So this time I decided to add a bonus story at the end of the chapter. There are a few things that happen throughout the story that don't fit into the continuity of the main story, so I decided that they would fit best like this. There won't be a bonus story in each chapter, but I'll try to add them in here and there.

Enjoy!

"The leader of the Seven Deadly Sins, Peliodas, won't allow it!"

The shout of a child caused me to bolt awake. "Wha…?" I rubbed my eyes, and blearily glanced around my room. Afternoon sunlight pierced the thin curtains that I had put up in the windows, and streams of light poured in from the door that led to the balcony. Zephyranthes was standing in the open doorway, peeking his face out the entrance. His head was tilted downward, and he was crouched to the floor, as though trying to watch something without being seen. The one bandage that covered the stab wound on his side marked the reason why he wasn't in the shadows themselves.

"What's going on, Zephyr?" I murmured as I approached, trying not to alert whoever he was watching. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier? Everyone else must be up by now."

You were saying how you like to sleep late. I just wanted to see how long you would go without someone else waking you. The fox's words echoed quietly in my mind. That child down there ruined my experiment, but even so, you slept long past noon. He sounded oh so serious, but I knew that he was hiding his laughter, especially considering the amusement that lit his eyes. I guess that you've gotten too used to me waking you up every day.

"Anyway, what is going on down there?" I sat on the floor next to him and scooted forward so that I could see past the edge of the balcony. "Last I checked, the leader of the Sins wasn't named 'Peliodas,' and didn't sound like a little boy."

The fox shade just chuckled and gestured toward the ground with his nose. Just watch. This is hilarious; the kid has no idea who he's talking to.

"I'm the Dragon Sin of Wrath! I'll get as mad as I want!" I glanced down to find a little blond boy shouting directly at Meliodas, pointing in the Dragon Sin's face.

An even smaller boy with black hair and dark eyes rubbed two of his fingers together. "Let's make them pay us a silver coin as a business fee!"

"Great idea, Fox Sin of greed!" Peliodas told him, a giant smile stretched across his face. "Clever!" I couldn't help but notice Ban smile behind the pair.

"I'm tired of walking. I want to eat and lie down." This came from another boy that was in the little group - one that was particularly chubby.

"V… very in-character, Grizzly Sin of Sloth!" The blonde boy clapped. Harlequin looked mortified from his place at their side.

I had to slap my hand to my mouth in order to stop myself from laughing at the spectacle. Luckily, the sound of my hand slapping to my face was drowned out by the cracking and snapping of tree branches breaking.

"Huh, are the boys back? Can I come out yet?" Diane's appeared from the trees that edged the back of the Boar's Hat, and her hand, which wrapped around the top of the building, loudly snapped the chimney clean off the roof. I almost jumped out of my skin at the action, because she had appeared right next to where Zephyr and I were hiding. I couldn't stop my squeek of surprise, which made her look to the platform that Zephyr and I sat on. "Oh, Zinnia! You're up!"

"G… GIANT!" The kids down below were screaming, drawing Diane's attention away from me. "SH… SHE'S GONNA EAT US!"

"I'D NEVER EAT A HUMAN!" But Diane's fierce face and loud voice from her shouting just frightened the children more.

"If… If you're going to eat any of us, just make it me!" This came from the eldest of the group, who appeared to me more of a teenager or a young adult, rather than a child. He was super skinny, had long, messy pink-purple hair, and wore glasses. And, judging by the little blond boy's tearful shouts, his name was Armand.

"I TOLD YOU! I'M NOT GOING TO EAT ANYBODY!" Diane's shouts didn't seem to be getting through to any of the kids.

As though oblivious to it all, Meliodas spoke quietly to himself. "She broke the chimney again."

With all that was going on, I couldn't stop myself from laughing. Loudly. I didn't care at this point if they saw me, though. It was just a bunch of kids being ridiculous; no reason to hide myself. From beside me, I could feel Zephyr shaking with his laughter, and it resonated in my head.

"C'mon," I said through my tears, before levitating the fox into the air and floating down to the ground with him at my side. "This looks like fun."

"I'm sorry. We really didn't mean any harm," Armand was saying to Ban. He was scratching his cheek in embarrassment.

Ban leaned against the side of the Boar's Hat beside him. "It's good to play pranks, but just don't impersonate The Seven Deadly Sins. The Holy Knights would have your heads for it."

"R-right."

Curiously, I glanced at Armand. I couldn't help but feel that he looked slightly familiar. I just couldn't tell what from. It wasn't his voice or demeanor that made me feel like this, but his face, and only then for split seconds when he was shifting between expressions. It was just enough for me to catch a feeling of familiarity. I just couldn't put my finger on it, though. I looked to Zephyranthes, who sat beside me on the porch of the Boar's Hat, to see if I could tell if he felt the same way, but if he did, he showed no sign of it.

A thunderous rumbling sound suddenly rolled in the distance, causing me to shoot into the air; I had been so engrossed in my thoughts that I was caught completely unawares. After the rumbling had calmed down, it was followed by howling that echoed through the surrounding mountains, which nearly drowned out the creaking of the nearby town's windmills.

When I realized that the howling wasn't going to stop anytime soon, I looked to Zephyr - an automatic response of mine - and found that he had only risen to his paws. He was looking around, but was focused on what the others were talking about.

"...Is the ground rumbling?" One of Diane's hands was cupped around her ear as she looked in the direction that the sound had originated from.

Meliodas also glanced that way. "Isn't that just some wind howling through caves on the mountain?"

"Who knows?" Armand watched the group. "It's been making that sound for years now. The villagers all say it's the voice of the God of the Mountain."

Whatever it is, I don't like it, Zephyr growled before adding quietly, Something feels... off in the connections in this area. His words made me think of the fox shade ability to sense and follow connections - the ability he had told me he had used to find me when Elizabeth and I had been kidnapped in Byron.

Armand looked to Zephyr. His gaze lasted longer and was more intense than it should have been, had he only heard a growl. When he noticed me looking at him, he quickly turned away. He can hear Zephyr. It wasn't even a question in my mind. But, humans of that age can almost never hear a fox shade. In my thousands of years, there have only been a handful of exceptions to this. So, is he an exception, or…?

Meliodas and the others perked up only seconds before I did. I could feel something in the distance - some kind of magic. I had never really trained myself to discern magic, so I couldn't really tell anything about it other than that it was strong.

"Captain…" Harlequin was looking in the direction of that the magic was coming from when he spoke. "That strong magic power I feel coming from the mountain… You don't think it's coming from whoever's behind this howling, do you?" He looked tense and worried.

"No, this feels like a human. It may be a Holy Knight," came Meliodas' serious response.

Ban then added in some details. "And there's not only one of them. I count two… three… four. It's a jumble, so I can't say for sure, but there's five or six of them."

I, meanwhile, just nodded along as though I already knew what they were talking about. I was really glad that they could tell so much just from the magic, seeing as how, with my sense of it, the magic could be from anything from a few humans to a horde of demons and I probably would hardly be able to tell the difference at this point.

From the direction of the town, a man's voice called out. "Hey, you kids! I've been looking for you! So this is where you were! You can't go into the woods!" That was when he caught sight of the group that the kids were with. "Eek! A giant?!"

"Oh, no need to fear," Peliodas told the man. "She's our friend."

"Why is everyone always so scared of giants, anyway?" I quietly asked Zephyr beside me. "I mean, they're just another race. No one sees a fairy and begs to not be killed, but as soon as they see a giant, they think they'll be eaten. Giants don't even eat humans, do they?"

Simply put, discrimination and stereotyping. He looked to me when he spoke. Giants are associated with fighting and war, not to mention that they're much larger than humans and, therefore, scary. Fairies, on the other hand, are associated with nature and magic. They're also usually child-sized or smaller, so humans tend to think of them as pretty or cute. He turned back to what was happening in front of us. That's what I believe from what I've gathered over the years, at least.

"-they're after some pretty villainous folks." I just barely managed to catch the end of what the man from the village had been saying.

Oops, I realized, I should've been listening to that, shouldn't I?

Harlequin and Ban quickly huddled around their captain and started murmuring worriedly. I could only make out the words "... they mean us…?" from Harlequin, "Most Likely," from Meliodas, and "...pain in the ass~... tracked us…?" from Ban. From those snippets, though, I could pretty much guess what had been said, though: someone around here was looking for The Seven Deadly Sins - probably Holy Knights.

While the were grouped up, I noticed that the little kids attempting to slip away. They were going out of their way to make sure that Armand didn't notice their departure. I thought to stop them, but decided against it. Who was I to tell them what to do? I was never good with kids anyway; that was Zephyr's forte.

"Ummm, is anything the matter?" Armand stepped back into the conversation.

"No no, nothing at all." Meliodas pushed the huddle apart before answering. "Well, we've gotta get going, so watch after your little friends."

"Oh, of course," the bespectacled man said with a smile, before turning in the direction of where the kids had previously been. "Master Pelio? Master… Pelio?" He just stared into the blank space, dread slowly filling his features.

Perhaps I should have said something...

(Bonus 1: First Day of Work Pt.1)

"You can't be serious."

"Why not? You're already wearing the uniform."

"But… Do I really have to do a twin act?" I took the proffered serving tray from Meliodas. The mischievous grin on his face made me want to smack him. Hard.

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, pausing in his duty of cleaning down the bar. "It's not my fault that your human form looks like Elizabeth."

"I'd do just as well in my fairy form, thank you very much."

"But you don't like showing your wings to everyone, do you?" He looked pointedly from my exposed wings to the cloak that sat, folded, on the stool next to me. "And you wearing that while serving won't do very well to attract customers."

"I-" But I couldn't really say anything against what he had just said. I looked shamefully to the bar that I had my elbows propped on, quieting my voice. "I'm trying to be better about it... It's hard to change a mindset that I've had for so long... Fine," the last word was louder. "I'll do it. But no one better be touching me."

"Of course."

Even in the crowded tavern, I could hear Zephyr's chuckle from across the room. I can't believe Meliodas-sama talked you into this. You know that he wouldn't have done anything to you if you had said no, right?

I wanted to retort so badly, but a fake smile stretched across my face as I set down a meat pie on the table in front of me. "Here's your order! Oh! Do you need any refills on your ale?"

"Yesshh pleeassse," one of the very drunk men at the table slurred. It was very obvious to me that he didn't need any more to drink. Perhaps I would water it down - he wouldn't notice. Meliodas wouldn't be very happy with me, though.

I turned just in time to see Elizabeth, who was serving the table next to mine, slip, dropping her tray of food in the process - for about the fourth time today. Knowing that she wasn't fast enough to catch it, I dove forward, stopping the falling food with my levitation in the same moment to give myself some extra time, and caught it. "Careful Nee-chan. I'm sure customer-sama would really appreciate not having to wait for another...:" I looked at the food in my hands. "...chicken and potatoes plate to be made." I set the food on the table, not even attempting to hand it back to the princess.

During all this, I kept the smile plastered on my face, and I felt my voice raise a few notches through the sentences. I had never done work like this before in my life.

Elizabeth's face was red from the embarrassment of messing up, and she opened her mouth to speak, but the bell that signalled the door opening jingled at just that moment. We both turned toward the front of the shop and spoke loudly, and slightly out of sync. "Hello! Welcome to the Boar's hat!"

"Sit wherever you want," I said by myself to the new customers.

Elizabeth followed up. "Someone will be with you in just a moment!"

"Mizzzz," the customer that I had served the meat pie just a moment ago spoke. "My ale - you zzzaaid yoou woouuuld…" His words became incomprehensible at this point, but I knew what he was asking.

"Yes, yes, of course, your refill." I ground my teeth. "I'll be right back with it."

But as I turned to head to the back to get a new tankard of ale, I felt something brush against my short skirt. I jumped slightly and looked back to find Meliodas there, holding the wrist of a drunken man's outstretched hand. "Tut, tut. No touching the servers."

It would've been so much cooler, had he not been using his free hand to fondle Elizabeth.

"Uggghhh…" I face-planted into my bed, simultaneously transforming back to my fairy form. "That was awful! How can anyone do that almost every day?!"

No clue. The fox's words were punctuated by small laughs, and a smile covered his face. When I just shot a glare his way, he did his best to take a deep breath, stop smiling, and smother his laughs. If you hating being a waitress so much, why don't you try to find something else to do around here? Surely there must be something.

I sat up, contemplating. "That does sound like a good idea! But what? Ban cooks. Harlequin buys ingredients. Hawk cleans up spills, and Meliodas cleans the tables. Diane and Elizabeth gather ingredients, while the boys hunt. What's left…?" Truthfully, I couldn't think of anything.

Well, what are you good at? He gave me a slight nudge. What are some skills you have?

"Not much," came my automatic response. The fox shade gave me a skeptical look, so I tried harder. "Well, I'm good at swimming, but that doesn't do anything for me. Animals like me and I'm pretty in touch with nature, as is obvious by both my being a fairy and the fact that I'm talking to you right now. I have most of the abilities that all fairies have, plus some that only a few have. I'm okay at sewing… I can draw… somewhat well? I'm okay at cooking, but Ban already does that, and far better than me. I'm pretty good at finding stuff, but that would be used to find ingredients, which Diane and Elizabeth already do. Ummm…"

Anything else?

"Baking…? I can bake, or, I could." When I noticed Zephyranthes eyeing my pointedly, I quickly added, "But that was over a thousand years ago! Who knows if what I learned back then even translates over to now? I haven't even used a modern oven before. And I'm certain that Ban could bake anything that I could, and make it better at that…"

You never know until you try. The fox stood from his place beside me and he trotted over towards the door.

I got up from my bed, confused. "Where are you going?"

I was just thinking that, since the tavern's closed for the day, now's probably a good time to check if you're still any good at baking. He glanced at me out of the side of his eye and licked his lips. Hmmm, I think that muffins sound pretty good right now. His tail swished as he disappeared out the door and down the stairs.

"Muffins, really?! I know you don't like muffins!" I called after him, trailing him out of the room.

(To be continued in First Day of Work Pt.2)