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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 4
Chapter Title: Her Wish (3)
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"..."
Jushia, who had been diligently scanning her surroundings, momentarily froze at Sei-an's smile, her expression stiffening.
‘What was that?’
A strange prickling sensation went through her chest.
"Do you... know me?"
"Maybe."
"What kind of answer is that?!"
"More importantly..."
"Hm?"
"What's this plan you said I messed up?"
Sei-an, as if deflecting her question, asked about what she had just said.
"That's right! You completely messed up my plan."
"So what is it?"
"If I had just killed everyone in this village, I could've finished guiding ten thousand souls quickly."
"Ten thousand? Surely not..."
"What? You know that too?"
It was practically a rule he'd made himself; how could he not know?
"Do you perhaps have a wish to ask of Lord Shainos?"
"That's right."
Jushia was currently rushing around, trying to fulfill Shainos's condition: to grant one wish, whatever it might be, to whoever guided ten thousand souls.
That's why she had been taking the lives of the villagers here, believing there would be no repercussions for killing them in order to collect souls faster.
"A Grim Reaper who just started is already thinking about collecting ten thousand souls?"
"Of course. What's so hard about that?"
Sei-an was flabbergasted.
Collecting ten thousand souls wasn't like picking up pebbles from the roadside, yet seeing Jushia take it so lightly made him sigh.
"So, what's the wish you're trying to make?"
Then, it suddenly occurred to him to wonder what kind of wish she would make, going so far as to personally kill living humans to collect souls.
"Why do you care?"
"Because as a senior Grim Reaper who has already collected ten thousand souls and made a wish, I might be able to give you some advice."
"What? You were a Grim Reaper?"
At Sei-an's answer, Jushia looked at him with curious eyes.
"I'm human now..."
"It's a long story."
"Hmm."
No matter how she looked at him, he seemed completely human, so Jushia regarded him with a slightly skeptical expression when he claimed to have been a Grim Reaper.
However, the thought that it might not all be a lie crossed her mind, given that he knew Shainos and could see her, a Grim Reaper.
"I'm going to find it."
"Find what?"
A moment later, Jushia continued quietly, her eyes serious for the first time.
She spoke about the wish she would make once she finished her task of guiding ten thousand souls.
"My memories."
"...Memories?"
"My memories from when I was human."
"..."
"I want to find them."
At her answer, Sei-an's expression subtly stiffened.
"Why do you want to find your memories?"
"Because I feel like I've forgotten something I shouldn't have."
She held no memories from when she was human, yet she kept having the feeling that there was something she needed to recall.
"It's frustrating."
She didn't know if it was about her parents or someone else, but it was frustrating to feel like she'd forgotten something important.
So, she wanted to somehow complete her mission, retrieve those memories, and make this stifling feeling disappear.
"...What if those memories are sad ones?"
"What?"
"Would you still want to find them?"
Jushia began to ponder Sei-an's follow-up question for a moment.
"Sad memories, huh..."
She wasn't sure. Would she still want to find the memories she'd lost even if they were sad ones?
"Well..."
"Well, what?"
"I'll worry about that later."
"..."
But soon, Jushia waved her hand as if such worries were bothersome, casually dismissing Sei-an's question.
"Anyway, you! Don't interfere with my work from now on!"
Then, after quickly issuing her warning to Sei-an, she vanished from the spot in an instant.
Even Jushia seemed afraid of having defied Shainos's words and returned to the human world, for she didn't stop glancing around to see if he was gone even as she disappeared.
"..."
Just like that, Jushia vanished in an instant, and Sei-an, left alone in that spot once more, silently gazed at where she had been for a long time.
"She wants to find her memories?"
Then, he quietly repeated her desired wish to himself, letting out a long sigh.
All the while, he thought that he might have to witness her getting hurt again.
