Chapter 111: Meliodas vs Arthur (1)
The children led the way since they knew the road better than the three of us. Meliodas vowed to tag along, considering that he had nothing to do but hunt for strong knights. He would sometimes blabber about taking down demons if we saw one, which was the entire reason he teamed up at our party.
All of us talked about various things, including the family of these lovely children. The boy always bragged about his father being a strong man who protected the village against the beast. The girl was the one who told us about their mother, who cooked the most delicious curry in the world!
Well, according to them, anyway.
The children also tried their best to drag Fenrir into the conversation. Even though she had a grumpy look on her face, Fenrir tried answering the kid's riddles and had a blast. She did not smile, but Fenrir entertained those children with her blank personality.
After treading for a couple of miles, the village's sight came into view. It was just a small town with nothing but fresh air and crops planted on their plot. We could make out some of their people ploughing the lands, with their children running by.
As we continued marching onwards, a group of farmers noticed our presence. They had their eyes bulging out from their eye sockets when they observed our weapons hidden on our backs. But when they glanced at the children, their frightful expressions changed into a smile.
"Adventurers! The adventurers saved the knight's children!" the farmer shouted, and rallied everyone from the village. "Tell Fisher and Gwen that their kids returned safely to the village!"
That man waved his hand and attempted to get the attention of his fellow villagers. Thanks to his blaring voice, the farmer successfully got all the villager's ears inside the small town. Everyone hurried themselves towards our place, with eager eyes staring at the children.
When the farmer mentioned a knight, Meliodas' eyes widened in shock. He even moved backwards and clipped his hands around his harp. Before he could do anything, he waited for longer about the events unfolding before us.
"We're home!"
"Where's daddy?!"
The two kids asked, while searching for their father. The villagers helped in their search and looked far and wide for their parents. Within a few seconds, someone shouted into the forest, which caught all of our attention.
Much to our surprise, a voice echoed behind us as the man called his two children.
"I thought I lost you two!" the knight exclaimed, as he stretched his arms at both sides.
As we gazed at our behind, a man wearing bulky silver armour welcomed our sight. This bloke armed himself with a bastard sword and a shield clipped on his other arm. He had a hair befitting for a king, with a cape fluttering behind him.
Beside the lovely-looking man was an elegant woman of her standing. She wore a fashionable light blue robe that complimented the man's silver suit. This girl looked more like a mage than a warrior, considering the stave held in her hands. The lass had long hair that touched her elbows, which resembled the little girl we saved earlier.
"Are those two?" Merleen asked, as she shyly pointed her hand in the two people's direction.
"Yeah. They're couples and the parents of those two children. I ain't gonna lie, but those two look like a power couple," I answered, while nodding my head. "Kinda reminds me of us, Merleen."
After hearing my remarks, Merleen averted her gaze from me and painted her face beating red. I stole a glimpse at her expressions, knowing that would make her blush. Since we had chemistry with each other, I had to do what a man needed to do.
The children and their parents reunited with each other. Those four people hugged each other for a few seconds before detaching themselves. Within a few seconds, the silver knight raised his head and met my eyes. The soldier walked towards me and offered me his hand.
"Are you the adventurers who saved my children's life? Who should I thank?" the knight asked.
"All of us played a part in saving your children, sir knight. And are you the chief of this village?" I asked, and stepped my foot towards him.
The knight nodded and answered, "You have good eyes, kid. Yes, and no. I run the place, but I protect them. Er, the villages hailed me as their leader. But I am just a humble man who protects this village from danger. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Sweetie, we should invite these youngsters to dinner. What do you say, young man? Are your team and you interested in joining us for a party? We should reward you with something, especially our hospitality," the girl beside the knight continued, as she flashed me a smile.
"Mother's a great cook! We love her curries!" the children exclaimed, as they danced around with each other.
From the look on their faces, those two kids really loved their mother's curry. After hearing their claims, my stomach growled like a tyrannosaurus-rex in the wild. It did not take too long before I accepted their handsome gesture.
"Sure!" I answered, and immediately set the tone. "And I have an important matter to discuss with you, chief... Alone."
My eyes gave away my answer as I exclaimed those sentences. Fortunately, the knight knew what I talked about, as he nodded to himself.
"Very well, kid. We shall hold a meeting soon before attending that celebration. Do the other kingdoms know about this?" the silver soldier asked, as he tapped my back.
"No. The Albion kingdom is in a bit of turmoil. Caerleon and I do not trust their government as of now," I bluntly answered.
Meliodas, who was also listening to the conversation, twitched his eyes. He might have heard some words that made him look like he tasted something bitter in his mouth. But as he met my eyes, Meliodas changed his expression and showed a forced smile.
Since Meliodas heard some news about knights, he might have wanted to know more about them. And since he observed I knew a lot about them, it won't be too long before Meliodas would question me about that information.
I trusted Meliodas, but I had not grasped his personality yet. We partied and defeated the demon earlier before arriving at this place. The two of us also had a quick chat about our past life. Although I excluded the part I came from another world, he learned something about me when we had that conversation.
But that was not enough to tell me his true goal. Every one of us had something that we needed to achieve.
Meliodas wanted one thing in his life…. It was bringing justice from his deceased uncle.
But before everyone could celebrate this wonderful meeting, Meliodas strummed the harp's strings and paralysed everyone. Thanks to my class, I did not turn into a mindless zombie like the rest of them. As I gazed around, everyone but the other guy and me was still awake. Everyone else fell to their sleep, living inside their dream world.
It was a different spell Meliodas used compared to before. I could only guess that it was a unique ability that he kept hidden in his sleeves.
And when Meliodas met my eyes, he gaped, his mouth in shock to see me standing perfectly still. I let him show the spell did not affect me. As luck would have it, Meliodas did not attack the knight or me.
Fortunately, the knight also withstood the mind-boggling spell cast by Meliodas. It just showed that the silver knight could handle his own ground without the help of others. When the boy narrated his father was strong, I did not expect that to be real.
However, Meliodas had the upper hand. I did not know, but his spells could go through some knights, which clearly showed in front of me.
The knight wearing silver armour knelt on his knees and succumbed to the spell. That guy groaned every time he tried moving his fingers. Woefully, his efforts did not reward him with anything. The soldier even fought his urge to sleep while staring at the two of us.
"Did you…. orchestrated all of this?.... Are you…. my enemy?" the silver knight asked, while getting off from the ground. "Don't kill my kids…. Kill me instead….."
He tried so hard to regain his reflexes. But Meliodas never gave him any chances for activating his abilities. And since the knight knew the situation, he offered his life to spare his children.
The scene was a one-sided battle of Meliodas bullying the knight. Even from a glance, the knight in front of him was stronger than me. However, that silver soldier still couldn't go against Meliodas even if he tried.
"Stop, Meliodas! Are you out of your mind?!" I shouted, as I pulled Clarent from my hips. "You don't have to do this, Meliodas!"