A/N.: Hello dear readers! I am terribly sorry for the one month wait, I had to fill many papers and other things for my soon-to-be new year in university, a perhaps possible exchange study in oversea and also some orientation crisis over my hesitation on my future orientation choices, wherever to continue the cursus I'm doing right now or to stop it before too much money is used on the school fees or I get too old and it gets too late to change…
Anyway, sorry for letting out my personal problems on this, everyone wants to read instead, right? I apologize for the lack of originality in comparison of the previous version, but there is some additional text and minimal changes in it! I hope that you'll still like it!
A personal thanks to the reviewers, especially to merendinoemiliano and Maya Yoan! I'll do my best to write more interesting scenes in the future! And good luck for your own fanfics too! Also thank you to all the people who had the kindness to like and follow my story! I would be even happier if you could review your opinion though (^^)
"..." Lill silently opened her eyes of different colors and looked down at the morning light that came through the door's small opening. She squinted her eyes slightly at the blindness of it before stopping enduring it and raised her hand to cover the light from her eyes.
The energetic sound of the birds chirping could be heard and there was also the wet yet fresh faint smell of the morning dew staining the leaves outside.
After observing it a bit, Lill stood up and patted the dust off her long skirt with her hands then walked towards the exit. Before pulling the door open and climbing down the ladder, she gave one last look behind her.
All the books she read last night (so all the books present on the shelves) were messily placed on the ground or empiled one over another into some kind of Babel tower. Lill paused a second to think, and…
'...I'll clean it after.' And she gave up on cleaning behind her for now and opted to go downward first.
'It's not because I'm too lazy to clean behind me, I will just do this later, yes.' After descending through the ladder, Lill tried to convince herself for some reason while climbing down the stairs leading to the third floor, towards Elizabeth's room.
"—?"
Strangely, the one she encountered first was Meliodas who just walked out of the said room (or maybe not since he literally owns the whole place), with his hands in his pants' pockets.
Meliodas also happened to meet her gaze when he looked up and then smiled as he raised one hand in greeting her, "Oh! Morning, er... Lill, was it? I was just about to go call you, what a great timing!"
Lill returned the greeting with a slightly hesitant nod as she approached him, "Good morning, Meliodas. Yes, it's Lill. Is there something you need?"
"Breakfast, you know? Breakfast. Elizabeth already woke up, if you want to go talk to her and then head down to the first floor together!"
"Understood."
"Great! Then, see ya!" Meliodas waved and then ran down the stairs until the main hall first, probably intending to calm down a hungry pig and prepare breakfast.
Lill stared at the direction where he went with a slight pensive expression before deciding to go towards the entrance of Elizabeth's room, which was opened. And for some reason, Elizabeth (who was still dressed in the form-fitting jumpsuit she wore under the large and heavy armor) was staring intently at something on her bed.
Feeling curious about the reason for such a reaction, Lill called her out and asked: "Good morning, Elizabeth. Is there something wrong?"
Elizabeth looked up at the sound of her voice and then turned to her with a smile on her face (which seemed to be quite free from the fatigue she felt yesterday, it was a good thing that she was able to recover enough and sleep soundly). "Ah, good morning to you too Lill! Actually, there was something I was a bit troubled with…"
Lill thus walked to where Elizabeth were and when she stopped in front of the bed, she saw that there was a few pieces of clothing on it, probably what Meliodas prepared for Elizabeth to wear since she didn't had anything else than her jumpsuit—
"...?!"
HOLY KNIGHT SAGA,
FOREST OF WHITE DREAMS ARC:
SWORD OF THE HOLY KNIGHT.
On this day, an emergency meeting was immediately held among our folks. The topic being none other than this: Elizabeth's current attire aka, the waitress uniform.
"Now that I look carefully, isn't this quite an outrageous outfit for a princess?"
"What do you mean by 'looking at it carefully'?! You can tell it's outrageous from a single glance! And not only for the princesses but for anybody!" Hawk looked at Lill in shock and astonishment as he pointed his hoof towards an embarrassed Elizabeth.
What Elizabeth was made to wear was indeed, not something any respectable princess should wear: a pink buttoned shirt with a black ribbon and a midriff exposing her belly button, a dark mini skirt, strapped with an orange belt, a black stocking on her left leg, and black-white heels. THIS was supposedly the Boar Hat's waitress uniform.
A very revealing and quite form-fitting uniform that showed off boldly the mature feminine assets that a 16 years old girl who just entered puberty and still in her growth period shouldn't possess yet… What happened to the fact that teenagers (especially girls) were supposed to be awkward late-bloomers?
Meliodas just put his hand on his chin nonchalantly as he started to turn around a flustered Elizabeth (the reason not only because the attire she was currently wearing but also due to the intense stares she is receiving), like a shark surrounding its prey, "Is that so? I find it pretty fashionable though!"
"What do you mean by 'fashionable'?! Your desires are openly shown to the world!"
"Is this the latest trend?" Lill asked Meliodas who answered her back with a radiant smile and his index and middle fingers making a peace sign, "Yup, it is!"
"No, it's not! Don't you dare to believe him!" Hawk immediately interrupted them before things could escalate further and eventually evolve into something irreparable.
The thing he tried to avoid was that Elizabeth would eventually start believing this too, she was really innocent (not that it was a bad thing) but also very naïve (and this was a bad thing). He felt that she wouldn't know how to take a joke, or rather how to make differences between jokes and reality.
Lill then switched her gaze back at Elizabeth's attire, the latter feeling slightly nervous under Lill's scrutinizing gaze. And after thinking a bit, Lill made an "Hmm…" sound before Meliodas leaned over and asked, "So, what's your opinion?"
Lill then pointed at Elizabeth's pink top and shook her head, "No good. There's not enough covering."
"Finally someone who can understand!" Hawk yelled in victory, glad that the girl had at least enough common sense to affirm that and ready to cry tears of joy and belief. It's been years since he was stuck with this pervert to the extent that he was almost under the impression that most of the "normality" in his life was lost since he met him.
Meliodas crossed his arms and hunched at Elizabeth even closer (making her even more nervous by the same occasion), "Hm... You think? Personally I think I designed a masterpiece."
"...So you were the one who asked for it to be like that?" Lill looked at him with an incredulous look on her face while Meliodas nodded seriously, "I did."
"You pervert!" Hawk cried but both didn't care much about his opinion to answer him, too focused on their own discussion, as Elizabeth started to blush in embarrassment, being the topic of their talks and with how they were looking at her as if they were studying her...
"The sleeves should be longer. And why are you only making her wear one knee-sock? I don't understand the meaning behind that. What is wrong with wearing both?"
"It's called 'fashion' if you can't understand."
"Besides, she can still catch a cold. And what would you do if she were to get hurt because there weren't clothes covering her skin?"
"I know she's clumsy but not to that point, come on."
"...Uuh..." Elizabeth just blushed even redder in embarrassment as she lowered her head to avoid meeting their gazes, suddenly remembering her many falls due to her clumsiness, she couldn't retort anything back.
"...It's not what I meant." Lill said a bit more slowly while Meliodas raised an eyebrow in confusion, "Then what do you mean?"
"..."
"Lill?"
"No, nevermind."
"...Is that so?"
"Yes."
"Hmmm..." Meliodas gave a loud hum while Elizabeth and Hawk looked at each other in confusion, and then Meliodas' face suddenly became mischievous as he raised a finger, "Oh, but what about the length of the skirt then~?"
"I have absolutely no problem with this."
"JUST WAIT A SECOND?!" Hawk yelled out all of the sudden while Elizabeth looked at her surprised with his eyes close to pop out from their sockets, "What do you mean by 'no problem with this'?! Isn't the skirt the largest problem of all?! It's barely covering her pan—MPHMM?!"
"—H-Hawk! I beg you, please don't say it any further!" Elizabeth immediately ran forward (almost tripping by the process) and covered Hawk's mouth closed with both her hands, her face blushing a deep shade of red and she was on the verge of tears.
It seems that just the beginning of the word "pan—" was enough to give the pure-hearted princess such an overreacted reaction… What would have happened if Hawk had fully finished saying the word?
Lill raised an eyebrow at their reactions, "Well, I mean... since we will keep on moving around, shouldn't she wear something that doesn't restrain the movement of her legs?"
Hawk removed Elizabeth's hands with his hoof as he begrudgingly said, "You indeed have a point here, but still...!"
"Of course she may feel a bit cold but it's better to be able to run without hindrance when you need to, right?" Lill asked curiously, tilting her head on the side.
"As expected of Lill! I knew that you would understand." Meliodas had a smirk on his face as he gave his newfound "partner-in-crime" a thumbs-up, of course Lill didn't understand it with so many "?" signs over her head.
"Lies! You just met her yesterday!"
'...For some reasons, I feel like the two aren't on the same page at all.' Elizabeth thought with a nervous smile on her face as Hawk started to scold the two all over and again while she was watching a little behind.
One was focusing on the "appeal, discovering and eye-candy" while the other was focusing on the "comfort, easy-to-move-iness and the security". It would be of course obvious that those two wouldn't be on the same page.
Well, Meliodas seems to have noticed it but still played along with that while Lill didn't seem to have realized the real meaning of his words and was still confused... Indeed as he said, she was surprisingly slow over the most trivial and obvious things, how mysterious.
...And thus the emergency meeting ended quite quickly in a rather dull way.
"...Kyah!" Elizabeth yelped when she suddenly felt a cold wind brushing her behind, she immediately turned around and saw that Meliodas was the one who lifted up her skirt, showing off her light-colored underwear bodly.
The man himself had a perfect nonchalant expression on his face, as if he didn't do anything immoral and just did a casual action akin to opening a door or a window. "Don't worry, it's just a size-check."
The moment he finished his words, he was suddenly dragged away from her by Hawk, the pig's teeths pulling violently at his hair and the sleeve (his right cheek too), to the point of deforming his face, making it stretch like some kind of elastic.
Despite his mouth being busy with the pulling and stretching (of the person in front of him), Hawk still managed to speak out clearly: "You idiooot! You're gonna make our precious eye candy run away!"
And despite his cheek being pulled to the extent his intern molar could be seen, Meliodas answered in a similarly clear way, "It's my duty as the owner."
"Why are you checking out the underwear? It wasn't you who prepared it for her, right?" Lill nearby blinked twice in confusion, "I don't think that store owners should have that kind of duty… or do they?"
"N-No, they don't… or at least, I think they don't." Elizabeth laughed nervously when Lill directed a questioning gaze towards her. Then she remembered something and turned her gaze to Meliodas, "Um… Lord Meliodas. There's one thing... that I'd like to ask you about."
"Hm? Ask me anything!" Meliodas, who just finished his brawl(?) with Hawk, looked back at her with his arms crossed and a serious expression on his face. ...He would almost look cool with that serious expression on his childish face if it weren't for the hilarious way hair was still fixed in a horizontal direction.
Hawk near him, who had enough to argue with him, just snorted. "So full of yourself!"
Taking this as an okay for her to continue, Elizabeth braced herself and asked. "Are you the Seven Deadly Sins… Are you really as much of a villain as everyone says you are? ...If so, Lord Meliodas… W-What kind of crime did you commit?"
After all, they were treated as one of the most wanted criminals in Liones' history, the many deaths that occurred during that day 10 years ago were without doubt real, the Sins are famous enough that horrifying stories about them even reach outside the Kingdom, and even after their disappearance, the wanted posters never stopped being renewed. Yet the one who was supposed to be the leader of those criminals treated her so kindly… So Elizabeth could hardly believe that the comrades he trusted to fight together with all this time were bad people too.
"...!" Elizabeth then finally got out of her thoughts and noticed with a gasp that everyone turned their attention to her, and her only, staring at her silently, and that made her realize that maybe her question was asked in a rude manner.
So she quickly started to shake her hands in panic as she voiced out the reason for her question to dispel any possible misunderstandings. "I think that everyone is just misunderstanding something…! Because you… saved someone like me, whom you didn't even know!"
While Elizabeth was looking at him with eyes filled with trust, Meliodas gave a small pause before answering her, his hands put on both his sides, "What kinda crime, huh…? 10 years ago… I roamed throughout Britannia, stealing all the underwear in sight."
"What a terrible sin..." Lill commented flatly, her tone hardly carrying any feelings.
And in contrast of her lack of reaction despite her words, Elizabeth's face immediately went back red with a "POOF!" sound, as she stammered over the word before passing it, being unable to say it. "Under… Y-You are lying, right?"
"Yeah, it's a lie." Meliodas replied without missing a beat, almost making Elizabeth fall in exasperation.
But he wasn't finished yet, instead this time he actually had the decency of averting his eyes and looking down before rubbing the back of his head, "Actually, I walked around groping the breasts of over a thousand women."
"But, how are you still not arrested right now?" Lill said again, a deadpan expression on her face
"Brea…" Elizabeth flushed an even deeper shade of red, holding a hand close to her mouth in shock as she could barely repeat the "crude word" Meliodas just innocently said, "Y-You are kidding, right?!"
And he immediately turned back to her, his previous awkward(?) expression nowhere to be seen as he gave a similar answer and reaction to the previous one. "Yup, kidding."
"...!" And once more, she almost fell in exasperation. However this time, perhaps it's because it's the second time, the impact was lower than the first one, and she stood back up, "M-Lord Meliodas, please stop making fun of me…! O-Or is it that you really committed a crime that you cannot speak about?"
Meliodas actually went silent for a moment, his expression unbreaking, but then answered casually, "Something like that."
"...Huh?" However, that pause made Elizabeth falter slightly, his reaction confused her and it started to worry her, when…
"So in clear the Seven Deadly Sins are just a bunch of criminals who got arrested for sexual harassment?"
"...?!"
"No, no, no Lill! I'm the Sin of Wrath, not the Sin of Lust!"
"Just what kind of wrath involves sexual harassment?"
Elizabeth almost fell once again, and this time it wasn't Meliodas' fault, but before she could give a proper reaction other than a really tired smile with tears at the corners of her eyes—
"PUGI!" A loud sound made by the giant pig outside resonated through the shop, making the floor and the bottles on the shelves tremble as the surroundings started to sway over one side. Elizabeth, who was surprised by the suddenness, couldn't keep on holding her balance and was about to fall forward (for real this time).
"Whoaa, watch out!"
"Hey, hey!"
However before she could completely lose her footing and reach the ground, Meliodas ran to her with an incredible speed and caught her, his arms wrapped around her back and his face stuffed into her chest. The slightly joyful tone over the situation in his apparently worried voice didn't go unnoticed by an angry Hawk.
Lill, on the contrary, didn't seem much fazed as she just looked around her (perhaps she got used to it after seeing it so many times, but it's hard to know since she didn't show it much on her face). "We've stopped?"
Meliodas put Elizabeth down and removed herself from her, smiling as he uttered the next words: "Looks like we're here."
"We're here... where is 'here'...?"
"The next village where we can get information: the Bernia Village!"
"...Bernia Village… also known as the Village of the Ale God? Renowned for its ale?"
"Oh? You sure know your stuff! Yep, that's the one!" Meliodas gave a thumbs-up at Lill's short description, "Do you perhaps drink it too?"
Lill shook her head in denial, "No. I've heard a lot about it though, the people in my surroundings were always praising it."
"Heh… Then these people have good taste! What about you? Have you never thought about trying any? I promise that you won't regret it!"
"N-No, she can't, Lord Meliodas! It's way too early for her!" Elizabeth immediately rejected the idea, Lill also nodded in unison, "Yes. Though it makes me curious, I also believe that it's still too early for me."
"Okay, that's too bad." Meliodas relented as he snickered a "Nishishi" at their matching answers, the only thing differentiating them is that while Elizabeth was flustered to the point of panicking, Lill was as composed as ever.
"But is there truly information about the Seven Deadly Sins in Bernia Village?"
"Well even if there's not, I need to restock our ale reserve, this place is still functioning as a bar after all, and Bernia Ale is among our top sales. Which is why…" Meliodas stopped his words and a certain gravity could be felt through the floor, it was trembling and shaking as if it was sinking in the ground, as if a small earthquake was taking place.
Elizabeth yelped in surprise but neither Meliodas and Hawk seemed to be surprised, or rather they seemed to be expecting it…? So Lill thought that it must be something akin to a daily occurrence to them, and if it was the case then there should be no reason to worry about it.
When the whole ordeal(?) finally ended, Elizabeth gave a deep sigh of relief that the floor she was standing on finally returned to its unmoving state. Meliodas, him, was finally able to give the continuation of his previous words as he faced Lill and said, "So, can I count on you for house-sitting this time?"
"...Eh?"
"Why?"
Both Elizabeth and Hawk had their respective reactions, and Lill too blinked blankly at Meliodas's words. But then she frowned slightly, "...Did you forget the job I was assigned to?"
"No, of course! But what you're wearing is just… well, too showy."
"..."
...Indeed, there's no way to retort to his words.
A Victorian-style dress would definitely stand out, especially coupled with her too doll-like appearance, among the common folk. Still covering herself with the long hooded cape she borrowed from Elizabeth should be possible…?
"Besides, I'm here, so don't worry too much about it and relax."
"...!" Though Lill was unresponsive to the previous words, she showed a reaction at these last few words.
However, maybe it was because he didn't know her well enough, Meliodas couldn't decipher the meaning behind that expression, and when he glanced besides him, it seems that it was the same for Hawk and Elizabeth.
"..." Lill stared at him with a dumbfounded expression, one that he couldn't understand, but eventually nodded, "...Yes, you are right."
For some reason, it sounded like she talked about something entirely different, but since there was no proof about it the question wasn't asked. Well, since she finally gave her approbation, then it should be fine, right?
"Well in the meantime, you can occupy yourself with what's in the shop. Make yourself comfortable!" So Meliodas said as he sent a last look over his shoulder before leaving through the door, immediately followed by Elizabeth and Hawk.
"We won't take too long, I promise!"
"Don't eat any of my scraps, okay?!"
"I won't."
In the end, Meliodas accompanied Elizabeth and Hawk left for Bernia Village, leaving Lill behind with the duty of house-sitting (or guarding the interior of the shop as one may say).
"I did say that you can make yourself at home so I don't wanna criticize you or anything but aren't you making yourself way too comfortable in other people's places?" Meliodas asked dryly with half-lidded eyes.
When Meliodas, Elizabeth and Hawk came back to the Boar Hat, they found Lill sitting at the bar counter with a piece of bread on her plate with a cup of tea nearby and a small pot containing sugar cube and a jar of milk nearby.
"I apologize for the lateness, because of some incident, we took more time than expected to come back." Elizabeth smiled in apology while Lill waved her worries off with one hand.
It didn't take long for everyone to start to walk towards her, then Hawk frowned slightly as he started to lean forward his hooves on the bar counter's table and started to smell what's on Lill's plate and in her cup, "*Sniff, sniff!* ...How weird, why does everything smell so sweet?"
The piece of ginger bread on the plate Lill was using was supposed to be conserved with a little salt yet it was right now all covered with powdered sugar. While the tea, which was supposed to have mild-bitterness, was full of milk and covered with a still unmelted small sugar mountain... An ultimate combination of over sweetness enough to make one vomit sugar...
"Did she get the amount wrong?" Hawk mumbled in confusion.
However this later proved to be wrong when Lill brought the bread to her mouth and started to munch slowly, and brought the tea to her lips and drank the incomplete mixture still being unfathered...
As the others cringed in reaction, as if the over sweetness of both the bread and tea could be transmitted to them through telepathy even though they knew it was just their imaginations. If she always drank her tea like that, it was a mystery for why she had yet received toothaches about it.
Elizabeth send a questioning look to Meliodas, hoping to get an answer from that unexpected sight, "Er... S-So, Lill likes sweet things...?"
"...Never expected that..." Meliodas mumbled that deep in thought, it seems that since it was unexpected to him too, he wouldn't be able to answer her questions.
"But even if she has a sweet tooth, isn't that overdoing it...?" Hawk muttered, torn between impressment and slight disgust.
As the Captain Leftovers, he should eat everything in his plate without discrimination, but still he didn't think that he could still pull it off with a mountain of sugar covering his scraps. Wherever he should respect the girl for her courage or be slightly afraid of her overuse of condiments.
Meliodas then turned towards the last newcomer behind him, "Well, well, well... How about you explain to us what's going on here?"
Meliodas, Elizabeth and Hawk returned from Bernia Village, seemed to be engaged in some kind of serious talk, however Lill's attention was onto something else. She wasn't focusing on the conversation at all and instead had a slightly strained expression on her face accompanied with a dark glint in her eyes.
'...Not enough sugar, definitely not.' So she thought as she directed her empty plate and teacup.
...Ironically, her thoughts were actually nothing that serious, or at least for the others. But for her it was quite crucial.
"—Lill."
Of course, it wasn't like she didn't put enough sugar in her teacup or on her bread, but just that there was not enough variety. Powdered sugar on bread tastes good… but so do other condiments like jams, honey, chocolate, etc…
"Lill?"
Ah, putting the first two into tea also sounds pretty good! However, the problem is how to get it?
Of course through shopping! There should definitely be some in the markets in towns! She doesn't mind the ones from the villages too!
"Oi, Lill~?"
...The main problem is whether she would be allowed to buy some or not...
"LILL, ARE YOU LISTENING?!"
"No, I'm not."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Lill opened her eyes wide awake in shock due to the loud shouting near her ear, but then she blinked her eyes in a confused attitude and then directed her gaze towards the nearby Meliodas, who seemed to be a little way too close to her preference with his hand near his mouth as if he was creating an echo...
"So it was you the culprit, you rascal. Are you trying to turn me deaf?" Lill asked with a glare.
"Scary, scary." Meliodas mumbled so but he sounded way too nonchalant to be truly scared, "But still Lill, I knew that you were a blunt person but at least try to lie in those kinds of situations? Or can you even properly lie in the first place?"
"How rude of you, I must inform you that I am a really talented liar."
"Really? From what I have just seen, it doesn't seem to be the case."
"It's true though... Hm?" Lill then frowned slightly upon finding a fourth presence in the Boar Hat.
One that arrived together with the three others who returned, but whom she never paid attention to. To be more clear, it was a short and young boy with light brown hair that was skipped out in two like a broom and a scar under his left cheek.
...And apparently, it seems that they already fed him something with how there was a plate full of bird meat with a huge bite mark on it. Just how much did she miss?
'Who is he?' Lill stared at him for one second, then two, and after the third...
"Oh!" She slammed her fist into her palm as if she was showing some recognition before pointing her index finger towards the boy, "I see, your illegitimate child, is it?"
"Eh...?" Elizabeth, Hawk and even the little kid were shocked by her words.
Meliodas too was surprised at first, but his face soon turned into a mischievous expression as he moved at a lightning speed.
Suddenly Elizabeth let out a squeak upon feeling an arm wrapping itself around her waist, seeing that Meliodas was the one who did so as he was pulling her closer to himself and then exclaimed with a smile on his face, "Indeed! This is the crystallization of our love, please welcome him!"
"...EEEHHH?!" Elizabeth and the kid cried out.
The kid was more horrified and shocked than anything while Elizabeth was surprised at Meliodas' bold announcement and embarrassed about its contents. Her face flushed scarlet to the tips of her ears.
"What are you talking about?! There's no way such a thing is possible!" Hawk cried out angrily at what Lill was insinuating.
It was unknown if Meliodas actually sired some children or not (his appearance hadn't changed since when he met him 10 years ago after all) but it seems that to him, the thought of a girl like Elizabeth would actually do such a thing with him was impossible.
Lill just remained indifferent as she ignored what Hawk said and continued to speak with her fingers crossed together, "Your child doesn't resemble you at all."
"Well not every child takes after their parents, you know?" Meliodas answered without missing a beat.
"I can't deny that..." For some reason Lill averted her eyes for a second.
It was then that Elizabeth's embarrassment reached its peak and she started to panic and sweat in nervosity, "I-It's wrong! I don't have any children with Lord Meliodas! Mead is a villager from Bernia Village!"
"Of course that I know that."
"...Eh?"
"I was just joking, and so was Meliodas." Lill said, her expression unchanging
"I-Is that so...?" Elizabeth breathed out of relief as Meliodas finally let his hand go off her waist as he said, "Geez, you're no fun Lill, letting the cat out of the bag so early. Though it's true that I've got no kids."
"...I see." Lill looked down, deep in thought.
"You shouldn't even joke about such things!" Hawk bit and pulled on the strands of Meliodas' hair with his teeths, making the blond all disheveled. Then he directed his glare towards Lill, "And YOU! Don't make jokes with such a serious face! We almost believed that it was true!"
"I just happen to have this face." Lill replied blankly.
"Pugyaa! That's not what I mean!"
"Then what are you trying to say?"
"Gah! Just shut up already!"
"What... so it was truly a lie, huh...?"
"...?" All of them turned towards the boy, or Mead, clenched the hems of his shirt with his trembling hands.
Lill sighed and then added, "Well while it's true that some children may not take after their parents, but if they truly inherited their blood then they should at least have some similarities wherever it is physically or mentally. Well putting the physical attributes aside, mental attributes can also be inherited by adopted children not related by blood."
"There's no need for such a long and precise explanation, you know?" Even though Meliodas just told her that flatly, Lill just shrugged in response.
It seems that Mead and Lill weren't talking about the same topic but perhaps he was instinctively sensing a certain tension coming from Mead, Meliodas tried to ease the mood a bit, but it didn't seem to work unfortunately.
"So you're making fun of me too?! Just because I'm an orphan?!"
"...!"
"..."
"...?"
Everyone had a different reaction to his words, Elizabeth gasped and looked down with an expression that showed guilt, Meliodas just stayed silent and stared back at him while Lill just raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"I don't remember saying such a thing though?"
"Liar! I bet that you were mocking me too! About the fact that I'm an orphan, that I'm parentless!"
"I-It's wrong, Mead! I-I'm sure that neither Lill or Lord Meliodas were thinking about such things! Besides, I was too an orphan and often did things to get my parents' attention! But..." Elizabeth tried to calm him down but with no positive results.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up! Everyone's the same! Always looking down on me because I'm a kid like that! I hate this! I hate everyone! Always isolating me like that..."
Meliodas rubbed his head awkwardly, things were going in a bad direction. It seems that he just invited the boy over to find out wherever he truly knew the location of one of the Seven Deadly Sins, but to think that things turned like this…
Seeing all those reactions, Lill tried to think again about everything that has been just said. So it seems that her attempt to joke and lighten the strangely gloomy mood ended up a failure despite Meliodas's help.
From his words, the boy is an orphan, and one that apparently lost his parents at a too young age to even remember them. As an orphan even if he was raised by an affectionate guardian, he would still yearn for the closeness possessed by children and their blood-related parents. So the possibility that the two strangers he just met being his parents actually gave him faint hope.
So it couldn't be helped if he misunderstood those words in a bad way, of course his anger was understandable and Lill did feel that she owed him an apology, but still it was…
"Pathetic." Everyone was shocked to see that the one who uttered that single word was no other than Lill herself.
"What did you say?!" Mead screamed back angrily, fury in his eyes, his face red with anger.
While Elizabeth started to worry over what might happen next, Meliodas seemed to be amazed at what Lill just said while Hawk started to look forward (both positively and in a negative manner).
Yet Lill's strong and slightly intimidating gaze didn't waver and her firm facial expression didn't change either, this made the earlier furious Mead flinch and waver slightly in fear.
She leaned back on her seat and started to speak with her usually neutral voice. "So you are actually an orphan, huh? Well I was not aware of your situation until you just said it earlier so if I accidentally offended you with my words, I shall take them back and apologize. However there is one thing I won't take back; pathetic."
"What?!"
"Exactly what I said. Indeed you are an orphan, indeed you are parentless and your circumstances are indeed unfortunate. However, the way you are acting as if you were the most miserable in the world just irritates me."
"Y-You, what do you even know about me?!"
"I know nothing about you personally, but there are many things that I can deduce from your appearance alone. Your clothes are clean and proper, you don't have a too thin build and your cheeks are round and puffy, your steps are steady and I can't find any traces of physical handicaps about you."
"And what are you supposed to know with that?! How dare you try to lecture me when you don't even know anything?!"
"That you have a proper caretaker, are being fed properly and that you aren't being physically abused. Despite being not related by blood, that person is properly taking care of you, so why are you being so unsatisfied?"
"T-That's because..."
"There are people who are suffering far more in the world compared to you, everything that you have currently they have nothing of, yet all I can see from you is just simply some childish selfishness. Why are human beings always seeking for more than what they already have would be something I would never understand."
Though misfortune did happen to him and took away some of his previous happiness, that boy didn't understand that he was still blessed with people by his side, taking care of him, he took it for granted and that eventually led him to cause them trouble.
"And from what I can see, it's not as if your caretaker was not affectionate with you, a child as young as you would have a hard time doing houseworks on your own so that caretaker is probably doing everything in your stead, right? But it seems that you had done something that you feel guilty about and ended up creating some distances between you and that person... well everything is just based on my own assumptions so you feel free to correct me if I am wrong."
"U-Uuh..."
From his open facial and physical reactions, all Lill's statements were all spot-on so Mead couldn't find anything to say in order to deny her words.
"L-Lill..." Elizabeth was reaching an hesitant hand towards Lill, trying to call out to her to stop talking further. Near her, Mead was already on the verge of crying as he could only tremble silently as he was holding back his not-so-quiet sobs, tears on the verge of falling down on his cheeks.
"Oi, even I think that you are going too far there." Hawk too was showing a disapproving look. Meliodas, him, continued to watch everything silently, his expression unreadable.
But then, Lill said another unexpected thing: "However, you aren't the only one who is in the wrong."
"...Eh?" Mead slowly raised his head upward and looked at Lill in a confused manner. Everyone too did the same.
However the person herself didn't noticed it at all as she continued to speak with her eyes closed, "Even though indeed there could have been better actions than that prank you pulled especially towards a Holy Knight in bad mood, in the end you only ended up provoking him and made the situation turns worst than how it was already."
"...Uuh..." And with that Mead lowered his head once more.
But Lill wasn't finished with it yet, "However, whether you were aware of the consequences or not, you were the only one who mustered your courage and openly expressed your opposition towards the insults of the Holy Knights towards your village's pride. Even when all the adults who shut themselves up while they probably thought the same as you, you were the only one who expressed a reaction like that."
"..."
"There were still better ways of doing things, but it shows despite being an orphan as much as you like to repeat it, you care as much for this village than anyone else here."
"...!" All of them showed shocked expressions about how different she sounded from earlier.
Meliodas' expression turned into a smirk as he looked over Lill, "Hohoh~? Well, weren't you listening properly, Lill? I thought that you weren't listening at all."
"Sugar takes time to work out, you know? I only heard from one ear." Even though her words were spoken smoothly, she never met Meliodas' gaze.
Meliodas just shrugged. Elizabeth and Hawk just looked at each other in confusion.
Lill then stood up from her seat and then went to fetch the cape on the small coat hanger stuck to the wall as she put it on and walked towards Mead.
The latter originally would have shut his eyes closed in fear but now everything was so sudden that he didn't have the time to react or anything, and then when Lill passed across him...
"You can at least be proud of yourself for that, you did well." So she said along with a small pat on his shoulder, and she left the Boar Hat.
"..." Mead couldn't just wrap his head around what just happened. Everything was just too fast for his childish mind to understand.
First he got brought into this shop by two strangers (plus one talking pig, a very weird one), he then got fed with disgusting food and he got mercilessly chewed out by a doll-like lady.
At the beginning, he was angry and wanted to ask this girl who she was taking herself for, what kind of right did she have to say all of that, and without knowing anything about them… However the more she talked, the more he lost the will to fight back, and in the end all his retorts died down back in his throat.
No matter how much it frustrates him, how much he wants to deny it and screams back that it's false… He just couldn't, because… everything was as that girl said… was true. And because it's a truth he couldn't deny, it was even harder to accept, this realization felt even more painful than when he was rejected by the villagers.
The village's chief with whom Mead was living was always kindly taking care of him and doing everything alone for his sake, not only him too, all the other villagers were trying to make his life a bit easier and help him recover from the loss of his parents.
When he did that stupid prank that caused that bad Holy Knights to seal their water source, the chief was also the only one who didn't blamed him and continued to treats him with kindness while all the village was ressenting him for what he had done, and yet... and yet he...
After confirming that weird lady was out of sight and hearing, the blond bartender then whistled, "Hah! Seriously, it was scary, the majority of her scolding too always seems to hit right where it hurts!"
"Scoldings?! You call that a scolding?!" The pink pig replied, shocked or rather more horrified, "To me it sounded more like high-class criticism! I mean look at the kid! He's traumatized!"
In normal times, Mead would have immediately denied this, but he was a bit slow on his reactions right now, however none of them seems to have noticed this.
The silver-haired lady then gasped after a pause as she turned towards the exit where the other girl left. "Could it be that, Lill...?!"
"Well I don't know if it was really her intention, but from what we have just seen, maybe it's the case!" Then after saying that, the blond walked towards Mead just like platinum-haired girl did earlier. However Mead was just too frozen and couldn't react.
Instead of putting his hand on the boy's shoulder, he instead settled his hand in the boy's hair as if he was trying to pat his head and then said with a grin on his face, "Isn't that great? Despite all that criticism at the end you received praise! It means that even if you have a lot of flaws, you have been properly recognized by someone!"
"..." Mead was silent, his eyes wide open as Meliodas's words slowly registered in his mind after passing through his ears.
—You can at least be proud of yourself for that, you did well.
After hearing them he finally realized it, that those were the words he always yearned to hear deep inside his heart. However, to think that it wouldn't be a member of the same village or even his adopted parents, a total stranger would say it to him…
Indeed, everything that she had said about him was the pure and cruel truth, a truth that he never wanted to admit nor did he want to face, he always ran away from it by acting as if he couldn't realize it. Acting as an unwanted child in order to escape his own loneliness. But even so...
—You did well.
"...Uuh...!" He couldn't stop his tears from overflowing, he felt genuinely happy that even if it was by a stranger whom he barely knew for not even one hour, he felt happy.
And so he cried, he cried his heart out, he ran past the blonde and went to bury himself into the legs of the kind silver-haired lady to hide his face.
He felt like he heard a noise of protest coming from behind him, but... since the lady was kindly hugging him back then it should just be his imagination, yeah! And the killing intent he feels coming from his back is surely the same too, yeah!
(Of course Mead had no perverted intention with his actions, he was genuinely emotionally overwhelmed and went to find some comfort and support from what looked like the kindest person around, now if Meliodas could kindly understand this and let him go...)
"...So may I ask what you people are doing here?" Lill, being hidden under her hood, was looking at Meliodas, Elizabeth and Mead who came to catch her back up just a bit after she departed (Hawk seemed to have stayed behind in the Boar Hat).
Now they were at the plaza of the Bernia Village where the sword was stuck in the ground. All the grown men of the village wrapped ropes around the handle of the sword and pulled on it with all their strength, only to fail and lay exhausted on the ground. Yet the villagers refused to give in and stood back up to try again and again… with no success.
Mead seemed to be slightly hesitant but after taking a deep breath, with a determined look on his face, he looked straight at Lill and said, "I-I'm going to prove to you that even I can admit my own errors and change myself!" And with that he ran towards the hoard of villagers who were still trying to pull out the sword out of the ground with the handle being wrapped in ropes.
After that, Lill didn't hear much of what happened. Wherever it was because her mind wasn't fully focused on that or simply because they were at a too far distance from the place but she saw how the villagers were scorning Mead at the beginning, and then the boy himself accepting all their words before bowing his head in apology (or what it seemed to be) and the villagers starting to falter.
And then an elder man who seemed to be the village's chief that Mead had mentioned being the one who apparently raised him, went to the center of everyone and then whatever he said, everyone calmed down.
After seeming to have reached an agreement, everyone along with Mead tried to pull the sword out while the soldiers who came to collect the taxes were laughing at them. In the end this another attempt ended up as a failure because everyone fell exhausted, unable to make the sword even move a little.
Seeing this, Lill couldn't help but sigh. For some reason she could almost hear the soldiers' laugh and it annoyed her. Meliodas seemed to want to act too but he stopped once he saw her move.
The soldiers who saw her started to mock her now and the villagers who were laying in exhaustion on the ground tried to dissuade her from trying it in order to not hurt herself.
However she didn't pay attention to any as she wrapped her hand around the handle of the sword and tried to pull it out before feeling something curious, akin to a feeling of rejection.
'This is…' She has noted with slight interest, it was no wonder that nobody other than a Holy Knight was supposed to take it out. It was as if her hand was electrocuted by a lightning buzz, just a bit her hand felt numb.
What the heck is this sword trying to say? Go ahead and try to pull me out, punk. Do that and you'll be the king of legend? As if!
Indeed maybe pulling out with raw strength would probably be impossible for her, it's surely possible for the blond who was watching her now but not for her.
But still, it didn't mean that there weren't any other ways of doing it.
There was a high magic concentration placed inside the sword that was charging electricity through the ground in order to block the water from flowing out of its source, akin to a magnet. As long as that magic power is gone then everything should go back to the way it was…
The question is how to do it?
'...Maybe I should just let Meliodas pull it out after all…' Lill thought with faint regret, it wasn't like her to charge in without thinking of the consequences.
She discreetly glanced behind her and saw that Meliodas crossed his arms, looking at her. Though his expression was unfazed, she could see a faint twinkle of bemusement in his eyes.
"..."
...It didn't seem that he had any intention to change roles with her even if she were to ask, now what to do?
'...It can't be helped.'
She reap what she sow, she had no choice but to deal with it herself. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Lill clenched her grip on the sword's handle tighter, trying to focus her mind on a single action.
The magic stored inside the sword, which was the source of the power that stopped the flow, was akin to a flame, so small yet that kept on burning.
To tell the truth, Lill was not surprised that the villagers didn't manage to pull it out no matter their efforts (no offense to them though). It was actually pretty normal, after all none of them possess magic power inside them. Or rather, either that, either their latent capacities are still dormant.
Anyway, the sword wasn't something that can be pulled through simple physical strength, no matter the sheer number of participants doing it together. And the Holy Knights or apprentices probably wouldn't help either, as they are siding with the oppressors who are currently making the commoners suffer…
'No, no, that's not the time to think about that.' Lill scolded herself as she mentally slapped both of her cheeks in order to regain her concentration, what she was going to do right now wasn't something she could do with her mind being half-focused.
'...Now just a little, I'll let it out…'
The "flame" of the magic inside the sword suddenly fluctured at a foreign reaction coming from outside. It started to spark like some kind of firecracker as a sign of rejection, but Lill paid no attention to it, instead trying to let'It' spread further around it, eventually circling it and recovering it...
Slowly, carefully, don't rush but don't relax either, keep a tight control on it…
Good, now cover only the source of the magic power, don't touch anything else, don't try to spread over anything else, softly, softly, and—
*CRUNCH…!*
"...?!" Suddenly opening her eyes in surprise at the loud and unexpected sound that came from below her hand which was gripping the sword, Lill looked at the sword handle she easily lifted in the hand, now freed of whatever was trapping it underground yet somehow missing its blade in shock…
How weird… She only wanted to remove the leftover and active source of the magic power yet why did the blade end up going missing too…?
She looked up then around her before saying all the astonished expressions, their eyes dramatically wide open to the point that they could pop out from their sockets, and their mouths unneededly wide open too, she could almost imagine their jaws dropping to the ground…
Hawk too carried a similar expression, Elizabeth covered her mouth with both hands while Meliodas raised an eyebrow, his arms crossed.
Although all of the expressions were different from each other in a way, they all shared the same thought.
How?
During that moment, all the people here, villager, apprentice Holy Knight, princess, criminal or pig all had their minds united despite their previous arguments and differences.
If only making peace was so easy, and yet…
And in answer to that, at this moment, after seeing this silent treatment, only one thought crossed Lill's mind.'...I lack training.'And it didn't fit the actual situation at all.
The sword was successfully pulled out… yet they were all so busy in their disbelief that no one rejoiced about it even though it was what the miracle they hoped for for days…
And finally, the silence was broken by one of the spectators present, to be more precise it was one of the Holy Knight apprentices who were mocking the villagers' efforts earlier, "Impossible! For a sword that only a Lord Holy Knight can pull out… Why on earth would a little girl like that succeed when 20 of the most muscular villagers together failed?!"
"...? ...Oh." Oops, it seemed that when she pulled the sword out, with the movement, her hood fell down on the same occasion. What a failure even though she was trying her best to avoid attracting attention. Oh but well, whatever, it's not like it was that important or anything.
"Why on earth are the taxes still not being collected?!" A gruff voice was heard.
Once the soldiers heard it, it seemed that they immediately shook in fear as they immediately threw the mugs they had in hand onto the ground as if they wanted to hide the fact that they were lazing around instead of doing their work and immediately bowed towards the newcomer, "Lord Twigo!"
What approached was a very large man with a peculiar curly mustache and thick plucked eyebrow. He has a fairly ordinary buzz cut hairstyle and angular face and wore red-colored armor.
"Lord Twigo, that girl over there just removed the sword that Lord Gilthunder had planted there previously!"
"What?" Twigo seems to refuse to believe it as he carefully scrutinizes Lill under his gaze.
Lill only blinks back at him, before he quickly turns back to his two subordinates and then screams at them, "Are you trying to mock me?! There's no way such a tiny little wench was able to do such a feat!"
'Well sorry for being a tiny little wench that is supposedly unable to pull out a sword off the ground then…' Lill silently apologized in her mind for falling this man's expectation.
Well while it was indeed hard to believe, it was still the truth after all... If he were to try and kill his subordinates just because he didn't believe their words then wouldn't she be declared as guilty of this?
The two soldiers shrieked in fear but still mustered the courage to speak, "B-But it's the truth Lord Twigo! We properly saw it happen with our own eyes, and even all the villagers here are witnesses of this!"
After a little more thought to their words, Twigo nodded and the two soldiers seems to sighs in relief, the man then turned to her before pulling his sword out of its sheath and, "If it's indeed the truth then she should at least have the strength of a Holy Knight, yet I can't remember such a face. So… Confirmed! It would be one unknown casualty's death!" And he pointed his sword at her.
"Lill...!" Elizabeth immediately cried out of concern towards the girl's safety, she wanted to rush towards her and defend her but before she even could, something caught her arm backward.
"...? Lord Meliodas?!"
Yes, the one who did so was none other than Meliodas, with a pull he managed to immediately bring Elizabeth behind him before letting her go as he walked forward.
She gave a yep in surprise as he flicked her nose before giving her a grin and
Elizabeth blinked twice, being surprised about how he managed to pull her behind with just a soft swing (she barely felt the thing) while he was shorter than her. But then she immediately remembered the situation and was about to extend a hand to stop him, realizing what he was trying to do…
"Nishishi! Don't worry, it's gonna be fine!" Meliodas grinned at her, with his unchanging nonchalance.
Of course it's not alright, Elizabeth wanted to retort, but mysteriously she found herself unable to say anything back, even though the words were on the tip of her tongue. ...For some reason, when he said it like that, even though she had absolutely no foundation about this, she felt like believing him.
Then Meliodas moved his gaze from Elizabeth to Lill, his eyebrows slightly quirked and staring at her with slight anticipation. Though he had his usual smile on his face, Lill could feel that he was sending her a silent question.
...So? What are you going to do from now on?
...It seems that he wanted to see the skills of the so-called "bodyguard" that managed to keep the Princess safe during her journey up until now.
...
...Well, it's not like she could blame him, he was right after all. Yes, it was perfectly normal after all… So taking account of this opportunity, she would gladly do so.
"—Huh?"
"...Eh?"
…? …?!
Meliodas blinked as he suddenly found himself in front of Twigo, in a rather close distance taking account that he should be a few meters away. He looked around him in confusion, seeing that Elizabeth was quite far away from him.
How weird… Since when Twigo managed to close his distance so quickly?
'...No, it isn't that.'
The sensation felt strangely wrong. He never moved his limbs, he never felt himself moving, and yet why was he here right now?
Feeling the possibility of a what-if answer slowly registering in his mind, Meliodas slowly turned around towards the one who was currently standing in his previous spot.
Do you want a hint of who it is?
Here is one: heterochromia, platinum hair, and a very punchable doll-face.
...Okay, it's not one but three, but still.
The girl had the guts to look back at him with an unfazed look as she directed her hand toward his own, "What's wrong? Aren't you going to do something about it?"
"...What?"
"I mean, you asked me to 'stand out this' this time, right?"
"..." Meliodas looked at the broken "sword" in his hand, not the one attached on his back, but a foreign one that had suddenly pushed into his hand before he even noticed it. Even though he should be astonished by this, another fact surprised him even more and kept him from thinking even further.
...No way.
There should be no way and yet…
But what if… just possibly...
...Though, her expression was unmoving as usual… could it be… that this girl… actually held a grudge over something like this?
"No matter if the target changes, one death is still confirmed!"
"...Ah." The shout akin to a war cry or a bull charging straightforwardly made Meliodas remember the situation he was currently in and the blade that was a hinch from hitting him. He could almost hear Elizabeth on the verge of screaming his name—
*TCHING—!*
However the sword never met its target. Instead, the sound of metal clashing against each other was heard.
"Wha…?!" Twigo widened his eyes in shock as he saw that Meliodas managed to block his sword with what can hardly be called a blade.
While he swung his sword in a vertical manner, the youth just swung it in a sideway, blocking the sharp side of his blade with the side of its own and breaking the former. Originally, the latter should have snapped in two, but mysteriously it was holding up despite the enormous difference of builds between the two.
"You, how dare you change my confirmation?!" Twigo screamed angrily as he continued to push the blade forward while Lill managed to block all of his attempts. And then…
"Meliodas! Stop trying to show off and hurry up and do something about it!"
"And here I thought that you would take care of it alone!"
"What?!" The mention of a familiar name made Twigo lose his guard and at that moment, Meliodas closed the distance between them in a single run and clashed his broken blade against Twigo's sword, pushing him back a few meters.
Upon seeing Meliodas's form, Twigo widened his eyes in a mix of shock and possible fear as he repeated to himself, "Impossible… impossible! But for you to be here, shouldn't you have been dead?! No, rather than that, more than anything… Why do you still look exactly the same as 10 years ago?!"
However Meliodas and Lill ignored Twigo as they had been whispering to each other, "Meliodas, they really need to redraw properly your wanted poster."
"It can't be helped if each of them become more extravagant every year!"
"How long are you two going to ignore me?! Confirmed! It's not going to be one death anymore but two now!" Filled with rage, Twigo charged forward, his sword raised and filled with his magic power.
"Geez, what an impatient one, don't you think Lill?"
"Indeed. Meliodas, push him back till the closed well over there."
"You sure?"
"If things work out properly then it would be more quick and easy to end it."
With a nod, Meliodas moved forward just like how Twigo did, and when Twigo swung his sword of all his strength. However Meliodas then swung his sword at his turn, one moment later, and then with a sound of a sword's chiming sound, Twigo found his attack being thrown back at him in one go with twice the amount of power in it.
Having taken the blast from the front, Twigo was propelled to the well where his subordinates were sitting earlier. But the moment he crashed against it, the earth around them started to tremble and then an earthquake, and suddenly a torrent of water emerged from the ground and threw Twigo who was on the top of it, was thrown far far far away in the air.
With their superior being blown away like that, the soldiers couldn't help but shake in fear as Lill approached them, and…
"AAAAAAHHH!"
...It seems that they misunderstood it as like she would bring judgement upon them and run away, almost tripping on their feets. The crowd was looking at them with a shocked look, before one second of silence, and another, then…
"WOOOOOOOOOOW!"
The crowd roared in joy as the previously restrained water fell on them as if it was raining, cheers were heard around them.
"It's water!"
"The underground spring is back!"
"Thank goodness, both of you are alright!" Elizabeth ran towards them with a relieved expression, Meliodas smiled at her while Lill didn't show much reaction to it. Elizabeth then looked at Meliodas and Lill in amazement, 'Amazing... This is the strength of one of the Seven Deadly Sins and the Guardian of the Great Library Room!'
Then the one who approached this time was Mead, with a slight hopeful expression he asked, "C-Could it be that the two of you," He looked at both Lill and Meliodas, "The two of you possibly are real…!"
"Yeah, there's no need to ask 'possibly', I'm a real proud bar master!" Meliodas pointed to himself with his thumb with a proud look.
Lill immediately followed what he said without missing a beat, her expression stoïc as usual, "And I am without doubt a splendid freeloader at his place."
"That's not what I mean!" Mead immediately retorted, "And is the last one really something you should be proud about?!"
"Well enough of that, don't you have something to do?" Meliodas put his hands on Mead's shoulders and pushed him forward, making him face the villagers who looked at him with looks filled with guilt and self-remorsement.
"Mead..."
"Um... We're sorry..."
"Can you forgive us...?"
Mead just looked downward, unable to meet their gazes, "Humph... Forgive or not... Something like me doesn't have the right to..."
However Meliodas gave him another push forward, Mead turned back to look at him hesitantly, seeing him smile, Elizabeth besides him was smiling too. Lastly he turned his gaze towards Lill, the girl who happened to notice his gaze just sighed and gave him a nod.
Taking a deep breath, Mead turned to the villagers once again, each of them were calling him his name one by one. In the end, he couldn't hold back his tears anymore and broke in tears before jumping into the open arms of the villagers who happily welcomed him.
Elizabeth smiled fondly at the scene while Meliodas too smiled but said with a small sigh, "No matter what lies you make up, you can't lie to your own heart."
Elizabeth looked at Meliodas in confusion, seeing him with a distant expression on his face, his smile no longer on his face, "Lord Meliodas...?"
She couldn't understand the expression he was currently making. And for some reason Lill too was strangely silent, staring at Meliodas with an unreadable expression of her own.
Then suddenly Meliodas turned to Lill, his previous expression nowhere to be seen, "By the way, Lill! What was that thing earlier?"
"'That thing'...? What do you mean?"
"You definitely know what it's about! Why did you make me fight in your place? And how did you even do it?"
"I stole your chance to show off, I was trying to give it back."
"But you're the one who told me to stop showing off, didn't you?"
"Stop focusing too much on the details."
"It's you who don't focus on them enough! Stop trying to shoo it away when it bothers you."
"..." Elizabeth just stared at the two blondes(?)' exchange, completely dumbfounded and speechless.
'...Was it my imagination, just now Lord Meliodas's expression seemed to be a bit…'Whatever seemed to be a delicate expression on the youth-like man's face was gone the second she blinked, almost as if she imagined it. The faint fragile expression he seemed to show brought slight worry in her mind.
But when she saw the two blondes in front of her, bickering with each other with no particular change in their expressions, she couldn't hold back a giggle at the slightly odd sight. The uneasiness fleeting from the inside of her chest.
