Well, yeah, but we do get a fair amount in exchange. I mean, immunity to mana-sickness alone is incredibly useful for someone like us. And we'd also get a magical tutor, too. One who will travel with us. Those are pretty freaking good perks, IMO.
They are. They are also things that a bright but extremely ignorant young mage would
very predictably want, so it is unsurprising that 'Delight' is emphasizing those possibilities if she wants to get a ride around in our skull for the next fifty years.
Okay, cutting this sh*t off immediately. No. This is not a valid argument, in any way, shape, or form. Evil is such a relative and unclear concept that it's practically useless for discussions like this, and use will almost inevitably lead to a morality argument. That is a Bad Idea.
Morality arguments: not even once.
Pls no. Evil is bad word. Pls no use.
All right, since others' use of the word 'evil' as shorthand is giving you panic attacks, let me try to explain the problem.
Souls are important, in any setting which has them. Control, be it partial or entire, over the mind or soul of another being is an extreme form of power that lends itself to very easy abuse. Beings that habitually deal in such power as their stock in trade are
at best highly suspect, for the same reason that 'people smugglers' are.
I mean, you can assure me that this group of mail-order brides, Filipino domestics, or whatever, know
exactly what they signed up for and freely agree to it. Maybe it's even true; there are people out there for whom a rational cost-benefit analysis might lead to them being willing to scrub toilets in a First World country at minimum wage for twelve hours a day in order to send the majority of their wages home to Mama or something, because terrible as that sounds it might be objectively better for their family or something. But the overall history of human trafficking and human-trafficking-shaped activities is
incredibly ugly, and this is a relevant fact we should bear in mind before deciding whether or not to trust a person who is an avowed trader in international grey-market laborers or some such.
Likewise, the known history of the trade in souls and possessions, throughout history, is
rife with examples of exploitation.
Even viewed in reasonably dispassionate terms, it's a very shady business. One with a long, LONG history of abuse involving immortal beings highly skilled in manipulation, maneuvering mortals into causing themselves terrible, potentially irreparable harm. Some of these beings are actively sadistic; others are merely uncaring.
The most favorable plausible interpretation of 'Delight's' actions is that her past business involved signing very long-term indentured servitude contracts in exchange for favors. Realistically, these favors are almost certainly MUCH less subjective effort for her to grant than the labor she extracts in return is for the souls thus 'leased' into indentured servitude.
She may have declared that she is out of this business. But she was in it for a long time, and she quit because of practical considerations, not because of ethical qualms.
Doubting the honesty, integrity, and good faith of such a being in their dealings with a mortal who has obvious vulnerabilities* is very much a case of simple prudence and common sense.
Use of the term 'evil' as a descriptor that might
hypothetically apply to 'Delight' is mostly shorthand for the above observations.
___________________________
*(in Melia's case, youth and ignorance, and potentially desire for power)
Maybe don't do that this time.
