Water always harbors secrets.
Unlike the sky, it does not reveal what lies within itself. Since ancient times, the greatest unknown humanity had ever faced was the ‘sea,’ and even if the scale was smaller, the mysterious qualities possessed by water remained unchanged.
Even if it was only a ‘pond.’
“……There’s one thing I’m curious about.”
I spoke while standing with my arms crossed, staring at the tranquil surface of the water.
Instructor Mu, who had been looking at the ‘Pond of Oblivion’ beside me, quietly turned her gaze toward me. Her face was difficult to see beneath the bamboo hat with its hanging veil, but I could imagine what expression I must have been wearing as reflected in her eyes.
Probably one of utter bafflement.
“According to the tradition that has continued for thousands of years, aren’t you supposed to cast into this pond the lingering attachments to the secular world that you cannot bring yourself to abandon?”
“Yes, that’s right…… More precisely, though, it’s the ‘object’ containing that lingering attachment.”
It was an unnecessary addition.
I already knew that much.
Still, her answer contained one crucial element I wanted to point out.
Not the ‘lingering attachment.’
The ‘object.’
“There are at least several hundred trainees on this mountain.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Wouldn’t roughly the same number have been maintained in the past as well?”
“It has fluctuated depending on the era, but I’ve heard that was about the average.”
Despite our smooth exchange of questions and answers, my doubts only continued to deepen.
Because logically, there was something here that was difficult to accept.
I spent a few seconds holding my chin in thought.
Finally, my lips moved, letting out the real question.
“Then shouldn’t this pond have disappeared…