"His expression was normal. He showed no desire to attack the living, and when he appeared, he did not cause the nearby people to unconsciously fall into panic. In fact, only a Ring Arcanist like me could see him. He was not an evil spirit, merely a soul unwilling to depart."
Shade silently summarized this in his heart, while outwardly maintaining a blank expression as he looked at the old woman behind the church's small lectern, reminiscing about her past life.
There were many reasons why a soul might not depart after the death of its body. In this world where the supernatural and occultism existed, relics, the power of gods, the power of strange evil things, an unfortunate place of death, a fortunate date of birth and time of death, an unusual manner of death, the soul's own characteristics, and countless other reasons could all cause such a phenomenon.
Attacks on ordinary people by evil spirits were actually the most common supernatural incidents handled by the Orthodox Church in Steam City, and also among the most dangerous incidents for ordinary people.
The reason was simple. Souls in this world possessed the trait of being "completely immune to damage from physical attacks." In other words, once attacked by an evil spirit, ordinary people could basically only flee for their lives unless they were devout Believers wearing holy emblems. Otherwise, even strapping Steam Bombs all over their bodies would be useless.
The one beside Shade was not an evil spirit, merely a soul lingering in the World of the Living. Otherwise, it would have long since been destroyed by the church's power. As for why it had appeared, Shade did not know, nor did he wish to know. After all, it had not caused any harmful effects.
"This is probably Mr.