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A loud crash and a wave of water splashing on his face woke Rin up. Laughter reminded him were he was.

"How long do we have until we get to that village?" Rin complained as he wiped the water off his face. He climbed up and over the wagon side to sit beside Joan at the front. He throw the soaked blankets over another side, hoping they would dry off eventually.

"Look," she said, pointing off down the road a short way. A village was clearly visible and it would probably only be a few minutes before they arrived.

"I thought we wouldn't get there until noon?"

"It is, you slept the entire time."

"Well, can you hurry up?"

"No, but you could probably run up if you want, look around. Stay away from any professional looking people though, and stay out of trouble!"

Rin had already jumped off the wagon and ran off when she finished speaking. She laughed at the dust the boy kicked up.

-Rin's POV-

The people in the town square all struggled pulling out a sword that had been stuck in the ground. They worked together, pulling at the sword in groups, but they never succeeded. There was no point in watching, i figured, and I didn't want to break anybody's concentration. I made my way over to a small group of people talking with an elderly man. The group was dressed strangely. There was a young boy dressed in formal clothing and a young woman in really revealing clothes. Her shirt was pink and the black skirt she wore barely went passed her butt. At her feet was a giant pig.

"Yo! My name's Rin, do you guys know what's going on?"

The elderly man's face paled at the sight of him. "Maxwell?"

"Uh, no, Rin. Didn't I say that? I came here with Joan."

The man perked up, along with a few people nearby. "Joan? Joan's here? Oh thank goodness!" A few people rushed off, probably to go meet with the girl.

"Who's Joan?" Asked the well dressed young boy.

"Uh...I'm not entirely sure, she just gave me a ride here."

"Why?" Asked the elderly man, who began searching me with his eyes. It was uncomfortable.

"Uh… I… asked her too?" I decided not to tell the real reason he was here. Judging from everything I saw going on, the village needed to focus on their own problems for now.

"A Holy Knight thrust his sword into the ground a few days ago, sealing off all the water. If it weren't for Joan bringing us water every day, they probably would've died off by now." The elderly man watched the younger people pulling at the sword. "It's hard to tell the villagers this, but we're done for. The only thing that can pull out a Holy Knight's sword is a Holy Knight's power."

The shout of a young boy stole everybody's attention from the sword. "Come on, guys! What's everybody looking so down in the dumps for? What's the big deal about some Holy Knight's sword stuck in the ground? My friend's, the Seven Deadly Sins, could take care of that problem!"

Beside me, I saw the boy and girl give a surprised look. I heard the village turn on the boy faster than I thought possible. One mentioned that the Seven Deadly Sins were apparently criminals. The boy's name was Mead too, and his face was pained when a few people asked why he hated them.

"Mead, you idiot!" A child yelled as she threw a rock at his face. It missed Mead and hit the formal boy in the face. I ducked out of the way as the formal boy ran away with Mead. They ran up a trail and I thought I saw the roof of a witch hat-shaped building at the edge of a cliff not far outside of town.

"Stop!" The elderly man said, stepping in to the line of fire to stop the rocks from being thrown. "Oh dear, he really is a good boy, deep down."

I stared after the boy. I listened intently as the old man explained that a Holy Knight had come to taste the wine and insulted it. Mead was angry with him, so he threw a bug into the drink. A simple prank.

"Miss, mind if I come with you?" I asked the woman as I stuffed my hands into my coat pockets.

"Me too." Came a voice from behind me. Joan smiled at her. "Hello, by the way. My name is Joan, and you?"

"Elizabeth, it's a pleasure to meet you," she replied, her voice calm and gentle. Like an angel… "And yes, sure, you can come with me."

The three of them hiked their way up to the bar, witch was, indeed, shaped like a witch's hat.

"The Boar's Hat," Joan read the sign above the door.

A bell rang as we entered. I watched as Elizabeth went right over to the child, Mead.

"Mead, I heard the story from the village elder. You're a bit of a prankster, aren't you?" I heard him mumble something under his breath as she spoke. " When I was little, I was a rascal too. My father was always scolding me."

I felt as my heart sank a little. It sounded so much like me. My temper constantly got me into difficulty.

"Well whoop dee freaking do for you!"

"Mead!" Joan scolded. I watched his confidence waver.

"I wanted his attention so badly," Elizabeth continued, "because he wasn't my real father."

There was a moment of silence and the moods in the room changed a little.

"Once, I climbed a tall tree in the garden to scare him. And when he found out, he turned white as a sheet and climbed up the tree after me. This man had never climbed a tree before in his life. Sure enough, he fell and got hurt. To this day, I've never forgotten that feeling. If my father had died that day-"

Elizabeth was interrupted by Mead banging his hand on the table. He looked sad.

"My...my mom and dad were travelers. Some years ago, when we arrived in Vanya, they both got sick and died. I was all alone, but the townspeople took me in, raised me as one of their own. I was happy, but i never had a family of my own, so I was jealous of everyone else who did…"

"So you started lying and pulling pranks," I said.

"Is that also why you put a bug in the Holy Knight's drink?"

"NO! That jerk of a Holy Knight was looking down on us all! Every grown up and kid in town puts all his time and energy into making good ale and that knight goes and confiscates it from us as taxes. He insulted it, no, he insulted us! The Holy Knights are good- for- nothings!"

"So that part about you knowing the Seven Deadly Sins?" Said the formal looking boy. I only then noticed him and the pint he was holding.

"It wasn't true."

"Wait, I thought the Seven Deadly Sins were criminals?" I asked, no longer able to hold back my question.

"Well, yeah. They're being hunted down by the Holy Knights. If such evil knights are trying to get them, then that must mean The Seven Deadly Sins are the good guys...right?"

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Keep friends close but enemies closer," Joan mumbled. A sudden, loud shouting caught everybody's attention.

"What's going on?" I asked as I poked my head out the window. I felt Joan grab my shirt and look out as well. Soon, everybody had joined in to listen.

"Listen up you scum! If you can't remove the sword by sun down, we will raise your taxes by twenty percent!" Came a voice from the town. The door was slammed and I saw Mead run down the path towards the others.

"Mead wait!" I called. When he didn't stop I jump out the window and ran after him. Following close behind was Joan and I caught a glimpse of the other two strolling along. The man didn't look to worried, but Elizabeth looked like she wanted to run all the way down as fast as possible. I made my way there, glaring back at the men sitting over a covered well. They were drinking and laughing at the men who were desperately trying to pull the sword up. They had tied a rope to it, but I could see it wouldn't hold for long. In one final tug, the rope snapped and sent people back into a heap on the ground.

"Well, hey, perhaps I could help?" I said, walking up to the sword. With one quick pull, I pulled the sword out. It was heavier than mine, but still cool looking. "Wow, this is what has caused so much damage?"

There was a rumbling in the ground and all at once the water erupted from the ground. The assholes sitting on the dry well were shot into the air by a geyser of water. I looked around as water sprang up around the river and other smaller places.

"Rin, how'd you do that?" Joan asked asked she came to stand beside me.

"I don't know, it just sort of happened. Here, you want it?"

She held her arms out, but nearly collapsed from the weight of it when I dropped it into her grasp. "Holy shit it's so heavy…"

All at once the people began hollering at me, asking who I was. The praise was something I wasn't used to.

"Rin, are you okay?" Joan asked, gripping my sleeve and staring up at me with worry.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just not used to this much attention I guess."