Chapter 426
After hearing the Saintess’s wish, Junior No. 2 suddenly returned to the real world.
She realized she was standing in front of the dilapidated “Cult” once again.
The chilly night air brushed against her skin, causing her to shiver from the cold.
Junior No. 2 found herself in a bind.
To find a small jade plate without any clues…
“Haah, what should I do? Where on earth should I look for the jade plate?”
In her frustration, she asked the Attached Reaper sitting on her palm.
“I don’t know!”
The Golden Horn Reaper shook its head side to side in response.
The Golden Reaper, despite claiming ignorance, sported a cheerful expression, making Junior No. 2 gently stroke its soft horn.
“This is truly an impossible mission…”
Junior No. 2 thought to herself.
Searching for a jade plate the size of a tablet felt like looking for a needle in a haystack.
It seemed like a task that a large organization like the James Research Institute would take years to accomplish.
“Nothing is ever easy, is it…”
She sighed and muttered.
“Should I just ask everyone?”
At that moment, the Golden Horn Reaper looked at Junior No. 2 and sent her a determined aura.
But asking the Mini Reapers didn’t seem like it would be of much help…
Junior No. 2 knew that the Mini Reapers weren’t particularly useful as information sources.
Even though the disappearing Golden Horn was now larger, allowing for simple communication with the Mini Reapers, she felt that it highlighted how little they could recall.
The Mini Reapers couldn’t remember ordinary things after all.
Especially something as dull as a jade plate wouldn’t stick in their memories.
The only object they might know was the ‘Gray Reaper’, who had the power of a god and was the owner of the Mini Reapers, but due to a contract with the Man of the Lamp, she couldn’t receive help from the Gray Reaper.
[Acting on your heart’s desire, choose and move freely.]
Regardless, she resolved to try and follow her heart.
When Junior No. 2 nodded and suggested asking, the Golden Horn Reaper stretched its arms towards the sky, sending out a burst of strong will.
“Help me!!”
Wondering if the Gray Reaper might overhear this, Junior No. 2 asked with a worried expression.
“Is it possible the Gray Reaper can hear this?”
In response, the Golden Horn Reaper gave a sad expression and mumbled its determination.
“Mom doesn’t know our network…”
Seeing this, Junior No. 2 felt helpless and hugged the Golden Horn Reaper tightly.
As she was feeding the Golden Horn Reaper some snacks, a throng of Mini Reapers suddenly gathered around.
Junior No. 2 recalled the appearance of the jade plate shown by the Saintess and tossed a question to the Mini Reapers.
“Do you know where I can find such a jade plate?”
In contrast to the sulky looks of other Reapers, the Black Reapers started to jump up cheerfully, beaming smiles.
Like eager elementary school students wanting to announce something, they raised their hands excitedly and began to chatter.
“I know!”
“I’ve seen it!”
“It was buried inside a building!”
At their lively demeanor, Junior No. 2 smiled faintly.
“So where is that place?”
When she asked, the Black Reapers all pointed their fingers skyward.
Looking up, she saw a hazy black planet dimly covering half the sky.
Junior No. 2 muttered in disbelief.
“How on earth do I get there?”
At that moment, a soft will accompanied by a sound of a “whoosh” from a cape was heard.
“You can go.”
Turning her head, she saw a graceful Purple Reaper leaning against a wall.
Huh? Huh?
As the Mini Reapers took the lead in the ensuing events, Junior No. 2 soon found herself standing on the black planet.
“Wow, the Mini Reapers are super capable…”
As she gazed down at the pitch-colored sea from the cliff, she marveled.
*
Under the familiar curved canopy sky of the Marshmallow Plains.
“Phew, I finally succeeded.”
I was looking down at the newly created snack.
It had been successful in transforming the possessed object that had tormented the Golden Reaper into a snack.
How it was possible still remained a mystery.
It wouldn’t have turned into a snack if left alone.
And so, determined not to miss it, it had magically become a snack after a massive consumption of firewood and had fallen at my feet.
Could it be that the number of Mini Reapers under my command had increased?
Or was it that my ability grew stronger the more I used the ‘Halo of the Labyrinth’?
Anyway, my snack-producing ability had evidently improved.
Well, having stronger powers is a good thing, right?
I looked down to examine the snack I had just made.
What was once a ghost resembling a mummy was now entirely different.
It was white and fluffy, much like a bowl filled with dry ice and carbon dioxide.
Curiously, I reached out, and its body dispersed like smoke with an exceedingly light density.
However, if I didn’t touch it, it clustered in the air and looked like something incredibly soft, caught between smoke and solid.
As I focused, its form began to register in my eyes.
“It kind of resembles a Hungry Ghost…”
There was no nose like a Hungry Ghost, and its eyes were similar, but overall, it had a longer shape.
I wondered if mixing a Hungry Ghost and a weasel together and making it out of smoke would create something like this.
“But seriously, can I actually eat this?”
It looked like nothing more than a clump of smoke, and despite appearances, it didn’t seem like food at all.
Normally, what appeared from the Mini Reaper Garden was mere snacks.
In fact, there was even a possibility that “everything” might be snacks.
The Golden Reaper emitted a slightly appetizing scent, which made for a reasonable suspicion.
Still, that was merely a speculation.
I had never eaten a Mini Reaper before.
“Someday…”
I thought with a smile.
One day, a kind Mini Reaper would appear to satisfy this curiosity of mine.
Hehe.
“Ku…?”
At the sudden sound, I shifted my gaze.
The weasel made of smoke, which had seemed fainted, was slowly waking up.
Its eyes were filled with confusion and fear.
As it surveyed its surroundings, the weasel seemed to grasp its predicament, and with a despairing expression, it slumped down.
I looked down at it, contemplating what punishment to give.
I recalled the snacks that had received punishments until now.
The White Hungry Ghost that had troubled me.
The Hamster that had harmed Yerin.
And the Flamingo that had harmed the Blue Reaper.
Reflecting on those past punishments, I mulled it over.
“A punishment where it gets picked apart like a Hungry Ghost wouldn’t work since it’s smoky…”
At that moment, I remembered the roller coaster I had seen at Yerin’s house.
As a good idea struck me, I pulled the Halo of the Labyrinth over my head.
“You will now forever push a roller coaster like Sisyphus rolls his boulder.”
At the same time I sent the will to the weasel, a gigantic roller coaster began to form in the Marshmallow Garden.
This roller coaster, designed for Mini Reapers, was toy-sized.
However, its course was long enough to rival real roller coasters, crafted to move at speeds that would be hard for ordinary humans to see with their eyes.
Beneath the roller coaster, a special rail was constructed for the smoky weasel.
“Okay, you will keep running here.”
I appointed several White Hungry Ghosts as administrators.
Just like the Sugar Flamingo who managed hamsters, they were assigned the role of jailers.
Thump thump.
As soon as the roller coaster was completed, Black Reapers swarmed over.
The interesting thing was that there were no Golden Reapers, just Black Reapers.
Once a passenger appeared, the White Hungry Ghosts elongated their antennae like whips and began to strike the smoky weasel indiscriminately.
Kyuheehee.
With flames igniting on their antennas, the smoky weasel writhed in pain and began to run.
The Black Reapers wore expressions of joy as they rode the roller coaster I had specially designed.
“It’s fun!”
“It’s fast!”
Their smiles seemed to showcase the delightful daily life of the Mini Reaper Garden.
Meanwhile, beneath the roller coaster, only malicious laughter and moans of pain echoed.
“Kuuh….”
It felt like a hellish environment set in the basement of the Mini Reaper Garden.
Kyuheeheeheeheeheehee.
Hearing the laughter of the Hungry Ghosts made me want to torment them, so I closed the door to the basement and stepped out into the garden.
Looking up at the sky, I fell into thought.
“By the way, that Gas Lamp is bothersome.”
It had been irksome since it was linked to the Evolution Liquid, but it also lay behind the recent Golden Reaper betrayal incident.
“I have to do something about it.”
The “Man of the Lamp” seemed suspicious, and I wasn’t sure if I could win, but I couldn’t leave it be.
*
Like Moses’s miracle, the Black Sea was split open.
Junior No. 2 walked through the divide and looked up.
The sunless black sky appeared to have a small gap way up high.
Purple Reapers were using shadows that cut through space to create paths.
How they achieved this was unclear, but she was walking in the midst of the Evolution Liquid, yet there was no sight of the characteristic foul scent, like petroleum.
As she walked between the endlessly stretching walls of water on both sides, she was awestruck, struggling to breathe.
The walls of water soared high toward the sky.
It felt like standing in front of a colossal ruin or gazing at an endlessly tall waterfall.
“There!”
To ensure she wouldn’t touch the Evolution Liquid, she was guarded closely by the Golden Reapers, and a cheerful expression on one of the Black Reapers shone through.
Pointing with its finger was not an entrance to a city that was hard to imagine as entirely submerged in the Evolution Liquid.
The ground was covered with pebbles that glimmered like they were coated in glass.
The city was filled with glass craft artifacts, windows, and mirrors, reflecting a purple light from the entrance.
The city resembled something from a fantasy novel, but it felt a bit peculiar for having so many decorations made of glass.
Tap tap tap.
Following the guidance of the Black Reaper, they walked down a path lined with mirrors.
“It’s a bit eerie.”
Since the street appeared too normal, perhaps because of the numerous mirrors, it felt like a ghost would emerge.
‘!’
Junior No. 2 thought she saw something move quickly and turned her head, but there was only a broken mirror awkwardly pieced together.
It looked odd, like a mosaic with differently colored fragments.