The First Task

"Huh?"

Seraphina stared at the little creature in confusion. Once again, a frown was decorating her face as she waited for the fluffball to explain exactly what it meant by its words.

"Isn't your first task pretty obvious? You can't stay here unless you get married to the Shadow Lords, and there's an entire month left before your wedding day. Your current focus should be on surviving this period of one month and marrying those four men. What's the point of working hard on completing the tasks to change this place when your future isn't even secure yet?"

Listening to the little creature's words, Seraphina was able to understand where it was coming from. However, she couldn't help but wonder why she wouldn't be able to last for this one-month period. "I don't think we have to worry about that. Though the current state of this place is kind of intimidating, it's not going to make me flee from here. I think I can survive just fine."

Despite her determined tone, the little creature wasn't that much impressed with her. "You never know what's coming at you. Don't forget that you aren't the first one to come here. If the people before you ran away from here, then it was surely because of some reason. After all, they were just as desperate to finish this mission as you are."

The little creature's words halted Seraphina's thoughts and she found herself wondering - "What could be so scary about this place?"

"We will surely find out with time. That's why, your first priority should be surviving till the second wedding ceremony. And most importantly, don't forget that surviving this one-month period isn't all you need to complete the second wedding ceremony. You will also need all four of the Shadow Lords' agreement for the second ceremony. Make sure that they don't change their mind by that time." The little creature reminded as it jumped down on the mattress once again before relaxing against the pillow.

Seraphina turned to face the fluffball as she asked, "Why do I have to marry all four of them? Can't I marry just one of them?" She had been wondering about this certain matter ever since she found out that she was going to marry not one but four men.

"It's a condition from the four of them. As for the reason, only they can tell you. No one at the council knows why they put forward such a condition." The little creature answered.

Silence took over the room as the two of them got lost in their own thoughts. Seraphina was busy pondering about things she had already learned and things that she wanted to find about.

"There's one more question I want to ask." She requested the fluffball and watched as it opened its big doe-like eyes and spoke, "Go ahead."

"Why is the Afterlife Council trying to revive this place?" Seraphina asked without wasting any time. She wanted to know exactly how desperate the Afterlife Council was to revive the Shadow City as this knowledge could be beneficial to her.

"Because of the Shadow Lords."

"Huh?"

The little creature let out a small sigh like sound before it explained. "The four Shadow Lords are immensely powerful, to the point that they are the only beings in this world who scares the Afterlife Council. I don't know about the details, but the Afterlife Council is the one that provides the people of Shadow City with food, clothes, water, and other living necessities. This place is destroyed to the point that even the water here is unusable. You might already know how expensive the world is becoming. The Afterlife Council has to spend millions every week to provide the people here with basic necessities. But no matter how much they dislike it, they can't stop because they are terrified of the Shadow Lords. That's why they have been trying their best to find a way to revive this place and get rid of their duty to keep providing for the people here."

This was quite a lot of information for Seraphina. She wasn't sure what answer she was expecting when she asked that question, but it sure had nothing to do with the fact that the Afterlife Council was afraid of her future husbands.

She was about to ask one more question when she noticed that her bed-partner had already fallen asleep and was even letting out little snores that almost made her chuckle. Satisfied with the information that she had gathered so far, she too decided to sleep.

-

The morning arrived couple of hours later and when Seraphina woke up, there was no sign of the little creature in her room. Compared to the night before, the outside world was a little brighter, but it still looked like a gloomy day filled with dark clouds as if a heavy rainstorm was about to begin.

As she climbed out of the bed, she heard knocking on the door. "Come in." She told the person before she quickly ran her fingers through her hair to make sure that she was presentable enough.

Mortimer entered the room while carrying a wooden trunk that seemed quite heavy. "My Lady, the Afterlife Council has sent your clothes and other items of daily necessities. You can have a look and let me know if there's anything else you want."

"Thank you so much, Mortimer. " Seraphina was so grateful to finally have clothes to change into. She was tired of the heavy gown she had been wearing for the entire night. "Can you tell me where the bathrooms are? I need to take a bath."

"There's a bath pool on the first floor at the very end on the left. You can head there to take a bath." Mortimer informed her before he left the room.

Seraphina wasted no time as she quickly grabbed a towel and a bathrobe from the trunk before she headed toward the location of the pool. What she didn't expect was to come face-to-face to face with one of the Shadow Lords when she arrived there.

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A/N: Click on this paragraph comment to see System 2024's image. Also, you all are welcome to suggest cute names for our cute system.

Special thank you to OneMore_Chapter22 for the Golden Tickets and the Power Stones!