The 11th Division's administrative work wasn't particularly demanding. After all, it was a Division dedicated to combat.
Their main duty was, of course, to fight.
The so-called administrative work mostly involved keeping track of the Shinigami killed or injured in battle. The wounded had to be sent to recover and given leave, while the dead were owed compensation. More often than not, though, there was no one to pay it to.
They had no family or friends, and to avoid having ties that might hold them back, they hadn't married. They were all lifelong bachelors.
Besides that, administrative work included assigning combat missions and arranging supplies, among other things.
There wasn't much to it, just a collection of chores.
But even chores like these were a huge nuisance to the 11th Division's bunch of brawlers.
Gosu was the lieutenant and had once helped Kuruyashiki Kenpachi handle plenty of this sort of work. But that didn't mean he was good at it. He was merely stronger and more thoughtful than most of the members, and he wasn't a full-time clerk by profession.
Kuruyashiki Kenpachi might have seemed careless, but when it came to handling Division affairs, he really did take care of them.
Azashiro Kenpachi was different.
He didn't handle any of this at all.
Unless a Menos Grande appeared, in which case he would take the initiative and go fight it, most of the time he hardly seemed like a Division captain.
Gosu had been under immense pressure lately.
Fortunately, now that Natsuki was here, the pressure on him had eased considerably.
But Natsuki didn't stay around to help Gosu with administrative work all the time. At the end of the day, he was only an aide. Gosu himself was still the one actually handling these matters. After easing the man's burden a little,
Natsuki left the captain's office and devoted his time to training.
Besides training, he also made use of the privileges his position afforded him to assign himself some of the more dangerous missions.
Hollows didn't invade the Soul Society every day.
But they appeared often enough.
After all, this was a world where souls lived, and it was also home to Shinigami, whose souls contained exceptionally dense Reishi. Most Hollows were driven by instinct and remained in a state of constant hunger. To sate themselves, they craved devouring their own kind and other souls. So, apart from fighting in Hueco Mundo, they had only two places to go: the Human World and the Soul Society.
The Human World was lacking in Reishi, so it wasn't nearly as tempting to Hollows as the Soul Society.
The Soul Society bore the brunt of Hueco Mundo's invasions.
Not only did Menos Grande cross over here from time to time, but Hollows with Reiatsu close to that of a Menos Grande appeared regularly as well.
These Hollows might not be as large as Menos Grande.
But in terms of danger, they were actually more threatening than Gillian.
For one thing, their Reiatsu was close to that of a Gillian, but since they hadn't evolved, they didn't have the massive bodies that made Gillian so cumbersome. Gillian were huge, but clumsy. Compared to ordinary Hollows, their only real advantage was the ability to use Cero.
These ordinary Hollows, on the other hand, couldn't use Cero. But Hollows often developed strange abilities as they came into being, and although Cero was powerful, it wasn't necessarily the most dangerous ability a Hollow could have.
That was why Shinigami often let their guard down when facing Hollows like these, assuming that since they weren't Menos Grande, they were no serious threat—and ended up paying for it.
At best, they were badly injured. At worst, they died.
The Soul Society eventually recognized the problem. Centered around Seireitei, they installed many devices throughout the Soul Society to monitor Reiatsu Waves.
Once a Garganta was detected and a Hollow's presence revealed,
these devices could monitor the Reiatsu Waves of Hollows entering the Soul Society and assess their threat levels. With those rankings in place, the 11th Division could send out Shinigami suited to the danger when it received a dispatch order.
Natsuki assigned the dangerous missions to himself only because he was just one step away from achieving Shikai with his Zanpakuto. He needed to defeat more powerful Hollows and devour their spiritual power to strengthen himself.
There was certainly some risk involved.
But once he'd realized the true nature of this world, Natsuki had never intended to run away or live in fear. He wanted to fight and grow stronger.
But in Gosu's eyes, and those of the other Shinigami in the 11th Division,
Natsuki was a Third Seat who put the safety of his fellow members first, taking the lead and shouldering the greatest risks himself.
His actions couldn't help but earn the admiration of many of the members.
Before this, Natsuki had been a Seated Officer, but since he didn't like drinking, he hadn't really fit in. It wasn't until he defeated Akagi Ryosuke and became the Third Seat that his reputation gradually spread throughout the 11th Division and he became known to many of its members. Now, they had gained a new appreciation for him.
Natsuki had no idea that others were misreading his actions. On the outskirts of Rukongai, in the wilderness, he cut down a Hollow with his sword, completing his mission.
Then he crossed Rukongai, heading back to Seireitei.
Rukongai was vast. The place where he'd carried out his mission was in one of its most remote areas, at the border between South Districts 74 and 75. The souls who lived there were a little better off than those in the last two or three districts, but not by much.
There was still a shortage of water, and every so often the souls living there fought over the scarce supply.
As a result, the people there had a rough, aggressive streak.
If Natsuki hadn't first appeared in Hueco Mundo when he arrived in this world, he might have wound up in a district like this in the Soul Society. Unable to endure the hardships of life, he might have applied to the Shino Academy, passed the entrance exam by sheer luck, spent six years studying there, and become a Shinigami. Then he might have followed the usual path, spending many years before barely managing to become a Seated Officer.
But Natsuki had been lucky.
Though he had indeed appeared in Hueco Mundo, finding the Zanpakuto of a dead Shinigami and meeting Watanabe Yuji had changed his fate from the very start. A life like the one described above could no longer happen to him.
Now, he was not only a Shinigami, but already the Third Seat.
In a xianxia novel, he'd be at the peak of the half-step lieutenant level, with his cultivation perfected to the very limit.
This time, it was supposed to be nothing more than an ordinary trip back.
But as he passed through Rukongai, Natsuki's extraordinarily keen Spiritual Perception picked up a familiar Reiatsu.
He stopped without thinking and followed the Reiatsu.
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