The Butler, Slacking Off is Chapter 191 of the Kuroshitsuji manga.
Summary[]
Ronald finally catches Layla. He tells her that he was observing everything because the number of souls was out of balance which made him suspect that Bizarre Dolls were involved—and he was correct. Aghast, Layla stares at Ronald's chartreuse eyes and asks him if he is one of the Grim Reapers Undertaker told her about. Ronald does not reply; he only declares her a nuisance for upsetting their schedules. He adds that he believed Ada may be "the one" but, with the help of Baldroy, he discovered that it was actually Layla for whom he was looking, the Bizarre Doll.
Not even Grim Reapers can see souls, but ever since the "brass" started to oversee this world, everything alive had a soul. There had not been any exceptions until the Bizarre Dolls came along. Ronald notes that Layla is very different from the Bizarre Dolls he encountered on the Campania; this fast improvement is disconcerning and, thus, the "brass" cannot overlook their existence although Grim Reapers are not obliged to retrieve Bizarre Dolls due to their lack of souls. Because of them, Grim Reapers are subjected to overtime; to prevent this, Ronald will now take her to the Dispatch's headquarters. Before he can though, Layla manages to free herself from his grip—or, rather, Al frees herself from Ronald. She was asleep within Layla and had initially dismissed Layla's cries for help as she believed she was only calling her for trivial matters. Now that Al has realized the urgency of the situation, she has awakened. Al retrieves a pair of scissors from under her dress and breaks the blades apart, ready to do to Ronald what she did to "that old woman."
Ronald is perplexed and annoyed by the situation. He has a group date with the Planning Division after work and, thus, has to wrap up this matter quickly so that he will not have to work overtime. Ronald summons his Death Scythe. Al then charges at him with her scissors—an attack Ronald deems futile as he possesses a Death Scythe and can easily pulverise her with it. To his surprise, the scissor blade jams his Scythe though. After all, a Death Scythe can cut everything except for a different Death Scythe and solely Grim Reapers can wield Scythes. With his Death Scythe now damaged, Ronald attempts to flee but Al is faster and would have injured him if William had not thrown her back with his Scythe. William lectures Ronald for treating his duty as a side job and blundering, and now, he will have to work overtime again because of him.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
- Ronald Knox
- Layla
- Baldroy (flashback only)
- Al
- William T. Spears