows the answer. I’ve been on Guru Mountain for many years and have yet to discover anything else special about it. Why it was downplayed on the Empire’s map is truly a mystery.”

”If that’s the case, why doesn’t the Court of Kayne explore this mountain? With the Empire’s strength, it wouldn’t be a difficult task to excavate Guru Mountain,” Igor raised another question. He found that this mountain was raising more and more questions, and they were becoming increasingly bizarre, always baffling and hard to fathom.

”On this point, I cannot speculate. However, based on my judgment as an old man, the Royal Family’s deliberate downplaying of Guru Mountain is unlikely to be strongly related to the scroll being sealed here,” Master Guzan continued. It would have been better if Igor hadn’t mentioned the map being downplayed. Now that he had, Master Guzan felt it concealed another earth-shattering secret.

Guzan could only speculate that downplaying the map was related to the Court of Kayne. Perhaps the Royal Family didn’t even know about these things; it might have been a conspiracy by the mapmakers...

However, this clearly wasn’t the priority. Grand Master Guzan had nearly been sidetracked by Igor’s wild tangents, almost neglecting the crucial matter at hand to discuss something that seemed utterly unfounded...

”But these are not the main issues, Igor. The issue now is, if someone comes to seize this scroll, should we simply hand it over?” Master Guzan threw this question at Igor. Although simple, it was indeed the most pressing issue they currently faced.

If someone comes to seize the scroll now, should I guard it or not? According to Igor’s reasoning, Magic itself is blameless, neither right nor wrong. So, would simply handing over the scroll be the correct choice?

Living for so long, Master Guzan still couldn’t comprehend it. He always felt that some things shouldn’t be judged from a child’s perspective. Perhaps this is how it is when one grows old—always overthinking, afraid of this and that. Rare moments of reassurance would quickly dissolve as overthinking brought them back to square one, mired in indecision. This is the result of the clash between new and old perspectives, which everyone will experience at some point. Some experience it sooner, some later. And the Great Mentor clearly belonged to the former, always the first to pit two different philosophies against each other.

”Guard it! Why would we hand it over?” Igor replied decisively, without the slightest hesitation.

”This...” This time, Great Mentor Guzan felt he truly couldn’t understand. What on earth was Igor’s perspective? He couldn’t grasp it. ”Didn’t you say before that the seal no longer needed guarding?”

”No, no, no! A seal is a seal, and guarding is guarding. They are two different matters entirely, not the same thing at all!” Igor shook his head repeatedly, completely disagreeing with Guzan’s statement.

Great Mentor Guzan listened attentively.

”This scroll is likely a legacy King Kayne left for us. How could we just hand it over?”

”What I meant before was that we don’t need to keep this Magic sealed anymore, not that we don’t need to guard it anymore!”

Igor paused. He suddenly felt that Great Mentor Guzan was sometimes too inflexible in his thinking, utterly lacking adaptability. He had to explain even such a minor point so thoroughly.

”The third-generation King Kayne sealed this Magic because the circumstances at the time compelled him to. If he hadn’t sealed it then, those who came after would have become overly reliant on it, and the development of the six major classes would have been affected. But things are different now. This Magic no longer holds any value in being sealed; Adventurers with Class can fully research it now.”

”This...” Igor’s string of arguments was so well-reasoned that it made Lord Guzan feel a little ashamed.

To have such insight and depth at such a young age! If this Igor continues on the righteous path, his future will be limitless. What a pity he’s unwilling to learn alchemy; otherwise, he would have been another fine disciple for me, Guzan...

Master Guzan’s heart surged with emotion; it had been a long time since he’d felt this way. This Igor was a truly special young man. Encountering him was a wonderful, fortunate thing.

”We must protect this legacy! We cannot let what our predecessors left behind fall into the hands of others for nothing!”