Abel left Ed alone in the room, taking the hard cover book with him as he did.
Ed could only sit in utter silence of the act that had just unfolded before him. What was so special about the book that Abel was hiding it from him and what did he mean hierarchies existing in the legion.
His eyes darted across the room and fell upon the remaining portion of he loaf of bread he had been eating before. He still felt hungry because he had eaten such a small portion before Abel persisted in engaging him in a talk. Now that he was finally free to eat the remaining to his feel, he had no appetite to.
The mere mention of Lorraine's name had not just broken his morale but his appetite as well.
Now he just wanted to scale through whatever Abel called it in order to ascend the ranks and hierarchy he had mentioned. That was the only way he might have Lorraine to recognize him again.
If Si Elle was a celestial demon like he had been said to, then that meant that he had powers more than normal foot demons who were conjured and created from sin and human souls, defeating him would require alot of efforts.
Who knew whether Lorraine was not under his possession as well? He possessed the powers and Lorraine was one heck of a pretty woman, endowed in the right places, with pecky boobs and a full ass, what man wouldn't want her? What man wouldn't want to possess all her endowments to themselves?
While the scene of Lorraine denying him ruminated over his mind, his eyes crossed contact with the little book Abel had dropped on the bed for him.
A thought told him to pick it up as he recalled him saying that the first task would begin in a few hours. Even if he was still skeptical of Abel's reasons for not wanting him to see the bigger book he had walked out with, he still had to do himself the favour of acquainting himself with information contained there in the the smaller one.
Even if Abel kept the secrets locked away in the bigger book, he still had this one. And if this was his only key to reaching Lorraine again, he'd read every damn word.
Opening the book, he felt a demonic energy around him. This surprised him because he had already stayed four days here. Shouldn't sensing demonic energies be alien to him now?
He stood up and made the sign of the cross like he had learnt in the monastery, making a cross sign with his fingers first touching his forehead, his chest and then followed by his left and right shoulders.
A finger dipped into his pocket to pull out his rosary before he had recalled that he gave it out to the children of his neighborhood during his quest to discover what Lorraine had been up to before.
He felt something leave him but couldn't tell what and since he couldn't find his rosary, he sat down back on the bed and picked up the book that had been in his hand before to begin reading again.
Unbeknownst to him, when he had stood up, a leach had fallen off his body and found it impossible to climb up again due to the restrictions it encountered.
It appeared as if a barricade had been made against it coming closer to Ed and when it got tired of trying, it turned back towards the door and began to crawl away.
Ed opened to the first pages of the book and it was written the hierarchy of demons..
He flipped it.
How weird was it that such a thing occured here as well. Shouldn't the fact that they were al sinners annul any hierarchies amongst them?
Why did it occur in the world and here where it was only demons and demon possessed humans stayed? It felt quite odd to him that one would have to ascend ranks here as well.
The second page of the book was still talking about the hierarchies and he was about to flip it to the next page again but hesitated when he read a line off the last sentence.
"For humans who have no demon affiliations, the more souls one brings, the more powerful he becomes and ascends the ranks faster; for each soul damns him further, reshaping his essence into what Hell can claim as its own"
The line was vague and ominous that it struck Ed's attention with no difficulties.
He struggled to comprehend what it really meant. Souls? Bringing them to the legion? Ascending the ranks?
He recalled Father Gaufridi. But now supposed to omit the Reverend Father he always ascribed before the start of his name. He truly didn't deserve that.
Was this what he had done to ascend the ranks in the demon world as well?
Myriads of thoughts juggled in his mind but his attention was called back when he heard the sounding of a bell.
He could tell what it meant. Afterall he was smart enough to.
Like Abel had said would begin in a few hours, Ed knew that it was time for the quest to begin.
His gaze shifted from the book in his hand and down to the loaf of bread on the bed.
It wouldn't hurt if he were to sit down back and eat a little more would it? Afterall no one would notice his absence.
Who even noticed his presence if not that he had let himself out? It wasn't as if it was compulsory for him to participate in whatever quest it was anyway. He just wanted to.
If he wanted as well, he could sneak out without anyone noticing, just the way he had slipped in.
Reaching for the bread, he was startled and had to pause when the door creaked open with a tall man standing before him.
"It's time for your first quest Ed, the men are ready for you"
Ed stared at the man and could identify that it was the man from the previous day who had performed the ritual.
He stood up and began walking up the door, it wasn't as if it would hurt. He might not have read enough to acquaint himself with the rules of this place, but with his grit and strength, he assured himself that he would be able to scale through.
While he walked out of the bed he was on, the Baron's eyes were fixated on him, which made him notice the opened book on the Ed which Ed had been reading.
He walked into the room and closed it in his attempt to read it's title.
"Who gave you this?" He questioned Ed.
There was an urgency with the tone of his voice which Ed couldn't deny.
He couldn't fathom why he was asking him such a question either. Was Abel going to be in some sort of trouble for giving the book to him? Or was the book a ban Ed artifact that students weren't allowed to read?
"I picked it up from the shelf over there" Ed slowly answered while staring and pointing at the shelf by the side of the room.
The Baron couldn't speak as there was nothing he could say but he had confirmed his doubts about why Abel had reached out for the boy, and he was more concerned with grooming the boy himself than allowing another to.