Like clockwork, Ed woke up instinctively, and paused in confusion for a moment when he didn’t hear Buddie’s voice. Huh, I guess that’s the first peaceful night of sleep I’ve had since I got here. Lacking the usual persistent voice in his head, Ed got out of bed, washed himself and went to make himself breakfast.

With some toast and a cup of juice in hand, he sat down on the balcony, looking out over the street. Everything feels so much more... peaceful, surprisingly. Aside from the time I spent in Limbo, things haven’t been too bad... It’s funny, really. I’m in literal Hell, and I still haven’t suffered as much here as I did while working for them.

BOOM!

Plumes of smoke gathered far away, as the distant sounds of fighting flowed into his ears. And there it is. It’s a little rough around the edges, but things could be so much worse.

The same car as yesterday pulled up out front of the store.

Looks like I should get going. Finishing off his breakfast, he sat his dishes down in the sink before heading downstairs.

He hopped into the car, which drove off back to the estate. Ed stared out the window the entire time, just observing the morning street life of the city. Now that I think about it, I’m surprised Hell follows the same day-night cycle that Earth does. And how are we orbiting a sun right now? It can’t possibly be a planet; each circle goes on forever. Is it its own dimension? That feels like it could be right. I’ve got no other explanation for it... I’ll see what I can find online.

Ed pulled out his phone and quickly typed the question: ‘How is there a sun?’ into the search bar.

The first explanation that popped up was that the sky was created by Lord Superbia to better meet the societal needs of humanity.

Excuse me? He created the entire sky? As in the sun, moon, and stars? He’s controlling all of that? All the time?

Ed was blown away by what he found and took a moment to settle down and accept what he had read. If that’s true, then he’s more powerful than I had imagined.

Now that he had a better idea of what kind of being Lord Superbia was, Ed felt incredibly tense as the car approached the palace. Everything will be fine; you probably won’t even be near him.

The car parked out front of Elaine’s palace, and Ed was once again led to the same dining room as before. Inside, Elaine and Lola were enjoying their breakfast, while Wilfred waited patiently at their side.

Upon Ed’s arrival, Elaine delicately set her cutlery down and wiped her mouth with a napkin. Lola, on the other hand, excitedly waved him over while still eating her food.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“I’m so glad to finally talk to you properly! Thank you for helping catch that guy. You have no idea how stressed babe was about all that.” She turned around and pinched Elaine’s cheek. “I was really starting to worry about you there.”

She turned back around to Ed with a smile, leaving Elaine to try and cover up her red face. “So anyways, I’m so happy that we can finally chat. I wanted to talk to you when we caught the guy, but babe told me to wait in the car. And, well, I may have been a bit too excited to celebrate last time we saw each other.” She said, scratching the back of her neck and leaning back casually.

“Wait. You were in the car? I thought that nobody else was allowed to...” Ed stopped himself, as a look of realisation appeared on his face.

Lola grinned, while Elaine’s face reddened even more.

Wilfred cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. He made eye contact with Ed and tried to steer the conversation back on track. “You have been called here to participate in the follow up of your previous mission.”

Elaine took the opportunity to regain her composure and took over the conversation. “We are about to begin interrogating the criminals to find out who put them up to this. Now normally, I wouldn’t be bothered to do this myself, but Lola is quite upset about this, so I decided I would let her have some fun this time. As you are now officially working for me, it is only right that you participate in this part of the job as well.”

Reading the room, Lola stopped teasing Elaine and readied herself to help as much as possible.

That makes sense. Ed nodded. “Of course. I will follow your lead.”

The group set off down the hallway, making their way to the closest entrance to the dungeon. Ed followed behind everyone, as Wilfred took the lead and guided them down the hall.

This place is like a labyrinth. I would have no clue where I am going.

“Hey Ed, How’s the new place? Do you like it?” Lola turned around and asked. Elaine also perked up subtly. Interested to hear what he had to say, but not wanting to appear too anxious.

“It’s pretty good, I like it. It’s a lot bigger than the apartment I was renting, and I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do with all the space downstairs.” Ed turned his attention to Wilfred. “Oh, and thanks for sorting out the rental situation, I didn’t want to have to figure that out.”

“Of course, I was just doing my job.” Wilfred replied, not turning around at all.

The group reached the stairs leading down to the dungeon and stepped inside. Walking along the torchlit halls, Wilfred eventually stopped in front of one of the cells. Inside was the person arrested alongside the snake man.

The nearby guard bashed on the cell door, startling the man inside, waking him up immediately. His face paled, as he almost soiled himself from fear. His body shook under Elaine’s cold gaze. He rose into the air uncontrollably, his legs flailed beneath him, as he tried to regain his footing.

The cell door swung open, allowing Wilfred to enter. Lola quickly followed behind him, but Ed and Elaine remained outside the cell.

Elaine raised her eyebrow at Ed. “Don’t you want to go in?”

“There’s no need for that right now. I can do everything I need to from out here.” Ed said.

Elaine gave a short nod before turning her attention back to the man.

Wilfred stood in front of the man, glaring at him as he spoke. “You have played a role in an attack on her Majesty, you already know what your end will be, so I will skip that. Tell us everything and her Majesty may give you a swift end. This is your choice to make.”

The man, still trembling like a leaf in the wind, locked eyes with Wilfred. Using every ounce of willpower that he had, he managed to keep his mouth shut.

“It seems you’ve made your choice.” Wilfred stepped back.

Lola stepped forward, a big grin on her face. “Oh, I am going to enjoy this.”