Enjoy!
Chapter 2
[X[X[X]
The other side of the portal was a dark alleyway. The portal opened allowing Ban to fall onto the ground, while still frozen in ice.
The elf and cat spirit walked out of the portal as it shut itself behind them.
"So tell me, where's your partner?" Asked the elf while standing over Ban's body.
"?..." Ban had no idea who she was talking about. "Who?"
The cat spirit angrily glared at Ban as he intensified the negative temperatures of the frost-bitten ice crushing Ban's bones in the process.
"!" Ban never felt this much pain before... and he loved it!
The elf seemed a bit panicky. "Please, Puck! Don't accidentally kill him!"
"Sorry Lia, but he's testing my patience." Said the floating cat.
Ban would have been shivering but he stayed relatively calm and composed. Heck, he was able to relax despite all of the frostbites too.
"Lia, I know how good of a person you are, but affirmative action is required in scenarios like these."
"But Puck, it will serve us no good if he's too hurt to speak to us!"
"Don't worry Lia, I'll make it so that he speaks no matter what."
"Ahem." Ban gained their attention. "This was fun, but I have places to be."
With ease, Ban performed a mighty flex shattering the ice that kept him bound in place.
"!" The elf backed away as Ban stood 6,11 feet tall. Plus, Ban's injuries were healed as if he weren't injured whatsoever.
"That was painful." Said Ban while stretching his bones to make sure he didn't improperly heal himself. "I hope you'll think of better torture methods if we ever happen to cross paths again." Ban intended to walk away, but the sounds of gores flying in all directions and his body collapsing to the ground stopped him in his tracks.
Though Ban wasn't in any distress he was caught off guard. "huh?"
The bystanders panicked and fled from the vicinity as they saw the gruesome act performed by the floating cat spirit.
"Puck!" The elf cried in shock. "Why did you do that!?"
"He forced my hand." Said Puck while hovering over Ban's body.
The elf began to cry and cover her tears while averting her eyes from the corpse. "You promised to hold back..."
"And I kept my promise." Replied Puck with a stern, fatherly accent. "If I hadn't held back, everyone in the vicinity would have died." Replied Puck.
"Hahaha!" Ban laughed.
"!" Both the elf and the cat spirit turned their attention to Ban. The Fox Sin of greed remained uninjured and completely healed!
The elf stepped back. "H-how is this possible?" SHe asked.
Ban stood tall one more time, towering over the cat spirit.
Puck hid his shock as best as he could. "You're not human. Are you?"
"I'm as human as they come," Ban said casually.
"!" Puck seemed to recognize Ban for a second. "Hold on... I know you." Said Puck.
Ban raised an eyebrow. "~oh~?"
"You're one of the Seven Deadly Sins." Said Puck while floating around Ban to observe him. "You're the fox Sin of greed."
The elf backed away as Puck said this. "He's a male witch?" She asked.
"~Witch~?" Asked Ban in amusement. "Heh! If I'm a witch, wouldn't that make you a half-devil?"
The elf winced upon hearing this.
Puck angrily sent an icicle piercing Ban's heart spilling some of his blood, though Ban didn't care. "Don't speak with that tone to my daughter!" Demanded Puck with a fatherly accent.
Ban snickered while ripping out the icicle from his chest, allowing himself to heal. "I'll be on my way now." Said Ban, now walking away.
"Wait!" Cried the elf.
Ban turned his attention to her again. "Make it quick, kid."
"A-are you not affiliated with the thief?"
"What're you... oh," Ban remembered who she was talking about. "You mean the little brat that stole your pendant or whatever."
"... Aren't you affiliated-"
Ban interrupts her, "I don't know the kid. She's probably a gutter rat. Go check the slums. I don't care."
Ban walked away again hoping they would finally leave him alone.
[X[X[X]
Finally, Ban received the peace and quiet he desperately searched for.
Ban relaxed in the grass plains outside of the Royal Capital. Not too far away from where he rested under a tree, merchant carriages would pass by. Some leaving the Royal city while others made their way to the entrance of the Capital.
The birds flew in an organized manner to and fro the vicinity. The setting was fairly relaxed.
"Hm... I kind of feel bad..." He thought out loud. "The kid seemed innocent enough. Wouldn't hurt to help her out a bit..."
"Sigh, damn it. I'm gonna have to help her don't I?" He asked himself as he arose from the ground."
"My mind won't stop bothering me unless I do something." Ban looked at the royal city one more time and decided to make things right...
"~Man~ Sure wish the Captain was here for this. He'd help the girl in a heartbeat." He thought out loud while imagining how Meliodas would attempt to grope the elf's breasts.
[X[X[X]
The elf quietly searched for her thief in the slums. So far the spirits haven't failed her so perhaps she could speak to them one more time.
The cat spirit yawned due to exhaustion. "Sorry Lia, I'll be leaving you now."
"It's okay, Puck. Rest well." The elf held an emerald crystal allowing Puck to dissipate into specs of light and retreated into the crystal.
With nobody left to help her, she resorted to using an old trick.
Just as memorized, she summoned many spirits taking on the form of specs of lights engulfing the vicinity. Patiently, she conversed with the spirits to gain an understanding of where the thief went.
A spirit gave a low whisper into her ears. "Fox Sin..."
The elf's eyes widened as the spirits suddenly vanished in the blink of an eye.
The elf looked left and right and saw nobody in the vicinity. What does the Fox Sin have to do with her?
Silently, she decided to continue her search for the thief. At least the location of the thief was briefly mentioned by one of the peasants not too long ago.
Live strong, was what he said.
'One day, I'll raise these people out of poverty...' She thought to herself.
"!" There she saw it. The loothouse just as described by the peasant. Although there was a very loud ruckus ongoing in the wooden structure.
She calmly approached the front door and knocked gently.
Suddenly a startled voice on the other side of the door spoke.
"Don't open the door! She'll kill us!"
"?" The elf didn't understand why such an odd statement could be said with absolute certainty. The elf then took it upon herself to open the door without permission and speak her mind.
She opened the door to see an oddly dressed teenager. She focused her sights on him and placed her hands on her hips. "Now why would I do that?" She asked.
The teenager's eyes gleamed brightly as if he had been waiting to see her for a long time. She didn't recognize him so this was a strange scenario.
[X[X[X]
Ban had a feeling something bad was about to happen. Perhaps the spirits are speaking to him.
Nah, that can't be it. But anyway, he'll be to blame if anything bad happened to that elf. Most of why her property was stolen were because he bumped into her. He'll be damned if she's found dead.
He had the feeling that was most likely to happen if he did nothing to help.
But there's this problem. Where's he supposed to look?
Ban found himself in the slums because it happened to be one of the first places he checked. He should have at least put more thought into this search.
Ban scratched his head then decided to take a seat. "~Well~ shit! Now, why would some fancy looking elf be in a dump like this?" He asked himself. "Well, the thief was dressed in rags so I guess my search in the slums was justified."
"Hm?" Ban looked on to the distance and found there to be a fleeing child running towards him.
"!" Ban noticed the thief! And she's running toward his vicinity? Heck, looks like lady fortune spared some luck for Ban today.
"Sir!" She cried out to him. "There's this crazy lady that needs to be stopped! She'll kill everybody if we don't call a knight!"
"~Oh?~" Ban became interested. "Show me."
"What?" The kid looked at Ban curiously. "We need to find a knight quickly!"
"~Relax~ kid." Said Ban as he stood up. "I was a former knight."
"A-are you sure?" She asked.
"Definitely. Now show me the crazy lady."
[X[X[X]