บท 145: Maybe Next Time
May 18th X787
"Meteor!"
With blistering speed, Jellal darted back and forth around Meliodas, leaving only trails of magic behind him as his body seemingly vanished. Meliodas remained standing in place, tracking Jellal's movements with his eyes. Jellal suddenly shifted directions and lunged forward at Meliodas. Meliodas remained completely still as Jellal was now just in front of Meliodas.
Jellal immediately shifted directions once again, moving behind Meliodas. To his surprise, Meliodas turned his body to the right, spinning around and sending his foot straight into Jellal's torso.
Jellal's eyes widened as he felt the wind get knocked out of him and was sent tumbling back, crashing through several trees and leaving a trail of upheaved dirt.
Jellal quickly regained his balance, kicking off the ground and floating in the air again. He lunged forward at Meliodas, the yellow aura around him beginning to glow even brighter. Meliodas' eyes widened as Jellal's speed increased further.
Meliodas ducked backwards as Jellal's fist and the rest of his body went flying just above him. Meliodas turned around, but to his surprise, Jellal wasn't there. He looked up and saw a rapidly approaching Jellal.
Meliodas raised his hands up above his head as Jellal punched downward onto Meliodas with his right hand. The ground beneath Meliodas' feet cracked from the force of the punch as Meliodas felt a tingling feeling go through his arms.
"I kinda felt that one." Meliodas remarked with a grin. Jellal raised his left hand up and electricity began to crackle between his fingertips. He swung his hand down towards Meliodas, causing a bolt of lightning to strike down where Meliodas was standing.
The lightning struck, causing a large explosion of electrified smoke and dust to fill the area. Jellal jumped out of the smoke and looked around. 'He definitely escaped that.'
"That was pretty good." Meliodas commented from above Jellal. Jellal looked up with a surprised look on his face as Meliodas was floating above him with his wings of darkness spread.
"Meliodas! Jellal!" Ultear shouted. Meliodas floated down next to Jellal as they both turned their heads to see Ultear and Meredy running towards them.
"What's up?" Meliodas asked.
"There was a council patrol nearby. They're on their way to check out what the commotion is. We need to relocate now!" Ultear answered.
"Oh that's a shame. I was starting to like that cave we were staying at." Meliodas commented.
---
Several hours passed and the Crime Sorciere group relocated themselves. Their previous location was a small cave in a forest just south of Mount Hakobe. Now they switched to another cave that was in the mountains northeast of Clover Town.
Meliodas sat down on a rock next to Meredy at the foot of the cave as Ultear and Jellal looked at the map.
"Do you guys always have to live in caves all the time?" Meliodas asked. "I got a new house in Magnolia that you guys could always stay at."
"We appreciate the offer, but we can't afford to be spotted." Jellal answered.
"If word spread that we were living with you, that would put you at risk as well. And it certainly wouldn't look good for Fairy Tail." Ultear said. "Although...I guess living in caves all the time is getting uncomfortable."
"Well dark guilds have their own hidden bases. Why don't we get one too?" Meredy asked.
"I was considering that, but our mission requires us to be on the move all the time. We most likely won't be at that base very long." Jellal answered. Meredy nodded with a saddened expression and the group remained silent as Ultear and Jellal continued looking at the map. Meliodas hunched over, resting his chin on his hands with his elbows on his knees as he looked down at the ground. His facial expression brightened as an idea popped in his head.
"So I've told you guys about the Seven Deadly Sins right?" Meliodas asked, breaking the silence.
"I believe you've mentioned that group of yours a couple of times." Ultear responded.
"Well for ten years, we were wanted by the kingdom of Liones. We ended up splitting up and I ended up having to lay low for those ten years. I bought a tavern and had it mounted on the back of a large pig. I called it the Boar's Hat." Meliodas said.
"A moving base...that wouldn't be a bad idea…" Jellal mused.
"Since it was a tavern, I had a constant flow of information so I could find where the other sins were when we were split up." Meliodas continued.
"That's very smart. But how exactly did you go about hiding a pig that was large enough to carry a tavern." Ultear asked.
"She burrowed into the ground, leaving only the tavern sticking out." Meliodas answered.
"If you're willing to run the tavern, I wouldn't be against using it as our base of operations." Ultear said. "But we don't have a giant pig that will burrow into the ground to hide itself."
"There are other large animals, but I doubt they could be tamed to carry a tavern like that." Jellal added.
The group grew silent again as Meliodas stared at the ground thinking. 'If there is no animal here to mount a tavern on…'
"Blue Pegasus had an airship called Christina." Meliodas remarked, breaking the silence once again. "And Grimoire Heart had an even larger one. Even if we got one the size of Christina, we could turn it into a tavern!"
"That is a possibility, but do you know how many hundreds of millions of jewels that will cost? Crime Sorciere is a non-profit organization. We have some leftover money from our time in Grimoire Heart but we don't have a large enough income to buy something like that." Ultear said.
"Doesn't Meliodas do a lot of S rank missions for Fairy Tail?" Meredy asked. "I heard those do pay a lot."
"Actually, I've been giving most of that money to Macao to pay for the guild expenses so they can keep their building. Having a building that large is pretty expensive." Meliodas said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"But…" Meliodas continued. "I do have about 400,000,000 Jewels in my requip inventory right now."
"YOU WHAT?!" Ultear and Meredy exclaimed simultaneously while Jellal looked silently at Meliodas wide eyed.
"Well we were taking down so many dark guilds. And those dark guilds make a lot of money selling those illegal goods. So after we beat them, I took their money." Meliodas responded nonchalantly as a small smile formed on his face. 'I think Ban would be proud of me for that.'
"Why would you even need that much money?!" Ultear shouted.
"I was hoping to start up the tavern again." Meliodas said with a cheeky grin.
"We can definitely buy an airship with that money...although it will certainly stand out and it might not be good for concealing ourselves." Jellal added.
"Not if I put the airship and tavern under "The Blond Demon." Meliodas said.
"You do have a really good reputation in Fiore, especially with the council. You're practically an unofficial wizard saint." Meredy remarked.
"Also, you guys could work under me in my tavern. I think you'd make a good bartender Jellal. And Ultear and Meredy you two would make good barmaids!" Meliodas said enthusiastically.
"And what if people recognize us?" Ultear questioned. "Especially Jellal. His face is especially recognizable."
"I have a plan for that too. I bought this in case something happened where we had to hide Jellal in plain sight." Meliodas said as he raised his hand out in front of him. A small object began to glow brightly in his hand. Meliodas ran up to Jellal and put the object on his face just under his nose. Both Meredy and Ultear immediately started snickering as Jellal stared at the group.
"Now he's not Jellal. He's "Just Some Guy with a Mustache." Meliodas said. He raised a mirror up in front of Jellal. Jellal stared at his reflection wide eyed.
"Okay, you got me sold on this tavern idea." Ultear said.
"Then we don't have to sleep in caves anymore!" Meredy said excitedly.
"I wonder where I'm supposed to buy an airship from though…" Meliodas said to himself.
"Wait...you said Meredy and I would be your barmaids." Ultear inquired. Meliodas nodded his head.
"And what exactly do you plan on having us wear?"
"I have just the thing!" Meliodas said as he put both hands out in front of him and a bright light began to glow from his palms. 'It's a good thing I still have these from the Fantasia Parade.'
In Meliodas' hands he held a pink buttoned shirt with a black ribbon along with a dark miniskirt, a pink belt, and a single black stocking with black heels. Ultear remained silent as she stared at the outfit.
"That outfit looks cute!" Meredy exclaimed. "Can I try it on right now?"
"Sure!" Meliodas said enthusiastically as he handed Meredy the outfit. Meredy grabbed the outfit excitedly and ran into the back of the cave to change.
"Why do you even keep women's clothes in your requip inventory…" Ultear questioned.
"It's actually an outfit I had designed for the Fantasia Parade back in X784 where my float replicated my tavern." Meliodas answered. Ultear sighed and shook her head. She looked back towards the back of the cave as Meredy approached, prompting Meliodas and Jellal to look as well.
"W-what do you think?" Meredy asked.
The clothes fit Meredy very well. Over the course of the past two years, her figure changed dramatically, becoming more curvaceous. The pink buttoned shirt fit tightly around her figure and revealed her midriff while the skirt barely covered her upper thigh. Jellal remained silent, twiddling his mustache as he looked at Meredy while Meliodas nodded his head in approval and gave her a thumbs up, causing Meredy to blush and look nervously away.
"We'll definitely get more people if-" Meliodas' sentence was cut short as he felt something hit him in the back of the head, causing him to faceplant into the dirt floor.
"WE'RE NOT GETTING THE TAVERN ANYMORE!" Ultear shouted angrily.
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