Free Web NovelPavela did not respond immediately.
She remained where she stood, gazing out over the wasteland. frёewebnoѵēl.com
The Gatekeeper's words echoed in her mind.
The ability to extract souls.
Memories, knowledge, skills, talents.
The price was the dissipation of the soul and randomly experiencing their memories.
From a purely rational perspective, it was a worthwhile trade.
Those souls were already dead.
They had been devoured by her, trapped in this space, forever unable to rest.
Rather than letting them wander aimlessly across this wasteland, it was better to...
Better to make their deaths meaningful.
Pavela gave a cold sneer in her heart.
Listen to what she was thinking.
"Make death meaningful."
What a high-sounding excuse.
She was very good at this.
Finding a reasonable-sounding justification for her actions, and then doing things she shouldn't do with a clear conscience.
But the problem was—
Did she really have any other choice?
Pavela took a deep breath.
Her gaze fell upon the nearest soul figure.
It was the silhouette of a young man, wearing a tattered military uniform, his translucent body flickering in the gray light.
His face was blurred, but Pavela could feel his gaze resting on her.
It wasn't hostility, nor was it fear.
But rather some kind of... expectation?
"That soul."
Pavela's voice was calm.
"Who is he?"
"A soldier."
The Gatekeeper's voice came from behind her.
"A private of the Usar Union Army, who died in a skirmish three months ago."
"A soldier..."
Pavela repeated the word.
She took a step forward.
The gray ground rippled beneath her feet, like a lake into which a stone had been cast.
The soldier's soul did not dodge.
He just stood there, watching her with those blurred eyes.
Pavela stopped in front of him.
Observing at close range, she could see more details.
He was very young, perhaps only sixteen or seventeen.
There was still some childishness on his face, but a weariness beyond his years in his eyes.
There was a bullet hole in his uniform, over his chest, right where the heart was.
"What is your name?"
Pavela asked.
She didn't know why she asked this.
Souls do not answer.
The Gatekeeper had said that most of the souls wandering the plains had already lost their'self,' leaving only residual consciousness.
But the soldier's lips moved.
There was no sound.
But Pavela could read the shape.
"Lev."
She whispered the name.
A common Usar name.
Perhaps the son of a farmer, or the child of a worker.
Conscripted into the army, sent to the battlefield, and killed.
Now his soul was trapped here, wandering the gray wasteland forever, with only a shred of residual consciousness left to endure the endless cold.
The soldier's soul trembled slightly.
Then, he made a gesture Pavela hadn't expected.
He knelt down.
Not in submission, nor in fear.
But... in supplication.
His lips moved again.
This time, Pavela saw clearly what he was saying.
"Let me disappear."
Pavela was stunned.
She hadn't expected this.
She had expected hatred.
Curses.
Anger toward some killer.
But not this.
This young soldier, this soul named Lev, was begging her...
To end his existence.
"They are all like this."
The Gatekeeper's voice came from behind, with a certain casual cruelty.
"Most of the souls trapped here have already lost the will to live. They don't remember who they are, they don't remember why they're here, they only know they're trapped and can never leave."
"For them, dissipation is a release."
Should she touch this soul?
Pavela bit her lip.
This was a choice that needed to be made.
The Gatekeeper must have left some things unsaid.
It was so expectant.
So urgent.
Going to such lengths to guide her step by step.
It certainly had some ulterior motive.
But the problem it presented was also one Pavela was desperate to solve.
She needed power.
In this world, without power, one was nothing.
And now, power was right in front of her.
Within reach.
As long as she reached out and touched that wandering soul, she could obtain everything it once possessed—memories, knowledge, skills, or some rare talent.
These souls, these souls she had devoured, they were indeed already her 'resources.'
"Let me disappear..."
A heartbreaking longing began to color the soldier's voice.
"Please..."
In those non-existent eyes, Pavela saw something she recognized.
Weariness.
Weariness of endless pain.
Pavela raised her hand.
"If I touch you," she said, "you will completely dissipate. There will be no more cold, no more consciousness, nothing left at all."
"Are you sure?"
Lev's figure trembled.
"...Yes."
That ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) faint consciousness came through, with a quiver of gratitude.
"Thank you... thank you..."
Pavela did not respond further.
She just quietly looked at the soul of the soldier before her, this young man.
Suddenly, she actually... felt some kind of empathy.
A somewhat absurd empathy.
She was the devourer.
She was one of the primary culprits who had imprisoned this soul.
And now, she actually felt empathy for it?
But...
Actually, it wasn't that absurd.
After all, she was also a wandering spirit.
An outsider who had fallen here from another world.
A ghost in this world with no identity, no past, whose very 'existence' was full of questions.
What difference was there between her and this soul?
It died in the ruins of Kaldburg, while she died in some corner of another world.
It was trapped in this space, while she was trapped in this body that didn't belong to her.
It begged for release, while she...
What was she pursuing?
"...How ironic."
"Lev."
Pavela said.
"I will remember your name."
This was the only thing she could give.
A memory.
A memory proving he had existed.
Then, she reached out and touched the blurred light.
