“You may come in.”

A voice came out of the speaker as the gate was pulled open. Driving into the courtyard, the car dropped Ed and Zara off before driving away.

That didn’t take as long as I expected. Looking around, Ed found himself in a courtyard much like the ones he had seen countless times earlier today.

Zara had taken a short nap in the car, bringing her closer to how she was before the fight. Looking around the courtyard, she wanted to go exploring, but decided to stay with Ed just in case the owner didn’t want people snooping around.

Following one of the guards, they approached the centre of the estate. The closer they got, the louder the sound of hammer striking metal became. Reaching a large door standing at four metres tall and just as wide, the guard came to a stop.

“Please wait here for a moment. Lord Ira is currently working on something.” The guard said, guiding them to a small waiting area with a bench.

Wait. Lord Ira? THE Lord Ira? The embodiment of wrath? What did Wilfred get me into? Nervous about suddenly coming face to face with another one of the Seven Deadly Sins, Ed began to sweat.

Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. I can’t just ask him to make me an instrument! He’ll kill me! Looking around the room, he searched for a way to slip out before the door opened. Crap. I can’t just leave. He’s practically a god for crying out loud. He should already know that I’m here. Crap. Crap. What should I do?

“Hey, are you feeling alright?” Zara asked worriedly, gently grabbing his sweaty hands.

“Lord Ira is on the other side of that door. I don’t think I can do this. What if he kills us?”

“It’ll be fine. We already met Invidia, didn’t we? I even tried to kill her, and we made it out just fine.” She tried to ease his worries.

“That was different. We weren’t asking her for anything, and the princess was there.” He sighed. “I’m just worried that we’ll piss him off somehow. I doubt that whoever Buddie sent down will be strong enough to save us from him.”

“I get that, but you really don’t have to worry. Wilfred wouldn’t have sent us to our death. Just the fact that we are here means that Lord Ira is willing to make this for you.”

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“Maybe you’re right.” He slumped back in his chair. I guess I’m just too on edge. Ignoring all of the pain, these past few weeks have been nothing short of magical when compared to what the company was doing to me. It almost felt like... like I was living a normal life.

Hell, it was more normal than everything that had happened in the past nineteen years of my life. And I finally got an explanation for everything that had happened in my life. The constant accidents, the aggression from people I didn’t even know... the reason my mother died.

“I guess I was just worried it would all end too soon.” Ed rubbed the back of her hand. “Thanks. I needed that.”

~

Before the car had set off to pick up Ed and Zara, a phone vibrated in a small pouch dangling around a rocky waist.

Out in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by monsters, Ira grumbled and reached for his phone. “Didn’t I say I don’t want to be disturbed?” His voice was thick and scratchy

A giant wolf pounced on him from behind and tried to bite into his shoulder, only to be sent flying back by Ira’s fist.

Taking out his phone, he found that he had a text from Wilfred. “Does El want me to make something? She could’ve just asked; she knows she doesn’t need to go through her butler. Maybe her girlfriend wants to commission something...”

“Is everything all right down there?” An angelically magnetic voice called out from above as a golden glow exploded, ripping a flock of monstrous birds to shreds.

With a flap of his wings, Superbia landed next to Ira and peered over his shoulder. “Ooh, what does Wilfred want?”

“I was getting to that.” Ira grumbled, flicking open the message and reading it. “Ugh, it’s not anything important. One of my avatars can handle it.” Quickly shooting across a message to Wilfred, he put his phone back in its pouch. “Can we get back to what we were doing now?”

“Of course.” Smiling, Superbia clapped his hands together, sending out a shockwave that pulverised the surrounding horde of monsters before the two of them disappeared.

~

Putting down his phone, Wilfred bowed to Elaine. “We will soon learn more about our most recent friend.” He said.

Delicately wiping her mouth, she put down cutlery before turning to Wilfred. “Good. Speaking of Ed, have we been able to gather what he was doing before reaching Balestone?”

“All signs point to him having wandered around Limbo for a while before he stumbled into town.” Wilfred answered.

“What about his time on Earth? Can we pinpoint when he died?”

“He seemed to disappear a few months ago. Before that he was just a teenager living with his grandfather and attending university. His life was strange, but aside from that, there was nothing pointing towards him being sent to Hell.”

“Strange? How so?” She asked curiously.

“He seemed to be surrounded by trouble nearly every day. His father murdered his mother when Ed was only young. He would regularly be the victim of crimes and was always on the scene of a lot of accidents. It was all very strange for a normal human to face in their life.” Wilfred explained, having pulled out a notebook from his breast pocket.

“Interesting.” She sat and thought for a while, her fingers resting on her chin. “Make sure to inform me when Uncle Ira finds something. You can leave now.” Watching Wilfred leave, she quietly sighed to herself. “What a strange and interesting fellow. He’s certainly going to bring some excitement to my life.”