"You're kidding!" Ban, King, Diane and Gowther all shouted at him in unison.

Their expressions a weird mixture of curiosity, bafflement, and... Was that a frigging leer? Oh hell no. That had to go immediately. Especially since Merlin or her young friend could show up at any given moment.

"Ban wipe that look off of your face right now." Meliodas said warningly as he picked up his beer mug and took a drink of his ale. Ban did as he said, though he looked pretty bummed about it.

Probably because he wanted to stir things up a little bit. He did seem to get bored more and more alarmingly easy of late. I'll have to watch him like a hawk to make sure that he doesn't do anything stupid that could get us all killed. Meliodas thought to himself as he slowly lowered his mug back to the table.

"Merlin has a girlfriend?" Diane asked, inquisitively. Meliodas scowled a little bit and nodded his head curtly as he wondered if the term 'girlfriend' was even relevant here.

Maybe he should have used the words 'significant other' instead.

"I didn't know that she even liked girls like that." King said in dismay as he leaned back against his Spirit Chastiefol and stared blankly ahead. Trying to mentally sort something out in his head.

"I knew," Meliodas said after another heart beat or so of silence. His words earning him a weird look from his friends. "I mean, I've accidentally walked in on her having sex a few times."

"Really?" Ban asked. Meliodas nodded his head again and opened his mouth to say something else when the door to the pub opened and Slader walked in. Shutting his mouth with an audible click of his teeth, he eyed the holy knight with a slightly wary expression.

Wondering if he was going to have to hunt down little Gil, Howzer, and Griamore later and crack their heads together for scampering off after earlier and maybe running their mouths about what they had seen.

"Hello everyone." The man said jovially after a moment or so. Everyone quickly pasted on their friendliest- and hopefully not the creepiest- smiles and greeted him as he moved past their table to grab one of his own.

King, gave Meliodas a look, silently telling him to stay put as he went to tend to the man that way the captain and the others could continue their conversation.

After all, it appeared as if their motley little crew was gaining another life long member. They needed a plan in place to protect said person. Or at the very least a contingency to take Merlin out if something happened to said girl.

"Is everything alright?" Slader asked curiously as King brought him his favorite drink and a plate of Ban's cooking since he doubted very much that the man had eaten anything just yet today.

"Everything is fine," He assured the man with an awkward smile. "We were just talking about someone new joining our little group."

Slader, whom had been slumped over a bit in his seat, instantly perked up at the thought of someone new joining the most powerful group of people that he'd ever met. "Really? Who?" He asked, unable to hold the note of intrigue back from his tone.

King looked a little bit startled by the question and started to flounder because he wasn't exactly sure what to say. He heard a few sniggers from the others across the room and shot them all a look that bordered on pleading when the door to the pub opened again and this time Merlin stepped through it with a tall young girl with long dark hair.

All conversation stopped as everyone looked towards the two whom seemed to be bickering.

"I can't believe you did that to those men!" Merlin growled out as she literally stomped into the pub while her friend hung back a little bit, her expression one of mild amusement.

"What did you expect me to do? Those guys jumped us. Did you really expect me to just...stand there and let them put their hands on you? Cause their definition of a good time and ours greatly differ, I'm sure." The unknown girl said as she quietly closed the door behind her.

Merlin huffed and grabbed a seat at the bar as the other girl took a moment to look around. Her gaze pausing on the few people present before she started walking again.

"So they have a few broken bones, they'll live." She said flippantly as she seated herself next to Merlin before tacking on, "Besides, we both know that that isn't the worst thing that you've ever seen me do."

Merlin hummed and fell silent for a moment before they both said in unison, "Aizen." Which was followed by both of them sighing heavily as Merlin finally said, "You're right. Breaking the bones of some would-be rapists, and thieves isn't the worst thing that I've seen you do. If I never see you covered in blood from head to toe again after ripping out someone's heart and eating it- it'll be too soon."

To say that the sudden dark turn in the conversation literally had everyone zeroing in on the two would be an huge understatement. Even Meliodas and Ban, both of whom had a significantly bloody past had never heard of someone ripping another person open and eating one of their organs before.

The girl huffed softly and laid her head down on the bar and muttered sullenly, "It wasn't like I wanted too..." Merlin didn't say anything for a heartbeat or so.

To be perfectly honest, Meliodas wasn't exactly sure what anyone could say to something like that. After all, the girl had practically confessed to eating someone's heart despite not wanting too.

He didn't think that anyone in the world could say anything to that.

Reaching out, Merlin rested a hand on top of the girl's head and mussed her dark hair affectionately as she merely sighed and said, "I know." Before then tacking on, "I don't know anyone else who would pull such a move in order to protect hundreds upon thousands of innocent lives. And I don't really know anyone who could fault you for it either. Not really anyways. Especially since as far as plans went, it worked out fairly well in the end."

By this point nearly everyone eavesdropping on the two were almost on top of their tables listening with absolute rapt attention. Their curiosity seemed to be getting the best of them.

Slader for one was definitely intrigued, if the fact that he was slowly starting to get up and gather his things to move in closer was any indication at all.

Meliodas made a soft humming sound as the knight finally finished picking up everything he had with him and started to walk towards Merlin and her...girlfriend- yup, that word sounded terrible to him. Maybe he should simply upgrade the girl to Merlin's wife? He thought to himself as Slader politely asked if the chair next to...what was her name again? Ichiko?

Bah, he sometimes hated how difficult it was for him to recall such small things. It sometimes took him months just to recall a friend's name. And that was when they were right in front of him.

Then again, he'd lived over three thousand years and met a considerable amount of people. So maybe that was part of the problem. Either that or he was beginning to finally suffer from old age. So it wasn't as if he didn't at least have a small excuse or reason not to automatically recall something so easy.

Blinking as Slader settled himself onto a stool next to the girl, Meliodas slammed his glass of ale down on the table, startling the others badly enough to cause them all to fall off of the table. And land in a heap on the floor with a chorus of yelps, curses, and groans as he stood up and then walked over to the three and pasted on a smile.

"Hey Merlin." He said cheerfully and then shifted his gaze to the...'heart eater' girl. "Hello, miss. Welcome to the Boar Hat. My name is Meliodas, I run this joint. What can I get for you?" He said politely, deciding that it was in his best interest not to mention seeing her without her clothing earlier since Merlin was literally sitting right there staring at him as if she were dying to string him up by his balls or something.

"Oh, hi. You're the guy from before." The girl said as she instantly lifted her head up off of his bar and looked him over.

Crap. Meliodas thought to himself. He'd been hoping that since she had been a little bit distracted before that she hadn't really noticed him any.

He gave her a toothy- maybe a little bit too toothy- considering how Merlin's eyes narrowed at him, smile. "Yup that was me."

The girl didn't say anything else for a moment. Instead she just straightened up in her seat and dug out a bag of coins and set them down on the bar and pushed them towards him. "There's ten gold pieces in there. Do you think I can get some ale and some food?"

"For ten gold coins, you can buy my first and second sons." He said jokingly as he grabbed the bag and checked the coins to be sure that she wasn't lying. Once he was absolutely certain that the pieces were gold, he let out a small whistle of appreciation and then asked,

"You have any ideas what kind of ale you want?"

"Nah. Booze is booze to me."

"Alright then."

While he went to get her ale and food, Merlin decided to leave and go do...Merlin stuff? Leaving her girlfriend alone with Slader and the rest of them. Meliodas was hard pressed not to run to the door and yell for the woman to come back once he realized that they had been left with the girl.

Especially since this was undoubtedly Merlin's way of seeing if the lot of them could get along for any period of time. The damned witch. He inwardly seethed as he placed the stuff on the bar. "Here you go."

"Thanks."

"So..." Slader started to say. No doubt as curious to know stuff as the rest of them were when Meliodas sort of rudely interrupted by asking, "You and Merlin. How'd that happen?"

Slader looked at him as if he'd grown another head and he just shrugged his shoulders helplessly. The man hung around him enough to know by now that he wasn't exactly good at tact. So really, why the weird look? He wondered as Ichigo merely replied.

"We've known each other since we were kids."

Meliodas cocked his head a little bit, something about her response nagging at his mind when he heard Gowther say from behind the girl, "That would be difficult since Merlin is over a thousand years old."

The girl merely shrugged. "So what? Even I know that people with longer life spans than the average human age more slowly. If they didn't, then they'd die more easily."

Gowther seemed to think over what she said for a moment or so before then nodding his head and saying, "That's true." And then seating himself on the other side of her. "Still, it doesn't explain how you two got together."

The girl merely smiled at him and took a small drink of her ale before turning her attention to her food and began to eat small bites as Meliodas said teasingly, "Ah, your going to ignore the question I see."

"I told you what you wanted to know. It isn't my fault that you don't believe me." She said absently as she continued to work on her food a little bit while they observed her.

It was bizarre but she had such lady-like manners that Meliodas would almost swear that she was- "You're a noble!" Gowther suddenly exclaimed as he pointed at her. Her movements faltered for a moment and she turned her head to look at him.

"So?" She finally said after a second or so.

It wasn't really a confirmation, but it wasn't exactly a denial either. Which was fine, he could work with either one. "So, are you a princess? Or a knight?" Gowther asked curiously.

"Neither."

"Oh." He said in a slightly disappointed tone, as his shoulders visibly slumped. Meliodas would admit that he was a little bit disappointed as well. Here he'd been about to be excited that they had another princess around. Elizabeth could do with another noble blooded female friend.

"I'm a king." She said a moment or so later. Gowther instantly perked up as Meliodas started to nod his head and then stopped and practically shouted.

"What did you just say?!"