Edward was quite forthcoming. After mentioning the Ember Pact Merchant Alliance, he explained without waiting for anyone else to ask.
"The Ember Pact Merchant Alliance is a guild alliance in the Instrument World that spans several major cities. You can see its emblem in nearly every city."
"When I was in the Instrument World before, I saw this guild's emblem in several cities. But..." Edward shrugged. "I never went inside."
Satan sneered, "Too broke to afford anything?"
Edward shook his head. "The Ember Pact Merchant Alliance only serves high-ranking ritual nobles. Its branch guilds are the ones that serve ordinary people."
So-called ritual nobles were actually extraordinary individuals skilled in ritual studies. In the Instrument World, such people were called ritual aristocrats, or ritual nobles for short.
As a wizard, Edward had some understanding of ritual studies, but his practical ability was poor. If he insisted on claiming the title, he could barely be considered a ritual noble—but only a low-ranking one.
The Ember Pact Merchant Alliance, meanwhile, only received high-ranking ritual nobles.
Though both were called ritual nobles, the difference between high-ranking and low-ranking ones was like clouds and mud.
Take a simple example.
That Evil Spirit Knight of Knight Castle was a high-ranking ritual noble. Just how absurd was his mastery of ritual studies? To him, ordinary acts like walking, sitting, standing, and lying down were all ritual protocols!
When Edward raised his hand to cast a spell, he activated a spell model within his mind space.
When the Evil Spirit Knight raised his hand to cast a spell, it was equivalent to carrying out a complete ritual.
Under normal circumstances, the effects of a complete ritual far surpassed those of an ordinary spell.
Moreover, high-ranking ritual nobles had no casting windup whatsoever. That was because all their