"Well, we've done things that sucked less," Meliodas says to Mead who's resting his head on a table. Y/N is sitting opposite him, drinking a mug of booze.

"You weren't getting hundreds of rocks thrown at you, you just got one" Y/N says.

"Tell me, kid, why did they all"

"Don't call me that, you're a kid too" Y/N snorts.

"No, I'm not actually"

"You act like it," Y/N says, drinking her booze.

"What is this, a tavern?" Mead asks.

"Yeah. The Boar hat, it's our place"

"Well, I'm hungry"

"if you answer our questions, I'll make sure you get some food," Y/N says. Mead puts his hands behind his head and smiles.

"Nope, food first" Meliodas groans before giving him. Later, a plate with food on it is in front of Mead.

"That look's great! I can't wait to dig into this" Mead takes a bit of the chicken leg(?-I think). He instantly spits it back out. Meliodas is at the bar, filling two mugs with booze.

"I never claimed it was going to be any good" Meliodas goes back over to the table and places two mugs down, one for himself the other for Y/N. He sits next to Y/N.

"So, is it true?" Y/N asks "All that stuff about you being friends with the Eight Deadly Sins?"

"Your food gave me amnesia" Mead sniffs before looking at them. Y/N sweat drops.

"This is why children annoy me" She mutters, taking another drink of her booze.

"Wait a minute are you two drinking Vanya Ale?" He watches Meliodas take a drink "Hey, should a kid your age be drinking that"

"I already told you, I'm not a kid"

"Man, it tastes really good doesn't it"

"Yep," Y/N says, drinking the ale.

"It's the best, sweetest full-bodied...Oh, so I hear from the adults" The door opens and in walks Elizabeth and Hawk, who closes the door.

"You two made it back," Meliodas says. Elizabeth leans down to Mead.

"So Mean, I hear you quite the prankster with a bad sense of humor," Elizabeth says, "The chief in your village told me so"

"What's it to you? Who do you think you are, my mother?" Elizabeth smiles before kneeling on the floor.

"When I was young, I used to get scolded by my father for pulling pranks"

"Yeah, and that means what to me?" Elizabeth continues to smile.

"I wanted his attention. He wasn't the father I was born to" Elizabeth says. Y/N and Meliodas look at her with curiosity "Then one day, when I was a little girl, I climbed a tall tree in the garden, hoping to give him a real scare. He turned pale as a ghost and started up the tree to try and save me. This man, who has never climbed one in his entire life. Then he fell out of the tree and hurt himself, but luckily it wasn't serious" She pauses "But still, I remember every minute of it like it was yesterday. If he died, I know that I could have never forgiven myself" Mead puts his hand on the table.

"I don't do this kind of stuff, because I don't feel for them, they're all good to me" Elizabeth places her hand on his back, smiling.

"Then why do you?" She asks.

"My mom and dad were always going from place to place, I was even born on the road. But when we stopped her in Vanya a few years ago, there was an epidemic, they got sick and died. That's when the people of the village took me in and raised me as one of their very own. And I was so thankful they did, but I wasn't a part of anyone's real family" Mead starts to tear up "I got jealous 'cause I knew I would never get what they had" He starts crying "I started lying and pulling pranks" He wipes his tears.

"Is that why you put the bug in the Holy knight's drink, too. Cause you were upset"

"No" Elizabeth pulls her hand back as he slams the table "I did that because the knight treated everyone in the village like they were crap" Meliodas, Y/N, Hawk, and Elizabeth look at him surprised. He told his story "We just care so much about it, everyone put their heart and soul into making that ale. But he insulted them. Holy knights are no-good bastards"

"Okay? What about saying your good friends with the Eight Deadly Sins?" Y/N asks.

"Well, I-I lied"

"Too bad, you gotta admit, I kinda had my hopes up," Meliodas says.

"What made you tell a lie like that?" Elizabeth asks. Y/N and Meliodas drink their ale.

"The Eight Deadly Sins are wanted by the Holy Knights, aren't they? If the Holy Knights are going after them, doesn't that mean the Eight Deadly Sins are the good guys?" Hawk and Elizabeth share a look before looking at Y/N and Meliodas who are drinking their booze.

"What?" They say in unison. Elizabeth laughs. They hear loud voices outside.

"That's coming from the village," Mead says.

"Mead! Wait" Mead runs out of the tavern.

"Yikes" Y/N mutters finishing her booze.

In the village, two knights are standing on either side of the sword, staring at the people of the village.

"Now, listen up you peasant scum!" The tall one says "If you haven't pulled out the holy knight's sword by sundown, then we're gonna charge you 10 times the normal product tax"

"That's insane"

"With all the water dried up, we can't even make one bottle of ale, much less 10 times that amount!"

"That's your punishment," The small one says "Not only did you insult a holy knight, you also claimed to be friends with those know criminals, The Eight Deadly Sins"

"Damn! If Mead hadn't pulled that stunt none of this would have happened!" Mead then runs past the villager to the swords and tried to pull them out, shocking the two knights.

"Mead, no!" A woman says.

"The little big mouth, it isn't going to be very fun if he's the only one"

"So we're gonna charge 20 times the tax now!" Mead tries harder.

"You know you can't pull out that sword!"

"Stop it, Kid, your only making things worse for us!"

"Alright, that's enough!" The elder man shouts. Everyone stops and looks at him.

"Chief?"

"Who insulted our great skills and wounded out pride as ale makers?" He asks "Was it, Mead? No! Wasn't that boy only expressing the feelings we were all having deep down inside" Mead continues to struggle with the swords until a woman goes over to him, placing her hand on his back and hand.

"Auntie?" Mead asks.

"The chief is right about this, you weren't the one to blame Mead" A little boy and girl run over to them. The men in the village begin going towards Mead.

"Hey! You people hear what we said!" The tall Knight shouts "Pour the beer out of your ears" Mead, the woman, and the two kids try to pull the sword out "It's 20 times now!" The big men of the village walk over to them.

"You just leave this to the men now" Mead continues to pull.

"Okay, Mead" The men share a look of determination.

"Okay"

【Ａｓｐｅｎ】

20/01/2020

Last Edited:29/09/2023