"Why are you three standing there? Come inside." An old-sounding voice came from straight ahead, making everyone look for the source of the voice.
Not too far from them, there existed an apple tree near the entrance of the small town. Under the tree, there stood an old man, having a small bag in his hands in which he kept placing the apples he plucked from the tree
"Is it just me, or was there no tree there before?" Azekiel frowned.
The moment he had arrived here, he had observed the entire surrounding. Even though he didn't observe with great care, he was sure that the tree wasn't there before. Let alone the tree; there wasn't any man there before either.
He couldn't help but wonder if the tree was actually there and was overlooked by him in his excitement of getting to the town.
"I don't recall the tree either, but I can't say for sure."
"I also can't say for sure."
Both Raphael and Lia also appeared to be on the same boat. None of them recalled seeing the tree there, but they also couldn't say for sure if it was there before or wasn't.
"Why are you three looking at me like that? Come inside the town. It's not often we get guests." A smile graced the lips of the white-haired man. It was evident that he could see the three of them.
The old man filled his bag with the apples to the brim before walking to the entrance of the town, telling everyone to follow him.
The man was really weird. It was as if he had appeared out of nowhere, and he could see all of them. Moreover, something was really strange about their first meeting. The plucking of apples... For some reason, Azekiel felt as if it was done for Raphael, reminding him about his past.
Azekiel scratched the back of his head, hesitating in entering the town. Unfortunately, there was no other real choice at the moment. He firmly held the two books in his hands before taking a step toward the strange town.
****
Azekiel followed the old man and entered the town. As soon as he took his first step inside the town, a system screen appeared before him.
[Warning: You have entered the Domain of Soul Demon]
[A Hidden Task has been received. If you accept the task, you can't leave the Town before finishing the task. Do you accept the Task?]
[Yes] [No]
"A Hidden Task? The domain of the Soul Demon?"
Azekiel stopped in his tracks, staring at the screen before him.
"At least tell me what task I've received before asking me to accept or deny it?"
The screen remained constant. No extra context appeared before him.
[Time before Task Expires: 1:59]
[1:58]
Instead of the quest description appearing, a timer appeared before Azekiel regarding the expiration of the task. He received only two minutes to decide if he was going to accept the task or not.
[1:45]
There wasn't much time to even think about it. However, Azekiel also couldn't accept a quest without knowing what was in it. If it was a time-consuming quest, it was going to be troublesome since time was the last thing he could afford at the moment.
If he could at least see the quest, he could decide how long it might take him to finish the quest, but a blind quest was too risky at this time. He couldn't accept it.
He raised his hand to tap on no.
"You three are still here?" A whisper came from behind, stunning Azekiel. To his surprise, he accidentally tapped the wrong section on the screen.
[Quest Accepted]
[Tap to see the description]
Azekiel hadn't expected anyone to be behind him. There was no way someone could sneak so close without them finding it, which was why he got so shocked that he accidentally tapped yes, accepting the quest that he had no idea about.
Unfortunately, that wasn't what he was more concerned about as he stepped ahead before turning around, noticing the person who had whispered.
"How did he come here?"
Even Raphael was stunned. He was the one who was more alert, yet he hadn't seen that person appear behind him. One moment, the white-haired man was walking in the distance, and the next moment he was behind them, just inches away from Azekiel.
This person... Raphael realized that this place was more dangerous than they thought. Especially this mysterious man who could appear out of nowhere. This man clearly wasn't an ordinary person!
"Why are you three looking so wary? It's like you've seen a ghost." The old man smiled innocently as if he had no idea what made them worry. "Oh, I see. You three must be hungry. I didn't even ask you if you'd like to eat anything."
The man tapped the back of his head as if he had just realized his mistake. He brought an apple out of his bag and tossed it at Lia, who caught it subconsciously, only to get stunned.
"I can hold it? How is that possible?" She couldn't understand how she was able to hold the apple. She was in her spiritual form. It shouldn't have been possible for her to touch anything.
Ignoring the surprise of Lia, the old man did the same for Raphael, tossing an apple to him. However, Raphael didn't catch it. Instead, he stepped aside, letting the apple fly past him.
"You know it's not good manners to waste food." The old man became somewhat serious as his smile disappeared. "Don't worry. No one will curse you for taking an apple this time."
"How do you know about it?" Raphael clenched his fist. This man not only was suspicious, but he also seemed to know more than he should, especially about their past.
Moreover, another strange thing about the apples was the fact that they could touch them, which shouldn't have been possible.
"Know what?" The smile once again returned to the man's face. "Here, don't drop this one."
The man tossed another apple at Raphael. This time Raphael didn't let it fall. He caught the apple, noticing that Lia was still fine despite holding the apple. So there was no risk in holding it, at least. As for eating, that was a different matter altogether.
"Answer me. How do you know about me?!" he asked again.
"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about." The man continued acting ignorantly before bringing out another apple from his back which he tossed at Azekiel. "Eat up. It's not good to stay hungry."
