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Chapter 9 – Battle Scars

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Meliodas caressed his daughter's hair. She was sleeping, still feverish. Just like the ordinary children late, they had been asleep. Meliodas glanced up to the couple who fell asleep across him. Mordred and Bedivere soo persisted helping him to nurse her. The twin brothers, their best friends, Lancelot and Gawain had decided to stay for the night and they snored loudly on the couch.

After Merlin covered the twin brothers, Bedivere and Mordred with a blanket, Merlin looked down to her worried comrade "...are you still thinking about Lord Denzel's words?".

"I have three nieces and I never have seen a four years old little girl who can talk fluently like you. Do you never think there's something wrong with your daughter, Sir Meliodas? She's quite like a mature woman inside a child's body instead of a child, unlike an ordinary child around her age".

"Merlin, I am their father. Of course, I do know what, and when, every time my children acted strangely, I know all of it. For example, how precocious my children can be sometimes, just like today", caressing his daughter's face, Meliodas closed his eyes and sighed "more or less... now, I know why they can be precocious".

"it's just like Lord Denzel said, your first daughter indeed looked like a mature woman inside a child's body. Sometimes, I even think she's too mature for a girl around her age", Merlin conceded "do you think it has something to do with the fact that she has the 'Goddess Rhongomyniad' as her sort-of alter-ego?".

"probably".

Merlin had her own suspicion, she told him about her diagnoses that probably, aside from the fact she had a Holy Armament within her body, perhaps the 'Goddess Rhongomyniad' was indeed the part of his first daughter's self, sort-of another personality that had been existed within his daughter's self after she witnessing her mother's death. It caused great shock and trauma within her, for sure. So, to protect her beloved people and more importantly, herself, from another 'break down' or 'self-destruction', she created the Goddess personality within herself. That, or the Holy Armament called the Holy Lance Rhongomyniad indeed had its own personality, thus it acted as its owner's Guardian.

Such a mess Meliodas had with his first daughter. Not to mention, he also still had to think and figure out about his second daughter. Ever since they were born, Meliodas had a hunch feeling that their birth itself was an omen. Of all Elizabeth's reincarnations, Liz was the first who had conceived and given the lovely daughters birth to this world. It never happened before, so Meliodas thought something would be different this time. Something had to. He thought she wouldn't need to die again and the curse would break or have worn off. When Merlin helped the confinement, Liz didn't remember her and Liz never regained her past-lives memories. They thought the presence of their children could be the sign that they finally could live their life happily but this was how they ended up.

Liz died and was reborn as Elizabeth Liones.

Their daughters had lost their pieces of innocence and they had to learn to stand up with their own feet early, at such a young age.

"do you think you can put the spell to watch over her for 24 hours? So we can know and detect whenever it is every time the 'Goddess Rhongomyniad' personality arise to the surface?".

"I can, but I need the proper Sacred Treasure".

"We don't need to worry about it. Baltra promised he would give us everything we need to protect this Kingdom as Seven Deadly Sins are formed".

"speaking of which...", Merlin trailed off, something must have tickled her curiosity from the deep frown on her face and curious look on her eyes "what do you think about their 'Battle Scars'?".

Meliodas blinked. Battle Scars. Indeed, it was odd. Meliodas had thought about it ever since he saw the scars on his daughters' body. His first daughter had the scar on her torso like someone was piercing through their sword to stab her on her torso. His second daughter had the worse scar, which looked like someone had lunged its lance to pierce through her torso. The former might able to survive from the wound but also could die due to the severe bleeding. It pierced through her liver, after all. The liver was the fatal organ and when it was bleeding, it would be like a flowing river of blood. The latter was clearly fatal wound, Meliodas didn't think whoever got this kind of wound would able to survive. Liz was once worried about why their daughters were having such scars on their body when they were born but luckily Merlin was there to convince that the battle scars were just like the beauty marks or birth-marks on their case, which they were born with it but no harm could be happened to them just because of it. Liz decided to live it down after she got the explanation from Merlin that Liz thought as a mere midwife that her husband had dragged to help her confinement. Even if she was a proud and stern Holy Knight, Liz still had this soft spot on her heart and Liz thanked Merlin for her big help.

Back to main business, speaking of the 'Battle Scars', it was not only Meliodas' daughters but also the troublesome trio who had tagged along rather well with his daughters, (Bedivere, Lancelot and Gawain) and his adopted son (Tristan) who had the Battle Scars. Tristan had the battle scars like a Cross on his chest. Gawain had the scar of the sword's stab on his chest. Lancelot had this terrible burns on his back. Bedivere was the worst, he had so many scars on his body, especially on his right hand or The Shining Arm Airgetlám (remembering of what the Goddess Rhongomyniad said) thus the owner of the arm chose to wrap his right arm with the ivory cloth instead of a bandage. Merlin had convinced everyone that the ivory cloth was the 'seal' for the arm's too high-magic-power.

Meliodas crossed his hands before his chest and tipped his head backward, deep in thought "now you mention it... I think it's odd for them, to have the Battle Scars at such a young age".

"I will keep my eyes close to them all, then", Merlin smirked smugly "I do have the theory, but... I need confirmation from them, which is obviously hard to get, given at how young they are now. I guess I have to wait to watch and observe, but well, it's one of the fun for being a scientist".

Meliodas narrowed his eyes skeptically "oi, just don't make my daughters as your guinea pigs, okay?".

Merlin and Meliodas decided to discuss more their new comrades, about how to convince them to join them and, when it was needed, to 'capture' them. Unbeknownst for them, Mordred and Bedivere had been faking their sleep and eavesdropped the whole conversation. Bedivere noted to himself that he had to convey about this to his King when she got better. Mordred knew this only would mean her father and Aunt Merlin had to go somewhere for the important mission, to gather several people who would stay with them.

Mordred smirked, a glint of mischievous sparked on her eyes "it's only about time to sneak into Daddy's den, it seems~".

Her twin sister had gotten better, Arthuria was already recovering from her high fever, thankfully, for her huge relief. Now Merlin and Meliodas were busy with something on the Castle, Lady Gwen was sent by Hendrickson to 'take care of the baby-sitting'. It seemed Lady Gwen happily accepted the offer from Merlin and Meliodas to become the babysitter for the kids as long as they were on the mission. More income was something the Lady was needed right now. Lady Gwen's husband passed away not too long before she gave birth Mash, so Lady Gwen Kyrielight had to raise Mash Kyrielight alone as a single-parent. More or less, Gwen understood how hard it had been, to be the single-parent, so she was in the same boat with Meliodas. Gwen quickly befriended with Meliodas and Merlin. Although Arthuria and Mordred clearly showed discomfort and rather kept their distance with the Lady (because of her resemblance with Guinevere), Meliodas and Merlin didn't fret over it too much since Arthuria usually would cling to Bedivere (much to Meliodas' and Mordred's irritation and dismay) when both did the daily chores (like cleaning the house) while Mordred would prefer to stay and play with Mash and her little brother, Tristan.

When Mordred tiptoed and grabbed the knot, she heard someone sternly said from behind her "Mordred, whatever you're up to, I don't think it's a good idea".

Mordred froze, slowly looking behind over her shoulder. She quickly released the knob, turned her back against the door of the den and chuckled nervously as she scratched her head like the mischievous kid got caught by her parents when they were up to their mischievousness "ahahaha... Hi, sister! How about Mash and Triss? Aren't you going to take care of them as long as Lady Gwen is cooking for our lunch?".

"yes, I just want to call you because Lady Gwen just finished the stew. Oh, you don't have to worry about Mash and Triss because Ollie and Leon helped me to take care of them", Arthuria pointed behind her with her chin to where Bedivere carried baby-Tristan on his arms and Gawain carried baby-Mash on his arms before Arthuria smiled sweetly with threatening aura surrounding her body "now~ care to tell me about what you are up to, my dearest sister? What do you want to do, with trying to sneak into father's den, huh? You do realize we are not allowed to enter father's den, otherwise, he will scold us or even give the good spanks to us, right?".

Usually, when Mordred caused the trouble, Arthuria also would get dragged at her mischievous and as a result, their parents would punish them both. There was no way Arthuria would let her causing more troubles.

Mordred very cleverly tried to divert the conversation "um... wait, where is Marlo? I thought he is your partner in crime, Leon?".

Gawain lifted a hand and chirped "oh, he's busy on spying and helping his first love!".

Out of nowhere, Lancelot snatched Mash from Gawain's hands before sending the flying kick to his twin "who is the one you called as my first love, huh?!".

Sure enough, Gawain recovered rather quickly before he teased his furiously blushed twin brother, poking him on the cheek with a wicked grin on his face "who else? The beautiful Lady Gwen. I wonder if you only can set your eyes on the taken woman, but since she is a widow, I only can say 'good luck, my bro'. You have a long way to go, after all~".

"I have a hunch feeling that you're just trying to tease me and I really want to smack your face for it", Lancelot twitched his eyebrow. Just if his hands weren't full because of carrying Mash, he surely did punch him on the face. When Mash waved her hands upwards which one of her hands landed on his chin, Mash giggled innocently as the usual baby would. It melted Lancelot's heart and his bad mood lit up immediately as he turned his back "are you hungry, Mash? Let's go, time for your mother to feed you".

After they had lunch, Gwen offered them all to have a little picnic in the garden. Arthuria agreed because it seemed like the perfect distraction to talk with Bedivere since her Knight told her that he had something he needed to report to her. Mordred agreed too, it seemed the perfect distraction for her to sneak into Meliodas' den with help from her partner in crime.

"it's the perfect time to hide and seek with my own family, again, it seems", after pretending to play the ball with Bedivere, Arthuria sat on the ground and rolling the ball on her hand back and forth, acting as if she was bored playing ball and decided to take a rest for a moment. When Bedivere sat in front of her, she whispered after she cautiously glanced sideways to where Gwen still fed the baby with Lancelot as her companion "so, what happened? What do you want to report to me?".

After they made sure no one would hear their conversation (Gwen was too busy with Mash and Lancelot helped her while taking care of Tristan. Mordred went to the bathroom with Gawain, so it was safe for them to talk), Bedivere told Arthuria about what he heard from Meliodas and Merlin's conversation that night.

After she gathered the information about how the adults thought of her, Arthuria concluded she had to be more careful "...I see. I've been lying to everyone, after all. No wonder they have their own doubt and suspicions".

"I think you just need to act like... well, just the way you are, Lady".

"elaborate".

"you are indeed a woman within a child's body, but to act like a child until you reach the mature age... it would bring no harm, right? Why don't you just relax and spend your time as a girl".

"like an ordinary girl", Arthuria tilted her head and frowned in deep thought "...unfortunately, I have no preference. Unless... I just need to act like the way I was, when I was known as the Saber Lily".

"if it's what you think you need to do", Bedivere nodded "not to mention... I think I prefer the way you live your life now because you're free to choose the path you wanted to walk and you can genuinely smile from the deep of your heart. For that alone, I'm grateful...".

Arthuria blushed "...sometimes you can be blunt and say the embarrassing things without shy, huh?".

"eh?!", just realizing what he pointed out, Bedivere sputtered with a blushing face "no, not that.. what I mean, uh...".

Arthuria looked back to where Mordred and Gawain had gone. Why were they taking a too long time?

Meanwhile, Mordred who had dragged Gawain as her partner-in-crime successfully entered Meliodas and Merlin's den. Ignoring the fuss of confused Gawain, Mordred found what she wanted to know "ah, found it!".

"what is it?", Gawain fully knew that he needn't worry about her ability to read. They could read just fine, but Gawain also was curious, that was why he helped Mordred and Gawain raised his eyebrow in confusion when he found what exactly the Red Knight had been seeking "the proposal of Seven Deadly Sins? This is what you're looking for here? The proposal to create a team that has been approved by King Baltra".

With a mischievous smirk on her face, Mordred jumped up and down in excitement "obviously, there's a list of the members to describe what kind of people they are, right? I want to know since Daddy said they will stay with us. The more people in our house, the merrier!".

Gawain chuckled before he started flipping the documents "okay, let's see... other than Lady Merlin and Sir Meliodas, there are five other people".

A/N :

If you're wondering why Arthuria always clinging to Bedivere or why Mordred always dragged Gawain or Lancelot to her mess, something like that, yeah, let's try to see if their POV. Arthuria only knew that Bedivere indeed has his past-life memories but Arthuria and Bedivere don't have the idea if Mordred, Lancelot, and Gawain also have their memories or not, so the two former are still being cautious. The same case with Mordred, Lancelot, and Gawain. At least their ridiculous hide-and-seek will end once they gather the idea that they all have their past life memories due to their mission. For Tristan and Mash Kyrielight (she is Galahad's reincarnation here in this fic of mine), they are still baby, it's enough to be a point here. How do you expect to know what's going through the baby's mind? Anyway, they will meet with the Sins in the next chapter, finally.