So automatically, becoming an Ascender puts you in the rank of the Baseborn Echelon…

Elmer swallowed a lump of saliva. He could also see how the Echelon rankings mixed in with the type of jobs taken.

Baseborn Echelon took on the low grade jobs, Lower Echelon took on the high grade jobs, and Upper Echelon took on the special grade jobs.

He had a wonder on what sort of people were ranked in the Upper Echelon, and what possible pinnacle a person would have to attain for them to get to such a rank.

Where would those priests rank…?

“The Baseborn Echelon is the most saturated of the Ascender Echelons, as the Lower Echelon and the Upper Echelon combined are only made up of ten people, consisting of Echelon six to ten as the Lower Echelon, and one to five as the upper.”

Just ten…? Elmer’s eyebrows raised. “Why?” he blurted out his thoughts.

Ms. Edna shook her head. “That is an information only the Church knows. But best you believe that everything the Church does is to prevent corruption and madness from soiling this world. The decisions made by the Synod is what keeps us in control.”

Elmer doubted that. The Churches were surely just as evil as those questionable beings they called Gods.

He had also now grown to doubt the nature of the existence of those divine beings after he’d read Col Fitzroy’s journal.

Gods had not existed in 507, so he felt there was something iffy about them, but the questions he had on that were obviously not things Ms. Edna could give him answers to, so he chose to focus on the ones within her capabilities.

“And the corrupted ones? What are they?” Elmer asked, bringing Ms. Edna back to where she had stopped her answers to his initial question.

“They are those who have been termed insane by the Synod of Churches,” Ms. Edna replied. “And they make up most of the jobs taken by the Lower Echelon.”

“So you’ve encountered a corrupted one before, Ms. Edna?” Elmer recalled something Ms. Edna had told him about herself, and he put out those words without hesitation.

“Me?”

“Yes. I remember you mentioned being an Echelon 10 once.”

“Ah, I did say that, didn’t I?” She heaved out a sigh. “I have not,” Ms. Edna said and Elmer blinked. “I am not one for the field.”

Elmer’s expression slacked. “What does that mean?”

“It means that I do not take on jobs, Mr. Elmer. I prefer my days here as merely a clerk handing out those jobs.”

Elmer knew he could not guess her reason for becoming an Ascender was for the money the bounty hunting jobs provided, as he believed that not everyone became Ascenders for such. Some may have just taken the elixirs because they were enticed by the prospect of the supernatural.

But still, unless she had been part of the bureau long before she had become an Ascender, then she must have probably walked into this building with the same reason he had done—to become a bounty hunter. Or had she come directly to apply for a clerk position? Was the pay of a clerk job greater than that of the hunting jobs?

There were so many deductions that could come from it, so Elmer could not put his finger on a specific one. But it was either that, or she had joined this bureau in a completely different way.

“Is the pay of the clerk position better than that of the hunting jobs?” Elmer decided to ask.

Ms. Edna tilted her head briefly before puffing out a chuckle. “Oh no, Mr. Elmer. How could it ever,” she said. “Money’s not the reason why I’ve chosen not to go into the field, it’s safety. I don’t want to die.”

Elmer’s heart gave forth a harder throb for a moment as though a truncheon had been swung down on it. She had said those words almost so lightheartedly, but it no doubt still bore the grimness the word ‘death’ was bestowed with.

No one wanted to die—he included. But the field was his calling, it was his only option. He could not allow his mind to compare his situation to Ms. Edna’s who had maybe not gone through the same thing he’d done five years ago. This was the only way to help his sister, and it was either he did that or he died trying—the latter greatly unacceptable.

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“Your questions were more than two, Mr. Elmer,” Ms. Edna brought him back to her with the mellow tone she had for a voice. “I’ve spent a bit over thirty minutes here. I’ll be taking no more.” She smiled softly.

Elmer already intended to let her be, as his second question had already been lumped in with his first, but she was not done.

“The special grade jobs,” Elmer called to her as she picked up her Gladstone bag and placed it on her lap. “You said nothing about them.”

Ms. Edna took her eyes to him for a moment before taking them away to pick up her glasses and dip them into the bag. “That’s because I can’t.” Elmer’s head shook to the side slightly. “Ascenders of the Upper Echelon are all leaders or respectable people of the Church. The kind of jobs they take on are not the type which pass through the bureau. I only ever give out high or low grade jobs here.”

Leaders of the Church…? Elmer frowned softly. He had noticed it right from the first time he’d seen Ms. Edna that she seemed a lot different from what he had termed Ascenders to be like due to his experience five years ago. But now he might be understanding why.

If he assumed that all the Churches shared the same order of ranking for Ascenders, then as the leaders of the Church of Time made up the Upper Echelon of the Time Pathway he could surmise the same for the Church of Souls, causing him to reach a notion that those priests who had attacked him and Mabel on that night were most likely ranked in the Upper Echelon of the Soul Pathway.

Rage suddenly gurgled from the depths of his body. How dare the leaders of a Church do that to me and Mabel…? I’m going to ruin them all…

“Mr. Elmer.” The call was muffled to his ears but it did good to pull him out from the waters of the rage he was sinking into before he fully drowned in them. With a sharp inhale he caught sight of Ms. Edna already on her feet. “Could you please sign now.” Ms. Edna pointed to the plain of the three doors behind her after Elmer nodded apologetically. “I’ll go in there to get you the forty percent of the fee that was deposited for the job. You should use it to purchase whatever you’re going to need.”

Whatever he’d need? He knew nothing about exorcism, what would he know to purchase.

“Don’t worry. I’ll give you the address to one of my colleagues. He’ll sell you the exorcism materials you’ll need.” It was almost like Ms. Edna had heard his thoughts, but it had just been his expression that had given it away.

Elmer nodded once again, and Ms. Edna wandered into the plain of the three doors behind the desk.

Elmer gazed at the Enochian symbols carved onto the two doors to the right. If he had focused on learning the Enochian language then he would have been able to decipher what exactly those symbols on the doors meant. But right now he still lacked enough knowledge on that. When he did, he would try again.

He leaned closer to the desk and put his eyes on the agreement paper.

Monday, October 23rd, 1543

…

Elmer’s breath hitched for a moment as he took note of the date at the head of the paper just beneath the Glowing Eye bureau’s symbol, and he rubbed a palm over his chest. He had only five days left before the effects of the potion faded away.

Aside from the fear of the casualties that would result from the Losts attacking him, he was more bothered about what his landlord would do if he hadn’t joined the Pathway of Time by then. The man would probably report him, and that would soil his ability to remain in this city.

If that happened, he could simply try hiding somewhere in the city, but he doubted he would ever be able to escape an Ascender from the Lower Echelon hunting him once he’d been tagged as a corrupted one. The best thing was to find that Warlock’s Torch.

Lev’s job must not go over tonight.

Elmer proceeded to read the written words on the paper.

I, Levi Harold, have of my own will put up a job posting at the Glowing Eye bureau requesting the services of a bounty hunter. I confirm that all the bureau did was link me to a bounty hunter willing to take on the job, and should in no way be accounted for any mishap that may or may not occur during or after the job. I have attested to keep true to the agreement, and also pay an initial forty percent deposit of the full 1000 mints fee required for the job.

My address, should the bounty hunter who takes on the job seek me, is Room 2, Apartment No. 12, B-2 street, North-East borough.

Signed: Levi Harold

Signed:

A thousand mints…?! Elmer’s intelligence lowered briefly at the sight of that absurd amount. Can Lev truly afford that by working as a pawnbroker…?

Elmer was still wobbling in his thoughts when the sound of a door shutting ahead of him echoed into his ears.

He quickly put his pen onto the paper and signed, before clearing his throat as he straightened himself and raised his eyes to Ms. Edna who was now before him.

“Alright.” She took the paper and handed him some notes with the number fifty printed to the top edge of their left, bound together by a cash strap in return. “That’s four hundred mints. You are to receive the remaining six from your employer once the job is completed.” She took the pen Elmer had dropped on the desk and scribbled an address on a small piece of paper. “Go here. It’s the address of my colleague.”

Elmer dipped the money into his bag, his hands feeling the revolver sprawled inside it for a second. He had somehow found himself grown accustomed to taking that mystic artifact wherever he went.

“Thank you.” He bowed at the lithe woman after he took the paper she had offered him and picked up his license, as well putting them both inside his bag. Then he turned around to leave.

“Mr. Elmer,” Ms. Edna called out to him and he shifted to his side to glimpse her face with a smile. “Do good to stay safe, will you?”