Chương 46: Schneider's Past
Meliodas arrived at his house. He threw himself on the bed with his hands behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling.
'Nothing new so far…. What other options do I have?'
Just as Meliodas was about to close his eyes, he heard a suspicious noise coming from below, in Shcneider's part of the house. Although it was faint, Meliodas was able to hear it. He immediately hopped off the bed and rushed downstairs to Schneider's place, sensing something was wrong. Upon arriving downstairs, he saw a hooded figure holding a metal dagger standing across from Schneider. The dagger had a faint glow, indicating to Meliodas of some sort of enchantment. In front of the unknown figure, Schneider was sitting on the ground, clasping his right shoulder, which was heavily bleeding.
Just as the assailant had not noticed Meliodas had come downstairs and lunged forward towards Schneider. Meliodas swiftly moved across the room, appearing between the two of them and in the way of the dagger's path. Meliodas extended his left hand out and firmly grasped the dagger by the blade between his index finger and thumb.
"Who are you?" Meliodas asked.
Without hesitation, the hooded figure immediately let go of his weapon, leaving it in Meliodas's grasp. He jumped backwards into the air and threw several spherical black objects that the ground that burst into a thick black smoke that filled the room.
"We can't let him escape!" Schneider coughed as he slowly got up from the floor.
"Get that wound treated, I'll go!" Meliodas yelled as he ran out of the house. Meliodas immediately jumped up onto the roof of the house and began looking around. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the figure jumping across the rooftops. Meliodas dashed after it, hopping over several buildings in one leap.
The figure noticed Meliodas was following and turned around, throwing three daggers simultaneously in a cone at Meliodas. Just before the daggers made contact with Meliodas, he jumped up into the air, spinning and twisting his body while collecting the daggers as he grabbed them by their handles. With all three daggers in hand, from his position in the air, Meliodas threw them back at the hooded figure before landing on the ground again.
Unable to react, the daggers pinned the hooded figure to the roof he was standing on by his cloak. Meliodas began running towards the figure, only for the figure to slide out of his cloak and fall to the street below. Meliodas caught a glimpse of the man who slid out. The man who slid out appeared to be middle aged, with messy black hair and onyx eyes. He wore a sleeveless black tunic, revealing his bare arms and black baggy pants and boots.
The man glanced at Meliodas, who was closing in on him, and immediately threw another smoke bomb on the ground. Just as he was about to make a run for it, Meliodas appeared above him, crashing down from above as he tackled him into the ground, shattering the stone street in the process and burying the assailant in the ground. Meliodas looked at the man buried into the ground. His upper body was completely buried in the street with only his legs sticking out. Meliodas plucked the man out of the ground and got a better look at his face. The man's eyes were open but had rolled to the back of his head and there was blood dripping out of his nose and mouth.
'Oh good he's knocked out. I guess I'll go bring him back to Schneider.'
Meliodas carried the man over his head as he ran back to the house, hopping across the rooftops as he carried the assailant.
Several short moments later, Meliodas entered the house again. He saw Schneider who was sitting down on his couch and patching his wound up, wrapping a white bandage around his shoulder. Blood could still be seen leaking onto the bandage, painting it red as the bleeding slowed down. Schneider looked up as Meliodas entered and saw him carrying someone over his head.
"You already found him?!" Schneider exclaimed with a look of surprise. Meliodas had just left a couple of minutes ago and had already returned.
"Yeah, here he is." Meliodas said. He tossed the assailant on the ground in front of Schneider. The assailant's limp body rolled on the ground and stopped in the center of the living room.
"Impressive." Schneider commented. He was still reeling over Meliodas' strength and speed as he had seen Meliodas move in front of the assassin and block the attack with only his fingers.
After spending another moment wrapping up the wound on his shoulder, Schneider looked down at the assailant and narrowed his eyes. He knelt down on the ground and began going through the assassin's pockets and gear as if he was familiar with it already.
"Who is he?" Meliodas asked.
Schneider remained silent as he went through the assassin's garments, going through his tunic. It was as if he was searching for something. He took off the assassins gloves and saw a symbol on his forearm that looked like two daggers, with one overlapping the other.
"The dual daggers…." Schneider muttered quietly, lost in thought.
"The what?" Meliodas interrupted. He walked closer to Schneider to inspect what he was looking at.
"Ah.. I am sorry. Thank you for your help, but it's best you don't involve yourself any further..." Schneider had a solemn look on his face as he stared at the marking on the man's forearm.
"Too late for that." Meliodas said as he looked at the assailant who had just regained consciousness.
"You will regret this!!" The assailant shouted as he leaped up from the ground. From his boot, a blade popped out of the bottom as he aimed a kick towards Meliodas's face. Meliodas leaned backwards, dodging the blade by a hair's length away from his face as he grabbed the assailant's foot with his left hand. From there Meliodas flipped the assailant over and struck him in the face with a quick right hook, knocking him out again.
"Looks like he wants me dead just as much as he wants you dead." Meliodas said with a cheeky grin. Schneider looked at Meliodas and laughed as he raised his hand out in front of him. A light formed around Scheider's hands and when the light stopped glowing, a rope was formed in his hand.
"How convenient, you keep rope on you. I should do that." Meliodas commented, thinking about his own requip inventory which, up to now, was mainly filled with only booze and a couple of extra pairs of clothes. The old man smiled at his comment.
"Old habits die hard…"
"Hmm. You still haven't answered my question about who he is." Meliodas continued.
"He is an assassin from the Logres Kingdom, an originally independent kingdom that was assimilated into Pergrande about fifty years ago. That mark on his hand... the double dagger stamp. It's a symbol of a covert guild within the kingdom. They are usually sent for assasination or information gathering missions. Sometimes, the two overlap…"
"But why was he going after you?" Meliodas questioned.
"I was once a part of that guild forty years ago. However, a young swordsman I was sent to assassinate changed me and my outlook of life. As a result, I abandoned the guild. I ran across Ishgar and settled here in Fiore. But that guild is not one you can just leave whenever you like. So I've been wanted by them for all these years. And somehow, they managed to find me again." Schneider answered with a sigh.
"Well don't worry old man. As long as I'm here, they won't kill ya. I'll make sure of it." Meliodas said with a reassuring grin.
"I don't doubt your strength, but I'm doubtful even you wouldn't be able to fight off the entirety of their guild." Schneider responded coldly. "Honestly it would be better if you moved out and didn't associate yourself with me any longer. For cross continent assassination missions like this, they travel in pairs, with one person standing by as a scout in case the other fails. The scout most likely is returning to report you in as a target, since they've most likely established they currently can't kill you."
"Like I said, no problem. I've had an entire kingdom on me before and I'm still here now aren't I?" Meliodas grinned. Schneider looked at Meliodas with a stern expression but it eventually softened up into a smile.
"That incident as "The Blond Demon" I presume? Your optimism knows no bounds does it? Well if you're prepared to die here with me then go ahead." Schneider responded.
"Well, finding another room to rent out will be a hassle." Meliodas replied.
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
ShayZero
ShayZero Schneider is just a big ol Rave Master reference. Also Meliodas' comment about the entire kingdom after him was him referring to when he and the sins were framed.
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