A Lazy Reaper

Inside a large office, two people sat facing each other. The office looked completely normal, like any corporate office, if you ignore the souls coming in and out of it.

"So, do you have any excuses, Styx?" One of the two said. She had long black hair and wore a black corporate outfit; her eyes are two slits with nothing inside, and her skin was deathly pale.

"I... I do not know what you're talking about, boss." The girl named Styx answered hesitantly, unable to face the other woman.

Styx is a beautiful woman with bright red hair; she has Drill Ojou-sama style hair and lilac-colored eyes. She is dressed in a black dress with Victorian-era features, and a black hood on her head.

The woman in the suit sighs. "Listen, Styx, you're one of the most senior employees, and I'm grateful for that. But I've been getting a lot of complaints about you lately."

"What?! This is slander, boss!" Styx said, standing up abruptly and slamming his hands on the table in displeasure.

The woman in the suit shoots her a death glare. Styx turns her face away again in fear and sits down politely.

"I'm sorry for this..." She said with her head down.

"It's okay, I forgive you. But just this once." The woman in the suit replied, and then loosened her serious expression. "Styx, I've been following you on your duties for a while, and all complaints are well founded. During the last few millennia, you rarely manage to complete your annual quota. And when I went to investigate why, guess what I found..."

Styx swallowed hard. "W-What did you discover?"

"That you were being lazy." The woman replied, and then with a snap of her fingers, several images appeared on the air as recordings, showing Styx being lazy.

In one of the recordings, she was lying on a cloud while playing Zelda on a Nintendo Switch, and in the background, the apocalypse happening, and she just left without collecting the souls that were left wandering under the dead planet.

In another recording, she was betting on a random cockfight in an alley while because of her, the dead came back to earth and started a war with the living.

That were just two memories of several others.

Styx was sweating profusely in his chair with a morbid expression. She never thought she would get caught, as she had covered her tracks well.

"You thought I would never found out about this, did you?" The woman said, making Styx shiver.

Snapping her fingers again, the images fade, and she stares at Styx with a deadly serious look. "So what am I supposed to do about your behavior? Do you have any suggestions? Hm?" She asked, but it was obviously not a question for Styx to answer, so she remained silent.

Styx curled up like a puppy. All her aura and refined manners did not exist in front of the woman in the suit.

"I already have a suitable punishment for you." She cleared her throat, and said, "For the next thousand years, to atone for the thousand years of laziness, you will hunt down illegally reincarnated people, and the lesser gods that are behind it."

"Eh? What? Are they doing it again? Why?" Styx asked intrigued. It wasn't the first time this had happened, she thought it was over, but apparently not.

The woman in the suit shrugs. "I also don't know why they continue to do this, since the punishment for doing this is an eternity on the Sunless Land. Perhaps something or someone is urging them to do this."

"Ara? Do you have someone in mind?" Styx asked innocently. The woman in the suit snorts and smiles at the sight of Styx's attempt.

"I have a few beings in mind, but that doesn't matter, because now it's your job to find out." The woman said with a sadic smile, making Styx pout.

"Isn't that Thanato's job, by the way?" Styx said, changing the subject.

"Yes, it was. He came to ask me for a vacation, and as usual, I would refuse his request. But then I thought it would be a proper punishment for you, and for that, I gave him a millennium vacation, and you're going to take his place." The woman replied.

Styx paused for a moment, and imagined Thanatos in his swim trunks on the beach, having a drink while enjoying the sun.

'Tch! Curse you!' She thought enviously.

"Let's not waste any more time here. I've already given you your punishment, and it's time to go. Remember, just because your main objective is to hunt down illegal reincarnations, you shouldn't let go of your responsibility to collect souls. I'll be watching, and if you relax, I'll fire you on the spot." The woman said menacingly.

"W-Wait! What about my-!" Suddenly, a black portal appeared just below Styx and sucked her in.

Now in the empty room, the woman in the suit sighs heavily. "I really hope you do your job well, Styx. I don't want to have to fire a longtime friend." She muttered with a sad expression.