Chapter 25: A Deceased Soul’s Request Doesn’t Guarantee Cooperation

“Honor student, if you met a deceased soul with unfulfilled wishes or obsessions, would you be willing to help them realize those wishes and obsessions?”

Di suddenly asking a question like this caught Belladonna somewhat off guard due to his rare serious demeanor… Couldn’t he just switch back to how he usually was?

She really wasn’t used to him like this.

“Depends on the situation, I guess?

If it isn’t unreasonable, I might try, but to be honest, I usually don’t even consider it.”

They must have happened to miss the anomaly’s appearance time.

Although the two Reapers used the information provided by Feini to slip into the anomaly’s domain, nothing remained at the scene except for scattered human skeleton frames.

“There are obvious signs of activity here; the anomaly probably scatters itself among these remains, controlling the victims’ skeletons to attack the next victim.”

It was a very typical growth-type anomaly.

As the number of victims increased, the amount of skeletons would grow too… Left unchecked, as rumors spread, this guy might actually pull together a whole army of skeletons.

Fortunately, for now, it was only in its initial stage.

Judging by the looks of it, the situation hadn’t gotten out of hand yet and was well within the capabilities of the two novice Reapers.

“Meaning we’ll have to disassemble bones here when the time comes?

Then why don’t we just reduce these skeletons to ashes right now?”

Because they understood the truth of death and souls, the Netherworld had no custom of revering or honoring the dead.

Thus, Di’s absurd-sounding comment was actually considered a normal statement in the Netherworld, or at least in the eyes of a Reaper.

“Because we don’t know what kind of mechanics are hidden here.

If you take the skeletons outside, they might move around out there and trigger even greater chaos…”

If you smash them now, losing a skeleton might make the remaining ones controlled even better and stronger, or simply boost the power of the main body itself.

“When subjugating an anomaly, don’t think about skipping steps like in a video game; just follow the rules and mechanics they set… Reapers who tried to be clever ended up with grass growing high on their graves long ago.”

After issuing this warning, the two novice Reapers didn’t linger long either, cleanly locating the exit and taking their leave… It was fortunate that Reapers possessed spiritual power sensing abilities, allowing them to locate the exits of these spiritual domains.

If ordinary humans from the mortal realm mistakenly wandered in here, even if the anomaly didn’t strike at them, there would be almost zero chance of escape, and they would be trapped to death directly.

“An anomaly with a spiritual domain is actually already quite formidable.

If it’s a newly born ordinary anomaly, it won’t operate within a spiritual domain… It’s somewhat like those ghosts in mortal world horror movies.”

On the way back, Belladonna spent the entire time passionately explaining and lecturing Di.

The problem student heard so much that his ears nearly grew calluses, though who knew how much he actually retained.

“By the way, why did you ask me that question earlier?

For your first mission, didn’t you say that soul accepted your guiding without any resistance?”

Was it a girl’s intuition?

Belladonna always felt there was some hidden secret behind Di’s earlier question.

Considering how ignorant this guy was, he might have committed a huge mistake without even realizing it.

“I was just asking.

If a deceased soul has a wish, letting them fulfill it before guiding them isn’t anything unreasonable… At least it might make this cruel world feel a bit gentler, right?”

“You’re actually quite a gentle soul, huh?

Couldn’t tell.”

Belladonna chuckled, but quickly turned serious, straightening her demeanor.

“However, as a Reaper, that mindset is absolutely unacceptable!”

I can’t say you’re wrong, whether out of logic or emotion.

But the cruelty of this world lies in the fact that even if reason and emotion are on your side, you aren’t necessarily right.

Reapers can increase their spiritual power by guiding deceased souls.

This was common knowledge in the Netherworld.

The more experienced and veteran a Reaper was, the stronger they became, for this exact reason.

Before guidance, deceased souls required harvesting and purification.

Purification removed memories, personality, consciousness, and so on—things born through growth that were considered impurities—returning the soul to pure white to enter the next cycle of reincarnation.

Harvesting occurred because of the soul’s resistance.

You needed to step-by-step cut away their power and will to resist… And the parts that were severed no longer belonged to the soul, so naturally there was no need to purify them.

“So a very long time ago, Reapers were quite happy to serve deceased souls.

By fulfilling their wishes and having them accept purification and guidance without resistance, Reapers gained the greatest rewards.”

The spiritual power Reapers obtained from souls came strictly from the portion purified.

If a soul refused to cooperate, that part had to be sliced off, leaving only the bare baseline portion to be purified.

To a Reaper, this was equivalent to losing a massive amount of spiritual power for nothing.

If possible, no Reaper wanted to needlessly sacrifice power that could have belonged to them.

“But later on, the deceased souls in the mortal realm noticed this, so they kept making demands and forcing Reapers to work for them…”

And the Reapers were helpless.

As long as a soul remained unsatisfied, they didn’t meet the condition of willingly accepting guidance, meaning the Reaper could never gain the full guidance energy.

“So modern Reapers prioritize efficiency above all else… Instead of wasting who-knows-how-much time on a single soul, it’s better to harvest you directly and move on to the next one.”

As for the lost spiritual power, lost was lost.

The time wasted on a single soul could easily be used to harvest seven or eight others efficiently.

Even if those seven or eight yielded only the bare minimum, it still totaled more than a single complete soul.

“That really is quite a subtle story…”

Di’s lips twitched.

He had never heard of this piece of secret history in school.

Although he didn’t pay attention in class anyway, the school likely omitted it to avoid having Reapers carry hostility toward souls while on the job.

“So like I said, if you carry the mindset of helping them, you’ll easily be taken advantage of… As for me, I already told you, I play it by ear.”

Belladonna wasn’t as cold-hearted as ordinary Reapers.

If a soul’s request was simple and convenient enough, helping out was fine and might even win their cooperation.

But if you give them an inch and they take a mile, or if the final wish itself is extremely troublesome… well then, sorry, but my scythe isn’t a toy.

If you don’t cooperate, I’ll just force you to.

“What if a soul’s wish is to witness the growth or outcome of something?”

Recalling a certain mother’s request, Di couldn’t help wondering how things were going over there.

Perhaps seeing her child grow up would make her feel that this world wasn’t quite so cruel?

“To witness the growth or outcome of something?

That’s actually a common obsession.

Maybe they poured a lifetime of energy into it?

I can certainly understand that…”

Belladonna expressed a brief sigh, but her tone shifted abruptly right after…

“But they should still hurry up and die.

If you encounter a request like that, I suggest you harvest them right away without a single second of hesitation.”

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