Even though he knew that he could not avoid spilling some extra details, Gilgamesh felt uneasy when he thought about telling his story to these people. A threatening sensation came from no where, poking at him from behind.
He looked at each of them, and his eyes lingered on Aerial Guardian before he took a breath and tried to stave off that feeling of danger.
He wasn't sure how he knew, but he was certain that he could not tell these people everything. His instincts were especially adamant on ensuring that he placed no trust whatsoever in Aerial Guardian.
In the moments that he was having his internal dilemma, the Guardians were having their own conversation via thought-transmission.
"So, Hunter Guardian, what do you know?" Aerial Guardian asked.
"I know that a Heavenly Immortal was attracted to his tribulation."
Pacifist Guardian and Aerial Guardian both gasped, though not out loud of course.
"You can't be serious," Aerial Guardian scoffed.
"I am serious. Lord Cloud appeared in the skies along with the heavenly tribulation, and he asked Gilgamesh a question."
"What did he ask," Pacifist Guardian probed, and Aerial Guardian also leaned closer to Hunter Guardian subconsciously.
"He asked him: 'What are you?' Then he left shortly after I arrived."
"..."
The two Guardians were speechless. It was at this moment that Gilgamesh cleared his throat, so they ended their thought-transmission conversation and perked up to listen.
"To be honest with you Guardians..." As he spoke these words, Gilgamesh suddenly found himself smirking against his will.
His eyes widened in surprise at his lack of control over his own face, but before he could even stop to think about why he was smirking, his mouth spoke words that he did not necessarily wish to say.
"...that is entirely my business, and has nothing to do with you. Butt out, will you?"
All eyes, even Gilgamesh's, were wide with shock.
"I... I'm sorry?" Hunter Guardian placed his cup of wine on the grass, unsure of what he had even heard Gilgamesh say.
Pacifist Guardian wore a thoughtful expression as she smiled, but Aerial Guardian's hands were tightly clenched into fists, and he took a long, deep breath.
"I'll give you a second to rethink your answer, and provide a better one," the winged man warned.
Gilgamesh was still struggling to come to terms with what had just happened. His mind and body were momentarily split into two entities, causing him to speak before he had even taken the time to think.
Even so, he could not help but think that he was voicing his truest thoughts; the very salt of who Gilgamesh was.
When Aerial Guardian warned him, he snorted coldly and took a step forward, this time feeling his mind and body slowly becoming one again.
"I'm not about to divulge the entirety of what I've been through to you Guardians. My experiences are my own- as are my secrets."
"I'll say it one last time. Butt out."
This time, Gilgamesh felt certain, in the moment, that those words were what he should say. His confidence was at an all-time high- there wasn't a doubt in his mind that he was only saying what he should say.
Then, a short while after, he remembered that he did not at all have the ability to back up such an attitude, and he felt panic strike at his heart in waves. He had to power through the panic just in order to keep himself standing upright.
Aerial Guardian shot to his feet and his wings unfurled, powerful true energy fluctuations rising from his body to create a deadly aura of tempests.
Pacifist Guardian and Hunter Guardian both turned their heads to look at him, wearing differing expressions of disapproval.
"Brother Aerial, that's enough."
"Fuck off, Pacifist! This brat won't get away with disrespecting me."
Hunter Guardian sighed, "Where is the disrespect? We were trying to extract information from an unwilling party. There's nothing we can do about it. Calm down and sit."
Despite there not being a trace of threatening in Hunter Guardian's tone or words, Aerial Guardian instantly heeded them and ceased to exhibit his deadly aura.
He sat down and, though there was still wrathful indignance in his eyes, he did nothing.
Hunter Guardian then gave Gilgamesh a flat smile, "Sorry about this. You see, the only reason we're so interested is because our master told us something interesting about the mystic realm once, but we don't know enough about it to truly understand."
Pacifist Guardian nodded, "We were merely holding out hope that you might know something we don't. However, you are right. We cannot force you. I apologize."
The two Guardians looked to Aerial Guardian, and he scoffed before lowering his head just a tad. "I'm sorry."
Gilgamesh, who was calling upon every scrap of his willpower to stop himself from breaking out into a cold sweat, was dumbfounded.
He had essentially insulted them to their faces, but was being let off? Furthermore, they were apologizing to him.
For a second, he felt as though he should give in to his subconscious a bit more.
'No, no, no! Definitely not! Curse this mouth of mine and all the trouble it's gotten me into!'
Once the tensions were more or less passed, Pacifist Guardian extended an offer to Gilgamesh.
"Since you don't remember anything and have pretty much started over from scratch, why don't I give you a tour of the sect and answer any additional questions you might have?" There was a glint in her eye that suggested she was hoping Gilgamesh agreed.
"Uh..." Gilgamesh faltered briefly.
"Think of it as compensation," She pressed.
Gilgamesh eventually agreed, and so they both left the tower together, leaving Aerial and Hunter Guardian behind.
Once they were truly alone, Aerial Guardian made a fist and pounded it into the floor, shaking the room they were in. "Damnit!"
Hunter Guardian simply sipped his wine with a calm and steady expression.
"You let him insult us and just walk away!"
"Like I said," Hunter Guardian spoke, sounding somewhat annoyed as he shot a glowing red glare at Aerial Guardian, "there was no insult. Drop it, Brother."
Aerial Guardian was seemingly taken aback by the look in Hunter's eyes.
"Tch!"
His wings flapped once, and he vanished from sight, as though he had teleported or made some other kind of instantaneous movement. Hunter Guardian did not seem surprised though, and just kept sipping his wine.
It was unclear what he was thinking of, but a trace of amusement was ever-present in his calm expression.
Gilgamesh and Pacifist Guardian were already leaving the Hall of Guardians and beginning his proper tour of the sect.
"The area surrounding the Forest Master's Tower is called the 'Proving Ground,' due to the fact that the primal true energy coming from the earth here is more abundant that anywhere else in the sect."
"Some say it's because the Forest Master once stood and fought against an entire army here by himself, and his true energy nature affected the land. Now, Outer and Inner Disciples use it for their Ranking Matches."
Gilgamesh nodded, recalling the battle he had seen just before he entered the Hall. It was already over by the time they left; apparently, Big Brother Feral had won, successfully knocking down two Inner Disciples.
"Just outside of the Proving Ground is where some servants and disciples set up shop, trying to take advantage of the large number of disciples that go in and out of the area to watch battles."
Gilgamesh took a moment to observe Pacifist Guardian, but he realized that he did not feel a sense of attraction to her, despite the fact that she was quite beautiful.
Pacifist Guardian's robes were worn classily, reminding Gilgamesh of the portraits of Guardians back in the Hall. Her figure could barely be discerned beneath it, and Gilgamesh did not exactly try to get a sense of it.
Even so, there was a high chance that it was quite... explosive.
She eagerly showed him around and explained everything in the greatest detail possible. Thanks to her zeal, he managed to learn a great deal about the sect.
For instance, he learned that the Inner Disciples did not dwell in the forest valley, but in special caves in the mountains. They would only come out to acquire specific resources or to complete requests tailored to them.
There was also the Ranking, which was an entirely optional system to promote healthy competition and growth among the disciples. Anyone could challenge anyone on the Rankings- as long as the challenger's rank was lower.
"If you win, you can choose to take that person's place on the rankings or not, but you can only challenge a higher ranking the next time."
As they went around, more and more disciples took note of them.
"Hey, isn't that the guy that Little Brother Hark told us about?"
"Hm? You mean the one that triggered that tribulation earlier?"
"Why's he walking with Pacifist Guardian? Hmph! Lucky bastard..."
"I heard he went missing five years ago and he's only just returned to the sect, but I don't remember what his name was."
"His name's Gilgamesh, isn't it?"
Word had seemingly started getting around, and so some of the disciples recognized Gilgamesh and started to murmur amongst themselves. Pacifist Guardian didn't seem to mind or care, and so he paid them no further mind.
Pacifist Guardian continued to show Gilgamesh a bunch of places and gave him a bit of information on all of them.
"This is the Sect Garden, where you can rent a plot of land to plant your medicinal herbs if you don't have space to plant them in your abode. Most Outer Disciples go there since their abodes don't usually have much room for planting."
"This is the Tower of Guardians-- which is empty right now..."
"That's the Library Tower, where disciples can acquire cultivation manuals and true energy skills. Right below it is the Armory and the Smithy. You can purchase weapons or order something custom-made from the sect's Forgers."
Before long, Gilgamesh was growing tired of the scenery.
"Pacifist Guardian, could you show me where my abode is?"
Realizing that Gilgamesh would have forgotten where even his own abode was, Pacifist Guardian smiled and nodded, "Certainly."