I woke up with a yawn, stretching my arms. I grunted, looking at the window on my ceiling. It was still daytime. I stood up with a groan, dropping the red bedsheets. We should have reached Vanya already..

I changed into my daily clothes, buckling my belt with my scabbard around my waist. It's weird...Meliodas usually wakes me up when I sleep in.

I opened the door and went downstairs. I was shocked to see no one, not even Hawk and gaped. "What the...?!" I yelled. I ran to the bar and found a small note under a jug.

'I let you sleep in, I thought you needed the rest. Don't even think I don't know about you not eating properly.'
I shivered, reading that part. Dangit. He found out again.
I continued reading the rest of the note.
'But we'll talk later about that. We went ahead to the village. If we don't get back by dawn, look for us, kay?
Have a nice sleep.
Meliodas :)'

"......"

My eyebrows twitched and I gritted my teeth.

"SERIOUSLY?!?! How could they leave me?!"

I stomped towards the door furious, just as Meliodas ran in with a little boy. My eyebrow twitched at him, as he sat down the kid on a table.
"Sheesh, that was nuts. Hey kid what was that for?" Meliodas asked the spiky haired boy, completely ignoring the fact that I was right in front of him.

My eyebrows twitched and I slapped the back of his hea. "OI! I'm right here ya doofus!"

"AaAh!" The kid yelped, as he saw me hit Meliodas. He wore a green shirt and brown pants with sandals.

Meliodas groaned. "Ow! What was that for?!" He exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head.

I crossed my arms and scoffed. "Hmph, you left me alone you idiot."
"I left you a note!"
"You should've woken me up!"
"I was letting you sleep in!"
"Who is this kid anyways?!"

We went back and forth until the kid stammered and raised his hand. "U-um you two are kids too, you shouldn't fight."

I looked at the kid and sighed. Again with this.. Meliodas and I sighed, crossing our arms. "We are not kids actually." Meliodas said.

The kid looked around the tavern from where he sat. "What's this place? A tavern?"

I sat down in front of the kid, crossing my legs. "Yep. Our tavern."
"It's called the Boar Hat." Meliodas added.
The kid looked at us and furrowed his brows. "I'm hungry."

Dang this kid is straight forward.

Meliodas turned his face away, arms crossed. "If you answer all my questions, I'll feed you."

The kid put his hands behind his head and smiled mischievously. "Food first."
As I said before, dang this kid is just direct.

Meliodas grunted in annoyance and went to the kitchen to whip up something edible but not delicious.

The kid turned to look at me as I sighed with furrowed brows. "So you are not a kid either?"

I heard some clanking in the kitchen and shook my head. "Nope. Both of us are waaay older than you could ever imagine." I told the kid.
He narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brows, crossing his arms. "No way!"

My eyebrows twitched and I laid my head on the table tiredly. This is gonna be a long day, isn't it?

After a while, Meliodas emerged from the kitchen with a delicious looking roasted chicken.

"Whoah! It looks delicious! It's been a while since I've ate something like this!" The kid exclaimed in awe. I almost felt bad for his tastebuds.
Meliodas went to the bar to fill two ale jugs for him and myself, as the kid bit down on a chicken leg and instantly spit it out.
"Eww! Gross!!!"

I laughed, as Meliodas chuckled. "I never said it'd be good food." He said, handing me a jug as he sat down beside me, in front of the kid. "So is it true that you're a friend of the Eight Deadly Sins?" He asked the kid.

I sweatdropped taking a sip from my ale. What the heck did I miss?

"Your horrible food gave me amnesia." Said the kid, obviously avoiding the subject. He sniffed and his eyes widened. "Hey, are you two drinking Vanya ale? Should a kid like you really be drinking that?"

Meliodas and I put down our jugs as we stared at the kid blankly. "We already told you, we ain't kids." I replied.

The kid smiled and pointed to our jugs. "Man, it tastes really good doesn't it?"
We smiled softly at the kid. "Yep."

"It's the best, sweetest ale and full bodied!" Exclaimed the kid. He honestly sounded like a merchant trying to sell stuff. "Or so do the adults say." He added with a nervous smile, looking down.

I blinked. Just what the heck did I miss? Who's this kid?

The bell tinkled and Elizabeth stepped in with Hawk. She leaned over the boy, hands ln her hips as if she was a mither scolding her kid. "So Mead, I hear that you're quite the prankster with a bad sense of humor. The village chief told me so." Elizabeth said, raising her finger. Ah, so his name is Mead. Haha, that's quite the pun.
Mead furrowed his brows, looking at her. "What's it to you? Who do you think you are? My mother?"

My eyebrows twitched and I almost dropped my ale jug. The heck with this kid? He's too mouthy! If I was Elizabeth I'd be furious!

Surprisingly, Elizabeth only smiled sweetly at him and sat on the floor beside his seat. "When I was young..." Oh dang here we go, I'm tuning out the rest of the conversation. Sorry Elizabeth, I'm just not in the mood for it.
I zoned out and was snapped out of it when Mead-the kid-slammed his fists on the table. My head snapped towards him as he spoke.
"No! I only did that because he treated us like crap! We care so much about it; everyone in the village put their hearts and souls into making that ale, but he insulted us! Holy Knights are just no good bastards!"

Meliodas blinked and nodded. "Okay, but what about saying you were friends with the Eight Deadly Sins?"

Now this interests me. I raised my head to look at the kid with curious eyes.

"Oh. That was a lie."

Oh. I dropped my head with a pout. Nevermind.

"Oh, that's a shame. I gotta admit I kinda had my hopes up." Meliodas said with a sigh, as he drank from his jug.
Dangit. This kid is just annoying. I groaned in disappointment. "Yeah, me too."
Elizabeth looked at Mead in confusion. "What made you tell a lie like that?"

Mead looked away from us. "W-well, the Eight Deadly Sins are being hunted down by the Holy Knights, aren't they? If the Holy Knights are going after them, doesn't that mean that they are the good guys?"

My eyes lit up in joy and I smirked slightly. Nevermind, this kid is the greatest.

Elizabeth and Hawk turned to look at Meliodas and I expectantly.

"What?" Meliodas said.

Before we could say anything else we heard some shouting coming from the village.

Mead stood up in a hurry and ran outside. "That's coming from the village!"
"Mead wait!" Elizabeth called out to him. She turned to me and smiled. "Oh, by the way, good morning Lady (Y/N)."

I sighed, standing up and stretching. "Good morning to you too Elizabeth." I said with a smile. "Well then, shouldn't we go after him?"
Meliodas nodded and we walked out of the tavern, heading towards Vanya.
Uwaa...it's been a while since the last time we came here to restock! Huh... the mead looks dead...What happened to the water system?
We walked fast down the hill's road, as the shouting intensified.
We walked into the plaza and I was surprised to see all the men in the village trying to take out a sword from the ground. Their faces contorted with desperation, as they desperately struggled with the sword.

I sensed magical power coming from the sword and raised my brow, looking at the people and two guards sitting on their butts laughing their asses off. We got closer and I turned to Meliodas. "In short, a Holy Knight blocked the water system, right?"
Meliodas nodded. "Yeah." He glanced at me. "Do you wanna do it?"
I smirked nodding, running ahead. "Hell yeah, last time you stole my thunder." I said. I approached the laughing guards that were drinking Vanya ale and took their jugs from them. "If you can't appreciate nice ale, you don't deserve to drink it." I declared, as the guards were left shocked to find their hands empty.

Finally! It's been a while since I used my powers at all! I smirked and raised the jugs to my mouth, gulping down all their contents. I had extremely strong resistance to liquor because of my vampire attributes so I'd be fine.
I reached the sword just as the ropes the men were using to pull it snapped.

The men all fell to the ground, and I dropped the jugs besides a teary Mead. I looked down at the kid and winked. "Don't worry kid."

I reached the huge, beautiful sword and chuckled. "Sorry everyone, I don't have money to pay for that drink. So how about this?" I said with a smirk. I grabbed the handle of the sword and pulled it out of the ground swiftly, with no difficulty. I raised it up in the air, letting out a sigh. "Oof! It's been a while!"

The men looked up at me in awe, shock, and confusion.
And the guards that had been laughing at the poor people gaped.
"Impossible!"
"Only a Holy Knight could pull it out, so how did she?!"
"Wait, what is that?"

The ground shook, and the wood planks the guards were sitting down got blown away by the water that burst out of the hole.
The guards fell to the ground, completely wet.

I walked towards them with a smirk, dropping the sword by their feet. "I think this belongs to you."
The guards looked up at me slowly, and then stood up in a hurry, taking the sword and running away screaming.

I smirked at their running figures, feeling the gazes of Meliodas akd Elizabeth on me.
Mead got up and ran to me with wide eyes. "Hey miss, are you...?"

I grinned at him. "Yep, I'm just the co-owner of an awesome tavern."

Mead frowned, looking at me in disappointment. "That's not what I meant."

I chuckled, patting his head. The people were gathering around us, looking at Mead guiltily. "Enough about me. I think you've got people to make up with."

Mead turned around, looking at the villages who were calling out for him, apologizing for their actions.
I have no idea what's going on but if the kid makes up with the people I guess that's ok?

"But what right do I havd to forgive you? It's not like I'm part of the village..." Mead replied to them, looking down.
Meliodas walked towards us and pushed him forward. "Go on."
"Hey! What do you mean go o ? After all, I really don't belong here..." Mead protested, averting his gaze from the villagers.

The villagers started calling him louder, until he broke and ran into chief's arms sobbing.
I smiled softly, as I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"You did well." Meliodas said, smiling at me. I gulped, blushing a bit because his face was close to mine. "Just doing my job."

Meliodas chuckled and looked at the crying Mead hugging the villagers. "You can lie to yourself all you want , but you can never fool your heart." He said. His smile dropped a bit.

I glanced at him and frowned a bit. Certainly. We know that the best.

•••

"I-I am not really sure if I'm ready. I've never done anything like this before. My heart's pounding!" Elizabeth breathed out nervously.

I sweatdropped at her actions, as Meliodas leaned forward. "I think I understand, it's your first time. Could you say that again, but slower?" He said with a blank look.

My heart clenched and I frowned a bit. Perverted idiot... My eyebrows twitched and I slapped the back of his head. "Shut it pervert."

"Ouch! What was that for?!"
"Nice hit (Y/N)!" Hawk exclaimed nudging my leg.
I chuckled, trying to contain my emotions.
I had loved Meliodas for a long time. Ever since I met him. But I knew his heart belonged to someone else, so I could never tell him.

Meliodas sighed, rubbing his bump. "Tell you what, just focus on your waitressing today, don't worry about collecting intel. Just relax." He said to the nervous Elizabeth.
She nodded determinedly. "Right, I can do that, I'll relax!"

I sweatdropped. I don't think she'll relax. "If you need any hell I'm right here too, ya know." I told her, as I grabbed a tray from the counter with jugs on it. "Just do what I do and you'll be fine."

....

....

....

.....

.........

It wasn't fine.
I knew she wouldn't be able to relax.
I sighed once again, as Elizabeth dropped a tray into someone's face for the fourth time.

I sweatdropped as she bowed repeatedly at the men.
"I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry!"

Maybe she just isn't cut out for this? Maybe we should put her in the kitchen. I don't think she cooks worse than us.

I patted Elizabeth's shoulder as she tripped again and smiled nervously at her. "Maybe you should take a short break and try to relax, okay? I'll handle it." I said to her gently.
Elizabeth nodded with a pout, as she walked to a corner.

I sighed, picking up the trays she dropped and apologizing to the men on her behalf. "Sorry, she's new and she's just nervous."
"Oh, don't worry it's alright."

"Looks like I won't be short of leftovers today." Hawk said, as he got ready to clean up Elizabeth's latest mess.

I slammed down another pair of jugs on a table and walked towards Elizabeth, patting her shoulder. "Don't worry for the mess, you'll get the hang of it."
I hope.

Elizabeth smiled at me. "Thank you Lady (Y/N). I hope I will." She said, looking out into the window.
I raised my brow. She seems distracted.

"I'm gonna take some fresh air, excuse me." Elizabeth said, doing a short bow and walking out of the tavern.

I raised my brow at her and shrugged. Oki then. I walked towards the bar and helped Meliodas clean dirty jugs.

I swallowed, glancing at him sideways. "Sorry fo yelling at you in the morning. It was irrational of me."
He smiled gently at me, patting my head. "Don't worry, I get you don't like it when I leave you alone. It won't happen again, okay?"
I gulped, blushing at his touch. Before I could reply, I sensed a mass of magic power coming our way that made me freeze.
Meliodas sensed it too and paused his cleaning.

"Hey you two, didn't you see the princess walk out? Shouldn't you go comfort her?" Hawk oinked.

I nodded dismissively, as I put down the jug I was cleaning. I was focused on sensing the mass of magic power coming our way.
Meliodas blinked. "Imma go pee." He declared, walking towards the door and exiting.
I nodded absentmindedly, following him. "Yeah.. me too.

"Sheesh, the bosses are slackers. Looks like I'm in charge." Hawk oinked with a sigh.

Meliodas and I stepped outside and looked around.

I walked rightwards, looking up at the sky. Where is it?

"Oh, sir Meliodas, lady (Y/N)." Elizabeth said when she spotted us. She was sitting down on the grass, hugging her knees to her chest. "I know I'm supposed to be working, but when I saw Mead and the other villagers, it brought up a lot of memories of my father."

"Is that right?" Meliodas said absentmindedly, obviously talking about his position. He stood behind Elizabeth to her right, gazing with wide eyes at the sky.
"Maybe a bit more to the left?" I said, walking towards him and pushing him to the left. "Here?"

There's a mass of magical power coming our way. Judging by my instincts, it's probably some sort of weapon that was thrown after being charged wiith magic.

"I shouldn't be feeling like this. Now it's not the time to mope around feeling homesick. I've seen so many innocents oppressed by the Holy Knights, and with a princess like me, their chances don't seem too good."

"Well, you found us, didn't you?" Meliodas said, as he looked out towards the mountains. Is that it?
"Come on, if you hadn't been trying your hardest to find us, they would have no chance at all."

My heart clenched a bit. Meliodas never consoles like that... I shook my head furiously, looking out into the sky. I planted my feet behind Meliodas. I think it's here.

I would've said something to Elizabeth if I hadn't been focused on calculating where the mass would fall.

"So you are saying there's something I'm meant to do?" Elizabeth said with awed eyes.

Meliodas turned to look at the spot I was looking at and furrowed his brows. It's getting closer! "Yes. And right now there's something we gotta do too."

We saw a glimmering in the sky, and I finally spotted the mass. A spear?!
"Together! Ready?" I yelled, as the spear was rapidly coming close to us. I planted my feet and put my hand out to catch it.
"Go!" Meliodas yelled as he dodged the sharp point and we grabbed the handle of the huge spear that was wrapped in blue lightning.

The hell?!

"Sir Meliodas! Lady (Y/N)!"

"Noo!"

It happened so fast I barely had time to react as Meliodas and I were thrown off the hill, crashing into the ground creating a crater. The spear was pulling us back with us all its power and we were pushing back the other way, but it kept dragging across buildings.
Finally Meliodas and I flipped around and planted our feet, coming to a stop.

Finally. Who the heck is doing this? This lightning....is the same magical power from the sword that blocked the water system.
I sighed, rubbing my hands. "You throw it back, Cap'n."

He nodded and closed his eyes, pulling his arm back, then opening them again. He pulled his arm back and threw the spear towards the same place it came from, sending it flying with a glimmer of lightning.

I straightened my clothes, dusting them off. Well, there it goes. Poor guy the one who has to catch it.
I rubbed the wound on my hand as it was closing quickly, trying not to focus on the smell of the captain's blood. I breathed in and out, trying not to breathe if necessary to avoid smelling his blood. The last thing we need right now is for me to go berserk.

Elizabeth came running towards us with Hawk. "I'm so glad we found you, are you okay? Was that spear from the same Holy Knight who left the sword in the ground?!" Elizabeth exclaimed worriedly, as she looked at us.

Meliodas flexed his bleeding hand. "Probably so. I think that's our cue to leave the village as soon as we can."
"Certainly." I agreed, as my wound closed and I tore my shirt to bandage up the captain's hand.
"But what if the village is attacked again?" Elizabeth asked fearfully.
I chuckled. Does she not get it?
"I think they'd be in a lot more danger if we stayed." Meliodas said.

Hawk sighed in thought. "It'd be nice if we could find a place to hide out."

Elizabeth's eyes widened. "Wait..." she mutted, holding her chin in thought.
"What is it?" Meliodas asked her, just as I finished bandaging his wounded hand. Couldn't let him go around with a bleeding hand or I would go nuts.
"Earlier tonight, Mead said he would do anything not to be taken to the forest of White Dreams. In fact, he said even Holy Knights stay clear of the place."

Huh? "The Forest of White Dreams?" I asked, tilting my head.
"Sounds good to me!" Hawk squeaked.

Meliodas grinned, bumping his fists together. "That settles it then. It's set that we're not going to be hiding out. We're gonna be doing exactly what we should."
I grinned, crossing my arms. "Oh hell yeah. Finally, another one."

"What do you mean by that?" Hawk asked.

Elizabeth gasped softly and stepped forwards. "You don't think..?!"

"Yep. I bet one of us is living there." Meliodas replied, turning around to face them.
I smirked. "Oh yeah. I hope it's Ban. I wanna kick his ass for the last bet."

Elizabeth's eyes lit up and she smiled.

"Let's go get another Sin!" Meliodas exclaimed.

"Alright!"

...

...

....

I really hope that it's Ban.
He owes me money.